What is the fourfold witness?

Nevertheless, however perfect His own witness, it would not by itself be valid according to the law, which says, "The testimony of two is true". One 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. There are four other witnesses which the Lord proceeds to give us: First, the testimony of John the Baptist (verses 32-35); Secondly, the testimony of His works (verse 36); Thirdly, the testimony of the Father Himself (verses 37, 38); Fourthly, the testimony of the Scriptures (verses 39-47).

John 5:32-35. John the Baptist bore witness to Christ and the truth, and his witness was true. The Lord needed no witness from men, but to meet the Jews in grace, in order that they might be saved, the Lord brings forward John's witness. In his time, John was "a burning and a shining lamp" in the midst of the darkness that preceded the coming of Christ; and in his light men, for a season, were willing to rejoice, for they counted him to be a prophet (Luke 20:6).

In the chapter now before us, the Lord adduces four witnesses to Himself, and it is of vast importance that you and I should pay heed to what Jesus says. (1) John the Baptist bore witness of Him: "Ye sent to John, and he bare witness to the truth" (ver. 33). (2.) "But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me" (ver. 36). (3.) And then, again, "The Father himself, which has sent me, has borne witness of me" (ver. 37). (4.) And, last of all, the Scriptures bear witness of Him: Ye "search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me" (ver. 39). But He adds, very solemnly, "and ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Ye "search the scriptures": I can commend you for that, He says; but eternal life is not found in Scripture. "They are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." This fourfold testimony to Christ might well convince any heart.

Four Witnesses. — Hitherto in this discourse the Lord has revealed truth about Himself. The Son of the Father, the object of His special affection, He quickens, but whom He will; and He will judge all. The importance, too, of the present was pressed on His hearers, and is pressed on all the readers. Now is the hour in which He speaks in life-giving power, and those that hear shall live, sharing in the blessing of everlasting life, and assured of immunity from that coming judgment, which the ungodly must face. Thus early in His ministry was all this brought out, and the grace manifested in disclosing it we can perceive. Who He was in His person, and the danger of rejecting Him, were subjects of supreme importance then, and are equally so still. Many a subject, which may occupy men's minds, ceases in time to interest. But the truths touched on in this chapter are as much in season as ever. And the Lord, knowing the supreme importance of them, concludes this discourse at Jerusalem with the announcement of four witnesses — witnesses, indeed, unimpeachable — who bore testimony to Him: viz. 1st, John the Baptist; 2nd, His own works; 3rd, His Father; and 4th, the written Word.

Whoever before, whoever since, could cite such testimony on his own behalf? The Baptist, that burning and shining lamp, attested that the One he had baptized was the Son of God (1:34). Christ's works, too, manifested that the Father had sent Him, seeing they were given Him of the Father to finish. Healing the sick with a word, casting out devils, cleansing lepers, raising the dead — these and other works were attestations as to the One who was there. Now, though in this Gospel we have had as yet but three works specified (2:11, 4:54, 5:8-9), others, perhaps many, had been already wrought in Jerusalem on the Lord's visit at the first Passover (3:2, 4:45). Sufficient proof there was already to authenticate His mission, and to bear witness to the truth of His person. The three miracles, which John alone has recorded, were such as no mere man had ever wrought, — manifesting, the first, the Lord's power over creation; and the two others, that, what He willed, He did. Then the Father had borne witness to Him. His voice had been heard at the baptism in Jordan, declaring the special relationship in which He stood to the Father — His beloved Son, in whom He was well pleased. And lastly, there was that which could be true of no man but of Himself — the being the special subject of Divine revelation. The Scriptures of truth which the Jews searched, thinking that in them they had everlasting life, they bore witness of Christ. He stood, then, that day before them all, wonderful for them to hear it, as the theme of Old Testament prediction.

C.C. — He says also, “My judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father who hath sent Me.” And as the perfect subject man, He adds, “If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not valid.” The law could not accept the testimony of only one witness. So He brings forward more than the law required. He cites four witnesses: John the Baptist, in verses 32 to 35; the works He did, in verse 36; the Father Himself, in verse 37; and the Old Testament Scriptures, in verse 39 — they all confirm His own testimony.

The Lord Jesus refers to these four witnesses: firstly, John; secondly, his works; thirdly, the Father; fourthly, the Scriptures: and yet He tells those to whom He spoke, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life," v. 40. Presented with this full and adequate testimony to the consciences of men (not merely an abstract testimony, but that which was suited to their circumstances), they refused it all: they would not come to Him that they might have life. And mark the terrible conclusion, "Ye will receive" this evil one. "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive," v. 43. What a testimony against man!

1903 287 The Lord Jesus, as a Divine Person, was His own adequate witness: "Though I bear record of myself," He says, "yet is my record true" (John 8:14). But here He presses on the Jews the important fact that, apart from His own, the testimony to His paramount and exclusive claims is fourfold. In truth, it was not possible that the testimony to Christ should proceed from Himself alone. The record of such as could produce no corroborative witness must be, He tells us in this chapter, self-condemning. And then the blessed Lord informs His hearers who His witnesses area First the Baptist, then the supreme testimony of the Father, thirdly the Son's works, and lastly the scriptures the three last, needless to say, unfaltering; the first marked by the short-coming inseparable from men. But this was at a later day, when John the Baptist apparently yielded for a moment to the depressing influences of his prison-house, and sent his disciples to ask Jesus if He really were the Messiah.

Verse 30. "I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me." He gives the moral reason for that — "because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness." Then He gives a fourfold series of witnesses to His Person, the leading thought being that He has eternal life to communicate. (Vers. 26-39.) In 1 John 5 you have a threefold testimony that eternal life is in Christ Himself, and that God has given it to us. Thus you get a sevenfold testimony on this subject. The four here are — first, John; second, the Father Himself; third, the scriptures bore witness; and fourth, the works He did. "Search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." But in 1 John 5 it says, "There are three that bear witness, the Spirit, and the water, and the blood." (Vers. 10, 11.) "He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." It is very important to read that verse 11 in connection with the three that bear witness. What was it the three bore witness to? What is the testimony?

This is a deep and holy matter, beloved. By His humiliation and subjection the Son was at once honouring God, and testing man; giving the "only Potentate" His rights in this world, but thus becoming Himself a sign for the making manifest of the thoughts of the heart. And the Jew, the favoured Jew, was found in the common atheism of man; for to disclose this hidden spring of unbelief in Israel our Lord's discourse in this chapter was tending. 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 withal, they had the love of the world in them, and not the love of God; and were thus unprepared for the Son of God. v. 42.

Already had the Father's voice been heard in terms identical with these now recorded, save the pregnant construction of εἰς ὃν for ἐν ὧ in the Gospel which makes no difference in translating. But none, as far as we know, heard the first time but the Lord Himself and the Baptist, though the Lord adduced it as one of the four testimonies to His personal glory which proved the Jews to be thoroughly unbelieving: John the Baptist His predicted herald; then the greater witness which the Father gave Him to complete; next, the Father that sent Him had Himself borne witness concerning Him by His voice; and lastly the scriptures, to which He assigned a very great place (John 5). But man's will can resist any and all, as the Jews then verified to their ruin, and will another day and in another form, as He then warned them.

265 You have four witnesses, but you have God making each of them perfect, and sure in his own place. Christ distinguishes the testimony of the Apostles and the Holy Spirit, but He also says that the Holy Ghost would make their testimony perfect, bringing to their remembrance what He had said.