5:39-47 The Scriptures testify about Jesus

February 27, 2021

Read John 5:39-47

A further witness to the truth of Jesus was the Jewish Scriptures. Though them, God had revealed himself and the Jews studied those Scriptures diligently (39). Yet eternal life does not come from studying the Scriptures, but from believing in the one to whom those Scriptures point. That one was now present among them (1:14) but they did not recognise him (1:11), though they could have done so if they had been willing (40). Their refusal to believe in Jesus meant that they missed the very life which they looked for through their Bible study.

Most of the Jews rejected these various witnesses to Jesus (5:33,36,39) because their attitude was fundamentally opposite to his. Everything Jesus did was motivated only by love for God and a desire to please him (5:30), not to receive “glory from human beings” (41). In contrast, the religion of these Jewish leaders was self-serving and based on pleasing themselves – “you do not have the love of God in your hearts” (42). So they welcomed like-minded people but not Jesus who came “in the Father’s name” (43), with real love for God as seen by him seeking glory only from God (44).

Because of these witnesses they are without excuse, as they will discover on the day of judgement when Moses himself will accuse them (45). This was an astonishing statement, for they venerated Moses as the great lawgiver whom they followed devoutly. But Moses too is a witness to Jesus (46; Deut.18:18; Luke 24:27,44; Acts 26:22). The law of Moses could not give salvation, but it revealed the need for a Saviour. So to reject Jesus, the Saviour, is also to reject Moses. If the Jews could not even believe Moses, whom they claimed to honour, it was not surprising that they did not believe Jesus (47).