With the beginning of this chapter we enter upon the fourth and leading division of the Gospel, extending to the close of chap. 12. Its object is to set Jesus forth in the height of His conflict with ignorance and error and sin. More particularly, the Redeemer appears throughout it in the light in w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:1. AFTER THESE THINGS THERE WAS A FEAST OF THE JEWS; AND JESUS WENT UP TO JERUSALEM. No more is said as to the visit to Galilee than what we find in John 4:43-54. We are taken at once to the close of the visit, when Jesus went up again to Jerusalem. The occasion of His going up was the occurr... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:2. NOW THERE IS AT JERUSALEM BY THE SHEEP-POOL THE POOL WHICH IS SURNAMED IN THE HEBREW TONGUE BETHESDA, HAVING FIVE PORTICOS. The use of the present tense, _there is,_ may seem to indicate that the pool still remained after the destruction of Jerusalem; unless indeed we adopt the opinion tha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:3. IN THESE LAY A MULTITUDE OF SICK FOLK, OF BLIND, HALT, WITHERED. Under the shelter of these porticos many such were laid day after day. The general term ‘sick folk' receives its explanation afterwards as consisting of those who were blind, or lame, or whose bodies or limbs were wasted. The... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:5. AND A CERTAIN MAN WAS THERE, WHICH HAD BEEN THIRTY AND EIGHT YEARS IN HIS SICKNESS. This sufferer (apparently one of the ‘withered,' though not altogether destitute of the power of motion) had endured thirty-eight years of weakness. How long he had been wont to resort to Bethesda we cannot... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:6. JESUS SEEING HIM LYING THERE, AND PERCEIVING THAT HE HATH BEEN NOW A LONG TIME IN THAT CASE, SAITH UNTO HIM, WILT THOU BE MADE WHOLE? The first movement is altogether on the side of Jesus: comp. John 5:21 (‘whom He will'). His knowledge of the case is by direct intuition (comp. John 2:25),... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:7. THE SICK MAN ANSWERED HIM, SIR, I HAVE NO MAN, WHEN THE WATER HATH BEEN TROUBLED, TO PUT ME INTO THE POOL: BUT WHILE I AM COMING, ANOTHER STEPPETH DOWN BEFORE ME. The man does not give a direct answer to the question ‘Wilt thou?' but the answer sought is implied. He had the will, but he ha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:8. JESUS SAITH UNTO HIM, RISE, TAKE UP THY BED, AND WALK. The cure is performed in the most simple and direct manner. It is not said that Jesus laid His hands on him (Luke 13:13), or that He touched him. He speaks: the man hears the voice of the Son of God and lives (John 5:25; John 5:28-29).... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:9. And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. The result is described in words which are a simple echo of the command. Whilst they testify the power of the healing word, they also bring into view the man's ‘will' and ‘faith,' as shown in his immediate readiness t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:10. THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM THAT WAS CURED, IT IS THE SABBATH DAY, AND IT IS NOT LAWFUL FOR THEE TO TAKE UP THE BED. The Jews some of the rulers of the people (see note on John 1:19) who had not been present at the miracle met the man as he departed carrying his bed. As guardians of... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:11. BUT HE ANSWERED THEM, HE THAT MADE ME WHOLE, THE SAME SAID UNTO ME, TAKE UP THY BED, AND WALK. Whether the man knew the Rabbinical saying that a prophet's command to transgress the letter of the law was to be obeyed, save in the case of idolatry, may be doubted; but the impression made on... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:12. THEY ASKED HIM, WHO IS THE MAN WHICH SAID UNTO THEE, TAKE UP, AND WALK? The mention of the cure has no effect in leading them to suspend their judgment. It would indeed present to them a new transgression of the law; but they content themselves with passing it by, and laying stress on wha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:13. BUT HE THAT WAS HEALED WIST NOT WHO IT WAS. We need not wonder that this man, unable to move from place to place, perhaps only recently come to Jerusalem, had no previous knowledge of Jesus. FOR JESUS WITHDREW HIMSELF, A MULTITUDE BEING IN THAT PLACE. After his cure, too, he could hear n... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:14. AFTER THESE THINGS JESUS FINDETH HIM IN THE TEMPLE COURTS. Some time afterwards, probably not on the same day, the man is found in the temple courts. There is no reason to doubt that he had gone there for purposes of devotion, having recognised the Divine deliverance. Throughout the narra... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:15. THE MAN WENT AWAY, AND TOLD THE JEWS THAT IT WAS JESUS WHICH HAD MADE HIM WHOLE. The Jews asked who had commanded him _to take up his bed._ The man's reply, given as soon as he had learnt the name of his Deliverer, was that Jesus had made him whole. The careful variation in the expression... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:16. AND FOR THIS CAUSE DID THE JEWS PERSECUTE JESUS, BECAUSE HE DID THESE THINGS ON THE SABBATH DAY. The man whose cure had been the occasion of the action taken by the Jews now passes from view. For the second time Jesus and ‘the Jews' are brought face to face. He had appeared in the temple... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:17. BUT HE ANSWERED THEM, MY FATHER WORKETH UNTIL NOW: I ALSO WORK. In three different ways does our Lord rebut the charge which His foes so often brought against Him, that He broke the sabbath. At one time He showed that it was not the law but the vain tradition that He set aside (Matthew 12... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:18. FOR THIS CAUSE THEREFORE THE JEWS SOUGHT THE MORE TO KILL HIM, BECAUSE HE NOT ONLY BROKE THE SABBATH, BUT ALSO CALLED GOD HIS OWN FATHER, MAKING HIMSELF EQUAL WITH GOD. The Jews do not fail to see that the argument rested on the first words, ‘My Father.' He who could thus speak, and who j... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:19. JESUS THEREFORE ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM. We have already found Jesus replying to those who did not receive His utterance of a truth by a repeated and more emphatic declaration of the very truth which they rejected (see John 3:5). So it is here. He had been accused of blasphemy in call... [ Continue Reading ]
The performance of the miracle of healing on the sabbath had roused the active opposition of the Jews to Jesus, and that again had led to the great declaration contained in John 5:17, in which Jesus announces His equality with God. This announcement only excites the Jews to greater rage; and Jesus i... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:20. FOR THE FATHER LOVETH THE SON, AND SHEWETH HIM ALL THINGS THAT HIMSELF DOETH. The relation of the Son's acts to those of the Father has been connected with the figure of ‘seeing:' the converse is here presented, as ‘showing.' The Father ‘showeth' what Himself doeth; the Son ‘seeth.' The p... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:21. FOR EVEN AS THE FATHER RAISETH UP THE DEAD AND MAKETH TO LIVE, SO THE SON ALSO MAKETH TO LIVE WHOM HE WILL. This verse begins the explanation of the ‘greater works' which the Father ‘will show' unto the Son. In speaking of these, however, the present not the future tense is used, for some... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:22. FOR MOREOVER THE FATHER JUDGETH NO ONE, BUT HATH GIVEN ALL JUDGMENT UNTO THE SON. This verse must be taken in connection with John 5:19, ‘The Son can of Himself do nothing save what He seeth the Father doing.' By thus connecting the two verses, it becomes plain that our Lord does not asse... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:23. THAT ALL MAY HONOUR THE SON EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER. These words express the purpose of the Father in giving all judgment to the Son. They remind us of the closing words of John 5:20, which also express His purpose, but there is a significant difference between the two verses. Ther... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:24. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. The second ‘Verily, verily,' introducing the second step in the argument. HE THAT HEARETH MY WORD, AND BELIEVETH HIM THAT SENT ME, HATH ETERNAL LIFE, AND COMETH NOT INTO JUDGMENT, BUT HATH PASSED OUT OF DEATH INTO LIFE. This verse has a close connection wi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:25. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. The third ‘Verily, verily,' introducing the third step in the argument. AN HOUR COMETH, AND NOW IS, WHEN THE DEAD SHALL HEAR THE VOICE OF THE SON OF GOD: AND THEY THAT HAVE HEARD SHALL LIVE. What was said of John 5:24 applies here also; for this verse has... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:26. FOR EVEN AS THE FATHER HATH LIFE IN HIMSELF; SO GAVE HE TO THE SON ALSO TO HAVE LIFE IN HIMSELF. The dead shall hear the voice of the Son and live, for the Son hath life and can impart life. This is the connection between John 5:25-26. The Father who is the primal fountain of life gave to... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:27. AND HE GAVE HIM AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT, BECAUSE HE IS A SON OF MAN. The Son ‘maketh to live,' but He maketh to live ‘whom He will'(John 5:21), or (as we read in John 5:25), He giveth life to those who have heard His voice, and not to all. Where, then, He is not the Giver of life, H... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:28. MARVEL NOT AT THIS. Jesus has been speaking of works at which they may well marvel (John 5:20); but great as these may be, there is yet a greater. BECAUSE AN HOUR COMETH, IN THE WHICH ALL THAT ARE IN THE GRAVES SHALL HEAR HIS VOICE. That the future alone is spoken of is clear from the om... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:29. AND THEY THAT HAVE DONE GOOD SHALL GO FORTH UNTO A RESURRECTION OF LIFE; BUT THEY THAT HAVE COMMITTED EVIL UNTO A RESURRECTION OF JUDGMENT. Those who have committed evil, whose deeds have not been the abiding fruit and work of the truth, but merely the repeated manifestation of evil in it... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:30. I CAN OF MINE OWN SELF DO NOTHING: AS I HEAR, I JUDGE: AND MY JUDGMENT IS JUST. This verse is the dividing line of the discourse, belonging at once to both parts, summing up (to a certain extent) what has gone before, leading on to the new subject which occupies the remainder of the chapt... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:31. IF I BEAR WITNESS CONCERNING MYSELF, MY WITNESS IS NOT TRUE. The word ‘I' is emphatic, ‘if it is I that bear witness.' The words plainly mean ‘I and I alone,' for no one is discredited because he testifies to himself, although he is not credited if _no other_ witness appears on his behalf... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:32. IT IS ANOTHER THAT BEARETH WITNESS CONCERNING ME. Not ‘There is another,' as if He would merely cite an additional witness. He would lay the _whole_ stress of the witnessing upon this ‘other witness.' This witness is the Father, not John the Baptist, who is mentioned in the next verse onl... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:33. YE HAVE SENT UNTO JOHN, AND HE HATH BORNE WITNESS UNTO THE TRUTH. As if He said: Had I not this all-sufficient witness, were it possible for me to appeal to any human witness, I might rest on your own act. Ye yourselves have made appeal to John, and he hath borne witness to the truth (cha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:34. BUT NOT FROM A MAN DO I RECEIVE THE WITNESS. Great as was the witness of this greatest of prophets, yet John was only a man, and his witness therefore is not the real testimony to Jesus; it is a higher which is given Him, and which He receives (comp. John 5:36). Hence the definite article... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:35. HE WAS THE LAMP THAT BURNETH AND SHINETH. John's great work had been to bear witness of Jesus, to point to Him. By a sudden transition this is expressed very beautifully in a figure. As the Psalmist said of God's word that it was a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path (Psalms 119:... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:36. BUT THE WITNESS THAT I HAVE IS GREATER THAN THAT OF JOHN. Our Lord does not say ‘ 1 have greater witness than that of John,' as if He was about to specify _additional_ testimony of greater weight than the Baptist's. No, that testimony to the truth was good, was useful (John 5:33-34), but... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:37. AND THE FATHER WHICH SENT ME, HE HATH HOME WITNESS CONCERNING ME. As if Jesus said: And thus, in the abiding gift of the ‘works,' it is the Father that sent me that hath borne witness of me. ‘Hath borne witness' corresponds with ‘hath given;' each points to the continued possession of a g... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:38. AND YE HAVE NOT HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU; BECAUSE WHOM HE SENT, HIM YE BELIEVE NOT. ‘Word' here must not be understood as directly signifying the Scriptures of the Old Testament: it is rather the substance of God's whole revelation of Himself, however and wherever made. This revelation rec... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:39. YE SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. The link connecting this verse with the last is the mention of God's ‘word.' We have seen that our Lord had referred in a marked though not an exclusive manner to the Scriptures. To the Jews indeed it might seem that He intended to speak of these alone; and that... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:40. AND YE WILL NOT COME TO ME, THAT YE MAY HAVE LIFE. The Jews did search the sacred writings, to do so was their honour and their pride. Their own belief was that in possessing them they possessed eternal life; as one of their greatest teachers said, He who has gotten to himself words of th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:41. GLORY FROM MEN I RECEIVE NOT. The last nine verses have been an expansion of John 5:31; this verse goes back to the 30 th, in which Jesus first contrasts His spirit with theirs, His devotion to the Father's will with their self-seeking. The rest of the chapter is a development of this tho... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:42. BUT I KNOW YOU, THAT YE HAVE NOT THE LOVE OF GOD IN YOU. I know, that is, I have discerned you, I have read your hearts. Love to God is the foundation of the spirit of self-sacrifice, through which a man seeks not his own but the Father's will. When love to God rules, therefore, the guidi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:43. I AM COME IN MY FATHER'S NAME, AND YE RECEIVE ME NOT. Referring everything to His Father's power and presence, in everything doing His Father's will and not His own, at all times seeking His Father's glory, Jesus came ‘in His Father's name.' Because that was His spirit, they did not recei... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:44. HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, RECEIVING GLORY ONE OF ANOTHER? As in the preceding verses, the word _receive_ is to be understood as implying a desire and a ‘seeking' on their part. Such love of honour from men is altogether inconsistent with the ‘believing' of which our Lord speaks. He is not refer... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:45. DO NOT THINK THAT I WILL ACCUSE YOU TO THE FATHER: THERE IS ONE THAT ACCUSETH YOU, EVEN MOSES, IN WHOM YE HAVE PLACED YOUR HOPE. These words do not diminish, but increase the severity of our Lord's condemning words. Their objects of trust have been successively taken away. They have the S... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:46. FOR IF YE BELIEVED MOSES, YE WOULD BELIEVE ME: FOR HE WROTE CONCERNING ME. Our Lord, no doubt, refers in part to special predictions (such as that of Deuteronomy 18:15; Deuteronomy 18:18); but more especially He refers to the whole revelation contained in the books of Moses, and by parity... [ Continue Reading ]
John 5:47. BUT IF YE BELIEVE NOT HIS WRITINGS, HOW WILL YE BELIEVE MY WORDS? if however they did not truly believe the written word, which was constantly in their hands, which was the object of so much reverence, which, as written, could be studied again and again for the removal of every difficulty... [ Continue Reading ]