God's Witness

Read 1 John 5:6-15.
What word is repeated several times in this section?

Look up “witness” in Strong’s, online at www.tgm.org/bible.htm or in the exhaustive concordance. (If you've forgotten how to do a word study, review the instructions given with "Word Study of Know" posted in February.)

• What numbers do you find for 1 John?
• Look up those numbers to see what you learn.
• I noticed that the Greek word for "witness" seemed a lot like "martyr." A “martyr” is one who bears witness by his death. According to Websters, one definition of a "martyr" is a person who voluntarily suffers death as the penalty of witnessing to and refusing to renounce a religion.

What do we learn about witnesses from the last part of Deuteronomy 19:15?

What does verse 6 say about Jesus Christ?

Let’s say that verse didn’t make sense right off. What’s a good thing to do? You could look at cross-references, but in this case my Bible has the cross-reference about the soldier piercing Jesus' side and water and blood coming out. Although this cross-reference has to do with water and blood, it doesn’t seem to deal with how they’re used in this context, and that’s what we always need to be keeping in mind—the context. So, if the cross-references don’t seem to help, look for other places in the same book where these things might be mentioned. For example, does John mention "blood" and/or "water" elsewhere in this book? How could you find out? Use an exhaustive concordance like Strong’s and look up "water" and "blood" to see if 1 John lists any other references, or skim through 1 John. In either case, you’d find that John mentions blood in verse 1:7. What does John say about “blood” in verse 1:7?

Two things in that statement refute what the false teachers are saying. The said that Jesus, a human, couldn’t take away sin. Only a special knowledge can save us from sin. They also claimed that Jesus was strictly a human, born in the regular human way with a human mom and dad. He wasn't God.

If John hadn’t mentioned “blood” in another part of this gospel, where else could we look to see what he might mean? We could look in other books that John wrote to see what he has to say about “blood” and “water” in relation to showing who Jesus was.

In the gospel of John, John tells about the feeding of the 5,000 and how Jesus and His disciples left after that and went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, but a crowd followed them by land and met them on the other side, desiring to see Him do something similar. Jesus then tells them that He’s the bread from heaven, and they don’t understand. Then He says something that confuses them even more. Read John 6:53-56. What did Jesus tell them about His blood?

His disciples would have heard Him say these things, and they didn’t understand either. But at the end of His ministry at the Last Supper, Jesus mentioned his body and blood again. Two days before that He told them something else. Let’s find out what He told them two days before. Read Matthew 26:1-2.
Now let’s read what He told them at the Last Supper. Read Matthew 26:26-28. What does He say that His blood is poured out for?

According to the Jewish faith, who is the only one who can forgive sins? See Isaiah 43:25 and Mark 2:7.

So, when Jesus says that His blood will be poured out for the forgiveness of sins, what is He telling them about Himself? Who is He?

Many of the false teachers that John mentioned in 1 John taught that the spirit came upon Jesus at his baptism, but that it left before His crucifixion. They said that Jesus could not be both man and God. God, who is good, would not occupy an evil body of flesh. They separated the human, flesh-and-blood Jesus from the spirit Christ.

John doesn’t mention “water” in 1 John, but he does mention water and Jesus and Jesus being God in the gospel of John. Read John 1:29-34.

Who is speaking?

Remember that this John the Baptist is a different John than John the Apostle.
In verse 31, why does John say that he baptized Jesus?

And in verse 32, what does John the Baptist say happened during the baptism?

In verse 33, John the Baptist mentions the one who sent him to baptize Jesus in water. Who is that?

What did God tell John the Baptist about Jesus?

We can read about Jesus’ baptism in the other gospel books. Let’s read Matthew 3:16-17.
What did the voice from heaven say?

So, what did Jesus’ baptism accomplish? How was it a witness?

So, what is John saying in verse 6 about the water and the blood in relation to Jesus Christ?

In verse 7, what does John add to the list of witnesses that Jesus is the Christ, the anointed one of God, the Messiah?

According to verses 8 and 9, how has God witnessed that Jesus is the Christ?

What does verse 10 tell us about the one who believes in the Son of God?

Who did verse 5:7 tell us is a witness?

What did the first part of verse 2:27 tell us?

If your version uses "the anointing," what is that anointing?

And what does verse 2:27 tell us that the Spirit does?

What does this verse tell us about these things that the Spirit teaches?

What contrasts with those who believe in the Son of God?

What are they saying about God?

What haven’t they believed?

What did Deuteronomy tell us about how many witnesses are needed in order to confirm a matter between men? So, should this be a sufficient number of witnesses?

What does verse 11 say that the witness is?

According to verse 11, what has God given those who believe in the Son of God?

How do we acquire that eternal life?

What contrast is in verse 12?

Let’s read what John wrote about this in his gospel. Read John 3:36.

What struck you as you studied this passage? What have you learned that could make a difference in your walk with Christ?