John 5:31–47

5:31–32, 45–47 Testimony and Accusation. Jesus seems to recognize that he is making claims his accusers do not believe, and so he states, “If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true” (v. 31). He seems to be acknowledging that his claims are difficult to believe and that people should demand strong evidence before believing his claim that he is “equal with God” (v. 18), and strong evidence is exactly what Jesus begins to provide: “There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true” (v. 32). There are six references to “bearing witness” and four references to “testimony” in verses 31–39. Throughout this passage Jesus is adducing witnesses who testify that he is the one sent by the Father.

In addition to emphasizing testimony to the truth in verses 31–32, an accusation will be brought against the guilty in verses 45–47. Just as Jesus recognizes that his own testimony is disputed and thus brings witnesses on his behalf (vv. 33–39), so also he recognizes that since he himself stands accused by the Jews (cf. v. 18), they will not countenance his accusations against them. Accordingly, Jesus asserts that Moses—whose authority they recognize—will accuse them (vv. 45–47).

Just as he acknowledged the disputed nature of his testimony (v. 31), so also Jesus acknowledges the disputed nature of his accusation: “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father” (v. 45a). And just as he had stated that another testifies (v. 32), so also he states that another accuses: “There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope” (v. 45b). The Jews have set their hope on Moses in the sense that they think the Mosaic law stands against Jesus and for them. Jesus turns what they thought was evidence for their case into evidence against them and for him, asserting, “If you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me” (v. 46). Here Jesus claims that the whole string of promises beginning in Genesis 3:15, moving through Genesis 5:29 to 12:1–3 to 49:8–12, and continuing on to Numbers 24:17 and Deuteronomy 18:15–18 and many points elsewhere finds its fulfillment in him.¹

Jesus asserts, “If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:47). Here Jesus acknowledges that his opponents do not interpret the Pentateuch in a way that finds its promises fulfilled in him. Jesus regards this as unbelief. He speaks of this not as a difference in interpretation but as a refusal to believe what Moses wrote. If they do not believe what Moses wrote, they will not believe the claims of the one of whom Moses prophesied.

5:33–35, 41–44 The Baptist’s Lamp and True Glory. Jesus has mentioned another who bears witness about him (5:32), and then builds toward the assertion that the Father bears witness to him (v. 37) by beginning with the testimony of John the Baptist: “You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth” (v. 33). This sending to John is probably the encounter in 1:19–28. The truths to which John bore witness are that Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit (1:33), that the Father sent Jesus, and that believing the one who sent Jesus delivers from judgment (5:24).

Jesus explains why he appeals to John the Baptist: “Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved” (v. 34). Being the Word made flesh, Jesus does not need the testimony of the Baptist. He is moving toward testimony that comes from the Father, not man, which he will explain in verses 36–37. But here Jesus is seeking to convince those who do not believe his claims, and to do so he appeals to the testimony of the Baptist.

Jesus speaks of John the Baptist’s role in verse 35: “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.” The Baptist was not the light, but he bore witness to the light (1:7–8). The light that came from the Baptist in his role as a “burning and shining lamp” (5:35) was pointing to the “the true light” (1:9), “the light of the world” (8:12): Jesus. Jesus indicates that his opponents enjoyed the Baptist’s light for a short time.

John the Baptist’s light pointed to Christ’s radiant glory. Just as Jesus said, “I do not receive testimony from man” (5:34 AT), so now he says, “I do not receive glory from people” (v. 41). Jesus is neither authenticated by the Baptist’s testimony nor made glorious by the light from the Baptist’s lamp. Jesus is authentic. Jesus is glorious.

Jesus next states the reason his opponents reject his testimony and do not believe: “I know that you do not have the love of God within you” (v. 42). Those who love God will not merely enjoy the Baptist’s lamp for a short while; they will allow the Baptist to point them to Jesus (cf. 1:35–37). Those who love God will love the one whom God sent, not try to kill him (cf. 5:18).

As proof that his opponents do not love God, Jesus explains, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (v. 43). Jesus seems to be describing how people are believed when they give their word of honor, when they base their claims on their own integrity. Jesus has based his claims on the honor and integrity of the Father. The Father sent him—he has come on behalf of the Father—yet they have not received him. Jesus has come from God, and that his opponents do not receive him is proof that they place the opinion of men over the opinion of God.

Jesus then asks, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (v. 44). Those who allow the esteem of other humans, the opinions of men, to inform their value system will not be able to believe what they cannot see. So much of what the Bible teaches must be taken on faith (in the full, not trite, sense of the phrase). Those who accept the arguments Jesus makes in this chapter take his word that the Father, whom they cannot see, has sent Jesus, and so they believe him. Jesus here says that those who care primarily about glory from other people will be unable to believe.

In order to believe that God the Father sent Jesus, that Jesus is indeed God the Son, one must “seek the glory that comes from the only God” (v. 44). That is to say, one must care more about the glory of God than about the glory of people. The glory that comes from people is temporary; the glory that comes from God is forever. The glory that comes from people is often false, based on mistaken impressions, unwarranted, or unearned. The glory that comes from God is true, for God never makes mistakes, never fails, never operates on false impressions or wrong estimations; everything that God does inspires awe. The glory that comes from God is worth infinitely more than the glory that comes from people.

5:36–37a, 39–40 The Father, the Miracles, and the Scriptures Testify. Jesus has spoken of another who bears witness about him (v. 32) and has mentioned John the Baptist’s testimony (vv. 33–35). He then declares, “The testimony that I have is greater than that of John” (v. 36a). This indicates that it was not the testimony of the Baptist that Jesus referenced in verse 32. He continues, “For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me” (v. 36b). This statement shows that the dispute from earlier in the chapter has continued, and Jesus is arguing the truth of verse 24—believing that the Father sent Jesus results in salvation.

In verse 36 Jesus explains that his ability to heal the lame man (vv. 1–9) ought to validate the goodness of what he is doing. It ought to prove to his opponents that he comes from God, that God sent him, and that God’s power is at work in him. The works that Jesus does show that God has sent him (v. 36; cf. v. 24).

The works bear witness, as does the Father. Jesus continues, “The Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me” (v. 37a). The Baptist bore witness in 1:32–33 that the one who sent him to baptize informed him that the one on whom the Spirit would come down and remain would baptize with the Holy Spirit. The Father bore witness about Jesus by sharing these truths with the Baptist and by sending the Spirit to Jesus.

The Father testified to Jesus by sending the Spirit to remain upon him, and the Father also testified to Jesus by the Spirit’s inspiration of the Scriptures that are fulfilled in Christ. Jesus explains, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (5:39–40). The Jews search the Scriptures but do not find God’s testimony to the seed of the woman, of Abraham, of Judah and David, who would accomplish salvation. They seek life from the Scriptures but do not realize that the Scriptures testify to Jesus, that only by believing in the one the Father sent could they have the life they seek (cf. Acts 13:27).

The opponents of Jesus base their hope on the Bible, the OT (John 5:39, 45), but they have missed the point of the Bible, that God will raise up the seed of the woman to kill the dragon and rescue his bride, to crush the head of the serpent and save his people through judgment for his own glory. This Jesus fulfills. This the opponents of Jesus fail to see.

5:37b–38 Knowing God. At the end of verse 37 Jesus puts his finger on his opponents’ problem, and his words continue through verse 38. This statement is at the center of the chiastic structure of 5:31–47. What Jesus says here explains much: why his opponents react negatively to his healing on the Sabbath; why they reject his argument that the Father’s continuing to work validates what he himself does on the Sabbath; why they reject his explanation that he does only what the Father does; and why they reject the testimony of the Baptist, the miracles, the Father, and the Scriptures. Ultimately, what Jesus says in verses 37–38 explains why his opponents will crucify him.

Jesus had referred to the way the Father bore witness to him at the beginning of verse 37, and he continues by saying, “His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent” (vv. 37b–38). What Jesus says at the end of verse 37 and the beginning of verse 38 is reminiscent of Deuteronomy 4:12: “The Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.” Whereas those who experienced what Moses described had heard God’s voice when he spoke the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai, the opponents of Jesus have neither seen God’s form nor heard God’s voice.

If they had heard God’s voice in the Scriptures, they would have believed the one who sent Jesus (cf. John 5:38–39, 45–46). If they had seen Jesus for who he was, they would have seen the image and likeness of God (cf. 14:9; Col 1:15). If they had believed Jesus, they would have abided in his word, and God’s word—Jesus—would have abided in them (John 15:4–7).

The opponents of Jesus do not believe him. Thus, they do not hear the voice of God—for when Jesus speaks, God speaks! They do not see the form of God—for Jesus is the image of the unseen God. They do not have God’s word—the written word in the Scriptures and the living Word, Christ—abiding in them.