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The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood: Difference between revisions
The Spirit, the Water, and the Blood (view source)
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:''First John 5:7 said, “There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word (which is the Son), and the Holy Ghost: these three are One. There are three that bear record in earth, '''the water, the blood, and the Spirit''': and these three agree in one.”<ref>William Branham, 59-0708M - Dedication Of Building, To The Lord, para. 11</ref> | :''First John 5:7 said, “There are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word (which is the Son), and the Holy Ghost: these three are One. There are three that bear record in earth, '''the water, the blood, and the Spirit''': and these three agree in one.”<ref>William Branham, 59-0708M - Dedication Of Building, To The Lord, para. 11</ref> | ||
There is not one time in all of his recorded sermons where he quotes the passage correctly. The question must be asked - why did he | There is not one time in all of his recorded sermons where he quotes the passage correctly. The question must be asked - why did he intentionally misquote scripture? | ||
=Why did William Branham change the order of the words?= | =Why did William Branham change the order of the words?= | ||
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==What the Bible actually teaches== | ==What the Bible actually teaches== | ||
''This is the one who came by water and blood — Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.''<Ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Jn 5:6.</ref> | |||
Water and blood are both mentioned in 1 John 5:6. Some try to link the passage with the spear thrust and the issue of blood and water from the side of Jesus recorded in John 19:34–35. However, it would be forced to say that in this incident Jesus came by (that is, ‘through’) water and blood, when in fact they came out of him. Rather, water refers to the baptism of Jesus, at which he was declared the Son and commissioned and empowered for his work, and blood to his death, in which his work was finished. | |||
The apostle John, knowing that Jesus was the Christ before and during the baptism and during and after the cross, described him as ‘the one who came through water and blood’. Neither word in the Greek text has the definite article. John is stressing the unity of the earthly career of Jesus Christ. He who came (from heaven, that is) is the same as he who passed ‘through’ water and blood. For further emphasis he adds (using the definite article this time before each noun, and changing the preposition from dia, ‘through’, to en, ‘in’), ‘not with the water only’, since the heretics agreed that at least he was the Christ at his baptism, ‘but with the water and (with) the blood’. The statement is as precise as Greek grammar can make it. For full measure, in opposition to the heretics’ differentiation between Jesus and the Christ, John adds that the one who so came was Jesus Christ, one person who was simultaneously from his birth to his death and for evermore (this is the one, present tense) both the man Jesus and the Christ of God.<ref>John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 177.</ref> | |||
''And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.''<ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Jn 5:6.</ref> | |||
This is a reference to the Holy Spirit. The form of the Greek construction indicates that it is as characteristic of the Spirit that he testifies, as it is of Christ that he came (at the beginning of the verse). But how does the Spirit testify? John appears to be referring to the inward witness of the Holy Spirit, who opens our eyes to see the truth as it is in Jesus (1 Cor. 12:3). Certainly he has written twice already of how the Spirit has been ‘given to us’ as an indwelling possession (1 John 3:24 &4:13), and has twice ascribed our acknowledgment of Christ as the divine-human Lord to the ‘anointing’ or enlightenment of the Spirit (1 John 2:20, 27 & 1 John 4:1–6). We have then here, as in 1 John 4:13–14, two kinds of corroborative testimony, objective and subjective, historical and experimental, water and blood on the one hand and the Spirit on the other.<Ref>John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 179.</Ref> | |||
John personifies the spirit, the water and the blood as witnesses that, while referring to the earthly life of Jesus, continue to witness to God’s love and offer of redemption throughout all time.<ref>Karen H. Jobes, 1, 2, & 3 John, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014), 222.</ref> | |||
''For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.<ref>The New International Version (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011), 1 Jn 5:7–8.</ref> | |||
The apostle John now brings the three together and declares that they all testify and that they are in agreement. The false witnesses at the trial of Jesus, seeking to discredit him, did not agree (Mark 14:56, 59). The true witnesses, however, the Spirit, the water and the blood, seeking to accredit him, are in perfect agreement. The significance of the ‘three that testify’ is that according to the law no charge could be preferred against an accused person in court unless it could be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses (Deut. 19:15; cf. John 8:17–18). In contrast to verse 6, where the Spirit is placed last, he is now made the first witness, partly because ‘the Spirit is, of the three, the only living and active witness’, and partly because ‘the water and the blood are no witnesses without him; whereas He is independent of them, testifying both in them and out of them.<ref>John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 180–181.</ref> | |||
=Why does the KJV have extra words?= | |||
It should be noted that the King James Version adds a section to this passage that does not appear in the original Greek manuscripts. This is clearly illustrated when comparing the KJV passage above with that of a modern translation such as the English Standard Version (ESV). | It should be noted that the King James Version adds a section to this passage that does not appear in the original Greek manuscripts. This is clearly illustrated when comparing the KJV passage above with that of a modern translation such as the English Standard Version (ESV). | ||
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:''For there are three that testify: '''the Spirit and the water and the blood'''; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 5:7–9</ref> | :''For there are three that testify: '''the Spirit and the water and the blood'''; and these three agree. If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son.<ref>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Jn 5:7–9</ref> | ||
Note the difference between the two passages. The portion that is missing from all modern translations is referred to as the “Johannine Comma.” If you are interested in learning about this issue, please read our article on [[1 John 5:7]]. However, it is important to recognize that the original Greek manuscripts of 1 John do not contain the extra words that were added into the KJV. | Note the difference between the two passages. The portion that is missing from all modern translations is referred to as the “Johannine Comma.” | ||
The words occur in no Greek manuscript before the fourteenth century (except one eleventh-century and one twelfth-century MS, in which they have been added in the margin by a much later hand); in no quotation by the early Greek fathers, who, if they had known the text, would surely have quoted it in their trinitarian debates; and in none of the ancient versions (translations), even the early editions of the Latin Vulgate.<ref>John R. W. Stott, The Letters of John: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 19, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 180.</ref> | |||
If you are interested in learning about this issue, please read our article on [[1 John 5:7]]. However, it is important to recognize that the original Greek manuscripts of 1 John do not contain the extra words that were added into the KJV. | |||
=Quotes of William Branham= | =Quotes of William Branham= | ||