Joh 3:13, 6:46, 62, 8:14, 58, 16:28, 17:5 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 13. And no man hath ascended into heaven . No man, therefore, is qualified to speak of heavenly things, . To speak of those things requires intimate acquaintance with them--demands that we have seen them; and as no one has ascended into heaven and returned, so no one is qualified to speak of them but He who came down from heaven. This does not mean that no one had gone to heaven or had been saved, for Enoch and Elijah had been borne there ( ; comp. ), and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others were there; but it means that no one had ascended and returned , so as to be qualified to speak of the things there. But he that came down , &c. The Lord Jesus. He is represented as coming down, because, being equal with God, he took upon himself our nature, . He is represented as sent by the Father, . The Son of man . Called thus from his being a man ; from his interest in man; and as expressive of his regard for man. It is a favourite title which the Lord Jesus gives to himself. Which is in heaven . This is a very remarkable expression. Jesus, the Son of man, was then bodily on earth conversing with Nicodemus; yet he declares that he is at the same time in heaven. This can be understood only as referring to the fact that he had two natures--that his divine nature was in heaven, and his human nature on earth. Our Saviour is frequently spoken of in this manner. Comp. ; . As Jesus was in heaven--as his proper abode was there--he was fitted to speak of heavenly things, and to declare the will of God to man. And we may learn, 1st. That the truth about the deep things of God is not to be learned of men . No one has ascended to heaven and returned to tell us what is there; and no infidel, no mere man, no prophet, is qualified of himself to speak of them. 2nd. That all the light which we are to expect on those subjects is to be sought in the Scriptures. It is only Jesus and his inspired apostles and evangelists that can speak of those things. 3rd. It is not wonderful that some things in the Scriptures are mysterious. They are about things which we have not seen, and we must receive them on the testimony of one who has seen them. 4th. The Lord Jesus is divine. He was in heaven while on earth. He had, therefore, a nature far above the human, and is equal with the Father, .

John 3:13

Verse 13. And no man hath ascended into heaven. No man, therefore, is qualified to speak of heavenly things, Jn 3:12. To speak of those things requires intimate acquaintance with them--demands that we have seen them; and as no one has ascended into heaven and returned, so no one is qualified to speak of them but He who came down from heaven. This does not mean that no one had gone to heaven or had been saved, for Enoch and Elijah had been borne there (Gen 5:24; comp. Heb 11:5, 2Kgs 2:11), and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others were there; but it means that no one had ascended and returned, so as to be qualified to speak of the things there.

But he that came down, &c. The Lord Jesus. He is represented as coming down, because, being equal with God, he took upon himself our nature, Jn 1:14, Php 2:6,7. He is represented as sent by the Father, Jn 3:17, 34, Gal 4:4, 1Jn 4:9, 10.

The Son of man. Called thus from his being a man; from his interest in man; and as expressive of his regard for man. It is a favourite title which the Lord Jesus gives to himself.

Which is in heaven. This is a very remarkable expression. Jesus, the Son of man, was then bodily on earth conversing with Nicodemus; yet he declares that he is at the same time in heaven. This can be understood only as referring to the fact that he had two natures--that his divine nature was in heaven, and his human nature on earth. Our Saviour is frequently spoken of in this manner. Comp. Jn 6:62; Jn 6:62, 17:5, 2Cor 8:9. As Jesus was in heaven--as his proper abode was there--he was fitted to speak of heavenly things, and to declare the will of God to man. And we may learn,

1st. That the truth about the deep things of God is not to be learned of men. No one has ascended to heaven and returned to tell us what is there; and no infidel, no mere man, no prophet, is qualified of himself to speak of them.

2nd. That all the light which we are to expect on those subjects is to be sought in the Scriptures. It is only Jesus and his inspired apostles and evangelists that can speak of those things.

3rd. It is not wonderful that some things in the Scriptures are mysterious. They are about things which we have not seen, and we must receive them on the testimony of one who has seen them.

4th. The Lord Jesus is divine. He was in heaven while on earth. He had, therefore, a nature far above the human, and is equal with the Father, Jn 1:1.

John 6:46

Verse 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father. Jesus added this, evidently, to guard against mistake. He had said that all who came to him were taught of God. The teacher was commonly seen and heard by the pupil; but, lest it should be supposed that he meant to say that a man to come to him must see and hear God, visibly and audibly, he adds that he did not intend to affirm this. It was still true that no man had seen God at any time. They were not, therefore, to expect to see God, and his words were not to be perverted as if he meant to teach that.

Save he which is of God. Jesus here evidently refers to himself as the Son of God. He had just said that no man had seen the Father. When he affirms that he has seen the Father, it implies that he is more than man. He is the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, Jn 1:18; the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, Heb 1:3; God over all, blessed for ever, Rev 9:5. By his being of God is meant that he is the only-begotten Son of God, and sent as the Messiah into the world.

Hath seen. Hath intimately known or perceived him. He knows his nature, character, plans. This is a claim to knowledge superior to what man possesses, and it cannot be understood except by supposing that Jesus is equal with God.

(f) "Not that any" Jn 5:37 (g) "save he which is of the God" Lk 10:22

John 6:62

Verse 62. What and if, &c. Jesus does not say that those who were then present would see him ascend, but he implies that he would ascend. They had taken offence because he said he came down from heaven. Instead of explaining that away, he proceeds to state another doctrine quite as offensive to them--that he would reascend to heaven. The apostles only were present at his ascension, Acts 1:9. As Jesus was to ascend to heaven, it was clear that he could not have intended literally that they should eat his flesh.

(w) "ascend" Jn 3:13, Mk 16:19, Eph 4:8-10

John 8:14

Verse 14. Jesus answered, &c. To this objection Jesus replied by saying, first, that the case was such that his testimony alone ought to be received; and, secondly, that he had the evidence given him by his Father. Though, in common life, in courts, and in mere human transactions, it was true that a man ought not to give evidence in his own case, yet in this instance, such was the nature of the case that his word was worthy to be believed.

My record. My evidence, my testimony.

Is true. Is worthy to be believed.

For I know whence I came--but ye, &c. I know by what authority I act; I know by whom I am sent, and what commands were given me; but you cannot determine this, for you do not know these unless I bear witness of them to you. We are to remember that Jesus came not of himself (Jn 6:38); that he came not to do his own will, but the will of his Father. He came as a witness of those things which he had seen and known (Jn 3:11), and no man could judge of those things, for no man had seen them. As he came from heaven; as he knew his Father's will; as he had seen the eternal world, and known the counsels of his Father, so his testimony was worthy of confidence. As they had not seen and known these things, they were not qualified to judge. An ambassador from a foreign court knows the will and purposes of the sovereign who sent him, and is competent to bear witness of it. The court to which he is sent has no way of judging but by his testimony, and he is therefore competent to testify in the case. All that can be demanded is that he give his credentials that he is appointed, and this Jesus had done both by the nature of his doctrine and his miracles.

(h) "but you cannot tell" Jn 7:28, 9:29,30

John 8:58

Verse 58. Verily, verily. This is an expression used only in John. It is a strong affirmation denoting particularly the great importance of what was about to be affirmed. Jn 3:5.

Before Abraham was. Before Abraham lived.

I am. The expression I am, though in the present tense, is clearly designed to refer to a past time. Thus, in Ps 90:2, "From everlasting to everlasting thou art God." Applied to God, it denotes continued existence without respect to time, so far as he is concerned. We divide time into the past, the present, and the future. The expression, applied to God, denotes that he does not measure his existence in this manner, but that the word by which we express the present denotes his continued and unchanging existence. Hence he assumes it as his name, "I AM," and "I AM THAT I AM," Ex 3:14. Comp. Isa 44:6, 47:8. There is a remarkable similarity between the expression employed by Jesus in this place and that used in Exodus to denote the name of God. The manner in which Jesus used it would strikingly suggest the application of the same language to God. The question here was about his pre-existence. The objection of the Jews was that he was not fifty years old, and could not, therefore, have seen Abraham. Jesus replied to that that he existed before Abraham. As in his human nature he was not yet fifty years old, and could not, as a man, have existed before Abraham, this declaration must be referred to another nature; and the passage proves that, while he was a man, he was also endowed with another nature existing before Abraham, and to which he applied the term (familiar to the Jews as expressive of the existence of God) I AM; and this declaration corresponds to the affirmation of John (Jn 1:1), that he was in the beginning with God, and was God. This affirmation of Jesus is one of the proofs on which John relies to prove that he was the Messiah (Jn 20:31), to establish which was the design of writing this book.

(b) "I am" Ex 3:14, Is 43:13, Jn 1:1,2, Col 1:17, Rev 1:8

John 16:28

Verse 28. I came forth from the Father. I came sent by the Father.

And am come into the world. See Jn 3:19, 6:14,62, 9:39.

John 17:5

Verse 5. With thine own self. In heaven, granting me a participation of the same honour which the Father has. He had just said that he had glorified God on the earth; he now prays that God would glorify him in heaven.

With the glory. With the honour. This word also includes the notion of happiness, or everything which could render the condition blessed.

Before the world was. There could not be a more distinct and clear declaration of the pre-existence of Christ than this. It means before the creation of the world; before there was any world. Of course, the speaker here must have existed then, and this is equivalent to saying that he existed from eternity. See Jn 1:1,2, 6:62, 3:13 Jn 16:28. The glory which he had then was that which was proper to the Son of God, represented by the expression being in the bosom of the Father (Jn 1:18), denoting intimacy, friendship, united felicity. The Son of God, by becoming incarnate, is represented as humbling himself (Greek, he "emptied himself"), Php 2:8. He laid aside for a time the external aspect of honour, and consented to become despised, and to assume the form of a servant. He now prays that God would raise him up to the dignity and honour which he had before his incarnation. This is the state to which he is now exalted, with the additional honour of having made atonement for sin, and having opened the way to save a race of rebels from eternal death. The lowest condition on earth is frequently connected with the highest honours of heaven. Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks to him that is humble and of a contrite spirit.

(i) "with the glory" Jn 1:1,2, Php 2:6, He 1:3,10