But I have the witness [that is] greater than [that] of John; for the works which the Father has given me that I should complete them, the works themselves which I do, bear witness concerning me that the Father has sent me.
In this chapter Jesus answers people who will not accept His claims. Rather than stand on His own word alone, He calls a line of witnesses to speak for Him. The verse points to a testimony He rates above the preaching of John the Baptist: the works themselves. The ESV says "accomplish" here. Older translations say "finish," and that is the word several writers below use.
The verse sits inside a court-room style list. Jesus produces witness after witness, and this one is the second of four.
In this chapter the Lord brings forward four witnesses to Himself. It is very important that you and I pay attention to what Jesus says. (1) John the Baptist bore witness of Him: "You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth" (v. 33). (2) "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given Me to finish... bear witness of Me" (v. 36). (3) And then again, "The Father Himself, who has sent Me, has borne witness of Me" (v. 37). (4) And last of all, the Scriptures bear witness of Him... This fourfold testimony to Christ might well convince any heart.
John's voice was a human voice. The works were of another order altogether.
The works that the Father had given Jesus to finish were like beams of light thrown off by the sun. They were a greater witness to Him than anything John could say. They were so clearly divine that they proved Him to be the One the Father had sent.
Their weight as evidence does not lie mainly in the raw power on display.
In every way Christ's works testify not so much of the power displayed as of their character. What grace and truth shine through them as in Him!
That character shaped the kind of works He did.
But why were the miracles done? The Saviour Himself tells us — "the very works that I am doing bear witness about Me that the Father has sent Me" (John 5:36; John 10:25). They were given in grace as aids to faith in His person and mission. This is why He rebuked Philip: "Believe Me because of the works themselves." ... Because the miracles were aids to faith, they were all acts of mercy, with one exception. Each one should have touched the feelings of everyone there, because each showed God's heart towards people.
He does not say the works are His own idea. They were handed to Him, and they carry on something the Father was already doing, as He had said earlier in the chapter.
The works that the Father had given Him to finish were the great signs of John's gospel. They completed the Father's works (verse 17). They bore witness to the glory of His Person as the One sent by the Father.
This receiving of works from Another runs through the whole of John's Gospel and marks the place Jesus took.
John's gospel presents Christ to us as the eternal Son. Yet it is remarkable that all through it we see Him taking the place of the Servant. In keeping with that place, He states three things. First, He did not come of Himself; the Father sent Him. Second, He did not speak His own words. Third, He did not do His own works.
Commentators differ over how far the finishing reaches. One writer links the phrase to Jesus' later words about having completed the work given Him, and limits both to His life of service.
"I have glorified You on the earth, having finished," as we should read, "the work which You gave Me to do" (17:4). What had He finished? Comparing this last clause with v. 36, "the works that the Father has given Me to finish," we take it to be His life-work in service. That work had now come to an end. It does not include His death, which had not yet taken place. We know, of course, that this is not the view most people hold.
Jesus did not leave His hearers with words alone.
The works of His Father done by Him confirmed all this in the fullest way... So there was enough witness to the truth of His claims. If they would not believe His words, they might at least believe His works.
- Sent — The point the works establish is His mission: they proved Him to be the One the Father sent.
- Given — He did not choose His own works. The Father handed them to Him, in the place of Servant He took throughout this Gospel.
- Greater — John the Baptist's word was a human word. These works were so clearly divine that they outweighed anything he could say.
- Gracious — Their force lies in their character, not their power. Nearly every one was an act of mercy, granted as an aid to faith.
- Enough — The witness was enough. If they refused His words, the works still stood. Four witnesses — John, the works, the Father, the Scriptures — might well convince any heart.
And the Father who has sent me himself has borne witness concerning me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor have seen his shape,
Jesus is under challenge, and He will not rest His claim on His own word alone. Here He names the highest of His witnesses: the Father who sent Him has spoken for Him, yet the men listening had never heard that voice or seen His form.
He gives His reason from the law itself.
However perfect His own witness was, it would not by itself be valid according to the law, which says, "The testimony of two people is true." One writer has said, "The testimony of one man might be true — absolutely; just as true in itself as that of two. But it would not be true in the same way to others; it would need confirmation." For this reason, though His judgment was just and His motives pure, He does not ask men to believe in Him simply on His own witness. The Lord goes on to give us four other witnesses. First, the testimony of John the Baptist (verses 32-35). Second, the testimony of His works (verse 36). Third, the testimony of the Father Himself (verses 37, 38). Fourth, the testimony of the Scriptures (verses 39-47).
The witnesses are not a flat list. Each rises higher than the last, and the Father's almost reaches the top.
The third witness is the Father's voice. This attestation to the relation and glory of the Son rises still higher — we might have thought to the highest, had not our Lord added another and crowning testimony.
The Father did not speak in secret. Crowds were standing there when He spoke.
But the Father Himself had also borne witness of Him. Crowds were present at John's baptism, and when John baptized the Lord Jesus, there was a visible sign of the Spirit descending on Him like a dove, and the audible voice of the Father declaring, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matt. 3:17). That voice was certainly heard; yet the Jews, in hearing, did not hear: they had no heart to hear in the reality of faith. Nor had they seen His form, for the only true revelation of the Father is in the Son.
Sound reaching the ear is not the same as a voice reaching the heart. What God said, they registered as noise.
The Father Himself had directly borne witness to the glory of His Person. As far as the opposers were concerned, this witness was all in vain. Though the Father had spoken, they had never heard His voice; to them, when He spoke, it was only thunder. Clearly His word had no lodging place in their hearts, for they did not believe the One He had sent.
The same holds for what they had never seen. God had appeared in many forms, and not one of them had reached these men.
The Father had even directly spoken with His own voice in confirmation. But they, sadly, had never at any time heard His voice — to them He had never spoken; nor had they seen one form of His many manifestations.
So the problem was never a lack of evidence. The Son Himself became the test that showed what was in the heart.
By His humbling of Himself and His obedience, the Son was at once honouring God and testing man. He gave God, the only true Ruler, His rights in this world, and so He became a sign that brought the thoughts of the heart into the open. The Jew — the Jew with every privilege — was found in the common atheism of man. Our Lord's discourse in this chapter was moving to uncover this hidden spring of unbelief in Israel. It was not for want of light and testimony. They had the works of Christ, the Father's voice, their own Scriptures, and the testimony of John. But along with all this, they had the love of the world in them, and not the love of God; and so they were unprepared for the Son of God.
- Sent — Jesus does not rest His claim on His own word. Four witnesses stand behind Him: John, His works, the Father, and the Scriptures.
- Spoken — the Father's own voice came at the baptism, before crowds: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased."
- Unheard — they caught the sound and missed the Speaker. To them it was only thunder, because they had no heart to hear in faith.
- Unseen — no form of God had ever reached them, since God shows Himself nowhere but in the Son.
- Refused — the failure was never a lack of evidence. It was a heart that loved the world instead of God.
and ye have not his word abiding in you; for whom *he* hath sent, him ye do not believe.
Jesus has just named the Father as a witness to His mission, and now He turns to His hearers: God's word has no home in them. These were men who searched Scripture and were ready to kill Him for God's honour — so how can a person know the Bible well and still not have God's word within?
Jesus lays a chain of witnesses before His opponents, and one writer marks where this one falls in the list.
The third witness is the Father's voice… This testimony to the relation and glory of the Son rises still higher. We might have thought it the highest, had our Lord not added one more, crowning testimony.
The Father had spoken out loud. One writer points back to the day of Jesus' baptism.
The Father Himself had borne witness directly to the glory of His Person. At the baptism, the voice from heaven said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." For those who opposed Him, this witness was all in vain. Though the Father had spoken, they had never heard His voice. To them, when He spoke, it was only thunder. Clearly His word had no home in their hearts, for they did not believe the One whom He had sent.
Verse 37 also says they had never seen God's form. One writer explains why they never did.
That voice was certainly heard. Yet the Jews heard and did not hear: they had no heart to hear with real faith. Nor had they seen His form, for the only true revelation of the Father is in the Son.
These men studied the Bible; they were not sceptics. That is what makes the charge so severe.
The Jews here, in opposition to the Lord, proved that the word of God had no dwelling-place in their hearts. They proved it by refusing to believe the Son, whom the Father had sent. They did search the Scriptures, but not as honest seekers of the mind of God. They searched only because they wanted eternal life without truly submitting to God. But those Scriptures were full of testimony to Christ Himself, and this they ignored or refused. Their wills were set against coming to Christ. So men may know a great deal about the truth of the Bible and still be complete strangers to the word of God.
Jesus does not just state the charge. He proves it from how they acted.
He read their hearts. And now He tells them plainly what He knew about them. Their actions betrayed them. They claimed zeal for God, and were ready to kill Him for making Himself equal with God. Yet they did not have God's word abiding in them, and they had no love for God in their hearts (38, 42). What an exposure by the discerning and unerring Judge! Would anyone think He was overstating the case? He gives proof of what He said. They did not believe the One whom the Father had sent (38). He had come in His Father's name, and they did not receive Him (43).
The loss runs deeper than missing information. One writer follows it to the end.
Not to have the Father's word abiding in them was to not know Him. It is clear that they did not believe in the Son. That is, they had neither the Father nor the Son. So they did not have eternal life abiding in them: "And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
Elsewhere the same phrase describes believers. One writer shows what having the word abide in you actually looks like.
They so loved the word that they had it always, not just beside them but abiding in them… These had the word always over them. This is the true way. It is not us sitting over the word, which often ends in a good deal of talk. It is the word over us. The word puts an end to our thoughts, strengthens us as much as it governs us, and rebukes our presumption… It was not the mere searching of it, nor looking into it for curious questions.
- Witness. The Father Himself spoke from heaven to testify to His Son. This verse explains why that witness did the hearers no good.
- Deafness. They heard the sound, but they did not hear in faith. They never saw God's form, because only the Son reveals the Father.
- Diagnosis. Searching the Scriptures is not the same as having God's word abide in you. A person can know the Bible well and stay a stranger to it.
- Proof. Jesus points to their unbelief as the evidence. Refusing the One God sent shows that His word has no dwelling-place inside.
- Loss. Without the word abiding they had neither the Father nor the Son, and so no eternal life. The word abiding means the word ruling us, not just studied by us.
Ye search the scriptures, for ye think that in them ye have life eternal, and they it is which bear witness concerning me;
Jesus has healed a man on the Sabbath and called God His own Father, and now men want Him dead. He answers by calling witnesses, and the last is the book His accusers trusted most — so how could they read it and still miss the life it points to?
The verse does not stand alone. It closes a list of witnesses the Lord builds through this chapter.
In this chapter the Lord brings forward four witnesses to Himself, and it is very important that you and I pay attention to what Jesus says. (1) John the Baptist bore witness of Him. (2) The works the Father gave Him to finish bear witness of Him — a greater witness than John's. (3) And then again, the Father Himself, who sent Him, has borne witness of Him. (4) And last of all, the Scriptures bear witness of Him.
Some translations read "Search the Scriptures" as a command. The same words can also describe what these men already did. One commentator says the difference matters little.
It makes little practical difference whether we read it as "you search the Scriptures" or as "search the Scriptures." The context decides that it is an appeal, as others have well said, rather than a command. They were not so foolish as to think they had eternal life in themselves. They looked for it in the Scriptures, and so they were in the habit of searching them, as they do, more or less, to this day.
The witness Jesus points to covers the whole Old Testament, not a few scattered predictions. Later in the same conversation He names Moses in particular.
Verse 39 applies to all the Old Testament Scriptures: they bear witness about Christ. Verse 46 points to the early books written by Moses, and he wrote of Christ. This, then, is the key that unlocks the whole Old Testament. Its main theme is the Christ who was to come.
These men were not wrong to look for life in the Bible. Their mistake was narrower than that.
The Scriptures, as the Jews judged, were the storehouse of life; and in this they judged rightly. Their error was that they mistook where in the Scriptures the life lay. They thought it lay in the law God had given them, so that life belonged to them alone. But we know it really lay in "the testimony of Jesus," who is the Life.
The verse settles what Bible study is for. Reading that ends anywhere but Christ has failed, however thorough it was.
They thought they had eternal life in the Scriptures, but Christ is the Giver of it, and to Him they would not come. If searching the Scriptures brings men to Christ, then they do have eternal life through the Scriptures. If not, they only gain knowledge of a technical, theological sort and remain in spiritual death.
Another writer points to the motive behind their search.
They did search the Scriptures, but not to honestly seek the mind of God. They searched only because they wanted eternal life without truly submitting to God. So men may know a great deal about the truth of the Bible and still be complete strangers to the word of God.
The next verse names the real obstacle: they refuse to come to Him. One writer weighs an older translation's wording, "you will not come."
The Lord does not say, "You cannot come," but "You will not come." It is true that man is dead in trespasses and sins and cannot come. It is just as true that he is alive in sins and will not come.
For a reader today, the verse turns from rebuke into invitation. It names the one place where we still meet Christ.
The only place where we can come into contact with Christ is in the written word of God... In the Scriptures we find Christ in every aspect, position, character, and office: Christ in humiliation and rejection, and Christ in exaltation and glory. So the more I read and think about God's word, the more I will learn of Christ.
- Witness. Scripture is the fourth and final witness Jesus calls, after John the Baptist, His works, and the Father.
- Witness to whom. Its testimony has one subject. The whole Old Testament points to Christ, and Moses wrote of Him.
- Witness misread. They were right to look for life in the Bible. But they looked for it in the law, not in the One the law announced.
- Witness refused. The barrier was not inability but unwillingness. The Lord said they will not come, not that they cannot.
- Witness received. Study that leads to Christ gives life. Study that stops at facts leaves a person expert in the Bible and a stranger to God's word.