AFTER THIS THERE WAS A FEAST OF THE JEWS,.... After Christ had been in Samaria, which was four months ago, John 4:35, and had been in Galilee for that time, and had cured the nobleman's son, and had done other mighty works, the time came on for one of the three festivals of the Jews; either the feas... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THERE IS AT JERUSALEM BY THE SHEEP [MARKET],.... The word "market" is not in the text, and of such a market, no account is given in the Scripture, nor in the Jewish writings; and besides, in our Lord's time, sheep and oxen were sold in the temple; rather therefore this signifies, the sheep gate,... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THESE LAY A GREAT MULTITUDE OF IMPOTENT FOLK,.... Sick and weak persons; who were an emblem of men under the law of works, and in a state of unregeneracy; who are enfeebled by sin, and are impotent and unable to do anything of themselves; as to keep the law of God, to which they have neither will... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AN ANGEL WENT DOWN AT A CERTAIN SEASON INTO THE POOL,.... This angel is not to be understood of a messenger sent from the sanhedrim, or by the priests, as Dr. Hammond thinks; who has a strange conceit, that this pool was used for the washing of the entrails of the sacrifices; and which at the pa... [ Continue Reading ]
AND A CERTAIN MAN WAS THERE,.... At Bethesda's pool, in one of the five porches, or cloisters, that belonged to it: WHICH HAD AN INFIRMITY THIRTY AND EIGHT YEARS; what his infirmity was, is not said; he was one of the weak, or impotent folk, for so he is called, John 5:7. Some think his distemper w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN JESUS SAW HIM LIE,.... In such a helpless condition: AND KNEW THAT HE HAD BEEN NOW A LONG TIME, [IN THAT CASE], or "in his disease", as the Ethiopic version supplies; even seven years before Christ was born; which is a proof of his omniscience: the words may be literally rendered, as they are... [ Continue Reading ]
THE IMPOTENT MAN ANSWERED HIM, SIR,.... Which was a common and courteous way of speaking, much in use with the Jews, especially to strangers. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, "yea Lord", which is a direct answer to the question: I HAVE NO MAN; the Ethiopic version reads, "men"; he had... [ Continue Reading ]
JESUS SAITH TO HIM, RISE,.... From thy bed, or couch, on which he lay in one of the porches: and TAKE UP THY BED AND WALK; these words were spoken by the same power, as those to Lazarus, which called him out of his grave; as appears from the effect they had upon the man, who was in himself impotent... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IMMEDIATELY THE MAN WAS MADE WHOLE,.... As soon as ever the words were spoken by Christ, such power went with them, as restored the man to perfect health; and he finding himself to be quite well, rose up directly: AND TOOK UP HIS BED AND WALKED; which may be expressive of a sinner's rising from... [ Continue Reading ]
THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM THAT WAS CURED,.... When they saw him, either at the place, or as he walked through the streets, with his bed on his back: IT IS THE SABBATH DAY: do not you know it? surely you forget yourself, or you would never be guilty of such an action as this; IT IS NOT LAWFU... [ Continue Reading ]
HE ANSWERED THEM,.... That is, the impotent man, who was now made whole, replied to the Jews: HE THAT MADE ME WHOLE, THE SAME SAID UNTO ME, TAKE UP THY BED AND WALK; intimating, that he that had such divine power, as to make him whole, had power to dispense with the sabbath, and such an action on i... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ASKED THEY HIM,.... Suspecting who had made him whole, and gave him this order: WHAT MAN IS THAT WHICH SAID UNTO THEE, TAKE UP THY BED AND WALK? they take no notice of the cure, being unwilling to give any glory to Christ, and still less to spread it; but chose rather that it should be obscure... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE THAT WAS HEALED, WIST NOT WHO HE WAS,.... He had never seen, and perhaps had never heard of Christ before, and so knew him not; and besides, Christ gave him no opportunity of conversing with him, or so much as to ask him who he was: FOR JESUS HAD CONVEYED HIMSELF AWAY; had slipped away, as s... [ Continue Reading ]
AFTERWARD JESUS FINDETH HIM IN THE TEMPLE,.... Perhaps on the same day; for as soon as he had been at home, and laid down his bed, it is very likely he went directly to the temple, there to show himself, attend the worship of the place, and return thanks to God for the great mercy bestowed on him:... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MAN DEPARTED,.... From Christ, and from the temple, not through displeasure, or as resenting what was said to him, but as highly delighted that he had found his kind benefactor and physician; and went either to Bethesda, where the miracle was wrought, and where a multitude of people were, and wh... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEREFORE DID THE JEWS PERSECUTE JESUS,.... With their tongues, reproaching and reviling him, as a sabbath breaker, a destroyer of the law, and a sinful wicked man: AND SOUGHT TO SLAY HIM; either in a violent way, by setting the zealots, a sort of ruffians under the pretence of religion, upon h... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JESUS ANSWERED THEM,.... Being convened before them, and charged by them with the violation of the sabbath, he vindicated himself in the following manner, saying; MY FATHER WORKETH HITHERTO: he who is my Father, not by creation, or adoption, but by nature, though he ended all his work on the se... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE JEWS SOUGHT THE MORE TO KILL HIM,.... They were the more desirous to take away his life, and were more bent and resolute upon it, and studied all ways and means how to bring it about; BECAUSE HE HAD NOT ONLY BROKEN THE SABBATH; as they imagined; for he had not really broken it: and if... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN ANSWERED JESUS, AND SAID UNTO THEM,.... They charged him with blasphemy for calling God his Father, and making himself equal to him: and his answer is so far from denying the thing, or observing any mistake, or misrepresentation of his words, that he allows the whole, and vindicates himself in... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE FATHER LOVETH THE SON,.... As being his Son, his image, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person; as being of the same nature, and having the same perfections, and so equal to him; John 3:35; AND SHOWETH HIM ALL THINGS THAT HIMSELF DOTH; not as if he was ignorant of... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS THE FATHER RAISETH UP THE DEAD, AND QUICKENETH THEM,.... Which may be understood either spiritually of raising dead sinners from the death of sin, to a life of grace and holiness; and the rather, because it is expressed in the present tense "raiseth", and not "hath raised"; or naturally of ra... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE FATHER JUDGETH NO MAN,.... That is, without the Son; which is another proof of their equality: for that he does judge is certain; he is the Judge of the whole earth; he is God that judgeth in the earth, or governs the world with his Son, who works together in the affairs of providence: he ju... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT ALL MEN SHOULD HONOUR THE SON,.... This is the end of all judgment, and the exercise of all authority, and power being committed to him; namely, that he might have the honour given him by men that is due unto him: EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER; that the same honour and glory may be given to t... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU,.... Who am the Amen, the true and faithful witness: HE THAT HEARETH MY WORD; by which is meant the Gospel, and is so called, both because it is spoken by Christ, and first began to be spoken by him; and because he is spoken of in it; his person, office, and work, peac... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU,.... With the same asseveration as before, and for the further illustration and confirmation of the same thing, occasioned by the last clause of the preceding verse, as well as improving upon the argument in John 5:21 for his equality with the Father, which he is still... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR AS THE FATHER HATH LIFE IN HIMSELF,.... Is the living God, the fountain of life, and is the author of life to all living creatures; or rather has eternal life in his mind, his heart, his counsel, and his covenant, and in his hands, for all his chosen ones, which seems to he the peculiar sense he... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HATH GIVEN HIM AUTHORITY TO EXECUTE JUDGMENT ALSO,.... Both in his church and kingdom, in the present state of things, and at the last day, when all shall stand before his judgment seat: and that BECAUSE HE IS THE SON OF MAN; truly and properly man; because though he was in the form of God, and... [ Continue Reading ]
MARVEL NOT AT THIS,.... Either at the cure of the man that had been diseased thirty and eight years, as some think; or at the Son of God being also the son of man, as the Syriac version suggests; or rather at the dead hearing the voice of the Son of God, and living upon it; and at his having authori... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHALL COME FORTH,.... Out of their graves, as Lazarus came forth from his at the word of command, and as the bodies of the saints did after the resurrection of Christ, when their graves were opened: THEY THAT HAVE DONE GOOD; which none of Adam's posterity naturally do, or can do of themselves:... [ Continue Reading ]
I CAN OF MINE OWN SELF DO NOTHING,.... This is the conclusion of the matter, the winding up of the several arguments concerning the Son's equality to the Father, and the application of the whole to Christ. He had before been chiefly speaking of the Son, in relation to the Father, as if he was a thir... [ Continue Reading ]
IF I BEAR WITNESS OF MYSELF,.... Which was not allowed any man to do; nor indeed is it proper that a man should be a witness in his own cause: and, according to the Jewish canons, a man might not be a witness for his wife, because she was reckoned as himself. "An husband is not to be believed in be... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE IS ANOTHER THAT BEARETH WITNESS OF ME,.... Meaning not his Father, who is another, and a distinct person, from him, as the Spirit is another comforter; and both distinct testifiers from him, as well as of him. This is indeed the sense of some interpreters; but the Father is particularly mentio... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SENT UNTO JOHN,.... The sanhedrim at Jerusalem made a deputation of priests and Levites to him, to know who he was, whether the Messiah, or Elias, or that prophet, John 1:19. Now had they not looked upon him, from what they knew of him, or from the character they had of him, as a faithful witness... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I RECEIVE NOT TESTIMONY FROM MAN,.... He stood in no need of an human testimony, nor did he rest the truth of his deity and divine sonship thereon: he had other and greater testimonies to produce; as he needed not that any man should testify of man to him, he had no need that any man should test... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS A BURNING AND A SHINING LIGHT,.... He was not that light, the famous light, the Messiah, the sun of righteousness; yet he was the "phosphorus", the forerunner of that light, and was himself a very great one: he had much light himself into the person and office of the Messiah; in the doctrines... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I HAVE GREATER WITNESS THAN THAT OF JOHN,.... The Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions read, "greater than John", but wrongly; for the testimonies of Christ's works, and of his Father, are not compared with John himself, but with his testimony; and the sense is, that Christ had a greater witness... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE FATHER HIMSELF, WHICH HATH SENT ME,.... Not only the works he gave him to do, and which he did, but he himself in person: HATH BORNE WITNESS OF ME; not only in the writings of Moses, and the prophecies of the Old Testament, but by an audible articulate voice from heaven, at the time of Chri... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE HAVE NOT HIS WORD ABIDING IN YOU,.... Which some understand of Christ himself, the Logos, or word: who, though he was now with them, being made flesh, and dwelling among them, yet would not long continue with them: though rather this designs the written word, or the Scriptures of truth; and e... [ Continue Reading ]
SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES,.... The writings of Moses, and the prophets, which were of divine inspiration and authority, and are often appealed unto by Christ, and his apostles, for the truth of what they delivered; and were the standard of faith, and the test of doctrines; and therefore to be searched d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE WILL NOT COME TO ME,.... Which is to be understood, not of a corporeal coming to him; for many of the Jews did come to him in this sense; some for one thing, and some for another; some for the loaves, that they might eat and be filled; some to see his miracles, and others to partake of the be... [ Continue Reading ]
I RECEIVE NOT HONOUR FROM MEN. Not but that honour from men was due to Christ; and it becomes all men to honour him, as they do the Father; and he does receive honour and glory, and blessing from his saints, by their praying to him, praising him, believing in him, and serving him; but his sense is,... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I KNOW YOU,.... Being the omniscient God, he knew not only their persons, but their hearts, the thoughts of their hearts; what was in them, and what was wanting in them: particularly, THAT YE HAVE NOT THE LOVE OF GOD IN YOU; and which is not in any man's heart naturally; for the carnal mind is... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM COME IN MY FATHER'S NAME,.... Power and authority; by his consent, with his will, and according to a covenant with him: Christ came not of himself, of his own accord, by a separate power and will of his own, but was called, and sent, and came by mutual agree meat; and brought his credentials wi... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW CAN YE BELIEVE, WHICH RECEIVE HONOUR ONE OF ANOTHER?.... As the Scribes and Pharisees did, who were ambitious of honour and respect from one another, as well as from the common people; doing all they did to be seen of men, and to gain applause among them: choosing the uppermost rooms at feasts,... [ Continue Reading ]
DO NOT THINK THAT I WILL ACCUSE YOU TO THE FATHER,.... To God the Father, as the Ethiopic version reads. The Syriac and Persic versions read by way of interrogation, "do ye think that I will?" c. Christ is no accuser of men no, not of the worst of men; see John 8:10; he came not into the world to br... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HAD YE BELIEVED MOSES,.... The doctrine of Moses, and what he says in his writings: YE WOULD HAVE BELIEVED ME; for there is an agreement between Moses and Christ; Christ is the end of the law of Moses, and in him is the accomplishment of his writings: FOR HE WROTE OF ME; in the books written b... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE BELIEVE NOT HIS WRITINGS,.... They believed them to be his writings, and that they were the word of God, and yet did not believe the things contained in them, respecting Christ; or did not see, and could not believe that they belonged unto, and were applicable to Jesus of Nazareth; and the... [ Continue Reading ]