John 5:31-32

“ If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32. There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. ”

Perhaps John 5:31 is the answer to an objection which was actually made to Jesus, in consequence of the preceding words. Similar interruptions abound in the much more circumstantial narratives of the following Chapter s. No doubt, the testimony which a person bears on his own behalf may be perfectly true. But in the sphere of sinful men, such a testimony is always suspected of partiality or falsehood. Jesus speaks here from the point of view of His hearers, who regard Him as an ordinary man. In the saying of John 8:14, on the contrary, He resumes His normal position and will claim distinctly the exceptional authority which His perfect holiness confers upon Him.

The ἐγώ, I, might signify here: “I alone (apart from every other witness).” It is better to understand it: “I myself, bearing witness of my own person.” Everything which follows proves that this other, whose testimony Jesus is about to allege, is God, and not John the Baptist, as de Wette thought. John 5:33-35 are intended precisely to set aside the application of this saying to the forerunner. In the second clause of John 5:32, this word: I know: signifies: “I bear in myself the inward consciousness of that filial relation of which my Father bears witness.” He means to say that for Himself He has no need of any testimony. The reading οἴδατε, you know, probably arises from the false application of these words to the testimony of John the Baptist. The expressions περὶ ἐμοῦ, περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, concerning me, concerning myself, repeated three times (John 5:31-32) do not mean: in my favor, for me (Rilliet), but quite simply: respecting me. Before saying who this other is, whose testimony serves to support His own, Jesus removes the supposition that it is to the testimony of the forerunner that He means to appeal.