John 5:36

Ver. 36. “ But I have the witness which is greater than [that of] John: for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, these very works that I do bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. ”

The passage relating to John the Baptist was only a remark thrown in in a passing way, an argument ad hominem; Jesus now develops the fact announced at first, John 5:32: the testimony of the Father. The ἐγώ, I, is like that of John 5:34, the antithesis of you, John 5:33; it completes the preceding by adding the affirmation to the negation. For the article the, see on John 5:34: the absolute witness, the only one to which I wish to appeal here.

The absence of the article before μείζω is explained thus: “ the true testimony, which is a testimony greater than.” In the genitive τοῦ᾿Ιωάννου, of John, is ordinarily found the abbreviated form of comparison: “greater than that of John.” May it not be explained more literally: “greater than John,” that is to say, than John testifying in my favor: John identified with his testimony. Meyer, Weiss, Keil, Reuss, etc., understand by the ἔργα, the works of which Jesus speaks, His whole activity in general, and not only His miracles. Weiss alleges for this meaning the whole passage John 5:20-27 on the spiritual resurrection of humanity. But the spiritual works of Jesus do not come under the perception of the senses; in order to believe them, they must have been experienced; they are not, therefore, a testimony for the unbeliever. Moreover, at the moment when Jesus was speaking, they were still to come.

Finally, we must not forget the starting-point of this whole discourse, which is a miracle properly so called. Jesus certainly alludes to the healing of the impotent man and to all the similar works which He is accomplishing every day. Meyer concedes this explanation in the passages John 7:3; John 7:21 and elsewhere; but the context demands it here as well as there. The miracles are designated, on the one side, as gifts of the Father to Jesus; on the other, as works of Jesus Himself. And it is, in fact, by this double right, that they are a testimony of God. If the Son did them by His own force, they would not be a declaration of God on His behalf; and if God performed them directly, without passing through the Son as an organ, the latter could not derive from them a personal legitimation. We may hesitate between the readings ἔδωκε and δέδωκε, both of which are compatible with the following ἵνα τελειώσω. The object of this verb hath given is: the works; God makes a gift to Jesus of His miracles. Then this object is developed by these words: (literally) that I may accomplish them. For these miracles are not given to Him in the form of works done, but of works to be done. This is brought out forcibly by the repetition of the subject in the words: these very works which I (ἐγώ) do. The expression give in order that includes both permission and power. As it is from this double character of the miracle, as a gift of God and a work of Jesus, that the testimony results, it is necessary to keep in the text the word ἐγώ, I, before ποιῶ, which is rejected by some Alexandrian authorities, and which well sets forth the second of these two characteristics. But this testimony of the miracles is still indirect, as compared with another which is altogether personal (John 5:37):