The Pulpit Commentary — 1 John — Section 150

blood." "This is ho that came by water and blood; not by water only, but by water and blood." 1. The water. To what does the apostle refer when he says that Christ came "by water"? Undoubtedly to the baptism of the Christ by John the Baptist. When the. herald haptized his Lord as the great lligh Priest, and so ~et him apart to his callmg hy that act, the race of propl1cts \\':l:i cl<1srd, and tho Messiah wns ushered in. It was the .fi.r.,t step taken by our Lord in his o!Iicia\ ruiuistry. But why such a step? "Why should HE be baptized? Under t ho Law of Moses the priests bnd to be cleansed before l'ntering on the sacred oflice. Still, the wonder is that he who knew no ~in shoulo. submit to a rite which, whatever else it micrht 0 or might not signify, implied impurity of nature in the baptized One from which be required to be cleansed. We ?O not wonder at John the Baptist ~hrinking back from baptizing the Holy One; 1t_ surely could not be fitting that the Sinless Ono should do just as the vilest of the ,1le had done-come and let Jordan's stream roll over him as if he had been a sinner along with the rest! Yet, somehow or other, it was needful that so it should be, in order to "fulfil all righteousness." ,vhat was that righteousness the Saviour had to fulfil? First of all, as he came to be the sinner's Representative by bearina the liabilities of the race, it was becoming that he should openly, formally, avowedly; step into the sinner"s place, and take up the burden of sin as if it were his own. This he did when be was "baptized for us." It was the first act which showed that he was "numbered with the transgressors." And mysterious as it was before to John the Baptist, yet he saw its meaning afterwards, and forthwith began to announce him, saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, thnt is bearing away the sin of the world "-bearing it on himself, and bearing it off from us. This is he that came" by water." 2. The blood. "Jesus bare our sins in his own body upon the tree." In the margin of the Authorized Version read" to." He took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. He offered himself without spot to God. He laid down his life for us. He gave it up of himself. He ponred out his blood. It was " precious blood," as of a Iamb without blemish and without spot (cf. Matt. xx. 28; xxvL 28; Acts xx. 28; Heb, xiii. 20; Rev. i. 5). "Not by water only, but by water and blood." 3. The Spirit. Our Lord left a promise, "the promise of the Father," that when he had gone from earth the Spirit would supply his place. The Holy Ghost would be the Gift of a risen Saviour. He it was wbo "should baptize with the Holy Ghost." The narratives in the Acts of the Apostles are the confirmation of this. The four Gospels take the work of Christ up to the point when the atonement was "finished;" the Acts of the Apostles contiane the record of Christ from the point when the baptism with the Holy Ghost was bestowed (see Acts ii., et seq.). This was the crowning seal that Christ was the Son of God. Note: In John i. 29-36 the threefold witness concerning our Lord is summed up. John had baptized him with water; had heard the voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son;" had pointed out Jesus as the sacrificial Lamb, and yet as the Baptizer with the Holy Ghost; and on the whole he remarks, "I saw and bare record, that this is the Son of God." III. THESE THREE WITNESSES ALL AGREE IN ONE. (Ver. 8.) By which we under- stand, not merely that they confirm one another as to the one fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, however true that unquestionably is, but that they all agree in setting forth the glory of his mission. For the testimony is "that God hath given to us eternal life," as well as that "this life is in his Son." And the Son of God brings about the life by taking out of the way what would prevent it, in order that he may grant· what would ensure it. Now, "the Spirit," "the water," "the blood," all bear~ primarily and directly, on man's great enemy "sin." By the water Bin is acknowledged; by the blood sin is atoned; by the Spirit sin is destroyed. The voice from heaven owned the first; the Resurrection ratified the second; the living Church is the standing result of the third. IV. THESE WlTbo'ESSES, THUS AGREEING IN ONE, ARE GIVING FORTH THE PERPETUAL TESTDd~•lIY OF Goo TO us CONOEBNING HIS SoN. These historic fact8-the baptism, the sacrifice, the gift of the Holy Spirit-are not events that once had a significance and now are done with; they are not merely incidents unwoven into the texture of history, which cannot be tom out of it without leaving a disfiguring rent, but they are continuous voices of God, which are now speaking to us, and which will continue to 11peak to men in tones as loud and clear as ever. And the message they give forth OH, v. 1-21,] THE FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF JOHN. 14?