36 But I have a greater witness than John’s; for the works which the Father has given Me to finish—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Now Jesus moved from human testimony to a greater witness. The second testimony to the credibility of Christ is His miracles.
36 But I [emphatic] have a greater witness than John’s;
John was a good witness to the Messiah’s coming but he did not perform miracles like Jesus. Signs or miracles are greater witnesses to Christ than John the Baptist.
for the works which the Father has given Me to finish
The “works” here refer to the many miracles that authenticated Jesus’ deity. The New Testament in several places uses “work” for miracles. These works always attest to the validity of ministry.
The Father “has given” Jesus works to do on earth. These words are important because Jesus’ miracles were not of human origin; they came from God Himself. His miracles bore the mark of deity. The Jews saw this themselves in the healing of the paralytic man earlier in the chapter.
Jesus was speaking as a true man at this point. The Son stepped foot in a human being. The Father attested the miracles that the Son did in His humanity. This clear verification of these miracles was important to grasp in order to show the significance of the Father-Son relationship (Jn 5:19-30).
—the very works that I do—bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
Jesus carried out His mission as the Messiah in His humanity (Jn 17:4). His miracles should have been a strong indication of who He was.
PRINCIPLE:
The miracles of Jesus attested to what He claimed to be.
APPLICATION:
Jesus’ miracles were credentials of His deity. Miracles are not ends in themselves. They testified to Jesus as the Messiah (Jn 10:25, 37-38; 14:1; Mt 11:3-5). This testimony was far more important than the testimony of John the Baptist.
Jesus said that His works were the works of the Father (Jn 5:17-20; 14:10). Other men—such as Moses, Elijah, and Paul—performed miracles, but they were not equivalent to those of Jesus. None claimed to be God Himself. It was only Jesus who made this claim.
If the father sent Jesus into the world and gave him work to do, and he carried out the will of god, his father, how does that make him to be God? It makes him a servant of god, seems to me.
Carolyn, thanks for your blog. The Trinity is composed of three persons with three different roles. The Father plans, the Son executes the plan, and the Holy Spirit communicates the plan to everyone. In His role to execute the plan, the Son became a human being (Php 2:5-8). In this, He voluntarily set aside His incommunicable attributes (everywhere present, all-knowing, etc) and functioned as a true human being while on earth yet sustaining His deity in heaven. The whole book of John speaks of His deity (Jn 20:31). Note my study of John 1:1 here: https://versebyversecommentary.com/2016/07/25/john-11/ It is important to study the succeeding studies on John 1:1 as well.