John 5 - NKJV Study Bible

5:1 The feast of the Jews is probably not the Passover, which John usually refers to by name (2:13; 6:4; 11:55). It may have been Tabernacles.

5:2 The Sheep Gate was a gate in the wall of Jerusalem near the temple, through which sheep were brought for sacrifice. The pool of Bethesda was a double pool surrounded by colonnades on four sides, with a fifth colonnade standing on the dividing wall that separated the northern and southern pools. The five porches were in the colonnades on the two sides, with two on each end and one in the middle.

5:9 John records this miracle because it was a witness to Jesus’ deity. Jesus Himself told John the Baptist that the proof of His messiahship was that the lame would walk (see Matt. 11:1–5), for the prophet Isaiah had predicted this long before: “The lame shall leap like a deer” (see Is. 35:1–6). Carrying a bed on the Sabbath was considered a violation of the Law of Moses (v. 10).

5:10 The Jews probably refers to Jewish leaders who were members of the council. The Law of Moses taught that the Sabbath must be different from other days. On it, neither people nor animals could work. The prophet Jeremiah had prohibited carrying burdens or working on the Sabbath (Jer. 17:21,22). Nehemiah made it clear that trading on the Sabbath as if it were an ordinary day was forbidden (Neh. 13:15–19). Over the years, the Jewish leaders had amassed thousands of rules and regulations concerning the Sabbath. By Jesus’ day, they had 39 different classifications of work. According to them, carrying furniture and even providing medical treatment on the Sabbath were forbidden. Jesus did not break the Law; He violated the traditions of the Pharisees which had grown up around the Law.

5:13 The sick man was healed without exercising any faith. He did not know who Jesus was when he was healed. Jesus had withdrawn: John records Jesus quietly withdrawing from a crowd on four occasions (see also 8:59; 10:39; 12:36). However, Jesus caught up with the man later (v. 14).

5:16 This is the first recorded declaration of open hostility toward Jesus in the Gospel of John.

5:17 My Father: Jesus is “the only begotten Son” (1:14,18; 3:16,18)—that is, the unique Son of God. Here He claims not only a unique relationship with God the Father, but also equality with God in nature. Since God continually does good works without allowing Himself to stop on the Sabbath, the Son does likewise, since He is equal with God. Certainly the Jewish leaders understood the implications of Jesus’ claims (v. 18).

5:19 The Son can do nothing of Himself means that action by the Son apart from the Father is impossible because of the unity of the Father and the Son (v. 17). Whatever He does, the Son also does is a claim of deity and unity with the Father.

5:20 The Son does what the Father does (v. 19) because the Father loves the Son. Moreover, because the Father loves the Son, He reveals all to Him. The Father would show the Son greater works than the healing of the sick man. Jesus would raise the dead (v. 21) and eventually judge humanity (v. 22).

5:21 the Son gives life: As God raises people from the dead and gives them life, so Christ gives people spiritual life (v. 24). Jesus claimed the same power as God, thus claiming that He is equal with God.

5:22 all judgment to the Son: The Jews recognized that God alone had the right to judge humanity. In claiming that the Father committed all judgment to Him, Jesus again claimed equality with God.

5:23 honor the Son just as they honor the Father: To claim the same honor as the Father is to claim equality with the Father. Here Jesus claimed equal authority with God.

5:24 The phrase believes in Him who sent Me is unusual. Christ, not the Father, is usually the object of this verb in John. The issue in this passage is the unity of the Father and the Son (vv. 17–23). All who believe in the One who sent Christ will believe in Christ. shall not come into judgment: A judgment to decide a person’s eternal destiny is no longer possible for the one who has already been given eternal life. However, all believers will stand before the judgment seat of Christ (see Rom. 14:10; 2 Cor. 5:10), not for punishment of sin, but to determine inheritance in Messiah’s kingdom.

5:26 For indicates that this verse explains the previous verse. Christ can give life because He Himself possesses life. He not only has a part in giving it, He is the source of it. This is another testimony to Jesus’ deity, because only God has life in Himself.

5:28 the hour is coming: Christ not only gives spiritual life now (v. 25), He will give physical life later.

5:29 Two separate resurrections (see Rev. 20:4,5), the resurrection of life and the resurrection of condemnation are presented here in the fashion of the OT prophets, who often grouped together events of the future without distinction of time (see Is. 61:2). Jesus was teaching the universality of resurrection, not the timing of it. those who have done good: The only “good” anyone can do is to believe on Christ, the One God sent (6:28,29). All other good actions flow from that. Anything good that is done without that belief means nothing to God and will result in the resurrection of condemnation.

5:30 Christ’s judgment is righteous because it is in accordance with God’s divine will. In v. 19 Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of Himself”; here He says He can do nothing independent of the Father.

5:31,32 My witness is not true: If Christ were the only one bearing witness of what He was claiming, His witness would not be accepted. According to Jewish legal practice, a person’s testimony about himself was not accepted in court. So in this case, Jesus offered another witness—John the Baptist (v. 33).

5:35 Jesus is the Light (1:4,5). John was a lamp. He was: Jesus used the past tense because by this time John’s work had been ended either by imprisonment or by death.

5:36 the works: John did not perform any signs (10:41). Those were specific works that the Son was to perform, as predicted in the OT (see Is. 35:5,6) to attest to the fact that He was sent by the Father (vv. 1–15; 2:1–11; 4:43–54).

5:37 the Father Himself . . . has testified: This is not a reference to the voice from heaven at the baptism of Christ, but to Scripture (vv. 38,39).

5:39 The Jewish religious leaders of Jesus’ day diligently searched the OT Scriptures, but did not see Jesus as the Messiah and did not believe in Him (v. 38).

5:42 The love of God here is not love from God but love for God. Love from God is evidenced in Christ (3:16; Rom. 5:8). Since God loves us, we should love Him (Deut. 6:5; 1 John 4:19).

5:43 Jesus came in the Father’s name, revealing God to the people, but they rejected Him. Ironically, if someone had come in his own name, giving his own ideas in harmony with the people’s ideas, the people would have received him.

5:44 The people did not believe in Jesus because they did not seek honor that comes from the only God. This honor may be similar to Paul’s view of the glory that will be revealed in us in the presence of God (see Rom. 8:18).

5:45 Trust means “hope.” Christ will not have to accuse the people on Judgment Day because the one in whom they placed their hope, Moses, will. The people will be condemned by the very Law they professed to keep.

5:46 he wrote about Me: Moses wrote about Christ in the promises to the patriarchs, in the history of the deliverance from Egypt, in the symbolic institutions of the Law, and in the prediction of a Prophet like himself (see Luke 24:25,26). If the people had believed Moses, they would have received Jesus gladly. Over three hundred OT prophecies were specifically fulfilled in the First Coming of Christ.

5:47 you do not believe his writings: The ultimate problem was that the people did not believe the Word of God written through Moses.