³⁰ I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me. ³¹ “If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true. ³² There is another who bears witness of Me, and I know that the witness which He witnesses of Me is true. ³³ You have sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴ Yet I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.³⁵ He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.

Answer:
Let’s first have a look at the word meaning of ‘witness’ from different sources
Dictionary Meaning
Witness (noun) means ‘a person who sees an event, typically a crime or accident, take place’ or an ‘evidence/proof/testimony’. Witness (verb) means to see (an event, typically a crime or accident) happen OR to have knowledge of (a development) from observation or experience.
From original texts
The Greek word used in this passage is martureō which means to be a witness, that is, testify (literally or figuratively): – charge, give [evidence], bear record, have (obtain, of) good (honest) report, be well reported of, testify, give (have) testimony, (be, bear, give, obtain) witness.
This term ‘witness’ is often used in a courtroom setting. In a court proceeding, a witness may be called (requested to testify) by either the prosecution or the defense.
There are various forms of witness
A percipient witness or eyewitness is one who testifies what they perceived through his or her senses (e.g.: seeing, hearing, smelling, touching). A hearsay witness is one who testifies what someone else said or wrote. An expert witness is one who allegedly has specialized knowledge relevant to the matter of interest. Example: A doctor. A reputation witness is one who testifies about the reputation of a person or business entity, when reputation is material to the dispute at issue.

A witness is someone who has, who claims to have, or is thought, by someone with authority to compel testimony, to have knowledge relevant to an event or other matter of interest.

Now, let’s come to the point which Jesus said.

If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true

Which means, usually a witness bears record of another person. If a witness bears witness about Himself, his witness is not true. The question here is: Why then Jesus witnesses about Himself?
Hope you got the question!
Let us explore three reasons on how the self-witness of Jesus becomes true.

Firstly, even if Jesus bears witness of Himself, His witness is TRUE.

Because Jesus said so!

¹⁴ Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.

Jesus cannot tell lies, so we can trust His own witness about Himself

Secondly, Jesus witnesses what He has seen and heard FIRST HAND

Only Jesus has the true-knowledge of the great God
If Jesus remains silent about His identity, we will never come to know about Him. If Jesus remains silent about God the Father, no man will ever know about the Father, because no one has seen the Father God in His all fulness of glory. No man has ever heard the voice of God in its full majesty. Only Jesus has seen God in His all fullness, because Jesus came from the Father. Therefore Jesus is the only source of the true first-hand witness of God, the Father.
Hence, the witness of Jesus is 100% TRUTH.

 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him John 1: 18
Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. John 6: 46

Have you ever doubted God? Ask Jesus. He will truly reveal who God is, and His witness is true. Have you ever doubted the identity of Christ. Search the scriptures, there are numerous witnesses about Jesus, from the Father, prophets etc. You can trust the scriptures and believe in Jesus, the Son of God.

Thirdly, Jesus witness about Himself so that we can be saved

but I say these things that you may be saved John 5: 34

Jesus says/reveals all these things, so that we may be saved through His witness. Yes, that’s the ultimate goal of witnesses in the Bible.
Now, what is your role and mine? It is to witness what we have heard/seen/observed/experienced FIRST HAND from Jesus Christ. God is not asking anything more. He simply asks us to testify what we have seen.
That’s what John also does

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— ² the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— ³ that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (I John 1)

For more reading….

7 Scriptural Witnesses (from Book of John)

1. John the Baptist about Christ John 1: 34
2. The Works of Christ John 5: 36
3. The Father about Christ John 5: 37
4. The Old Testament John 5: 39
5. Jesus Christ about Himself John 8: 14
6. The Holy Spirit about Christ John 15: 26
7. The believers John 15: 27

Has anyone ever seen God?
The Bible tells us that no one has ever seen God (John 1:18) except the Lord Jesus Christ. In Exodus 33:20, God declares, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14) so when people saw Him, they were seeing God. In our fallen human condition, if God were to fully reveal Himself to us, we would be consumed and destroyed. Therefore, God veils Himself and appears in forms in which we can “see” Him. However, this is different than seeing God with all His glory and holiness displayed. People have seen visions of God, images of God, and appearances of God, but no one has ever seen God in all His fullness (Exodus 33:20).
Is Jesus truly God Himself? (2 min video in English and Malayalam)

_Reference:

• _{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witness}
• _{https://www.gotquestions.org/seen-God.html}
• _{e-sword application}

The actual meaning of Church

In school, we are taught that Church is a building used for public Christian worship. But when I explored the Bible, I got to know that the word Church has nothing to do with a building or a place of worship. Instead,

Church refers to the group of people, chosen by Jesus Christ Himself, to follow Him

The global church comprises of all chosen people, across the globe, which also includes the first set of chosen disciples often called as the Apostles. The local church comprises of a gathering of chosen disciples at a particular location. Both are headed under the leadership of Jesus Christ.
In this teaching series, we would explore more on this. You would be surprised to know that this word Church has nothing to do with even religion or denomination or a ministry. It is entirely a new concept, which was introduced by Jesus Christ Himself. We will analyse more on the context, meaning and application of this term in Bible.

To get started: Here is a one hour video teaching on CHURCH

This is a sermon which I preached in a local church at Malaysia, regarding the Definition of Church.
Since there were Malayalam as well as English audience, I had to go for translation to Malayalam. In order to save time, instead of a word-by-word interpretation by another person, I had tried to summarize each point in English as well as Malayalam by myself. You can watch it here

FIRST STEP: Delete the old concepts

In order for us to truly understand what Jesus exactly meant by this term, we need to do some mental exercise. It is nothing but to erase all the wrong concepts about Church, taught by school teachers, church fathers, Bible scholars, parents and friends. You might think – how could they be wrong? They may be right to some extent, but may not be in 100% agreement with the Bible. But the Holy Spirit can teach the Word of God in it 100% accuracy!

SECONDLY: Do not dare to modify the scriptures to suit your own concepts!

Most of the so-called teachers tend to modify the terms in the Bible, to suit their own traditions, which has caused serious confusions in Christendom. Best example are the Pharisees of those days.
Jesus asked them

And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? Matt 15:2
Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. Matt 15: 6

This is what Jesus told about the teachings of Pharisees

7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”  Matt 15: 7,8,9

Pharisees were experts in breaking the commandment of God and nullifying the Word of God for the sake of their traditions. Therefore Jesus strictly commanded us to search the scriptures and learn for ourselves what it truly meant, else we would easily be drifted away

You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me. John 5:39
Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power” Matt 22:29

THIRDLY: Let me introduce the TEACHER

Holy Spirit is our Teacher. Therefore, I urge you – Study the scriptures directly from the Holy Spirit. (You can use the other resources as an aid) People may nullify the Word of God by teaching you mere human rules and regulations. Don’t be deceived! Search and study the scriptures diligently. Then you will know the Scriptures and the power of God, which will help you to walk in the right path and to lead others as well to the truth.

FINALLY: Learn like a child

My goal and desire is to help my friends to explore the Bible by themselves, with the help of God’s Holy Spirit, and to help them find the original truths defined in the Scriptures. Erasing off the old concepts and prejudice are very much essential for learning the scriptures in its purest form. Like a small child, let us humble ourselves, empty our minds and come to the feet of Jesus to truly learn the word of God. Then He will teach us the truth from scratch.

Upcoming topics

This may be a continuous teaching series. I will tag all the posts related to this subject as category named CHURCH, so that you can selectively read. It might include subtopics like

• Are all churches the same? Are all denominations the same?
• What exactly is a church?
• Who is the Head of the Church?
• Who established the church?
• What is my part in the church?
• How often should I attend church and Why?
• Who is the leader of a church? Pastor or Apostle or Elder or Father?
• Can we address the pastor of a church as ‘father’?
• What are the qualities required in a pastor?
• Can a pastor marry, re-marry, or divorce?
• Can I attend more than one church?
• What about tithes and offerings? How much and how often?
• What do I do if I don’t find a church in my locality?
• What if I don’t like my church?
• How does biblical Church Leadership look like?
• How do I know which church I should attend?
• What should I do if I find my church not following the Christian pattern?
• How to handle the issues in my church?
• I would like to preach/teach/sing etc, but what if I don’t get an opportunity?
• How do I identify false preachers/teachers?
• And many more…

Stay tuned!

I have 3 requests

1. I would request you to invite your friends to join this series. You can subscribe here to get the posts via mail.
2. I would request you to actively participate in the discussions, so that we can also learn from each other and we can explore the subject together.
3. Post your queries here or in the comment section below

Trusting in the Holy Spirit to help us in this journey.