John 5:33-36

5:33 You have sent to John, ¹  and he has testified to the truth. 5:34 (I do not accept ²  human testimony, but I say this so that you may be saved.) 5:35 He was a lamp that was burning and shining, ³  and you wanted to rejoice greatly for a short time ⁴  in his light.

5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds ⁵  that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds ⁶  I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.

John 5:44-47

5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise ⁷  from one another and don’t seek the praise ⁸  that comes from the only God? ⁹ 

5:45 “Do not suppose that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope. ¹⁰  5:46 If ¹¹  you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 5:47 But if you do not believe what Moses ¹²  wrote, how will you believe my words?”

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¹ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

² tn Or “I do not receive.”

³ sn He was a lamp that was burning and shining. Sir 48:1 states that the word of Elijah was “a flame like a torch.” Because of the connection of John the Baptist with Elijah (see John 1:21 and the note on John’s reply, “I am not”), it was natural for Jesus to apply this description to John.

⁴ tn Grk “for an hour.”

⁵ tn Or “works.”

⁶ tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.

⁷ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

⁸ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

⁹ tc Several early and important witnesses (Ì^66,75 B W a b sa) lack θεοῦ (qeou, “God”) here, thus reading “the only one,” while most of the rest of the tradition, including some important mss, has the name ({א A D L Θ Ψ 33 Ï}). Internally, it could be argued that the name of God was not used here, in keeping with the NT practice of suppressing the name of God at times for rhetorical effect, drawing the reader inexorably to the conclusion that the one being spoken of is God himself. On the other hand, never is ὁ μόνος (Jo mono") used absolutely in the NT (i.e., without a noun or substantive with it), and always the subject of the adjunct is God (cf. Matt 24:36; John 17:3; 1 Tim 6:16). What then is to explain the shorter reading? In uncial script, with θεοῦ written as a nomen sacrum, envisioning accidental omission of the name by way of homoioteleuton requires little imagination, largely because of the succession of words ending in -ου: toumonouqMuou. It is thus preferable to retain the word in the text.

¹⁰ sn The final condemnation will come from Moses himself – again ironic, since Moses is the very one the Jewish authorities have trusted in (placed your hope). This is again ironic if it is occurring at Pentecost, which at this time was being celebrated as the occasion of the giving of the Torah to Moses on Mt. Sinai. There is evidence that some Jews of the 1st century looked on Moses as their intercessor at the final judgment (see W. A. Meeks, The Prophet King [NovTSup], 161). This would mean the statement Moses, in whom you have placed your hope should be taken literally and relates directly to Jesus’ statements about the final judgment in John 5:28-29.

¹¹ tn Grk “For if.”

¹² tn Grk “that one” (“he”); the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.