John 5:31

If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
If	Ἐὰν Ean	G1437	a conditional particle · conditional particle
I	ἐγὼ egō	G1473	I · personal pronoun — 1st person nominative singular
bear witness	μαρτυρῶ marturō	G3140	to be a witness · verb — present active subjunctive, 1st person singular
of	περὶ peri	G4012	properly · preposition
myself	ἐμαυτοῦ emautoû	G1683	of myself so likewise the dative case
my	μοῦ moû	G3450	of me
witness	μαρτυρία marturia	G3141	evidence given (judicially or genitive case) · noun — nominative singular feminine
is	ἐστί estí	G2076	he (she or it) is
not	οὐκ ouk	G3756	the absolute negative (compare G3361 (μή)) adverb · particle — negative
true	ἀληθής· alēthēs	G227	true (as not concealing) · adjective — nominative singular feminine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Proverbs 27:2 Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips.
John 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
John 8:13-14 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true.
Revelation 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the c…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 5:31–end

In these verses our Lord Jesus proves and confirms the commission he had produced, and makes it out that he was sent of God to be the Messiah. I. He sets aside his own testimony of himself (Joh 5:31): "If I bear witness of myself, though it is infallibly true (Joh 8:14), yet, according to the common rule of judgment among men, you will not admit it as legal proof, nor allow it to be given in evidence." Now, 1. This reflects reproach upon the sons of men, and their veracity and integrity. Surely we may say deliberately, what David said in haste, All men are liars, else it would never have been such a received maxim that a man's testimony of himself is suspicious, and not to be relied on; it i…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 5:31

If I . . . witness of myself--standing alone, and setting up any separate interest.

Adam Clarke on John 5:31

If I bear witness - If I had no proof to bring of my being the Messiah, and equal to God, common sense would direct you to reject my testimony; but the mighty power of God, by which I work my miracles, sufficiently attests that my pretensions are well founded. Bishop Pearce gives a different turn to this verse, by translating it interrogatively, thus: "If I only bear witness of myself, is not my witness true? i.e. is it, on that account, not true? In Joh 8:14, he says, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true. And in Joh 8:18, he says, I am one that bear witness of myself."

John Gill on John 5:31

If I bear witness of myself,.... Which was not allowed any man to do; nor indeed is it proper that a man should be a witness in his own cause: and, according to the Jewish canons, a man might not be a witness for his wife, because she was reckoned as himself. "An husband is not to be believed in bearing witness for his wife, that had been carried captive, that she is not defiled, , "for no man witness of himself" (k).'' So likewise they say (l), "a city that is subdued by an army, all the priestesses (or priests' daughters) that are found in it are rejected (from the priesthood, as defiled); but if they have witnesses, whether a servant, or an handmaid, lo, they are to be believed; but…

The Church Fathers

It is true that he tells us himself that he was a persecutor before he became an apostle, still this is not enough for any man who examines before he believes, since even the Lord Himself did not bear witness of Himself. But let them believe without the Scriptures, if their object is to believe contrary to the Scriptures.
— Tertullian, The Prescription Against Heretics

No one who comes on the authority of another establishes that authority as his own but rather guards against such an understanding, for first must come the support of the one who gives him his authority. Now, [Christ] will not be acknowledged as Son if the Father never called him this. Nor will people believe he is the sent One if no sender gave him a commission.
— Tertullian, AGAINST MARCION 3.2

(de Verb. Dom. s. 43) He knew Himself that His witness of Himself was true, but in compassion to the weak and unbelieving, the Sun sought for candles, that their weak sight might not be dazzled by His full blaze. And therefore John was brought forward to give his testimony to the truth. Not that there is such testimony really, for whatever witnesses bear witness to Him, it is really He who bears witness to Himself; as it is His dwelling in the witnesses, which moves them so to give their witness to the truth.
— Augustine of Hippo ((as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274)), Catena Aurea by Aquinas

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

John 5:31

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 5:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 5:31

Adam Clarke on John 5:31

John Gill on John 5:31

The Church Fathers

John 5:31

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on John 5:31–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on John 5:31

Adam Clarke on John 5:31

John Gill on John 5:31

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on John 5:30-32

Tyndale Open Study Notes on John 5:31-40