From: 1 John 5:5-13
Everyone Who Believes in Jesus Overcomes the World (Continuation)
[5] Who is it that overcomes the world but he who believes that Jesus
is the Son of God?
Testimony Borne to Christ
[6] This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the
water only but with the water and the blood. [7] And the Spirit is the
witness, because the Spirit is the truth. [8] There are three
witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree.
[9] If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is
greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne witness to
his Son. [10] He who believes in the son of God has the testimony in
himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he
has not believed in the testimony that God has borne to his Son.
[11] And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. [12] He who has the Son has life; he who has not
the Son of God has not life.
Epilogue
[13] I write this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
that you may know that you have eternal life.
Commentary:
6. The "water" and the "blood" have been interpreted in different ways,
depending on whether they apply (following the more literal meaning) to
events in the life of Christ, or are regarded as symbols of particular
sacraments. The water, if referred to the life of Christ, would be an
allusion to our Lord's baptism (cf. Mt 3:13-17 and par.), where the
Father and the Holy Spirit bore witness to Christ's divinity; the blood
would refer to the Cross, where Christ, God and true man, shed his
blood to bring Redemption. According to this interpretation, St John is
answering the Gnostics, who said that Jesus of Nazareth became the Son
of God through baptism and ceased to be the Son of God prior to his
passion: therefore, only the man Jesus, devoid of divinity, died on the
Cross; which would be a denial of the redemptive value of Christ's
death.
Understood as symbols of the sacraments, the water would refer to
Baptism (cf. In 3:5), where we receive the Holy Spirit and the life of
grace (cf. Jn 7:37-39); the blood would apply to the Eucharist, where
we partake of the blood of Christ in order to have life in us (cf. Jn
6:53, 55, 56). Jesus came on earth to give his life for men (cf. Jn
10:10); we obtain that life in the first instance by means of the
living water of Baptism (cf. Jn 4:14; 7:37ff); and also by the
application of the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin (cf.
1 Jn 1:7; 2:2; 4:10).
The two interpretations are compatible with one another, given that
sacraments are sensible signs of the supernatural effects of Christ's
redemptive death. Referring to Baptism, Tertullian wrote: "We have also
a second laving, and it too is unique--the baptism with blood. The Lord
spoke of this when he said, 'I have a baptism to be baptized with' (Lk
12:50), having had already been baptized once. So, he did come 'by
water and blood' (1 In 5:6), as John writes, in order to be bathed by
the water and glorified by the blood, in order to make us (who are
called by water) chosen ones through blood. These two baptisms spring
from the wound in his pierced side; so it is that those who believed in
his blood would be washed by the water; those who were washed in the
water would also drink of the blood" ("De Baptismo", XVI).
7-8. The Sistine-Clementine edition of the Vulgate included an addition
which left the text reading as follows: "There are three who give
witness in heaven: the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are
one. And there are three who give witness on earth. the Spirit, the
water, and the blood; and these three agree." The words shown in
italics (known as the Johannine "comma" or addition) were the subject
of heated debate (around the end of the nineteenth century) as to their
authenticity. The Holy Office (as was) left theologians free to
research the matter (cf. "Declaration", 2 June 1927) and in fact it has
been shown that the "comma" was introduced in Spain around the fourth
century AD in a text attributed to Priscillian, and therefore does not
belong to the original inspired text. The "comma" makes express mention
of the Blessed Trinity; however, even without it the text proclaims
that mystery of faith fairly clearly: it makes mention of Jesus Christ,
the Son of God (vv. 5-6), and of the Holy Spirit (v. 7) and of the
Father, both of whom bear witness to the Son (v. 9).
According to the legal prescriptions of the Old Testament, the
testimony of one witness was insufficient at trials (Deut 17:6; cf. Jn
8:17). St John points to three witnesses (the Holy Spirit, water and
blood), thereby refuting the Gnostic teaching; he is saying that the
water and the blood, that is, Christ's baptism and his death on the
Cross, are a manifestation of his divinity. Clearly the word "witness"
is used here in a broad sense: namely, in the sense that at those two
important moments in his life, Christ makes known to us that he is true
God.
The Fathers who interpreted these words as referring to the sacraments
usually comment on the fact that in the sacraments the grace of God is
communicated internally and is signaled externally. St Bede writes
along those lines: "The Holy Spirit makes us adoptive sons of God; the
water of the sacred fount cleanses us; the blood of the Lord redeems
us: the spiritual sacrament gives us a dual witness, one visible, one
invisible" ("In I Epist. S. Ioannis, ad loc.").
9-12. In his characteristic style St John strings together a series of
short phrases (and their opposites, as contrasts) which are full of
meaning. In a very few words, he enunciates three important truths,
which he expects Christians to be very familiar with: 1) God the Father
has borne witness to his Son (v. 9); 2) this witness brings an
obligation with it; if one does not believe one is making God out to be
a liar (v. 10); 3) God has given us life in Christ (vv. 11-12).
Earlier the Apostle pointed out that faith in Jesus can be the object
of reason because it is based on external proofs, and that its fruit is
supernatural life (cf. 1 Jn 1 :1-5). Now he adds that in addition to
the aforementioned witnesses--the Spirit, the water and the blood (vv.
6-8)--God the Father bears witness. Although John does not expressly
say so, it is clear that God bore witness to Jesus throughout his
earthly life: Jesus' words, miracles, passion and death, and his
resurrection are evidence God has supplied of Christ's divinity. The
believer "has the testimony [of God] in him" (v. 10), within him,
insofar as he accepts and makes the Christian message (Revelation) his
own, convinced that it comes from God, who cannot deceive or be
deceived. In his turn, he who believes in Jesus Christ manifests his
faith to others, passing on to them the conviction that Jesus is true
God.
Faith produces the fruit of supernatural life, which is the seed and
first-fruit of eternal life (cf. 11-12); that life can be given us
only by Jesus Christ, our Savior. "To those of us who are still making
our pilgrim way in this life has been given the hope of eternal life,
which we shall only receive in its full form in heaven when we reach
Him" ("In I Epist. S. Ioannis, ad loc.").
13-21. St John's words in v. 13 are evocative of the first epilogue to
his Gospel, where he explains why he wrote that book: "that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing
you may have life in his name" (Jn 20:31). In this verse of the letter,
the Apostle stresses the efficacy of faith, which is already an
anticipation of eternal life (cf. notes on 1 Jn 3:2; 5:9-12).
His final counsels are designed to strengthen our confidence in prayer
and to urge the need for prayer on behalf of sinners (vv. 14-17); they
also stress the conviction and confidence that faith in the Son of God
gives the believer (vv. 18-21).
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.
