The Meaning of John 19:35 Explained

John 19:35

KJV: And he that saw it bare record, and his record is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye might believe.

YLT: and he who hath seen hath testified, and his testimony is true, and that one hath known that true things he speaketh, that ye also may believe.

Darby: And he who saw it bears witness, and his witness is true, and he knows that he says true that ye also may believe.

ASV: And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true: and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye also may believe.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  he that saw  [it] bare record,  and  his  record  is  true:  and he  knoweth  that  he saith  true,  that  ye  might believe. 

What does John 19:35 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Lest the reader miss the point of John 19:34, John explained that he had personally witnessed what he narrated and that he was not lying. Furthermore the purpose of his reliable eyewitness testimony was that his readers might believe what he wrote and what it meant, namely, that Jesus was God"s Son (cf. John 20:30-31; John 21:24).
Some commentators suggested that the eyewitness was someone different from John. Suggestions range from the soldier who pierced Jesus" side, to an unknown eyewitness whom John did not identify, to an unknown editor, to Jesus, and to God the Father. However the most probable solution is to identify John himself as the eyewitness in view of the context and the parallel statements that follow ( John 20:30-31; John 21:24; cf. John 1:14; John 12:23).

Context Summary

John 19:31-37 - The Pierced Side
How punctilious the Jewish leaders were to maintain each detail of their ritual! Remember that there is a religiousness which is not religion but its counterfeit.
John solemnly attests the fact of the blood and water. He knoweth that he saith true. It is referred to again in his Epistle, 1 John 5:6; 1 John 5:8. Science tells us that the presence of those two elements was evidence that there had been heart rupture, and that our Lord literally died of a broken heart. But it was also, as devout souls have loved to remember, a symbol of the "double cure," which Jesus has effected. Blood to atone; water to purify and cleanse. What a comfort it is that Jesus did not come by water alone! As we come to know ourselves better, we realize that only blood could meet our need. He bowed His head, that we might lift ours up to greet the eternal morning. [source]

Chapter Summary: John 19

1  Jesus is scourged, crowned with thorns, and beaten
4  Pilate is desirous to release him,
15  but being overcome with the outrage of the crowd, he delivers him to be crucified
23  They cast lots for his garments
25  He commends his mother to John
28  He dies
31  His side is pierced
38  He is buried by Joseph and Nicodemus

Greek Commentary for John 19:35

He that hath seen [ο εωρακως]
Perfect active articular participle of οραω — horaō John the Apostle was there and saw this fact (still sees it, in fact). This personal witness disproves the theory of the Docetic Gnostics that Jesus did not have a real human body. He knoweth That is John does like John 9:37. It is possible that εκεινος — ekeinos may be a solemn appeal to God as in John 1:33 or Christ as in 1 John 3:5. Bernard argues that the final editor is distinguishing the Beloved Disciple from himself and is endorsing him. But the example of Josephus (War. III. 7, 16) is against this use of εκεινος — ekeinos John is rather referring to himself as still alive. [source]
He that saw it bare record [ὁ ἑωρακῶς μεμαρτύρηκεν]
Rev., rendering the perfect tense in both verbs, he that hath seen hath born witness. This can refer only to the writer of this Gospel. Compare 1 John 1:1. [source]
TRUE [ἀληθινὴ]
Genuine, according to the true ideal of what testimony should be. See on John 1:9. [source]
And he [κακεῖνος]
This pronoun is urged by some as a reason for regarding the witness as some other than John, because it is the pronoun of remote reference. But John 9:37shows clearly that a speaker can use this pronoun of himself; and it is, further, employed in this Gospel to indicate a person “as possessing the quality which is the point in question in an eminent or even exclusive degree” (Godet). See John 1:18; John 5:39. [source]
TRUE [ἀληθῆ]
Literally, true things. As distinguished from false. Thus, by the use of the two words for true, there are brought out, as Westcott remarks, “the two conditions which testimony ought to satisfy; the first, that he who gives it should be competent to speak with authority; and the second, that the account of his experience should be exact.” [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 19:35

Mark 16:10 She [εκεινη]
Only instance of this pronoun (=ιλλα — illa) absolutely in Mark, though a good Greek idiom. (See note on John 19:35.) See also Mark 16:11, Mark 16:20. [source]
John 19:34 Blood and water []
It has been argued very plausibly that this was a natural phenomenon, the result of a rupture of the heart which, it is assumed, was the immediate cause of death, and which was followed by an effusion of blood into the pericardium. This blood, separated into its thicker and more liquid parts, flowed forth when the pericardium was pierced by the spear. I think, however, with Meyer, that John evidently intends to describe the incident as something entirely unexpected and marvelous, and that this explanation better suits the solemn asseveration of John 19:35. That the fact had a symbolic meaning to the Evangelist is evident from 1 John 5:6. [source]
John 1:7 For a witness [εἰς μαρτυρίαν]
Revised version of the New Testament, more correctly, for witness: a witness would be, μάρτυρα as Acts 1:8. The sense is for witness-bearing or to bear witness. On the word, see Acts 1:22; 1 Peter 5:1. It is one of John's characteristic words, occurring nearly fifty times in various forms in his Gospel, and thirty or forty times in the Epistles and Revelation. The emphatic development of the idea of witness is peculiar to this Gospel. “It evidently belongs to a time when men had begun to reason about the faith, and to analyze the grounds on which it rested” (Westcott). He develops the idea under the following forms: The witness of the Father (John 5:31, John 5:34, John 5:37); the witness of Christ himself (John 8:14; John 18:37); the witness of works (John 5:17, John 5:36; John 10:25; John 14:11; John 15:24); the witness of Scripture (John 5:39, John 5:40, John 5:46; John 1:46); the witness of the forerunner (John 1:7; John 5:33, John 5:35); the witness of the disciples (John 15:27; John 19:35; John 21:24; 1 John 1:2; 1 John 4:14); the witness of the Spirit (John 15:26; John 16:13, John 16:14; 1 John 5:6). Note the emphasis attached to the idea here, by the twofold form in which it is put: first, generally, for witness, and then by giving the subject of the testimony. [source]
John 5:33 Ye have sent [υμεις απεσταλκατε]
Emphatic use of υμεις — humeis (ye) and perfect active indicative of αποστελλω — apostellō official and permanent fact and so the witness of the Baptist has to be recognized as trustworthy by the Sanhedrin. The reference is to the committee in John 1:19-28. He hath borne witness Perfect active indicative of μαρτυρεω — martureō showing the permanent and abiding value of John‘s testimony to Christ as in John 1:34; John 3:26; John 5:37. So also John 19:35 of the testimony concerning Christ‘s death. This was the purpose of the Baptist‘s mission (John 1:7). [source]
John 9:37 Thou hast both seen him [και εωρακας αυτον]
Perfect active indicative (double reduplication) of οραω — horaō Since his eyes were opened. And he it is that speaketh with thee “And the one speaking with thee is that man.” See John 19:35 for εκεινος — ekeinos used of the speaker. In John 4:26 Jesus reveals himself in like manner to the Samaritan woman as Messiah while here as the Son of Man (or the Son of God). [source]
Revelation 22:8 Had heard and seen [ἤκουσα καὶ ἔβλεψα]
Aorist tense. There is no need of rendering it as a pluperfect. Rev., rightly, I heard and saw. The appeal to hearing and seeing is common to all John's writings. See John 1:14; John 19:35; John 21:14; 1 John 1:1, 1 John 1:2; 1 John 4:14. [source]

What do the individual words in John 19:35 mean?

And the [one] having seen has borne witness TRUE of him is the testimony He knows that truth he is speaking that also you might believe
καὶ ἑωρακὼς μεμαρτύρηκεν ἀληθινὴ αὐτοῦ ἐστιν μαρτυρία ἐκεῖνος οἶδεν ὅτι ἀληθῆ λέγει ἵνα καὶ ὑμεῖς πιστεύητε

  the  [one] 
Parse: Article, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἑωρακὼς  having  seen 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Singular
Root: εἶδον 
Sense: to see with the eyes.
μεμαρτύρηκεν  has  borne  witness 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: μαρτυρέω  
Sense: to be a witness, to bear witness, i.e. to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration.
ἀληθινὴ  TRUE 
Parse: Adjective, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: ἀληθινός  
Sense: that which has not only the name and resemblance, but the real nature corresponding to the name, in every respect corresponding to the idea signified by the name, real, true genuine.
αὐτοῦ  of  him 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Genitive Masculine 3rd Person Singular
Root: αὐτός  
Sense: himself, herself, themselves, itself.
μαρτυρία  testimony 
Parse: Noun, Nominative Feminine Singular
Root: μαρτυρία  
Sense: a testifying.
οἶδεν  knows 
Parse: Verb, Perfect Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: οἶδα  
Sense: to see.
ὅτι  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
ἀληθῆ  truth 
Parse: Adjective, Accusative Neuter Plural
Root: ἀληθής  
Sense: true.
λέγει  he  is  speaking 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 3rd Person Singular
Root: λέγω 
Sense: to say, to speak.
ἵνα  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ἵνα  
Sense: that, in order that, so that.
καὶ  also 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: καί  
Sense: and, also, even, indeed, but.
πιστεύητε  might  believe 
Parse: Verb, Present Subjunctive Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: πιστεύω  
Sense: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.