He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
To accept what Jesus witnesses is to put a personal seal to the fact that God is true and truthful. His witness is that of the One who comes from above and is above all, sent by the Father who loves Him to speak God's own words of what He has seen and heard, with the Spirit given Him without measure and all things placed in His hand. The words were spoken by John the Baptist as Jesus increased and crowds turned to Him, when John turned attention away from himself to Christ as the Promised One whose way he came to prepare, rejoicing in the Bridegroom's voice and accepting that Christ must increase while he decreased. To receive that witness is to receive Christ Himself by faith as Saviour from sin, not with mere nominal belief or theory but with an opened, contrite heart emptied of self that appropriates God's gifts. Those who so receive obtain everlasting life and fulness of grace, becoming sons and daughters of God and receiving the Holy Spirit, while refusal to believe on the Son leaves a person without life under the wrath of God.
Words and Historical Setting
To receive Jesus' testimony is to set one's seal to the fact that God is true and truthful, affirming and confirming God's truthfulness by that acceptance. Whoever accepts what Christ testifies thereby acknowledges that God is true, putting the seal of personal acceptance upon God's veracity.
The testimony so received is that of the One who comes from above and is above all, sent by God to speak God's own words concerning what He has seen and heard. To Him the Father gives the Spirit without measure, because the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Receiving His testimony therefore means accepting the words God gave Him through the Heaven-sent Witness who declares heavenly things.
The saying was spoken by John the Baptist as Jesus' work grew and crowds turned to Him, in defense of Jesus when John's own hold on the people was waning. John directed attention away from himself to the Saviour as the Promised One of Israel whose way he had come to prepare, identifying himself fully with the cause of Christ and finding his greatest joy in its success irrespective of personal interest and above all worldly considerations. He rejoiced to hear the bridegroom's voice, gave Christ the first place, and accepted that Christ must increase while he decreased. The utterance was almost the counterpart of what Jesus had given to Nicodemus in the secret interview, and with its context it was a sermon to the Pharisees clearing the way for Christ's ministry, showing the same spirit in John as in Jesus with corresponding testimony to the same reformatory work. But the Jewish teachers rejected John's message because they would not practice what it taught.
Receiving the testimony means believing the truth God has given about His Son, while many do not accept His witness. To reject it is to treat God as untruthful. His testimony presents the law and the gospel, including the truth in Jesus and the merits of His atoning blood to be claimed by faith, bound together as a perfect whole.
Faith and Its Results
To receive His testimony is to receive Christ Himself by faith, accepting Jesus as Saviour from sin. This receiving is believing the truth God has given about His Son, thereby affirming that God is true, whereas rejecting it treats God as untruthful. Yet very few are ready to accept Him in this way.
Such reception is not mere nominal faith, nor a theory of truth, nor a legal religion. It is an opened, contrite heart on which the Scriptures are impressed with light and understanding. It is possible only as the soul is emptied of self and every thought is brought into captivity to obedience. It is believing to a purpose that appropriates God's gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others.
Those who so receive obtain everlasting life by the grace of Christ that gives life to the soul. They receive God's richest gifts and of His fulness grace for grace. They receive power to become sons and daughters of God. They share in Christ's glory, receive heaven's light, receive the Holy Spirit without measure, and are complete in Him in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Not believing on the Son leaves a person without life under the wrath of God. Baptism and any other service apart from Christ is a worthless form.
Experience and Proclamation
Whoever receives Christ's testimony sets a personal seal to the fact that God is true, and anyone can do this through firsthand experience of Christ's power. Passing from death to life through Christ, finding help in Jesus for every need with the soul's hunger supplied and satisfied, a person comes to know Jesus as a divine Saviour and to know the Bible as God's voice to the soul and the revelation of Christ. That experience enables bearing witness to what has personally been seen and heard and felt of Christ's power, discerning God's character in the process. It gives assurance that Christ is the Son of God and that faith in Him and in the Bible does not rest on cleverly devised stories.
His testimony calls sinners to look away from self and sins and wretchedness to the uplifted Saviour and live. He speaks now as certainly as He spoke to Israel in the wilderness, as Healer of body and soul calling through His Word to look and live, with believing in the Son bringing everlasting life. As long as eyes stay on sins and the wounded condition the wounds remain, but when eyes are taken from self and fastened upon Him the soul finds hope and peace rather than dwelling on its wretchedness. That call presents the truth in Jesus, including the merits of His atoning blood to be claimed by faith.
The testimony of John 3:31-36 is to be sounded throughout the length and breadth of the world so that all may discern the light and walk in the light. The books as truth and righteousness stand as an everlasting testimony that God is true.
The passage in John 3:22-36 is truth to be read carefully, calling for thorough conviction and a work of repentance in the soul. It calls for genuine daily conversion to the mind and will of Christ in order to stand the soon investigative judgment. It calls for speaking kindly earnest words in season to erring ones rather than sporting words of reproof. It calls for soberness against Satan seeking in deceptive style to overcome every soul, while angels of God are present in every place of work to protect every soul from rudeness in word or action.
To accept what Jesus witnesses is to put a personal seal to the fact that God is true and truthful. His witness is that of the One who comes from above and is above all, sent by the Father who loves Him to speak God's own words of what He has seen and heard, with the Spirit given Him without measure and all things placed in His hand. The words were spoken by John the Baptist as Jesus increased and crowds turned to Him, when John turned attention away from himself to Christ as the Promised One whose way he came to prepare, rejoicing in the Bridegroom's voice and accepting that Christ must increase while he decreased. To receive that witness is to receive Christ Himself by faith as Saviour from sin, not with mere nominal belief or theory but with an opened, contrite heart emptied of self that appropriates God's gifts. Those who so receive obtain everlasting life and fulness of grace, becoming sons and daughters of God and receiving the Holy Spirit, while refusal to believe on the Son leaves a person without life under the wrath of God.
Words and Historical Setting
To receive Jesus' testimony is to set one's seal to the fact that God is true and truthful, affirming and confirming God's truthfulness by that acceptance. Whoever accepts what Christ testifies thereby acknowledges that God is true, putting the seal of personal acceptance upon God's veracity.
The testimony so received is that of the One who comes from above and is above all, sent by God to speak God's own words concerning what He has seen and heard. To Him the Father gives the Spirit without measure, because the Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. Receiving His testimony therefore means accepting the words God gave Him through the Heaven-sent Witness who declares heavenly things.
The saying was spoken by John the Baptist as Jesus' work grew and crowds turned to Him, in defense of Jesus when John's own hold on the people was waning. John directed attention away from himself to the Saviour as the Promised One of Israel whose way he had come to prepare, identifying himself fully with the cause of Christ and finding his greatest joy in its success irrespective of personal interest and above all worldly considerations. He rejoiced to hear the bridegroom's voice, gave Christ the first place, and accepted that Christ must increase while he decreased. The utterance was almost the counterpart of what Jesus had given to Nicodemus in the secret interview, and with its context it was a sermon to the Pharisees clearing the way for Christ's ministry, showing the same spirit in John as in Jesus with corresponding testimony to the same reformatory work. But the Jewish teachers rejected John's message because they would not practice what it taught.
Receiving the testimony means believing the truth God has given about His Son, while many do not accept His witness. To reject it is to treat God as untruthful. His testimony presents the law and the gospel, including the truth in Jesus and the merits of His atoning blood to be claimed by faith, bound together as a perfect whole.
Faith and Its Results
To receive His testimony is to receive Christ Himself by faith, accepting Jesus as Saviour from sin. This receiving is believing the truth God has given about His Son, thereby affirming that God is true, whereas rejecting it treats God as untruthful. Yet very few are ready to accept Him in this way.
Such reception is not mere nominal faith, nor a theory of truth, nor a legal religion. It is an opened, contrite heart on which the Scriptures are impressed with light and understanding. It is possible only as the soul is emptied of self and every thought is brought into captivity to obedience. It is believing to a purpose that appropriates God's gifts and pleads for the gift in order to give to others.
Those who so receive obtain everlasting life by the grace of Christ that gives life to the soul. They receive God's richest gifts and of His fulness grace for grace. They receive power to become sons and daughters of God. They share in Christ's glory, receive heaven's light, receive the Holy Spirit without measure, and are complete in Him in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Not believing on the Son leaves a person without life under the wrath of God. Baptism and any other service apart from Christ is a worthless form.
Experience and Proclamation
Whoever receives Christ's testimony sets a personal seal to the fact that God is true, and anyone can do this through firsthand experience of Christ's power. Passing from death to life through Christ, finding help in Jesus for every need with the soul's hunger supplied and satisfied, a person comes to know Jesus as a divine Saviour and to know the Bible as God's voice to the soul and the revelation of Christ. That experience enables bearing witness to what has personally been seen and heard and felt of Christ's power, discerning God's character in the process. It gives assurance that Christ is the Son of God and that faith in Him and in the Bible does not rest on cleverly devised stories.
His testimony calls sinners to look away from self and sins and wretchedness to the uplifted Saviour and live. He speaks now as certainly as He spoke to Israel in the wilderness, as Healer of body and soul calling through His Word to look and live, with believing in the Son bringing everlasting life. As long as eyes stay on sins and the wounded condition the wounds remain, but when eyes are taken from self and fastened upon Him the soul finds hope and peace rather than dwelling on its wretchedness. That call presents the truth in Jesus, including the merits of His atoning blood to be claimed by faith.
The testimony of John 3:31-36 is to be sounded throughout the length and breadth of the world so that all may discern the light and walk in the light. The books as truth and righteousness stand as an everlasting testimony that God is true.
The passage in John 3:22-36 is truth to be read carefully, calling for thorough conviction and a work of repentance in the soul. It calls for genuine daily conversion to the mind and will of Christ in order to stand the soon investigative judgment. It calls for speaking kindly earnest words in season to erring ones rather than sporting words of reproof. It calls for soberness against Satan seeking in deceptive style to overcome every soul, while angels of God are present in every place of work to protect every soul from rudeness in word or action.