Bible Strands
1 John 5:6
This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this, because the Spirit is the truth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — John writes to a community under pressure from a teacher who denies the full physical reality of Christ's incarnation and death. The verse is a direct corrective, placed between the call to believe (5:5) and the list of witnesses (5:7).
The words — διὰ (dia, "through") is the load-bearing preposition: Christ did not merely come alongside water and blood but came through them, meaning his mission was enacted in and by those physical realities.
The thread — The Spirit as truth-teller echoes John 15:26 and 16:13; the blood offered through the Spirit echoes Hebrews 9:14. Together they triangulate the same claim: the Spirit's testimony is anchored in a bodily, historical event.
Why it lands — It forces a choice: either Christ's death was a real, physical event witnessed by the Spirit, or the entire testimony collapses. The reader is asked to affirm the embodied reality of the cross as the ground of faith, not a metaphor.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.
Cross-references
- John 15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father—He will testify about Me.
- Hebrews 9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!
- John 16:13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come.
- Mark 14:24 He said to them, “This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
- John 14:17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
- Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
- Luke 22:20 In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.
- Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for your souls upon the altar; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
- Ezekiel 36:25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.
- Matthew 26:28 This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.