John 5:44
New International Version
How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

New Living Translation
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.

English Standard Version
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Berean Standard Bible
How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Berean Literal Bible
How are you able to believe, receiving glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God?

King James Bible
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

New King James Version
How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?

New American Standard Bible
How can you believe, when you accept glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

NASB 1995
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

NASB 1977
“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

Legacy Standard Bible
How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God?

Amplified Bible
How can you believe [in Me], when you [seek and] receive glory and approval from one another, and yet you do not seek the glory and approval which comes from the one and only God?

Christian Standard Bible
How can you believe, since you accept glory from one another but don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
How can you believe? While accepting glory from one another, you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God.

American Standard Version
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
How can you believe, who are accepting glory one from another, and you are not seeking the glory of The One God?

Contemporary English Version
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!

Douay-Rheims Bible
How can you believe, who receive glory one from another: and the glory which is from God alone, you do not seek?

English Revised Version
How can ye believe, which receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?

GOD'S WORD® Translation
How can you believe when you accept each other's praise and don't look for the praise that comes from the only God?

Good News Translation
You like to receive praise from one another, but you do not try to win praise from the one who alone is God; how, then, can you believe me?

International Standard Version
How can you believe when you accept each other's praise and do not look for the praise that comes from the only God?

Literal Standard Version
how are you able—you—to believe, receiving glory from one another, and the glory that [is] from God alone you do not seek?

Majority Standard Bible
How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

New American Bible
How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?

NET Bible
How can you believe, if you accept praise from one another and don't seek the praise that comes from the only God?

New Revised Standard Version
How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God?

New Heart English Bible
How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Webster's Bible Translation
How can ye believe, who receive honor one from another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?

Weymouth New Testament
How is it possible for you to believe, while you receive glory from one another and have no desire for the glory that comes from the only God?

World English Bible
How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don’t seek the glory that comes from the only God?

Young's Literal Translation
how are ye able -- ye -- to believe, glory from one another receiving, and the glory that is from God alone ye seek not?

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Witness of Scripture
43I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44How can you believe if you accept glory from one another, yet do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.…

Cross References
1 Samuel 15:30
"I have sinned," Saul replied. "Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God."

John 5:41
I do not accept glory from men,

John 12:43
For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

John 17:3
Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.

Romans 2:29
No, a man is a Jew because he is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man's praise does not come from men, but from God.

1 Thessalonians 2:6
Nor did we seek praise from you or from anyone else, although as apostles of Christ we had authority to demand it.

1 Timothy 1:17
Now to the King eternal, immortal, and invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.


Treasury of Scripture

How can you believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that comes from God only?

can.

John 3:20
For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

John 8:43
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

John 12:43
For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

which.

Matthew 23:5
But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Galatians 5:19-21
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, …

Philippians 2:3
Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

and.

1 Samuel 2:30
Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.

2 Chronicles 6:8
But the LORD said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:

Matthew 25:21-23
His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord…

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Able Accept Alone Believe Desire Effort Faith Glory Honor Honour Obtain Possible Praise Receive Receiving Seek
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Able Accept Alone Believe Desire Effort Faith Glory Honor Honour Obtain Possible Praise Receive Receiving Seek
John 5
1. Jesus on the Sabbath day cures him who was diseased thirty-eight years.
10. The Jews therefore object, and persecute him for it.
17. He answers for himself, and reproves them, showing by the testimony of his Father,
31. of John,
36. of his works,
39. and of the Scriptures, who he is.














(44) How can ye believe . . .?--The emphasis is again on the pronoun. It is not possible that ye should believe in Me, as our whole position is entirely different. Ye receive glory from men. I do not (John 5:41). I am come in My Father's name (John 5:43). Ye do not seek the glory which is from God. We are, then, in wholly distinct spheres of life, and action, and thought. To believe would be to give up your whole present life. While ye are what ye are, it cannot be.

The marginal reference compares the parallel thought of John 12:43. This is obscured in the English version by a difference of words for the same Greek word. Here, as in John 5:41, it would be more exact to read glory for "honour," and in John 12:43, glory for "praise." . . .

Verse 44. - How can ye believe, seeing that ye receive glory one from another, and ye seek not the glory that cometh from the only God? The difficulties of faith in himself multiply as he proceeds. First, he insisted that he had searched their hearts, and found there none of that elementary "love of God" which is the prime condition of knowledge or faith. Then he showed that an appreciation on their part of the type of character antithetic to his own, i.e. of the man who comes in his own name and seeks his glory from men, must blind them to that which is most characteristic of himself. They will receive the prophet, the pseudo-Christ, for the very reason that makes his own mission so unpalatable. He strikes right across their taste, their passion, their prejudice. He now lays down a new or modified statement of one of the prime conditions of spiritual faith. There is a universal desire for δόξα, glory, of some sort. The original meaning of δόξα here almost forces itself into the text. Δόξα "opinion," thought, and the good opinion which one person may entertain with reference to another. The glory of a Greek citizen was the good opinion of his fellow citizens or fellow countrymen. God's "glory" is the universal judgment of all intelligences, including his own concerning himself. The highest "glory" of man is the approval of Almighty God; the "opinion" which is absolutely true and is not mingled or contaminated with any flattering fictions. The minds which deliberately ignore this highest and only true source of glory, and substitute for it the glory of the ignorant plaudits and unreal approval, and unhesitating homage of the clique to which they belong, are m a moral condition incapacitating them to believe in the Christ. How should they? How can they? It is not possible for that man to believe Christ at all whose mind is so befogged, whose moral judgments are so dislocated. "The only God (παρὰ τοῦ μόνου Θεου), (see John 17:3; Romans 16:26; 1 Timothy 6:15). The use of this epithet in the Fourth Gospel is of singular value. Moreover, in this very connection the Son is so exalted above the world, and the Father comes so close to man in Christ, that we cannot wonder that Gnosticism and Arianism rapidly evolved a Ditheism of great peril to the conscience. The Lord, notwithstanding the lifting of his humanity to the throne of universal judgment, and the lifting of his Sonship into the bosom of God, on more than one occasion reminds his hearers of the unity, the solity, of Almighty God.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
How
πῶς (pōs)
Adverb
Strong's 4459: Adverb from the base of pou; an interrogative particle of manner; in what way?; also as exclamation, how much!

can
δύνασθε (dynasthe)
Verb - Present Indicative Middle or Passive - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 1410: (a) I am powerful, have (the) power, (b) I am able, I can. Of uncertain affinity; to be able or possible.

you
ὑμεῖς (hymeis)
Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Nominative 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou.

believe
πιστεῦσαι (pisteusai)
Verb - Aorist Infinitive Active
Strong's 4100: From pistis; to have faith, i.e. Credit; by implication, to entrust.

if you accept
λαμβάνοντες (lambanontes)
Verb - Present Participle Active - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2983: (a) I receive, get, (b) I take, lay hold of.

glory
δόξαν (doxan)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1391: From the base of dokeo; glory, in a wide application.

from
παρὰ (para)
Preposition
Strong's 3844: Gen: from; dat: beside, in the presence of; acc: alongside of.

one another,
ἀλλήλων (allēlōn)
Personal / Reciprocal Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 240: One another, each other. Genitive plural from allos reduplicated; one another.

yet
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

do not seek
ζητεῖτε (zēteite)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 2nd Person Plural
Strong's 2212: To seek, search for, desire, require, demand. Of uncertain affinity; to seek; specially, to worship, or to plot.

the
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

glory
δόξαν (doxan)
Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1391: From the base of dokeo; glory, in a wide application.

that [comes]
τὴν (tēn)
Article - Accusative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

from
παρὰ (para)
Preposition
Strong's 3844: Gen: from; dat: beside, in the presence of; acc: alongside of.

the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

only
μόνου (monou)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3441: Only, solitary, desolate. Probably from meno; remaining, i.e. Sole or single; by implication, mere.

God?
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.


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