John Chapter 3 Verse 13
From EJ Hill & Friends
HILL'S BIBLE COMMENTARY
on
JOHN CHAPTER 3 VERSE 13
by EJ Hill (1977-)
Significance
This is a work in progress!
Transliteration
Die Bybel In Praktyk
"Niemand op die aarde was al in die hemel nie behalwe Hy wat uit die hemel gekom het, naamlik die Seun van die mens." (BIP, bl.1591) [2]
The African Bible
"No one has gone up {G305 anabainō} to heaven except the one who came down from heaven, the Son of man." (TAB, p.255) [6]
The Authorized King James Version of the Bible
"And no man hath ascended up {G305 anabainō} to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (AKJV, p.468) [1]
The Contemporary English Version of the Bible
"No one has gone up {G305 anabainō} to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there." (CEV, p.1282) [3]
The Good News Bible
"And no one has ever gone up {G305 anabainō} to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven." (GNB, p.124) [4]
The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
"Moreover, no man has ascended into {G305 anabainō} heaven but he that descended from heaven, the Son of man." (NWT, p.1330) [5]
The Scriptures
"And no one has gone up {G305 anabainō} into the heaven except He who came down from the heaven - the Son of Adam." (TS, p.1020) [7]
The World English Bible
"No one has ascended {G305 anabainō} into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven." (WEB) [21]
Young's Literal Translation of the Bible
"... and no one hath gone up {G305 anabainō} to the heaven, except he who out of the heaven came down -- the Son of Man who is in the heaven." (YLT) [22]
Commentary
The 1599 Geneva Study Bible
"And no k man l hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, [even] m the Son of man which n is in heaven. (k) Only Christ can teach us heavenly things, for no man ascends, etc. (l) That is, has any spiritual light and understanding, or ever had any, but only the Son of God who came down to us. (m) Whereas he is said to have come down from heaven, this must be understood as referring to his Godhead, and of the manner of his conception: for Christ's birth upon the earth was heavenly and not earthly, for he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. (n) That which is proper to the divinity of Christ, is here spoken of the whole Christ, to show us that he is but one person in which two natures are united." [18]
John Lightfoot (1602-1675)
Lightfoot offers no comment [17]
Matthew Henry (1662-1714)
"[3.] Our Lord Jesus, and he alone, was fit to reveal to us a doctrine thus certain, thus sublime: No man hath ascended up into heaven but he, John 3:13. First, None but Christ was able to reveal to us the will of God for our salvation. Nicodemus addressed Christ as a prophet; but he must know that he is greater than all the Old-Testament prophets, for none of them had ascended into heaven. They wrote by divine inspiration, and not of their own knowledge; see John 1:18. Moses ascended into the mount, but not into heaven. No man hath attained to the certain knowledge of God and heavenly things as Christ has; see Matthew 11:27. It is not for us to send to heaven for instructions; we must wait to receive what instructions Heaven will send to us; see Proverbs 30:4, De+30:12. Secondly, Jesus Christ is able, and fit, and every way qualified, to reveal the will of God to us; for it is he that came down from heaven and is in heaven. He had said (John 3:12), How shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? Now here, 1. He gives them an instance of those heavenly things which he could tell them of, when he tells them of one that came down from heaven, and yet is the Son of man; is the Son of man, and yet is in heaven. If the regeneration of the soul of man is such a mystery, what then is the incarnation of the Son of God? These are divine and heavenly things indeed. We have here an intimation of Christ's two distinct natures in one person: his divine nature, in which he came down from heaven; his human nature, in which he is the Son of man; and that union of those two, in that while he is the Son of man yet he is in heaven. 2. He gives them a proof of his ability to speak to them heavenly things, and to lead them into the arcana of the kingdom of heaven, by telling them, (1.) That he came down from heaven. The intercourse settled between God and man began above; the first motion towards it did not arise from this earth, but came down from heaven. We love him, and send to him, because he first loved us, and sent to us. Now this intimates, [1.] Christ's divine nature. He that came down from heaven is certainly more than a mere man; he is the Lord from heaven, 1 Corinthians 15:47. [2.] His intimate acquaintance with the divine counsels; for, coming from the court of heaven, he had been from eternity conversant with them. [3.] The manifestation of God. Under the Old Testament God's favours to his people are expressed by his hearing from heaven (2 Chronicles 7:14), looking from heaven (Psalms 80:14), speaking from heaven (Nehemiah 9:13), sending from heaven, Psalms 57:3. But the New Testament shows us God coming down from heaven, to teach and save us. That he thus descended is an admirable mystery, for the Godhead cannot change places, nor did he bring his body from heaven; but that he thus condescended for our redemption is a more admirable mercy; herein he commended his love. (2.) That he is the Son of man, that Son of man spoken of by Daniel (Daniel 7:13), by which the Jews always understand to be meant the Messiah. Christ, in calling himself the Son of man, shows that he is the second Adam, for the first Adam was the father of man. And of all the Old-Testament titles of the Messiah he chose to make use of this, because it was most expressive of his humility, and most agreeable to his present state of humiliation. (3.) That he is in heaven. Now at this time, when he is talking with Nicodemus on earth, yet, as God, he is in heaven. The Son of man, as such, was not in heaven till his ascension; but he that was the Son of man was now, by his divine nature, every where present, and particularly in heaven. Thus the Lord of glory, as such, could not be crucified, nor could God, as such, shed his blood; yet that person who was the Lord of glory was crucified (1 Corinthians 2:8), and God purchased the church with his own blood, Acts 20:28. So close is the union of the two natures in one person that there is a communication of properties. He doth not say hos esti. GOD is the ho on to ourano--he that is, and heaven is the habitation of his holiness." [16]
John Wesley (1703-1791)
"For no one - For here you must rely on my single testimony, whereas there you have a cloud of witnesses: Hath gone up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Who is in heaven -Therefore he is omnipresent; else he could not be in heaven and on earth at once. This is a plain instance of what is usually termed the communication of properties between the Divine and human nature; whereby what is proper to the Divine nature is spoken concerning the human, and what is proper to the human is, as here, spoken of the Divine." [15]
Adam Clarke (1760/62-1832)
"This seems a figurative expression for, No man hath known the mysteries of the kingdom of God; as in Deuteronomy 30:12; Psalms 73:17; Proverbs 30:4; Romans 11:34. And the expression is founded upon this generally received maxim: That to be perfectly acquainted with the concerns of a place, it is necessary for a person to be on the spot. But our Lord probably spoke to correct a false notion among the Jews, viz. that Moses had ascended to heaven, in order to get the law. It is not Moses who is to be heard now, but Jesus: Moses did not ascend to heaven; but the Son of man is come down from heaven to reveal the Divine will." [8]
Albert Barnes (1798-1870)
"And no man has ascended into heaven. No man, therefore, is qualified to speak of heavenly things, John 3:12. To speak of those things requires intimate acquaintance with them -- demands that we have seen them; and as no one has ascended into heaven and returned, so no one is qualified to speak of them but He who came down from heaven. This does not mean that no one had gone to heaven or had been saved, for Enoch and Elijah had been borne there (Genesis 5:24; comp. Hebrews 11:5; 2 Kings 2:11), and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and others were there; but it means that no one had ascended and returned, so as to be qualified to speak of the things there." [9]
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871)
"no man hath ascended, --There is something paradoxical in this language--"No one has gone up but He that came down, even He who is at once both up and down." Doubtless it was intended to startle and constrain His auditor to think that there must be mysterious elements in His Person. The old Socinians, to subvert the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ, seized upon this passage as teaching that the man Jesus was secretly caught up to heaven to receive His instructions, and then "came down from heaven" to deliver them. But the sense manifestly is this: "The perfect knowledge of God is not obtained by any man's going up from earth to heaven to receive it--no man hath so ascended--but He whose proper habitation, in His essential and eternal nature, is heaven, hath, by taking human flesh, descended as the Son of man to disclose the Father, whom He knows by immediate gaze alike in the flesh as before He assumed it, being essentially and unchangeably 'in the bosom of the Father' (Joh 1:18)." [11]
James Burton Coffman (1905-2006)
"Here Jesus claimed his unique office as God's messenger who descended to man out of heaven, and yet, in a sense, who was still in heaven. This verse, admittedly difficult, has led to the view that heaven is a state rather than a place, and that Jesus could say the Son of man was in heaven even while he was on earth. Another view supported by this is that during the personal ministry of Christ he continued in the full possession of his heavenly attributes. Still another concept that finds support is the doctrine of the ubiquitousness of Jesus. Dogmatism is out of order here, due to the textual questions regarding this verse. Westcott wrote that these words were 'omitted by many very ancient authorities, and appear to be an early gloss bringing out the right contrast between the ascent of a man to heaven and the abiding of the Son of man in heaven.' F15 In the International Version, this place reads: 'No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of man.'" [10]
Thomas L. Constable of Dallas Theological Seminary
"Jesus explained why He could speak authoritatively about heavenly things. No teacher had ascended into heaven and returned to teach about heavenly things. Evidently Jesus was referring to being personally present in heaven since, obviously, many prophets had received visions of heaven (e.g., Isa. 6; cf. 2 Cor. 12:2-4; Rev. 1:10-20). However the Son of Man descended from heaven so He could teach about heavenly things. The NIV translation implies that Jesus had already ascended into heaven, but that is not what the Greek text says. The Greek words ei me, translated "but" or "except," contrast a human who might have ascended into heaven and the God-man who really did descend from heaven. Jesus here claimed to be the Son of Man (Dan. 7:13-14) who had come from heaven to reveal God to humankind (cf. 1:51). 'Throughout this Gospel John insists on Jesus' heavenly origin. This is one way in which he brings out his point that Jesus is the Christ. Here his heavenly origin marks Jesus off from the rest of humanity.'" [12]
David Guzik of Calvary Chapel Bible College
"d. No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven: Jesus 'makes it clear that He can speak authoritatively about things in heaven, though no one else can.' (Morris)" [13]
John A. Marsh
"Jesus was qualified to speak of heavenly things because that is where He came from." [14]
David Reagan
"The Bible does not say that Elijah ascended to heaven. It says that he was taken up. The word 'ascend' means to go up. It pictures someone or something that goes up of its own strength. The word 'ascend' comes from the Latin word for 'climb' and it literally means to climb up. We speak of someone ascending the stairs. The first biblical use of the word is in Genesis 28:12 where Jacob sees 'a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.'" [19]
"John 3:13 does not teach that no one has ever seen or entered heaven. It teaches that no man ever climbed up into heaven by his own power. The only one who has ever ascended to heaven in His own strength is the One who originated in heaven and came down to earth before He ascended." [19]
Notes
It has been suggested that "this does not mean that no one had gone to heaven" since "Enoch and Elijah had been borne there". This is an assumption that rests with both, Barnes [8] and Reagan [19] - an assumption utterly disproved by Scripture.
As we've seen in "Has Anyone Ever Ascended Into Heaven?"; neither Enoch, nor Elijah, entered Heaven. Hebrews chapter 11 establishes that both Enoch (v5, v13) and Elijah (v13, v32, v39-40) died like any other. Furthermore, First Corinthians chapter 15 verse 50 concludes "that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God" (AKJV). And finally, should any suggest that either Enoch or Elijah "were immediately transformed into a new creation" [20] - they'd do well to review First Corinthians chapter 15 verses 20 to 54 (in particular verse 23); and Hebrews 11v1-40 (in particular verses 39 and 40); concluding that none will be made perfect, apart from the other; before Christ's Return.
Synopsis
"... no man hath ascended up to heaven, ..."
i} The Greek word "anabainō" {G305} translated in Jn. 3v13 as "ascended" means "to go up" or "climb up". As Reagan says, "It pictures someone or something that goes up of its own strength." [19] I would, therefore, conclude with Reagan, that, "no man ever climbed up into heaven by his own power. The only One Who has ever ascended to heaven in His own strength is the One who originated in heaven and came down to earth before He ascended" (Reagan) [19]
ii} Therefore, it can NOT be concluded, from our text; that up and until the time of Christ; no one has ever been "taken up" into Heaven - only that they didn't "climb up" of their own accord. However, as we've seen, the former is true also. See, "Has Anyone Ever Ascended Into Heaven?"
"... but He that came down from heaven ..."
i}
"..., even the Son of man which is in heaven."
i}
Scripture References
Gen. 5v24, 28v12; Deut. 30v12; 2 Kgs. 2v11; 2 Chr. 7v14; Neh. 9v13; Ps. 57v3, 73v17, 80v14; Pr. 30v4; Is. 6; Dan. 1v51, 7v13-14; Mt. 8v20, 11v27; Jn. 1v18, 3v6, v12-13, v31, 6v38, v42; Acts 2v34, 20v28; Rom. 10v6, 11v34; 1 Cor. 15v20-54, 2v8; 2 Cor. 12v2-4; Ep. 4v9-10; Heb. 11v1-40; Rev. 1v10-20
Bibliography
1 Holy Bible; Authorized King James Version; Red-Letter Edition (Nashville, TN: World Publishing). Copyright (c) 2004 by World Publishing. http://www.worldpublishing.com/
2 Prof. Fika J. van Rensburg, Prof. Jan A. Du Rand, en Prof. Isak J. du Plessis; Die Bybel In Praktyk {Life Application Bible}: Afrikaans Nuwe Vertaling; CUM Boeke. ISBN 1-86829-139-1
3 Holy Bible; Contemporary English Version (Roggebaai, WP: Bible Society of South Africa, P.O. Box 6215, Cape Town, 8012; 1996)
4 Holy Bible; Good News Bible: Today's English Version.
5 New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (Brooklyn, NY: Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., 1961 [1981, 1984])
6 Angelo Colacrai, Aelred Lacomara and Cecil McGarry; The African Bible [The New Testament Family Edition] (Nairobi, Kenya: Paulines Publications, P.O. Box 49026, 1995). ISBN 9966-21-130-6
7 The Scriptures (Northriding, SA: Institute for Scripture Research (Pty) Ltd, P.O. Box 1830, 2162) http://www.messianic.co.za/
8 Adam Clarke; "Jn. 3:13": Commentary on the Bible; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
9 Dr. Albert Barnes; "Jn. 3:13": Notes on the New Testament; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/bnn/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
10 James Burton Coffman; "Jn. 3:13": Commentary on the New Testament; Hills Study Resources. (08/04/2008) http://southernhills.searchgodsword.org/com/bcc/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
11 Jamieson, Fausset, Brown; "Jn. 3:13": Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/jfb/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
12 Prof. Dr. Thomas L. Constable; "Jn. 3:13": Dr. Constable's Notes on John (2008 Edition); Dallas Theological Seminary. (08/04/2008) http://www.soniclight.com/constable/notes/pdf/john.pdf
13 David Guzik; "Jn. 3:13": Commentaries on the Bible; Calvary Chapel Bible College; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/guz/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
14 John A. Marsh; "Jn. 3:13": Marsh Bible Commentary; USA. (08/04/2008) http://www.marshcommentary.com/commentary/john003.php
15 John Wesley; "Jn. 3:13": Explanatory Notes (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/wen/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
16 Matthew Henry; "Jn. 3:13": Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/mhc-com/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
17 John Lightfoot; "Jn. 3:13": Commentary on the Gospels; StudyLight. (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/jlc/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
18 "Jn. 3:13": The Geneva Study Bible (1599). (08/04/2008) http://www.studylight.org/com/gsb/view.cgi?book=joh&chapter=003
19 Pastor David Reagan; John 3:13: Contradiction or Not?; Learn The Bible (Knoxville, TN: Antioch Baptist Church, 2005). (08/04/2008) http://www.learnthebible.org/q_a_john_3_13.htm
20 Lance B. Johnson; The Two Witnesses: Chapter Eleven; Come & See Ministries. (09/04/2008) http://www.comeandsee.org/TTW-html/M1chap11.html
21 World English Bible. (09/04/2008) http://bible.cc/john/3-13.htm
22 Young's Literal Translation. (09/04/2008) http://bible.cc/john/3-13.htm
