John 5:33

Ye sent unto John - I am not without human testimony of the most respectable kind: - Ye sent to John, and he bare witness. There are several circumstances in John's character which render his testimony unexceptionable.

1. He is consulted by the very enemies of Christ, as a very holy and extraordinary man.

2. He is perfectly free from all self-interest, having declined making the least advantage by his own reputation.

3. He is sincere, undaunted, and so averse from all kinds of flattery that he reproves Herod at the hazard of his liberty and life.

4. He was so far from being solicited by Christ to give his testimony that he had not even seen him when he gave it. See John 1:19-28.

Ye sent unto John - See John 1:19.

He bare witness ... - See John 1:26, John 1:29, John 1:36. This testimony of John ought to have satisfied them. John was an eminent man; many of the Pharisees believed on him; he was candid, unambitious, sincere, and his evidence was impartial. On this Jesus might have rested the proof that he was the Messiah, but he was willing, also, to adduce evidence of a higher order.

5:33 He bare testimony - That I am the Christ.