(B) This view is often combined with the theory that, at least in v 8, the term “water” means the sacrament of baptism, the term “blood” then symbolizing the eucharist.12 (C) Another theory, propounded by G. Richter, is that the term “water” refers to one of the two elements from which the human body is composed and first formed in the mother’s womb, the other being blood.13 By not affirming that Jesus came in blood as well as in water the author’s adversaries were in effect denying that Jesus was