5:44a–c
How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?: This is a rhetorical question. Jesus used it as a rebuke. He was saying that the leaders could not believe because they received other people’s praise but did not want God’s praise. It may be implied that they wanted people’s praise. A similar idea is in John 12:43, which says, “For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” Jesus implied that they were wrong to not believe and to desire man’s praise more than God’s.
Here are three ways to translate this rebuke:
• Use a rhetorical question. For example:
How can you believe when you accept each other’s praise and don’t look for the praise that comes from the only God? (God’s Word)
• Use a statement. For example:
No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God. (New Living Translation (2004))
• Use both a rhetorical question and a statement. For example:
How could you possibly believe? You like to have your friends praise you, and you don’t care about praise that the only God can give! (Contemporary English Version)
Translate this rebuke in the way that is most natural in your language.
In some languages it may be natural to reorder the clauses in this verse, with the conclusion at the end. For example:
44b You like to receive praise from one another, 44c but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; 44a how, then, can you believe me? (Good News Translation)
5:44a
How can you believe…?: This expression here implies that the religious leaders were not able to believe Jesus. For example:
No wonder you can’t believe! (New Living Translation (2004))
believe: This word includes the idea of believing the facts about who Jesus was and what he did. But it also includes the idea of trusting Jesus instead of trusting oneself or someone else. Both ideas are very closely related. If someone believes the facts about Jesus, it should result in trusting him.
In some languages it may be natural to make the object of belief explicit. For example:
how, then, can you believe me ? (Good News Translation)
-or-
how could you believe in me ?
5:44b
if you accept glory from one another: The Greek clause that the Berean Standard Bible translates as you accept glory from one another indicates that the Jewish leaders receive honor from each other. The rhetorical question may imply that they wanted the approval and praise of other people. Certainly their attitude is different from Jesus, who did not accept glory from humans. (See 5:41.) It was because of this they could not believe Jesus.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
since you look to each other for glory (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
you accept honor from one another (Revised English Bible)
-or-
You like to receive praise from one another (Good News Translation)
if you accept: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translated as if you accept is more literally “taking/receiving.” It does not refer to a specific time but to a general attitude. It was because of their attitude that these religious men could not believe in Jesus. What other men thought about them was more important to them than what God thought about them.
Here are other ways to translate this Greek word:
because you accept/receive
-or-
when you accept (New Revised Standard Version)
glory: In many languages it may be natural to translate glory as a verb rather than a noun. For example:
you gladly honor each other (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
you like to have your friends praise you (Contemporary English Version)
5:44c
yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God: This clause indicates that the religious leaders were not interested in obtaining praise from God.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
and are not concerned with the glory that comes from the one God (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
and care nothing for the honor that comes from him who alone is God (Revised English Bible)
-or-
but you do not try to get the praise that comes from the only God (New Century Version)
the only God: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as the only God refers to God as the only true God. Here is another way to translate this expression:
the one who alone is God (New Revised Standard Version)
General Comment on 5:44b–c
These clauses form an implied comparison. They indicate that the religious leaders wanted glory/praise from people more than they wanted glory/praise from God. For example:
you want people to praise you more than you want God to praise you
-or-
you are much more eager to receive glory from other people than to receive glory from God
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.