⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

We see in this verse two evidences of Israel’s rejection of Jesus.

5:43

I [emphatic] have come in My Father’s name,

First, Israel rejected Jesus as the Messiah even though He came in the Father’s name. The name of the Father is what He represented in His character and will.

The “I” here is emphatic, differentiating Jesus from anyone else. His origin is from the Father. He and the Father had one purpose because Jesus came “in My Father’s name.”

and you do not receive Me;

Israel did not welcome Jesus but outright refused to believe on Him. Their hearts were hard toward Jesus.

if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.

Second, Israel had a proclivity to accept the word of false teachers instead of the claims of Jesus. The vulnerability of Israel to false teaching is clear from her history. The Jews were more willing to accept pretenders rather than the truth Himself.

Since the hearts of the Jews were twisted toward God, they were conditioned to be deceived and deluded by false doctrine.

5:44

How can you [emphatic] believe,

The Jews could not believe because they sought the praise of people.

who receive honor from one another,

There is a pattern among men to accept honorable testimony from human viewpoint. They seek applause from men. The Jews sought the approval of people rather than God. They feared the judgment of the crowd and their reproach.

and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

Lack of love has a binding effect. The issue was not lack of evidence but a heart issue. The Jews’ controlling motive was to gain the praise of men and not discover the truth.

Note that John did not compromise monotheism, because He referred to God as “the only God.”

The Jews were anthropocentric rather than theocentric. They were interested in the glory of self rather than the glory of God.

PRINCIPLE:

People today do not have affinity with the truth.

APPLICATION:

Bogus religious leaders are abundant today. They draw attention to their peculiar religious teaching that is not adequately grounded in the Bible. There is an irony that false teachers can come in the name of Christ and people will accept them.

2 Co 4: ⁴ whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. ⁵ For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Many religious leaders scratch each other’s back today. This leads to distortion. It draws the focus away from the Word of God.