John 5:44

“How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another? etc.] As the Scribes and Pharisees did, who were ambitious of honour and respect from one another, as well as from the common people; doing all they did to be seen of men, and to gain applause among them: choosing the uppermost rooms at feasts, and chief places in the synagogues, and delighting in the pompous title of Rabbi, Rabbi; and were in expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, when they hoped to be advanced to places of great honour and profit; and all this was an hinderance to them from believing in Christ, who appeared in such an abject form, and made so mean a figure; whose doctrine was so unsuitable to their…”

“How can ye believe, &c.--(See on Joh 5:40-41). The "will not" of Joh 5:40, and "cannot" here are just different features of the same awful state of the human heart.”

“Which receive honour one of another - Who are studious of praise, and live for pride, ambition, and vainglory. This desire, Jesus says, was the great reason why they would not believe on him. They were unwilling to renounce their worldly honors, and become the followers of one so humble and unostentatious as he was. They expected a Messiah of pomp and splendor, and would not submit to one so despised and of so lowly a rank. Had the Messiah come, as they expected, with pomp and power, it would have been an honor, in their view, to follow him; as it was, they despised and rejected him. The great reason why multitudes do not believe is their attachment to human honors, or their pride, and…”

“While ye receive honour - That is, while ye seek the praise of men rather than the praise of God. At the feast of pentecost, kept in commemoration of the giving the law from Mount Sinai, their sermons used to be full of the praises of the law, and of the people to whom it was given. How mortifying then must the following words of our Lord be to them, while they were thus exulting in Moses and his law! John 5:45”

“5:44 The Jewish leaders pursued honor and prestige from each other. They loved religious life, but they had forgotten to love God. This hypocrisy made them liable to judgment (5:45-46).”

“can: Joh 3:20, Joh 8:43, Joh 12:43; Jer 13:23; Rom 8:7, Rom 8:8; Heb 3:12 which: Mat 23:5; Gal 5:19-21; Phi 2:3 and: Sa1 2:30; Ch2 6:8; Mat 25:21-23; Luk 19:17; Rom 2:7, Rom 2:10, Rom 2:29; Co1 4:5; Co2 10:18; Jam 2:1; Pe1 1:7 John 5:45”