Witness #1 – The Baptist
“You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.
Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.
John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.”
“has testified” is in the continuous tense. Weymouth expounds that “he both was and still is a witness to the truth.” (qt’d in Morris 326) Even though the Jews were excited by John and his words, they never took them to heart. If they had, they would have been started on the path to salvation much as the 2 disciples in the following verses.
John 1:35-37 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
On a side note, Jesus said that he does not accept human testimony, but He mentions that of John so that men will be saved. A witness can only testify about what he knows and man has not been to heaven and returned, so he cannot truly testify that Jesus is God. Man can only testify that he believes that Jesus is God because these other witnesses have testified to him of that fact, and this is “hear-say” testimony, which is not admissible in court. Our testimony to others about Jesus has value only in that it can get them saved. They need to hear for themselves that Jesus is Who He claims to be and that must be from the works of Jesus, the scriptures, God the Father, the Holy Spirit, or from Jesus Himself. Our job as witnesses is to just point people to the Savior and let Him do the saving.