John 3:13-18, The Response and Counter-Response

13 So the Pharisees said to him, "You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true." 14 Jesus answered, "Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me."

The reaction of the Pharisees is quick and negative: “Your testimony is not true.” In other words, Jesus is a liar. In the verses that follow, Jesus defends himself in four ways. First, he knows where he came from and where he is going, so his authority comes from the Father (v. 14). Second, his relationship with God the Father is so intimate Jesus can say, “I and the Father” (v. 16). God does not need a witness because what Jesus says and does come directly from God. The two actually testify together, providing the requirement of two witnesses. Later, Jesus, in a third and fourth defense, will appeal to his divine origin from God that is not from this world (v. 23) and then to the witness of his future work on the cross (v. 28), again asserting he knows where he came from and where he is going.

Those who reject Jesus’ witness have a five-fold problem, two of which are found above: first, they are ignorant (v. 14), and second, they judge by human standards (v. 15). We will look at the other three tomorrow.

Lord Jesus, from whom all good things and all truth proceeds; Grant that by your inspiration, we may think and understand things that are right, and by your merciful guiding may live our lives for you, the Light of the World and the source of Living Waters. Amen.