1 John 5:10-11

5:10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.) ¹  5:11 And this is the testimony: God ²  has given us eternal life, ³  and this life is in his Son.

John 8:13-14

8:13 So the Pharisees ⁴  objected, ⁵  “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!” ⁶  8:14 Jesus answered, ⁷  “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people ⁸  do not know where I came from or where I am going. ⁹ 

[5:10]  ¹ sn This verse is a parenthesis in John’s argument.

[5:11]  ² tn The ὅτι (Joti) clause in 5:11 is epexegetical (explanatory) to the phrase καὶ αὕτη ἐστίν (kai Jauth estin) at the beginning of the verse and gives the content of the testimony for the first time: “And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

[5:11]  ³ sn In understanding how “God’s testimony” (added to the three witnesses of 5:8) can consist of eternal life it is important to remember the debate between the author and the opponents. It is not the reality of eternal life (whether it exists at all or not) that is being debated here, but rather which side in the debate (the author and his readers or the opponents) possesses it (this is a key point). The letter began with a testimony that “the eternal life” has been revealed (1:2), and it is consummated here with the reception or acknowledgment of that eternal life as the final testimony. This testimony (which is God’s testimony) consists in eternal life itself, which the author and the readers possess, but the opponents do not. This, for the author, constitutes the final apologetic in his case against the opponents.

[8:13]  ⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[8:13]  ⁵ tn Grk “Then the Pharisees said to him.”

[8:13]  ⁶ sn Compare the charge You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true! to Jesus’ own statement about his testimony in 5:31.

[8:14]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[8:14]  ⁸ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to indicate that the pronoun (“you”) and verb (“do not know”) in Greek are plural.

[8:14]  ⁹ sn You people do not know where I came from or where I am going. The ignorance of the religious authorities regarding Jesus’ origin works on two levels at once: First, they thought Jesus came from Galilee (although he really came from Bethlehem in Judea) and second, they did not know that he came from heaven (from the Father), and this is where he would return. See further John 7:52.