If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony of God, which is greater, because he hath testified of his Son.
ει την μαρτυριαν των ανθρωπων λαμβανομεν η μαρτυρια του θεου μειζων εστιν οτι αυτη εστιν η μαρτυρια του θεου ην μεμαρτυρηκεν περι του υιου αυτου
9 Church Fathers comment on this verse
Having said this, he confirms his words by an argument from the lesser. If we receive human testimony about anything, how much more justly must we receive the greater testimony, which is from God? For is this testimony about the Son of God, that is, Christ, not from God Himself?
Consider further that the herald of truth calls the Spirit God and by nature from God.
For after saying that the Spirit is the one who bears witness, he adds a little later: "The testimony of God is greater."
How, then, will That be a creature, of Whom theology speaks together with the Father of all, and Who completes the Holy Trinity with Himself?
That is, the testimony of the Incarnation is true, or the testimony of Moses and the prophets, who were men of God.
In the Law of Moses there is a rule which says: "By the mouth of two witnesses, or by the mouth of three witnesses, every matter shall be established" (Deut 19:15; cf. Mt 18:16; 2 Cor 13:1; Heb 10:28).
Apparently, the words "three bear witness," spoken twice, have reference to this law. Through this the Apostle shows the full correspondence of the testimony he has cited to the requirement of the Mosaic Law.
But then St. John also unfolds the incomparable superiority of the testimony he has shown. If we receive human testimony, that is, if we believe the testimony of two or three witnesses, then all the more must we believe God's testimony.
For the testimony of God is greater. That is, it is the testimony set forth above, in verses 6, 7, and 8 of the fifth chapter of his Epistle.
Then the Theologian himself shows what testimony he is speaking of, adding: "For this is the testimony of God, which He has testified concerning His Son."
The testimony that Jesus is the Son of God, the promised Savior of the world, is divine testimony, given by heavenly and earthly witnesses.
This testimony, as divine, the Theologian says, is greater than human testimony. That is, as divine testimony, it is incomparably greater and more excellent than the human testimony which, according to the Law of Moses, must be believed.
For man is a limited being, subject to sin. God is an infinite being, infinitely true, holy, and all-perfect.
The divinity of Jesus Christ, witnessed from heaven, is also witnessed on earth. We know that the power of the Gospel is unchanging, the conversion of sinners is everywhere, and the patience of the saints is unshaken. If these earthly, or one may say lesser, witnesses to Christ's divinity are beyond doubt, should one doubt the greater, that is, the heavenly testimony? If “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established” (2 Cor 13:1), and if the testimony of several men is enough for accepting some event as certain, then how much greater is the significance of God's testimony?
"If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater." The Law of Moses gave legal force only to the testimony of two or three persons (Deut 19:15).
Jesus Christ required the same in the New Testament (Mt 18:16). Therefore the Apostle John also brings forward heavenly and earthly testimonies concerning Him Himself.
At the same time he notes that, if two witnesses are sufficient by the Law to prove the truth in some ordinary matter, then in acknowledging Jesus Christ, the testimony of all three Persons of the Godhead can be still more sufficient.
The testimony of men refers not to what was indicated in verse 8, but to the requirement of the Law.
By comparing God's testimony with this human testimony, the Apostle John gives us the right to suppose not one witness on God's side, but precisely three, of whom verse 7 speaks.
Therefore some wrongly understand the testimony of God as the testimony of the Spirit mentioned in verse 8 or verse 6.
For in that case, according to John's words, God's testimony would be singular, from the Spirit alone.
Besides the testimony of the highest witnesses named above concerning the God-man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Redeemer of the world, who grants victory over the world to those who believe in Him, the believer has an inner confirming testimony in himself.
This belongs to the one who believes with living and true faith (Jn 3:15 and following; Jn 18:34; Jn 6:29; Jn 9:35) in the Son of God, and therefore also in God the Father who testifies concerning Him.
He has this testimony in his own spirit, sealed by the anointing (Jn 2:20, 27), or by the seal of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 1:21-22; Eph 1:13).
Through it he knows and is assured that he is in Christ, reconciled with God, and therefore has the hope of eternal life (cf. Theophylact).
The Lord Himself spoke of this inner testimony concerning Christ in the spirit of the believer (Jn 7:16, 7 and parallels).
"For there are three who bear witness in heaven," concerning Jesus Christ as the incarnate Son of God: the Father, Mt 3:17; 17:5; Jn 1:18; 3:11; 8:14; 10:36; Mt 26:64; Mk 14:62; 1 Pet 1:21; Lk 1:35; Mt 3:16; Jn 1:32, "the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one" (1 Jn 5:7).
That is, they are witnesses equal in honor and consubstantial, as equal in divinity.
"And there are three who bear witness on earth: the spirit," that is, the same Spirit, but not in His person and hypostasis, rather in His actions.
"The water and the blood," which flowed from the side of Jesus as a true man and became the elements of the two greatest mysteries, Baptism and Communion, "and these three agree in one" (1 Jn 5:8).
"If we receive the testimony of men," the Apostle adds, "the testimony of God is greater" (1 Jn 5:9). That is, should we not all the more rightly receive the greater testimony from God?
For is not this testimony concerning the Son of God, that is, Christ, from God Himself? (Theophylact).
So it ought to be, yet it is not always so. Unbelief and faith have always divided people, and will divide them, into two different camps.
Therefore, however important and reliable the witnesses named above may be, their voice reaches only hearts that are pure, uncorrupted, and capable of faith.
For this reason the Apostle says further: "He who believes," that is, a man with a pure and uncorrupted heart, "in the Son of God has the witness in himself."
"He who does not believe God," that is, a man with a corrupted and proud heart, "has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son" (1 Jn 5:10).
He does not believe that "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1 Jn 5:11).
The Apostle's discourse on the power of Christian faith was directed against the seductions of those false teachers who denied the divine dignity of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Apostle presents proofs of the Godhead of Jesus Christ.
These proofs are exceedingly profound, both in expression and in substance.
Bearing in mind that, both by human judgment and by divine judgment, every truth is considered reliable when it is established by two or three reliable witnesses (see Mt 18:16), he here presents two triads of witnesses.
Then, in verses 11-15, he adds three more testimonies, taken from Christians themselves.
The first testimonies are indicated by the Apostle in the three most important sacred events: the Lord's Baptism, His Passion, and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles.
In these events the chief elements had great significance: water, blood, and fire. For this reason the Apostle calls these testimonies earthly.
The second triad of witnesses is heavenly: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. Their testimony was clearly expressed in the three most important events of the divine economy of our salvation.
These events were accompanied by extraordinary manifestations and divine signs. At the Baptism of Jesus Christ, the voice of God the Father was heard: "This is My beloved Son" (Mt 3:17; Mk 9:7).
The Spirit of God appeared there in the form of a dove. During Christ's sufferings, the saving Blood was shed, cleansing sinners and clearly testifying that the Sufferer was not a phantom.
In the descent of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Son of God from the Father, the wondrous gift of tongues was given to believers.
Many doubts are expressed against the authenticity of verse 7, and especially against our reading of its ending. This is because the verse is absent from some manuscripts of this Epistle.
For this reason some theologians do not cite it in confirmation of the doctrine of the Trinity. Yet the force of John's proofs concerning the divine dignity of Jesus Christ remains the same even without verse 7.
For he speaks of the testimony of the Spirit in verse 6, and of the testimony of the Father in verse 9.
Moreover, the omission of verse 7 in only some texts is not proof that it is inauthentic. One may think that the ending of verse 7, identical with the ending of verse 8, gave certain early copyists an easy opportunity for an accidental omission.
These faulty copies then served as models for those manuscripts in which verse 7 is absent.
Passages read together with this verse.
Greek text, 25 words with lemma, transliteration and Strong’s number. Tap to expand.
THEOSIS