This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood. I John 5:6 Fellow Believers,
As I read the Bible, I sometimes gloss over verses that are not too easy to understand. As long as I get the gist of what I am reading, I tend to be satisfied. Teaching the Bible on a verse-by-verse basis, however, does not afford me that luxury. That's what I learned anew the other day when I was preparing to teach First John 5.
Verse 6 there is one of those scriptures that I had glossed over any number of times in the past. But now, I need to explain to others why it stresses there that Jesus came not by water alone, but by water and blood.
The blood undoubtedly had to do with the cross, I thought, and the water, probably the water baptism that Jesus undertook. So, this verse could be referring to our Lord's earthly ministry. But it didn't seem to make too much sense to say that Christ came by means of, by way of, or by reason of His water baptism and His crucifixion.
So, I read some commentaries to see what noted theologians had to say about this verse. Some suggested that the water and blood alluded to that which flowed out of Jesus' side when He was pierced by a Roman soldier. Others explained that the water stands for the sanctification of the saints; and the blood, their justification. Despite these explanations, I was still bothered by the preposition "by". How could I teach my students that Christ came by the water and blood flowing from His side, or by the sanctification and justification of the saints?
Studying the Greek word for "by", dia, I then discovered that it is sometimes translated "with". For example, Acts 20:28 describes the church of God as that "which he (Jesus) hath purchased with (dia) his own blood." And Hebrews 13:12 speaks of the Lord suffering outside the gate of Jerusalem "that he might sanctify the people with (dia) his own blood."
Substituting the word "with" for "by" in that verse suddenly made the meaning of that verse much clearer to me. When it says Jesus came not with water alone, but with water and blood, it is emphasizing that our Savior came not only with the gospel, the living water, but He came with His own shed blood to effectuate that gospel.
Why am I sharing all this with you? To show you that, because they were done by men, no translations are perfect, and that our understanding of the Bible can be distorted by a seemingly innocuous word.
Third Quarter, 1999