John 5:39

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES, [ ereunate (G2045)] - or 'Ye search.' Since either sense may be adopted consistently with the word itself, we must be guided by what seems to be the strain of our Lord's statement. But on this interpreters are entirely divided, and most are satisfied that theirs is the only tenable sense. The indicative sense-`Ye search'-is adopted by Cyril among the fathers, and of moderns by Erasmus, Beza, Lampe, Bengel, Campbell, Olshausen, Meyer, DeWette, Lucke, Tholuck, Webster and Wilkinson. In the imperative sense-`Search'-our translators are supported by Chrysostom and Augustine among the fathers, and of moderns by Luther, Calvin, Grotius, Maldonat, Wetstein, Stier, Alford, Perhaps the former sense-`Ye search'-best accords with what fo...

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 for their foolish boasting, because, while they acknowledged _that they had life in the Scriptures_, they perceived nothing in them but the dead letter. For he does not absolutely blame them for seeking life in_the Scriptures, _since they were given to us for that end and use, but because the Jews thought that_the Scriptures _gave them _life, _while they were widely opposed to its natural meaning, and — what is worse — while they quenched the light of _life _which was contained in them; for how can the Law bestow life without Christ, who alone gives life to it? Again, we are taught by this passa...

39-44 The Jews considered that eternal life was revealed to them in their Scriptures, and that they had it, because they had the word of God in their hands. Jesus urged them to search those Scriptures with more diligence and attention. "Ye do search the Scriptures," and ye do well to do so. They did indeed search the Scriptures, but it was with a view to their own glory. It is possible for men to be very studious in the letter of the Scriptures, yet to be strangers to its power. Or, "Search the Scriptures," and so it was spoken to them in the nature of an appeal. Ye profess to receive and believe the Scripture, let that be the judge. It is spoken to us as advising or commanding all Christians to search the Scriptures. Not only read them, and hear them, but search them; which denotes diligence in examining and studying them. We must search the Scriptures for heaven as our great end; For...

Verse 39. _SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES_] ερευνατε τας γραφας. This should be translated, not in the _imperative_, but in the _indicative_ mood-thus, _Ye search the Scriptures diligently_. That these words are commonly read in the _imperative_ mood is sufficiently known; but this reading can never accord well with the following verse, nor can the force and energy of the words be perceived by this version. The rabbins strongly recommend the study of the Scriptures. The _Talmud, Tract. Shabbath_, fol. 30, brings in God thus addressing David: "I am better pleased with one day in which thou sittest and studiest the law, than I shall be with a thousand sacrifices which thy son Solomon shall offer upon my altar." Perhaps the Scriptures were never more diligently searched than at that very time: first, because they were in expectation of the immediate appearing of the _Messiah_; secondly, because t...

SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES - The word translated “search” here means to “search diligently” or “search anxiously.” It was applied to miners, who search for precious metals - who look anxiously for the “bed” of the ore with an intensity or anxiety proportionate to “their sense” of the value of the metal. Compare the notes at Job 28:3. It is applied by Homer to a lioness robbed of her whelps, and who “searches” the plain to “trace out” the footsteps of the man who has robbed her. It is also applied by him to dogs tracing their game by searching them out by the scent of the foot. It means a diligent, faithful, anxious investigation The word may be either in the indicative or imperative mood. In our translation it is in the imperative, as if Jesus commanded them to search the Scriptures. Cyril, Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, Kuinoel, Tholuck, DeWette, and others, give it as in the indica

EXPOSITION Here commences the second division of the Gospel (John 5:1) II. THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM, GALILEE, AND JERUSALEM, TO THE DEATH SENTENCE RECORDED BY THE SANHEDRIN. JOHN 5:1 1. _Christ proved, by signs and wonders and testimonies, to be Source of life._ JOHN 5:1 (1)

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 diligently into, for finding divine knowledge and improvement in it, and for the trial of doctrines. The words may be rendered in the indicative, as an assertion, "ye do search the Scriptures": the Jews had the sacred oracles committed to them, and these they read, not only their kings, princes, and judges, but the common people, who brought up their children to the reading of them, and instructed them in them: and besides this, these writings were read, and expounded publicly in their synagogues every sabbath day; and at this time especially these records were examined, and particularly those...

John 5:24. _Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life,_ If we truly believe the word of Christ, and trust in him who sent his Son into the world, we have at this moment everlasting life. John 5:24. _And shalt not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life._ What a grand verse this is! It is worthy to be written in letters of gold at every street corner; would that we all knew the fullness of its meaning by heartfelt experience! John 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (John 5:1 .)_ 2. The Opposition of the Jews. (John 5:10 .) 3. His Unity with the Father. (John 5:19 .) 4. The Present Hour. Believers Delivered from Death and Judgment. (John 5:24 .) 5. The Future Hour. His Power to Raise the Dead. (John 5:26 .) 6. Witness Concerning Himself. (John 5:30 .) 7. The Witness of John. (John 5:33

WITNESS. The subject is introduced abruptly, but rises naturally out of the circumstances. The claims made, if less than the author represents them, were such as to raise the question of authority. By what authority could He substantiate them? In the first place, John the Baptist, in whose teaching the people for a time took such pleasure. His chief witness is God Himself, whose testimony is declared through the works which He enables Jesus to do, and also directly in Scripture, which they study in the hope of gaining life. And yet they reject the Prophet, whom Moses in those very Scriptures (_cf._ Deuteronomy 18:15 ff.) and many others foretold....