Bible Synapse
Did Jesus refuse testimony from men, or appoint his disciples to bear witness to him?
Hard question · The life of Jesus · raised by 2 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Jesus recalls John the Baptist’s witness but says, “I receive not testimony from man”; the Father’s witness is greater.
Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
The Spirit will testify of Jesus, “And ye also shall bear witness”.
But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.
The objection
In John 5 Jesus says, “I receive not testimony from man.” In John 15 he tells his disciples, “ye also shall bear witness”. If he will not accept human testimony, why does he send human witnesses?
The answer
The two sayings answer different questions. In John 5 Jesus is defending his claims before leaders who reject him, and he names his witnesses: John the Baptist, his own works, the Father and the Scriptures (5:33–39). He mentions John, but adds that he does not rest his claim on any human being’s word: “I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved” (5:34). Who he is does not depend on human approval, and he has “greater witness than that of John” (5:36).
Yet human witness is useful to others, and that is why he mentions John at all: “that ye might be saved”. The same purpose stands behind John 15:27. The disciples are to bear witness for the world’s sake, not to give Jesus a standing he lacks, and they do it together with the Spirit, who “shall testify of me” (15:26). Jesus does not need men’s testimony; others need to hear it.
From the classic commentators
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 produceJohn Gill, Exposition of the Bible, on John 5:34 (1746–1763)
ye also shall bear witness—rather, ‘are witnesses’; with reference indeed to their future witness-bearing, but putting the emphasis upon their present ample opportunities for acquiring their qualifications for that great officeJamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary, on John 15:27 (1871)