First John 5:6 through 8 say, “This is He who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ; not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and the Spirit is He who testifies, because the Spirit is the reality. For there are three who testify, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are unto the one thing.” Here we see that Jesus came through water, blood, and the Spirit who is the reality. The reality here refers to the reality of all that Christ as the Son of God is (John 16:12-15).
He, Jesus Christ, came as the Son of God that we might be born of God and have the divine life (10:10; 20:31). It is in His Son that God gives us eternal life (1 John 5:11-13). Jesus, the man of Nazareth, was attested to be the Son of God by the water He went through in His baptism (Matt. 3:16-17; John 1:31), by the blood He shed on the cross (19:31-35; Matt. 27:50-54), and also by the Spirit He gave not by measure (John 1:32-34; 3:34). By these three God has testified that Jesus is His Son given to us (1 John 5:7-10), that in Him we may receive His eternal life by believing into His name (vv. 11-13; John 3:16, 36; 20:31). The water of baptism terminates people of the old creation by burying them; the blood shed on the cross redeems those whom God has chosen from among the old creation; and the Spirit, who is the truth, the reality in life (Rom. 8:2), germinates those whom God has redeemed out of the old creation, by regenerating them with the divine life. Thus they are born of God and become His children (John 3:5, 15; 1:12-13) and live a life that practices the truth (1 John 1:6), the will of God (2:17), the righteousness of God (v. 29), and the love of God (3:10-11) for His expression.
By these three steps of termination, redemption, and germination, Jesus Christ not only has been testified as the Son of God but also has entered into us. Through the water of His baptism, through the blood of His cross, and as the Spirit, Christ has been testified as the Son of God and has come into our spirit. This means that by termination, redemption, and germination, Christ is now within us. We are a terminated, redeemed, and germinated people. We are no longer the old creation; we are the new creation with the new birth and a new life. Because we are the children of God, we have the life ability to overcome the world and all negative things.
First John 5:6-8 says that God testified that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. God testified this in three steps: by water, by the blood, and by the Spirit. Christ came through water at His baptism, blood at His crucifixion, and the Spirit who is the reality at His resurrection. The water refers to the baptism of the Lord Jesus. According to the record of the four Gospels, immediately after the Lord came up from the water, the heavens were opened and a voice declared that He is God’s beloved Son. This was God’s testimony that Jesus Christ is His Son, the testimony by water, by baptism. Three and a half years later, the Lord Jesus died on the cross, shedding His blood. The centurion standing near the cross testified, after the Lord died, “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mark 15:39; Matt. 27:54). That was the testimony of God by the blood shed on the cross concerning Jesus Christ being the Son of God. Following this, we have the testimony of the Spirit. In resurrection Christ became a life-giving Spirit. In Romans 1:4 Christ was designated the Son of God in resurrection according to the Spirit of holiness. Accordingly, the anointing Spirit constantly witnesses that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Therefore, there are three occasions—His baptism, crucifixion, and resurrection—that testify that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who is qualified to be our life for our divine birth that we may overcome the world.
Whenever the New Testament uses the title the Son of God, its significance always involves the imparting of the divine life. The Son of God was manifested for the purpose of imparting the divine life (1 John 5:11-13). The Son of God came that we might have life (John 10:10). But He came in a way that puzzled people. He appeared as a Nazarene with no outward honor and with nothing to command respect. Yet Jesus was manifested as the Son of God in an open way by the water of baptism, by the blood He shed on the cross, and by the Spirit. By these three means God introduced His Son to mankind that they might believe and have eternal life.
The baptism of Jesus testifies of the termination of the old creation. We all need to be buried, that is, terminated. God does not want the old creation. Whether we consider ourselves good or bad, precious or worthless, God declares that we all are worthy of nothing but death and burial. The water of baptism testifies of God’s judgment that we and the rest of the old creation need to be terminated.
The blood is for redemption. From the old creation, which needs to be terminated, a part has been predestinated by God unto the divine sonship (Eph. 1:4-5). This part needs to be redeemed to Him. When Jesus died on the cross, His all-inclusive death terminated all the old creation, including the old man and the flesh. At the same time, He shed His blood to redeem those whom God had chosen and predestinated.
The Spirit germinates. We have been terminated on the cross, but we were chosen to be holy and predestinated unto sonship before the foundation of the world. Because God chose and predestinated us, He redeemed us. However, we were lifeless because we were terminated. When the Spirit came, He caused the seed of the divine life, the Son of God, to germinate within us. The Holy Spirit today is the Spirit of life. This life is the germinating seed within us.
In 1 John 5:6, John says that the Spirit testifies because the Spirit is the truth. The Spirit, who is the truth, the reality (John 14:16-17; 15:26), testifies that Jesus is the Son of God, in whom is the eternal life. By thus testifying, He imparts the Son of God into us to be our life (Col. 3:4).
We have been terminated, redeemed, and germinated. This life germ within us should be the source of our life and all our actions, even our breathing. First John focuses on the life germ, not on outward doing. The Lord Jesus has come to us in water, terminating us; in the blood, redeeming us; and in the Spirit, germinating us. Once we see that we have been terminated, that God has chosen and redeemed us, and that He desires to bring to fruitfulness the life He has germinated in us, we will cease from our doing. As He lives, we will live with Him. As He moves, we move with Him. As He works, we work with Him.