Power to conquer sin
Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? 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. 1 John 5:5-6 CSB
From the text, John continued to make the point that believers can overcome the temptation to sin, being deemed as conquerors. He further explains how believers are conquerors: through the working of Jesus Christ. “Who is the one who conquers the world BUT the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” In verse 6, John explains who Jesus is, “He is the One who came by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and by blood.” If you are familiar with the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, immediately your mind may go to the moment when the Romans check to see if Jesus is dead by piercing His side, in which both water and blood came out, indicating that He had passed away. While that could be a part of the explanation verifying the process of death. John’s narrative at this moment counters the false teachers that taught that Jesus may have come physically at first, but, when He was crucified, was not physically there anymore, and therefore, did not die a physical death. John refutes this claim, stating that Jesus was there physically by water, alluding to His baptism in the Jordan River at the beginning of His ministry, and by blood, His physical death on the cross. To further back this claim, although John opened up His letter by stating “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched,” the more powerful witness of Jesus is the Holy Spirit, “the One who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.” As Bible Commentator David Walls says, “The witness of the Spirit may be understood as the testimony of God through the prophets and the Scripture. All of the witnesses provided irrevocable testimonies: the testimony of the Spirit through the prophets and Scripture and the testimony of the historical facts of Jesus’ life from the beginning of His ministry (baptism) to the end (crucifixion). Therefore, we can be confident in the truth, that through Jesus’ physical death and resurrection, with the power of the Holy Spirit, we can testify of Jesus’ power to conquer sin.
Blessings,
Isaac De Guzman
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