5. He that overcometh (6 wxav). The article with the participle denoting what is habitual; one who leads a life of victory over the world.
6. This. Jesus.
He that came (6 éA9dv). Referring to the historic fact. See Matt. xi. 3; Luke vii. 19; Johni. 15, 27. Compare, for the form of expression, John i. 33 ; iii. 13.
By water and blood (8v’ datos Kai aipatos). Aud by, must be taken with 6 éex9av He that came. It has not merely the sense of accompaniment, but also of instrumentality, i.e., by, through, by means of. Water and blood are thus the media through which Jesus the Mediator wrought, and which espe- cially characterized the coming. See especially Heb. ix. 12: “QOhrist being come . . . neither by the blood (8¢ atpwaros) of goats and calves, but by His own blood (61a de Tod idiov aipatos”). Compare “we walk by faith not by sight (dua alotews od ba eSous,” 2 Cor. v. 7): we wait with (lit., through) patience (Sv dmopovis,” Rom. viii. 25).
Water refers to Christ’s baptism at the beginning of His Messianic work, through which He declared His purpose to fulfil all righteousness (Matt. iii. 15). Blood refers to His bloody death upon the cross for the sin of the world.
Other explanations are substituted for this or combined with it. Some refer the words water and blood to the incident in John xix. 34. To this it is justly objected that these words are evidently chosen to describe something characteristic of Christ’s Messianic office, which could not be said of the incident in question. Nevertheless, as Alford justly remarks, “to deny all such allusion seems against probability. The apostle could hardly, both here and in that place, lay such evident stress on the water and the blood together, without having in his mind some link connecting this place and that.” The readers of the Epistle must have been familiar with the incident, from oral or from written teaching.
Others refer the words to the Christian sacraments. These,