The “Case” of the Three Witnesses – Part 2
December 26, 2004
Dear Friends,
Last week we started a Biblical “whodunit” by examining 1 John 5:5-13 and the three witnesses. Our clues did not lead us to a conviction yet, but we suspect that the passage has something to do with believing that Jesus is the Son of God and the three witnesses are the spirit, water and blood, but we don’t know what exactly that means yet.
Verse nine tells us “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.” Since the word “witness” occurs three times in this single verse, the good detective will pull out their trusty concordance to do a background check. Our detective work pays off in a big way and is our first big break. What we find to our amazement is that a form of the Greek word martureo occurs eleven times in this passage. It means “to be a witness, to bear witness.” Any good detective knows how valuable a witness can be.
Let’s see where the verb (martureo) or the noun (marturia) occur. We will designate them with CAPITAL letters.
6 the Spirit that beareth WITNESS.
7 For there are three that BEAR RECORD
8 And there are three that BEAR WITNESS in earth, the spirit, and the water
9 If we receive THE WITNESS of men, THE WITNESS of God is greater: for this is THE WITNESS of God which he hath TESTIFIED of his Son.
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath THE WITNESS in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not THE RECORD that God GAVE of his Son.
11 And this is the RECORD, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
The frequency of this Greek word in these key places leads us to an hypothesis: the key to this passage is the witness or testimony. Verse nine tells us whose testimony it is–the witness of God. What does the witness of God have to do with the spirit, water and blood and what was He witnessing concerning His son?
From a previous case, we know that there are three instances of God speaking in the Gospels. They are as follows:
- “And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:17)
- “And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” (Mark 9:7)
- “I have glorified it, and will glorify it again.” (John 12:28)
Isn’t it interesting that we have three witnesses here in 1 John and three times that God literally speaks from heaven during the ministry of Christ. Next week, let’s look at little closer at each instance.
Have a great week and a happy New Year!
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