God's Sworn Testimony
Introduction: The Crisis of Certainty
We live in an age that is drowning in information but starved for certainty. Modern man prides himself on his skepticism, his refusal to accept anything on mere authority. He wants to "find his own truth," which is another way of saying he wants to be his own god, the final arbiter of what is real. This pursuit of subjective, internal validation leads to a profound spiritual vertigo. If truth is just a feeling, a personal conviction, then we are left with nothing but the shifting sands of our own emotional weather patterns. Assurance becomes impossible because our hearts are fickle things.
Into this confusion, the apostle John speaks with the force of a thunderclap. He does not offer us a new self-help technique or a method for manufacturing spiritual feelings. He grounds our assurance, our certainty, not in the reliability of our own hearts, but in the unshakable reliability of God's own testimony. The Christian faith is not a leap in the dark; it is a step into the light, a light established by objective, historical events and confirmed by the sworn testimony of God Himself. John is not interested in our opinions about Jesus. He is interested in whether we believe God's witness concerning Jesus. This is not a matter of intellectual preference; it is a matter of life and death.
This passage functions like a divine courtroom. God the Father puts His Son on the stand, and then He Himself provides the unimpeachable evidence. He presents three witnesses whose testimony is flawless and in perfect agreement. To reject this testimony is not an act of intellectual integrity, as our age would have it. It is an act of cosmic arrogance. It is to declare that you know better than God. It is to call the God of truth a liar.
The Text
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that bear witness: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness about His Son. The one who believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has borne witness about His Son. And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have that life.
(1 John 5:6-12 LSB)
The Historical Bookends (v. 6)
John begins by grounding the identity of Jesus in two historical, public events.
"This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth." (1 John 5:6)
What does John mean by "water and blood?" He is referring to the bookends of Jesus's earthly ministry: His baptism and His crucifixion. The water points to the Jordan River, where the Father's voice declared, "This is My beloved Son," and the Spirit descended upon Him. This was the inauguration of His public work. The blood points to Golgotha, where He shed His own blood as the perfect sacrifice for sin, declaring, "It is finished."
John insists that Jesus came "not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood." Why? Because a dangerous heresy was already infecting the church, a forerunner of Gnosticism. Teachers like Cerinthus were claiming that the divine "Christ" descended upon the man Jesus at His baptism (the water) but then abandoned Him before the cross (the blood). This creates a phantom savior, one who inspires us with his teaching but does not atone for our sins with his death. It gives us a moral example but no salvation.
John demolishes this. He says Jesus Christ is one person, and He came through both events. He was the Son of God at the Jordan, and He was the Son of God on the cross. His ministry and His sacrifice are inseparable. You cannot have the teacher without the savior. You cannot have the water of His life without the blood of His death. And who confirms this historical reality? "It is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is the truth." The Holy Spirit, who is the very essence of truth, testifies that this historical, water-and-blood Jesus is indeed the Son of God and the only Savior.
The Threefold Witness (vv. 7-9)
John then assembles the witnesses for God's case. Under the Mosaic law, the testimony of two or three witnesses established a matter as true (Deut. 19:15). God provides three.
"For there are three that bear witness: the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement." (1 John 5:7-8 LSB)
The witnesses are the Spirit, the water, and the blood. The water of Jesus's baptism testifies to His divine anointing and identity as the Son. The blood of His crucifixion testifies to His atoning work as the Lamb of God. And the Spirit, through the apostles' preaching and in the hearts of believers, testifies that this is all true. And notice, "the three are in agreement." There is no contradiction. The baptism, the cross, and the Spirit's testimony all point to the same glorious reality: Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
John then drives the point home with a powerful argument from the lesser to the greater.
"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for the witness of God is this, that He has borne witness about His Son." (1 John 5:9 LSB)
Our entire society runs on the principle of human testimony. We trust eyewitnesses in court, we trust historians, we trust mechanics, we trust doctors. We base life-altering decisions on the fallible witness of men. John's logic is devastatingly simple: if we accept the shaky testimony of men, how can we possibly reject the infallible testimony of God? God's witness is not a secondhand report; it is His own direct testimony about His own Son. To doubt it is the height of absurdity.
The Internal Verdict and the Great Insult (v. 10)
This objective, external testimony from God has a direct internal effect on the one who believes it.
"The one who believes in the Son of God has this witness in himself. The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed in the witness which God has borne witness about His Son." (1 John 5:10 LSB)
When a person believes, the Holy Spirit takes up residence within them and confirms God's external testimony internally. This is not the source of our assurance, but the result of it. We are not saved by looking inward at the strength of our faith; we are saved by looking outward to the object of our faith, Jesus Christ, as He is testified to by the Father. But when we do look to Christ, the Spirit says "Amen" in our hearts. We "have this witness in himself."
But then John presents the terrible alternative. Unbelief is not a neutral position of intellectual skepticism. It is not a passive lack of conviction. Unbelief is an active, aggressive, and deeply personal accusation against the character of God. "The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar." To hear God's sworn testimony about His Son, backed by the water, the blood, and the Spirit, and to walk away unconvinced is to stand before the throne of the universe and call the Almighty a perjurer. It is the ultimate insult. Sin is bad enough, but unbelief is calling God a liar about His only solution for sin.
The Content of the Testimony (vv. 11-12)
Finally, John summarizes the precise content of God's testimony. What exactly is it that God has said?
"And the witness is this, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have that life." (1 John 5:11-12 LSB)
The testimony is a two-part declaration. First, God has given us eternal life. This is not something we earn or achieve; it is a gift. Second, this life is not an abstract force or a spiritual commodity. This life is located exclusively and entirely "in His Son." You cannot have the gift of life without having the person of the Son. They are a package deal. God does not give eternal life apart from Jesus Christ.
This leads to the great, glorious, and terrifying conclusion in verse 12. This is the great spiritual binary. There is no middle ground, no third option. "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have that life." It is that simple. It is that stark. Your eternal destiny hinges on this one question: Do you have the Son? Not, are you a good person? Not, are you religious? Not, have you had a spiritual experience? But do you, by faith, possess the Son of God?
If you have Him, you have life. It is a present possession. If you do not have Him, you do not have that life. You may have biological life, you may have an intellectual life, but you do not have the eternal life that comes from God. This is the dividing line of the human race. This is the testimony of God. And the question for every one of us is simple: Do you believe Him?