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Friday, June 24, 2011

7 Fold Witness of Christ

John 5:31-47 masterfully proves the deity of Christ.  In the preceding verses Jesus has healed a man who was an invalid for 38 years.  He performed this healing upon the Sabbath and the Jews were extremely upset.  The Jews took great offense to work being done on the Sabbath and they wanted to kill Jesus for it.  The issue underneath the Sabbath breaking is what really drove their anger.  Jesus claimed to only do the work that His Father did.  The Jews understood His statement to mean that He was claiming equality with God (5:18). 

The tension in this conversation was really heating up.  Jesus is claiming equality with God and the Jews are plotting murder.  Jesus does not sidestep the situation, but rather in verses 5:19-30 Jesus tells them He does exactly what His Father says, that the Father loves the Son, that He will raise the dead just like His Father, that the Father has committed all judgment to Him, that if they do not honor the Son they show no honor for the Father, and that all men will give account to Him at the final judgment.  Wow!  Can you imagine what the Jews who heard Him speak must have been thinking?  Jesus does not stop there, but continues forward and gives the foundation for His position.

The Mosaic law required more than one witness to establish a matter, so Jesus brings seven (7) witnesses to the table to prove His position.
1) εάν εγώ μαρτύρω περί εμαυτού [If Jesus bears witness concerning Himself (alone), His testimony would not be true.  This does not mean He does not bear witness of Himself (8:18), but that He has others to back up His testimony.
2) άλλος εστίν ο μαρτύρων περί εμού [There is another who bears witness concerning Me.  The Holy Spirit is the other witness and functions as the internal witness to men's conscience.]
3) ιωάννην μεμαρτύρηκεν τη αλήθεια [John has borne witness to the truth.]
4) τα έργα α ποιώ μαρτυρεί περί εμού [The works I do bear witness concerning Me.]
5) ο πεμφας με πατήρ εκείνος μεμαρτύρηκεν περί εμού [The Father who sent me bears witness concerning Me.]
6) γραφάς . . . εκείναι εισίν αι μαρτυρουσαι περί εμού [The Scriptures . . . is they that bear witness concerning Me.]
7) Μούσης . . . περί γαρ εμού εκείνος έγραφεν [Moses . . . for he wrote about Me.]

What a glorious Savior we find in John chapter 5.  He clearly reveals Himself to be God in human flesh.  He does not back down from the religious crowd of the day.  He gives authoritative, accurate truth to validate His identity.  This chapter is worth some long and prosperous meditations.

1 comment:

  1. Breathtakingly simple and condensed truth of scripture. This simple essay masterfully shows God's glory in the proof of the divinity of our Lord and Savior.
    Thank you sir. I now actually have a reason to post something on Facebook, something that clearly wouldn't be the narcissistic fare we all expect would usually be posted anywhere on any Facebook.
    This essay indeed glorifies God through the glory and truth of his revealed word.

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