Water and Blood

“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.” 
(I John 5:6)

Gnostics said that Jesus was not a real man, that God would not inhabit a human body because all flesh was sinful. To refute that part of the Gnostic heresy, John goes back to two things. First, there was the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Baptism is a public act, especially in those days. John was baptizing in the Jordan River, a public stream.

Jesus had nothing in His life that would call for repentance. But by His baptism He identified with sinful mankind who would need repentance. His baptism looked ahead to what all baptism represents; the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. Our baptism looks back to His death, burial and resurrection. Our baptism is a testimony to His salvation.

Second, John the Apostle was there when Jesus died the cruel death of the cross. John remembered the “Precious Blood,” as Peter calls it in his first epistle. John was an eyewitness.

The Gnostics could not refute these two historical facts of Jesus any more than they can be refuted by cults and non-believers today. Beloved, the Jesus of history was real then and He is real today. He saved then and He continues to save today all who believe and trust Him.