The Scriptures affirm that two to three witnesses are required by God to testify to a truth.

Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses (2 Corinthians 13:1).

Your salvation is a matter of utmost importance because your eternity depends on it. Therefore, three witnesses give testimony to the truth that you are saved.

For there are three that bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood; and the three are in agreement (1 John 5:8; NASB).

Now, to bear witness means to testify that something is true. In the case of 1 John 5, the testimony in question is our salvation—that is, whether or not we have eternal life. The context of the verse shows that this is the topic. We all want a sense of confidence that we have eternal life, and that is the context of the verse above--our assurance that we’ll be resurrected and will enter the Eternal Kingdom someday.

…the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life… These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:11, 13; NASB).

Do you know for certain that you have eternal life? You can feel confident that you have eternal life if you have the triple testimony of the Spirit, the water, and the blood.

• The Spirit testifies by giving you at least one spiritual gift.

• The water testifies through baptism.

• The blood testifies to the degree that you drink from the Lord’s Cup.

You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too (1 Corinthians 10:21).

... he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you' (Luke 22:20).

Assurance of salvation should never be based on feelings or on “faith alone.” Assurance does not consist in comforting words from pastors or congregations. It doesn’t matter whether in your funeral service every single person there talks about what a wonderful person you were. The judgments of man are nothing. They are far outweighed by the judgment of God, and God tells us what the triple testimony is.

Your assurance can only be based on the triple testimony of the Spirit, the water, and the blood. And they must testify in unison. That is, it’s not enough to only have a spiritual gift. It’s not enough to only have been baptized. And it’s not enough to only participate in the Lord’s Supper. The three of these together confirm that we’re truly in Christ. You need the three in unison.

Would you sit on a chair with just one or two legs? Of course not. Stability is a three-legged stool.

We should not trust our feelings on a subject this weighty—a matter of this magnitude! Pastors have no license to allow the eternal security of the believer to be the faith of the believer.

Do you say you have faith? Try rather to ground yourself in the Faith--sound doctrine. Now, sound doctrine says that you’ve repented, have been baptized in water and the Spirit, and that you’re in the New Covenant of Christ’s blood. But simply believing you’re saved will not save you. Such a faith may very well be delusional—whereas demonstrating the genuineness of your stability in the Faith is no delusion. It’s solid evidence.

Faith saves, but only the evidence of the Faith, evidence of the Spirit, the water, and the blood warrants assurance. The testimony of water is a critical part of the triple testimony of your salvation. Have you been baptized in water?