Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 19:35 - 19:35

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Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 19:35 - 19:35


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

35. ὁ ἑωρακὼς κ.τ.λ He that hath seen hath borne witness and his witness is true (comp. Joh 1:19; Joh 1:32; Joh 1:34, Joh 8:13-14, Joh 12:17). The use of the perfect participle rather than the aorist is evidence that the writer himself is the person who saw. If he were appealing to the witness of another person he would almost certainly have written, as the A. V., ‘he that saw.’ The inference that the author is the person who saw becomes still more clear if we omit the centre of the verse, which is somewhat parenthetical: ‘He that hath seen hath borne witness, in order that ye also may believe.’ The natural sense of this statement is that the narrator is appealing to his own experience. Thus the Apostolic authorship of the Gospel is again confirmed. (See Westcott, Introduction, p. xxvii.) Ἀληθινή means not simply truthful, but genuine, perfect: it fulfils the conditions of sufficient evidence. (See on Joh 1:9 and comp. Joh 8:16, Joh 7:28.) On the other hand ἀληθῆ means things that are true. There is no tautology, as in the A. V. S. John first says that his evidence is adequate; he then adds that the contents of it are true. Testimony may be sufficient (e.g. of a competent eyewitness) but false: or it may be insufficient (e.g. of half-witted child) but true. S. John declares that his testimony is both sufficient and true.

ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς π. That ye also may believe; as well as the witness who saw for himself.

Why does S. John attest thus earnestly the trustworthiness of his narrative at this particular point? Four reasons may be assigned. This incident tended to shew (1) the reality of Christ’s humanity against Docetic views; and these verses therefore are evidence against the theory that the Fourth Gospel is the work of a Docetic Gnostic (see on Joh 1:14, Joh 6:21, Joh 7:10): (2) the reality of Christ’s Divinity, against Ebionite views; while His human form was no mere phantom, but flesh and blood, yet He was not therefore a mere man, but the Son of God: (3) the reality of Christ’s death, and therefore of His Resurrection, against Jewish insinuations of trickery (comp. Mat 28:13-15); (4) the clear and unexpected fulfilment of two Messianic prophecies.