John 5 - CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible

5:2-13 Augustine: If we judge this miracle on the basis of low and human standards, it is not at all a striking display of power, and it is only a moderate display of goodness. Of so many who lay sick, only one was healed; although, had he chosen to do so, our Lord could have restored them all by a single word. How should we account for this? We might suppose that his power and goodness were asserted more for imparting knowledge of eternal salvation to the soul than for working a temporal cure on the body. . . . That which received the temporal cure was certain to decay at some point when death arrived, whereas the soul that believed passed into eternal life. Tractates on the Gospel of John 17.1.

5:6 Cyril of Alexandria: There is clear evidence of the great goodness of Christ in that he does not wait for entreaties from the sick but anticipates their request with his own loving kindness. See how he runs to the one who is lying down and how compassionate he is to one who was sick with no one to comfort him. But the inquiry as to whether [the man] would like to be relieved from his infirmity was not that of one asking out of ignorance what was obvious, but of one stirring up an increased desire and diligent entreaty. The question as to whether he wanted to obtain what he longed for is huge. It has the kind of force and expression that conveys that Jesus has the power to give and is now ready to do so, only waiting for the request of the one who will receive this grace. Commentary on the Gospel of John 2.5.

5:16-17 Hilary of Poitiers: Their anger was so kindled against him that they wanted to kill him, because he did his works on the sabbath. But let us see also what the Lord answered: “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” . . . He speaks that we may recognize in him the power of the Father’s nature employing the nature that has that power to work on the sabbath. The Father works in him while he works. Without doubt, then, Jesus works along with the working of the Father. . . . We must regard Jesus as referring to that very work of the Father’s which he was then doing since it implies the working of the Father at the very time of his words. . . . If the Father works and the Son works, no union exists between them that merges them into a single person. On the Trinity 9.44.

5:19 Theodoret of Cyrus: The Word, therefore, came down, not as he is in himself, but by becoming flesh—not the form of God but the form of a slave. This, then, is the one who said that he could do nothing on his own, because lack of power is a sign of weakness. For as darkness is to light and death is to life, in the same way weakness is opposed to power. And yet Christ is God’s power. Power is usually not powerless, for, if power were weak, what would have power? When the Word proclaims that he can do nothing, therefore, he is clearly not attributing lack of power to the divinity of the only begotten One but is testifying that the lack of power is due to the weakness of our nature. And the flesh is weak, as Scripture says: “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” [Mt 26:41]. Dialogue 48.

5:20 Theodore of Mopsuestia: He said that “greater works than these”—evidently greater than the healing of the paralyzed man—had to be shown by him so that they would be astonished. Here [Jesus] alludes to the general resurrection and to those things that he will do when he appears [again] to stand in judgment of all things. When he does this, there will be no denying his dignity. At that time, they will be astonished—and for good reason—learning who he [truly] was and what role he has been given. Undoubtedly, after seeing that, they will agree concerning the nature dwelling in him. Commentary on John 25.20–21.

5:26 Hilary of Poitiers: [Christ] bore witness that life, to the fullest extent, is his gift from the living God. Now if the living Son was born from the living Father, that birth took place without a new nature coming into existence. Nothing new comes into existence when the living is begotten by the living, for life was not sought out from the nonexistent in order to receive birth. And life, which receives its birth from life, must—because of that unity of nature and because of the mysterious event of that perfect and ineffable birth—live always in [Christ], who lives and has the life of the living in himself. On the Trinity 7.27.

5:29 Gregory of Nazianzus: Those who have done good shall go into the resurrection of life, now hidden in Christ and to be manifested hereafter with him. And those who have done evil shall go into the resurrection of judgment to which those who have not believed have been condemned already by the word, which judges them. Some will be welcomed by the unspeakable light and the vision of the holy and royal Trinity, which now shines on them with greater brilliancy and purity and unites itself wholly to the whole soul. . . . The others . . . must endure the being outcast from God and the shame of conscience which has no limit. On His Father’s Silence, Oration 16.9.

5:39 Chrysostom: [Jesus] tells them not to simply “read the Scriptures” but “search the Scriptures.” . . . These sayings were not on the surface or out in the open but were hidden very deep like some treasure. Anyone who searches for hidden things, unless they are careful and diligent, will never find the object of their search. This is why he says . . . , “For in them you think you have eternal life,” meaning that they did not reap much fruit from the Scriptures, thinking, as they did, that they should be saved by the mere reading of them, without faith. . . . And so, it was with good reason that he said “you think,” because they did not actually listen to what the Scripture had to say but merely prided themselves on the bare reading. Homilies on the Gospel of John 41.1.

5:46-47 Chrysostom: Someone might say, “What do you have to do with Moses when you broke the very sabbath that he ordained we should keep? How then does Moses accuse us? And why should we believe on someone else who comes in his own name? All these assertions you make have no evidence to back them up.” Now in truth all these points are proved above. “For,” [Christ would reply] “since it is acknowledged that I came from God by my works, by the voice of John and the testimony of the Father, it is certain that Moses too would condemn you.” For Moses had said that if any one shall come doing miracles, leading people to God and foretelling the future with certainty, you must obey him [see Dt 8:15,18-19]. Now Christ had done all this. Homilies on the Gospel of John 41.2.