The One Who Comes From Heaven Is Above All
John 3:31-33
31 The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
I. The Agent of Heaven and the Agent of Earth (31, 32a)
The following statement is derived from v31 and v32a.
“The authentic messenger or agent from heaven is utterly superior to any and all earth-oriented persons (31), for he has seen and heard the realities of heaven and bears witness to those realities (32a)” [6].
II. The World’s Tragic Rejection of the Agent of Heaven and His Testimony (32b)
See v32.
32 He testifies to what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.
‘no one’ should not be taken literally but be understood as a literary hyperbole to emphasize the world’s tragic rejection of the heavenly messenger [2] and his testimony.
“John reviews the history as a whole, in the course of which the believers are a vanishing minority.” [Tholuck] “John no doubt speaks here with the conduct of the Jews chiefly in view” [2].
This rejection finally resulted in the crucifixion.
III. Those who Accepted the Testimony of the Agent of Heaven (33)
But Jesus was raised back to life. The resurrection proved that Jesus was the son of God (Romans 1:4). Now v33 says,
33 Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful.
This contrast between the universal rejection (32) and the acceptance (33) is clearly a mirror image of the initial one made in the Prologue (John 1:1-18) [2]. The universal rejection is written in John 1:10-11 and the acceptance is written in John 1:12.
See other translations [4] for John 3:33. V33 could be said, “The one who accepts the witness of Jesus attests that Jesus speaks the message of God” [5].
One might have expected ‘…has certified that Jesus is truthful’ in v33. But it says, ‘…has certified that God is truthful’. To accept Jesus is to accept God; to deny Jesus is to deny God and regard both as liars. [7]
God confers great honour on poor, worthless men, who are thought worthy of approving the sacred truth of God [8].
References
[1] The Holy Bible: New International Version (Anglicised Edition, 2011), Revised and updated edition. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2011).
[2] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 193.
[3] John Peter Lange and Philip Schaff, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures: John (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2008), 144–145.
[4] "John 3:33 in Other Translations." Retrieved 4/12/2022, from https://www.biblestudytools.com/john/3-33.html#:~:text=John%203%3A33%20in%20Other%20Translations&text=33%20Whoever%20receives%20his%20testimony,this%2C%20that%20God%20is%20true.&text=33%20Anyone%20who%20accepts%20his%20testimony%20can%20affirm%20that%20God%20is%20true.&text=33%20But%20anyone%20who%20examines,God%20himself%20is%20the%20truth.
[5] A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1933), Jn 3:33.
[6] Gerald L. Borchert, John 1–11, vol. 25A, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 193.
[7] Beauford H. Bryant and Mark S. Krause, John, The College Press NIV Commentary (Joplin, MO: College Press Pub. Co., 1998), Jn 3:33.
[8] John Calvin, John, Crossway Classic Commentaries (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1994), Jn 3:33.
