But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
These words were spoken at the second Passover after the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda on the Sabbath, an act done to free the day from the restrictions heaped upon it. They belong to the answer given to the uproar and controversy in the temple court over the Sabbath law after the declaration My Father worketh hitherto, and I work claimed equal rights with God in sacred work of the same character as the Father's. The accusers were incensed at Him for breaking the Sabbath according to their understanding and for making Himself equal with God, so that only the interference of the people kept them from slaying Him on the spot.
By saying He receives not testimony from man, He declares that He does not depend on, rely on, or need human testimony, including John's, to establish, validate, or sustain His claims, authority, identity, and work in connection with the Father. No man can sustain His claims about His work with the Father, because no man can witness concerning the mysterious connection of Jesus with the Father, and human knowledge cannot reach the courts of heaven. He speaks of these things, of John and of the other witnesses to Him, not for Himself but so that His hearers, opponents, and persecutors might be convinced and saved. He points to John's testimony, His own works, and the Father's witness as greater testimony and reasons to believe rather than reject the light, to convince them of their blindness and inconsistency, even as they refused to come to Him for life.
John was a temporary light whose witness was true, but its light came from Christ, the true Light and the only source of light and life for sinful people. John testified to the truth, pointed to Christ, identified Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, and the one sent from heaven, and his mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus, including his statement about the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time. John's witness exposes the hearers' inconsistency, for they had sent to John and received his true witness, welcomed and accepted him as a prophet, and for a season rejoiced in his light, and his light had already brought conviction. Yet they rejected the one he identified as the Christ and Redeemer, and the teachers rejected John when his message exposed their conduct. The verse belongs to the instruction in the fifth and sixth chapters of John that is the mystery of godliness. It is to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.
These words were spoken at the second Passover after the healing of the paralytic at Bethesda on the Sabbath, an act done to free the day from the restrictions heaped upon it. They belong to the answer given to the uproar and controversy in the temple court over the Sabbath law after the declaration My Father worketh hitherto, and I work claimed equal rights with God in sacred work of the same character as the Father's. The accusers were incensed at Him for breaking the Sabbath according to their understanding and for making Himself equal with God, so that only the interference of the people kept them from slaying Him on the spot.
By saying He receives not testimony from man, He declares that He does not depend on, rely on, or need human testimony, including John's, to establish, validate, or sustain His claims, authority, identity, and work in connection with the Father. No man can sustain His claims about His work with the Father, because no man can witness concerning the mysterious connection of Jesus with the Father, and human knowledge cannot reach the courts of heaven. He speaks of these things, of John and of the other witnesses to Him, not for Himself but so that His hearers, opponents, and persecutors might be convinced and saved. He points to John's testimony, His own works, and the Father's witness as greater testimony and reasons to believe rather than reject the light, to convince them of their blindness and inconsistency, even as they refused to come to Him for life.
John was a temporary light whose witness was true, but its light came from Christ, the true Light and the only source of light and life for sinful people. John testified to the truth, pointed to Christ, identified Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, and the one sent from heaven, and his mission was solely to prepare the way for Jesus, including his statement about the baptism of Jesus and the wonderful manifestations of God at that time. John's witness exposes the hearers' inconsistency, for they had sent to John and received his true witness, welcomed and accepted him as a prophet, and for a season rejoiced in his light, and his light had already brought conviction. Yet they rejected the one he identified as the Christ and Redeemer, and the teachers rejected John when his message exposed their conduct. The verse belongs to the instruction in the fifth and sixth chapters of John that is the mystery of godliness. It is to be studied, made a part of life, and brought into daily experience, giving the knowledge that enables distinguishing the true from the false in days of peril.