I John 5:6  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
7  For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
8  And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.
9  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
10  He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

This section begins with a passage that has been under attack by false religions. The deity of the Lord Jesus Christ has been under attack for a long time. The devil tried to destroy the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ prior to His birth and then as a young boy. He tried to get Jesus to sin just prior to His public ministry. He has failed to win his argument, but sadly many have chosen to believe his lies.
The devil is very subtle. There are places in the perversions, where he has guided false teachers to remove entire verses and leave the space empty. Most people do not bother to concern themselves with why a verse or verses would be missing. The people who worked on the perversions put notes at the bottom of the page to give their deceptive explanation as to why verses are missing.
In I John the people behind the perversions used a different tactic. They left all the numbers in place and had words for each verse. However, what they did is remove the words of a verse and then split the other verses to make it look like everything is there. A very subtle tactic.
In verse 6 we read some important facts about Jesus Christ. He came by water and blood. He did not just come by water, but by water and blood. The Holy Spirit bears witness to this fact. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth. Some false religions use this as one of their proof texts to support their heresy of Baptismal regeneration. No one is saved by baptism. Jesus Christ was baptized at the age of 30 to fulfil all Scripture. Mary’s conception was unique. Jesus was born through the same process as all children. The water in the embryonic sack broke and Jesus was delivered into this world. Jesus Christ was unique in that Mary’s conception was the work of the Holy Spirit. There was no human father involved in His coming into this world. The other explanation for the water, is that the water represents the Word of God. In Ephesians 5:26 we see this referenced.

Ephesians 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Jesus Christ is fully human. He had blood flowing through His body, just like all people. His blood is sinless and He shed His blood as the only means by which we can be saved. In the context of our verses, we know that a person must be born of water and the blood of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. The water there can be understood as the Word of God, which teaches us of our need to be saved and how to be saved. The shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential to the new birth. That blood must be applied to the heart of the repentant sinner. We do not have access to the literal blood of Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus taught Nicodemus of the importance of the Spirit in the new birth. A person is not saved by partaking of the Lord’s Supper either. Salvation is a spiritual work of God in the repentant sinner’s heart. The Lord’s Supper is to be a reminder of the broken body and the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot save. Those who partake unworthily bring damnation upon themselves.
In verse 7 we read that there are three that bear record in heaven. Those three are: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. We know from John 1 that the Word is a reference to Jesus Christ. We are told further that these three are one. The deity of Jesus Christ is clearly presented here. The perversions want to cast doubt on Jesus’ deity. They are corrupt and should be rejected and avoided. The Godhead consists of the three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. The Bible is clear that these three are one. The Bible teaches us the uniqueness of each person of the Godhead, but they are still one.
In verse 8 we are further told that there are three that bear witness on earth, the Spirit, and the water and the blood. The Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The water is the Word of God as stated in Ephesians 5:26.
Then we also have the blood which is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These three agree in one. All three of these agree that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. That is an irrefutable fact. It is senseless and indeed foolish to reject the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As we mentioned, the perversions have no problem attacking the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those involved in making the perversions are wrong and will suffer for all eternity for promoting that lie. The solution to this is for them to repent and be saved.
In verse 9 John was led to contrast the differences between God and man. There were godly men who proclaimed the truth about Who Jesus Christ is. We need to believe those men. We are also reminded that the witness of God is greater than the witness of men. God the Father declared Jesus Christ to be His beloved Son. God the Father made it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is His Son.
In verse 10 we see that our salvation is directly linked to true salvation. It is impossible to claim salvation if you reject God’s plan of salvation. You can argue that plan if you want to. The problem is that while you are wasting your time in defiance of God, you are constantly moving one step closer to eternity. Those who reject God’s way of salvation are destined to an eternity in the lake of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth in that place for all of eternity.
The person who accepts the Word of God as truth, does so because he has the witness of God within him. God moves the repentant sinner to believe the truth about Jesus Christ. The person who refuses to believe the truth about Jesus Christ proves himself to be a lost sinner. That person is seeking to make God a liar. No one can make God a liar. Those who want to oppose the truth, need to see what they are actually doing. Some will be quite content in trying to accuse God of being a liar. Others will blindly follow the lies of the devil and never think through what they are actually doing. God reminds us here of what this person is actually doing. The lost person has the opportunity to reconsider their position. Do they really want to accuse the God Who created the world and them and will judge them, of being a liar? Man’s accusations will not change Who God is.
We need to keep in mind that Jesus Christ was accused of many things at His trial. They were all lies and He went to the cross, shed His blood there and died. He was taken off that cross, buried and rose again the third day. Forty days after that He ascended back up to heaven and is seated on the right hand of His Father. The lies did not change the facts. What they did was to condemn the liars. Jesus Christ was and is God. He is the Messiah. He will come back and He will judge man.
In verse 11 we are reminded that we have a written record that clearly states that God gives us eternal life through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Eternal life is just that. You cannot lose something that is eternal. That cannot be denied. The many who choose to deny this fact, seal their doom in doing so.
In verse 12 we see that the person who has the Son has life. He that rejects Jesus Christ as the eternal Son of God does not have life. That is the fact. Life is a gift from God. It is a precious gift that is made possible through the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who want to deny that fact are lost. They will find themselves in eternal torment unless they repent and get saved prior to their physical death. Spiritually, they are already dead, but they have the opportunity to receive eternal life through repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
God’s Word is clear and It is true. All the twisting and denying of the Truth does not change the Truth. Man cannot overrule God. Jesus warned of false teachers of His time and those who would come. The apostles warned of false teachers of their time and those who would come. We know there are many false teachers today. None of that can weaken the Truth in any way. It is essential to believe the Truth and walk in the Truth.
Pastor Bartel