When he goes on to testify, ὁ ἑμρακὼς … it is not the phenomenon of the blood and water he so emphatically certifies, but the veritable death of Christ. To one who was about to relate a resurrection it was a necessary preliminary to establish the bona-fide death. That John here speaks of himself in the third person is quite in his manner. Here, as in chap. 20, he shows that he understood the value of an eye-witness's testimony. It is that which constitutes his μαρτυρία as ἀληθινή, it is adequate. Besides being adequate, its contents are true, ἀληθῆ. “Testimony may be sufficient (e.g., of a competent eye-witness) but false; or it may be insufficient (e.g., of half-witted child) but true. St. John declares that his testimony is both sufficient and true.” Plummer. The reason of his utterance, or record of these facts, is ἵνα ὑμεῖς πιστεύσητε, “that ye might believe,” first, this record, and through it in Jesus and His revelation.

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Old Testament