1 John 5:6

Context

This verse comes near the end of 1 John, a letter its author addressed to believers. Just before it (5:1-5), the author states that whoever believes that Jesus is the Son of God overcomes the world. In this verse he goes on to identify who this Jesus is: "This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ." The letter as a whole warns against teaching that denies that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh (cf. 1 John 4:2-3), so this verse is also read as a response to such claims.

The emphatic phrase "not by water only" is especially striking. For this reason, many commentators conclude that the author was opposing a group that acknowledged Jesus' baptism but rejected the significance of his death. The second-century church father Irenaeus describes the teaching of Cerinthus as follows: a divine being, "the Christ," descended upon the human Jesus at his baptism and departed before the Passion. Some interpreters read this verse as a rebuttal of such a claim, though it cannot be established with certainty that Cerinthus was the letter's target.

Interpretations

• Baptism and death: This interpretation is followed by many commentators today. "Water" refers to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan, and "blood" to his death on the cross. The verse is read as a confession that Jesus was fully the Christ not only at the beginning of his ministry but all the way to his death.
• The water and blood that flowed at the cross: This reading connects the verse with John 19:34-35, which records that "blood and water" came out of Jesus' side when a soldier pierced it with a spear. Proponents point out that both texts belong to the Johannine literature and take the phrase as emphasizing that Jesus' death was a real, bodily death.
• Sacramental reading: Since the early church, some have understood the water and blood of John 19 as symbols of baptism and the Lord's Supper, and this interpretation is applied to the present verse as well. Others object that because the verse speaks in the past tense of Christ's "coming," it is difficult to see it as referring primarily to the sacraments of the church.
• Birth and death: A minority view associates "water" with human birth and "blood" with death, taking the phrase to refer to the Incarnation as a whole.

Debates and Issues

This verse is not a point of sharp disagreement among denominations. Traditions that place strong emphasis on the sacraments, however, tend to embrace the sacramental reading more readily, while Reformed and evangelical commentaries more often adopt the historical reading of baptism and the cross.

Translation and manuscript issues arise not in this verse but immediately after it. Some Latin traditions and later manuscripts contain the words "there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost," commonly called the "Johannine Comma." This wording is absent from the early Greek manuscripts. Major Korean translations such as the New Korean Revised Version do not include it. This also accounts for the differences in verse division between these translations and those that include the wording, such as the King James Version.

Related Passages

• John 19:34-35
• 1 John 4:2-3
• Mark 1:9-11
• John 1:14