John 5:28-47
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Testimonies About Jesus
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. 39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[d]?
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
Footnotes
John 5:2 Some manuscripts Bethzatha; other manuscripts Bethsaida
John 5:4 Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters. 4 From time to time, an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. It would cure the first one into the pool after each such disturbance of whatever disease they had.
John 5:39 Or 39 Study
John 5:44 Some ancient manuscripts the Only One
Verses 28-30
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
Now Jesus moves on to the idea of the final resurrection. The picture is stirring. One day, the voice of Jesus will command the dead to come forth. Then some will enjoy the resurrection of life, for they are those who have previously heard His voice and have received life. Their resurrection will simply be entering more fully into that life in a new resurrection body. Others will experience the resurrection of judgment because they have never received life.
Having asserted the supreme authority and power He has received from the Father, Jesus now assured His hearers that this did not mean He was acting on His own. While it has committed all judgment to Him, He does not seek His own will, for He and the Father work in unison, and anything else is impossible. He cannot act on His own. The unity of the Godhead is too close. There is a divine exchange, and as He judges, He is always aware of what the Father says and has in mind the Father’s will. His judgment is just because it is the judgment of God.
Verses 31-32 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true. 32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.
Jesus did not mean that His witness was not faithful simply because it was His own. He acknowledged that self-testimony was worthless by the Jews from a judicial point of view. This was the firmly held Jewish viewpoint based on the Scriptures. He is therefore stressing that He does not expect them to rely on such self-testimony. Instead, others testify of Him. It shows what the response of men will be. Men will say that ‘truth’ judicially can only be established by more than one witness.
He does not need to bear witness concerning Himself because there is Another Who bears witness to Him, Someone Whose witness is undoubted. As He will show later, God bears witness to Him, indeed has already borne witness to Him through the miracle of the lame man. This is the testimony that counts. But before this, He will point to an earthly witness.
Verses 33-35 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
33 “You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved. 35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you enjoyed his light for a time.
That earthly witness is John the Baptist. John, with his message of the imminence of the work of God, had received some acceptance for a while, even among many Jewish leaders, for they too were looking for God to work, although, of course, they were confident that whoever came would work with and through them. Many of them had rejoiced in his light. Well, they should recognize that John, highly regarded by so many, bore testimony to Him and revealed the truth about Him.
They had accepted John as a shining lamp, a revealer of truth, although he was only a kindled lamp compared to the One Who, the permanent and original light of the world. Then let them accept his testimony about Jesus. But they must understand.
He was only saying this so that they might listen and be saved from their present darkness. He did not need the testimony of men. He has a greater witness than John.
Verses 36-38 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, 38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.
His Father has provided Him with many witnesses. Every miracle He does bears testimony to Him, demonstrating that His Father is with Him. All to whom He speaks are witnesses to the signs and miracles He has done, the effectiveness of His words, the authority that He has revealed, and His power over evil spirits. His life was a constant source of such things, and these very things bear witness that His Father is with Him. As Nicodemus had testified, ‘no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him‘ (John 3:2). His very works prove He is from the Father.
Others had done miracles in the past, but none had done so on a vast scale and with His completeness. Nor had they, like Him, constantly openly faced the world of evil spirits and defeated it. He performed miracles when and where He would, and they could not point to a case of one who had come for healing and had gone away unhealed or of an evil spirit that had refused to obey His command. He was a constant revelation of the Father’s power.
The Father had Himself borne witness to Jesus. He had done it through the voice at His baptism (Mark 1:11). He had done it through His Spirit continually testifying to men’s hearts that Jesus was from God, for ‘he who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself‘ (1 John 5:10). And He has also spoken of Jesus through their very Scriptures. He also witnesses to Him through the works of power that Jesus does. But they will not hear the testimony because their hearts are hardened.
Jesus may well rather have had in mind here by His reference to the Scriptures, all the Old Testament promises concerning the coming David, the coming Servant of God found there, especially as propounded in Isaiah 9:6.’ 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. The government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ In the Scriptures, there was a constant testimony to the One Who was coming and what He would do under God’s hand.
Here Jesus is contrasting his listeners with Moses, whom both heard God’s voice and saw His form (although not seeing Him in the fullness of His being). God had borne witness to Jesus through Moses, and if only they would hear Moses and the Prophets, then they would believe Him, for both spoke of Him. These are God’s witnesses.
Verses 39-40 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
39 You study[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
The Scribes and Pharisees believed that by meditation in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, they could obtain eternal life as those who proved that they were within the covenant and claimed to represent Moses. But, says Jesus, how far from being like Moses they were. Let them consider this. Moses heard the voice of God, and Moses saw the form of God, proving his supreme prophetic status. They should carefully listen to Moses, for they have neither heard the Father’s voice nor seen His form.
They search the Scriptures, believing that meditation in them will bring them eternal life. For example, in the Rabbinic tractate Pirqe Aboth (“The Sayings of the Fathers”), it says, “He who has gained the words of the Law has acquired for himself the life of the world to come.” (Pirqe Aboth) and “Great is the Law for it gives to those who practice it live in this world and in the world to come.” (Pirqe Aboth). These illustrate the things they said and believed.
Yet, Jesus points out that these very Scriptures bear testimony to Him. So with all their confidence in the Scriptures, they do not listen to their testimony and that their search is in vain, for they refuse to come to Him for the life they seek. The word ‘refuse’ suggests more than just a lack of understanding. They do not go because they do not want to listen. The voice is speaking within, but their hearts are hardened.
Verses 41-44 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
41 “I do not accept glory from human beings, 42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe since you get glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God[d]?
Jesus now contrasts Himself with the Jewish leaders. They constantly look for the praise of men (John 5:44). In contrast, He does not seek such recognition. Unlike these leaders of the Jews who seek glory from one another, He does not seek praise as a man or from men. He wants men’s eyes to be turned by God to praise only God. That is central to His purpose in coming, to turn men’s eyes on God so that they might praise Him.
He wants only praise from God. From His point of view, that is His only concern. Praise from men is unimportant to Him.
By refusing to hear Him, they revealed that they neither loved God nor had His love in their hearts. If they truly loved God, they would have recognized Him for what He was and received Him, for He came in the Father’s name, seeking only glory. Their failure to reach shows that their love for God is feigned. Instead, they love themselves, carefully work out religion, and those seeking their glory.
The supreme irony is that when men come in their name claiming great things for themselves, they will receive them. The day would soon come when they would follow different persons and follow them to disaster, both before the final destruction of Jerusalem and after (Acts 5:36 – 37 36 Some time ago, Theudas appeared, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men rallied to him. He was killed, all his
Followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. 37 – After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band of people in revolt. He, too, was killed, and all his followers were scattered.) They would follow different leaders to destruction. Then they would rise against the Romans and see Jerusalem destroyed (66-70 AD). Then they would see the ‘star of David’ in Bar Kochba (132-136 AD), resulting in the further destruction of Jerusalem. That would be because they did not seek God’s interests, but their claims they would convince themselves were God’s. They would not follow such leaders if they knew God’s ways.
He then questions how they can believe when their primary concern is not the praise and glory of God but their praise and glory. If men are to know the truth, they must be wholehearted in their search for it. These men longed for their fellowmen’s praise, so they lived and believed accordingly. If they had sought honor from the central source, ‘the only God,’ they would have known the truth about Him. The phrase stresses they boasted of their belief in the one and only God and yet looked elsewhere for their praise. They looked to men. They were double-minded. It is they who were living independently of God, not Jesus. They were so eager to get men to live following their ideas that they did not have time to contemplate God and recognize that some of their ideas were wrong. (The signs passed them by, i.e., the healing of the lame man).
Verses 45-47 Book of John 5:28-47 Exegesis Cont.
45 “But do not think I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom your hopes are set. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But since you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
Let them not think that He would act as their accuser. It was unnecessary. Moses himself accused them, the Moses on whom they had set their hope. They should note that when they face God at the final judgment, it is Moses who will be their accuser, the very one whom they have exalted and relied on, and it will be because they have refused to listen to his testimony to Jesus. Their failure to believe in Jesus is very much a failure to think of the very writings of Moses, which they revered and meditated constantly. Had they believed Moses, they would have recognized in Jesus, from the same purity and impact of His words, the ‘prophet like unto Moses‘ of whom God said, ‘I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command them‘ (Deuteronomy 18:18)
The Bar Kochba Revolt
The Bar Kokhba,or the ‘Jewish Expedition’ as the Romans named it, was a rebellion by the Jews of the Roman province of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire. Fought circa 132–136 CE, it was the last of three major Jewish–Roman wars.
The revolt erupted because of religious and political tensions in Judea following the failed First Revolt in 66–73 CE. They related these tensions to establishing a significant Roman military presence in Judea, changes in administrative life and the economy, and the outbreak and suppression of Jewish revolts from Mesopotamia to Libya and Cyrenaica. The proximate reasons seem to be the construction of a new city, Aelia Capitolina, over the ruins of Jerusalem and the erection of a temple to Jupiter on the Temple Mount. The Church Fathers and Rabbinic literature emphasizes the role of Rufus, governor of Judea, in provoking the revolt.
In 132, the revolt led by Bar Kokhba quickly spread from central Judea across the province, cutting off the Roman garrison in Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Quintus Tineius Rufus, the provincial governor at the erupting uprising, was attributed to failing to subdue its early phase. Rufus is last recorded in 132 AD, the first year of the rebellion; whether he died or was replaced is uncertain. Despite significant Roman reinforcements from Syria, Egypt, and Arabia, initial rebel victories over the Romans established an independent state over most parts of Judaea Province for over three years, as Simon bar Kokhba took the title of Nasi (“head of state”). As well as leading the revolt, many Jews regarded him as the Messiah who would restore their national independence.
This setback, however, caused Emperor Hadrian to assemble a large-scale Roman force from across the Empire, which invaded Judea in 134 under the command of General Sextus Julius Severus. The Roman army comprised six entire legions with auxiliaries and elements from up to six other legions finally crushed the revolt.
The Bar Kokhba revolt resulted in the extensive depopulation of Judean communities, more so than during the First Jewish–Roman War of 70 AD. According to Cassius Dio, 580,000 Jews perished in the war, many more died of hunger and disease, and 50 fortresses and 985 villages were destroyed. In addition, they sold many Judean war captives into slavery. It devastated the Jewish communities of Judea if some scholars describe as genocide. Despite easing the persecution of Jews following Hadrian’s death in 138 AD, the Romans barred Jews from Jerusalem, except for attendance in Tisha B’Av (an annual fast day in Judaism, on which some disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon’s Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem.).
The Bar Kokhba revolt influenced the course of Jewish history and the philosophy of the Jewish religion. The Talmud, for instance, refers to Bar Kokhba as “Ben-Kusiba,” a derogatory term meaning “son of deception,” used to show that he was a false Messiah. It was also among the key events to differentiate Christianity as a religion distinct from Judaism. Although Jewish Christians regarded Jesus as the Messiah and did not support Bar Kokhba, they were barred from Jerusalem, along with the other Jews.
see also: Commentary on John
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