Giovanni 5:37

37 Ed anche il Padre stesso che mi ha mandato ha testimoniato di me; voi non udiste giammai la sua voce, nè vedeste la sua sembianza;

Giovanni 5:37 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:37

And the Father himself, which hath sent me
Not only the works he gave him to do, and which he did, but he himself in person:

hath borne witness of me;
not only in the writings of Moses, and the prophecies of the Old Testament, but by an audible articulate voice from heaven, at the time of Christ's baptism, ( Matthew 3:17 ) ; which was a full testimony of the sonship of Christ, and of the Father's well pleasure in him; and which was repeated at his transfiguration on the mount, ( Matthew 17:5 ) ; and the sonship of Christ is the grand thing which the three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, testify of, ( 1 John 5:7 ) ;

ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape;
for the voices that were heard, and the forms that were seen under the Old Testament dispensation, from the first of this kind in Eden's garden, to the incarnation of Christ, which are ascribed to God, or to a divine person, were either by the ministry of angels, or they were voices uttered by the Son of God, or forms assumed by him, who often appeared in an human form, as a prelude of his incarnation; so that it was unusual, and wonderful, and remarkable, that the Father should bear a testimony to the sonship of Christ by a voice from heaven; and which therefore ought to be attended to, and received as a sufficient and valid testimony.

Giovanni 5:37 In-Context

35 Esso era una lampana ardente, e lucente; e voi volentieri gioiste, per un breve tempo, alla sua luce.
36 Ma io ho la testimonianza maggiore di quella di Giovanni, poichè le opere che il Padre mi ha date ad adempiere, quelle opere, dico, le quali io fo, testimoniano di me, che il Padre mio mi ha mandato.
37 Ed anche il Padre stesso che mi ha mandato ha testimoniato di me; voi non udiste giammai la sua voce, nè vedeste la sua sembianza;
38 e non avete la sua parola dimorante in voi, perchè non credete a colui ch’egli ha mandato.
39 Investigate le scritture, perciocchè voi pensate per esse aver vita eterna; ed esse son quelle che testimoniano di me.
The Giovanni Diodati Bible is in the public domain.