B. W. Johnson's Bible Commentary
John 5:44
How can ye believe?
They sought human glory and elevation, and hence could not be of the contrite and lowly spirit needful for belief.
How can ye believe?
They sought human glory and elevation, and hence could not be of the contrite and lowly spirit needful for belief.
JOHN 5:44 qeou/ {B} Although early and important witnesses (î66, 75 B W _al_) omit qeou/, it seems to be required in the context. The absence of the word can be accounted for through transcriptional...
Verse 44. _HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOUR_, c.] The grand obstacle to the salvation of the scribes and Pharisees was their _pride, vanity_, and _self-love_. They lived on each other's prais...
WHICH RECEIVE HONOUR ONE OF ANOTHER - Who are studious of praise, and live for pride, ambition, and vainglory. This desire, Jesus says, was the great reason why they would not believe on him. They wer...
CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (John 5:1 .)_ 2. The Opposition of the Jews. (John 5:10 .) 3. His Unity with the Father. (John 5:19 .) 4. The Present Hour. Believers Delivered from...
This summary suggests that Jesus-' opponents had accused Him of self-glorification. In answer He traces back their failure to accept His message to want of that love of God which their study of Script...
MAN'S HELPLESSNESS AND CHRIST'S POWER (John 5:1-9)...
How can you believe when you are out for the glory that you get from each other, and when you do not search for the glory which comes from the only God? Do not think that it is I who will accuse you t...
BELIEVE. App-150. ONE OF ANOTHER. from (Greek. _para._ App-104) one another. THE. Note the Art. here, and not in the preceding clause. GOD ONLY. the only God (App-98.) Compare 1 Timothy 1:17....
_Not that I seek glory from men; had I done so, you would have received Me. Your worldliness prevents you from receiving One whose motives are not worldly_....
John 2:13 TO JOHN 11:57. The Work We here enter on the second portion of the first main division of the Gospel, thus subdivided: The Work (1) among _Jews_, (2) among _Samaritans_, (3) among _Galilean...
_How can ye believe_ The emphasis is on -ye." How is it possible, for _you_, who care only for the glory that man bestows, to believe on One who rejects such glory. This is the climax of Christ's accu...
ὙΜΕΙ͂Σ. Emphatic; ‘such men as you.’ It is morally impossible for _you_, who care only for the glory that man bestows, to believe on One who rejects such glory. This is the climax of Christ’s accusati...
41–44. _Not that I seek glory from men; had I done so, you would have received Me. Your worldliness prevents you from receiving One whose motives are not worldly_....
THE UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS...
THE DISCOURSE ON THE SON AS THE SOURCE OF LIFE...
Ver 41. I receive not honor from men. 42. But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you. 43. I am come in my Father's name, and you receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, hi...
_A WITNESS TO JESUS -- JOHN 5:31-47:_ Jesus called the attention of the Jews to the fact that God the Father was His witness. John was a great witness but the things that the Father had given Him to d...
ΠΙΣΤΕΎΣΑΙ _aor. act. inf. от_ ΠΙΣΤΕΎΩ (G4100) верить. Инфинитив-дополнение к основному гл. ΔΎΝΑΣΘΕ (G1410). ΛΑΜΒΆΝΟΝΤΕΣ _praes. act. part. от_ ΛΑΜΒΆΝΩ (G2983) принимать. Part, либо причины ("потому ч...
DISCOURSE: 1633 FAITH INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE LOVE OF MAN’S APPLAUSE John 5:44. _How can ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?_ IT is certain...
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, &C.— Our Lord observes, that this infidelity of the Jewish rulers (see on John 5:15.) was owing in a great measure to their pride. They who had all along preached glorious things c...
THE WITNESS OF THE SCRIPTURES _Text 5:39-47_ 39 Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; 40 and ye will not come...
EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF JOHN John 5:31-47 We begin with our usual Analysis of the passage which is to be before us:— "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true" (John 5:31). Every comm...
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOUR ONE OF ANOTHER, AND SEEK NOT THE HONOUR THAT COM...
31 The usual rendering, "If I bear witness of Myself My witness is not true", _ is not true_! The Lord Himself insisted, on another occasion, that His testimony concerning Himself _ was _ true. "And i...
5:44 alone? (b-20) Or 'from the only God.'...
BETHESDA. CHRIST AND THE SABBATH 1-47. A miracle at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day, and a controversy arising therefrom. This miracle may be regarded as a parable illustrating the deadly effe...
JOHN TELLS THE GOOD NEWS ABOUT JESUS GOSPEL OF JOHN _MARION ADAMS_ CHAPTER 5 JESUS CURES A SICK MAN 5:1-15 V1 After this, Jesus went to *Jerusalem for another *Jewish *festival. V2 There was a p...
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE...? — The emphasis is again on the pronoun. It is not possible that _ye_ should believe in Me, as our whole position is entirely different. Ye receive glory from men. I do not (John...
CHAPTER 13 JESUS LIFE-GIVER AND JUDGE. “The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. And for this cause did the Jews persecute Jesus, because He did these things o...
The Jewish inability to believe arose from their earthly ambition: πῶς δύνασθε … οὐ ζητεῖτε. The root of their unbelief was their earthly idea of glory, what they could win or bestow. This incapacitat...
WILLFUL REJECTION OF TRUTH CONDEMNED John 5:39-47 Our Lord was accused by the Jews of Sabbath breaking. There were many grounds on which He might have claimed exoneration, but He forbore to use them....
It was at this time that the conflict between Christ and His enemies, which culminated in His Cross began. A miracle wrought on the Sabbath gave rise to this first outbreak. Throughout this chapter we...
CHAPTER 13 THE POOL OF BETHESDA John 5:1-47. _“After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.”_ You always find the phraseology in the Bible, _“Go up to Jerusalem.”...
FIRST SECTION: 5:1-47. FIRST OUTBREAK OF HATRED IN JUDEA. 1. The miracle, occasion of the conflict: John 5:1-16; John 2. The discourse of Jesus, commentary and defense of the miracle: John 5:17-47....
“ _I receive not my glory from men._ 42. _But I know you, [and I know] that ye have not the love of God in yourselves._ 43. _I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not; if another shall come...
III. THE CONDEMNATION OF JEWISH UNBELIEF: JOHN 5:41-47. In John 5:41-44, Jesus unfolds the cause of the moral antipathy which keeps them away from Him; in John 5:45-47, the terrible consequences of th...
II. THE DISCOURSE OF JESUS: JOHN 5:17-47. In this discourse which is designed to vindicate the act which He has just performed, the three following thoughts are developed: 1. Jesus justifies His work...
The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole. (16) And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath...
The opening verses (John 1:1-18) introduce the most glorious subject which God Himself ever gave in employing the pen of man; not only the most glorious in point of theme, but in the profoundest point...
44._How can you believe? _As it might be thought harsh to say that those who were from their childhood the trained disciples of the Law and the Prophets, should be charged with such gross ignorance an...
chapter 5 contrasts the quickening power of Christ, the power and the right of giving life to the dead, with the powerlessness of legal ordinances. They required strength in the person that was to pro...
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOUR ONE OF ANOTHER?.... As the Scribes and Pharisees did, who were ambitious of honour and respect from one another, as well as from the common people; doing all t...
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that _cometh_ from God only? Ver. 44. _Which receive honour one of another_] Faith empties a man of himself, purgeth u...
_How can ye believe which receive honour one of another_ That is, while ye seek the praise of men, rather than the praise of God? In other words, “How can such persons as you believe in me, whose char...
RECEIVE HONOR; seek supremely human applause. Men cannot seek supremely human applause, and at the same time seek that honor which comes from God by believing on his Son. They should therefore, withou...
The authority of the Scriptures:...
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOR ONE OF ANOTHER, AND SEEK NOT THE HONOR THAT COMETH FROM GOD ONLY?...
AGAIN IN JERUSALEM: THE POOL OF BETHESDA (vs.1-15) Once more we find the Lord Jesus visiting Jerusalem, and as in Chapter 2:13 the feast is called "the Jews' Passover" rather than the Passover of Jeh...
39-44 The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures, and that they had it, because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scripture...
It is evident that by receiving HONOUR FROM ONE ANOTHER, is here to be understood the seeking and pursuing of honour and applause from men, without regard to the praise of God: so also 1 THESSALONIANS...
Tertullian On the Veiling of Virgins And, of course, that ought to have been chosen which keeps virgins veiled, as being known to God alone; who (besides that glory must be sought from God, not from...
John 5:44 How G4459 can G1410 (G5736) you G5210 believe G4100 (G5658) receive G2983 (G5723) honor...
“How can you believe who receive praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?” He then questions how they can possibly believe when their main concern is not the pr...
John 5:44. HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, RECEIVING GLORY ONE OF ANOTHER? As in the preceding verses, the word _receive_ is to be understood as implying a desire and a ‘seeking' on their part. Such love of honou...
The performance of the miracle of healing on the sabbath had roused the active opposition of the Jews to Jesus, and that again had led to the great declaration contained in John 5:17, in which Jesus a...
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE? (πως δυνασθε υμεις πιστευσαι;). Emphasis on "ye" (υμεις), ye being what ye are. They were not true Jews (Romans 2:29; Esther 9:28) who cared for the glory of God, but they prefer...
John 5:24. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,_ If we truly believe the word of Christ, and trust in him who sent his S...
CONTENTS: Healing of the man at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus answers the Jews. The four-fold witness to Jesus. CHARACTERS: God, Jesus, infirm man, John the Baptist, Moses. CONCLUSION: Jesus Christ, th...
John 5:2. _Now there is at Jerusalem a pool, called Bethesda,_ which signifies a house of mercy, beneficence, or alms. The pool was situate at too great a distance from the temple to be a place for wa...
HOW, THEN, CAN YOU BELIEVE? Their unbelief grew out of their greed for glory and fame! They wanted a "messiah" who would give them important positions in a political kingdom. Compare Luke 17:20-21 and...
_How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another?_ FALSE AND TRUE GLORY Something is lost in this rendering of “honour” in the place of glory. More is lost by the substitution of “from God on...
JOHN—NOTE ON JOHN 5:31 Jesus speaks of several witnesses who bear testimony concerning him (see chart). ⇐...
_How_ _can ye believe_, &c. "Ye love human glory, brief and poor: wherefore ye contemn Me, who despise human glory, and teach that it ought to be contemned; and that the Divine and eternal glory ought...
VER. 36. _But I have greater witness_, &c.: _i.e._, than John's witness; _greater_ in the sense of _surer, more efficacious_, that I am Messiah, the Son of God. This greater testimony is My works, My...
_EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES_ John 5:19. THE SON CAN DO NOTHING OF HIMSELF.—This statement refers back to and justifies that of John 5:17. He is still speaking of the eternal relation in which He s...
EXPOSITION Here commences the second division of the Gospel (John 5:1) II. THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM, GALILEE, AND JERUSALEM, TO THE
Shall we turn in our Bibles to the fifth chapter of the gospel of John. John has just recorded in the fourth chapter the ministry of Jesus in the Galilee when He was at the city of Cana and the noblem...
1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Peter 1:7; 1 Samuel 2:30; 2 Chronicles 6:8;...
Ye believe. Again the emphatic ye, the reason for the emphasis being given in the succeeding clause. Which receive [λ α μ β α ν ο ν τ ε ς]. Literally, receiving (as ye do) : seeing that ye receive. S...
While ye receive honour — That is, while ye seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God. At the feast of pentecost, kept in commemoration of the giving the law from Mount Sinai, their sermons...
Here Christ tells the Jews, that it is impossible they should believe aright in him, because they were so in love with the praise of men, that they would own him for the Messias, who could promsie the...