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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 5:31-47

In these verses our Lord Jesus proves and confirms the commission he had produced, and makes it out that he was sent of God to be the Messiah. I. He sets aside his own testimony of himself (John 5:31): ?If I bear witness of myself, though it is infallibly true (John 8:14), yet, according to the common rule of judgment among men, you will not admit it as legal proof, nor allow it to be given in evidence.? Now, 1. This reflects reproach upon the sons of men, and their veracity and integrity.... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 5:31-36

5:31-36 If I bear witness about myself, my witness need not be accepted as true; but it is Another who is bearing witness about me, and I know that the witness which he bears about me is true. You sent your envoys to John, and he bore witness to the truth; but the testimony which I receive is not from any man, but I say these things that you may be saved. He was the lamp which burns and shines. For a time you were pleased to take pleasure in his light. But I have a greater testimony than... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 5:31

If I bear witness of myself ,.... Which was not allowed any man to do; nor indeed is it proper that a man should be a witness in his own cause: and, according to the Jewish canons, a man might not be a witness for his wife, because she was reckoned as himself. "An husband is not to be believed in bearing witness for his wife, that had been carried captive, that she is not defiled, שאין אדם מעיד לעצמו , "for no man witness of himself" F11 Maimon. Issure Bia, c. 18. sect. 19. ... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 5:32

There is another that beareth witness of me ,.... Meaning not his Father, who is another, and a distinct person, from him, as the Spirit is another comforter; and both distinct testifiers from him, as well as of him. This is indeed the sense of some interpreters; but the Father is particularly mentioned in John 5:37 ; and the thread of the discourse, and the climax, or gradation, here used, show, that it is to be understood of "another man", as Nonnus paraphrases it; of John the Baptist,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 5:31

If I bear witness - If I had no proof to bring of my being the Messiah, and equal to God, common sense would direct you to reject my testimony; but the mighty power of God, by which I work my miracles, sufficiently attests that my pretensions are well founded. Bishop Pearce gives a different turn to this verse, by translating it interrogatively, thus: "If I only bear witness of myself, is not my witness true? i.e. is it, on that account, not true? In John 8:14 , he says, Though I bear... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - John 5:32

There is another - God the Father, who, by his Spirit in your prophets, described my person, office, and miracles. You read these scriptures, and you cannot help seeing that they testify of me: - no person ever did answer the description there given, but myself; and I answer to that description in the fullest sense of the word. See John 5:39 . And I know - Instead of οιδα , I know, οιδατε , ye know, is the reading of the Codex Bezae, Armenian, and two of the Itala. Ye believe the... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - John 5:31

Verse 31 31.If I testify concerning myself. He does not here take any thing away from the credit due to his testimony, which he elsewhere asserts in strong terms, but he speaks by way of concession; for Christ, having been in other respects most abundantly supported, consents that they should not believe his word. “If my testimony concerning myself,” says he, “is suspected by you according to the ordinary custom of men, let it go for nothing.” Now we know that what any man asserts about himself... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 5:1-47

1. Christ proved, by signs and wonders and testimonies, to be Source of life. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - John 5:17-47

(3) The reply of Jesus to the hostile Jews. The discourse of the Lord Jesus, in reply to the persecuting spirit and deadly purpose of the Jewish authorities, is now given at length. There is a fulness and order and progress observable throughout of immense importance as establishing the sacred origin of the words. The simplicity of the style, quite Hebraic in its freedom from conjunctive forms, discriminates it from the Philonic presentation of certain analogous but different ideas. If, as... read more

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