John 5:44

John 5:44. How can ye believe, receiving glory one of another? As in the preceding verses, the word receive is to be understood as implying a desire and a ‘seeking' on their part. Such love of honour from men is altogether inconsistent with the ‘believing' of which our Lord speaks. He is not referring to a merely intellectual act, but to an act which is also moral, not to believing an assertion, but to believing in Him. Where there is self-seeking there can be no true faith.

And the glory that is from the only God ye seek not. They who thus sought glory from men sought not glory from ‘the only God.' The Jews were the champions of the doctrine of the unity of God, and, in the very pursuits and aims which our Lord condemns, persuaded themselves that they sought the glory of God and merited reward. But with such aims it was impossible to please Him, and thus they missed the recompense which comes from ‘the only God,' who is the ‘only' dispenser of true glory.