John 5:33 - Printer Friendly

ESV: You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

NIV: "You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.

NASB: You have sent messengers to John, and he has testified to the truth.

CSB: You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth.

NLT: In fact, you sent investigators to listen to John the Baptist, and his testimony about me was true.

KJV: Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

NKJV: You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.

When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5:1–15), local religious leaders were furious. Rather than being amazed at the miracle, these cold-hearted men were livid about Jesus violating their traditions and claiming equality with God (John 5:18). Jesus responded by explaining that He is, in fact, equal to God and went on to give specific examples (John 5:19–29).

After this, Jesus acknowledges that certain claims require evidence (John 5:31). Rather than appeal to blind faith, Jesus provides exactly that evidence. In this part of His answer (John 5:32) Jesus refers to the first of His three forms of evidence: human testimony. Specifically, Jesus refers to the testimony of John the Baptist. The gospel of John has already recorded investigators from the Pharisees approaching John the Baptist (John 1:19–24) and his profession of Jesus as the Messiah (John 1:25–28). Since Jesus has a unique perspective, the truth of His testimony does not literally depend on the input of other people (John 5:34; 8:14). However, He acknowledges the natural human need for confirmation.

Jesus will also mention two other forms of evidence, which are His miracles (John 5:36) and the written Scriptures (John 5:39).

John 5:30–47 continues Jesus' response to His critics in Jerusalem. After healing a crippled man on the Sabbath and claiming to be equal with God, Jesus now speaks about evidence. Rather than simply saying, "have faith,'' or ''believe Me because I said so,'' He offers reasons why He should be believed. These include human testimony, the miracles He is performing, and the words of Scripture. Jesus also makes the point that those who reject the prior words of God—the Old Testament Scriptures—aren't going to believe in Christ, no matter what.

Jesus again returns to Jerusalem, as required for the various feast days. While there, He heals a man who had been crippled for nearly forty years. Since this occurred on the Sabbath, local religious leaders are angry. In fact, they are more upset with Jesus for working on the Sabbath than amazed at His miracle. In response, Jesus offers an important perspective on evidence. Jesus refers to human testimony, scriptural testimony, and miracles as reasons to believe His declarations. Christ also lays claim to many of the attributes of God, making a clear claim to divinity.

Chapters 1 through 4 showed Jesus avoiding major publicity. Here, in chapter 5, He will begin to openly challenge the local religious leaders. This chapter is Jesus' first major answer to His critics in this gospel. The fact that Jesus is willing to heal on the Sabbath sets up a theme of His upcoming disagreements with the Pharisees. Jesus also provides an important perspective on the relationship between evidence and faith, which He will expand on in later chapters. This chapter also establishes a key point made by Jesus' critics: His claims to be God.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.