John 5:34

But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. BUT I RECEIVE NOT TESTIMONY FROM MAN - that is, I depend not on human testimony. That He should have permitted Himself to receive testimony from the Baptist, seemed to the Lord Jesus to need some explanation, lest it should be supposed that He stood in need of it, which therefore He here explicitly says He did not. BUT THESE THINGS I SAY, THAT YE MIGHT (OR 'MAY') BE SAVED. 'If I refer to John's testimony at all, it is but to aid your faith, in order to your salvation.'...

34._I receive not testimony from men. _Yet it was not in vain that God chose Christ to be a witness to him, and Christ himself declares, on another occasion, that the disciples will be his witnesses. You shall be witnesses to me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth, (Acts 1:8.) I reply, Christ avails himself of the_testimony _of John, not because he needs it, but so far as it is advantageous to us to receive from it some confirmation. Men borrow _testimony _from one another, because they cannot dispense with that assistance. The case is different with God and Christ. For if philosophers assert that virtue has no need of foreign aid, what has man in himself to lend support to the truth of God? And Christ immediately adds, that he produces the testimony of

30-38 Our Lord returns to his declaration of the entire agreement between the Father and the Son, and declared himself the Son of God. He had higher testimony than that of John; his works bore witness to all he had said. But the Divine word had no abiding-place in their hearts, as they refused to believe in Him whom the Father had sent, according to his ancient promises. The voice of God, accompanied by the power of the Holy Ghost, thus made effectual to the conversion of sinners, still proclaims that this is the beloved Son, in whom the Father is well pleased. But when the hearts of men are full of pride, ambition, and the love of the world, there is no room for the word of God to abide in them....

Verse 34. _BUT I RECEIVE NOT TESTIMONY FROM MAN_ [only.] I have no need of John's testimony: the works that I do bear sufficient testimony to me, John 5:36. _BUT THESE THINGS I SAY_, c.] You believed John to be a prophet - a prophet cannot lie: he bore testimony that I am the Lamb of God, that beareth away the sin of the world, John 1:29 therefore, that ye may be saved by believing in me as such, I have appealed to John's testimony....

I RECEIVE NOT TESTIMONY FROM MEN - I do not depend for proof of my Messiahship on the testimony of men, nor do I pride myself on the commendations or flattery of men. BUT THESE THINGS ... - “This testimony of John I adduce that you might be convinced. It was evidence of your own seeking. It was clear, full, explicited You ‘sent’ to make inquiry, and he gave you a candid and satisfactory answer. Had you believed that, you would have believed in the Messiah and been saved.” Men are often dissatisfied with the very evidence of the truth of religion which they sought, and on which they professed themselves willing to rely....

EXPOSITION Here commences the second division of the Gospel (John 5:1) II. THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM, GALILEE, AND JERUSALEM, TO THE DEATH SENTENCE RECORDED BY THE SANHEDRIN. JOHN 5:1 1. _Christ proved, by signs and wonders and testimonies, to be Source of life._ JOHN 5:1 (1)

BUT I RECEIVE NOT TESTIMONY FROM MAN,.... He stood in no need of an human testimony, nor did he rest the truth of his deity and divine sonship thereon: he had other and greater testimonies to produce; as he needed not that any man should testify of man to him, he had no need that any man should testify of him; and if the testimony of men was received, as this of John could not well be objected to, the testimony of God is greater, and which he had; and therefore should not have mentioned John's for his own sake: BUT THESE THINGS I SAY, THAT YE MIGHT BE SAVED; that is, he produced this testimony of John, who was a person of so great a character among them, that they might be induced by it to believe in him as the Messiah; and so be saved from that ruin and destruction, that would come upon their nation, city, and temple, for their rejection and disbelief of him....

John 5:24. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,_ If we truly believe the word of Christ, and trust in him who sent his Son into the world, we have at this moment everlasting life. John 5:24. _And shalt not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life._ What a grand verse this is! It is worthy to be written in letters of gold at every street corner; would that we all knew the fullness of its meaning by heartfelt experience! John 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the

SAVED (_ See Scofield) - (Romans 1:16). _...

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (John 5:1 .)_ 2. The Opposition of the Jews. (John 5:10 .) 3. His Unity with the Father. (John 5:19 .) 4. The Present Hour. Believers Delivered from Death and Judgment. (John 5:24 .) 5. The Future Hour. His Power to Raise the Dead. (John 5:26 .) 6. Witness Concerning Himself. (John 5:30 .) 7. The Witness of John. (John 5:33