160 Dimensions of Baptism
descended on Jesus, John 'testified (epapTUpTiaev) saying that "I saw the
Spirit descending as a dove out of the sky and remaining on him'" (Jn
1.32), and concluding that 'I have seen and testified (Kccyco ecopaKOt KCU
HepccpTUpriKa) that this is the Son of God' (v. 34). When blood and water
flowed from Jesus' side, the narrator added, 'and the one who has seen has
testified (KOU b ecopocKcos [iz\ioipT\)pT)K£v), and his testimony is true, and
he knows he speaks truth, so that you too might believe' (19.35).
1 John's reading reverses the order of Jn 19.34: 'water and blood' (with
Mt. 27.49)^23 instead of 'blood and water'. The effect is to call attention to
'blood'. The first scene in John's Gospel involved 'water' (1.33) and 'the
Spirit' (1.32,33); the second involved both of these,^24 and 'blood' as well
(19.30,34). The point of the comment in 1 John is that the Son of God has
not truly 'come' (b eAScov, 5.6) until he has come 'by water and blood',
not just water. He is not truly 'sent' until he is sent as 'propitiation for our
sins' ('lAaapov TTEpi xcov apapxicov T]p£w, 4.10). To 'come in the flesh'
(ev aapKi, 1 Jn 4.2; 2 Jn 7) is not simply to be born and live in the flesh
but to die in the flesh.^25 To put it more theologically, the Incarnation is
fully real only in the shedding of Jesus' blood on the cross. Without mak-
ing 'purification' explicitly an issue, the author of 1 John here confirms his
earlier notice that blood, 'the blood of Jesus his Son', is what 'cleanses us
from all sin'(1.7).
Purification, or the forgiveness of sins, comes up only once more in
1 John (5.16-17), in connection with a promise of answered prayer (w.
14-15). Again the focus of attention is on the sins of believers, not unbe-
lievers: 'If anyone sees his brother or sister (TOV a5eA(j>6v auToG) sinning- Whether 1 John deliberately reversed the order of Jn 19.34 at this point, or
followed a different version of the incident (as preserved in Matthew) is uncertain. The
reference to 'water' could suggest that the author of 1 John viewed Jn 1.32-34 as an
account of Jesus' baptism, and hence that he may have been familiar with more than
one Gospel, filling in gaps in the Johannine narrative just as a canonical reading might
do. - While Jn 19.30 ('he delivered the spirit') means first of all simply that Jesus
willed himself dead (cf. 10.11, 15, 18), the reader will not forget that the Spirit
descended on Jesus 'and remained on him' (1.32-33), so that throughout his life the
Spirit was his 'without measure' (3.34). Significantly, when he 'breathed' again, he
conferred 'Holy Spirit' on his disciples (20.22). - Cf. Polycarp, Phil. 7.1: 'For everyone who does not confess that Jesus Christ
has come in the flesh is an anti-Christ, and whoever does not confess the testimony of
the cross is of the devil.' Also Jn 6.51: 'And the bread which I will give is my flesh for
the life of the world' (my italics).