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. For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree in one. 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. 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. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life (I John 5:6-12).



There must have been other babies born that night in Bethlehem or at least in neighboring, metropolitan Jerusalem. Millions of times before and since, the pain of delivery and the cry of the newly-born have filled the world. Yet we remember this Baby's birth. Because the world does not recognize who He is, its remembrance of His birth rises no higher than cookie making and tree decorating. We know better! We've been told often enough and yet we listen as John in his "Letter of Light, Life, and Love" urges us to Remember Who That Baby Is.



There Can Be No Doubt About It



Among the Christians in Asia Minor there was doubt about who Christ Jesus was. The false teaching had arisen, promoted by Cerinthus, that Jesus was only the human son of Mary and Joseph, that a supernatural Christ came on Him at His baptism and left Him before His passion. This teaching reduces Jesus in the manger and on the cross to only a man and removes the cleansing power from His blood (1:7).



John's answer was clear and convincing. First John calls Him "Jesus Christ," Jesus, the Savior born of Mary, and Christ, the Anointed Son of God long promised. Next John points to the "water." At Christ's baptism in the Jordan River undisputed proofs of His deity were given. The Holy Ghost came down in the form of a dove and the Father said from heaven, "This is My beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). Also Christ's baptism declared His willingness to fufill all righteousness for sinful mankind (Matt. 3:15) and to make full satisfaction for all sin.