And there are three that bear witness on earth
To the same truth of the sonship of Christ:
the Spirit, and the water, and the blood;
by the "Spirit" is not meant the human Spirit or soul of Christ;
for however that may be a witness of the truth of his human
nature, yet not of his divine sonship: and moreover cannot be
said to be a witness in earth; rather the Gospel, called the
Spirit, which is a testimony of Christ's person, office, and
graces and is preached by men on earth; or else the gifts of the
Spirit bestowed on men on earth, both in an extraordinary and
ordinary way, by which they have been qualified to bear witness
to this truth; or it may be the Holy Spirit itself is intended,
as he is in the hearts of his people here on earth, where he not
only witnesses to the truth of their sonship, but also of the
sonship of Christ, and is that witness a believer has within
himself of it, mentioned in ( 1 John 5:10 ) . By
water is designed, not internal sanctification, which though an
evidence of regeneration and adoption, yet not of Christ's
sonship; but water baptism, as administered on earth in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; and which
is a noble and standing testimony to the proper, natural, and
eternal sonship of Christ: and by "blood" is intended, not
justification by the blood of Christ, but rather the blood of the
saints, the martyrs of Jesus, who have shed it on earth, in
testimony of their faith in the Son of God, and thereby sealing
the truth of it; or rather the ordinance of the Lord's supper,
which is the communion of the blood of Christ; and represents
that blood which was shed for the remission of sins, and has a
continual virtue to cleanse from all sin, which is owing to his
being the Son of God. The three witnesses on earth seem therefore
to be the Gospel, attended with the Spirit and power of God, and
the two ordinances of baptism, and the Lord's supper:
and these agree in one;
in their testimony of Christ, the word and ordinances agree
together; and the sum and substance of them is Christ; they come
from him, and centre in him; they are like the cherubim over the
mercy seat, that looked to one another, and to that; and the two
ordinances are the church's two breasts, which are equal, and
like to one another; there is a great agreement between them,
they are like to two young roes that are twins.