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as the 7th verse , is that which treats of those who bear witness on earth ; and that the §th verse is that which treats of those who bear witness in heaven . And we take for granted this 8th verse, partly as already confirmed by critical arguments in the Apparatus, and partly as about to be further confirmed by exegetical arguments.
6. olrog sffnv) This is He. John sets forth the reason why he ascribes victory over the world to him who believes that Jesus is the Son of God : namely, because in truth that faith in Jesus as the Son of God has invincible strength, from the testimony of men, which is sufficiently strong, but much more from the testimony of God, which has complete strength. — 6 IaQu v, who came ) He does not say, 6 sp^o/Aivos, coming , in the present, but 6 in the aorist
tense, having the force of the preterite : as ch. i. 2, Jpavspw^, was manifested; iv. 2, sXri XvQora; and below, ver. 20, v\%u. For in the present, does not signify I come , but I am come (ver. 20, note) : whence John adds in the same place, and hath given , in the preterite. Jesus is He who ought to have come, on account of the promises respecting Him ; and who is truly come : and this the spirit, and the water, and the blood do testify and prove. — hi iihurog xai ai^arog, by water and blood) The water signifies baptism, which John first administered, hence called the Baptist, and sent to baptize in water for this reason, that Jesus might be manifested as the Son of God : John i. 33, 34. Moreover baptism was also administered by the disciples of Jesus : John iv. 1, 2 ; Acts ii. 38, etc. The blood is certainly the blood of one, and that Jesus Christ, which was shed at His passion, and is drunk in the Lord’s Supper. — ’lyjoojg 6 Xpivrbg , Jesus the Christ) Jesus, who came by water and blood, is by this very fact pointed out, as the Christ. — oxjk sv r& iihar/ (aovov, not in water only) He just before said, by ; He now says, in. Each particle is opposed to xuP'$? apart from : 1 Cor. xi. 11, 12 ; Heb. ix. 7, 12, 25. The apostle shows, that the words immediately preceding are used with due consideration. The article has the force of a re- lative. By seems to refer more particularly to the water , and in to the blood : for John, who baptized with water, preceded the coming of Jesus, and Jesus came by (through) water: but Jesus, when He had finished the work which the Father had given Him to do, be- stowed the blood ; therefore He had before come in blood. — aXX’ h rS> vhccn tlcl) rw a7/xar/, but in water and blood) He not only under- took, when He came to baptism , the task of fulfilling all righteous- ness, Matt. iii. 15, but He also completed it by pouring out His blood , J ohn xix. 30 ; and when this was done, blood and water
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