Water, Blood, & Spirit - 1 John 5

There is a lot in this last chapter of the first book of John that is repeated and because I’m incredibly short on time, I’m just going to focus on the points that are unique to this chapter. 5:3 – “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.” I think there is a point in everyone’s spiritual progression where their desire to keep the commandments transitions from fear based (doing it because you’ll be punished if you don’t) and love based (doing it because we recognize God’s love for us and desire to keep us safe.) I know that for me, any desire to be obedient was mostly rooted in fear and guilt. Fear that if I went against the laws of God that I would miss out on certain blessings, and the guilt of doing what I was told was the right thing to do but hating that I had to do it or else I was “bad.” I think it came after I learned who God is and who I am to Him that I was able to make that mental shift to WANTING to be obedient because I knew that God’s law is to help me be happy instead of seeing it as just another way for some man to control me and make me feel bad. But I think it would be hard to change that point of view if you were unaware of God’s relationship with you. 5:6-8 – This is something that I haven’t ever read anywhere else before. John talks about Jesus and salvation with the descriptive words of “water, blood, and spirit.” I had no idea what John was talking about, but the IM has a nice helpful chart and the explanation, “Certain phrases may have been added to 1 John 5:7-8 as late as the fourth century A.D. The apparent addition is the words ‘in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth.’ Whether these words reflected John’s original writing or were later added by an unknown person is debated. What is importance is that these verses emphasize the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ was part of the Atonement and Jesus Christ’s real suffering. This truth refuted the docetic heresy that Jesus Christ did not have a mortal body. Water, blood, and the Spirit are related to mortal birth, spiritual rebirth, and the Savior’s atoning sacrifice.” The chart is as follows: Water: Mortal Birth – The child is surrounded by water in the womb Spiritual rebirth – Bpatism is performed by immersion in water Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice – While on the cross, water flowed from Christ’s pierced side Blood: Mortal Birth – The life of the physical body is in the blood. The mother’s blood is shed during childbirth Spiritual Rebirth – Christ’s atoning blood allows us to be born again. Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice – Christ shed His blood for all humankind. Spirit: Mortal Birth – Each person in mortality is literally the offspring of heavenly parents, having received a spirit body in the premortal world Spiritual Rebirth – The Holy Ghost has cleansing power. Christ’s Atoning Sacrifice – Through Jesus Christ’s atoning sacrifice and perfect spirituality, we are able to be born again and receive spiritual sanctification I don’t know what I think about all this, but it definitely gives a new insight into the sacrament. 5:16-19 – John talks about those who “sin unto death.” He makes it sound like he might be referring to one specific sin, but I don’t think that he names it, and he makes the blanket statement that “all unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.” That last “sin” is cross-referenced with D&C 64:7 which says, “Nevertheless, he has sinned, but verily I say unto you, I, the Lord, forgive sins unto those who confess their sins before me and ask forgiveness, who have not sinned unto death.” Again, it seems like here he might be referring to a specific thing that someone might do, but I wonder if it isn’t just that those who will not “confess their sins before me and ask forgiveness” have condemned themselves to spiritual death. So maybe the “sin unto death” isn’t one specific act but instead an attitude of being unrepentant. There is a JST for verse 18 that gives a new meaning to it. It says, “We know that whosoever is born of God continueth not in sin; but he that is begotten of God and keepeth himself, the wicked one overcometh him not.” There are a few good points here, first is that it’s not a blanket command to “sinneth not” once we are “born of God,” because that would imply that perfection is required after baptism, and we all know that that doesn’t happen. Perfection is not possible in this life and that is a gift. It’s the continual desire to be better and repenting that allows us to progress, and it is a process that takes our entire lives and efforts. The second point that is important is that those who are on this pathway with Christ will not be “overcometh” by “that wicked one.” The KJV says “that wicked one toucheth him not,” but that’s inaccurate because Satan touches our lives constantly. It’s his inability to “overcometh” us that demonstrates the disproportionate amounts of power that God and Satan have to influence, protect, guide, and create for us. At the end, John signs off his letter by bearing his testimony of Jesus Christ as the “Son of God” who “is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true... This is the true God, and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” The transformation that must have occurred in the life of John from Jesus’ cousin and probably one of his closest friends, knowing him from childhood to the point of acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah that they’ve all been waiting for. It’s quite a dramatic shift in perspective and it is so interesting to think about. If I were to one day be told that someone I grew up with and have known my whole life was some prominent figure in my salvation, it would take some long and hard thinking to figure that out.