John 3:33

He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. HE THAT HATH RECEIVED HIS TESTIMONY HATH SET TO HIS SEAL THAT GOD IS TRUE - gives glory to God whose words Christ speaks, not as prophets and apostles, by a partial communication of the Spirit to them....

33._But he who receiveth his testimony. _Here he exhorts and encourages the godly to embrace boldly the doctrine of the Gospel, as if he had said that there was no reason why they should be ashamed or uneasy on account of their small number, since they have God as the Author of their faith, who alone abundantly supplies to us the place of all the rest. And, therefore, though the whole world should refuse or withhold faith in the Gospel, this ought not to prevent good men from giving their assent to God. They have something on which they may safely rest, when they know that to believe the Gospel is nothing else than to assent to the truths which God has revealed. Meanwhile, we learn that it is peculiar to faith to rely on God, and to be confirmed by his words; for there can be no assent, unless God have, first of all, come forward and spoken. By this doctrine faith is not only distinguish...

22-36 John was fully satisfied with the place and work assigned him; but Jesus came on a more important work. He also knew that Jesus would increase in honour and influence, for of his government and peace there would be no end, while he himself would be less followed. John knew that Jesus came from heaven as the Son of God, while he was a sinful, mortal man, who could only speak about the more plain subjects of religion. The words of Jesus were the words of God; he had the Spirit, not by measure, as the prophets, but in all fulness. Everlasting life could only be had by faith in Him, and might be thus obtained; whereas all those, who believe not in the Son of God, cannot partake of salvation, but the wrath of God for ever rests upon them....

Verse 33. _HATH SET TO HIS SEAL_] That is hath hereby confirmed the truth of the testimony which he has borne; as a testator sets his seal to an instrument in order to _confirm_ it, and such instrument is considered as fully confirmed by having the testator's seal affixed to it, so I, by taking up this testimony of Christ, and proclaiming it to the Jews, have fully confirmed it, as I know it to be a truth; which knowledge I have from the immediate inspiration of the Holy Spirit. See John 1:33....

HE THAT HATH RECEIVED HIS TESTIMONY - Hath received and fully believed his doctrine. Hath yielded his heart to its influence. HATH SET TO HIS SEAL - To “seal” an instrument is to make it sure; to acknowledge it as ours; to pledge our varacity that it is true and binding, as when a man seals a bond, a deed, or a will. Believing a doctrine, therefore, in the heart, is expressed by “sealing it,” or by believing it we express our firm conviction that it is true, and that God who has spoken it is true. We vouch for the veracity of God, and assume as our own the proposition that it is the truth of God. GOD IS TRUE - Is faithful; is the author of the system of doctrines, and will fulfill all that he has promised. We learn here: 1.That to be a true believer is something more than to hold a mere speculative bel

EXPOSITION This is the first of the eleven discourses recorded by this evangelist, and for the most part addressed to the cultivated, hierarcical party in Jerusalem, who questioned him in an unfriendly spirit. On the sources of these records, and the degree to which John's subjectivity coloured his record of them, see Introduction. JOHN 3:1 BUT THERE WAS A MAN OF THE PHARISEES. Is this narrative introduced, as Baur thinks, to give a specimen of wrongly directed faith, to which Christ did _not _entrust himself? and was the evangelist busy at once on his great mission of undervaluing the Jewish parties and nation? Certainly not. We have a clear proof that, in the case of the genuine inquirer, Christ did open His very heart; and to a "ruler of Jews," to a "Pharisee," to a "teacher of Israel," he deigne

HE THAT HATH RECEIVED HIS TESTIMONY,.... For there was here and there one that did, who believed in him as the Messiah, and embraced his Gospel, and submitted to his ordinances, and truly and sincerely followed him: and for the encouragement of such, it is said, HATH SET TO HIS SEAL THAT GOD IS TRUE; faithful in fulfilling the promises he has made concerning the Messiah, and his coming: he firmly believes that God is true to every word of his, and will make good every promise; and this he seals, ratifies, and confirms by his embracing the testimony of Christ; whereas, on the contrary, he that believes not makes God a liar, than which, nothing can be more reproachful to him, 1 John 5:10. The Jews have a saying z that "the seal of the blessed God is truth". The Arabic version renders it, "he is already sealed, because God is true"; and the Ethiopic version, "God hath sealed hi

John 3:13. _And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that come down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven._ We are in the stairway now between heaven and earth; Christ has came down; Christ has gone up, and yet he was always there; a mystery, but one that is true, and new. Today we can go up by thought and prayer, and blessings can come down; and Christ is always there. «He is at the Father's side, the Man of Love, the Crucified.» John 3:14. _And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life._ What a glorious word! Here is the gospel in a verse, the whole Bible in a line or two. If we believe in him this morning, we have eternal life; not me

II. ETERNAL LIFE IMPARTED: What it is and What it Includes Chapter 2:23-17 The second part of this Gospel contains the blessed teachings the Son of God gave concerning eternal life, how it is imparted and what it includes. Everything in these Chapter s is new. The story of Nicodemus, the woman at Sychar's well, the healing of the impotent man, the discourses of our Lord, etc., are not reported by the synoptic Gospels. There is not a word of the Sermon on the Mount reported by John; the many miracles, so significantly arranged in Matthew, are omitted (except the feeding of the 5000); nor do we find a single parable concerning the Kingdom of Heaven. The progressive revelation concerning eternal life will be brought out in the annotations. As already stated the teachings begin with the new birth, in which eternal life is imparted, and end with the destiny of those who are born again. This...

THE LAST APPEARANCE OF THE BAPTIST. Convinced that the nation is not ripe for Messianic teaching, Jesus falls back on preparatory work similar to that of John, who was continuing his work at Æ non near Salim. In Eusebius-' time this was identified with a place on the borders of Galilee and Samaria not far from Bethshan. Modern explorers favour a place called - Aynun, north of the Salim near Nablus. The evangelist notes that John's imprisonment did not take place, as the earlier gospels (Mark 1:14) seem to imply, before the beginning of Jesus-' public work. A dispute arose between John's disciples and a Jew about purification, probably leading to a comparison of the cleansing power of the two baptisms. The disciples of John are jealous for their master's honour, hardly an impossibility (Wellhausen) after the witness borne by him to the superiority of Jesus. The splendid answer of self-den...