Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:44
How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that [cometh] from God only?
44. 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 accusation. They have reduced themselves to such a condition that they cannot believe. They must change their whole view and manner of life before they can do so, comp. Joh 5:47.
from God only ] Rather, from the only God, from Him who alone is God; whereas by receiving glory from one another they were making gods of one another; so that it is they who really ‘make themselves equal with God’ ( Joh 5:18). The Greek is not similar to Mat 17:8 or Luk 5:21, but to Joh 17:3; 1Ti 6:16. Comp. Rom 16:27; 1Ti 1:17; Jude 25. Note the absence of the article before the first ‘honour’ and its presence before the second: they receive glory, such as it is, from one another, and are indifferent to the glory, which alone deserves the name.
The whole verse should run thus, How can ye believe, seeing that ye receive glory one of another; and the glory which cometh from the only God ye seek not.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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 were unwilling to renounce their worldly honors, and become the followers of one so humble and unostentatious as he was. They expected a Messiah of pomp and splendor, and would not submit to one so despised and of so lowly a rank. Had the Messiah come, as they expected, with pomp and power, it would have been an honor, in their view, to follow him; as it was, they despised and rejected him. The great reason why multitudes do not believe is their attachment to human honors, or their pride, and vanity, and ambition. These are so strong, that while they continue they cannot and will not believe. They might, however, renounce these things, and then, the obstacles being removed, they would believe. Learn:
1. A man cannot believe the gospel while he is wholly under the influence of ambition. The two are not compatible. The religion of the gospel is humility, and a man who has not that cannot be a Christian.
2. Great numbers are deterred from being Christians by pride and ambition. Probably there is no single thing that prevents so really young men from becoming Christians as this passion. The proud and ambitious heart refuses to bow to the humiliating terms of the gospel.
3. Though while a man is under this governing principle he cannot believe the gospel, yet this proves nothing about his ability to lay that aside, and to yield to truth. that is another question. A child cannot open a trunk when he gets on the lid and attempts to raise his own weight and the cover of the trunk too; but that settles nothing about the inquiry whether he might not get off and then open it. The true question is whether a man can or cannot lay aside his ambition and pride, and about that there ought not to be any dispute. No one doubts that it may be done; and if that can be done, he can become a Christian.
Seek not the honour – The praise, the glory, the approbation of God. The honor which comes from men is their praise, flattery, commendation; the honor that comes from God is his approbation for doing his will. God alone can confer the honors of heaven – the reward of having done our duty here. That we should seek, and if we seek that, we shall come to Christ, who is the way and the life.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 5:44
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 only for from the only God. Glory is the forthshining of light, the manifestation of a perfection inherent in the person spoken of. What a rebuke, therefore, lies in the phrase Receiving glory one from another, implying a claim of inherent excellence. To speak of it in connection with man is to deny creation and the fall, to deify man and to dethrone God. The other substitution is less excusable. The very object of the expression is to show that there is none good but One, that is God. There is but one Being who has any light to emit, any excellence to manifest. Any other glory must be counterfeit; to accept or profess to give it is an affront to the majesty of God as the one Being.
I. THE TENDENCY WHICH IS IN ALL OF US TO RECEIVE GLORY FROM ANOTHER. This is a different thing from that of which St. Paul says, Render honour to whom honour is due, or St. Peter, Honour all men. Honour is respect, recognition of the claims of position, character, humanity, not the impious flattery, for receiving which Herod was smitten. But much of that which men give to or expect from another is glory–the ascription of inherent excellence. We should call it cant to be reminded that God is the giver of that which makes a sagacious statesman or an eloquent orator. The thought, What hast thou that thou didst not receive? though it lies on our theological shelf, is not welcome as a monitor. We have borrowed the word talent from the parable, but we have divorced it from its context–as the memento of a Lord who will hold His servants in strict account.
II. In contrast with this habit OUR LORD SETS BEFORE US THE ALTERNATIVE OF SEEKING GLORY FROM THE ONLY GOD. It seems strange after the above definition of glory to seek it from God as something. He can communicate. Yet our Lord speaks of seeking from God that forthshining in ourselves The life to which Christ calls us is no tame monotony. It is a seeking of glory; the ambition to be accepted; an aspiration after an applause that the world wets not of. It is the desire for the approval of God Himself which attends upon the exercise of the Christlike mind. Where this life is there is elevation above lying world-worship. Begin this ambition at once. If hitherto we have allowed the thought of other people to come in, let us do little acts of good which no one can discover, or form some in secret, some good habit hitherto falsely ascribed to us, and thus seek a glory that comes from the only God.
III. THE CONNECTION OF FAITH WITH THESE HABITS.
1. How can ye believe who seek the one glory? To believe is to realize the invisible. This is the direct opposite of the habit before us. To receive glory from another is to be deaf and blind to all but sense and time.
2. How can ye believe who seek not the other glory? Faith is a thing which presupposes a searching after, till it finds the God in whom man lives and moves and has his being: the half unconscious consciousness that there is a glory which God, the alone good and great and glorious, destines for and can alone bestow on man.
3. How can ye believe?
(1) It is good for us to be sternly reminded that there are states of mind incapable of believing.
(2) The gospel may be true all the time and you responsible for rejecting it. How can ye believe with your worldly lives and ambitious projects?
(3) Lord, convince us of the shame and folly and wickedness of this earth-bounded, miserable creature worship, and draw our thoughts upwards to Thy glorious presence. (Dean Vaughan.)
The peril of seeking honour of men
1. All its attendant circumstances add weight to this remarkable utterance. It is the statement of the hidden reasons for Jewish wilfulness. There was a deep moral incapacity which made Christs words and works powerless.
2. That which made belief powerless in the Jews makes it powerless in us.
3. In a very few touches He shows the real character of this evil–the allowing mans estimate to become the measure of what is to be honoured.
I. WHAT THIS DANGER IS THE EFFECT OF WHICH IS TO MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO SAVINGLY RECEIVE THE TRUTH.
1. Pride. Take, e.g., a man of high intellectual power. Poor as it is held by Gods standard, yet when judged according to the low measures many propose to themselves, the man has a right to be proud. Accordingly, he becomes a law unto himself and looks on others with a calm sense of superiority. By degrees he has a secret pleasure in going against the common forms of belief. His greater acuteness shows him errors in creeds, and then perhaps he stoops to be a leader of babes and grows into a heresiarch, or sinks, if truth be too strong for him, into the sadder honours of a spurious martyrdom. But for some overpowering work of grace, belief is impossible to such a man. Wrapped up in the superiority cf a Pharisee, or embittered into a scoffing Sadducee, how can he believe?
2. Self-conceit–a bastard growth of the same evil root. There is scarcely any peculiarity on which such may not ground a high estimate of themselves. Singularities of dress, bodily defect, a lisp, etc., show the workings of this lesser devil. What is there in this empty, inflated, irritating soul on which the gospel can lay hold when a strange dress, etc., is enough to satisfy his desire for greatness?
3. Vanity–closely related to the two former and yet widely different. It is a diseased desire for the good opinion of others to mend or bolster up our good opinion of ourselves. There is no humiliation to which a vain man will not stoop; he would rather be laughed at than left unnoticed. His itching desire to bring himself into notice spreads into his religion, and shows itself in small instances of ridiculous manner or rite. How can such an one believe?
4. Self-consciousness.is a struggling form of the same evil. The self-conscious man is ever tormented with an ever-present vision of self in what he is doing. He cannot confess sin without thinking how well he is doing it, nor pray without thinking how others, if they only saw him, would applaud. All of these forms have about them this deadly element, that they substitute some lower object for the one true end of a mans being–to do the will of God.
II. WHERE IS OUR DELIVERANCE?
1. We cannot find it in ourselves. The proud man cannot reason himself out of his pride; self-conceit will survive all disgrace; vanity will go on all through life blemishing everything, and self-consciousness will poison a life of active exertion and contemplative piety.
2. Self in this deceitful form can only be cast out by our Maker. In His presence only can we see our littleness. There all self-delusions fade. It is well, then, to get there from time to time in a solemn and especial manner.
3. But then you must watch in detail against the temptation.
(1) Think as little as possible about any good in yourself; turn your eyes from self and speak as little as possible about yourself, and specially be on your guard against the little tricks by which the vain man seeks to secure attention.
(2) Take meekly the humiliations which God in His providence deals out to you.
(3) Place yourself often beneath the Cross. (Bp. S. Wilberforce.)
Undue regard to reputation a source of unbelief
I. THE NATURE AND EVIL TENDENCY OF AN UNDUE REGARD TO REPUTATION.
1. There is a proper regard which is useful and laudable. This Samuel and Paul had. We may value it
(1) As a test of our own character, and as an instrument for doing good.
(2) But in a moderate manner, and
(3) Not as the main motive of our conduct.
2. There may be an undue regard in cases in which the opinion of the world seems to be entirely despised. An affectation of singularity, a contrariety to the maxims and conduct of the world, may spring from a desire of reputation.
3. In general, however, it is by the dread of singularity that this undue regard is evinced. We are anxious to follow the world. The evil of such a principle is great.
(1) It robs God of His proper glory.
(2) It is base and mean, therefore, and further because it is but the love of self.
(3) It is highly prejudicial to others. For it will induce us to flatter them in order that they may be pleased with us.
(4) It fails of its object. The world is a hard master. Them that honour Me I will honour, but they that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed.
II. THE NATURE AND EXCELLENCY OF SEEKING THE HONOUR THAT COMETH OF GOD.
1. Its nature and advantages. The man who is guided by this motive
(1) Sets God ever before him as his supreme Lord whom he is bound by every obligation to obey.
(2) He learns to attach little value to human approbation.
(3) He obtains peace, and
(4) The time is coming when he will enter upon eternal honour, while those who act from the opposite principle will be rewarded with shame and everlasting contempt.
2. Its excellence. It is
(1) Pure, unalloyed by any mixture of imperfection, and consists of regard for a Being infinitely pure.
(2) Simple, because it has but one end in view.
(3) Noble, because its end is the glory of God.
(4) Fixed and permanent. The tastes of men vary, but the will of God is unchangeable.
(5) Always productive of peace and happiness.
III. THE CONNECTION OF THESE PRINCIPLES WITH A READY RECEPTION OF THE DOCTRINES OF CHRIST. AS the understanding is biassed by the affections, it follows that when the love of reputation operates the mind is predisposed to believe that system which is fairest in human estimation. The man who follows the world has nothing to do with principle or truth. He is a slave to those whose opinion he courts. It is not to a character like this that it belongs to pursue the calm investigation of truth or to suffer for it. This requires independence and unselfishness only imparted by the influence of some great principle, such as a supreme desire for the favour of God. Hence Nicodemus, Joseph, Nathanael, Zacchaeus, etc., were already disposed by the fear of God to embrace the gospel, while in the Pharisees, whose religion was vanity and whose hearts thirsted for applause, rejected it. (J. Venn, M. A.)
Why men cannot believe in Christ
I. THE HINDRANCE IN THE WAY OF THE PHARISEES.
1. The mere fact of receiving honour, even if that honour be rightly rendered, may make faith a difficulty. He is in danger of being elevated above the conviction of sin and of the necessity of salvation.
2. It is still more perilous if, receiving honour, we come to expect it. Those who do are not in the condition which renders it easy to say, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
3. The Pharisees received honour, but it was quite undeserved. They extolled one another for ostentatious religiousness, whereas they devoured widows houses, etc. If a man has a fine character and doesnt deserve it, and allows it to go on, how can he believe in Christ whose light shows him in his true colours? How can the man who has lived in the dark love the light?
4. Always receiving this honour, they deceived themselves into believing that they deserved it. The deluded becomes self-deluded, and when the smoke of incense makes their eyes dim with self-conceit, it is not at all marvellous that they cannot believe in Christ.
5. The praise of men generally turns the receivers into great cowards. To believe in Jesus is to forfeit that. Men would no longer salute them as Rabbi, but turn them out of the synagogue. So a good many now cannot believe because they are afraid. The commercial traveller would be exposed to the chaff of the commercial room; the working man to the coarse remarks of the workshop. Some are afraid of the boon companions whom they have led. How many live on the breath of their fellow men!
II. OTHER HINDRANCES.
1. Some are unable to believe because they have a very high opinion of themselves. They have never done anything amiss, or have good hearts at bottom.
2. In many cases there is a strong aversion to confession of sin and to approach to God.
3. In others the hindrance is indolence.
4. Many are too fond of pleasure to believe in Christ.
5. Habitual or occasional sin.
6. Love of gain.
7. An unforgiving temper;–all impede faith in Christ. But they all aggravate the sin. Dare you plead them before God? (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The idolatry of genius
I. DESCRIBE THE EVIL.
1. The lowest and least sinful grade of it is when men value genius and do homage to it simply for its own sake, and apart from its uses. This evil is exemplified where men honour another, not for anything he has done, but simply because he has received from God some quality, intelligence, beyond that ordinarily bestowed. He may be a vain man, who is concerned chiefly to use his gifts for display; or an indolent man, who allows life to pass away without his doing any benefit; or a thoughtless man, who has never formed one worthy aim; or an irresolute man, who is driven through life as a mere waif.
2. A worse is reached when men suffer their admiration of genius to blind them to moral distortions. Sometimes the man is bold and wicked enough to employ, genius for feathering the poisoned arrows of vice, so that they may fly the surer and strike the deeper. At other times only the tendency of his writings saps the moral principle. In other cases the writer may have kept his page comparatively clean whilst he has been himself a man of notoriously flagitious life. Are such men worthy of being held up to admiration?
3. Another stage, more daring and wicked, is when men of superior powers are actually deified. This is exemplified in those forms of heathen hero-worship; and something not essentially different from this may be found in the saint-worship of the Romish Church. It may appear to some, however, that there is no risk of this species of idolatry attaching itself to mere literary genius. But what is to be said of the deliberate proposal of Comte–to revise the Calendar, and appoint days for the special worship of greatmen, gods, heroes, saints; in the first of which he would place such names as those of Moses, Homer, St. Paul, Shakespeare, Frederick the Great; in the second, Buddha and Confucius; and in the third, Hercules and Ovid?
II. THE EVIL AND DANGER OF SUCH A TENDENCY. The worship of genius is
1. Irrational. The difference between one mans intellect and anothers can never be so immense as to make it compatible with the dignity of a rational being for the less gifted to bow down in homage and reverence to his more richly endowed brother. Is it not a dereliction from our proper manhood? What would be thought of us were we to treat other gifts of God after the same fashion? Beauty, strength, etc.
2. Immoral. The first principle of morality is, that a man is neither to be praised nor blamed for what is merely physical and constitutional. The mere possession of a gift infers no excellence, implies no worthiness. It is as the possessor uses them that he becomes a fit subject for approbation or the opposite. The immorality is heightened when a man of genius is lauded, in spite of the impurity, blasphemy, or falsehood of his writings, or the crimes of his life.
3. Prejudicial to the moral interests of the youth of the community. We must put an end, says the Platonic Socrates, speaking of the immortal stores of the Greek poets, We must put an end to such stories in our State, lest they beget in the youth too great a facility for wickedness.
4. Idolatrous. You worship genius: Why?–Because it is the gift of God? So is nature. Because it is attractive and brilliant? So is the sun, so are the stars, the earth, the sea. Because it fills you with delight? So do the flowers. Where do you draw the distinction? (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)
Self-seeking
A certain king had a minstrel whom he commanded to play before him. It was a day of high feasting; the cups were flowing, and many great guests were assembled. The minstrel laid his fingers among the strings of his harp and woke them all to the sweetest melody, but the hymn was to the glory of himself. It was a celebration of the exploits of song which the bard had himself performed, and told how he had excelled highborn Hoels harp, and emulated soft Llewellyns lay. In high-sounding strains he sang himself and all his glories. When the feast was over, the harper said to the monarch, O king, give me thy guerdon; let the minstrels meed be paid. Then the monarch replied, Thou hast sung unto thyself; pay thyself. Thine own praises were thy theme; be thyself the paymaster. The harper cried, Did I not sing sweetly? O king, give me thy gold! But the king said, So much the worse for thy pride, that thou shouldst lavish such praise on thyself. Get thee gone, thou shalt not serve in my train. (W. Baxendale.)
Happiness and humility
Some time since I took up a work purporting to be the lives of sundry characters as related by themselves. Two of those characters agreed in remarking that they were never happy until they ceased striving to be great men. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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 praise. If they had acknowledged Christ as the only teacher, they must have given up the good opinion of the multitude and they chose rather to lose their souls than to forfeit their reputation among men! This is the ruin of millions. They would be religious, if religion and worldly honour were connected; but as the kingdom of Christ is not of this world, and their hearts and souls are wedded to the earth, they will not accept the salvation which is offered to them on these terms-Deny thyself: take up thy cross, and follow ME. It is no wonder that we never find persons making any progress in religion who mix with the world, and in any respect regulate their conduct by its anti-Christian customs, maxims, and fashions.
From God only?] Or, from the only God – . Two of the ancient Slavonic versions read, From the only begotten Son of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Joh 12:43. For otherwise it is lawful for parents to receive honour from children, masters from servants, princes and other magistrates from people. But for men to be ambitious of honour and applause from men, in neglect of the honour and praise of God, this is highly sinful; and it cannot be expected that any such persons should so far deny themselves, and renounce their own works of righteousness, as to accept of Christ and his righteousness, and rely upon him alone for life and salvation. It is said, Joh 12:42, that among the chief rulers many believed; yet it is added, Joh 12:43, For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. But those words, Joh 12:43, seem rather to refer to the Pharisees, mentioned in the latter part of Joh 12:42, where a reason is given why, though many great rulers believed, yet they did not confess Christ, because of the Pharisees. Or if those words, Joh 12:43, be to be applied to those of whom it is said, they believed, Joh 12:42, we must distinguish concerning believing, which in Joh 12:42 signifieth no more than an assent given to him as a great prophet, upon the miracles they saw wrought by him; in this place, a true and lively faith, receiving Christ as our Mediator and Saviour.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
44. How can ye believe, &c.(Seeon Joh 5:40,41). The “willnot” of Joh 5:40, and”cannot” here are just different features of thesame awful state of the human heart.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 they did to be seen of men, and to gain applause among them: choosing the uppermost rooms at feasts, and chief places in the synagogues, and delighting in the pompous title of Rabbi, Rabbi; and were in expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, when they hoped to be advanced to places of great honour and profit; and all this was an hinderance to them from believing in Christ, who appeared in such an abject form, and made so mean a figure; whose doctrine was so unsuitable to their carnal minds, and whose followers were so poor and contemptible; and besides it was made a law among them, that those who professed him to be the Messiah, should be cast out of the synagogue: hence many who were convinced that he was the Messiah, durst not confess him, lest they should lose their honour and respect among men, which they preferred to the praise of God:
and seek not the honour that cometh from God only; or “from the only God”, as the Vulgate Latin; or “from the one God”, as the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions render it: the honour that comes from him is, that of being born of him; of being a son or daughter of his, having that new name, which is better than that of sons and daughters of the greatest princes on earth; of being made all glorious within, and clothed with gold of Ophir, with raiment of needlework, with the robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation; of being translated into the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and made kings and priests unto God by him; of being set on the same throne with Christ, having on a crown of life and righteousness, and enjoying a kingdom and glory; being heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; which honour all the saints have, or shall have, and which these men cared not for.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
How can ye believe? ( ;). Emphasis on “ye” (), ye being what ye are. They were not true Jews (Rom 2:29; Esth 9:28) who cared for the glory of God, but they prefer the praise of men (Matt 6:1; Matt 23:5) like the Pharisees who feared to confess Christ (Joh 12:43).
From the only God ( ). B and W omit which is certainly meant even if not genuine here. See John 17:3; Rom 16:27; 1Tim 6:15.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Ye believe. Again the emphatic ye, the reason for the emphasis being given in the succeeding clause.
Which receive [] . Literally, receiving (as ye do) : seeing that ye receive.
Seek not the honor that cometh from God only [ ] . The Rev. gives it capitally, following the Greek order : and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not. Not God only, which entirely overlooks the force of the definite article; but the only God. Compare 1Ti 6:15, 16; Joh 17:3; Rom 16:27.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “How can ye believe,” (pos dunasthe humeis pisteusai) “Just how can you all trust,” in the Son of God, while rejecting the Father and the Son, and coveting flattery from one another?
2) “Which receive honour one of another,” (doksan para allelon lambanontes) “Who continually receive glory alongside one another,” as you all praise and promote one another, with mutually deceitful flatteries; Joh 12:43 reads, “For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.” They inebriated themselves on praise one from another, so as to care little for possible praise from God, Mat 6:2; Mat 6:5; Mat 6:7; Mat 6:16.
3) “And seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (kai ten doksan ten para tou monou theou ou zeteite) “And you all do not really seek the glory (available) from the only God,” the true God, honor that is based on real character, Rom 2:10; Rom 2:29.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
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 and declared to be enemies of the truth, and as this might even be thought to be incredible, Christ shows what it is that hinders them from believing. It is because ambition has deprived them of sound judgment; for he speaks, in a peculiar manner, to the priests and scribes, who, swelled with pride, could not obey God. This is a remarkable passage, which teaches that the gate of faith is shut against all whose hearts are preoccupied by a vain desire of earthly glory. For he who wishes to be somebody in the world must become wandering and unsteady, so that he will have no inclination towards God. Never is a man prepared to obey the heavenly doctrine, until he is convinced that his principal object, throughout his whole life, ought to be, that he may be approved by God.
But it may be thought that the wicked confidence, by which hypocrites exalt themselves in the presence of God, is a greater obstacle than worldly ambition; and we know that this was also a disease with which the scribes were deeply infected. The answer is easy; for Christ intended to tear from them the false mask of sanctity, by which they deceived the ignorant multitude. He therefore points, as with the finger, to the grosser vice, by which it may be made manifest to all that nothing is farther from their true character than what they wished to be reckoned. Besides, though hypocrisy exalts itself against God, still, in the world and before men, it is always ambitious; nay, more, it is this vanity alone that swells us with false presumption, when we rely more on our own judgment, and that of others, than on the judgment of God. He who in reality presents himself before God as his Judge, must, of necessity, fall down humbled and dismayed, and finding nothing in himself on which he can place reliance. (113) So, then, in order that any man may seek glory from God alone, he must be overwhelmed with shame, and flee to the undeserved mercy of God. And, indeed, they who look to God see that they are condemned and ruined, and that nothing is left to them in which they can glory but the grace of Christ. The desire of such glory will always be attended by humility.
So far as relates to the present passage, Christ’s meaning is, that there is no other way in which men can be prepared for receiving the doctrine of the Gospel, than by withdrawing all their senses from the world, and turning them to God alone, and seriously considering that it is with God that they have to do, that, forgetting the flatteries by which they are accustomed to deceive themselves, they may descend into their own consciences. We need not wonder, therefore, if the Gospel in the present day find so few persons willing to be taught, since all are carried away by ambition. Nor need we wonder if many apostatize from the profession of the Gospel, for they are hurried away by their own vanity and fly off. So much the more earnestly ought we to seek this one thing, that, while we are mean and despised in the eyes of the world, and even overwhelmed within ourselves, we may be reckoned among the children of God.
(113) “ Et ne sentant rien en soy-mesme sur quoy il se puisse appuyer.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(44) 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 (Joh. 5:41). I am come in My Fathers name (Joh. 5:43). Ye do not seek the glory which is from God. We are, then, in wholly distinct spheres of life, and action, and thought. To believe would be to give up your whole present life. While ye are what ye are, it cannot be.
The marginal reference compares the parallel thought of Joh. 12:43. This is obscured in the English version by a difference of words for the same Greek word. Here, as in Joh. 5:41, it would be more exact to read glory for honour, and in Joh. 12:43, glory for praise.
From God only.Better, from the only God. Comp. Rom. 16:27; 1Ti. 1:17; 1Ti. 6:15-16; Jud. 1:25. The article before glory should be noted. They received glory one of another. They sought not the glory, which was a divine attribute, (Comp. Joh. 1:14.) Their charge against Him was that He made Himself equal with God. Thinking themselves monotheists, they were really idolaters. Each man, receiving glory from another, was in the place of a god to that other. Each man giving this glory to another, was rendering to a fellow man that which belonged to God only. They, not He, were robbing God of His glory.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
44. Receive honour one of another We should indeed honour all men. But the excited ambition of these Jews, unable to gratify itself in triumph over foreign nations, exhausted itself in exacting and exchanging honours with each other. The honour that cometh from God only is alone eternal, enduring with our immortal existence. While this contrary feeling of earthly honour filled their hearts, belief in Christ was impossible. That worldly temper and that heavenly faith were incompatible.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“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 praise and glory of God but their own praise and glory. For the truth is that if men are to know the truth they must be wholehearted in their search for it. But these men longed for the praise of their fellowmen and so they lived and believed accordingly. If they had really sought praise from the central source, ‘the only God’ (tou monou theou), they would have known the truth about Him. The phrase stresses that they boasted of their belief in the one and only God, and yet looked elsewhere for their praise. They looked to men. They were double-minded. It is thus they who were living independently of God, not Jesus.
The stress is on the fact that there is no value in pretending to love ‘the only God’ if their thoughts and obedience are not centred on Him. Those who seek their praise and honour from men demonstrate that it is men whom they love, and whose verdict they desire, not He Who alone is God. They were so eager to get men to live in accordance with their own ideas, that they did not have time to contemplate God and recognise that some of their ideas were wrong. (Which was why the signs passed them by).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 5:44. How can ye believe, &c. Our Lord observes, that this infidelity of the Jewish rulers (see on Joh 5:15.) was owing in a great measure to their pride. They who had all along preached glorious things concerning the empire and grandeur of the Messiah, would not ascribe that august character to one of so low a condition apparently as our adorable Lord, who was destitute even of the ordinary advantages of birth, fortune, and erudition; because it would have been such a confession of ignorance and unskilfulness in the scriptures, as must have exposed them to the contempt of those whom they had misled. How can ye believe, &c. “How can such persons as you believe in me, whose character and station are entirely different from what you have all along told the people that the scriptures teach concerning the Messiah? This confession of your own ignorance is not be expected from you, who in all your actions seek the praise of men, (Mat 23:5.) and not the praise of God; which is the only true praise, and is to be obtained, through grace, by a steady regard to truth and holiness, in opposition to all earthly passions whatsoever.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1633
FAITH INCOMPATIBLE WITH THE LOVE OF MANS APPLAUSE
Joh 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 that great care is requisite in interpreting the Holy Scriptures; lest, on the one hand, we explain away their meaning altogether; or, on the other hand, we take occasion, from the strength of some particular expressions, to maintain doctrines which they do not fairly establish. And the more unqualified any declarations are, the greater caution we should use in affixing to them their true import. The passage before us is of the deepest importance to every soul of man: but on the explanation of it, its force must entirely depend. Shall it be said, that no kind of faith will consist with our seeking honour from man, rather than from God? or, that the mere receiving of honour from man is incompatible with true faith? Either of these positions would be utterly false. Let us then proceed to the consideration of these words with that care which their importance demands; and may God, of his infinite mercy, guide me, whilst I endeavour to shew,
I.
What we are to understand by believing in Christ!
It can never surely be meant, that we cannot receive the Scriptures as a revelation from God, or have a general view of the leading doctrines contained in them, whilst we are seeking honour from man: for the mere weighing of evidences, and determining according to evidence, are acts of the mind, which every man of sense, whatever be his feelings as to human applause, is capable of performing. Certainly much more than a bare assent must be comprehended in the faith here spoken of. It must import two things:
1.
An acceptance of Christ, as he is set forth in the Holy Scriptures
[The Scriptures speak of our receiving the Lord Jesus Christ [Note: Joh 1:12. Col 2:6.]. We must receive him as the gift of God the Father to a sinful world; and must receive him, too, for all the ends and purposes for which he is given. If we embrace him not under all the relations, and for all the ends for which he is sent, we reject him, rather than acknowledge him; and put him away from us by unbelief, instead of receiving him into our hearts by faith. It is not optional with us to separate his offices, and to acknowledge him in those only which are agreeable to our own minds. Whatever God has made him to us, that he is to be with our full consent; our wisdom, our righteousness, our sanctification, our complete redemption [Note: 1Co 1:30.].]
2.
A surrender of ourselves to him, as his obedient followers
[Without this we can never be acknowledged by him as his: If any man will be my Disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. And so unreserved must our surrender of ourselves to him be, that, if we be not ready even to lay down our lives for him, we shall be regarded by him in no other light than as aliens or traitors. A faith which does not operate in this manner, and to this extent, is no better than the faith of devils: it is dead, and will leave the soul dead to all eternity [Note: Jam 2:19-20; Jam 2:26.].
Such, then, is the faith of Gods elect; and such the faith of which our Lord speaks in the words before us; a faith that works by love, and purifies the heart, and overcomes the world.]
Having ascertained what is meant by faith, we proceed to shew,
II.
Who they are who are declared incapable of exercising it
[The mere receiving of honour from man has no such effect: for the good man passes through honour as well as dishonour, and through good report as well as evil report. It is the seeking of honour from man that is here spoken of; that is, the seeking of it, either independently of the honour that cometh from God, or in preference to it. All desire of mans approbation is not wrong: a child may properly seek the approbation of his parent; a servant, of his master; a subject, of his prince. But to make mans approbation the main object of our pursuit, is to put man in the place of God: and this can never be pleasing to the Supreme Being; who is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to another [Note: Isa 42:8.]. Nor is it necessary that what we do should be substantially and in itself evil, in order to provoke God to jealousy: our actions may be good in themselves; and yet, if they be done to please man, their character is altogether changed, and they become hateful in the sight of God. Almsgiving and prayer are good; but if either the one or the other be done in order to obtain applause from man, it is vitiated, and debased, and execrable: and fasting itself is odious, when proceeding from no better principle than this [Note: Mat 6:1-5; Mat 6:16-18.]. It was this base desire of mans applause which chiefly characterized the Pharisees of old [Note: Mat 23:5.]: and, where-ever it prevails, it destroys all pretensions to uprightness before God, and all hope of ever being acknowledged by Christ, as his Disciples: as St. Paul says, If I yet pleased men, I could not be the servant of Jesus Christ [Note: Gal 1:10.].
In like manner we err, if we seek mans approbation, in preference to the honour that cometh of God. The two often stand in competition with each other; or rather, I should say, are always opposed to each other, where the higher duties of Christianity are concerned: for, of the circumcision of the heart, which is in the Spirit and not in the letter, we are told, its praise is not of men, but of God [Note: Rom 2:29.]. Indeed the praise of God is frequently not to be obtained without incurring the deepest odium from men. But, when that is the case, there must be no hesitation on our part whom to obey, and whose honour to seek. Our reply to the whole universe must be, Whether it be right to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Neither parental authority, nor brotherly affection, must have any weight with us in opposition to God: for, if we come to Christ, and hate not father and mother, and brother and sister, yea, and our own lives also, in comparison of him, we cannot be his Disciples [Note: Luk 14:26.].
But in these two respects the persons described in our text are essentially defective. In respect of moral virtue, as it is called, they may be exemplary enough; and it is even taken for granted that they are so, by their receiving of honour from men, which may be supposed to be accorded to them on account of their virtues: but, inasmuch as they do not utterly despise mans approbation in comparison of Gods, and even glory in shame itself for the Lords sake, they are incapable of exercising a true and saving faith in the Lord Jesus. I say again, It is not the immoral man, of whom our Lord speaks, but of the man who, from any cause whatever, prefers the praise of man before the praise of God.]
But why can they not exercise faith in Christ? Let us inquire,
III.
Whence their incapacity arises
The disposition to prefer the applause of man,
1.
Unfits them for discerning truth
[External evidences, as I have before observed, they may judge of: but the real excellency of the Gospel is hid from their eyes. The glory of Christ, and the beauty of holiness, they cannot appreciate; because they possess not that spiritual discernment whereby alone they can be seen [Note: 1Co 2:14.]. There is a film over their eyes: their eye is evil; and therefore their body and soul are full of darkness [Note: Mat 6:22-23.]. Sin and Satan have altogether blinded them [Note: 2Co 4:4.]. The sublimer truths, when offered to their view, produce only the effect which a flood of light does when poured upon a disordered patient in a dark chamber. They hate the light, and will not come to it [Note: Joh 3:19-20.]: and when truth is set before them, they reply, This is a hard saying: who can hear it [Note: Joh 6:60.]? Especially if they be called to renounce self altogether, and to glory in Christ alone, they have no ears to hear it: they are like those of whom our Lord said, Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my words [Note: Joh 8:43.].]
2.
Indisposes them for walking according to the light they have
[Much, doubtless, they may see: but they are kept in bondage by the fear of man that bringeth a snare. As far as relates to a speculative view of the truth, they may have a strong conviction of it; so strong as, in the common acceptation of the term, to be said to possess faith. Thus we are told, respecting many who beheld our Lords miracles: Among the chief rulers, many believed on him: but, because of the Pharisees, they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God [Note: Joh 12:42-43.]. Here their incapacity to give themselves up to Christ is marked as proceeding from the very same cause to which it is ascribed in the text: They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. Thus it is that this evil principle operates in ten thousand instances, keeping men from an attendance on public ordinances, from the society of the Lords people, and from that public confession of Christ, whereby they ought to glorify his name.]
3.
Leads them into courses directly contrary to the truth
[A desire of worldly favours draws men, of necessity, not only to a neglect of what is good, but also to the positive commission of evil. The world will never he satisfied, till they bring us, in some measure at least, into a conformity with their views and habits. The compliances which they first desired are perhaps innocent: but gradually they increase their demands upon us, till they ensnare our feet, and defile our conscience, and lead us to dishonour our holy profession, if not altogether to renounce the faith.]
Now let me make this subject
1.
A matter of appeal
[Our blessed Lord appeals to the persons themselves, whose spirit he reproves. And I also will venture to ask of you, my brethren, Whether you have not found in your converse with others, that a love of mans applause, wherever it has obtained, has proved a bar to the introduction of light into their souls; so that either you could produce no conviction upon their minds, or, if you have silenced their objections, you could not prevail upon them to act agreeably to the light they had received? I ask also, in reference to yourselves, Whether, if at any time you have suffered your minds to be influenced by that unworthy principle, it has not rendered your views of truth obscure, and your compliance with it difficult? I will yet further ask, Whether a carnal and a spiritual mind be not opposed to each other, as darkness to light; and whether the prevalence of one must not, in proportion as it prevails, dispel the other? Yes: it is an acknowledged and unquestionable truth, that we cannot serve God and Mammon. If, then, the intimation in our text be confirmed by all that we see in others, and all that we experience in ourselves, let it be treasured up in our minds as a rule of action, and be referred to continually for the regulation of our hearts and lives.]
2.
A ground of exhortation
[Look not for the honour that cometh of man; for it is not to be obtained without sacrifices that are far too costly for so worthless an acquisition. Let your hearts be right with God. Let his revealed will be your sure directory: and regard nothing in opposition to it. Seek to please him at all events, though you should displease the whole world. I mean not by this, that you should not listen to good advice: for it is highly desirable that you should walk wisely in a perfect way. But let that advice alone be followed, that is founded on the word of God. And be careful to keep a conscience void of offence: and so to walk before God, that you may be approved of him, and receive from him at last that testimony of his approbation, Well done, good and faithful servant: enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
44 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 upon ambition, and is an act of the will; else the seeking of praise with men could be no impediment to the act of believing. Surely, as Pharaoh said of the Israelites, “they are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in;” so may we say of many, they are entangled in the creature, the world hath shut them in, they cannot come to Christ. They are shut up in the cave of the world, as those five kings in a cave,Jos 10:18Jos 10:18 ; have hardness of heart, as a great stone rolled to the mouth, and honours, riches, and pleasures, are so many keepers, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
44. ] (emphatic) is grounded on is the consequence of the carnal regards in which they lived.
here implies ‘ captantes ’ also.
, not ‘ from God only ’ (E. V. and De Wette), which is ungrammatical (requiring to be either after , see Mat 4:4 ; Mat 12:4 ; Mat 17:8 , or before , Luk 5:21 ; Luk 6:4 ; Heb 9:7 . Lcke); but from the only God: in contradistinction to the idolatry of the natural heart , which is ever setting up for itself other sources of honour, worshipping man , or self , or even, as in the case alluded to in the last verse, Satan , instead of God. The words are very important, because they form the point of passage to the next verses; in which the Jews are accused of not believing the writings of Moses , the very pith and kernel of which was the unity of God , and the having no other gods but Him .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 5:44 . The Jewish inability to believe arose from their earthly ambition: . The root of their unbelief was their earthly idea of glory, what they could win or bestow. This incapacitated them from seeing the glory of Christ, which was divine and heavenly, which men could not give or remove. The glory is contrasted with that from the only God, the only source, arbiter, and dispenser of praise. Seeking credit as religious men from one another, they necessarily habituated themselves to current ideas, and blotted out Divine glory from their mind.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
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 1Ti 1:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
44.] (emphatic) is grounded on -is the consequence of the carnal regards in which they lived.
here implies captantes also.
, not from God only (E. V. and De Wette), which is ungrammatical (requiring to be either after , see Mat 4:4; Mat 12:4; Mat 17:8, or before , Luk 5:21; Luk 6:4; Heb 9:7. Lcke); but from the only God: in contradistinction to the idolatry of the natural heart, which is ever setting up for itself other sources of honour, worshipping man, or self,-or even, as in the case alluded to in the last verse, Satan,-instead of God. The words are very important, because they form the point of passage to the next verses; in which the Jews are accused of not believing the writings of Moses, the very pith and kernel of which was the unity of God, and the having no other gods but Him.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 5:44. , glory from one another) Each one of you thinks that he is righteous, in accordance with what you mutually think of yourselves: and ye do not labour, that you may be approved of in the sight of God alone. Comp. Rom 2:29, Circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.- , and the glory) that which is the portion of the sons of God, ch. Joh 1:12, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.- , from Him who is God alone [but Engl. Vers. from God only]) ch. Joh 17:3, Thee, the only true God.- ) This is connected with the article , which is implied in , i.e. .
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 5:44
Joh 5:44
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?-One seeking the applause and praise of men and who does not seek the honor and praise of God cannot believe in Christ. His example of seeking the honor from God and not that from men would be so at war with their hearts and practices that they would not believe him as their teacher and exemplar. [Their seeking human glory and honor caused their unbelief in Jesus. They did not possess that lowly spirit needful for belief in Christ.] Whenever a church or a preacher sets out to be respectable and influential by its worldly possessions and surroundings, or when a preacher is intent on using his position as a preacher to gain worldly position or influence, they bid farewell to true usefulness to the world and would do well to cease to be churches or preachers of Christ. The honor of the world is incompatible with honor from God, and he who seeks one will forfeit the other.
The rich and fashionable and those who are unwilling to sacrifice to Christ substitute money for personal service and sacrifice. Under this spirit money has displaced self-sacrificing devotion as the chief factor in spreading the gospel. Those who rely on money seek those who have money and the poor are neglected. This spirit must be set aside or the churches overloaded with money will die. Indeed, the money helps to kill them. It is utterly impossible for one who depends on money for social standing and respectability and enjoyment to be a true Christian. It is equally impossible for one seeking earthly honor and greatness, whether he seeks it in the pulpit or in the political field or the legal forum, to be an earnest and true child of God and an effective worker in saving souls. The spirit of seeking and looking to wealth and worldly honor is so antagonistic to the spirit of Jesus he asks: How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another? It is much easier to get the common people to do active service in the church of God than it is to get the rich, the educated, those who pride themselves on their worldly respectability.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
can: Joh 3:20, Joh 8:43, Joh 12:43, Jer 13:23, Rom 8:7, Rom 8:8, Heb 3:12
which: Mat 23:5, Gal 5:19-21, Phi 2:3
and: 1Sa 2:30, 2Ch 6:8, Mat 25:21-23, Luk 19:17, Rom 2:7, Rom 2:10, Rom 2:29, 1Co 4:5, 2Co 10:18, Jam 2:1, 1Pe 1:7
Reciprocal: Gen 11:4 – and let Num 22:37 – General 1Sa 15:30 – honour me now 2Ch 26:18 – neither shall it be Psa 91:15 – honour Psa 111:10 – his praise Pro 25:27 – so Isa 43:4 – thou hast been Isa 44:18 – cannot Mat 6:1 – to be Mat 6:2 – glory Mat 19:24 – It Mat 21:25 – Why Luk 9:26 – whosoever Joh 3:19 – because Joh 5:40 – ye will not Joh 5:42 – that Joh 6:44 – man Joh 8:37 – because Joh 9:18 – General Joh 12:39 – they Act 8:19 – General 1Co 2:14 – neither 1Th 2:6 – of men 2Ti 3:7 – learning 2Pe 2:14 – that cannot
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
Those who receive honor from men are selfish, and also feel obligated to “return the favor” to the others. Such worldly-minded persons cannot have much respect for the testimony of God, which requires them to disown themselves.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 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 honour from men is altogether inconsistent with the believing of which our Lord speaks. He is not referring to a merely intellectual act, but to an act which is also moral,not to believing an assertion, but to believing in Him. Where there is self-seeking there can be no true faith.
And the glory that is from the only God ye seek not. They who thus sought glory from men sought not glory from the only God. The Jews were the champions of the doctrine of the unity of God, and, in the very pursuits and aims which our Lord condemns, persuaded themselves that they sought the glory of God and merited reward. But with such aims it was impossible to please Him, and thus they missed the recompense which comes from the only God, who is the only dispenser of true glory.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
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 them a temporal kingdom, and in the mean time reject himself, who came authorized with the testimony and approbation of God; you will receive honour one of another, but reject the honour that cometh from God only.
Learn, That such as ambitiously hunt after vain-glory and respect from men, do evidence themselves to be regardless of God’s approbation and acceptation.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 5:44. 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 character and station are entirely different from what you have all along told the people the Scriptures teach concerning the Messiah? This confession of your own ignorance is not to be expected from you, who, in all your actions, seek the praise of men, (Mat 23:5,) and not the praise of God, which is the only true praise, and is to be obtained by a steady regard to truth and virtue, in opposition to all earthly passions whatever. Thus our Lord shows, that their infidelity was owing, in a great measure, to their pride. They who had all along preached glorious things concerning the empire and grandeur of the Messiah, would not ascribe that august character to a mere teacher, who was destitute even of the ordinary advantages of birth, fortune, and erudition; because it would have been such a confession of ignorance and unskilfulness in the Scriptures, as must have exposed them to the contempt of those whom they had misled. Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jesus’ critics could not believe on Him because they preferred the praise of men to the praise of God. They consistently chose what was popular over what was true. In contrast, Jesus lived solely for God’s glory and did not pander to the praise of people (cf. Rom 2:29).