John 3:13, the Son of man which is in heaven

[Christian2]

John 3:

12If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?

13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.

14And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: (KJV)

John 3:

12I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. 14Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, (NIV)

I've looked at several translations and it seems some include the phrase — "which is in heaven" and some do not.

We know Jesus is the Son of man, but it looks like the translations which include "which is in heaven" are leaving the impression that there are two Son's of man — one who came down from heaven and one who is still in heaven.

Which translation supports the Greek manuscripts?

If some manuscripts include the phrase — "which is in heaven" -- exactly what does it mean?

Thank you.

[cslewislover]

I like what MacDonald writes in his commentary (Believer's Bible Commentary) about this (3:13), which answers your concerns, so I'll post it all:

"Only one person was qualified to speak about heavenly things, since He was the only One who was in heaven. The Lord Jesus was not merely a human teacher sent from God, but he was One who lived with God the Father from all eternity, and came down into the world. When He said that no one has ascended to heaven, he did not mean that OT saints such as Enoch and Elijah had not gone up to heaven, but that they had been taken up whereas He ascended to heaven by His own power. Another explanation is that no human being had access to the presence of God continually in the way which He had. He could ascend to God's dwelling place in a unique way because He had descended out of heaven to this earth. Even as the Lord Jesus stood on earth, speaking with Nicodemus, He said that He was in heaven. How could this be? Here is a statement of the fact that, as God, the Lord was in all places at one and the same time. This is what we mean when we say that He is omnipresent. While some modern translations omit the words who is in heaven, they are widely supported in the manuscripts and belong to the text" (p 1479).

[Christian2]

I like what MacDonald writes in his commentary (Believer's Bible Commentary) about this (3:13), which answers your concerns, so I'll post it all:

"Only one person was qualified to speak about heavenly things, since He was the only One who was in heaven. The Lord Jesus was not merely a human teacher sent from God, but he was One who lived with God the Father from all eternity, and came down into the world. When He said that no one has ascended to heaven, he did not mean that OT saints such as Enoch and Elijah had not gone up to heaven, but that they had been taken up whereas He ascended to heaven by His own power. Another explanation is that no human being had access to the presence of God continually in the way which He had. He could ascend to God's dwelling place in a unique way because He had descended out of heaven to this earth. Even as the Lord Jesus stood on earth, speaking with Nicodemus, He said that He was in heaven. How could this be? Here is a statement of the fact that, as God, the Lord was in all places at one and the same time. This is what we mean when we say that He is omnipresent. While some modern translations omit the words who is in heaven, they are widely supported in the manuscripts and belong to the text" (p 1479).

Thank you for your input.

I read recently that the shorter and the longer versions are supported by some manuscripts, but the longer reading is considered a "gloss" and that the shorter ending is preferred.