John 5:16

Ver. 16. “ For this cause did the Jews persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath day. ”

Διὰ τοῦτο (for this cause), resumes what precedes, and, at the same time, is explained by the phrase which closes the verse: because...The word διώκειν (persecute), indicates the seeking of the means to injure. In favor of the authenticity of the following words in the T. R.: and they sought to kill him, the μᾶλλον (yet more), of John 5:18, can be alleged. But it is still more probable that it is these words in John 5:18 which have occasioned this interpolation. The imperfect ἐποίει (He did), malignantly expresses the idea that the violation of the Sabbath has henceforth passed with Him into a rule: He is accustomed to do it. This idea is entirely lost in the inaccurate translation of Ostervald and of Rilliet: “because He had done this. ” The plural ταῦτα (these things), refers to the double violation of the Sabbath, the healing and the bearing of the burden.

Let us notice here two analogies between John and the Synoptics: 1. In the latter also, Jesus is often obliged to perform His miracles as it were by stealth, and even to impose silence on those whom He has healed. 2. It is on occasion of the Sabbatic healings wrought in Galilee, that, according to them also, the conflict breaks out (Luke 6:1-11).