John 5:37

John 5:37. And the Father which sent me, he hath home witness concerning me. As if Jesus said: And thus, in the abiding gift of the ‘works,' it is the Father that sent me that hath borne witness of me. ‘Hath borne witness' corresponds with ‘hath given;' each points to the continued possession of a gift bestowed, the Father's abiding presence with Him whom He ‘sent ‘and' sealed (chap. John 6:27). Hence we must not suppose that a new witness of the Father direct (as some say), in contrast with the ‘mediate' testimony of the works is here intended. If the ‘works' include the whole manifestation of the Son, the whole of the tokens of the Father's presence in Him and with Him, they are no ‘mediate' testimony; no testimony can be more direct.

Never have ye either heard a voice of him or seen a form of him. The Father has borne witness, but they have not known His presence. In the words of Jesus He has spoken, and the ear not closed through wilfulness and unbelief would have recognised the voice of God. In the actions and the whole life of Jesus He has manifested Himself, and the spiritual eye, the man ‘pure in heart,' would have ‘seen God.' It had been otherwise with ‘the Jews.' Whilst our Lord had been working in their midst they had heard no voice of the Father, they had seen no form of Him. This was a proof that they had never received in their hearts God's revelation of Himself. Had they done so, had they (to use our Lord's figurative language, no doubt suggested by the thought of the words which He had spoken and the miracles which He had shown to them) ever been acquainted with the Father's voice, they would have recognised it when Jesus spoke: had the eyes of their understanding ever been enlightened so as to see God, they would have seen the Father manifested in their very presence in His Son. What is in these two clauses couched in figurative terms the next clause expresses clearly.