He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.
Parallel translations
- WEB He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that God is true.
- BSB Whoever accepts His testimony has certified that God is truthful.
- NKJV He who has received His testimony has certified that God is true.
- NASB The one who has accepted His testimony has certified that God is true.
- NLT Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true.
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
Whoever accepts Jesus' testimony certifies that God is truthful. Believing the Son is to affirm the trustworthiness of God himself.
Overview
To 'set his seal' is to attest formally that God's word is reliable. Receiving Jesus' witness is not merely intellectual assent but a confession that God, who sent him, is true. This ties saving faith to the very faithfulness and truthfulness of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Eph 1:13In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
- Heb 6:17Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
- 2 Cor 1:18But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
- Titus 1:1–2Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness;
- Rom 3:3–4For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
- John 6:27Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
- 2 Cor 1:22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
- Rom 4:18–21Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
- 1 Jn 5:9–10If 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.
- Rev 7:3–8Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 3:33 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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