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John 5

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Jesus Heals a Man at Bethesda 1–9

1
After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ​
2
Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgatea pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. ​
3
In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered.
4
Not present in the manuscripts this translation follows.
5
And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. ​
6
When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole?
7
The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.
8
Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. ​
9
And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the sabbath on that day. ​

Controversy Over the Sabbath 10–16

10
So the Jews said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. ​
11
But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.
12
They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?
13
But he that was healed knew not who it was; for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place.
14
Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee. ​
15
The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.
16
And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath. ​

Jesus Claims Equality with God 17–30

17
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. ​
18
For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. ​
19
Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. ​
20
For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel.
21
For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. ​
22
For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; ​
23
that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him.
24
Verily, verily, I say unto you, 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. ​
25
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. ​
26
For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself:
27
and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. ​
28
Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, ​
29
and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. ​
30
I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

The Five Witnesses to Jesus 31–47

31
If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. ​
32
It is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
33
Ye have sent unto John, and he hath borne witness unto the truth. ​
34
But the witness which I receive is not from man: howbeit I say these things, that ye may be saved.
35
He was the lamp that burneth and shineth; and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light.
36
But the witness which I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. ​
37
And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. ​
38
And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not.
39
Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; ​
40
and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life. ​
41
I receive not glory from men.
42
But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves.
43
I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
44
How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not? ​
45
Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. ​
46
For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. ​
47
But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for John 5

Verse 1

a feast of the Jews — The feast is not named (heorte, a festival). The law required every male to appear before the LORD 'three times in a year' (Deut 16:16), and Jesus had gone up for the passover earlier (John 2:13). 'Went up' (anabaino) is the usual verb for the climb to Jerusalem.

Verse 2

Bethesda — The name is given 'in the Hebrew tongue' (Hebraisti) and means house of kindness, or mercy. The 'sheep market' is the adjective probatikos, 'of sheep', with 'gate' understood; the Sheep Gate is named in Neh 3:1. 'Porches' (stoa) are colonnades, five of them.

Verse 4

troubled the water — Tarasso, to stir or agitate, the verb the man uses in v.7, 'when the water is troubled'. The cure came 'at a certain season' (kairos, an appointed time) and went to 'whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in', which explains his complaint in v.7 that 'another steppeth down before me'.

Verse 5

thirty and eight years — The length is given for the man's 'infirmity' (astheneia, weakness). Israel's journey from Kadesh-barnea to the brook Zered also lasted 'thirty and eight years' (Deut 2:14), though John draws no link. The woman in Luke 13:16 had been bound eighteen years.

Verse 8

Rise, take up thy bed, and walk — There are three commands, the first two matching those given to the paralytic in Mark 2:11 ('Arise, and take up thy bed'). The 'bed' (krabbatos) is a mattress or mat. Carrying it proved the cure was real, and it set up the charge in v.10.

Verse 9

on the same day was the sabbath — Eutheos, 'immediately', which means there was no recovery period before he 'took up his bed, and walked'. John adds the sabbath after the cure, as he does in John 9:14 for the blind man. The command of Jer 17:22, 'Neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day', lies behind the objection.

Verse 10

it is not lawful — Exesti, the word of the sabbath disputes in Mark 2:24 and Luke 6:2: 'that which is not lawful'. The accusers cite the sabbath burden-bearing rule (Jer 17:21–22; Neh 13:15), not the healing itself. The man's reply in v.11 puts the question on the authority of the one who made him whole.

Verse 14

sin no more — Hamartano, to miss the mark, with meketi, no longer. Jesus finds him 'in the temple' (hieron, the whole sacred precinct) and uses the same words he spoke to the woman in John 8:11, 'go, and sin no more'. The 'worse thing' (cheiron) is left unnamed.

Verse 16

sought to slay him — Dioko, to pursue or persecute, with apokteino, to kill outright. Saul later heard the same Lord say, 'why persecutest thou me?' (Acts 9:4). John states the cause as 'these things on the sabbath day', and in v.18 adds a second, graver reason.

Verse 17

My Father worketh hitherto — God 'rested on the seventh day from all his work' (Gen 2:2), yet keeps upholding all things (Heb 1:3). Jesus does not say 'our Father' but 'My Father', and joins his own work to the Father's with 'and I work' (ergazomai, used of both).

Verse 18

making himself equal with God — Isos, equal. John reports this as the hearers' understanding of 'my Father': he 'said also that God was his Father' (idios, his own, in a unique sense). The charge returns in John 10:33, 'thou, being a man, makest thyself God', and Paul uses the same word in Phil 2:6.

Verse 19

The Son can do nothing of himself — The saying is introduced by amen, amen, 'verily, verily'. The Son does not act apart from the Father, for 'what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise'. The statement is repeated in v.30 and in John 8:28; 14:10, where the Father who dwells in him 'doeth the works'.

Verse 21

quickeneth — Zoopoieo, to make alive. Raising the dead is the LORD's own act: 'I kill, and I make alive' (Deut 32:39). Here the Son does the same, and 'whom he will' states his own choice. He shows it by calling Lazarus out of the grave (John 11:43–44).

Verse 22

all judgment unto the Son — Krisis is the word rendered 'condemnation' and 'damnation' in vv.24, 29. Paul preaches that God 'will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained' (Acts 17:31). The purpose follows in v.23: that all should honour the Son.

Verse 24

is passed from death unto life — Metabaino, to cross over, in the perfect tense, which marks a change of place already made. The believer 'shall not come into condemnation' (krisis, the 'judgment' of v.22), echoing John 3:18, 'He that believeth on him is not condemned'. The life is already held ('hath').

Verse 25

The hour is coming, and now is — The same phrase is used of true worship in John 4:23. 'The dead' who 'shall hear the voice of the Son of God' are those 'dead in sins' whom God 'hath quickened' (Eph 2:5). The hour of the bodily resurrection is spoken of separately in v.28.

Verse 27

authority to execute judgment — Exousia, the right to act. The Son of man in Daniel's vision receives 'dominion, and glory, and a kingdom' (Dan 7:14). The words 'because he is the Son of man' connect judging with his sharing human nature: a man will judge men (Acts 17:31).

Verse 28

all that are in the graves — Mnemeion is a tomb or memorial. In v.25 'the dead' hear and live now; here the hour is future, and it covers 'all' in the tombs, not only believers. Daniel had said that 'many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake' (Dan 12:2).

Verse 29

the resurrection of life… the resurrection of damnation — Daniel speaks of the same division, 'some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt' (Dan 12:2). 'Damnation' translates krisis, judgment, the word of v.22. The good are 'done' (poieo); the evil are 'practised' (prasso).

Verse 31

my witness is not true — Jesus says this in terms of the law's rule that 'the testimony of two men is true' (John 8:17). Jesus does not mean he is a liar: in John 8:14 he says, 'Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true'. He supplies the second witness in vv.32–47.

Verse 33

Ye sent unto John — 'The Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem' to ask John, 'Who art thou?' (John 1:19). Jesus recalls that embassy. John 'bare witness unto the truth' (aletheia) when he said, 'Behold the Lamb of God' (John 1:29).

Verse 36

the works which the Father hath given me — Erga, works, 'to finish' (teleioo, bring to completion). Jesus speaks the same way in John 17:4, 'I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do'. He appeals to the works again in John 10:25, 38: 'believe the works'.

Verse 37

the Father himself… hath borne witness — The Father spoke from heaven at the baptism: 'This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased' (Matt 3:17). 'Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape' (eidos, form) is said of these hearers, and agrees with 'No man hath seen God at any time' (John 1:18).

Verse 39

Search the scriptures — Ereunao is to investigate closely. The hearers 'think' (dokeo) the Scriptures themselves give life, but the Scriptures 'testify of me'. After the resurrection Jesus 'expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself' (Luke 24:27).

Verse 40

ye will not come to me — Thelo, to will: the refusal is one of will, not ignorance. The same refusal is charged against Jerusalem: 'ye would not' (Matt 23:37). The invitation stands, 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink' (John 7:37), and the life is the 'life' of v.39.

Verse 44

honour one of another — Doxa, glory, the word of 'honour' in v.41, where Jesus says he receives none from men. Seeking praise from one another makes belief impossible, because belief looks to 'the honour that cometh from God only'. John says of some rulers, 'they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God' (John 12:43).

Verse 45

one that accuseth you, even Moses — Kategoreo, to bring a charge. The Son has been given judgment (v.22), yet it is Moses 'in whom ye trust' (elpizo, to hope) who is named as accuser. The hope they put in Moses' writings is the ground of the charge, since those writings point to Jesus (v.46).

Verse 46

for he wrote of me — The LORD promised to raise up 'a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me' (Deut 18:15), and Philip says, 'We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write' (John 1:45). Jesus himself began 'at Moses and all the prophets' (Luke 24:27).