Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son.
Parallel translations
- WEB If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony which he has testified concerning his Son.
- KJV If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.
- NKJV If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
- NASB If we receive the testimony of people, the testimony of God is greater; for the testimony of God is this, that He has testified concerning His Son.
- NLT Since we believe human testimony, surely we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God has testified about his Son.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
If we accept human testimony, God's testimony about his Son is far greater and more trustworthy. We should believe God's witness above all.
Overview
John reasons from the lesser to the greater: people routinely rely on human testimony, so how much more should they trust God's own witness concerning Jesus. God himself has testified about his Son, making unbelief inexcusable. This testimony of God carries supreme authority and demands the response of faith.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 3:16–17As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.
- Acts 17:31For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
- John 8:17–19Even in your own Law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.
- Matt 17:5While Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him!”
- 1 Jn 5:10Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
- Acts 5:32We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
- Heb 2:4and was affirmed by God through signs, wonders, various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to His will.
- John 10:38But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father.”
- John 5:39You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me,
- John 3:32–33He testifies to what He has seen and heard, yet no one accepts His testimony.
- John 5:31–37If I testify about Myself, My testimony is not valid.
- Heb 6:18Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 5:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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