The Son of Man
John 3:13
The purpose of this verse is to emphasize the heavenly origin of the Son of Man. John is the only one of the Gospel writers to emphasize this truth; it is basic to his theology. What gives the Son of Man his authority is his heavenly origin. The Son of Man … came down from heaven to tell men on earth about the things of heaven (verse 12). That is, the coming of the Son of Man is an act of divine revelation. But more than revelation is involved, as can be seen from the following verses—it is also an act of self-giving which leads to the death of the Son of Man.
Some scholars maintain that the verb has gone up refers to the Son of Man, and so implies that he had already ascended to heaven at the time these words were written. That is, they assume that this verse contains John’s comments about the Son of Man and that it reflects the post-resurrection theology of John, rather than the words of Jesus. It is thus one way of explaining the use of the perfect tense (has gone up).
However, the statement no one has ever gone up to heaven is possibly intended merely to deny that up to that time anyone had gone up to heaven to learn about the things of heaven. If this is the meaning, no reference to the ascension of the Son of Man is intended. Moreover, just as the first half of the verse denies that anyone else knows about the things of heaven, so the second half affirms that only the Son of Man has knowledge about those things, because his origin is in heaven. It is possible that the verse is intended to carry this meaning. However, in John’s Gospel the verb tenses are not always those one would expect, and it may be that the perfect tense here does not imply that the Son of Man has already ascended to heaven. For example, in 4:38 the past tense is used (TEV have sent) of an action which Jesus has not yet done, according to the time sequence of the Gospel. For translation it is suggested that the equivalent of a perfect tense (or even of a simple past tense) be used for has gone up, without the implication of “has gone up and is now there.”
Newman, Barclay Moon, and Eugene Albert Nida. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. New York: United Bible Societies, 1993. Print. UBS Handbook Series.
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