The Vision: Loyalty to the Local Church (7.26.24)

 

Last weekend we had our annual Youth Conference at Machen Conference Center in Highland County, Virginia. The topic this year was a study of Peter Master’s book Steps for Guidance in the Journey of Life (Wakeman Trust, 1995, 2008). Masters has served over 50 years as pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle Church in London, the same church which Charles Spurgeon once served as minister.

The thesis of this book is that God guides his people in the journey of life, especially at the major turning points, like marriage, vocation, where we will live, and what church we will join.

In the final chapter on the importance of the local church, Masters stresses loyalty to the church. He begins the chapter, “One of the great problems reported in the life of the local church today is the lack of a deep sense of loyalty on the part of many members” (103).

He focuses on Paul’s image in 1 Corinthians 12 of the church as being like a human body: “But now God hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him” (v. 18). Masters asks his readers to consider whether they have a high or a low view of the church. He especially stresses the importance of loyalty to the church, stating, “God insists that his people should feel obligated to their churches in a special way… And they are to be loyal to their church until God himself calls them elsewhere by unmistakable guidance” (106). The church is a living thing. We do not want to hurt it. “How can we bear to see limbs torn out?” (109).

Here are a few other choice exhortations from Masters:

“We must be all for Christ, and for his cause and his church” (113).

“We all need great tenacity, and a deep sense of belonging to our church” (113).

Satan “is constantly tempting God’s people to seek greener pastures elsewhere” (113).

“We are not free agents, and should never be moved by whims” (113).

“High mobility” has been “to the great hurt of churches and individuals” (114).

Masters makes clear, however, that loyalty to any church is not unconditional. Leaving churches that embrace false teachings and false practices is, of course, justified.

Otherwise, Master suggests, “We should regard ourselves as permanent limbs or parts of that body until he moves us….” (118).

May the Lord continue to direct us and give to us a love for and loyalty toward the local church in which he has placed us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Scenes from CRBC 2024 Youth Conference (July 19-20) @ Machen Conference Center, Highland County, Virginia

 

JTR

Book Review: W. Gary Crampton: From Paedobaptism to Credobaptism: A Study of the Westminster Confession and Infant Baptism

 

Dr. Crampton died last week on 7.17.24. I posted this video version of my review of his book which I recorded in 2011.

 

I also posted to my academia.edu page the written version of my review which appeared in the Reformed Baptist Trumpet, Vol. 2, No. 1 (2011):13-15. Read it here.

JTR

The Vision (7.19.24): Fellowhelpers [synergoi] to the Truth

 

Image: St. John, Frans Hals, 1625, Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 3 John 1-8:

We therefore ought to receive such, that we might be fellowhelpers to the truth (3 John 8).

In his third epistle, the apostle John addresses Gaius (v. 1), likely a faithful minister in the church, commending and exhorting him to continue to receive and help orthodox teachers who sought his hospitality and support. In so doing, John says, “we might be fellowhelpers in the truth.”

Behind the compound noun “fellowhelpers” is the Greek plural noun synergoi. We might say “synergists.” This term appears at least twelve other times in the NT, all else in Paul’s writings. Compare:

In Romans 16:3 Paul refers to Priscilla and Aquila as “my helpers in Christ Jesus.” They took him into their home when he first came to Corinth (see Acts 18:1-3).

He uses the same term to describe a man name Urbanus as his helper in Romans 16:9 and Timothy in Romans 16:21.

In 1 Corinthians 3:9 he says to the Corinthian church, “For we are labourers together with God…”

In 2 Corinthians 1:24 he refers to himself and those who ministered with him before the Corinthians as “helpers of your joy.”

In 2 Corinthians 8:23 he refers to Titus as “my partner [koinōnos] and helper [synergos] concerning you.”

In Philippians 2:25 he refers to Ephaphroditus as his “companion in labour.”

In Phillippians 4:3 he makes mention of men like the “true yokefellow” and Clement who would try to broker peace between two women locked in dispute [Euodia and Synteche] as “my fellowlabourers, whose names are in the book of life.”

In Colossians 4:10-11 he commends Aristarchus, Marcus, and Justus as “fellowworkers unto the kingdom of God.”

In 1 Thessalonians 3:2 he refers to Timothy as “our fellowlabourer in the gospel” (cf. Romans 16:21).

In Philemon 1:1 he refers to Philemon as “our dearly beloved, and fellow labourer.”

Later in the same letter, he names four men, Marcus, Aristarchus, Demas, and Lucas as “my fellowlabourers” (Philemon 1:24).

Here in 3 John, the apostle John takes up the same term and uses it, as did Paul, to refer to those who were willing to serve the Lord within his church, alongside of others, as helpers and laborers.

It does not refer to synergy in salvation. Salvation is monergistic (an act of God alone), not synergistic. As Jonah said in the belly of the great fish, “Salvation is of the LORD” (Jonah 2:9). But we do believe in synergy in ministry.

The Lord is pleased to use those who will labor in synergy with the Lord and with one another to build his kingdom.

How do we do that?

Through faithful presence and participation.

Through faithful giving.

Through faithful hospitality.

Through faithful praying.

Through faithful interest in the cause of Christ and his kingdom.

So, let it be said of us that we too are “fellowhelpers” to the truth.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Book Review: Can We Recover the Text of the New Testament?

I've posted to my academia.edu page my written review of Can We Recover the Text of the New Testament?, which just came out in Puritan Reformed Journal (July 2024): 178-182. You can read it here.

Several months ago I also did a podcast version of the review:

JTR

Book Review: Valiant for the Truth, The Collected Writings of Bishop D. A. Thompson

I've posted to my academia.edu page my written review of Valiant for the Truth: The Collected Writings of Bishop D. A. Thompson, former editor of the BLQ, which just came out in Puritan Reformed Journal (July 2024): 182-185. You can read it here.

A couple months ago I also did this video version of the review:

JTR

The Vision (7.12.24): Look to Yourselves (2 John 7-13)

 

Image: Saint John of Patmos, South German, c. 1460-70, The National Gallery, London.

Note: Devotion based on last Sunday's sermon on 2 John 7-13.

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward (2 John 8).

In the closing verses of John’s brief second epistle to a church and her members (“the elect lady and her children” v. 1), the apostle offers three specific admonitions under the general call, “Look to yourselves”:

First, he warns against false teachers and false teachings (2 John 7-9). He calls them “deceivers” and “an antichrist” (v. 7). He charges them with not abiding in “the doctrine of Christ,” referring both to the teaching Christ gave to them (like the New Commandment in John 13:34-35) and also right teaching about Christ (Christology). John likely has in mind here refuting the same “false prophets” and antichrists” he denounced in 1 John 4:1-3, who denied that Christ had come “in the flesh” (i.e., that he was and is a true man).

Second, he warns against extending hospitality and even greetings to these false teachers (2 John 10-11). Hospitality among family and friends was essential for travel in the first century, especially for Christian ministers and preachers. This is why there are repeated calls for hospitality in the NT (see Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Peter 4:9). Here, however, John reminds the church that the “welcome mat” was not to be offered to false teachers, nor were they even to be given greetings (“God speed”) on their travels.

Third, he encourages “face to face” fellowship among believers, as well as fellowship among churches (2 John 12-13). John expresses his desire not merely to write to the saints “with paper and ink,” today we might say by keyboard and screen, but to see them “face to face.” Paul had likewise warned believers not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 13:25). We should place a high priority on spending time in person with the brethren. John closes his letter by sending greetings from “the children of thy elect sister” (the members of a sister church, perhaps the church at Ephesus where John served) (v. 13).

When the church at Antioch had controversy over circumcision and salvation, they appealed to the church at Jerusalem for help in discernment (see Acts 15). We as individual believers need not only the “face to face” fellowship of the brethren, but, corporately, as a church, we need intentional fellowship with sister churches.

Through the inscripturation of 2 John, these admonitions can be applied to every church across the ages, including our own. Let us then look to ourselves in these areas as we move forward in service to Christ.

Blessings, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision (7.5.24): Walking in Truth and Love

 

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 2 John 1-6:

“in truth and love” (2 John 3).

Whereas John’s first General Epistle (1 John) has been described as being more like a sermon or doctrinal treatise, his second epistle is clearly a letter. It begins, “The elder to the elect lady and her children…” (v. 1).  John the apostle, calls himself an elder. Peter the apostle did the same (cf. 1 Peter 5:1). His recipient, “the elect lady and her children” is likely a reference to a sister church and her members (cf. 2 John 13, “The children of thy elect sister greet thee”).

The apostle commends to this church grace, mercy and truth in the name of the triune God “in truth and love” (v. 3). Those two terms—truth and love—are in fact key themes for John.

In v. 4 he notes his delight in finding the “children [members]” of this church “walking [conducting themselves] in truth.” This likely means that he found them to be doctrinally sound. We know there were problems with false prophets or antichrists who had denied that Christ had come “in the flesh” (i.e., they denied the Lord Jesus’ true humanity) (see 1 John 4:1-3).

Friends, we glorify God when we believe right things about him. We glorify Christ when we confess right things about him. We must hold to right doctrine and walk in truth.

In vv. 5-6 John also exhorts the church to follow Christ’s New Commandment (John 13:34-35) and “love one another” (v. 5). Twice in v. 6 he uses the metaphor of walking to urge right conduct: “that we walk after his commandments” and “as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.”

So, let us evaluate ourselves and our church.

Are we walking in truth? Do we have concern to hold right doctrine?

Are we walking in love? Do we seek to love one another as Christ has loved us.

The exhortations to walk in truth and love, echoes the Great Commandment taught by Christ, Love God (by believing right things about God) and love your neighbor as yourself (cf. Mark 12:28-31).

I recently read a biography of Robert Charles (better known as R. C.) Sproul (1939-2017) (Stephen Nichols, R. C. Sproul: A Life [Crossway, 2021]).

Sproul was a Pittsburg boy who in his first year of college on an athletic scholarship was converted after sitting in on a Bible study on Ecclesiastes 11:3, “and if the tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall be.” He saw himself as that fallen and rotting tree apart from Christ.

When he went home and excitedly told his liberal hometown minster of his conversion, the man answered, “If you believe in the physical resurrection, you’re a [darn] fool.” Yet Sproul did believe, and, thankfully, he found orthodox mentors to affirm and guide him.

He went on to develop a dynamic teaching ministry that would influence myriads and still has an impact today through his books, as well as video and audio archives of his teaching. He walked in truth.

He was also known for his personal ministry, his care for family and friends, his love for the church. He walked in love.

In fact, when Sproul died in 2017 his simple tombstone had only this epitaph, “HE WAS A KIND MAN REDEEMED BY A KINDER SAVIOR.”

Will such be said of us when we have finished our course? Might this be a fitting epitaph for us? Will we be found to have walked in truth and in love?

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

The Vision: What is "a sin unto death"? (1 John 5:16-17)

 

Image: Round bales, North Virginia, June 2024

Note: Devotion article taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 5:16-18.

There is a sin unto death: I do not say he shall pray for it… and there is a sin not unto death (1 John 5:16b, 17b).

In 1 John 5:16-17, the apostle John encourages intercessory prayer for a brother who has fallen into sin. He also makes a distinction, however, affirming prayer for those who have sinned “a sin not unto death,” but suggesting no prayer be made for those who have sinned “a sin unto death.”

What are these two categories? Various answers have been suggested.

In the Roman Catholic system a distinction is made between various “mortal” sins (more serious individual sins: a sin unto death) and “venial” sins (less serious sins: a sin not unto death). Calvin in his commentary on this passage points out, however, that the apostle makes here no such distinction and does not use these terms. He further notes that the Roman system tended to downplay the serious of some of the so-called venial sins in reliance upon an unbiblical confidence in baptism itself to remove them.

The MacArthur Study Bible suggests that the sin unto death indicates that, “Such a sin could be any premeditated and unconfessed sin that causes the Lord to determine to end a believer’s life. It is not one particular sin, like homosexuality or lying, but whatever sin is the final one in the tolerance of God.” It cites as an example the sudden death of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5 when they lied to the Holy Spirit. It adds, “No intercessory prayer will be effective for those who have committed such deliberate high-handed sin….” So, it suggests a distinction between sins that lead to immediate death and those that do not.

The Reformation Heritage Study Bible, however, seems to say that prayer for those who have sinned the sin not unto death refers to prayer for fellow believers in whom the brethren have observed “a pattern of disobedience (present tense sin),” while “John gives no encouragement to pray for false teachers who, after experiencing the gospel and the church (2:19), become enemies of Christ, cutting themselves off from life (sin unto death; Gal 1:9; Heb 6:4-6).”

In his commentary on this passage, Matthew Poole says that while prayer is commended for those “that appear not obstinate and incurable,” the apostle does not commend prayer for those “that have apostatized from a former specious profession into heresy and debauchery, and continue obstinate therein, against all methods of recovery.”

Poole’s interpretation calls to mind the teaching of our Lord concerning “the unpardonable sin,” rejecting the witness of the Spirit to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God (Matthew 12:31-32).

Matthew Henry concurred in his commentary on this passage, writing, “In case it should appear that any have committed the irremissible blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, and the total apostasy from the illuminating corrective powers of the Christian religion, it should seem that they are not to be prayed for at all.”

John Calvin makes a similar point, concluding, “It may be gathered from the context, that [the sin unto death] is not, as they say, a partial fall, or the transgression of a single commandment, but apostasy by which men alienate themselves from God.”

I John 5:16 is cited as proof text in Chapter 22 (Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day), paragraph 4, of the Second London Confession (1689) in its teaching on prayer. It says that prayer should be made only “for things lawful” “but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death.” It gives no further explanation. In Dr. Renihan’s exposition of the 1689 Confession, he interprets this teaching as meaning, “Prayer should not be made for a convinced apostate” (Renihan, To the Judicious and Impartial Reader, 428).

So, the classic Reformed interpretation of “the sin unto death” is that it refers to hardened,  intransigent, and apostate rejection of Christ, especially by one who had at one time made a false profession of faith in him. We are encouraged to pray for our brethren, but for such a one who sets himself as a hard apostate against Christ, there is no need to pray except that God’s will be done.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Scenes from 2024 CRBC Vacation Bible School

 

JTR

WM 308: Rejoinder to Decker (continued): Reading and Misreading Turretin, Ussher, Baxter, & Owen

 

For previous rejoinders to Decker, see:

WM 286

WM 306

JTR

WM 307: O'Donnell Article Review: The Resurrection & Mark's Ending

 

JTR

The Vision (6.14.24): Apostolic Instructions on Prayer (1 John 5:14-15)

 

Image: Butterfly bush, North Garden, Virginia, June 2024

Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 5:14-15.

And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us (1 John 5:14).

As John comes to the close of his first General Epistle (1 John) he adds a brief exhortation on prayer in 1 John 5:14-15.

Our charismatic friends sometimes seize upon teaching like this and promote a “name it and claim it” theology of prayer. They will say that God is obligated to do whatever the believer asks, making the Lord into a cosmic butler.

John’s teaching on prayer, however, includes two vital qualifications:

First, there is the prepositional phrase, “according to his will.” If we ask anything according to God’s will he hears us.

Asking according to God’s will means asking for the things that God wills and has decreed for our good (cf. Romans 8:28). The mature believer does not ask for what is frivolous, superficial, or driven by selfish motives. He asks for things that are according to God’s will. He prays, as Christ taught, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done” (Matthew 6:10).

John is echoing here the teaching of our Lord himself in John 14:13-14, where Christ taught the disciples that they might ask “any thing in my name” and he would do it. The qualifying phrase “in my name” has the same functional meaning as “according to his will.”

Christ himself modeled this kind of praying in Gethsemane on the eve of his crucifixion, when he said, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39).

Second, there is the promise, “he heareth us.” John’s promise is not that the Lord will merely do whatever we ask or petition of him. The promise is that he will hear us.

Sometimes his answer to us must be “No,” because it is not according to his will. Or it might be, “Not yet,” or “Not in the way you expect,” but in a better way, according to God’s perfect will for our lives.

In Matthew Poole’s Commentary on these verses, he notes, “God answers his children according to that general meaning of their prayers, not always according to the particular (which may be often a much mistaken) meaning.”

Think how terrible it would be if a parent gave to his child everything that he asked. The child might unwisely ask to eat ice cream and candy at every meal. To have no bedtime. To play video games all day rather than do his homework and his chores. To have social media or internet access to things that might warp his mind and heart. Sometimes a loving and wise parent says, “No.” Or, “Not yet.” Or, “Here is something better for you.”

In James 4:3 the apostle said, “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss that ye may consume it upon your own lusts.” And yet, John does proceed in v. 15 to write, “And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.”

John is reminding us that we have comfort simply in knowing that our heavenly Father hears us. And he will grant the petitions that we desired of him in such a way that is in perfect accord with his will, and we will praise him for it.

This type of confident faith in the Lord led the Psalmist to write, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes” (Psalm 119:17).

Can you imagine the level of maturity it takes to say something like that?

Let us be bold to bring large petitions to our God, but to ask according to his will and to be comforted simply by knowing that he hears us.

Grace and peace, Pastor Jeff Riddle

Reformation Bible Society Promo Video: August 3, 2024

 

JTR

The Vision (5.24.24): The Three Heavenly Witnesses

 

Image: Christ RBC Meeting House, Louisa, Virginia

Note: Below is the full manuscript for last Sunday's sermon on 1 John 5:6-9.

For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one (1 John 5:7).

So much of 1 John is dedicated to the horizontal aspects of the Christian life: Man’s relationship to man; believer’s relationship to believer. All this is epitomized in the call to love one another based on the New Commandment of Christ (John 13:34-35; see 1 John 4:11).

This is not to say, however, that John has not been concerned with the vertical. With man’s relationship to God. He twice declares God is love (4:8, 16).

John is especially interested in Christology, the doctrine of Christ. John is Christ-centered and Christ-focused. As noted, he is battling those who denied the full humanity of our Lord, that he had come in the flesh (4:2-3).

John piles up various key titles for Christ.

He is an Advocate with the Father (2:1);

He is Jesus Christ the righteous (2:1);

He is the propitiation for our sins (2:2; 4:10);

He is the Saviour of the world (4:14).

He is the Son of God (3:8b; 4:15; 5:5).

That was where our passage last Sunday had concluded in v. 5 with the question: “Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (cf. 3:23; Peter’s confession in John 6:69: “And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.”; and the Eunuch’s confession in Acts 8:37: “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”).

That interest in theology and Christology is going to continue in our passage today.

We can think of the background for John’s remarks here as being like a trial. The declaration that the Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God is being tested, tried, and examined.

John is going to bring forward two sets of three witnesses.

There are three heavenly witnesses (v. 7) and three earthly witnesses (v. 8), and they all speak with one voice.

And we are in the jury left to draw our own conclusion and render our own verdict as to who this man Jesus really is.

I.                   Exposition:

V. 6 begins, “This is he that came by water and blood….” Matthew Poole’s commentary suggests that water and blood represent Christ’s purity (water) and his suffering (blood). Another source, suggests they represent his baptism (water) and his passion (blood) (MacArthur’s Study Bible).

We might also consider these as references to his birth as a true man, since this has been disputed by false prophets and antichrists in the church to which John was writing (see 1 John 4:2-3). John is here saying that Christ did not appear out of thin air. He was conceived in the womb of the virgin in an extra-ordinary manner, and he was born in an ordinary manner.

In his conversation with Nicodemus Christ contrasted being born by water (natural birth) and being born of the Spirit (supernatural birth (John 3:5). Likewise, in John 1:12-13 the Evangelist distinguishes between those born merely “of blood” and those born by the power of God to become “the sons of God.”

Coming by water and blood are both signs of the real human birth and, thus, the true humanity of Christ. It is estimated that 60% of the human body consists of water, and that 7-8% of a human body’s weight is blood.

Christ was a flesh and blood man. When the Roman soldier thrust his spear into Christ’s lifeless side after his death on the cross what came out? Blood and water (John 19:34).

John continues in v. 6, “not by water only, but by water and the blood.” Christ did not have just one aspect of a human body but all. It was his shed blood, in particular, that held atoning significance. See 1 John 1:7: “…and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” He is “the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 2:2; cf. 4:10). In the upper room at the Last Supper with his disciples, Christ declared, “This cup is the new testament in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25). Paul, in Hebrews 9:22, affirmed, “without shedding of blood there is no remission.”

If Christ was not a real man with real blood, but only a phantom, a spirit, a Docetic Christ, there is no true salvation.

The scene again is like a courtroom. John speak of those that bear witness to Christ. In the moral law, the ninth commandment forbids the bearing of false witness. Furthermore, in Deuteronomy 19:15 it says, “at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established” (cf. Matthew 18:16 where Christ applied this standard to working out difficulties among brethren in the church). John will in this passage bring forward multiples witnesses to affirm that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

John begins with the witness of the Holy Spirit: “And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth” (v. 6b). In John 15:26, Christ said, “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto your from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.”

Along with the testimony of the Spirit, John is going to add supporting witnesses. He gives two sets of three witnesses: Three heavenly witnesses (v. 7) and three earthly witnesses (v. 8). In each of these sets of three the Spirit is listed as one of the witnesses.

We look first at the three heavenly witnesses (v. 7). John says, “There are three that bear record [the verb is martyro-ō] in heaven….”

Heaven or the heavens, are, of course, the abode of God. It is his dwelling place. As Psalm 115:3 says, “But our God is in the heavens; he has done whatsoever he has pleased.” The three heavenly witnesses are the witness of God in heaven Himself. Here are the three persons of the divine Godhead.

First, God the Father bears witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 5:31 Christ said to the unbelieving skeptics, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.” He added that there was another witness, John the Baptist, whom he calls “a burning and shining light” (vv. 32-35). He then states that he has a “greater witness than that of John” (v. 36), adding, “And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me” (v. 37).

Second, God the Word [Logos] bears witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. It is of interest that the word “Son” is not used here but “Word [Logos], in keeping with an emphasis of John the Evangelist. His Gospel starts, “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word [Logos] was with God, and the Word [Logos] was God” (John 1:1). See also John 1:14, “And the Word [Logos] was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Third, God the Holy Spirit bears witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit was there descending upon him “in a bodily shape like a dove” upon him at his baptism (Luke 3:21).

John concludes v. 7 with the statement: “and these three are one.” This is a declaration of the divine oneness. There are not three gods, but one true God. The Muslims says, You Christians are tri-theists, worshipping Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One plus one plus one equals three. We respond that  one times one times one equals one. We worship one God who is from all eternity Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There is one God in three persons, the same in essence, equal in power and glory.

1 John 5:7 has long been recognized as one of the great explicit proof texts for the Trinity within the New Testament. There are three such explicit proofs in the New Testament with one placed in each its three major divisions:

First, in the Gospels and Acts: In Matthew’s Great Commission of Matthew 28:19: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”

Second, in the Pauline letters:  In Paul’s benediction to his second letter to the church at Corinth: 2 Corinthians 13:14: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.”

Third, in the General Letters and Revelation: 1 John 5:7: “For there are three that bare record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.”

It is also no surprise to learn that the authenticity of this passage has been challenged in the modern era. The great Reformed theologian Francis Turretin (1623-1687) noted that “heretics” in his day were attacking the authenticity of this verse (see Elenctic Theology 1:115).

John is saying in this verse that the triune God Himself bears witness in heaven that the Lord Jesus is the Christ (Messiah), the Son of God, and that he came in the flesh, by water and blood.

At the IRBS Conference held in Texas on May 17, 2024, Richard Barcellos cited Thomas Aquinas as saying of Christ’s incarnation: “He made himself small, not by putting off greatness, but by taking on smallness.”  Barcellos added, “We need a ‘womb to tomb’ righteousness, and in our Lord alone, we get this.”

In perfect literary parallelism, we have in v. 8 the three earthly witnesses (with the Spirit repeated as one of the three). Notice the chiasm in vv. 7-8:

(a)  Father, (b) Word, (c) Spirit;

(c’) Spirit, (b’) water, (a’) blood.

These three earthly witnesses are:

First, the Spirit. How does the Spirit bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ? God’s Spirit is indeed here on earth making present to us in this realm the reality of the one God in three persons. Christ is now in heaven, seated at the Father’s right hand until he comes again in power and glory to judge the living and the dead, but by the Spirit he is now present with us. Christ had promised his disciples that he would send them the “Comforter” to teach them all things and bear witness to them (cf. John 14:26; 15:26-27). In 1 Corinthians 2:10 Paul told the believers that God has revealed his wisdom to them “by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”

Second, the water. How does water bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ? We noted that it is a reminder of Christ’s true humanity (v. 6), but perhaps this witness is to the water of baptism. We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God, because we see that he continues to make disciples from among the nations, who confess their faith in and submit unto him in baptism, as did the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:37).

Third, the blood. How does blood bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ? This takes us to the cross. It brings before us Christ’s five bleeding wounds. It recalls his propitiation (cf. again the “blood language” of 1 John 1:7; 2:2; 4:10).

John ends by saying, “and these three agree in one” (v. 8b). One will note that the wording here is similar to v. 7b, but slightly and significantly different. While in v. 7b John says the Father, Word, and Holy Spirit are one (the same in essence), here he says the Spirit, water, and blood agree in one (a prepositional phrase). The work of the Spirit, the testimony of baptism, and the preaching of the blood-drenched cross act in harmony to compel sinners to confess that Jesus is Lord!

John ends our passage in v. 9 first by a comparison between the witness of men and the witness of God. We believe or trust many things because of the witness of men. I’ve never been to Cuba but I recently met a man from Cuba who was describing it to me. I trust his witness and that of others to the existence of a place called Cuba, though I have never been there and seen it with my own eyes. Life requires a lot of trusting in men. I think of this every time I get on an airplane for a trip. I must trust the engineers who designed the plane, the pilot who flies it, the air-traffic controllers who direct it, and the stewards who serve it.

I also trust the witness of the apostles in the Gospels to the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, even though, unlike Thomas, I have not yet seen our Lord with my eyes (cf. John 20:29).

Recall, however, that Christ said there is a “greater witness” than that of men (like John the Baptist, John 5:36). God’s witness to Christ is greater than that of men. I believe the Gospel witness to Christ, not because they were written by reliable men, but because they were breathed out or inspired by God Himself (2 Timothy 3:16).

They provide various and constant witness to Christ:

God the Father bore witness to Christ:

At this birth, God sent his holy angel to proclaim, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11).

At his baptism, God’s voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17).

At his transfiguration that same voice declared, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him” (Mathew 17:5).

God the Son bore witness to Christ:

As the incarnate Word, Christ declared a series of “I am” sayings, echoing the divine self-revelation of the LORD to Moses at the burning bush as the great “I AM THAT I AM” (Exodus 3:14).

So, Christ said, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35); “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12); “I am the door” (John 10:9); “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11); “I am the resurrection and life” (John 11:25); and “I am the true vine” (John 15:1). He also declared, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58), and when asked in his trial before the high priest if he was the Son of the Blessed, he replied, “I am” (Mark 14:62).

God the Spirit bore witness to Christ:

The Spirit descended upon him at his baptism, and then was poured out on his disciples at Pentecost so that they might boldly proclaim him (Acts 2).

John concludes this passage, “For this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son” (v. 9b).

II.                Spiritual Application:

We affirm today that there is one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This one God bears witness in heaven that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Why do we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Because the triune God says he is.

We are in the jury box. What verdict will we reach in the face of this witness?

Jeffrey T. Riddle, Pastor, Christ RBC, Louisa, Virginia