John 5
5
Cure on a Sabbath. 1After this, there was a feast#The reference in Jn 5:45–46 to Moses suggests that the feast was Pentecost. The connection of that feast with the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai, attested in later Judaism, may already have been made in the first century. The feast could also be Passover (cf. Jn 6:4). John stresses that the day was a sabbath (Jn 5:9). of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.#6:4. 2Now there is in Jerusalem at the Sheep [Gate]#There is no noun with Sheep. “Gate” is supplied on the grounds that there must have been a gate in the NE wall of the temple area where animals for sacrifice were brought in; cf. Neh 3:1, 32; 12:39. Hebrew: more precisely, Aramaic. Bethesda: preferred to variants “Be(th)zatha” and “Bethsaida”; bêt-’ešdatayīn is given as the name of a double pool northeast of the temple area in the Qumran Copper Roll. Five porticoes: a pool excavated in Jerusalem actually has five porticoes. a pool called in Hebrew Bethesda, with five porticoes.#Neh 3:1, 32; 12:39. 3In these lay a large number of ill, blind, lame, and crippled.#The Caesarean and Western recensions, followed by the Vulgate, add “waiting for the movement of the water.” Apparently an intermittent spring in the pool bubbled up occasionally (see Jn 5:7). This turbulence was believed to cure. [4]#Toward the end of the second century in the West and among the fourth-century Greek Fathers, an additional verse was known: “For [from time to time] an angel of the Lord used to come down into the pool; and the water was stirred up, so the first one to get in [after the stirring of the water] was healed of whatever disease afflicted him.” The angel was a popular explanation of the turbulence and the healing powers attributed to it. This verse is missing from all early Greek manuscripts and the earliest versions, including the original Vulgate. Its vocabulary is markedly non-Johannine. 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. 6When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” 7The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” 8Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.”#Mt 9:6; Mk 2:11; Lk 5:24; Acts 3:6. 9Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked.#Mk 2:12; Lk 5:25; 9:14.
Now that day was a sabbath. 10So the Jews said to the man who was cured, “It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.”#Ex 20:8; Jer 17:21–27; Mk 3:2; Lk 13:10; 14:1. 11He answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’” 12They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” 13The man who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd there.#Mt 8:18; 13:36; Mk 4:36; 7:17. 14#While the cure of the paralytic in Mk 2:1–12 is associated with the forgiveness of sins, Jesus never drew a one-to-one connection between sin and suffering (cf. Jn 9:3; Lk 12:1–5), as did Ez 18:20. After this Jesus found him in the temple area and said to him,#8:11; 9:2; Ez 18:20. “Look, you are well; do not sin any more, so that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15The man went and told the Jews that Jesus was the one who had made him well. 16Therefore, the Jews began to persecute Jesus because he did this on a sabbath.#7:23; Mt 12:8. 17#Sabbath observance (Jn 5:10) was based on God’s resting on the seventh day (cf. Gn 2:2–3; Ex 20:11). Philo and some rabbis insisted that God’s providence remains active on the sabbath, keeping all things in existence, giving life in birth and taking it away in death. Other rabbis taught that God rested from creating, but not from judging (= ruling, governing). Jesus here claims the same authority to work as the Father, and, in the discourse that follows, the same divine prerogatives: power over life and death (Jn 5:21, 24–26) and judgment (Jn 5:22, 27). But Jesus answered them,#Ex 20:11. “My Father is at work until now, so I am at work.” 18For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God.#7:1, 25; 8:37, 40; 10:33, 36; 14:28; Gn 3:5–6; Wis 2:16; Mt 26:4; 2 Thes 2:4.
The Work of the Son. 19#This proverb or parable is taken from apprenticeship in a trade: the activity of a son is modeled on that of his father. Jesus’ dependence on the Father is justification for doing what the Father does. Jesus answered and said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees his father doing;#3:34; 8:26; 12:49; 9:4; 10:30. for what he does, his son will do also. 20For the Father loves his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these, so that you may be amazed.#3:35. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life,#Gives life: in the Old Testament, a divine prerogative (Dt 32:39; 1 Sm 2:6; 2 Kgs 5:7; Tb 13:2; Is 26:19; Dn 12:2). so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes.#11:25; Dt 32:39; 1 Sm 2:6; 2 Kgs 5:7; Tb 13:2; Wis 16:13; Is 26:19; Dn 7:10, 13; 12:2; Rom 4:17; 2 Cor 1:9. 22Nor does the Father judge anyone, but he has given all judgment#Judgment: another divine prerogative, often expressed as acquittal or condemnation (Dt 32:36; Ps 43:1). to his Son,#Acts 10:42; 17:31. 23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.#3:18; 8:51; 1 Jn 3:14. 25Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.#5:28; 8:51; 11:25–26; Eph 2:1; 5:14; Rev 3:1. 26For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he gave to his Son the possession of life in himself.#1:4; 1 Jn 5:11. 27And he gave him power to exercise judgment, because he is the Son of Man.#5:22; Dn 7:13, 22; Mt 25:31; Lk 21:36. 28#While Jn 5:19–27 present realized eschatology, Jn 5:28–29 are future eschatology; cf. Dn 12:2. Do not be amazed at this, because the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear his voice#11:43. 29and will come out, those who have done good deeds to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked deeds to the resurrection of condemnation.#Dn 12:2; Mt 16:27; 25:46; Acts 24:15; 2 Cor 5:10.
30“I cannot do anything on my own; I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I do not seek my own will but the will of the one who sent me.#6:38.
Witnesses to Jesus. 31#8:13–14, 18. “If I testify on my own behalf, my testimony cannot be verified. 32But there is another#Another: likely the Father, who in four different ways gives testimony to Jesus, as indicated in the verse groupings Jn 5:33–34, 36, 37–38, 39–40. who testifies on my behalf, and I know that the testimony he gives on my behalf is true. 33You sent emissaries to John, and he testified to the truth.#1:19–27; Mt 11:10–11. 34I do not accept testimony from a human being, but I say this so that you may be saved.#1 Jn 5:9. 35He was a burning and shining lamp,#Lamp: cf. Ps 132:17—“I will place a lamp for my anointed (= David),” and possibly the description of Elijah in Sir 48:1. But only for a while, indicating the temporary and subordinate nature of John’s mission. and for a while you were content to rejoice in his light.#1:8; Ps 132:17; Sir 48:1. 36But I have testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father gave me to accomplish, these works that I perform testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me.#10:25. 37Moreover, the Father who sent me has testified on my behalf. But you have never heard his voice nor seen his form,#8:18; Dt 4:12, 15; 1 Jn 5:9. 38and you do not have his word remaining in you, because you do not believe in the one whom he has sent.#1 Jn 2:14. 39You search#You search: this may be an imperative: “Search the scriptures, because you think that you have eternal life through them.” the scriptures, because you think you have eternal life through them; even they testify on my behalf.#12:16; 19:28; 20:9; Lk 24:27, 44; 1 Pt 1:10. 40But you do not want to come to me to have life.
Unbelief of Jesus’ Hearers. 41“I do not accept human praise;#Praise: the same Greek word means “praise” or “honor” (from others) and “glory” (from God). There is a play on this in Jn 5:44. 42moreover, I know that you do not have the love of God in you.#1 Jn 2:15. 43I came in the name of my Father, but you do not accept me; yet if another comes in his own name, you will accept him.#Mt 24:5, 24. 44How can you believe, when you accept praise from one another and do not seek the praise that comes from the only God?#12:43. 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: the one who will accuse you is Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.#Dt 31:26. 46For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, because he wrote about me.#5:39; Dt 18:15; Lk 16:31; 24:44. 47But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
John 5
5
Healing on Shabbat
1After this there was a Jewish feast, and Yeshua went up to Jerusalem.
2Now in Jerusalem there is a pool by the sheep gate, called Bethzatha in Aramaic, which has five porches.
3In these a crowd of invalids was lying around—blind, lame, disabled.
4
5Now a certain man had been an invalid there for thirty-eight years.
6Seeing him lying there and knowing he had been that way a long time, Yeshua said to him, “Do you want to get well?”
7The invalid answered Him, “Sir, I have nobody to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I’m trying to get in, somebody else steps down before me!”
8Yeshua tells him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk!”
9Immediately, the man was healed! He took up his mat and started walking around. Now that day was Shabbat,
10so Judean leaders were saying to the man who was healed, “It’s Shabbat! It’s not permitted for you to carry your mat.”
11But he answered them, “The man who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
12They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’?”
13But the man who had been healed didn’t know who it was, for Yeshua had slipped away into the crowd in that place.
14Afterwards, Yeshua finds him in the Temple. He said to him, “Look, you’ve been healed! Stop sinning, so nothing worse happens to you.”
15The man left and told the Judean leaders that it was Yeshua who had made him well.
Sent by the Father
16Because Yeshua was doing these things on Shabbat, the Judean leaders started persecuting Him.
17But Yeshua said to them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.”
18So for this reason the Judean leaders kept trying even harder to kill Him—because He was not only breaking Shabbat, but also calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
19Therefore Yeshua answered them, “Amen, amen I tell you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself. He can do only what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
20For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does. He will show Him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.
21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever He wants.
22The Father does not judge anyone, but has handed over all judgment to the Son
23so that all should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
24“Amen, amen I tell you, whoever hears My word and trusts the One who sent Me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed over from death into life.
25Amen, amen I tell you, an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of Ben-Elohim. Those who hear will live!
26For just as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.
27Also He has given the Son authority to judge, because He is the Son of Man.
28“Do not be amazed at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
29and come out! Those who have done good will come to a resurrection of life, and those who have done evil will come to a resurrection of judgment.
30I can do nothing on My own. Just as I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, for I do not seek My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.”
The Father Testifies about the Son
31“If I testify about Myself, My witness is not valid.
32There is another who testifies about Me, and I know that the testimony He gives is true.
33You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
34I do not receive the testimony of man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
35He was the lamp that was burning and shining, and you wanted to rejoice for a while in his light.
36“But the testimony I have is greater than that from John. The works the Father has given Me to finish—the very works I am doing—testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.
37And the Father who sent Me has testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His form.
38Nor do you have His Word living in you, because you do not trust the One He sent.
39You search the Scriptures because you suppose that in them you have eternal life. It is these that testify about Me.
40Yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life!
41“I do not accept glory from men.
42But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
43I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me. But if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
44How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that comes from God alone?
45“Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.
46For if you were believing Moses, you would believe Me—because he wrote about Me.
47But since you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
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