1._There was a feast of the Jews. _Though the Evangelist does not expressly state what_feast _this was, yet the probable conjecture is that he means Pentecost, at least if what is here related took place immediately after that Christ came into Galilee. For immediately after the Passover he set out f... [ Continue Reading ]
2._There was in Jerusalem, at the sheep-market, a pool. _The circumstance of the place is added, from which we learn that the miracle was not concealed or known to a few persons only; for the _five porches _show that the place was celebrated for the great number of persons who resorted to it, and th... [ Continue Reading ]
3._In these lay a great multitude. _It is possible that diseased persons lay in the porches to ask alms when the people were passing there who were going into the temple to worship; and there, too, it was customary to purchase the beasts which were to be offered in sacrifice. Yet at each feast God c... [ Continue Reading ]
4._For an angel went down. _It was, no doubt, a work peculiar to God to cure the sick; but, as He was accustomed to employ the ministration and agency of _angels, _so He commanded _an angel _to perform this duty. For this reason the _angels _are called _principalities _or _powers_, (Colossians 1:16;... [ Continue Reading ]
5._And there was a man there. _The Evangelist collects various circumstances, which prove that the miracle may be relied on as certain. The long duration of the disease had taken away all hope of its being cured. This man complains that he is deprived of the remedy of the water. He had frequently at... [ Continue Reading ]
6._Wilt thou be made whole? _He does not inquire about it, as if it were a doubtful matter, but partly in order to kindle in the man a desire of the favor which was offered to him, and partly to quicken the attention of the witnesses who were present, and who, if they had been thinking of something... [ Continue Reading ]
7._I have no man. _This diseased man does what almost all of us are wont to do; for he limits the assistance of God according to his own thought, and does not venture to promise to himself any thing more than he conceives in his mind. Christ forgives his weakness, and in this we have a mirror of tha... [ Continue Reading ]
9._And it was the Sabbath. _Christ was well aware how great offense would immediately arise, when they saw a man walk along laden with burdens; for the Law expressly forbids to carry any burden whatever on the Sabbath-day, (Jeremiah 17:21.) But there were two reasons why Christ, disregarding this... [ Continue Reading ]
10._It is the Sabbath. _It was the duty of all to maintain the sanctity of the Sabbath, and, therefore, they justly and properly accuse the man. But, when the excuse offered by the man does not satisfy them, they already begin to be in fault; for, when the reason was known, he ought to have been acq... [ Continue Reading ]
13._And he who had been cured knew not who he was. _Christ certainly did not intend that the glory of so great a work should pass away, but he intended that it should become generally known before that he acknowledged himself to be the Author of it. He therefore withdrew for a little, that the Jews... [ Continue Reading ]
14._After these things Jesus found him. _These words show still more clearly that, when Christ concealed himself for a time, it was not in order that the remembrance of the kindness which he had conferred might perish, for he now appears in public of his own accord; only he intended that the work sh... [ Continue Reading ]
15._The man went away _Nothing was farther from his intention than to make Christ an object of their hatred, and nothing was farther from his expectation than that they would rage so furiously against Christ. His intention, therefore, was pious; for he wished to render to his Physician the honor whi... [ Continue Reading ]
17._My Father worketh hitherto. _We must see what kind of defense Christ employs. He does not reply that the Law about keeping the Sabbath was temporary, and that it ought now to be abolished; but, on the contrary, maintains that he has not violated the Law, because this is a divine work. It is true... [ Continue Reading ]
18._For this reason, therefore, the Jews sought the more to slay him. _This defense was so far from allaying their fury that it even enraged them the more. Nor was he unacquainted with their malignity and wickedness and hardened obstinacy, but he intended first to profit a few of his disciples who w... [ Continue Reading ]
19._Jesus therefore answered. _We see what I have said, that Christ is so far from vindicating himself from what the Jews asserted, though they intended it as a calumny, that he maintains more openly that it is true. And first he insists on this point, that the work which the Jews cavilled at was a... [ Continue Reading ]
20._For the Father loveth the Son. _Every body sees how harsh and far-fetched is the exposition of this passage which is given by the Fathers. “God,” they say, “loves himself in the Son.” But this statement applies beautifully to Christ as clothed with flesh, that he is beloved by the Father. What i... [ Continue Reading ]
21._For as the Father raiseth up the dead. _Here he gives a summary view of the nature of the office which had been given to him by the Father; for though he appears to specify one class, yet it is a general doctrine in which he declares himself to be the Author of _life _Now _life _contains within... [ Continue Reading ]
22._For the Father judgeth no man. _He now states more clearly the general truth, that the Father governs the world in the person of the Son, and exercises dominion by his hand; for the Evangelist employs the word _judgment, _agreeably to the idiom of the Hebrew language, as denoting _authority _and... [ Continue Reading ]
23._That all men may honor the Son. _This clause sufficiently confirms the suggestion which I threw out a little ago, that when it is said that God reigns in the person of Christ, this does not mean that he reposes in heaven, as indolent kings are wont to do, but because in Christ he manifests his p... [ Continue Reading ]
24._He that heareth my word. _Here is described the way and manner of honoring God, that no one may think that it consists solely in any outward performance, or in frivolous ceremonies. For the doctrine of the Gospel seems as a scepter to Christ, by which he governs believers whom the Father has mad... [ Continue Reading ]
25._Verily, verily _When the Evangelist represents the Son of God as swearing so frequently in reference to our salvation, hence we perceive, first, how eagerly he desires our welfare, and next, of how great importance it is that the faith of the Gospel should be deeply fixed and thoroughly confirme... [ Continue Reading ]
26._For as the Father hath life in himself. _He shows whence his voice derives such efficacy; namely, that he is the fountain of_life, _and by his voice pours it out on men; for _life _would not flow to us from his mouth, if he had not in himself the cause and source of it. God is said to _have life... [ Continue Reading ]
27._And hath given him power. _He again repeats that the Father hath given him dominion, that he may have full power over all things in heaven and in the earth. The word ( ἐξουσία) here denotes _authority Judgment _is here put for rule and government, as if he had said, that the Father had appointed... [ Continue Reading ]
28._Wonder not at this. _We may be apt to think that he reasons inconclusively, in drawing from the last resurrection a confirmation of what he had said; for it is not an instance of greater power to raise up bodies than to raise up minds. I reply, it is not from the fact itself that he makes a comp... [ Continue Reading ]
29._And they who have done good. _He points out believers by good works, as he elsewhere teaches that _a tree is known by its fruit_, (Matthew 7:16; Luke 6:44.) He praises their _good _works, to which they have begun to devote themselves since they were called. For the robber, to whom Christ on the... [ Continue Reading ]
30._I can do nothing of myself. _It would be superfluous here to enter into abstruse reasonings, whether the Son of God _can do any thing of himself _or otherwise, so far as relates to his eternal Divinity; for he did not intend to keep our minds employed about such trifles. Consequently there was n... [ Continue Reading ]
31._If I testify concerning myself. _He does not here take any thing away from the credit due to his testimony, which he elsewhere asserts in strong terms, but he speaks by way of concession; for Christ, having been in other respects most abundantly supported, consents that they should not believe h... [ Continue Reading ]
33._You sent to John. _Before producing the testimony of God, he presses them with the answer of _John, _from which they could not honorably withhold their belief. For of what use was it to _send to him_, if they did not intend to abide by his words? They _send to him _as a Prophet of God, and thus... [ Continue Reading ]
34._I receive not testimony from men. _Yet it was not in vain that God chose Christ to be a witness to him, and Christ himself declares, on another occasion, that the disciples will be his witnesses. You shall be witnesses to me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the utt... [ Continue Reading ]
35._He was a burning and shining lamp. _When he calls John _a burning lamp, _this proves their ingratitude; for it follows that they are only blind, because they choose to be so, since God kindled a _lamp _before their eyes. The meaning of the words therefore is, “God did not intend that you should... [ Continue Reading ]
36._But I have greater testimony than that of John. _After having showed that, in the person of John, the Jews had wickedly corrupted the gift of God, he now repeats a second time what he had said, that he has no need of the _testimony _of man, as if he had not enough of himself; although, perceivin... [ Continue Reading ]
37._And the Father who hath sent me. _To limit this statement, as some have done, (108) to the voice which was heard at his baptism, (Matthew 3:17,) is a mistake; for he says in the past tense, that the Father ( μεμαρτύρηκε)_testified_, in order to show that he did not come forward as an unknown per... [ Continue Reading ]
38._And you have not his word abiding in you. _This is the true way of profiting, when the word of God takes root in us, so that, being impressed on our hearts, it has its fixed abode there. Christ affirms that the heavenly doctrine has no place among the Jews, because they do not receive the Son of... [ Continue Reading ]
39._Search the Scriptures. _We have said that the statement which Christ formerly made — that he has the Father for a witness in heaven — refers to Moses and the Prophets. Now follows a clearer explanation; for he says that that testimony is to be found in _the Scriptures. _He again reproves them fo... [ Continue Reading ]
40._And you will not come to me. _He again reproaches them that it is nothing but their own malice that hinders them from becoming partakers of the life offered in the Scriptures; for when he says that they _will not_, he imputes the cause of their ignorance and blindness to wickedness and obstinacy... [ Continue Reading ]
41._I receive not glory from men. _He proceeds in his reproof; but that he may not be suspected of pleading his own cause, he begins by saying that he does not care for _the glory of men_, and that it gives him no concern or uneasiness to see himself despised; and, indeed, he is too great to depend... [ Continue Reading ]
42._That you have not the love of God in you. The love of God _is here put for all religious feelings; for no man can _love God _without beholding him with admiration and submitting entirely to his authority; as, on the other hand, when _the love of God _does not prevail, there can be no desire to o... [ Continue Reading ]
43._I have come in my Father’s name _The false prophets do indeed boast of this title, as the Pope, in the present day, boasts with open mouth that he is Christ’s _Deputy _or _Vicar_; and under this very disguise has Satan deceived wretched men from the beginning. But Christ here means the reality,... [ Continue Reading ]
44._How can you believe? _As it might be thought harsh to say that those who were from their childhood the trained disciples of the Law and the Prophets, should be charged with such gross ignorance and declared to be enemies of the truth, and as this might even be thought to be incredible, Christ sh... [ Continue Reading ]
45._Think not that I shall accuse you to the Father. _This is the way in which we ought to deal with obstinate and hardened persons, when they learn nothing by instruction and friendly warnings. They must be summoned to the judgment-seat of God. There are few persons, indeed, who openly mock God, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
46._For if you believed Moses, you would also believe me. _He shows why Moses will be their accuser. It is because they do not reject his doctrine. We know that it is impossible to offer a greater insult to the servants of God than when their doctrine is despised or reproached. Besides, those whom t... [ Continue Reading ]
47._But if you do not believe his writings. _Christ appears here to claim less authority for himself than for Moses; and yet we know that _heaven and earth have been shaken by the voice _of the Gospel, (Hebrews 12:26.) But Christ accommodates his discourse to those to whom he speaks; for the authori... [ Continue Reading ]