“There Are Three That Bear Record and These Three Are One“

This message is An Exposition of the Book of 1 John.

In part 11 we will be covering from chapters 5:4-5:13, As this is part of the G section of the Epistle we have been focused on, it is also part of our understanding of overcoming and victorious Faith.

We will largely be dealing with the biblical doctrine of the Person and function of the Holy Spirit and His operation as the Eternal God in communicating the fellowship of the Father, Son and Child of God.

We will also be dealing with the immediate and relevant context of the statement’s concerning the record and witness of the Jesus that John and other Apostles bring to us in the Scripture as the declaration of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration. 

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Compiled by JS LOWTHER
renewedcovenantministry.com
servant@renewedcovenantministry.com

An Exposition of the Book of 1 John

“There Are Three That Bear Record and These Three Are One“

Delivered on 5-22- 2021 / grego. 9-28-2021

Ye Are of God and Have Overcome

Section G of the Epistle of 1 John 

(1jn_4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome . And this was in reference to the anti-Christs and the spirit of anti-christ stated in the F section)

pt.11 There Are Three That Bear Record  and These Three Are One. 

1Jn_5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

1Jn 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.

1Jn_5:7  For there are three that bear record (in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost:) and these three are one.

1Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness (in earth,) the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

1Jn 5:9  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.

1Jn 5:10  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.

1Jn 5:11  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

1Jn 5:12  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

1Jn 5:13  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

So we have finished up in stating the elements of Overcoming from the Epistle of 1 John as are immediate context and we has then seen the elements of overcoming victor (just a little bit) from the Law and Prophets and the Epistles, as we looked at the promise of the victory of Christ over sin and death in the history of the Church, the Israel of God.

It is just before this section which we will be focusing on concerning the agreement of the Three in One, that affects a work of creation and salvation in the life of the faithful, or to be consistent to 1 John 1:4,  in the life of the Joyful, those who have joy fulfilled at the hearing of the Word of God, the word of life, the word of Truth.

In fact the testimony of the holy spirit poured into our heart through the acknowledgment of Grace through faith is accomplished by the witness of the Holy Spirit to us. Our agreement to the terms of the word of God as Everlasting Law is the true and perfect work of the holy spirit.

Therefore we must consider that overcoming, attribute to Faith,

1Jn 5:4  For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

with our total and true Belief that

The Scripture says:

1Jn 5:5  Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

And so here is the basis of the victorious faith the Son of God Jesus, and here is the description of the Jesus of that Faith:

1Jn 5:6  This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood.

So here is the Jesus whom we must believe has come, this is the Jesus that has overcome the world and has given us faith in His victory.

This Jesus is

1. the Son of God
2. came by water
3. came by blood
4. this Jesus is the Christ
5. he that came not by water only, but by water and blood

and here is the end of the verse and the exclamation point on the statement leading into the lesson to follow:

6. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 

The Jesus we must believe in, the only Faith which gives overcoming victory over the world unto Eternal life is a belief in the Jesus of the Law and Prophets, as proclaimed in our New Testament; a Jesus who is the Son of God as John has prior described to have been with the Father in fellowship since the beginning and therefore is the Word of God, as he said the Son is a Word of Life who is that Eternal life with the father, so in fact this Yah-shu / Jesus which is  Yah’s Salvation which we are talking about is one who ‘came’ in to the world from this prior state.

Now as in the world, the created physical material world, he who was eternally with the Father interacts with the physical material element of the world and this is evidence and proof of his victory over sin and death in the World.

Here are two important elements submitted by John as evidence for victory by Faith and known to us through belief in Jesus.

2. he came by water
3. he came by blood

yet he is 4. the Christ

Why is this important to state as evidence for Jesus’ case as the Christ which over comes the world and that we have faith in?

John is stating the case for the duel nature of Christ as God and man and this is part of the case that Jesus was the pre-existent Son of God, the heavenly Christ but he came in the flesh and his flesh was washed or baptized in water and his body was bruised and he as a man bled in fact.

Now this refutes early heresies of the church which we have historic record from.

One is that the man Jesus while a blessed person was not accounted as the true Son of God, until he was Baptized as recorded by John the Baptist. So, this sect of heretics deny the virgin birth sometimes but others did not, but they were united in the idealism that an anointing came upon Jesus by the Holy Spirit at the time of his baptism in which time then he began the work of the Son of God and would eventually die a sacrificial death. however also, there are some heretics that said that the Jesus who was filled with the spirit after his baptism was taken away in some way spiritually before the passion and the body of the man who died was devoid of the righteous spirit that was either reserved for the resurrection of the body or that the body never resurrected physically but that it was a spiritual resurrection.

Then of course in connection and beside this error in not believe in the record declaired in the message of the Apostles, was also the Gnostic belief that Jesus who was a christ like phantom was only a thing seen but not really in the world. So this Jesus did every thing in a pseudo-spiritual anti-material way, and therefore this Jesus never bled he never really could bleed even if some believed they saw him bleed, because their Jesus never came into the world, and never had intention to overcome or have a victory over the material world. This Jesus was never the born into the world, come in the flesh of the line an lineage of David, the true king of Israel born in descent to sit on David’s thrown, therefore he would not fulfill Gen 3:15, or Isaiah 53, and he would never even consider swallowing up death in victory through his bodily resurrection, and therefore he did not ever come into contact with water or blood, let alone have any bodily need of Baptismal washing the filth of the flesh as a righteousness according to the scripture, not would such a phantom Christ ever come by blood and die for the sins of his people, let alone raise for their justification in this filthy, dirty material world.

See these statements state john’s case, that the Jesus John and the Apostles  heard which he said , …”we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled; this Jesus the Son of God was from the beginning the Word of life, he was the life manifested,  seen and witnessed, and shewn unto us as that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us:

Do you see why it is then important to combat these anti-Christ, non-scriptural, so-called rational knowledge of Jesus? Because the victorious Jesus of Faith and of our belief is really and truly

1. the Son of God and all that it implies
2. came by water and all that it implies
3. came by blood and all that it implies
4. this Jesus is the Christ and all that it implies
5. he that came not by water only, but by water and blood

So often times the duel nature of Christ is the hang up of students of Scripture, the misunderstanding of what the scripture say about the Son of Man and applying it to the Eternal Son of God which is the Spirit of Christ, this is a confusing of the 2 natures of Christ by a sort of non-differentiation between the heavenly or divine nature of the pre-existent Christ and of the virgin born Son of God who was the heavenly Christ come as the earthly Christ.

1.In heavenly Psalm 2, Psalm 20 Christ, this is the Son of God and the Word of God who was God and was with God, the one who came and manifest himself in the flesh in Jesus’ coming.

2.the earthly Christ, Jesus who was born of a virgin manifest in the flesh yet was nevertheless in Spirit the Justified and therefore  God, always and ever just, the just one. He the earthly according to his flesh was in fact a man, a first born male, born of the linage of David as spoke to the blessed virgin Mary in Luke 1 and was therefore the kingly Christ of whom the angel before his conception called him, Elizabeth after his conception called him and Simeon after his birth pronounce with him in arms being a baby of 8 days old.

 Luk_2:25-26

Luk 2:21  And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Luk 2:22  And when the days of her (Mary’s) purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

Luk 2:23  (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

Luk 2:24  And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

Luk 2:25  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

Luk 2:26  And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.

 

Now let me read that 6th point enumerated from 1John_5:6

6. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. 

If you believe in the Jesus declared in 1John you realize the power and victory of the Son of God… he that came by water and blood, that it is Jesus who is the Christ that came not by water only, but by water and blood.

And like Simeon… you receive this witness as a truth by the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.

“…it was revealed unto him by the Holy Spirit “

And to all who believe it is an overcoming Faith that reveals it by the Power of the holy Spirit and all these truths of Scripture are to us made manifest:

1Jn_5:7  For there are three that bear record (in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit:) and these three are one.

1Jn 5:8  And there are three that bear witness (in earth,) the Spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one.

1Jn_5:9  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.

 

Can you hear what John is saying? He is according to God’s law saying if we believe.

Deu_19:15   …at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established.

In a court of law, on the record and of the testimony of a matter concerning truth of falsehood

then the triune witness of God on all of these matters is greater, and yet the one witness to us is the same revealing witness Simeon has the Holy Spirit, the witness of the Spirit.

1Jn 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. 

Here is the point the communication of heavenly truth is the Work of the Holy Spirit, Hebears one testimony, one witness of the Father and of the Son and he brings to the believer his faith in the Eternal fellowship of these heavenly and earthly truths.

in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit

in earth: the Spirit, and the water, and the blood

In both realms and according to both natures it is the witness of the Spirit which comes down as a pure and good gift from the Father of lights and is poured our, shed into our heart that the Word of Life, and truth might abide in us, giving us the victorious witness of Faith in the Son of God over the world.

The work of the Spirit is an immense work, belittled by the so-called spirit filled and exchanged for works of no profit, It is the work of the Holy Spirit misunderstood and blasphemed by those who ascribe his work to their own moment of Prayer or confession of sin or of water baptism or of spiritual baptism, when in fact the truth and witness of the Spirit is holy and in heaven unstained from men and their impure works of supposed goodness and righteousness, the witness of the Holy Spirit was with the Son witnessing with him in heaven before the foundations of the world, it was the Spirit that witnessed to men the Spirit of Christ and when He was to come into the world and suffer for the sins of his people as promised to the Father, it is the witness of the Holy Spirit that conceived the Christ in the womb of the Virgin blessed among and above women, it was the Holy spirit that gave his witness in the shape of a dove descending upon the Lord at his adult baptism for the remission of the filth of the flesh to fulfill all righteousness as done by the Levite and priest and cousin John the Baptist, It was the witness of the holy Spirit that from eternity which translated through time the imputing promise of the Word to take upon himself the sin of his covenant people as a man, it is the witness of the Holy spirit that took your sins and the sins of the world since Adam’s fall and imputed them to the blood of Jesus Christ the Son.

The Holy Spirit is a busy worker in the agreement and fellowship of the family in heaven and earth of Whom we are named of the Eternal, that is YHWH.

Theologians of antiquity have referred to all of this witness and record as ‘the Covenant of Grace’,  agreed upon since “before the foundations of the world” and in 1John we are told here part of this agree as it was made between the Father, the Word who is Son and Spirit.

We call it a Covenant of Grace because it was a compact of the three in heaven to save a particular people through the work of the Son. The Word with the Father would be sent in the fullness of time to be born under the Law, to be born of a virgin’s seed, to redeem those who were under the law.

So an agreement of the three in heaven was made which had one witness of it self, and the Word was spoken promised that the Son would come and bear as a man the wrath of God for many’s sins, thus the bruising to be received at the cross, was to lead to death, the Word as a man in flesh would die for the sins of his people, his elect, the Children of God, his brethren, and by his Eternal knowledge the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul taught us “he would justify many” and by this knowledge through his resurrection this was accomplished.

This is importantly recognized as the Covenant of Grace, and it is a promise or an oath that precedes actual sin or committed sin in the world, that is why it is Grace, and this why the Grace of God in regards to man is acknowledged as free and unmerited by man, because it was the Father, Son and Spirit that agreed upon everything about it, and it is accepted by the receiver of the covenant in Faith of its truth, and this is how “Faith is imputed, accredited, or accounted as righteousness or ‘justification’, here is that fellowship between the Father and the Son and the believer as spoken of throughout this epistle.

Now you should ask, Why did John not speak about the work of the Holy Spirit? in John 1John 1:1-3, But he only spoke of an eternal fellowship between Father and Son or Father and Word? And then he adds the fellowship of those joyful in the knowledge of this fellowship the faithful, the believers of the declared message. Why is the Spirit not mentioned ?

and the answer is, that he is mentioned in function but not yet by name.

And this is because one in fellowship with Father and  Son is in fellowship through the work and by the function of the person of the Holy Spirit. And this is not expressed in these personal terms until later in the Epistle, and that is of course because Jesus and the Prophets and the Law already had the fully working knowledge of what the function of the holy Spirit was, is and always will be. And we can see that as early as Gen_1:1-3

Gen 1:2, where we see “darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

And so from the time we meet with the Spirit of God, we meet with a moving force. The force which moves in creation and restoration, in salvation.

Do you remember what john did say about the personal work of the Spirit?

1Jn_3:24  And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us.

So here is the Spirit’s work in moving one to keep the commandments and to know God abides in us.

1Jn_4:1-2  Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God

Here we were warned of trusting every spirit, and to know a distinction must be made upon that initial knowledge of God in us by keeping his commandments, and that is that with that 1st mark, one must also “confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh…” to know if that spirit is God’s Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God”

1Jn_4:6  We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.