Three Witnesses Of Jesus: John 5:19-47

The Father and the Son (Jn. 5:19-24); Resurrection and Judgment (5:25-29)

These sections introduce themes that are much more fully developed in John 11:1-44. I will therefore reserve a detailed discussion of these concepts until my explorations of that chapter. At this point I will briefly introduce these themes:

The Son does nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing (5:19). The Father reveals to the Son all that he is doing (so that the Son can do what the Father does) (5:20). The Father raises the dead, so the Son can raise the dead (5.21). The Father gives all judgment to the Son (5:22). The dead will be resurrected and the Son will judge them (5:24-29). Within the context of chapter five, the point of these ideas is that the Son heals on the Sabbath only because he imitates the Father's Sabbath acts. Furthermore, not only can the Son heal by the will of the Father, but can raise and judge the dead, the ultimate manifestation of divine power. This chapter is thus in part a prophecy and foreshadowing of the sermon, and the raising of Lazarus from the dead in chapter 11, as well as Jesus' own resurrection.

The Three Witnesses (Jn. 5:30-38)

In 5:30-38, Jesus discusses three witnesses that support this claim that he is the messiah. Why does Jesus need witnesses? Jesus explains: "If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true" (5:31). Anyone can claim to be the Messiah, and, in fact, during the century surrounding the life of Jesus, many Jews did. Although today we often view ancient people as rather gullible and credulous, many were often as hardheaded and skeptical as moderns. When Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, the natural response for many was: "Prove it!" And in John 5 that is precisely what Jesus sets out to do.

But the issue is more complicated than mere skepticism. The book of Deuteronomy has an important section providing the Jews with a specific test for false prophets to which Jesus is alluding here.

But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die . And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the YHWH has not spoken?'—when a prophet speaks in the name of the YHWH, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the YHWH has not spoken ; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him (Dt. 18:20-22). (emphasis added)

In John 5 Jesus is offering a prophecy, and thereby establishing a metric by which his messianic claims can be tested by his critics. His prophecy is:

Greater works than these [the healing at Bethesda] will he [the Father] show him [the Son], so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. . . . .Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live (Jn. 5:20-21, 25).

The first part of Jesus' prophecy is that he will raise the dead. He is thus providing a test case by which his critics can determine if he is a true prophet according to the criteria provided in Deuteronomy 18:20-22. If Jesus raises the dead he is a true prophet, and hence is the Messiah. If he does not, he is a false prophet, and hence is worthy of death (Dt. 18:20b).

Furthermore, raising the dead was understood by Jews to be the exclusive prerogative of God (Dt. 32:39; 1 Sam. 2:6; 2 Kgs. 5:7; Tobit 13:2; Wisdom 16:13). Hence, if Jesus raises the dead, he is clearly sent by the Father. Furthermore, the story of the raising of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-15 is a foundational passage regarding the resurrection of the dead, and it is accomplished by the bones hearing the voice of the "Son of Man" (Ezek. 37:3) who commands the dead to arise by the will of God.

This is a crucial concept for John, because Jesus does fulfill his prophecy by raising Lazarus from the dead (Jn. 11:38-44), and thus demonstrates that he is a true prophet. And yet, Caiaphas the High Priest and the Sanhedrin plot to put him to death precisely because raising Lazarus fulfilled the Deuteronomic requirement for a true prophet (Jn. 11:45-53, 12:9-11). This is why the raising of Lazarus is such a pivotal incident in John. But their execution of Jesus only serves to further prove he is the Messiah through his own subsequent resurrection, because "the Son has life in himself" (5:26b). The second part of Jesus' prophecy is the resurrection of the dead, which commences with his own resurrection.

Deuteronomy also presents a principle that two or three witnesses shall be required to establish the truthfulness of claims in legal proceedings: "Only on the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses shall a charge be established" (Dt. 17:6, 19:5; cf. Num. 35:30; Jn. 8:13-18; 2 Cor. 13:1). As another demonstration of the authenticity of his prophetic claims, Jesus therefore presents three witnesses who support his claim to be the Messiah: 1) the testimony of John the Immerser (5:31-36); 2) doing the works of the Father (5:36-38), that is, his miraculous signs; and 3) the scriptures and prophecies of Moses (5:39-47).

Jesus' first witness is John the Immerser. We here see why the Immerser's testimony is so important in John, and is repeated four times (Jn. 1:19-34, 3:25-30, 5:31-36, 10:40-41). John the Immerser was widely accepted as an authentic prophet, even by the critics of Jesus (1:19, 3:33-35; Mt. 21:23-27; Mk. 11:27-33; Lk. 20:1-8). The argument here is that if John, a true prophet, testifies that Jesus is Messiah, then Jesus must be the Messiah, for a true prophet would not make false claims in the name of God.

Jesus' second witness is the Father, a greater witness than John (5:36). How does the Father bear witness that Jesus is the Messiah? There is a possible implication in John of a direct testimony of the Father when John the Immerser saw "the Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, and it remained on [Jesus]" (1:32), but this vision was seen only by John and Jesus (Mt. 3:16; Mk. 1:10; Lk. 3:22). In the Synoptic Gospels, the sign of the dove was accompanied by the voice of the Father, but again this was a personal manifestation, apparently not heard by any other people that were there (Mt. 3:17; Mk. 1:11; Lk. 3:22). Furthermore, the voice of the Father at the baptism of Jesus is not mentioned in John.

In John's Gospel Jesus therefore observes: "the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. [Even though] you have never heard his voice, and have never seen his form ( eidos )" (5:37). (On the other hand, the disciples will eventually hear the voice of the Father testify of Jesus in John 12:28.) Jesus here appears to be talking strictly to his living audience, since there are numerous examples in the Hebrew Bible of people hearing or seeing God. What Jesus is saying is that no one in this current generation has heard or seen God, as people in earlier generations have.

Here Jesus is talking about the testimony of the Father as manifest in Jesus' "works," meaning his miraculous signs. In first-century Palestine miraculous events were generally viewed as manifestations of supernatural power, either divine or demonic. The reality of Jesus' miraculous deeds or signs was widely accepted, even by his critics. Throughout the Gospels, the critics accuse Jesus of being possessed by a demon, through which he works miracles (Jn. 7:20, 8:48, 52, 10:20; see also Mt. 9:22-27, 12:22-30; Mk. 3:22-27; Lk. 11:14-23). This explanation for Jesus' miracles is also preserved in later Jewish traditions such as the Talmud, and in pagan critiques of Christ such as that by Celsus. Thus, the miracles and signs of Jesus create a dilemma. Either he works his miracles through divine power, or through demonic power. If the former, he is the Messiah, and if the latter, he is "speaking in the name of other gods" (Dt. 18:20) and is thus worthy of death.

Jesus' final witness is the scriptures and Moses. Throughout John, scriptures are invoked as a witness of Jesus (Jn. 1:45, 2:22, 5:45-46, 20:9), though somewhat vaguely. Jesus notes that the Jews search the scriptures because they hope to find eternal life therein (5:39), but the scriptures themselves testify of Jesus, who is the true source of eternal life (5:40). How do the scriptures testify of Jesus? Most Jewish groups of the first century believed that their holy books prophesied of a forthcoming Messiah, although they disagreed as to which scriptures were messianic, and the precise interpretation of these messianic texts. Early Christians read the Hebrew Bible messianically, as can be seen in numerous quotations and allusions to Jesus fulfilling biblical prophecy. Likewise John alludes to Jesus fulfilling several biblical prophecies, which I will discuss later. The point here is that the Hebrew Bible is a witness that Jesus is the Messiah, and if the Jews really believed their scripture, they would accept Jesus as the Messiah. Moses, whom first-century Jews revered as their greatest prophet and lawgiver, also testified of Jesus: "if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me" (Jn. 5:46). Where did Moses prophesy of Jesus? The allusion here is to Deuteronomy 18:15-19.

YHWH your God will raise up for you a prophet like me [Moses] from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet. . . . Then the YHWH replied to me [Moses]: . . . "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable."

Jesus is here claiming that he is the "prophet like Moses" into whose mouth YHWH has put his words, and "who shall speak everything that I command" (Dt. 18:18; cf. Jn. 1:21, 6:14, 7:40; Acts 3:22-23). The Jews are therefore required by Moses to hear and obey the words of Jesus. Failure to do so means they "do not believe [Moses'] writings" (5:47). Jesus concludes by noting that Moses himself will accuse the Jews for failure to heed Jesus, just as he did in the wilderness (Dt. 31:19-27). Moses' accusation is: "For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against YHWH. How much more after my death!" (Dt. 31:27).

Thus, Jesus provides three witnesses that he is the Messiah: the testimony of John the Immerser, the testimony of the signs he performs in the name of the Father, and the testimony of scripture and Moses. He has thus provided the three witnesses necessary to prove his case according to Deuteronomic Law (Dt. 19:5), and has given a prophecy that he will raise the dead as a test of his prophetic claims.

Thus Jesus leaves the Jews—and, for that matter, modern readers—no option of accepting him merely as a wise teacher or even an ordinary prophet. Jesus is forcing his first century listeners to make a stark choice: they must either accept him as the Messiah, or reject him as a false prophet and put him to death. The stage is thus set for the final confrontation culminating in the execution of Jesus.

A pdf of the full version of this column, with extensive references and notes, can be found at:

http://byu.academia.edu/WilliamHamblin/Papers/468315/John_5_19-47

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Three Witnesses of Jesus: John 5:19-47