John Calvin 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 you believe? Since it might be considered harsh to say that those who were trained disciples of the Law and the Prophets from their childhood should be charged with such gross ignorance and declared enemies of the truth—and since this might even be thought incredible—Christ shows what hinders them from believing.

It is because ambition has deprived them of sound judgment. For He speaks, in a particular manner, to the priests and scribes, who, swelled with pride, could not obey God. This is a remarkable passage, teaching that the gate of faith is shut against all whose hearts are preoccupied by a vain desire for earthly glory.

For whoever wishes to be important in the world must become restless and unstable, so that he will have no inclination towards God. A person is never prepared to obey the heavenly doctrine until convinced that his primary goal, throughout his whole life, ought to be to be approved by God.

But it might be thought that the wicked confidence with which hypocrites exalt themselves in God's presence is a greater obstacle than worldly ambition; and we know that this was also a malady with which the scribes were deeply infected. The answer is simple: Christ intended to tear from them the false mask of holiness by which they deceived the ignorant multitude.

He therefore points, as if with His finger, to the more blatant vice, by which it may be made clear to all that nothing is further from their true character than what they wished to be considered.

Besides, though hypocrisy exalts itself against God, still, in the world and before people, it is always ambitious. Indeed, it is this vanity alone that inflates us with false presumption when we rely more on our own judgment, and that of others, than on the judgment of God.

Anyone who truly presents himself before God as his Judge must necessarily fall down humbled and dismayed, finding nothing in himself in which he can trust. Therefore, for anyone to seek glory from God alone, he must be overwhelmed with shame and flee to God's undeserved mercy. Indeed, those who look to God see that they are condemned and ruined, and that nothing is left for them in which to glory except the grace of Christ. The desire for such glory will always be accompanied by humility.

Regarding the present passage, Christ’s meaning is that there is no other way for people to be prepared to receive the doctrine of the Gospel than by withdrawing all their senses from the world, turning them to God alone, and seriously considering two things: first, that their business is with God; and second, that by forgetting the flatteries with which they are accustomed to deceive themselves, they may then descend into their own consciences.

We should not wonder, therefore, if the Gospel today finds so few people willing to be taught, since all are carried away by ambition. Nor should we wonder if many apostatize from professing the Gospel, for they are hurried away by their own vanity and fall away. All the more earnestly, then, we ought to seek this one thing: that while we are insignificant and despised in the eyes of the world, and even overwhelmed within ourselves, we may be counted among the children of God.