<p>5:7 <i>And it is the Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is the truth</i>- This is included in :6 in some manuscripts. The water and blood are joined by the Spirit as a witness. John began in 4:1 writing of how to tell whether a teacher was a genuine Christian, but he moves on to discuss how we personally can be assured that we are of God. The Comforter was given to empower individual Christian witness (Jn. 15:26,27). If we perceive that our witness to the Lord is empowered and backed up the action of the Spirit, we know that we are of God and have truly received the Spirit by which He abides in us. The outflow of water and blood from the Lord's pierced side spoke of the gift of the Spirit towards His followers; for the Spirit was given because He was glorified (Jn. 7:39). John himself was an example of this; for having made his testimony about the outflow of water and blood, he adds: &quot;And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe&quot; (Jn. 19:35). This testimony was by the Spirit gift, for the Comforter testified and the disciples also testified; their testimony / witness was the witness of the Spirit (Jn. 15:26,27). Thus John there linked together the water, blood and the testimony of the Spirit. &quot;The Spirit is truth&quot; is a clear reference to the Comforter gift as &quot;the spirit of truth&quot; (Jn. 16:13). In 4:6 John has spoken of discerning &quot;the spirit of truth&quot; and &quot;the spirit of error&quot;; all true Christians had &quot;the spirit of truth&quot;, and the Judaist infiltrators with their false claims of Spirit gifts had &quot;the spirit of error&quot;.</p>