Charles Ellicott Commentary John 5:43

"I am come in my Father`s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." — John 5:43 (ASV)

I am come in my Father’s name.—So far from self-assertion or honor-seeking, He came in the name of, as representing, the Father, guided only by His will, doing only His work (John 4:34). Had they loved the Father, they must have received and reverenced His Son (John 8:42; Matthew 21:37 and following). The absence of love is at the root of the rejection. The true Israelite became the true Christian (John 1:47), but these were not true members of the Old Covenant, and could not therefore pass into the New.

If another shall come in his own name.—Compare the direct prophecy of false Christs and prophets in Matthew 24:24, and see Note there. The word “come” in this clause links the meaning with that of the “come” in the previous clause, and is to be understood of a false Messianic claim in opposition to the true. Sixty-four false Christs have been enumerated as appearing after the true Christ, and these words are often taken as a prophecy of one of the most famous of these, as Bar-Kochba. Not a few of the Fathers have understood the words of Antichrist. Perhaps the only definite reference is to the mental condition of the Jews. They would receive any other who came in his own authority, and seeking his own glory. There would be no higher principle to which everything must yield. The seeker of power would fulfill their carnal interpretation of Messianic hopes. He would flatter and honor them, and therefore they would receive him.