John 5:31 - Printer Friendly

ESV: If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.

NIV: If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

NASB: If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not true.

CSB: "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

NLT: If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid.

KJV: If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

NKJV: “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.

According to Jewish legal procedure, a person could not testify alone on their own behalf—a creative liar could make up just about anything. Nor could a single witness establish facts. Rather, in a courtroom setting, two or three witnesses were required (Deuteronomy 17:6; Numbers 35:30). Later in this Gospel, Jesus will make the point that some facts only He can testify about (John 8:14). In this context, however, the claims He is making can be verified by normal means, and so it's reasonable to provide evidence.

This passage is extremely important in discussions of biblical faith. Jesus makes no appeal to "blind faith." He does not tell the Pharisees to believe "because I said so." Nor does He dismiss the need for evidence. Rather, He provides reasons why faith in His message is reasonable. Jesus will fulfill the normal human requirements of evidence, by giving three separate lines of evidence to prove His claims.

These three categories are human testimony, in the form of John the Baptist (John 5:33); observations, in the form of Jesus' miracles (John 5:36); and Scripture (John 5:39). Jesus will use these arguments to complete His response to Jewish authorities persecuting Him for claiming to be equal with God (John 5:18).

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—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 more or less avoiding 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 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 gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 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”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.