The
False Teaching
John
5:31-33 reads in the:
New Living
Translation.
"If I were to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be
valid. But someone else is
also testifying about me, and I can assure you that everything he says
about me is true. In fact,
you sent messengers to listen to John the Baptist, and he preached the
truth."
New Life Version.
"If I tell about Myself, My words are
worth nothing. There is another One Who tells about Me. I know the
words He says about Me are true.
You sent to John the Baptist and he told you the truth."
Contempory English
Ver.
"If I tell about Myself, My words are
worth nothing.There is another One Who tells about Me. I know the words
He says about Me are true. You sent to John the Baptist and he told you
the truth."
Worldwide English NT.
"If I talk
about myself, then what I say is not true. But someone else also speaks
about me. I know what he says about me is true. You sent someone
to John and he has told you the truth about me."
These
versions are hazardous to your soul because they promote a false
doctrine
here in the Fourth Gospel by perverting the Word of Jesus.
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Exposing
the Error
Every
one of the four modern NT version to the left clearly says that John
the Baptist is the other witness because they are interpreting the
Greek (rather than translating) to make it say what it does not say,
and this is very important. If "everything he says about me is true
(NLT)," then Jesus is the Lamb of God as stated by John. Now read a
more accurate version (RSV) of Jn.5:31-33: If I
bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true; there is another who
bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me
is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
Now examine the critical differences. In the RSV the words, witness and testimony, occur altogether five
times. This is, in every case, a form of the Greek, marturew, which is to be a witness or to give
testimony. The RSV is then an accurate version. These other versions
contain the phrases:
everything he says about me (NLT); the
words He says about Me (NLV&CEV);what he
says about me (WEV).But the Greek has nothing corresponding
to word or he says. These phrases interpret
rather than translate, and focus attention on John as the one who says words about Jesus. This could point to John, who "said
words" about Jesus, but when we examine the context, we see clearly that John is not the other
witness. Who is it?
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Declaring
the Truth
The
other witness of Jn. 5:32 is in the singular, so there is only one
other witness that, in additon to Jesus, makes two. Jesus
identified both witnesses in Jn.8:17,18: In
your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true; I bear
witness to myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness to me. The other witness is the Father, not John
the Baptist! Jesus points to John to eliminate him (not to identify him) as the witness, for he then said: Not that the testimony (witness) which I receive is from
man (5:34) Then he said: The Father who sent me has himself born
witness to me. His
voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen (5:37). Jesus distinguishes this witness from
that of a man such as
John, whose form they have seen and whose voice they have heard.
How has the Father borne witness to him? Through the scriptures: it
is they that bear witness to me (v. 39). Jesus quickly
confirms this: If you believed Moses, you would
believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not
believe his writings, how will you believe my words (5:46,47)? So, His writings plus my words equals two
witnesses! The Father's testimony is through the OT scriptures
that bear witness to Jesus. More.
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