Sufficient Witness – John 5:30-47

Ever heard of the Daubert Standard?  “The Daubert standard is the set of criteria used to determine the admissibility of expert witness testimony in federal court. Under the Daubert standard, the trial judge serves as the gatekeeper who determines whether an expert’s evidence is deemed reputable and relevant. As such, trial judges employ a Daubert test to assess whether an expert witness’ testimony is 1) based on scientifically valid reasoning and 2) whether it has been properly applied to the facts at issue. Failure to comply with the Daubert standard can result in exclusion of an expert’s testimony.”  Jesus explains his own “Daubert” standard concerning testimony about himself.

I am not able to do anything by myself.  I judge what I hear, and my judgment is right, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the One who sent me.

If I alone bear witness about myself, my witness is not true.  But another bears witness about me, and I know that His witness is true about me.  You sent people to John and he has borne witness to the truth.  It is not that I have received witness from a human, but I say this so that you might be saved.  John was the lamp that burns and shines, and you chose to rejoice for that hour in his light.

Now I have a greater witness than John, for the works I do, that the Father gave to me to complete, these works I do bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.  And the Father who sent me has borne witness about me.  You have never heard His voice nor seen His form, and you don’t have His word remaining in you, because the one He sent, him you don’t believe.  Search the Scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life, and they are what bear witness about me, yet you don’t want to come to me for life.

I don’t receive glory from a human, but I know that you don’t have love for God in you.  I have come in the name of my Father, and you have not received me.  If another came in his own name, you would receive him.  How are you able to believe when you receive glory from one another, yet you don’t seek glory from the only God.

Don’t think that I will accuse you before the Father.  Moses will accuse you, the one you have hoped in.  For if you believed Moses, you would have believed me.  For he has written about me.  If you haven’t believed his writings, how will you believe my words.  (John 5:30-47)

Jesus is in a verbal conflict with the Jewish leaders who have rebelled against his view of himself being equal with God.  But here he gives them three witnesses to his legitimacy:

(1) John the Baptist – Though he is a human witness they acknowledged him as a prophetic light from God and that should have helped them be saved by believing what he said about Jesus.  Why now reject what he said?

(2) His own works – These are a witness from the Father who gives him these miracles to perform, but the leaders refuse to hear God and believe.

(3) The Scriptures – God has borne witness to him through Moses and the other Scriptures, but the leaders are trusting in the Scriptures for eternal life instead of in the one of whom the Scriptures speak.  They get glory from men for their “knowledge” but Moses himself will accuse them to the Father for their selfish unbelief.

Muhammad did not perform miracles, nor did Buddha or Charles Russell or Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy, and none of them had a prophet come before them proclaiming their coming, and certainly none of them were spoken about in Scripture (though Muhammad would claim so wrongly).  We have in Jesus, the only properly attested Prophet, Priest and King Messiah.  To know him is eternal life.

Discussion Questions

1. Describe any experience you have had giving testimony about someone or something.
2. How does Jesus describe his dependence of the Father for making judgment?
3. Why would John the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus not be enough?
4. How do Jesus’ miracles prove he was sent from God?
5. What Scriptures of Moses would you point to as speaking about Jesus?
6. How could you prepare yourself to be able to show how the Old Testament proclaims Jesus?