For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.
1 John 5.7

We read, ‘In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established’ (2 Corinthians 13.1). But such witnesses! The eternal, triune Godhead, united and unanimous, bear the record! Furthermore this is also a declaration ‘that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us’ (Hebrews 6.18). Not two witnesses but three: ‘These three are one’ says our text.

What do they bear record to? To the witness of the Holy Spirit of Truth: ‘This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not by water only, but by water and blood’ (1 John 5.6). Water speaks of being cleansed, but is not in itself the means of cleansing. Indeed, more precious than that, the blood of the Saviour uniquely makes atonement for His people’s sins. This is the central message of the Gospel and is a cause of great rejoicing. Never lose sight in your own experience that your salvation, and you personally, are a cause of great rejoicing. ‘There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth … It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found’ (Luke 15.10,32).

The believer’s security is bound up with such a witness as this. We know that the heavens rule (Daniel 4.26) and that what is established there is by the Word of the Father—the Sovereign God—sustained. The perfect atonement which the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished on Calvary for all believers is authenticated as true by the concurrence of each person of the Trinity eternally in the very heavens.

The Apostle John begins his gospel with these words. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God’ (John 1.1–2). He goes on to say, ‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth’ (John 1.14).

John was the most intimate with the Saviour of all the apostles. We could say, perhaps, John knew Him better than any. Of all the most intimate expressions in his relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ was his affectionate, yet supreme, understanding and description of Him as the ‘Word’. So in 1 John 5.7 it is a very significant thing that he uses ‘the Word’ to describe the second Person of the glorious Trinity.

John, by the Spirit, draws our attention to two things. Firstly, the Saviour’s eternal status was to share the act of Creation with the Father, uttering the words, ‘Let there be light’ (Genesis 1.3). The Father initiates all things of the Creation; the Word utters all things by which all events come to pass; and the Holy Ghost moved upon the face of the waters to fashion the design. While we cannot accurately differentiate from Scripture between the works of the Godhead in all cases, we do know that the Father elects (1 Peter 1.2), the Son saves (Ephesians 5.23) and is the eternal High Priest (Hebrews 8.1), and the Holy Spirit convicts of sin, comforts and instructs (John 16.7–11; 14.16–17,26).

Secondly, the Saviour whom John loved was fully a Man. Th e perfect love shown on earth by the Son was a true reflection of the love of God. ‘God is love’ (1 John 4.8,16) he declares. He is assured that the Saviour is fully and perfectly God and man in one Person, and uses the description ‘the Word’ to stimulate our understanding of His perfect reflection of the Godhead: the pre-incarnate Word took flesh.

So when John, under inspiration, writes ‘For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost’, it is to highlight, by the Spirit, the uniqueness of the Saviour within the triune Godhead in all His attributes, particularly revealing to us His eternal ministry in heaven subsequent to His ascension to the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 10.12, cf. 7.25), there to make intercession for us through His blood.

Written by Pastor M. J. Harley, a Vice-President of the Society. First published in Quarterly Record 642.