because the fight is in progress, then u” (Santa Teresa}. “that conquered ” (ἡ νικήσασα) because Vv. 6-8. The Threefold Testimony to the triumph is assured. the Incarration. ‘‘ This is Hethat came
Ver. 5. St. John says: “ Everything through water and blood, Jesus Christ ; that hath been begotten of God con- }not in the water only, but in the water quereth the world”. But he has already / and in the blood. And it is the Spirit said: ‘‘ Every one that hath faith that/ that tes‘ifieth, because the Spirit is the Jesus is the Christ hath been begotten| Truth. Because three are they that
——
πμ πώ.
4—s.
Χριστός * οὐκ ™ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι µόνον,
καὶ τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστι Ὁ τὸ μαρτυροῦν
195 ἀλλ’ ἐν τῶ ὅ τος ο μμον ita a ἀλλ’ ἐν τῷ ὕδατι καὶ | τῷ αἵματι πα co ‘ A 8 p © gq 2 , πο. ὅτι τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν Ὁ ἡ Ἱ ἀλήθεια. ee
7. ὅτι TpEis” ciow οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, 6 Πατήρ, 6 Λόγος, 1} 6 ret.
9 x o ~ . ‘ μα ς ον a > και τὸ Aytov [yeupa* καὶ οὗτοι οἱ τρεις ἐν ELoL.
8. καὶ τρεῖς
~ - μὲ ος An ‘ 5, A ‘ εἶσιν οἱ μαρτυροῦντες ἐν τῇ yi,” TO πνεῦμα, καὶ τὸ ὕδωρ, καὶ τὸ
leat εν ABLP, edd.
δεν τω ουρανω. .
Έοι τρεις NY. .εν τη γη a Latin interpolation, certainly spurious.
(1) Found
in no Gk. MS. except two late minuscules—162 (Vatican), 15th c., the Lat. Ve.
Version with a Gk. text adapted thereto; 34 (Trin. Coll., Dublin), 16th c. Had they known it, they would have employed
Quoted by none of the Gk. Fathers.
it in the Trinitarian controversies (Sabellian and Arian). early versions—in Vg. but not as it left the hands of St. Jerome. Latin weiter until Priscillian (close of 4th c.).
(2)
(3) Found in none of the (4) Quoted by no Apparet igitur ... verba quae
de tribus testibus caelestibus dici solent nullam prorsus fidem, auctoritatem nullam habere, nec a gravi libtdinis aut imprudentiae crimine liberari posse cos qut etiam-
num, falsa quippe pretate ducti, libris sacris obtrudi patiuntur.
. Error vero
longe est gravissimus, si qui, quod de sancta trinitate ecclesia Christi praecepit, a verbis illis ¥ohanni obtrusis vel maxime pendere opinati sunt (Tisch.).
testify—the Spirit and the water and the blood, and the three are for the one end.”
St. John has said that faith in the In- carnation makes the commandments easy, and now the question arises: How can we be assured that the Incarnation is a fact? He adduces a threefold at-
. testation: the Spirit, the water and the blood. His meaning is clear when it is ‘understood that he has the Cerinthian \heresy (see Introd. pp. 156 f.) in'view and states his doctrine in opposition to it. Peon distinguished between Jesus nd the Christ. The divine Christ ya ο upon the human Jesus at the Baptism, z.e., He “came through water,” and left him at the Crucifixion, t.e., He did not ‘‘come through blood”. Thus redemption was excluded; all that was needed was spiritual illumination. In opposition to this St. John declares that the Eternal God was incarnate in Jesus and was manifested in the entire course
' of His human life, not only at His Bap-
tism, which was His consecration to His ministry of redemption, but at His Death, which was the consummation of His in- finite Sacrifice: ‘‘through water and blood, not in the water only but in the water and in the blood”.
Ver. 6. οὗτος, i.e., this Jesus who is the Son of God, the Messiah whom the prophets foretold and who “came” in the fulness of the time. 6 ἐλθών, not 6 ἐρχόμενος. His Advent no longer an unfulfilled hope but an historic event. Sid, of the pathway or vehicle of His Advent. ᾿Ιησοῦς Xpiotds, ‘Jesus
Christ,” one person in opposition to the Cerinthian “dissolution” (λύσις) of Jesus and Christ (see note oniv. 3). ἐν: Henot nly “came through ” but continued ‘‘in e water and in the blood,” 7.e., His inistry comprehended both*the Baptism of the Spirit and the Sacrifice for sin. erhaps, however, the prepositions are interchangeable; ε[. 2 Cor. vi. 4-8; Heb. jx. 12,25. ἡ ἀλήθ.: Jesus called Him- self ‘the Truth ” (John xiv. 6), and the Spirit came in His room, His alter ego (vv. 16-18). —WVv. 7-8. The Water (the Lord’s con- ecrated Life) and the Blood (His sacri- ficial Death) are testimonies to the Incar- nation, but they are insufficient. A third testimony, that of the Spirit, is needed to reveal their significance to us and bring it home to our hearts. Without His enlightenment the wonder and glory of that amazing manifestation \ ill be hidden from us. It will be as unintelligible to us as “ mathematics to a Scythian boor, and music toacamel”. τρεῖς οἱ µαρτυ- ροῦντες, masculine though Πνεῦμα, ὕδωρ, and αἷμα are all neuter, because agreeing κατὰ σύνεσιν with τὸ Mvetpa—a testi- mony, the more striking because involun- tary, to the personality of the Spirit. εἰς τὸ ἕν, “ior the one end,” i.e. to bring us to faith in the Incarnation (ὅτι Ιησοῦς ἐστιν 6 Yids τοῦ θεοῦ). This was the end for which St. John wrote his Gospel (John xx. 31). There is no reference in the Water and the Blood either to the effusion of blood and water fiom the Lord’s pisrced side (John xix. 34) or to the two Sacraments.