Triple Witness to Jesus Identity

In this episode of Bible Insights, host Wayne Conrad explores the foundational identity of Jesus Christ through the lens of 1 John 5. Addressing the "doctrinal erosion" that threatened the early church, Conrad breaks down the "triple witness"—the water, the blood, and the Spirit—that confirms Jesus as the Son of God and the Messiah.

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Transcript

Title:  Triple Witness to Jesus Identity

Date: February 23, 2026

Scripture: 1 John 5

AI TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Bible Insights with Wayne Conrad. God's word is a lamp to our feet and a light on our path. Today's topic, the triple witness of Christ Jesus' identity. I refer you today to the epistle of John known as 1 John 5. And John writes the following, who is the one who conquers the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the son of God.

Now, the reason that John is addressing this matter is because of doctrinal erosion and in a sense, even doctrinal warfare that has entered the congregations of which he has been pastor. He has a very pastoral concern for these people of God that he'd help bring to faith in Christ and had nurtures both himself and his associates. He has the heart of a pastor who is concerned about the spiritual life and well-being of the flock. Every true pastor of Christ should have and will have such a concern.

Because false doctrine is something that erodes the soul, robs Christians of Christian assurance, destroys their witness for Christ, and corrupts the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So, it's absolutely essential that we know who Jesus Christ is. We have to know about his person, we have to know about his work, his mission, what he accomplished, what he came into the world to do.

There is no question that Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, is a historical figure who came into the world some 2,000 plus years ago. History verifies that, and the scriptures itself points to that, their existence and the existence of the Christian church through all these years. Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Mary, came into the world.

He was received among the people as a prophet and as a teacher. And as time went on, they also came, many of them, to embrace him as the Messiah, the Christ of God. And it's this identity of who he is, that he is Jesus, the son of God, who is the Messiah, the Christ of God, the anointed one who has come into the world to redeem sinners and to create the community of faith that believes in God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. But false doctrine attacks who Christ is.

They're always lurking, sometimes on the peripheral of the church, but sometimes they have come into the midst of the assemblies of God's people. They present themselves as being true believers in Christ, but as time goes on, as they speak and act, they are discerned to be not true believers, but pseudo believers. Well, how do we know? How do we know? Well, they are those who accept the witness of scripture about who Jesus is. And the one who's writing this letter is John.

That was the beloved apostle, the youngest of the apostolic band, and the one that was the closest to the Lord Jesus in his earthly life. So, he's also the one remaining apostle at the end of that first century. We don't know exactly when he died, but of all the disciples and apostles, special disciples, he is the one that we know lived and died in old age, although he went through much persecution as well.

But he's a great concern for the people of God because of the enemies that come against him. And those enemies, we will probably be familiar with, they're the world, that external societal system that is contrary to God, contrary to the teachings of scripture about righteousness and justice, et cetera. And the flesh, that's that internal sinful nature with, desires that are legitimate but expressed in illegitimate ways, contrary to the ways of God. And then we can't forget the real spiritual being of great power that we call the devil or Satan, who seeks to keep God's people from knowing the truth about Jesus. Now John is addressing these matters when he writes the words in the epistle that I'm reading to you now from the Christian Standard Bible.

Who is the one who conquers the world, but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? Now before he makes this statement, you see, he had made this statement, this is the victory that has conquered the world, our faith. So what he's doing now is defining our faith, our faith in Jesus Christ. That's where our faith resides. Jesus Christ, he is the one who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood.

And the Spirit is the one who testifies because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify, the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are in agreement. If we accept human testimony, God's testimony is greater because it is God's testimony that he has given about his son.

The one who believes in the son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar because he's not believed in his son. And this is the testimony that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his son. The one who has the son has life. The one who does not have the son of God does not have life. I've written these things to you who believe in the name of the son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Now that's John's presentation to us. He's bearing witness of Christ's identity. And he bears a triple witness in the following words, the water, the blood, and the spirit. Now, if we go back to the gospel of John, which he'd written some years earlier, we can discern a lot of what he means by the use of these terms in his epistle. You see, a key to interpreting a biblical author is that you compare the writings that he's done. And so, when he writes a letter and the gospel is there that he also wrote, then we need to go back to the gospel to determine how he has used such terminology or what he may be referring to. And I submit to you that that's how we understand the witness of the water, the blood, and the spirit.

So essentially, what is this triple witness? Well, he gives us two pivotal physical signs. physical signs that point the fact that Jesus is the Christ of God, that he is the incarnate word, the son of the living God. He gives us the physical event of water, which is referenced to Christ's baptism, and the evidence of blood, which is a reference to Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. He then gives us an internal witness, One that's invisible but nevertheless extremely powerful and omnipotent is the Spirit of God Himself working in our lives and with our spirit. So, let's examine the three witnesses that John presents in his letter. The first is the witness of the water, the witness of the baptism of Jesus by John the baptizer in the Jordan River.

Jesus was born some 30 years before this event. You see, when you get 30 years of age, you are considered a true full adult in the Jewish world, the Jewish system of teacher, et cetera. And that's when Jesus began his ministry, when he entered into this period of time. Now there had been some evidence early when he was first born, but that is distant memory when this event occurs.

So, Jesus appears one day on the banks of the Jordan River where his A long-distance cousin, John the Baptizer, was baptizing people. You see, John had appeared in order to proclaim the soon arrival of the Messiah himself. And he's calling the people to be ready for the emergence of the Messiah and for his kingdom.

Let me share with you the verses that talk about the witness of the water in Jesus's baptism. I refer you to Matthew for the actual event. and to John chapter one for John's recollection of what John the baptizer said. First Matthew, in those days, Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized, that is dipped or immersed in the Jordan River by John. And as soon as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. Now this event of the baptism of Jesus is so important that all of the gospel writers mention it, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

But John is the one who gives us the testimony of John the Baptist. After Jesus was baptized, he went away for some 40 days into the wilderness. In fact, Mark tells us he was driven by the spirit in the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. So, Christ has gone through the temptation, and now he emerges victorious over the enemy, and he is walking by the Jordan again, where John is busy baptizing people, getting them ready for the arrival of the kingdom. And at that very time, John the Baptist was being interviewed, quotation marks, interrogated would be a better word, by Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians about what he's doing. And they said, what are you doing this? I'm paraphrasing it. If you're not the Messiah, are you claiming to be the Messiah? And John says, no, I'm not. But then he sees Jesus. There's Jesus on the seashore. He recognizes him. And the next day he saw Jesus coming toward him. And he said, pointing to him, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me.

I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing, that is, immersing with water or in water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove. and it remained on him. And I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. So, the water, the baptism or immersion of Jesus in the Jordan by his cousin John the Baptist serves as a witness that Jesus is the Christ because John heard and testified that he heard the voice of the Father of God speaking to the Son, Jesus, and he witnessed the descent of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove that descended upon Jesus and remained with him.

It affirms two things about Christ. Not only that He is the Messiah, but it also is an affirmation that Jesus is true humanity. That in His incarnation, the Word, who is eternal and has always existed with the Father, became a human being without ever ceasing to be deity. It's very important that we understand the two natures of Christ in the one person of Jesus of Nazareth. He became a human being, the Son of Mary, with her DNA, maybe even her eyes. At the same time, He remained the Son, the Eternal Son, the Word, who had existed with the Father from all eternity. It's the Word who came into the world through the incarnation.

But it is a true incarnation, and Christ is there in the form of a fallen human body, not a human soul or spirit because he is sinless and remains sinless even through his temptation. He remains sinless, the pure, spotless, holy son of God. But he is a true human. And so, he is baptized because he's identifying with sinful humanity.

And this is how he begins his ministry. leaving the waters of the Jordan following his temptation. He launches his ministry of teaching and healing and delivering. And people flock to him because the manifestations of the presence of the kingdom breaking into the world was evident among them. But you know, Jesus, Some three, four, maybe five years later. We don't know how long that ministry lasted. At least three, possibly four and a half years. Jesus is crucified. He is put to death, but he's not put to death for his sins. He's put to death for the sins of the people he came to save.

John is referring to this reality in what he calls the blood. The blood bears testimony that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And how did he do that? Well, it did it by the words that Christ spoke from the cross and the deeds that God the Father showed at the time of this historical event. But what Jesus is doing, you see, is he is becoming the sacrificed lamb of God on the cross. I read to you from the account of John chapter 19, beginning at verse 28.

ESV. After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said, to fulfill the scriptures, I thirst. A jar full of sour wine stood there, and so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. I think Matthew may record, or Mark, he said that that word, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.

Now, since it was the day of preparation before Sabbath, in fact, there are two Sabbaths on this occasion, because it's Passover, two Sabbaths back-to-back, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day, not the ordinary Sabbath.

The Jews asked Pilate that their legs, that is the legs of the prisoners, might be broken, that they might be taken away. So, the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.

But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water, And he who saw it, John is speaking, he who saw it has borne witness. His testimony is true, and he knows that he's telling the truth, that you also may believe. For these things took place that the scripture might be fulfilled. Not one of his bones will be broken. And again, another scripture says, they will look on him whom they have pierced.

The blood stands for Jesus's atoning death. He was crucified under the wrath of God that is against sin and sinners. And he bore the sins of his people, those whom the father has given him. And he cried, it is finished, the atonement is done. And the resurrection that occurred three days later is the proof, the receipt that that was accomplished. So, Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Look to his baptism and look to his atoning death. The water and the blood testify Jesus, the Christ is the Son of God.

But leaving these two, historical and physical manifestations of the identity of Jesus, John then tells us about the spirit. Unlike the historical events of the water and the blood, the spirit is a living present tense witness. The past tense is used concerning the water and the blood, but the present tense is used with reference to the spirit. Now, how does the spirit testify?

Well, he testifies through the word of God, through the word that was written by the apostles and their associates who were eyewitnesses of these events. But he continues to witness through the word that he inspired when it is taught and preached and read and understood. And when he's internally, internally, he works on the hearts of individuals, providing them enlightenment. and confirmation of the truth of what is written concerning Jesus.

Listen to what the scripture says. John chapter 15. Again, if we want to interpret the letter of John, when he refers to things, we need to go back to the gospel account that he's written for a key to understanding the phraseology. He writes in John 15, 26, but when the helper comes, whom I, Jesus speaking, will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me, and you also will bear witness because you've been with me from the beginning. So, he's talking about both the written word that they would give, based on their eyewitness testimony, on their ministry and teaching, and the witness that the Spirit gives through their testimony as it is read, as it is preached, as it is taught. And the Spirit so works in us that He revives, brings to life dead spirits, dead souls, regenerates them so that they embrace by faith the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is what Paul writes in Galatians 4, 6, and because you are sons, God has sent the spirit of his son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. And then Paul rounds it out in Romans 8, 15 through 17. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry, Abba, Father.

Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. So, we have now the witness that John has laid before us, the witness of the water that launched his ministry, that was verified by the Father's voice from heaven.

You are my beloved son, with you I'm well pleased with the Spirit's descent, like a dove physically marking Jesus as the anointed one, as he so anoints him with the fullness of himself These are all proofs of his humanity. Jesus submitting to baptism is identifying with humanity.

He did not just appear to be a man; he stepped into the water as a physical flesh and blood human being. The witness of the blood points us to the cross, the death of Jesus on the cross, representing his atoning sacrifice and the finality of that work of redemption. And the physical evidence of that was the soldier piercing his side with a spear. And John, the eyewitness, records that blood and water flowed out of him. This was a medical detail that proved that Jesus didn't just faint or vanish.

He was not a phantom. He was a true human, and he died a true human death. But in so doing, he is the Lamb of God. that takes away the sins of the world. Without the shedding of blood, specifically His blood, there is no forgiveness. Therefore, the blood is a vital witness to His role as a Savior and Lord. But we also have the living witness of the Holy Spirit Himself. He bears witness with the Word, both read and taught and preached.

When it's understood by His own enlightenment of our minds, we can understand who Jesus Christ is and what He has done. We then have that aha moment of faith. We see by the Spirit's work who Christ is and what He has done for us to the glory of God. John the Apostle writes these words to combat the spirit of error that seeks to destroy the witness of the church to the true gospel.

He is the spirit of truth, and he bears witness to the truth. The truth is that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. He's the son of the living God and the belief in him results in the possession of eternal life. That's the result of belief. Our faith conquers the world, the flesh and the devil, because our faith is in the one who is the conqueror, who is the deliverer, who is the savior, Jesus himself, our Lord and our God.

If you've not put your faith in Him, I urge you to do so today. Acknowledge Him for who He is. Acknowledge your sins. Acknowledge your sinful nature. Ask Him to come into your life, to bear witness to you of who He is, and may you then trust and rest in what He's done for sinners. And if you, as I, know Him, then may these precious truths well within us heart full of gratitude and thankfulness for his love for us and for his sacrificial death by which we are reconciled to God. 

This has been Wayne Conrad with Bible Insights.