The Self-Authenticating Witness of Scripture
John 5:38–47
John Lesson #044
April 11, 1999
We sometimes think: If I had just said it right, if I just had the right piece of evidence, I could convince this person that Scripture is true. What we learn from this study of John 5 is that way of thinking is wrong, that that type of thinking has already capitulated to human viewpoint rationalism and to a concept of truth and validation and authority that is contrary to the Bible. What happens when we argue on the wrong basis is that we in some sense denude the gospel of its power, for at the very core of our thinking we are placing our thinking on the autonomous validity of reason or experience. We must remember that a wrong thing done in a right way is wrong and a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong and a wrong thing done in a wrong way is wrong. Only a right thing done in a right way is right. This is what we see exemplified in how Jesus answers the Pharisees in this section.
A correction to something said previously: John 5:31 NASB "If I {alone} testify about Myself, My testimony is not true." The reason "alone" is added (it is not in the original) is that up to that point Jesus saying that if the Father does something, I do it; if the Father says it, I say it; if the Father thinks it, I think it; if the Father judges, I judge. All of these statements are made to show that Jesus is claiming to do the works of the Father on earth and that He is equal with the Father. So He is not independent but dependent upon God. When we see this verse our natural inclination is to go to this on the basis of what the Mosaic Law says, that on the evidence of two witnesses or three witnesses a point is established. But that is not what Jesus is saying here. He is not saying that the Law calls for two witnesses. He is making a much more important statement.
Compare John 8:13, 14 NASB "So the Pharisees said to Him, 'You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.'" There the Pharisees are claiming that Jesus' witness of Himself is invalid because it is a lone witness. This is in response to Jesus statement: "I am the Light of the world." "Jesus answered and said to them, 'Even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true…'" Yet in John 5 He says, "If I {alone} testify about Myself, My testimony is not true." It seems like a contradiction. It is based on a simple difference in the Greek. There is 3rd class condition in the Greek, which is indicated by the first word, the particle ean [e)an]. ean plus the subjunctive mood in the verb always indicates a 3rd class condition, a condition of pure hypothesis, and it presents the condition as uncertain of fulfilment. When Jesus is talking in 5:31 He is saying: "If I bear witness of Myself, My testimony is not true." In other words, If I bear witness of Myself alone, independently of the Father, then My witness is not true, it is invalid. His whole argument has been that He is equal and united with the Father, and if He goes out and witnesses in dependent of the Father then He has invalidated His testimony. In 8:14 where He says almost the same thing, He uses a different construction. Instead of ean in the Greek there is kan [k)an] which is a combination of kai [kai] plus ean [e)an]. This shows that every jot and tittle is important in the original language. When there is kai plus ean it transfers the Greek 3rd class condition from a simple condition to a concessive clause. A concessive clause is translated "even if" or "and though." In John 8 Jesus is saying: "And even if I witness by myself." He is not saying His witness is alone but "even if I testify about Myself, My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going."
The principle that we are going to establish in all of this is that if we try to prove Christianity in a non-biblical way then our proofs are invalid and not Scriptural. Jesus is not going to prove in the bassi of human systems. We saw the example of the reason in Luke 16. The Scripture conveys such power and authority in and of itself because it is the Word of God, it is self-validating, self-authenticating. If people don't believe the Scriptures it doesn't matter how logical arguments are, how overwhelming empirical data is. The issue is not reasoning, it is not experience, the issue is volition. They have rejected the truth. It doesn't matter because the issues are spiritual, they are not mental, not intelligence, not experience; and they have exercised negative volition; they have rejected the knowledge of God at God-consciousness and have gone on to reject any gospel claims. When giving the gospel our confidence needs to be in the Holy Spirit and in the Word of God, and we should not worry about any inadequacies or lack of knowledge on our part because the issues are not based upon argumentation skills, knowledge or anything else.
In the following verses we are going to see is the kind of move that Jesus is making as a model for us when we witness to people. We have seen one example with Nicodemus, another with the woman at the well, and each time the dynamics are different. Most of us, when we want to give someone the gospel and we are challenged, is go on the defensive and we have to prove our claims of truth. What Jesus does is just the opposite Jesus goes on the offensive and shows that their position is unsupportable. He is going to show that they can't say what they say and be consistent with their basic assumptions.
John 5:37 NASB "And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form." He appeals to the witness of the Father. His statement is a powerful one to these Pharisees. In their religiosity they think they are basing everything on the Mosaic Law and on the Old Testament. They think they have cornered the market on God.
John 5:38 NASB "You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent." They do not have His Word abiding in them. Why? The expression "for" is the translation of the Greek hoti [o(ti], "because" they do not believe Him whom the Father sent. What a challenge and slap in the face to the Pharisees! He is saying the reason they don't believe Him is because the Word is not in them, the Old Testament, Moses' word, isn't in them, because they do not believe in God the Father.
This is a reference back to what John has said back at the beginning of the epistle. John 1:4 NASB "In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. [5] The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." Throughout the Scriptures is this analogy of God and the Lord and truth to light. This light is penetrating, it shines in the darkness. It is related to the very life of God, as the ultimate source of everything in life. We have a concept of truth that is based on an autonomous concept that there is something hanging out here called truth, and that we can appeal to this autonomous concept of truth as the ultimate standard in the universe. What Scripture says is that God is the ultimate standard in the universe and truth is what God says it is. He is the ultimate reference point in the universe. This is the problem in our argumentation when we buy into the unbeliever's view of reality and try to appeal to an autonomous and independent concept of truth. We are denying the fact that God is the ultimate reference point in the universe. To what truth does God appeal to validate Himself? There is nothing higher than God. That is the point of all of this. The Pharisees have rejected God, so they want some other standard of truth.
The Scripture says that God's life is such that it is light, and that light continuously shines in the universe. All human knowledge, therefore, is based ultimately on the light that God shines in the universe. Part of this is common grace and that goes to every believer and unbeliever alike. What John is saying here is that all human knowledge is based on logic, and logic and language have their origin in God. So the very denial of God presupposes, even though the unbeliever would deny it, the existence of God.
Jesus is not backing of and saying he is going to defend His position and that He is going to prove it is true. What He is doing is proving that these Pharisees can't live consistently on their assumptions. Their assumption is that Jesus is wrong because He healed a man on the Sabbath, and has violated Moses. And He says the Pharisees don't believe Moses, they don't believe in God, they have rejected the Scriptures, and they have no basis for accusing Jesus of anything in relationship to the Law of Moses. He has turned the whole argument on top of them and cut the ground out from under them. And He doesn't cave in to their human viewpoint basis in trying to prove who he is. He is saying that His words are self-authenticating.
John 5:39 NASB "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me." This is the issue. The Pharisees are attacking Jesus because He is violating the Sabbath and the Mosaic Law, and their underlying assumption is that they understand the Scriptures, that they are the ones in Jewish society who really know the Scriptures and are the defenders of the Scriptures. But Jesus said that if they really knew the Scriptures, they are what bear witness of Him. Because they are rejecting Him they are rejecting the Scriptures and they have no foundation. Jesus is not backing off, He is really engaged in a nose-to-nose confrontation. This is a very sophisticated debate and He is not pulling any punches, and He is coming out with some one-twos here that create such antagonism with the Pharisees that, as we have seen, it is this whole scenario and these events that cause them (v. 18) to determine to kill Him. He has really angered them.
John 5:40 NASB "and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life." What is the issue there? The issue is not that they don't have enough evidence. They are unwilling. The unbeliever is always saying they need more evidence. What Scripture is saying is they have 2000% the evidence they need to trust Christ; they don't need any more. The issue is not a lack of evidence, a lack of logic; the issue is volition, rejection of God. Romans 1:18, 19—they are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
John 5:41 NASB "I do not receive glory from men." In other words, He is not basing His appeal on an autonomous standard developed from man. He is recognising He is the ultimate reference point in the universe and when he speaks it is self-authenticating. [42] "but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves." The Pharisees were proud people, the prided themselves on the fact that they loved God more than anybody else.
John 5:43 NASB "I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him." Remember the name always indicates character and essence. "I have come in accord with the essence of My Father, but if another (someone else) comes in his own name—reference to the Antichrist or false Messiah—you will receive him. [44] "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the {one and} only God?" The question He is asking is: How can you come to a position of faith if your whole focus is on getting glory from one another through approbation lust, satisfied by your legalistic demands, because at the very point of God-consciousness you have rejected God? That is the thrust of His argument. Because they have already operated on negative volition and rejected the truth they are not able to believe. That is the point. Positive volition precedes faith. Their problem is that they have started from a position of negative volition, so they can never have faith, can never accept Christ or His claims because their starting point is a rejection of the Scriptures.
So Jesus clearly states that the Scriptures are the final authority. He has had the witness of God the Father, and now he is shifting to the witness of the Scriptures.
John 5:45 NASB "Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope." In other words, you are the ones who have outlined all the mandates in the Mosaic Law, you are the ones who are so concerned about obedience to the Mosaic Law, and so Moses is the one accusing you. He is not accusing Me, I am not the one who is violating the Sabbath, you are; you are the ones who have rejected the witness of the Scriptures. [46] "For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me." This is the same thing that Luke said in chapter 16 with Lazarus and the rich man. Abraham told the rich man that it doesn't matter how much evidence they have, if they don't believe Moses and the prophets they are not going to believe all the evidence that you amass in the world, because the issue is volition. [47] "But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" He is saying to them: "You don't even believe Moses." They are all caught up in their human viewpoint traditions of religion but they have rejected the very essence of what is taught in the Pentateuch. What the Pentateuch taught foreshadowed the Lord Jesus Christ.
So the thing for us to understand is that our confidence does not reside in argumentation, in evidence; it resides in the Word of God. It is the Word of God that makes these things clear to people, but the Word of God has its own self-validating authority. So if you explain the gospel to somebody and they reject it, it is not because you don't know enough, it is because they have made a decision to reject the truth. The responsibility is theirs. Our responsibility is to make the gospel as clear as we can. God the Holy Spirit will override any mistakes you make and will make it clear to the mind of the individual, and they will have to accept it or reject it.