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Joh_5:31. Justification of His witness to Himself from Joh_5:19 ff., intermingled with denunciation of Jewish unbelief (Joh_5:31-40), which Jesus continues down to Joh_5:47.
The connection is not that Jesus now passes on to the τιμή which is due to Him (Joh_5:23), and demands faith as its true form (Luthardt), for the conception of τιμή does not again become prominent; but ἐπειδὴ τοιαῦτα περὶ ἑαυτοῦ μαρτυρήσας ἔγνω τοὺς Ἰουδαίους ἐνθυμουμένους ἀντιθεῖναι καὶ εἰπεῖν · ὅτι ἐὰν σὺ μαρτυρεῖς περὶ σεαυτοῦ , ἡ μαρτυρία σου οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθής · οὐδεὶς γὰρ ἑαυτῷ μαρτυρῶν ἀξιόπιστος ἐν ἀνθρώποις διʼ ὑποψίαν φιλαυτίας · προέλαβε καὶ εἶπεν ὃ ἔμελλον εἰπεῖν ἐκεῖνοι , Euthymius Zigabenus. Comp. Chrysostom. Thus at the same time is solved the seeming contradiction with Joh_8:14.
ἐγώ ] emphatic: if a personal witness concerning myself only, and therefore not an attestation from another quarter. Comp. ἄλλος , Joh_5:32.
οὐκ ἔστιν ἀληθ .] i.e. formally speaking, according to the ordinary rule of law (Chetub. f. 23. 2 : “testibus de se ipsis non credunt,” and see Wetstein). In reality, the relation is different in Christ’s case, see Joh_8:13-16; but He does not insist upon this here, and we must not therefore understand His words, with Baeumlein, as if He said: εἰ ἐγὼ ἐμαρτύρουν … οὐκ ἂν ἦν ἀληθὴς ἡ μαρτυρία μου . Chap. Joh_8:54-55 also, and 1Co_4:15; 1Co_13:1, Gal_1:8, are not conceived of in this way.