John 19:34

What led the soldier to pierce Jesus’ side with his spear (Gr. longche) is unclear and unimportant. Perhaps it was just another senseless act of brutality, or he may have wanted to see if he could get some reaction from Jesus.

It is also unclear why the wound produced a sudden flow of blood and water (cf. 1 John 5:6). Probably the spear pierced Jesus’ heart and its surrounding pericardial sac that contains water. The fluids could have drained out as John described if the spear had entered the body near the bottom of the chest cavity. [Note: See A. F. Sava, "The Wound in the Side of Christ," Catholic Biblical Quarterly 19 (1957):343-46.] Apparently the soldier pierced Jesus’ side before His blood congealed into a solid. This eyewitness testimony stresses the fact that Jesus really did die and that He was a genuine man (cf. John 1:14).

By the end of the first century, when John probably wrote this Gospel, Docetism and Gnosticism were on the rise. Both of these heresies denied that Jesus was a real man. Docetists claimed that Jesus only seemed (Gr. dokeo, "to seem," therefore the name "Docetist") to be fully human. Muslims take a similar view of Jesus. [Note: Koran, Sura 4:156.] Muhammad’s knowledge of Christianity came through docetic sources. [Note: Bruce, p. 382, footnote 38.]

Some interpreters have suspected that John was alluding to the Lord’s Supper and baptism when he mentioned this blood and water. [Note: E.g., Brown, 2:946-53; cf. Westcott, The Gospel . . . Greek Text . . ., 2:328-33.] However, there are no clues in the text that this was John’s intention. Others have seen the blood and water as symbolic of the life and cleansing that metaphorically flow from Jesus’ death. [Note: E.g., Dodd, p. 428; cf. Morris, p. 725.] Again it would be hard to prove or disprove that this was in John’s mind from what he wrote. Still others view it as referring to the Holy Spirit. However these are at best interpretations that rest on similarities. Others have seen a fulfillment of Psalms 69:20 here: "Reproach has broken my heart." Yet John did not make this connection, and Jesus did not die literally of a broken heart.

Several hymn writers have, however, developed this symbolism. For example, Fanny Crosby wrote, "Jesus, keep me near the cross. There a precious fountain, free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calv’ry’s mountain." [Note: Fanny Crosby, "Near the Cross."] Other non-literal interpretations see the water as an allusion to Exodus 17:6. Augustus Toplady wrote, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hid myself in Thee. Let the water and the blood, from thy wounded side which flowed, be of sin the double cure. Cleanse me from its guilt and power." [Note: Augustus Toplady, "Rock of Ages."] I do not mean to denigrate these worthy hymns but to point out that they go beyond the teaching of this passage.