What does it mean that there are three that bear witness on earth (1 John 5:8)?

The Bible teaches that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. While many individuals bear witness to this truth, people are not the only ones who testify to it. First John 5:8 says, “And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree in one” (NKJV). The three witnesses John mentions are the Holy Spirit, the water (of Jesus’ baptism) and the blood (of His crucifixion). He says these key aspects of Jesus’ life and ministry bear witness to His being the Son of God (see 1 John 5:5).

Other New Testament passages confirm John’s teaching about the Spirit, the water, and the blood bearing witness about Jesus. First, in the Upper Room, the night before His crucifixion, Jesus said, referring to the Holy Spirit, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me” (John 15:26). Thus, the Holy Spirit points people to Jesus and bears witness to His divine identity (cf. John 16:7–15).

Second, at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, Matthew reports that “as soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased’” (Matthew 3:16–17). Jesus’ baptism served as the occasion for the Father to testify to His Son’s identity, and in this way the water bears witness to who Jesus is.

Third, in a passage about Jesus’ death on the cross, the writer of Hebrews says, “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” (Hebrews 9:14). The significance of Jesus’ blood lies not only in His sacrificial death, but in the fact that He offered Himself “unblemished” to God through the Holy Spirit. Only the sinless Son of God could make such an offering. The cleansing power of Jesus’ blood bears witness to His divine identity.

First John 5 contains a textual variant—that is, a place where ancient manuscripts differ in their wording. Some later Greek manuscripts of 1 John include an additional trio of witnesses in verse 7. All Bible translations refer to the Spirit, the water, and the blood in verse 8, but translations based on the Textus Receptus, add a phrase in 1 John 5:7: “the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one” (KJV). Because this trinitarian wording does not appear in the earliest and most reliable Greek manuscripts of 1 John, most modern translations do not include it.

Importantly, the trinitarian variant does not contradict any other passage of Scripture. First, it mentions the Father, who testifies to Jesus’ divine identity elsewhere in Scripture (e.g., Matthew 17:5). Second, it refers to the Word, who is Jesus, affirming that He bears witness to His own identity (e.g., John 8:18). Third, it names the Holy Spirit, whom John cites in the next verse as a witness. Although the theology expressed in the variant reflects biblical truth, using the best and most reliable manuscripts is important to sound Bible translation.

In summary, the Spirit, the water, and the blood bear witness to Jesus’ identity as the Son of God. This aligns with other New Testament passages that affirm this truth, such as when Paul writes that Jesus “was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4). The testimony of the Spirit, the water, and the blood leaves no doubt about who Jesus is.