Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.
Parallel Translations
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Jesus answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.
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Iesus answered and sayde vnto them: Though I beare recorde of my selfe yet my recorde is true: for I knowe whence I came and whyther I goo. But ye cannot tell whence I come and whyther I goo.
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Iesus answered, and sayde vnto them, Though I beare recorde of my selfe, yet my recorde is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go: but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I goe.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to John 8:14 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God,
- John 16:28 I came from the Father, and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”
- John 8:42 Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
- John 14:10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- Numbers 12:3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth.
- John 17:8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me.
- Revelation 3:14 “To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:
- Nehemiah 5:14-19 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people; but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God. Yes, I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn’t buy any land. All my servants were gathered there to the work. Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, in addition to those who came to us from among the nations that were around us. Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. Remember me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.
- John 7:27-29 However we know where this man comes from, but when the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.” Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
- John 9:29-30 We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don’t know where he comes from.” The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
- John 10:15 even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
- John 10:36 do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
- 2 Corinthians 11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ, he who is blessed forever more, knows that I don’t lie.
- 2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become foolish in boasting. You compelled me, for I ought to have been commended by you, for I am in no way inferior to the very best apostles, though I am nothing.
- 2 Corinthians 12:19 Again, do you think that we are excusing ourselves to you? In the sight of God we speak in Christ. But all things, beloved, are for your edifying.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 14. Though I testify concerning myself. Christ replies, that…
14. Though I testify concerning myself. Christ replies, that his testimony possesses sufficient credit and authority, because he is not a private person belonging to the great body of men, but holds a very different station. For when he says, that he knoweth whence he came, and whither he goeth, he thus excludes himself from the ordinary rank of men. The meaning therefore is, that every man is heard with suspicion in his own cause, and it is provided by the laws, that no man shall be believed, when he speaks for his own advantage. But this does not apply to the Son of God, who holds a rank above the whole world; for he is not reckoned as belonging to the rank of men, but has received from his Father this privilege, to reduce all men to obedience to him by a single word.
I know whence I came. By these words he declares that his origin is not from the world, but that he proceeded from God, and therefore that it would be unjust and unreasonable that his doctrine, which is Divine, should be subjected to the laws of men. But as he was at that time clothed with the form of a servant, in consequence of which they despised him on account of the mean condition of the flesh, he sends them away to the future glory of his resurrection, from which his Divinity, formerly hidden and unknown, received a clear demonstration. That intermediate condition, therefore, ought not to have prevented the Jews from submitting to God’s only ambassador, who had been formerly promised to them in the Law.
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But you know not whence I came, and whither I go. He means that his glory is not at all diminished by their unbelief. Again, as he has given the same testimony to us, our faith ought to despise all the reports and slanders of wicked men; for it cannot be founded upon God without rising far above the loftiest pride of the world. But in order that we may perceive the majesty of his Gospel, we ought always to direct our eyes to the heavenly glory of the Son of God, and to hear him speaking in the world, so as to remember whence he came, and what authority he now possesses, after having discharged his embassy. For as he humbled himself for a time, so now he is highly exalted at the right hand of the Father, that every knee may bow to him, (Philippians 2:10.)
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That which he denied afore, John 5:31, must be…
That which he denied afore, John 5:31, must be taken by a manner of granting, for in that place he framed himself somewhat to the humor of his hearers, which acknowledged nothing in Christ but his humanity, and therefore he was content they should set light by his own witness, unless it were otherwise confirmed. But in this place he standeth for the maintenance of his Godhead, and praiseth his Father, who is his witness, and agreeth with him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I…
14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.
Ver. 14. Yet my record is true] i.e. For I am "Amen, the faithful and true witness," Rev 3:14, yea, the God of Amen, Isa 65:16, and so the only sufficient witness concerning myself.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain There is a seeming difficulty to reconcile the words…
There is a seeming difficulty to reconcile the words of our Saviour, Joh 5:31, If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true, and his assertion here,
Though I bear record of myself, my record is true: but the resolution of it is clear by considering that he speaks in the former chapter of his own single testimony with respect to them, as not of sufficient validity to authorize his Divine vocation, according to the rule of their law, that required a double testimony for confirmation of things; but here he speaks of the verity of it in itself.
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For I know whence I came, and whither I go; that is, I know from whom I have received my commission, (though secret to the world), even from the Father: and yet, after the accomplishing of my embassy for his honour, I shall return to heaven, and be glorified with the glory I had with him before the world was, Joh 17:5. The reason alleged implies his being the Son of God; and his Father’s entire approbation of his office, and fidelity in the discharge of it; and the concurrent testimony of the Father with him: therefore his record was authentic and true. But they did not believe his mission from heaven, nor that he was to ascend thither, and accordingly did not value his testimony.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And yet if I judge, my judgment is true,....…
And yet if I judge, my judgment is true,.... Because he saw not as man did, nor looked unto, and judged according to the outward appearance of things; but looked into the heart, and knew what was in it, being the searcher and trier of it; to whom all things are naked and open, and therefore cannot be deceived or imposed upon; his judgment must be sure and infallible:
for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me; he was not separate from the Father, or at a distance from him, when he was here on earth; he was in his bosom, and in heaven, as the Son of God, when as the son of man, he was below; nor was he alone in his testimony and judgment, the Father joined with him therein: and which is a further proof of the truth of his testimony, and the certainty of his judgment.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 14. I know whence I came] I came…
Verse 14. I know whence I came] I came from God, and am going to God, and can neither do nor say any thing but what leads to and glorifies him.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Jesus answered ... - To this objection Jesus replied…
Jesus answered ... - To this objection Jesus replied by saying, first, that the case was such that his testimony alone ought to be received; and, secondly, that he had the evidence given him by his Father. Though, in common life, in courts, and in mere human transactions, it was true that a man ought not to give evidence in his own case, yet in this instance, such was the nature of the case that his word was worthy to be believed.
My record - My evidence, my testimony.
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Is true - Is worthy to be believed.
For I know whence I came ...but ye ... - I know by what authority I act; I know by whom I am sent, and what commands were given me; but you cannot determine this, for you do not know these unless I bear witness of them to you. We are to remember that Jesus came not of himself Joh 6:38; that he came not to do his own will, but the will of his Father. He came as a witness of those things which he had seen and known Joh 3:11, and no man could judge of those things for no man had seen them. As he came from heaven; as he knew his Father’s will; as he had seen the eternal world, and known the counsels of his Father, so his testimony was worthy of confidence. As they had not seen and known these things, they were not qualified to judge. An ambassador from a foreign court knows the will and purposes of the sovereign who sent him, and is competent to bear witness of it. The court to which he is sent has no way of judging but by his testimony, and he is therefore competent to testify in the case. All that can be demanded is that he give his credentials that he is appointed, and this Jesus had done both by the nature of his doctrine and his miracles.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Although I give testimony (or witness) of myself, my…
Although I give testimony (or witness) of myself, my testimony is true. He gives them the reason, ver. 16; because he is not alone, but the Father (who also beareth witness) is also with him. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain for I know whence I came, and whither I…
for I know whence I came, and whither I go, &c.--(See on Joh 7:28).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 14. Though I bear record] Better, even if I…
14. Though I bear record] Better, even if I bear witness. God can testify respecting Himself, and there are truths to which He alone can testify. Yet He condescends to conform to the standard of human testimony, and adds to His witness the words and works of His incarnate Son; who in like manner can bear witness of Himself, being supported by the witness of the Father (Joh_8:16).
and whither I go] i.e. by Death and Ascension.
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but ye cannot tell] Better, But ye know not. They knew neither of these points respecting themselves; how should they know it respecting Him? Man knows not either the origin or the issue of his life. ‘Ye’ is emphatic.
whence I came, and whither I go] For ‘and’ read or with the best MSS. Note the change from ‘came,’ which refers to the Incarnation, His having once come from the Father, to ‘come,’ which refers to His perpetual presence with mankind. Note also the balanced parallelism of the verse and comp. Joh_8:35; Joh_8:38, Joh_7:6.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (14) Though I bear record of myself, yet my…
(14) Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true.—For “record” read in each instance witness, as in Joh_8:13. The pronoun is emphatic. “Even if I do bear witness of Myself, yet My witness is true.” He had before quoted their law of evidence (Joh_5:31), and showed that He fulfilled its canons. He is about to show this again (Joh_8:17-18), but He claims first that in reality the law cannot apply to Him. They claim a human proof of that which transcends human knowledge. They claim the evidence of a witness, to a truth for which there could not possibly be a human witness.
For I know whence I came, and whither I go.—The requirement of two witnesses was based on the imperfection of individual knowledge, and the untrustworthiness of individual veracity. His evidence, as that of One who knew every circumstance affecting that of which He testified, was valid, for the perfection of His knowledge implied that He was divine. He and He only of all who have appeared in human form, knew the origin and issue of His life; He and He only knew the Father’s home from which He came, and to which He was about to return. For the same words, “I go,” or, I go away, as applied to His voluntary death, comp. Joh_7:33.
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But ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.—The Greek word for “cannot tell” is the same as that for “know” in the previous clause. For “and” most of the better MSS. read or. Making these corrections we have, But ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. The change of tense is to be noted. Speaking of His own knowledge, He refers to the Incarnation in the historic past, “I came.” Speaking of their continued ignorance, He refers to the coming as continuing in the present. Every renewed act and word was a coming to them from God. (See Joh_3:31.) He knew, in the fulness of knowledge, the whence of past coming and the whither of future going. They knew neither the one nor the other. They do not even know His present mission. Once again His present teaching takes up words uttered before. They had said, “When the Christ cometh no man knoweth whence He is” (Joh_7:27). He has, then, fulfilled their test. He had said, “Ye both know Me, and do know whence I am” (Joh_7:28); but that knowledge was of the earthly life only, and He now speaks to them of heaven.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I…
Jesus answered and said to them, Even if I bear witness concerning myself in case I bear testimony, I, being who and what I am, and surrounded by Divine attestations, charged with a consciousness of a whole army and legion of approving witnesses, and, above all, with the Father"s own testimony to memy witness is true I satisfy in superlative fashion your own demand and also my own conceded testbecause I know oida , with clear undisturbed self-consciousness I know, absolutely, invincibly, with perfect possession of the past and futurewhence I came, and whither I am going. The whole of our Christian verities turn upon the consciousness by Jesus of that which lay before and after that human life of his. He embraced the two eternities in his inward self-consciousness. That whence" and that "whither," with all their infinite sublimity and solemnity, give adequate evidence and sufficient weight to his personal claim to be the Light of the world, because he is the temporary Embodiment of the eternal life which was with the Father, but is manifest to men. (cf. 1Jn_1:4) But ye know not whence I come am ever coming forth to you with Divine judgment and calls of mercynorwhither I am going. "Neither the one nor the other;" not that Christ had not repeatedly told them in various and most expressive form. They could neither grasp the origin of his Personality, nor the method in which, as Messiah, through suffering, through an equation of his lot with man"s (through the form of a slave and the death of a cross), he was doing the Father"s will. (cf. notes, Joh_7:27, 28 9:29)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Though I bear record of Myself, yet My record…
Joh_8:14-17
Though I bear record of Myself, yet My record is true
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The self-evidencing power of the Sun of Righteousness
The sun pours forth his beams so that it becomes bright day, and we question not his being the sun, because he bears witness of himself; and shall we say to the eternal Sun, who is shedding His light upon us, Thou bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is not true?
Be that far from us! A light not only reveals other things, but itself also. Therefore the light bears witness of itself; the eye, if healthy, it brightens up and is its own witness that we may know it as being the light. (Augustine.)
Christs witness to Himself
Consider what this witness is. If any of us know a holy man, we know a humble man. The holiest are the most conscious of their sinfulness. It is not a fashion of speech. It is not cant or hypocrisy. The writer who is perfectly satisfied with his lines is not a poet. The painters or sculptors who have no noble dissatisfaction with their work may be ingenious and dexterous, but they are not artists. They have none of that straining forward to an unattained ideal of beauty which is the heritage of genius. So, too, the man who is perfectly content with his own spiritual condition may have a mechanical regularity of habit. He may be a respectable Pharisee; but he is utterly without saintliness, which is, as it were, the genius of goodness. Now Jesus had the loftiest idea of duty. He was also the meekest and humblest of men. Yet in His life there is one fundamental difference from the lives of the saints. They are full of burning words of penitence; they are burdened with cries of confession. But we have long discourses of Jesus. We have one soliloquy with His Father in chap. 17. Yet there is no confession of sin. He can bare His noble breast to His enemies, and say, Which of you convinceth Me of sin? He can go further: He can declare, The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me. Farther yet--in those solemn moments when death is near; when moral natures, seemingly made of the strongest granite, crack and crumble before the fire of eternity--He can lift His calm and trustful eyes to heaven and say, I have glorified Thee on the earth; I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do. And with this we know that His spiritual insight was so keen and piercing, that not one mote could have floated on the tide of his purity without being detected by that eagle eye; that one speck or stain could not have rested on the very skirts of the garment of His humanity without soiling in His sight the raiment that was white as snow. This holy Man, with the highest idea of duty; this humble Man, who prays falling upon His face; this keen-sighted Man, who sees further into sin than any other, declares that His life and the perfect rule of goodness are in unbroken harmony. What witness is comparable to this witness of Jesus to Himself? (Bp. Alexander.)
Ye judge after the flesh: I Judge no man.--Is this not in conflict with Joh_5:22, and with the whole tenor of the New Testament, viz., that Christ is the present and final Judge of all men? No. Christ was indeed Judge; but there were some manner of judgments which He never exercised, and had no commission to execute; for He did all His Fathers will.
1. Christ usurps no mans jurisdiction; that were against justice.
2. Christ imputes no false things to any man; that were against charity.
3. Christ induces no man to desperation; that were against faith: and against justice, charity, and faith, Christ judges not. Christ, then, judgeth not
I. IN SECULAR JUDGMENTS.
1. In civil matters (Luk_12:13).
2. In criminal matters (Joh_5:11). When Christ says this, may we not ask of His pretended vicar, Who made you judge of kings that you should depose them? or proprietary of kingdoms that you should dispose of them? If he says, Christ; did He it in His doctrine? If so, where? Did He do it by His example? Yes, when He whipped the traders out of the Temple and destroyed the herd of swine. But these were miracles; and though it might seem half a miracle that a bishop should exercise so much authority, yet when we see his means, massacres, assassinations, etc., we reply that miracles are without means.
II. BY CALUMNY, as did the Pharisees when they judged Him.
1. Calumny is
(1) Direct.
(a) To lay a false imputation.
(b) To aggravate a just imputation with unnecessary circumstances.
(c) To reveal a secret fault when not bound by duty.
(2) Indirect.
(a)To deny expressly some good in another.
(b) To smother it in silence when our testimony is due.
(c) To diminish his good parts.
2. These Pharisees calumniated Jesus with the bitterest of all calumny--scorn and derision.
3. Since Christ, then, judges no man as they did, judge not you.
(1) Judge not, that ye be not judged--i.e., when you see Gods judgments fall upon a man, do not judge that he sinned more than others, or that his father sinned and not yours.
(2) Especially speak not evil of the deaf that hear not (Lev_19:14)--i.e., calumniate not him who is absent and cannot defend himself. It is the devils office to be the accuser of the brethren.
(3) Always remember Davids case, who judged more severely than the law admitted, which we do when in a passion. But Christ judges no man; for Christ is love, and love thinks no evil.
III. SO AS TO GIVE A FINAL CONDEMNATION HERE. There is a verdict against every man in the law, the consequence of which men might well despair; but before judgment, God would have every man saved by the application of the promises of the gospel (Joh_3:17). Do not, therefore, give malicious evidence against thyself; do not weaken the merit or lessen the value of the Saviours blood, as though thy sin were greater than it. Can God desire thy blood now, when He hath abundantly satisfied His justice with the blood of His Son for thee? (J. Donne, D. D.)
Judging after the flesh is often altogether misleading
Were men to be guided by the appearance of things only in forming their judgment, how erroneous and deceptive it would be! The sun would be no more than a few miles distant and a few inches in diameter; the moon would be a span wide and half a mile away; the stars would be little sparks glistening in the atmosphere; the earth would be a plain, bounded by the horizon a few miles from us: the sun would travel and the earth stand still; nature would be dead in winter and only alive in summer: men would sometimes be women, and women men; truth would often be error, and error truth: honest men would be rogues, and rogues honest men; wealth would be poverty, and poverty wealth; piety would be wickedness, and wickedness piety. In fine, there is scarcely any rule so deceptive as the rule of appearance; and there are multitudes who, in many things, have no other rule by which they form their judgment. Hence the errors of their speech and life; ridicule and blunders into which they plunge themselves before the world. (John Bate.)
False judgments
If you go into a churchyard some snowy day, when the snow has been falling thick enough to cover every monument and tombstone, how beautiful and white does everything appear! But remove the snow, dig down beneath, and you find rottenness and putrefaction, dead mens bones, and all uncleanness. How like that churchyard on such a day is the mere professor--fair outside; sinful, unholy within! The grass grows green upon the sides of a mountain that holds a volcano in its bowels. (Dr. Guthrie.)
Judging by appearances fallacious
We are shallow judges of the happiness or misery of others, if we estimate it by any marks that distinguish them from ourselves; if, for instance, we say that because they have more money they are happier, or because they live more meagrely they are more wretched. For men are allied by much more than they differ. The rich man, rolling by in his chariot, and the beggar, shivering in his rags, are allied by much more than they differ. It is safer, therefore, to estimate our neighbours real condition by what we find in our own lot, than by what we do not find there … Surely, you will not calculate any essential difference from mere appearances; for the light laughter that bubbles on the lip often mantles over brackish depths of sadness, and the serious look may be the sober veil that covers a Divine peace. You know that the bosom can ache beneath diamond brooches; and how many blithe hearts dance under coarse wool! (E. H. Chapin, D. D.)
And if I Judge, My Judgment is true
The concurrent judgment of the Father and the Son
The Mosaic law required at least two or three witnesses to make a testimony valid Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15). Jesus declared that He satisfied this rule because the Father united His testimony to that which He bore of Himself. Where the fleshly eye saw but one witness, there were in reality two. It is usual to refer this testimony to miracles, in accordance with Joh_5:36.But Joh_5:16 sets us on the road to a far more profound explanation. Jesus was here describing an inward fact, applicable both to the judgments He pronounced on others and the statements by which He testified to Himself. He was aware that the knowledge He possessed of His origin and mission was not based wholly on the fact of consciousness. He felt that it was in the light of God that He knew Himself. He knew, moreover, that the testimony by which He manifested His inward feeling bore, in the eyes of all who had a sense for the perception of Deity, the seal of this Divine attestation. An anecdote may perhaps better explain this. About 1660, Hedinger, chaplain to the Duke of Wurtemburg, took the liberty of censuring his sovereign--at first in private, but afterwards in public--for a serious fault. The latter, much enraged, sent for him and resolved to punish him. Hedinger, after seeking strength by prayer, repaired to the prince, the expression of his countenance betokening the peace of God and the feeling of His presence in his heart. The prince, after beholding him for a time, said, Hedinger, why did you not come alone, as I commanded you? Pardon me, your highness, I am alone. The duke, persisting, with increasing agitation, Hedinger said, Certainly, your highness, I came alone; but I cannot tell whether it has pleased God to send an angel with me. The duke dismissed him unharmed. The vital communion of this servant of God with his God was a sensible fact, even to one whom anger had exasperated. (F. Godet, D. D.)
I am one that bear witness of Myself.
The witness of Christ as seen in some contradictory phenomena of His life and character
The conflict of Christianity is ever being narrowed to the question of the person of Christ. Unitarians have either abandoned their old positions and Christianity with them, or returned to views not easily distinguished from orthodox. Both friends and foes write lives of Jesus, and seek in that for proof of Lordship or evidence of delusion. Men have largely forsaken metaphysical arguments. What think ye of Christ? is the question of apologist and infidel. The issue here is vital. Victorious at this point all the rest is easy; defeated here the Christian Church expires. In this line of argument it is natural to ask what testimony Christ gives of Himself, and we propose to point out certain paradoxes and find their explanation.
I. THE PHENOMENA. A candid observer will notice in Jesus
1. His sublime self-consciousness of Divinity, together with His ceaseless subjection to God.
(1) Compare Him with all religious teachers, and we find Him dreaming no dreams, seeing no visions. We never hear Him saying, Thus saith the Lord, but I say unto you. He consoles His disciples. Let not your hearts be troubled. Why. Ye believe in God, believe also in Me. Show us the Father, says one: the response is, He that hath seen Me, etc. In discussion with Jews He says, Abraham rejoiced to see My day--wild words to scribe and Pharisee. Thou art not yet fifty years old; the rejoinder is, Before Abraham was I am. There is an endeavour to explain away the simple meaning of all this. Much greater force will therefore be found in the indirect words of Christ. Take one, If I go not away the Comforter will not come, etc. What must He claim who says He will send Gods Spirit? and who must He believe Himself to be?
(2) On the other hand, a young man asks, Good Master, what good thing, etc. Jesus replies, Why callest thou Me good, etc.? Although He said, I and My Father are one, He also says, The Father is greater than I. I came not to do My own will. Nowhere does the contrast appear more distinctly than in that scene in the Temple, Wist ye not that I must be about My Fathers business; and then He meekly places His hand in His mothers and becomes subject unto Joseph and Mary.
2. His pronounced self-assertion and His humility and self-abnegation.
(1) He appeals to no authority but His own as the ground on which men should accept Him. When He propounded His law on the Mount, He contrasts His teaching with that of the ancient law, although Divinely given, with the words, I say unto you. What a significant scene is that in which He upbraids the cities for their unbelief, and then hearken to the words which follow, Come unto Me all ye that labour, etc. From His disciples He learns how men misunderstand Him; and how calm, resolute, inspiring, the words in which He replies to these misapprehensions, and rewards the confession of Peter. On this rock I will build My Church, etc. Is this arrogance, egotism? It is the sublimest ever witnessed. If true, the noblest; if unfounded, the wildest and most vain.
(2) But what a contrast. The child of a carpenters wife; He is fitly born in the outhouse of an inn, and moved for thirty years amidst the humblest surroundings. When He came into public life His career opened to Him no affluence or dignity. The foxes have holes, etc. His moral characteristics were in keeping with His circumstances. I am Meek and lowly of heart. He is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and prays for His murderers.
3. Infinite power combined with noteworthy weakness.
(1) Mark the works of Jesus--how easily performed. Let there be light, says God, and there was light. He opens the windows of heaven and a race is overwhelmed. And thus Christ works. It is in a storm; the Master sleeps. The disciples cry, We perish! He rises, speaks, and there is a great calm. In His dealings with disease, a touch upon the eyelid pours daylight on the darkened orb. Be clean, He says to the leper, and the loathsome disease is gone. Another word, and the man who had become a wild beast is sitting at His feet in his right mind. Here is no paraphernalia of the magician, or the exercise of delegated power.
(2) In contrast with this is Christs meekness. Take the supernatural out of His life, and what feebleness! He who can multiply the bread is familiar with hunger. Give me to drink, He says to one to whom He gives living water. With His hand upon a universe He is as helpless as a child.
4. The complete absence of any sense of sinfulness or moral defect. The religious life of the leaders of human thought has been marked by a profound sense of personal unworthiness, but there is no trace of this in Jesus. Which of you convinceth Me of sin? asks Jesus of the ages. I find no fault in Him, re-echo well nigh two millennia.
5. In these series of contrasts we have noted two contradictory qualities--infinity and limitation. The last scenes of His life exhibit these. Our Lord comforts His disciples. Calm and helpful, He promises them Divine strength. But see Him a few moments after in His agony. Where in all literature is an artistic contrast so striking? And this only the simple story of the unlettered, who tell the story as they knew it best. But what is this. An armed hand approaches, and at a word from Him they fall to the ground--yet He submits to be led away.
II. SOME OF THE EXPLANATIONS WHICH HAVE BEEN GIVEN.
1. That Christ is a natural product, the outgrowth of the ages; that all preceding generations gathered in Him, and produced the ideal man. But where in Judaea, Greece, or Rome, can be found the elements from which the nature of Christ could be compounded? And if one Christ could be produced why not others?
2. That Christ is a literary product, the ideal of an individual mind--the grandest triumph of human imagination, but altogether fictitious. But who was the romancer who must have been greater than His romance?
3. That Christ is a mythical product; that a remarkable individual did exist who founded a school, and after death was slowly changed by the loving regard of His followers into the heroic, and at last into the Divine. Granted that such a myth may have grown up in a century, how is it that we have the unique Divine nature of Jesus made the ground of a finished argument in the Epistle to the Romans, published within a generation from the time of Christ, by one whose life overlapped His?
4. The theory that Christ was a deceiver or deceived hardly merits notice. A knave ought to recognize that Christ was truthful, and a fool, would he open his eyes, might see that He was perfectly self-possessed.
III. THE THEORY WHICH ALONE SATISFIES ALL THE CONDITIONS OF THE CASE. In these phenomena
1. We find evidence of a personality altogether unique. There are contrasts, but there is a unity about the Person, and a consistency in the life which make us feel confident of the truthfulness of the Bible record. All things fall into their place when we are taught that Christ is at once the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is Divine, and all the Divinity of His being is thus accounted for. He is human, and all the humanity of His lot is wholly explained.
2. The origin of this unique personality must be traced to God. The human race could produce no such being. Even were the ideal conception possible, which is doubtful, a person who had formed the idea could never have realized it. But with God all things are possible.
3. The purpose for which such a unique being was sent by God must have been to accomplish some special work.
(1) A mere teacher or reformer might have been only man.
(2) God would not have become man for His own sake. He can require nothing which He cannot supply.
(3) Christ is evidently not the first of a new species, for He has no successor.
(4) His mission therefore must have been for man, to establish some new, or modify some old relation between God and man. Such an object is declared by Scripture to have been sought by God and accomplished by Christ, and for this such a Personality as has been described was suited and designed. (Ll. D. Bevan, D. D.)
Then said they unto Him, Where is Thy Father?--The question indicates assumed ignorance of Christs meaning, or a scornful fling at His ever imagining that God was His Father. How different to the child-like simplicity of Philip (Joh_14:8)! Their earthborn idea was, If you are visible, cant we see something of your Father? They ask about the Father, He replies as to Himself; and when asked about Himself He (verses 25-27) replies concerning the Father. The primitive Christians were called atheists because they could not show their God. In every age the sneering challenge is repeated. At Orleans the Papists asked the Huguenots in the flames, Where is now your God? Mary Queen of Scots, having by French mercenaries forced Protestants into the bleak hills, cried, Where is John Knoxs God? In Fotheringay Castle she had time to answer her own question. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Even if I bear witness about myself
Even if I bear witness about myself
"Even if I say these things about myself"
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the flesh
"human standards and the laws of men"
I judge no one
Possible meanings are 1) "I do not judge anyone yet" or 2) "I am not judging anyone now."
if I judge
Possible meanings are 1) "if I judge people" or 2) "whenever I judge people"
my judgment is true
Possible meanings are 1) "my judgment will be right" or 2) "my judgment is right."
I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me
Jesus, the Son of God, has authority because of his special relationship with his Father. (See: Translating Son and Father)
I am not alone
The implied information is that Jesus is not alone in his judgment. AT: "I am not alone in how I judge" or "I do not judge alone" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
I am with the Father
The Father and the Son judge together. AT: "the Father also judges with me" or "the Father judges as I do"
the Father
This is an important title for God. If your language must state whose Father this is, you could say "my Father" since Jesus switches to that in the following verses. (See: Translating Son and Father)
translationWords
testimony
true
judge
flesh
God the Father
send
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 8:14-15 Jesus answered the Pharisees’ charges, saying that he…
8:14-15 Jesus answered the Pharisees’ charges, saying that he could make such claims about himself because he knew both his origin (heaven) and his destination (heaven). He then pointed to the most vital witness for his case, his Father who sent him (8:16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.