Charles Ellicott Commentary John 5:44

"How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that [cometh] from the only God ye seek not?" — John 5:44 (ASV)

How can ye believe . . .?—The emphasis is again on the pronoun. It is not possible that you should believe in Me, as our whole position is entirely different. You receive glory from men. I do not (John 5:41). I have come in My Father’s name (John 5:43). You 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 you are what you 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.”

From God only.—Better, from the only God. Compare to Romans 16:27; 1 Timothy 1:17; 1 Timothy 6:15–16; Jude 1:25. The article before “glory” should be noted. They received glory from one another. They did not seek the glory, which was a divine attribute .

Their charge against Him was that He made Himself equal with God. Thinking themselves monotheists, they were really idolaters. Each man, receiving glory from another, was in the place of a god to that other. Each man giving this glory to another, was rendering to a fellow man that which belonged to God only. They, not He, were robbing God of His glory.