It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
Parallel Translations
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It’s also written in your law that the testimony of two people is valid.
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I am one that beare witnes of my selfe and the father that sent me beareth witnes of me.
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And it is also written in your Lawe, that the testimonie of two men is true.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to John 8:17 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 19:15 One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin that he sins. At the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall a matter be established.
- Deuteronomy 17:6 At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, he who is to die shall be put to death. At the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.
- Hebrews 10:28 A man who disregards Moses’ law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses.
- Matthew 18:16 But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.
- Galatians 3:24 So that the law has become our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
- 2 Corinthians 13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “At the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
- Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, don’t you listen to the law?
- Revelation 11:3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.”
- 1 Kings 21:10 Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.”
- 1 John 5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son.
- John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’
- John 15:25 But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 17. Even in your law it is written. The…
17. Even in your law it is written. The argument might, at first sight, appear to be weak, because no man is received as a witness in his own cause. But we ought to remember what I have already said, that the Son of God ought to be excluded from the ordinary number of other men, because he neither is a private individual, nor transacts his own private business. As to his distinguishing himself from his Father, by doing so he accommodates himself to the capacity of his hearers, and that on account of his office, because he was at that time a servant of the Father, from whom, therefore, he asserts that all his doctrine has proceeded.
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.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 17 It is also written in your law, that…
17 It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.
Ver. 17. It is also written in your law] He calleth it their law, because he was above law; and needed not (but for their weaknass) to have confirmed thus his doctrine by Scripture; as being to be believed upon his bare word, αυτοπιστος.
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 It is written, Deu 17:6; 19:15. God so ordered…
It is written, Deu 17:6; 19:15. God so ordered it by his Divine law, that every thing should be established by the testimony of two witnesses.
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 Then said they unto him, where is thy Father?....…
Then said they unto him, where is thy Father?.... The Persic version adds, "show him unto us": produce this witness boasted of, let us see him; this they said in a sneering, taunting, and insulting manner; where is thy Father? what! he is in Galilee; fetch him from thence; it is Joseph the carpenter you mean; a goodly witness indeed!
Jesus answered, ye neither know me nor my Father; if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; they did not know the divine original of Christ, that he was the Son of God, and that God was his Father; they greatly boasted of their knowledge of God, but they knew him not; their ignorance of Christ showed it: the knowledge of both go together, and which is life eternal; nor can any truly know the one, without the other: and where the one is known, the other will be also; Christ is the brightness of his Father's glory, and the express image of his person: so that he that has seen the one, must know the other; and indeed, no one can know the Father, but he to whom the Son reveals him: this was a severe mortification to these men of knowledge.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Deut. xix, 15.
Deut. xix, 15.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain In your law - Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15. Compare…
In your law - Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15. Compare Mat 18:16. This related to cases in which the life of an individual was involved. Jesus says that if, in such a case, the testimony of two men were sufficient to establish a fact, his own testimony and that of his Father ought to be esteemed ample evidence in the case of religious doctrine.
Two men - If two men could confirm a case, the evidence of Jesus and of God ought not to be deemed insufficient.
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Is true - In Deuteronomy, “established.” This means the same thing. It is confirmed; is worthy of belief.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 17, 18. Jesus, after having asserted his superiority to…
17, 18. Jesus, after having asserted his superiority to the requirement of other witness, now graciously condescends to furnish it—that of the Father.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 17. It is also written in your law] Literally,…
17. It is also written in your law] Literally, But in the law also, your law, it is written. ‘Your’ is very emphatic; ‘the Law about which you profess to be so jealous.’ Comp. ‘Thou art called a Jew, and restest on the Law’ (Rom_2:17).
the testimony of two men is true] Better, the witness of two, &c. Not so much a quotation as a reference to Deu_19:15; Deu_17:6. Note that the Law speaks of ‘two or three witnesses:’ here we have ‘two men.’ The change is not accidental, but introduces an argument à fortiori: if the testimony of two men is true, how much more the testimony of two Divine Witnesses. Comp. ‘If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He hath testified of His Son’ (1Jn_5:9).
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 (17) It is also written in your law.—He now…
(17) It is also written in your law.—He now proceeds to show again that the technical requirement of the Law was satisfied by His witness. The term “your law” is material, as addressed to those who were professed expounders of it and accused Him of being a transgressor of it. (Comp. the parallel reference to the Law in Joh_10:34; Joh_15:25.) To assert that Jesus placed Himself in a position of antagonism to the Mosaic law, is to forget the teaching of the Sermon on the Mount (Mat_5:17); and to assert that the Jesus of the Fourth Gospel differs in this respect from the character as portrayed by the earlier Evangelists, is to forget the teaching of the last verse of John 5, and, indeed, to miss the whole force of these very passages. He does not, indeed, say “our law,” as it was for them what it could not be for Him; but He mentions it to show in each case that He fulfilled it.
That the testimony of two men is true.—See Deu_17:6; Deu_19:15, and comp. Notes on Mat_18:16 and Mar_14:55-56. The words are here quoted freely, and “two men” is substituted for “two or three witnesses,” which we find in both the passages in Deuteronomy. This prepares the way for the full thought of the “witness,” in the next verse. The requirement of the Law would be satisfied with the evidence of two men: He has the witness of two Persons, but each is divine.
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 Having laid down the principle on which he was…
Having laid down the principle on which he was justified in maintaining the truthfulness of the assumption which the Pharisees impugned, he proceeded to vindicate, for these Jewish legalists, its agreement with the very letter of the Law. He adopted here the identical ground which was taken by him when first of all he claimed this fellowship with the Father. Yea, and in your Law it has been written, that the witness of two men is true. Many have said that here Jesus puts himself on one side as in hostility to the Law; Baur and some others plead, from the very phrase "your Law," that Jesus could not have used such an expression, and that John could not have recorded it; and Reuss urges that this expression agrees with the "standpoint of the gospel, which aims at lowering and degrading the old dispensation." Nothing could be less in harmony with the facts (see Introduction, 2). Even Meyer says, "The words are anti-Judaic... though not antinomian." Surely our Lord was simply appealing to his bitter enemies to recognize the application of the principle found in their own Law, of which they were continually making a proud boast. He simply goes to common ground of argument, and is ready to show that even the letter of the Law sustains his claim for the sufficient reason that he is not alone, but the Father is manifestly with him. Just as he never said "our Father" when addressing his disciples, but either "my Father" or "your Father", (Joh_20:17) because God is not the Father of men in the full sense in which he was Father to the only begotten Son; so he could not say "our Law" or "Moses gave us the Law" without derogating from the unique relation he sustained to the Law. (compare Paul"s language, Rom_2:17, Rom_2:21, Rom_2:23) The quotation from Deuteronomy is not verbally exact; it even carries the statement of Scripture to a broader generalization, and is so worded that it applies to the case in point, by carrying the position to a legitimate consequence witness of two men is true. " By using the word "men," Christ suggests the contrast between two men on one side and the God-Man and the Father on the other. Lightfoot ("Horae Hebraicae") quotes "Rosh-Shanah," 1:2, 3, "that two persons well known must testify to the supreme court that they had seen the new moon! If these were unknown persons, they must bring proof that they were credible witnesses." Upon these common principles of jurisprudence the Lord was willing, in purely Jewish fashion, to rest his claim.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 17. It is written in your law. Deut. 19:15.…
17. It is written in your law. Deut. 19:15. Observe Jesus says not our, but your law.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain Joh 8:17-20. “And it has been written in your…
WITNESS OF THE SPIRIT
Joh 8:17-20. “And it has been written in your law, That the testimony of two people is true. [Deu 19:15] I am the one testifying concerning Myself, and the One who sent Me testifies concerning Me.” Here is the experimental consolation of every true Christian, the Holy Spirit witnessing along with his own spirit that he is born of God, and that his heart is clean, thus bringing all Christian testimony into harmony with the Divine law, by which every affirmation is made valid. “Then they said to Him, Where is Thy Father? Jesus responded, You do not know Me nor the Father; if you had known Me, you would also have known the Father. He spoke these words, teaching in the treasury in the temple, and no one arrested Him, because His hour had not yet come.” There were many magnificent buildings on the Temple Campus, all indiscriminately denominated “the temple.” We have here quite a significant statement of our Savior, while looking those preachers and official laymen in the face, and notifying them that they did not know God, involving the conclusion that they were sinners on their way to perdition. Doubtless they were as honest as the clergy, and ecclesiastical rulers of the present day. What an awful inference is deducible! Lord, help us all to examine ourselves, and see whether we truly know God!
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain An appeal to the Law of the Jews:
An appeal to the Law of the Jews:
v. 17. It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is.
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v. 18. I am one that bear witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me.
v. 19. Then said they unto Him, Where is Thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know Me nor My Father; if ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also.
v. 20. These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the Temple; and no man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come.
The Jews questioned the validity of Christ’s testimony concerning Himself. But Jesus would have them consider that their own Law, upon which they were always harping, came to His assistance. If the testimony of two witnesses to a certain matter agreed, the Law held the testimony to be valid, Deu 17:6; Deu 19:15. Now the Lord applies the passage to Himself. He Himself is His own first witness, and His second witness is the Father, of whom Jesus repeats that He has sent Him. Christ’s own consciousness and the power of God proclaiming itself in and through Him fully sufficed for the demands of the Law respecting exact testimony. But the Jews were still skeptical. They maintain that it is all very well for Him to allege that His Father is His second witness, and to hint at His super natural existence, but the question is: Where is He? The Jews wanted some special manifestation and proof that God acknowledged Jesus as His Son, See chap. 12:28. Jesus does not give them a direct answer. They ought to have known whom He meant when He spoke of His Father and been reminded of the many miracles which established His relation to God beyond a doubt. Theirs was a willful, malignant ignorance. The knowledge and acceptance of God and His whereabouts depends upon the knowledge and acceptance of Jesus. They professed to know this man Jesus who was bearing witness before them, but had they really known Him, they would necessarily have known the Father with whom He was inseparably connected. Belief in and knowledge of Jesus implies knowledge of and belief in the Father. When unbelievers speak of God, of the dispensations of Providence, etc. , they do not understand and realize of what they are speaking. The words are hollow, meaningless phrases in their mouths. Only the true believers, that are united with Christ by the bonds of true faith, can have a true knowledge and idea of God. In Christ the Father is revealed. This saying of the Lord, which again seemed boastful to the Jews, so angered them that they were ready to apprehend Him, as He sat there in the Court of the Women, in the section where the treasury chests were placed. But no one could touch Him, since the hour which was set in the counsel of God was not yet come. Though all the enemies of Christ combine in a deliberate effort to harm the Gospel and to hinder its proclamation, they are powerless before His almighty will.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus continues speaking to the Pharisees and other people about himself.
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Yes, and in your law
The word "Yes" shows that Jesus is adding to what he was saying before.
it is written
This is a passive phrase. You may translate it in an active form with a personal subject. AT: "Moses wrote" (See: Active or Passive)
the testimony of two men is true
The logic implied here is that one person can verify the words of another. AT: "if two men say the same thing, then people know it is true" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
I am he who bears witness about myself
Jesus bears witness about himself. AT: "I give evidence to you about myself"
the Father who sent me bears witness about me
The Father also bears witness about Jesus. You could make it explicit that this means Jesus' testimony is true. AT: "my Father who sent me also brings evidence about me. So you should believe that what we tell you is true" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
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
law
testimony
true
testimony
God the Father
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.