John 8:13

‘The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You bear witness of yourself, your witness is not true”.'

The Pharisees were not, however, pleased. They recognised the enormity of His claim, and they replied, ‘You testify about yourself. What you say is not true'. They were no doubt appalled that a man should claim to be the light of the world, and that in the context of the festal light which pointed to the presence of God with His people as revealed by that light. In their eyes it was almost as though He was taking men's minds away from the glory of God and pointing them to Himself. Their prejudice prevented them from giving fair consideration to His life and teaching and they therefore fell back on claiming that what a man says about himself carries no weight. Indeed their Rabbinic law of evidence stated that a man's own testimony to himself was invalid.