1 John 5:8 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And there are three that bear witness in earth, &c.— "And in concurring testimony with these three divine Persons in heaven, who subsist in the unity of the Godhead, and have given their distinct attestations to the saving office ofChrist, there are three practical witnesses to the same upon earth. One of these lies in the miraculous gifts and saving graces of the Holy Spirit: another is the spotless purity of Christ's human nature and life (Hebrews 7:26.), and his holy doctrine, by means of which the souls of believers are sanctified, and cleansed, as it were, with clean water (John 17:17. 1 Peter 1:22.Ezekiel 36:25.), as was signified, not only by John's baptism, which pointed to Christ for this benefit (Matthew 3:11.); but also by our Lord's own institution of the standing ordinance of Christian baptism in the name of the sacred Three, which is a solemn and holy dedication of the baptized to the Son, together with the Father and the Holy Ghost: and the third of these witnesses is the Blood of the New Testament; which was shed for many for the remission of sins, as represented in the Lord's supper (Matthew 26:28.), and is applied to purge the consciences of true believers from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14.); and these three, though they be not one in nature or essence, nor are to be considered personally, as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost are; yet they harmoniously agree (u949?ις το εν) unto the bearing of one and the same practical testimony among themselves on earth, and with the adorable Three in heaven, as to Christ's being the divine and only Saviour of sinners." The whole context shews, that the witness here given to Christ, relates most immediately to his character as the great Messiah, or incarnate Son of God; and therefore he, as the Word, denoting his divine nature, under which he is mentioned as a witness to this character, 1 John 5:7 is a proper witness of it as either the Father or the Spirit: and I take the Spirit in this verse to relate, not to his personal attestation to this character of Christ, which he gave as one of the witnesses in heaven, 1 John 5:7 but to his gifts and graces, since that which is born of the Spirit is called spirit (John 3:6.), and these witness to Christ on earth, as they appear, and evidently operate in and by the subjects of them on earth, in confirmation of the doctrine of the gospel concerning him.