After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Parallel Translations
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After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
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After that ther was a feast of the Iewes and Iesus went vp to Ierusalem.
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After that, there was a feast of the Iewes, and Iesus went vp to Hierusalem.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to John 5:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times in a year all of your males shall appear before Yahweh your God in the place which he chooses: in the feast of unleavened bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths. They shall not appear before Yahweh empty.
- Exodus 23:14-17 “You shall observe a feast to me three times a year. You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt), and no one shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh.
- Leviticus 23:2-4 “Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. “ ‘Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings. “ ‘These are the set feasts of Yahweh, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in their appointed season.
- Exodus 34:23 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
- John 2:13 The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 1. There was a feast of the Jews. Though…
1. There was a feast of the Jews. Though the Evangelist does not expressly state what feast this was, yet the probable conjecture is that he means Pentecost, at least if what is here related took place immediately after that Christ came into Galilee. For immediately after the Passover he set out from Jerusalem, and, as he was passing through Samaria, he reckoned four months to the harvest; having entered Galilee he cured the courtier’s son. The Evangelist adds that the feast came afterwards; and, therefore, the order of time leads us to conclude that we ought to understand it to be Pentecost; though I do not dispute about that matter. Now Christ came to Jerusalem to the feast, partly because at that time, on account of the great multitude of people who were assembled, he had the opportunity of publishing his doctrine more extensively, and partly because it was necessary that he should be subject to the Law, that he might redeem us from the bondage of the Law, as we have already explained on former occasions.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 1 After this there was a feast of the…
1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. A feast of the Jews] This was the feast of Pentecost. Others say the Passover, which came but once a year. The true Christians (for whom the true Passover was sacrificed, 1Co 5:7) keep a continual feast or holy day, εορταζωμεν, with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, 1Co 5:8. Diogenes could say, that a good man keeps holy days and hath gaudies delights all the year about. {a} "Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me," Exo 5:1. In other messages it is, "that they may serve me."
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{a} πασαν ημεραν εορτην ηγειται. Laert.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Though there are some that think the feast mentioned…
Though there are some that think the feast mentioned here was that of Pentecost, and others that it was the feast of tabernacles, yet the most and best interpreters judge it was the feast of the passover that is here mentioned; and that this was the second passover which happened after our Saviour had entered upon his public ministry. We read of the first, Joh 2:13; and from that verse of that chapter to this chapter the evangelist (as they think) hath been relating so much of our Saviour’s actions, until the second passover, as it was the will of God we should have upon public authentic record, and had not been recorded by the other evangelists, who give a further account of his actions done this year, Mat 4:1-25; 8:1-34; 9:1-38; Mar 1:1-45; 2:1-28; Luk 4:1-44; 5:1-39. In the time of our Saviour’s public ministry (which was three years and a half) there were four passovers. The other evangelists take notice but of one of them, and that the last. John is thought to have mentioned all the four; the first, Joh 2:13, the second in this place, the third, Joh 6:4, the fourth, Joh 8:1. Another reason they give why the feast of the passover should be here intended is, because from about that time to the harvest were four months, according to what our Saviour had said, Joh 4:35.
Jesus went up to the passover, to Jerusalem, to show his obedience to his Father’s law, Deu 16:16.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain This chapter begins with a description of the famous…
This chapter begins with a description of the famous pool of Bethesda; whose waters were medicinal, to cure the first come thereunto, whatsoever disease he had.
Some think this was effected in a natural way, and that the intrails of the sacrificed beasts being washed in this pool, an healing virtue was communicated for curing the palsy, and such cold diseases: as persons that have lame and withered hands, are at this day directed to put them into the belly of a beast newly opened.
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But others look upon the healing virtue of this pool to be supernatural and miraculous, because it cured all diseases how great and desperate soever, and this in a moment, or very quickly; and but one at a time; and that one, the first that stepped in only, after an angel had descended and troubled the waters: all which shew, that the healing virtue came not from the goodness of the waters, but that it was a supernatural work.
Some think that the miracle of this pool was granted to the Jews, partly to strengthen them in the true worship of God, and to confirm them in their religious course of sacrificing, against the scoffs of the Romans, who were now their lords; such a virtue being given to that water wherein their sacrifices were wont to be washed.
Learn thence, That means of God’s appointment, how improbable and unlikely soever, must not be despised, but awfully admird, and thankfully used; although the way and manner of their working be not understood or comprehended by us.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain This miraculous cure is not recorded by any other…
This miraculous cure is not recorded by any other of the evangelists, who confine themselves mostly to the miracles wrought in Galilee, but John relates those wrought at Jerusalem. Concerning this observe,
I. The time when this cure was wrought: it was at a feast of the Jews, that is, the passover, for that was the most celebrated feast. Christ, though residing in Galilee, yet went up to Jerusalem at the feast, Joh 5:1. 1. Because it was an ordinance of God, which, as a subject, he would observe, being made under the law; though as a Son he might have pleaded an exemption. Thus he would teach us to attend religious assemblies. Heb 10:25. 2. Because it was an opportunity of good; for, (1.) there were great numbers gathered together there at that time; it was a general rendezvous, at least of all serious thinking people, from all parts of the country, besides proselytes from other nations: and Wisdom must cry in the places of concourse, Pro 1:21. (2.) It was to be hoped that they were in a good frame, for they came together to worship God and to spend their time in religious exercises. Now a mind inclined to devotion, and sequestering itself to the exercises of piety, lies very open to the further discoveries of divine light and love, and to it Christ will be acceptable.
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II. The place where this cure was wrought: at the pool of Bethesda, which had a miraculous healing virtue in it, and is here particularly described, Joh 5:2-4.
1. Where it was situated: At Jerusalem, by the sheep-market; epi tē probatikē. It might as well be rendered the sheep-cote, where the sheep were kept, or the sheep-gate, which we read of, Neh 3:1, through which the sheep were brought, as the sheep-market, where they were sold. Some think it was near the temple, and, if so, it yielded a melancholy but profitable spectacle to those that went up to the temple to pray.
2. How it was called: It was a pool (a pond or bath), which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda - the house of mercy; for therein appeared much of the mercy of God to the sick and diseased. In a world of so much misery as this is, it is well that there are some Bethesdas - houses of mercy (remedies against those maladies), that the scene is not all melancholy. An alms-house, so Dr. Hammond. Dr. Lightfoot's conjecture is that this was the upper pool (Isa 7:3), and the old pool, Isa 22:11; that it had been used for washing from ceremonial pollutions, for convenience of which the porches were built to dress and undress in, but it was lately become medicinal.
3. How it was fitted up: It had five porches, cloisters, piazzas, or roofed walks, in which the sick lay. Thus the charity of men concurred with the mercy of God for the relief of the distressed. Nature has provided remedies, but men must provide hospitals.
4. How it was frequented with sick and cripples (Joh 5:3): In these lay a great multitude of impotent folks. How many are the afflictions of the afflicted in this world! How full of complaints are all places, and what multitudes of impotent folks! It may do us good to visit the hospitals sometimes, that we may take occasion, from the calamities of others, to thank God for our comforts. The evangelist specifies three sorts of diseased people that lay here, blind, halt, and withered or sinew - shrunk, either in one particular part, as the man with the withered hand, or all over paralytic. These are mentioned because, being least able to help themselves into the water, they lay longest waiting in the porches. Those that were sick of these bodily diseases took the pains to come far and had the patience to wait long for a cure; any of us would have done the same, and we ought to do so: but O that men were as wise for their souls, and as solicitous to get their spiritual diseases healed! We are all by nature impotent folks in spiritual things, blind, halt, and withered; but effectual provision is made for our cure if we will but observe orders.
5. What virtue it had for the cure of these impotent folks (Joh 5:4). An angel went down, and troubled the water; and whoso first stepped in was made whole. That this strange virtue in the pool was natural, or artificial rather, and was the effect of the washing of the sacrifices, which impregnated the water with I know not what healing virtue even for blind people, and that the angel was a messenger, a common person, sent down to stir the water, is altogether groundless; there was a room in the temple on purpose to wash the sacrifices in. Expositors generally agree that the virtue this pool had was supernatural. It is true the Jewish writers, who are not sparing in recounting the praises of Jerusalem, do none of them make the least mention of this healing pool, of which silence in this matter perhaps this is the reason, that it was taken for a presage of the near approach of the Messiah, and therefore those who denied him to be come industriously concealed such an indication of his coming; so that this is all the account we have of it. Observe,
(1.) The preparation of the medicine by an angel, who went down into the pool, and stirred the water. Angels are God's servants, and friends to mankind; and perhaps are more active in the removing of diseases (as evil angels in the inflicting of them) than we are aware of. Raphael, the apocryphal name of an angel, signifies medicina Dei - God's physic, or physician rather. See what mean offices the holy angels condescend to, for the good of men. If we would do the will of God as the angels do it, we must think nothing below us but sin. The troubling of the water was the signal given of the descent of the angel, as the going upon the tops of the mulberry trees was to David, and then they must bestir themselves. The waters of the sanctuary are then healing when they are put in motion. Ministers must stir up the gift that is in them. When they are cold and dull in their ministrations, the waters settle, and are not apt to heal. The angel descended, to stir the water, not daily, perhaps not frequently, but at a certain season; some think, at the three solemn feasts, to grace those solemnities; or, now and then, as Infinite Wisdom saw fit. God is a free agent in dispensing his favours.
(2.) The operation of the medicine: Whoever first stepped in was made whole. here is, [1.] miraculous extent of the virtue as to the diseases cured; what disease soever it was, this water cured it. Natural and artificial baths are as hurtful in some cases as they are useful in others, but this was a remedy for every malady, even for those that came from contrary causes. The power of miracles succeeds where the power of nature succumbs. [2.] A miraculous limitation of the virtue as to the persons cured: He that first stepped in had the benefit; that is, he or they that stepped in immediately were cured, not those that lingered and came in afterwards. This teaches us to observe and improve our opportunities, and to look about us, that we slip not a season which may never return. The angel stirred the waters, but left the diseased to themselves to get in. God has put virtue into the scriptures and ordinances, for he would have healed us; but, if we do not make a due improvement of them, it is our own fault, we would not be healed.
Now this is all the account we have of this standing miracle; it is uncertain when it began and when it ceased. Some conjecture it began when Eliashib the high priest began the building of the wall about Jerusalem, and sanctified it with prayer; and that God testified his acceptance by putting this virtue into the adjoining pool. Some think it began now lately at Christ's birth; nay, others at his baptism. Dr. Lightfoot, finding in Josephus, Antiq. 15.121-122, mention of a great earthquake in the seventh year of Herod, thirty years before Christ's birth, supposed, since there used to be earthquakes at the descent of angels, that then the angel first descended to stir this water. Some think it ceased with this miracle, others at Christ's death; however, it is certain it had a gracious signification. First, it was a token of God's good will to that people, and an indication that, though they had been long without prophets and miracles, yet God had not cast them off; though they were now an oppressed despised people, and many were ready to say, Where are all the wonders that our fathers told us of? God did hereby let them know that he had still a kindness for the city of their solemnities. We may hence take occasion to acknowledge with thankfulness God's power and goodness in the mineral waters, that contribute so much to the health of mankind; for God made the fountains of water, Rev 14:7. Secondly, It was a type of the Messiah, who is the fountain opened; and was intended to raise people's expectations of him who is the Sun of righteousness, that arises with healing under his wings. These waters had formerly been used for purifying, now for healing, to signify both the cleansing and curing virtue of the blood of Christ, that incomparable bath, which heals all our diseases. The waters of Siloam, which filled this pool, signified the kingdom of David, and of Christ the Son of David (Isa 8:6); fitly therefore have they now this sovereign virtue put into them. The laver of regeneration is to us as Bethesda's pool, healing our spiritual diseases; not at certain seasons, but at all times. Whoever will, let him come.
III. The patient on whom this cure was wrought (Joh 5:5): one that had been infirm thirty-eight years. 1. His disease was grievous: He had an infirmity, a weakness; he had lost the use of his limbs, at least on one side, as is usual in palsies. It is sad to have the body so disabled that, instead of being the soul's instrument, it is become, even in the affairs of this life, its burden. What reason have we to thank God for bodily strength, to use it for him, and to pity those who are his prisoners! 2. The duration of it was tedious: Thirty-eight years. He was lame longer than most live. Many are so long disabled for the offices of life that, as the psalmist complains, they seem to be made in vain; for suffering, not for service; born to be always dying. Shall we complain of one wearisome night, or one fit of illness, who perhaps for many years have scarcely known what it has been to be a day sick, when many others, better than we, have scarcely known what it has been to be a day well? Mr. Baxter's note on this passage is very affecting: "How great a mercy was it to live thirty-eight years under God's wholesome discipline! O my God," saith he, "I thank thee for the like discipline of fifty-eight years; how safe a life is this, in comparison of full prosperity and pleasure!"
IV. The cure and the circumstances of it briefly related, Joh 5:6-9.
1. Jesus saw him lie. Observe, When Christ came up to Jerusalem he visited not the palaces, but the hospitals, which is an instance of his humility, and condescension, and tender compassion, and an indication of his great design in coming into the world, which was to seek and save the sick and wounded. There was a great multitude of poor cripples here at Bethesda, but Christ fastened his eye upon this one, and singled him out from the rest, because he was senior of the house, and in a more deplorable condition than any of the rest; and Christ delights to help the helpless, and hath mercy on whom he will have mercy. Perhaps his companions in tribulation insulted over him, because he had often been disappointed of a cure; therefore Christ took him for his patient: it is his honour to side with the weakest, and bear up those whom he sees run down.
2. He knew and considered how long he had lain in this condition. Those that have been long in affliction may comfort themselves with this, that God keeps account how long, and knows our frame.
3. He asked him, Wilt thou be made whole? A strange question to be asked one that had been so long ill. Some indeed would not be made whole, because their sores serve them to beg by and serve them for an excuse for idleness; but this poor man was as unable to go a begging as to work, yet Christ put it to him, (1.) To express his own pity and concern for him. Christ is tenderly inquisitive concerning the desires of those that are in affliction, and is willing to know what is their petition: "What shall I do for you?" (2.) To try him whether he would be beholden for a cure to him against whom the great people were so prejudiced and sought to prejudice others. (3.) To teach him to value the mercy, and to excite in him desires after it. In spiritual cases, people are not willing to be cured of their sins, are loth to part with them. If this point therefore were but gained, if people were willing to be made whole, the work were half done, for Christ is willing to heal, if we be but willing to be healed, Mat 8:3.
4. The poor impotent man takes this opportunity to renew his complaint, and to set forth the misery of his case, which makes his cure the more illustrious: Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool, Joh 5:7. He seems to take Christ's question as an imputation of carelessness and neglect: "If thou hadst had a mind to be healed, thou wouldest have looked better to thy hits, and have got into the healing waters long before now." "No, Master," saith the poor man, "It is not for want of a good will, but of a good friend, that I am unhealed. I have done what I could to help myself, but in vain, for no one else will help me." (1.) He does not think of any other way of being cured than by these waters, and desires no other friendship than to be helped into them; therefore, when Christ cured him, his imagination or expectation could not contribute to it, for he thought of no such thing. (2.) He complains for want of friends to help him in: "I have no man, no friend to do me that kindness." One would think that some of those who had been themselves healed should have lent him a hand; but it is common for the poor to be destitute of friends; no man careth for their soul. To the sick and impotent it is as true a piece of charity to work for them as to relieve them; and thus the poor are capable of being charitable to one another, and ought to be so, though we seldom find that they are so; I speak it to their shame. (3.) He bewails his infelicity, that very often when he was coming another stepped in before him. But a step between him and a cure, and yet he continues impotent. None had the charity to say, "Your case is worse than mine, do you go in now, and I will stay till the next time;" for there is no getting over the old maxim, Every one for himself. Having been so often disappointed, he begins to despair, and now is Christ's time to come to his relief; he delights to help in desperate cases. Observe, How mildly this man speaks of the unkindness of those about him, without any peevish reflections. As we should be thankful for the least kindness, so we should be patient under the greatest contempts; and, let our resentments be ever so just, yet our expressions should ever be calm. And observe further, to his praise, that, though he had waited so long in vain, yet still he continued lying by the pool side, hoping that some time or other help would come, Hab 2:3.
5. Our Lord Jesus hereupon cures him with a word speaking, though he neither asked it nor thought of it. Here is,
(1.) The word he said: Rise, take up thy bed, Joh 5:8. [1.] He is bidden to rise and walk; a strange command to be given to an impotent man, that had been long disabled; but this divine word was to be the vehicle of a divine power; it was a command to the disease to be gone, to nature to be strong, but it is expressed as a command to him to bestir himself. He must rise and walk, that is, attempt to do it, and in the essay he should receive strength to do it. The conversion of a sinner is the cure of a chronic disease; this is ordinarily done by the word, a word of command: Arise, and walk; turn, and live; make ye a new heart; which no more supposes a power in us to do it, without the grace of God, distinguishing grace, than this supposed such a power in the impotent man. But, if he had not attempted to help himself, he had not been cured, and he must have borne the blame; yet it does not therefore follow that, when he did rise and walk, it was by his own strength; no, it was by the power of Christ, and he must have all the glory. Observe, Christ did not bid him rise and go into the waters, but rise and walk. Christ did that for us which the law could not do, and set that aside. [2.] He is bidden to take up his bed. First, To make it to appear that it was a perfect cure, and purely miraculous; for he did not recover strength by degrees, but from the extremity of weakness and impotency he suddenly stepped into the highest degree of bodily strength; so that he was able to carry as great a load as any porter that had been as long used to it as he had been disused. He, who this minute was not able to turn himself in his bed, the next minute was able to carry his bed. The man sick of the palsy (Mat 9:6) was bidden to go to his house, but probably this man had no house to go to, the hospital was his home; therefore he is bidden to rise and walk. Secondly, It was to proclaim the cure, and make it public; for, being the sabbath day, whoever carried a burden through the streets made himself very remarkable, and every one would enquire what was the meaning of it; thereby notice of the miracle would spread, to the honour of God. Thirdly, Christ would thus witness against the tradition of the elders, which had stretched the law of the sabbath beyond its intention; and would likewise show that he was Lord of the sabbath, and had power to make what alterations he pleased about it, and to over-rule the law. Joshua, and the host of Israel, marched about Jericho on the sabbath day, when God commanded them, so did this man carry his bed, in obedience to a command. The case may be such that it may become a work of necessity, or mercy, to carry a bed on the sabbath day; but here it was more, it was a work of piety, being designed purely for the glory of God. Fourthly, He would hereby try the faith and obedience of his patient. By carrying his bed publicly, he exposed himself to the censure of the ecclesiastical court, and was liable, at least, to be scourged in the synagogue. Now, will he run the hazard of this, in obedience to Christ? Yes, he will. Those that have been healed by Christ's word should be ruled by his word, whatever it cost them.
(2.) The efficacy of this word (Joh 5:9): a divine power went alone with it, and immediately he was made whole, took up his bed, and walked. [1.] He felt the power of Christ's word healing him: Immediately he was made whole. What a joyful surprise was this to the poor cripple, to find himself all of a sudden so easy, so strong, so able to help himself! What a new world was he in, in an instant! Nothing is too hard for Christ to do. [2.] He obeyed the power of Christ's word commanding him. He took up his bed and walked, and did not care who blamed him or threatened him for it. The proof of our spiritual cure is our rising and walking. Hath Christ healed our spiritual diseases? Let us go whithersoever he sends us, and take up whatever he is pleased to lay upon us, and walk before him.
V. What became of the poor man after he was cured. We are here told,
1. What passed between him and the Jews who saw him carry his bed on the sabbath day; for on that day this cure was wrought, and it was the sabbath that fell within the passover week, and therefore a high day, Joh 19:31. Christ's work was such that he needed not make any difference between sabbath days and other days, for he was always about his Father's business; but he wrought many remarkable cures on that day, perhaps to encourage his church to expect those spiritual favours from him, in their observance of the Christian sabbath, which were typified by his miraculous cures. Now here,
(1.) The Jews quarrelled with the man for carrying his bed on the sabbath day, telling him that it was not lawful, Joh 19:10. It does not appear whether they were magistrates, who had power to punish him, or common people, who could only inform against him; but thus far was commendable, that, while they knew not by what authority he did it, they were jealous for the honour of the sabbath, and could not unconcernedly see it profaned; like Nehemiah. Neh 13:17.
(2.) The man justified himself in what he did by a warrant that would bear him out, Joh 5:11. "I do not do it in contempt of the law and the sabbath, but in obedience to one who, by making me whole, has given me an undeniable proof that he is greater than either. He that could work such a miracle as to make me whole no doubt might give me such a command as to carry my bed; he that could overrule the powers of nature no doubt might overrule a positive law, especially in an instance not of the essence of the law. He that was so kind as to make me whole would not be so unkind as to bid me do what is sinful." Christ, by curing another paralytic, proved his power to forgive sin, here to give law; if his pardons are valid, his edicts are so, and his miracles prove both.
(3.) The Jews enquired further who it was that gave him this warrant (Joh 5:12): What man is that? Observe, How industriously they overlooked that which might be a ground of their faith in Christ. They enquire not, no, not for curiosity, "Who is it that made thee whole?" While they industriously caught at that which might be a ground of reflection upon Christ (What man is it who said unto thee, Take up thy bed?) they would fain subpoena the patient to be witness against his physician, and to be his betrayer. In their question, observe, [1.] They resolve to look upon Christ as a mere man: What man is that? For, though he gave ever such convincing proofs of it, they were resolved that they would never own him to be the Son of God. [2.] They resolve to look upon him as a bad man, and take it for granted that he who bade this man carry his bed, whatever divine commission he might produce, was certainly a delinquent, and as such they resolve to prosecute him. What man is that who durst give such orders?
(4.) The poor man was unable to give them any account of him: He wist not who he was, Joh 5:13.
[1.] Christ was unknown to him when he healed him. Probably he had heard of the name of Jesus, but had never seen him, and therefore could not tell that this was he. Note, Christ does many a good turn for those that know him not, Isa 45:4, Isa 45:5. He enlightens, strengthens, quickens, comforts us, and we wist not who he is; nor are aware how much we receive daily by his mediation. This man, being unacquainted with Christ, could not actually believe in him for a cure; but Christ knew the dispositions of his soul, and suited his favours to them, as to the blind man in a like case, Joh 9:36. Our covenant and communion with God take rise, not so much from our knowledge of him, as from his knowledge of us. We know God, or, rather, are known of him, Gal 4:9.
[2.] For the present he kept himself unknown; for as soon as he had wrought the cure he conveyed himself away, he made himself unknown (so some read it), a multitude being in that place. This is mentioned to show, either, First, How Christ conveyed himself away - by retiring into the crowd, so as not to be distinguished from a common person. He that was the chief of ten thousand often made himself one of the throng. It is sometimes the lot of those who have by their services signalized themselves to be levelled with the multitude, and overlooked. Or Secondly, Why he conveyed himself away, because there was a multitude there, and he industriously avoided both the applause of those who would admire the miracle and cry that up, and the censure of those who would censure him as a sabbath-breaker, and run him down. Those that are active for God in their generation must expect to pass through evil report and good report; and it is wisdom as much as may be to keep out of the hearing of both; lest by the one we be exalted, and by the other depressed, above measure. Christ left the miracle to commend itself, and the man on whom it was wrought to justify it.
2. What passed between him and our Lord Jesus at their next interview, Joh 5:14. Observe here,
(1.) Where Christ found him: in the temple, the place of public worship. In our attendance on public worship we may expect to meet with Christ, and improve our acquaintance with him. Observe, [1.] Christ went to the temple. Though he had many enemies, yet he appeared in public, because there he bore his testimony to divine institutions, and had opportunity of doing good. [2.] The man that was cured went to the temple. There Christ found him the same day, as it should seem, that he was healed; thither he straightway went, First, Because he had, by his infirmity, been so long detained thence. Perhaps he had not been there for thirty-eight years, and therefore, as soon as ever the embargo is taken off, his first visit shall be to the temple, as Hezekiah intimates his shall be (Isa 38:22): What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? Secondly, Because he had by his recovery a good errand thither; he went up to the temple to return thanks to God for his recovery. When God has at any time restored us our health we ought to attend him with solemn praises (Psa 116:18, Psa 116:19), and the sooner the better, while the sense of the mercy is fresh. Thirdly, Because he had, by carrying his bed, seemed to put a contempt on the sabbath, he would thus show that he had an honour for it, and made conscience of sabbath-sanctification, in that on which the chief stress of it is laid, which is the public worship of God. Works of necessity and mercy are allowed; but when they are over we must go to the temple.
(2.) What he said to him. When Christ has cured us, he has not done with us; he now applies himself to the healing of his soul, and this by the word too. [1.] He gives him a memento of his cure: Behold thou art made whole. He found himself made whole, yet Christ calls his attention to it. Behold, consider it seriously, how sudden, how strange, how cheap, how easy, the cure was: admire it; behold, and wonder: Remember it; let the impressions of it abide, and never be lost, Isa 38:9. [2.] He gives him a caution against sin, in consideration hereof, Being made whole, sin no more. This implies that his disease was the punishment of sin; whether of some remarkably flagrant sin, or only of sin in general, we cannot tell, but we know that sin is the procuring cause of sickness, Psa 107:17, Psa 107:18. Some observe that Christ did not make mention of sin to any of his patients, except to this impotent man, and another who was in like manner diseased, Mar 2:5. While those chronical diseases lasted, they prevented the outward acts of many sins, and therefore watchfulness was the more necessary when the disability was removed. Christ intimates that those who are made whole, who are eased of the present sensible punishment of sin, are in danger of returning to sin when the terror and restraint are over, unless divine grace dry up the fountain. When the trouble which only dammed up the current is over, the waters will return to their old course; and therefore there is great need of watchfulness, lest after healing mercy we return again to folly. The misery we were made whole from warns us to sin no more, having felt the smart of sin; the mercy we were made whole by is an engagement upon us not to offend him who healed us. This is the voice of every providence, Go and sin no more. This man began his new life very hopefully in the temple, yet Christ saw it necessary to give him this caution; for it is common for people, when they are sick, to promise much, when newly recovered to perform something, but after awhile to forget all. [3.] He gives him warning of his danger, in case he should return to his former sinful course: Lest a worse thing come to thee. Christ, who knows all men's hearts, knew that he was one of those that must be frightened from sin. Thirty-eight years' lameness, one would think, was a thing bad enough; yet there is something worse that will come to him if he relapse into sin after God has given him such a deliverance as this, Ezr 9:13, Ezr 9:14. The hospital where he lay was a melancholy place, but hell is much more so: the doom of apostates is a worse thing than thirty-eight years' lameness.
VI. Now, after this interview between Christ and his patient, observe in the two following verses, 1. The notice which the poor simple man gave to the Jews concerning Christ, Joh 5:15. He told them it was Jesus that had made him whole. We have reason to think that he intended this for the honour of Christ and the benefit of the Jews, little thinking that he who had so much power and goodness could have any enemies; but those who wish well to Christ's kingdom must have the wisdom of the serpent, lest they do more hurt than good with their zeal, and must not cast pearls before swine. 2. The rage and enmity of the Jews against him: Therefore did the rulers of the Jews persecute Jesus. See, (1.) How absurd and unreasonable their enmity to Christ was. Therefore, because he had made a poor sick man well, and so eased the public charge, upon which, it is likely, he had subsisted; therefore they persecuted him, because he did good in Israel. (2.) How bloody and cruel it was: They sought to slay him; nothing less than his blood, his life, would satisfy them. (3.) How it was varnished over with a colour of zeal for the honour of the sabbath; for this was the pretended crime, Because he had done these things on the sabbath day, as if that circumstance were enough to vitiate the best and most divine actions, and to render him obnoxious whose deeds were otherwise most meritorious. Thus hypocrites often cover their real enmity against the power of godliness with a pretended zeal for the form of it.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain A feast - Pentecost.
A feast - Pentecost.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain The man who had been diseased thirty-eight years healed…
CHAPTER V.
The man who had been diseased thirty-eight years healed on
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the Sabbath day, 1-9.
The Jews cavil, persecute Christ, and seek to kill him, because
he had done this cure on the Sabbath, 10-16.
Our Lord vindicates his conduct, and shows, from the testimony
of the Father, the Scriptures, John the Baptist, and his own
works, that he came from God, to be the light and salvation of
the world, 17-39.
He reproves the Jews for their obstinacy, 40;
hatred to God, 41, 42;
pride, 43, 44;
and disbelief of their own law, 45-47.
NOTES ON CHAP. V.
Verse 1. A feast] This is generally supposed, by the best critics, to have been the feast of the passover, which was the most eminent feast among the Jews. In several excellent MSS. the article is added, η εορτη, THE feast, the grand, the principal festival. Petavius supposes that the feast of Purim, or lots, is here meant; and one MS. reads η σκηνοπηγια, the feast of Tabernacles. Several of the primitive fathers believe Pentecost to be intended; and they are followed by many of the moderns, because, in Joh 7:2, mention is made of the feast of Tabernacles, which followed Pentecost, and was about the latter end of our September; and, in Joh 10:22, mention is made of the feast of Dedication, which was held about the latter end of November. See Bp. Pearce. See Joh 10:22.
Calmet, however, argues that there is no other feast with which all the circumstances marked here so well agree as with the passover; and Bp. Newcome, who is of Calmet's opinion, thinks Bp. Pearce's argument concerning the succession of the feasts to be inconclusive; because it is assumed, not proved, that the three feasts which he mentions above must have happened in the same year. See much on the same subject in Bp. Newcome's notes to his Harmony, p. 15, c.
Lightfoot has observed, that the other evangelists speak very sparingly of our Lord's acts in Judea. They mention nothing of the passovers, from our Lord's baptism till his death, excepting the very last: but John points at them all. The first he speaks of, Joh 2:13 the third, Joh 6:4; the fourth, Joh 13:1; and the second in this place: for although he does not call it the passover, but a feast in general, yet the circumstances agree best with this feast; and our Lord's words, Joh 4:35, seem to cast light on this subject. See the note there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Joh 5:1. After this there was a feast —…
Joh 5:1. After this there was a feast — Greek, η εορτη, the feast; of the Jews — This, in all probability, was the feast of the passover; because that solemnity was called the feast, by way of eminence, (Mat 27:15; Mar 15:6;) and because immediately after it, we find the disciples on the sabbath in the fields, rubbing the ears, probably of barley, a kind of grain which was always fit for reaping at the passover. It is generally thought this was the second passover that Christ attended after the commencement of his public ministry.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain A feast - Probably the Passover, though it is…
A feast - Probably the Passover, though it is not certain. There were two other feasts - the Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles - at which all the males were required to be present, and it might have been one of them. It is of no consequence, however, which of them is intended.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Observe here the malice of the Pharisees; they were…
Observe here the malice of the Pharisees; they were more hurt at the cure of the sick man, than at the violation of the sabbath. Therefore, they ask not, Who healed you; but, as if they wished to keep that out of sight, Who told you to take up you bed? (St. John Chrysostom) --- But he answers: The same who healed me: Why should I not receive orders from him from whom I have received my health? (St. Augustine) --- By the festival, mentioned in ver. 1, is generally understood the Passover; and this was the second from the commencement of Christ’s ministry. St. Matthew calls it by this name, chap. xxvi. 5; St. Mark, Chap. xiv. 2. and xv. 6; and St. Luke, Chap. xxiii. 17. For the first Passover, see above, John ii. 13; for the third, John vi. 4; for the fourth and last, Matthew xxvi. 17. The first three are only mentioned by St. John, the fourth by all the evangelists.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain John Chapter 5
John Chapter 5
Chapter 5 contrasts the quickening power of Christ, the power and the right of giving life to the dead, with the powerlessness of legal ordinances. They required strength in the person that was to profit by them. Christ brought with Him the power that was to heal, and indeed to quicken. Further, all judgment is committed to Him, so that those who had received life would not come into judgment. The end of the chapter sets forth the testimonies that have been borne to Him, and the guilt therefore of those who would not come to Him to have life. One is sovereign grace, the other responsibility because life was there. To have life His divine power was needed; but in rejecting Him, in refusing to come unto Him that they might have life, they did so in spite of the most positive proofs.
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Let us go a little into the details. The poor man who had an infirmity for thirty-eight years was absolutely hindered, by the nature of his disease, from profiting by means that required strength to use them. This is the character of sin, on the one hand, and of law on the other. Some remains of blessing still existed among the Jews. Angels, ministers of that dispensation, still wrought among the people. Jehovah did not leave Himself without testimony. But strength was needed to profit by this instance of their ministry. That which the law could not do, being weak through the flesh, God has done through Jesus. The impotent man had desire, but not strength; to will was present with him, but no power to perform. The Lord’s question brings this out. A single word from Christ does everything. “Rise, take up thy bed and walk.” Strength is imparted. The man rises, and goes away carrying his bed. [24] It was the Sabbath-an important circumstance here, holding a prominent place in this interesting scene. The Sabbath was given as a token of the covenant between the Jews and theLord. [25]
But it had been proved that the law did not give God’s rest to man. The power of a new life was needed; grace was needed, that man might be in relationship with God. The healing of this poor man was an operation of this same grace, of this same power, but wrought in the midst of Israel. The pool of Bethesda supposed power in man; the act of Jesus employed power, in grace, on behalf of one of the Lord’s people in distress. Therefore, as dealing with His people in government, He says to the man, “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” It was Jehovah acting by His grace and blessing among His people; but it was in temporal things, the tokens of His favour and lovingkindness, and in connection with His government in Israel. Still it was divine power and grace. Now, the man told the Jews that it was Jesus. They rise up against Him under the pretence of a violation of the Sabbath. The Lord’s answer is deeply affecting, and full of instruction-a whole revelation. It declares the relationship, now openly revealed by His coming, that existed between Himself (the Son) and His Father. It shews-and what depths of grace!-that neither the Father nor Himself could find their Sabbath [26] in the midst of misery and of the sad fruits of sin. Jehovah in Israel might impose the Sabbath as an obligation by the law, and make it a token of the previous truth that His people should enter into the rest of God. But, in fact, when God was truly known, there was no rest in existing things; nor was this all-He wrought in grace, His love could not rest in misery. He had instituted a rest in connection with the creation, when it was very good. Sin, corruption, and misery had entered into it. God, the holy and the just, no longer found a Sabbath in it, and man did not really enter into God’s rest (compare Heb 4:1-16). Of two things, one: either God must, in justice, destroy the guilty race; or-and this is what He did, according to His eternal purposes-He must begin to work in grace, according to the redemption which the state of man required-a redemption in which all His glory is unfolded. In a word, He must begin to work again in love. Thus the Lord says, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” God cannot be satisfied where there is sin. He cannot rest with misery in sight. He has no Sabbath, but still works in grace. How divine an answer to their wretched cavils!
Another truth came out from that which the Lord said: He put Himself on an equality with His Father. But the Jews, jealous for their ceremonies-for that which distinguished them from other nations-saw nothing of the glory of Christ, and seek to kill Him, treating Him as a blasphemer. This gives Jesus occasion to lay open the whole truth on this point. He was not like an independent being with equal rights, another God who acted on His own account, which, moreover, is impossible. There cannot be two supreme and omnipotent beings. The Son is in full union with the Father, does nothing without the Father, but does whatsoever He sees the Father do. There is nothing that the Father does which He does not in communion with the Son; and greater proofs of this should yet be seen, that they might marvel. This last sentence of the Lord’s words, as well as the whole of this Gospel, shews that, while revealing absolutely that He and the Father are one, He reveals it, and speaks of it as in a position in which He could be seen of men. The thing of which He speaks is in God; the position in which He speaks of it is a position taken, and, in a certainsense, inferior. We see everywhere that He is equal to, and one with, the Father. We see that He receives all from the Father, and does all after the Father’s mind. (This is shewn very remarkably in chapter 17). It is the Son, but the Son manifested in the flesh, acting in the mission which the Father sent Him to fulfil.
Two things are spoken of in this chapter (Joh 5:21-22) which demonstrate the glory of the Son. He quickens and He judges. It is not healing that is in question-a work which, at bottom, springs from the same source, and has its occasion in the same evil: but the giving of life in a manner evidently divine. As the Father raises the dead and quickens them, so the Son quickens wham He will. Here we have the first proof of His divine rights, He gives life, and He gives it to whom He will. But, being incarnate, He may be personally dishonoured, disallowed, despised of men. Consequently all judgment is committed unto Him, the Father judging no man, in order that all, even those who have rejected the Son, should honour Him, even as they honour the Father whom they own as God. If they refuse when He acts in grace, they shall be compelled when He acts in judgment. In life, we have communion by the Holy Ghost with the Father and the Son (and quickening or giving life is the work alike of the Father and the Son); but in the judgment, unbelievers will have to do with the Son of man whom they have rejected. The two things are quite distinct. He whom Christ has quickened will not need to be compelled to honour Him by undergoing judgment. Jesus will not call into judgment one whom He has saved by quickening him.
How may we know, then, to which of these two classes we belong? The Lord (praised be His name!) replies, he that hears His word, and believes Him who sent Him (believes the Father by hearing Christ), has everlasting life (such is the quickening power of His word), and shall not come into judgment. He is passed from death into life. Simple and wonderful testimony! [27] The judgment will glorify the Lord in the case of those who have despised Him here. The possession of eternal life, that they may not come into judgment, is the portion of those who believe.
The Lord then points out two distinct periods, in which the power that the Father committed to Him as having come down to the earth, is to be exercised. The hour was coming-was already come-in which the dead should hear the voice of the Son of God, and those that heard should live. This is the communication of spiritual life by Jesus, the Son of God, to man, who is dead by sin, and that by means of the word which he should hear. For the Father has given to the Son, to Jesus, thus manifested on earth, to have life in Himself (compare 1Jn 1:1-2). He has also given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man. For the kingdom and the judgment, according to the counsels of God, belong to Him as Son of man-in that character in which He was despised and rejected when He came in grace.
This passage also shews us that, although He was the eternal Son, one with the Father, He is always looked upon as manifested here in the flesh, and, therefore, as receiving all from the Father. It is thus that we have seen Him at the well of Samaria-the God who gave, but the One who asked the poor woman to give Him to drink.
Jesus, then, quickened souls at that time. He still quickens. They were not to marvel. A work, more wonderful in the eyes of men, should be accomplished. All those that were in the grave should come forth. This is the second period of which He speaks. In the one He quickens souls; in the other, He raises up bodies from death. The one has lasted during the ministry of Jesus and 1800 years since His death; the other is not yet come, but during its continuance two things will take place. There will be a resurrection of those who have done good (this will be a resurrection of life, the Lord will complete His quickening work), and there will be a resurrection of those who have done evil (this will be a resurrection for their judgment). This judgment will be according to the mind of God, and not according to any separate personal will of Christ. Thus far it is sovereign power, and as regards life sovereign grace-He quickens whom He will. What follows is man’s responsibility as regards the obtaining eternal life. It was there in Jesus, and they would not come to Him to have it.
The Lord goes on to point out to them four testimonies rendered to His glory and to His Person, which left them without excuse:-John, His own works, His Father, and the scriptures. Nevertheless, while pretending to receive the latter, as finding in them eternal life, they would not come to Him that they might have life. Poor Jews! The Son came in the name of the Father, and they would not receive Him; another shall come in his own name, and him they will receive. This better suits the heart of man. They sought honour from one another: how could they believe? Let us remember this. God does not accommodate Himself to the pride of man-does not arrange the truth so as to feed it. Jesus knew the Jews. Not that He would accuse them to the Father: Moses, in whom they trusted, would do that; for if they had believed Moses, they would have believed Christ. But if they did not credit the writings of Moses, how would they believe the words of a despised Saviour?
In result, the Son of God gives life, and He executes judgment. In the judgment that He executes, the testimony which had been rendered to His Person leaves man without excuse on the ground of his own responsibility. In chapter 5 Jesus is the Son of God who, with the Father, gives life, and as Son of man judges. In chapter 6 He is the object of faith, as come down from heaven and dying. He just alludes to His going on high as Son of man.
Footnotes for John Chapter 5
24: Christ brings the strength with Him which the law requires in man himself to profit by it.
25: The Sabbath is introduced, whatever new institution or arrangement is established under the law. And in truth, a part in the rest of God is, in certain aspects, the highest of our privileges (see Heb 4:1-16). The Sabbath was the close of the first or this creation, and will be so when fulfilled. Our rest is in the new one, and that not in the first man’s creation state but risen, Christ the second Man being its beginning and head. Hence the first day of the week.
26: God’s Sabbath is a Sabbath of love and holiness.
27: Remark how full the bearing of this is. If they do not come into judgment to settle their state, as man would put it, they are shewn to be wholly dead in sin. Grace in Christ does not contemplate an uncertain state which judgment will determine. It gives life and secures from judgment. But while He judges as Son of man according to the deeds done in the body, He shews us here that all were dead in sin to begin with.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain Open Antagonism between Christ, as the Light of the…
SECOND SECTION
Open Antagonism between Christ, as the Light of the World, and the Elements of Darkness in the World, especially in their proper Representatives, Unbelievers, but also in the Better Men, so far as They still belong to the World.
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Joh_5:1 to Joh_7:9
I
THE FEAST OF THE JEWS AND THE SABBATH OF THE JEWS, AND THEIR OBSERVANCE OF IT: KILLING CHRIST. THE FEAST OF CHRIST AND THE SABBATH OF CHRIST, AND HIS OBSERVANCE OF IT: RAISING THE DEAD. OFFENCE OF THE JUDAISTS IN JERUSALEM AT THE SABBATH-HEALING OF JESUS, AND AT HIS TESTIMONY CONCERNING HIS FREEDOM AND HIS DIVINE ORIGIN (AND BESIDES, DOUBTLESS, AT HIS OUTDOING THE POOL OF BETHESDA). FIRST ASSAULT UPON THE LIFE OF JESUS. CHRIST THE TRUE FOUNT OF HEALING (POOL OF BETHESDA), THE GLORIFIER OF THE SABBATH BY HIS SAVING WORK, THE KAISER OF THE DEAD, THE LIFE AS THE VITAL ENERGY AND HEALING OF THE WORLD, ACCREDITED BY JOHN, BY THE SCRIPTURES, BY MOSES. THE TRUE MESSIAH IN THE FATHER’S NAME, AND FALSE MESSIAHS
Chap. 5
1. The Healing.
1After this [these things, μετὰ ταῦτα, not τοῦτα] there was a feast1 of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 2Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market [sheep gate]2 a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue [in Hebrew, Ἐβραἵστι] Bethesda,3 having five porches. 3In these lay a great [omit great]4 multitude of impotent folk [of the sick, or diseased persons], of [omit of] blind, halt [lame], withered, waiting for the moving of the water. 4For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. 5[Omit all from waiting to had.]5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity 6[who had been in his infirmity]6 thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now [already] a long time in that case,7 he saith unto 7him, Wilt [Desirest] thou [to] be made whole? The impotent [sick] man answered him, Sirach , 8 I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me [carry me quickly, cast me] into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth [goeth] 8down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. 9And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked.
2. The offence at the healing on the sabbath
And on the same [on that] day was the sabbath.9 10The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath day [omit day]; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed [to take up the bed]. 11He answered them, He that made me whole, 12the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. Then10 asked they [They asked] him, What man is that which [Who is the man that] said unto thee, Take 13up thy bed, [omit thy bed]11 and walk? And [But] he that was healed12 wist [knew] not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away [withdrawn him self], a multitude [or crowd] being in that [the] place. 14Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a [some, τι] worse thing come unto thee [befall thee]. 15The man departed, and told13 the Jews that it was Jesus, which [who] had made him whole.
3. The accusation, a twofold accusation, and the vindication of jesus concerning his working on the sabbath, and concerning his claim to be the son of god
16And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus [And for this cause the Jews persecuted (judicially arraigned) Jesus], and sought to slay him [omit and sought to slay him],14 because he had done these things on the sabbath day [omit day].
17But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto [is working unceasingly even until now, or, up to this time] and I work [am working]. 18Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken [broke, ἔλυεν] the sabbath [according to their opinion], but said also that God was his Father [but also called God his own Father, πατέρα ἴδιον], making himself equal with God.
19Then answered Jesus [to this second accusation] and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do [doing, ποιοῦντα]: for what things soever he doeth, these things also doeth the Son likewise [in like manner]. 20For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that [which he] himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, [and greater works than these will he show him],15 that ye may marvel.
4. The saving operation of the son, his quickening in general
21For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22For the Father judgeth no man [Neither doth the Father judge any one], but hath committed all [the entire] judgment unto the Son: 23That all men should [may] honour the Son, even [omit even] as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent 24[who sent] him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life, and shall not come [cometh not, οὐχ ἔρχεται] into condemnation [judgment, χρίσιν]; but is passed from [hath passed out of]16 death unto [into, εὶς] life.—
5. The spiritual raising of the dead now immediately beginning
25Verily, 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. 26For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given [gave he] to the Son [also] to have life in himself; 27And hath given [he gave] him authority to execute judgment also [omit also]17 because he is the [a] Son of man.18
6. The future raising of the dead
28Marvel not at this: for the [an] hour is coming, in the [omit the] which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the [a] resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the [a] resurrection of damnation [judgment, χρίσεως].
30I can of mine own self [of myself] do nothing; as I hear [the actual sentence of God], I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father [him]19 which hath sent [who sent] me.
7. Testimony of jesus
31If I [myself] bear witness of [concerning] myself, my witness is [according to law of testimony] not true. 32There is another that beareth witness of [concerning] me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of [concerning] me is true.
8. Testimony of john the baptist
33Ye [have] sent [ὰπεστάλκατε] unto John, and he bare [hath borne] witness [μεμαρτύρηχεν ] unto the truth. 34But I receive not testimony [authentication] from [a] man:20 But these things I say [I speak openly of this matter], that ye [who know of the circumstances] might [may] be saved. 35He was a [the] burning and a shining light [lamp]21: and ye were willing for a season [a little while, an hour, πρὸς ὥραν] to rejoice in his light.22
9. Testimony of the father in the works of jesus and in the scriptures
36But I have greater witness than that of John23 for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do [the very works or, the works themselves which I am doing], bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. 37And the Father himself,24 which hath sent [who sent] me, hath borne witness of me.25 Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen [spiritually] his shape. 38And ye have not his word [Old Testament word] abiding [with living power] in you; 39for whom he [himself] hath [omit hath] sent, him ye believe not. Search [Ye do search]26 the Scriptures; for [because] in them [in the several books and letters] ye 40think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And [yet] ye will not come to me; that ye might [may] have life [the life of those Scriptures themselves].
10. Incapacity of the jews to know the true messiah, and their disposition to receive false messiahs in spite of the testimony of moses, whose accusation they incur
41I receive not [do not appropriate to myself] honour [glory, δόξαν] from men.27 42But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you [are not inwardly directed 43towards God]. I am [have] come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. 44How can ye believe, which [who] receive honour [glory] one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only [the glory that is from the only God, or, from him who alone is God]?28 45Do not think that I will [shall] accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust [ye hope, or, have placed your hope, ὴλπίχατε]. 46For had ye believed [if ye believed] Moses, ye would have be lieved [ye would believe] me; for he wrote of me. 47But if ye believe not his [not even his] writings, how shall [will] ye believe29 my words?
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[Preliminary Remarks.—The healing of a helpless and hopeless cripple at the House of Mercy is the first miracle of Jesus in Judea related by John, although He had performed signs there before, which are only alluded to, 2:23; 3:2. It forms the basis of a lengthy and most important Christological discourse, which opens the conflict of Jesus with the unbelieving Jewish hierarchy, and reveals the contrast between His positive fulfilment of the spirit of the law and their negative observance of its letter, as also between His living theism and their abstract monotheism. His doing good on the Sabbath was made the ground of a charge of Sabbath-breaking, and His claim to be in a peculiar sense the Son of God was construed as blasphemy deserving of death. Christ here proclaims all those grand truths, which John had announced in the Prologue. He reveals Himself as one with the Father, who never ceases doing good, as the Lord of the Sabbath, as the Giver of life, as the Raiser of the dead, and the Judge of the world, and claims divine honor. He supports these astounding claims, which no mere man could make without being guilty of blasphemy or madness, by the united testimony of John the Baptist, of God the Father through His works, and of the O. T. Scriptures, and drives this threefold testimony with terrible earnestness into the conscience of the Jews. He then traces their unbelief to the secret chambers of their self-seeking hearts, and completely turns the tables by presenting their own Moses, in whom they boastfully put their hope, as their accuser for not following his lead to Christ, to whom he pointed in all his writings. Thus the mouths of these hypocritical worshippers of the letter and enemies of the spirit and aim of the law were stopped, but their hearts continued in opposition and longed for an opportunity to carry out their bloody design. The significance of this discourse is well brought out by Dr. Lange in his analysis (see the headings) and in the Doctrinal remarks. Comp. also my concluding note on Joh_5:47.—P. S.]
Joh_5:1. After these things.—On the distinction between μετὰ ταῦτα and μετὰ τοῦτο, see Lücke on this passage.30 Here closes the first great ministry of Jesus in Galilee (see Leben Jesu, II., 2, pp. 556–745).
A [The] feast of the Jews.—[Which feast? This point is still under dispute, but the controversy is now narrowed down to a choice between the Passover and the Purim. The decision has a bearing on the chronology of the gospel history. If the feast here spoken of be the Passover, then our Lord’s public labors continued during three and a half years, since John notes three other passovers as falling within His ministry, 2:13; 6:4; 12:1 and 13:1. If not, then the time must in all probability be reduced to two and a half years. On the bearing of the definite article on the question, and the various readings, see Text. Notes.—P. S.] Meyer: “Which feast is meant, appears with certainty from Joh_4:35; comp. 6:4. For Joh_4:35 was spoken in the month of December; and from Joh_6:4 it appears that the passover was nigh at hand; hence the feast here intended must be one falling between December and the passover, and this is no other than the feast of Purim, which was celebrated on the 14th and 15th of Adar (Est_9:21 ff.), that is, in March [one month before the passover], in memory of the deliverance of the nation from the massacre projected by Haman. So Keppler, [who first suggested this view], d’Outrein, Hug, Olshausen, Wieseler, Neander,31 Krabbe, Anger, Lange, Maier and many others.”32 Meyer justly adds: The feast is not designated, because it was a minor festival, whereas the greater feasts are named by John: not only the passover, but also the σκηνοπηγία, 7:2, and the ἐγκαίνια 10:22.
[The chief objections to this view are: 1. The feast of Purim was no temple feast, and required no journey to Jerusalem. But Christ may have attended this feast as He attended other festivals (7:2; 10:22) without legal obligation, merely for the purpose of doing good. 2. The Purim was never celebrated as a Sabbath. But the Sabbath spoken of, Joh_5:9, may have preceded or succeeded the feast.—P. S.]
Other views of the feast: (1) The passover: Irenæus,33 Luther, and many more;34 (2) Pentecost: Cyril [Chrysostom, Calvin], Bengel, etc.; (3) the feast of tabernacles: Cocceius, Ebrard [Ewald]; (4) the feast of dedication: Petavius; (5) a feast which cannot be determined: Lücke, De Wette, [Brückner], Luthardt, Tholuck (7th ed.)35
The feast of Purim [יְמֵי הַפוּרִים , or simply פּוּרים lot, from the Persian], Est_9:24; Est_9:26; ἡ Μαρδοχαἴκή ἡμέρα, 2Ma_15:36; Joseph. Antiq. xi. 6, 13. On the 13th of Adar a fast preceded the feast; in the festival itself the book of Esther (called מְּגִלָה by eminence) was read in the synagogues. As a popular festival it was distinguished, like the feasts of tabernacles, and dedication, by universal rejoicings. Fanaticism in the people naturally sought to make it a festival of triumph over the Gentiles (subsequently over the Christians also). And on this account was this particular feast of Purim so pre-eminently the feast of the Jews (with the article), and the article in the Cod. Sinait. in this place cannot be made to speak exclusively, as Hengstenberg proposes, for the passover.36 We must no doubt mark a difference between the simple expression, feast, and the expression: feast of the Jews.
Joh_5:2. Now there is at Jerusalem.—The ἔστι has been interpreted with reference to the porches, as indicating that, at the time of the composition of this passage, Jerusalem had not been destroyed. On this see the Introduction. Eusebius writes in his Onomast. s. v. Βηζαθά: καὶ νῦν δείνυται [but he does not mention the locality]. Yet the ἔστι may also be attributed to rhetorical vivacity.
By the sheep gate.—Ἐπὶ τῇ προβατικῇ sc. πύλῃ.37| According to Nehemiah’s topography of the restored city it was what is now Stephen’s gate in the north-east quarter of the city, leading out over Kidron to Gethsemane and the Mount of Olives (Bâb Sitty Merijam, ‘Gate of My Lady Mary;’ also ‘Gate of the Tribes,’ or ‘Porta vallis Josaphat.’ Comp. Winer, Art. Jerusalem, I. p. 548; Krafft, Die Topographie Jerusalems, p. 148; Robinson, I. p. 386; 2:74, 136, 148; Von Raumer, Paläst. p. 255. [If the Pool of Bethesda is identical with the Fountain of the Virgin (see below), the Sheep Gate cannot well have been St. Stephen’s Gate, which is too far off.—P. S.]
A pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda.—בֵּית חֶסְדָא, house of kindness, grace, gentleness, house of mercy. Tholuck: Institution of charity, Charité. Five porches.—Tobler (Denkblätter von Jerusalem, 1853, p. 62): So late as the fifth century five porches were still shown. According to his (medical) hypothesis there were five arched compartments for the separation of the patients. Tholuck: Colonnades, porticoes, to shelter the patients from wind and rain; probably the rear one having a wall. Theodore of Mopsuestia imagined one central hall (probably inclosing the pool), and four halls on the circumference of it (perhaps crosswise); this would have been, at all events, the most convenient arrangement for the sick. The outer portions must doubtless have been protected on more than one side.
As to the location of the pool, there is on the outer side of the gate of Stephen a small fishpond or reservoir, and inside the gate the very large, deep reservoir, to which the name of Bethesda is usually given; probably without foundation.38 It is perfectly dry, and on the bed of it grow large trees, the tops of which do not even reach to the level of the street. In this pool Robinson sees the remains of an old trench which belonged to the fortress of Antonia. He supposes, on the other hand, that the Fountain of the Virgin39 may have been the pool of Bethesda. Robinson says [Am. ed. of 1856, vol. I. p. 337]:
“On the west side of the valley of Jehoshaphat about twelve hundred feet northward from the rocky point at the mouth of the Tyropœon, [or the valley of the Cheesmongers] is situated the fountain of the Virgin Mary; called by the natives’, ‘Ain um ed-Deraj, Mother of Steps. In speaking of Siloam I have already brought into view the singular fact, that there is no historical notice later than Josephus, which can be applied to this fountain, before near the close of the fifteenth century, and have also mentioned the more modern hypothesis, which regards it as the fountain of Siloam, in distinction from the pool of that name. Others have held it to be the Gihon, the Rogel, and the Dragon-well of Scripture; so that in fact it has been taken alternately for every one of the fountains, which anciently existed at Jerusalem. It is unquestionably an ancient work; indeed there is nothing in or around the Holy City, which bears more distinctly the traces of high antiquity. I have already alluded to the reasons which make it not improbable, that this was the ‘King’s Pool’ of Nehemiah, and the ‘Pool of Solomon’ mentioned by Josephus, near which the wall of the city passed, as it ran northwards from Siloam along the Valley of Jehoshaphat to the eastern side of the temple.” This spring is connected with the well of Siloam by a passage [of about 2 feet wide, 1750 feet long, and cut through the solid rock], through which Robinson and his companions [for the first time] laboriously passed.40 “The water in both these fountains, he relates [I. p. 340], is the same; notwithstanding travellers have pronounced that of Siloam to be bad, and that of the upper fountain to be good. We drank of it often in both places. It has a peculiar taste, sweetish and very slightly brackish, but not at all disagreeable. Later in the season, when the water is low, it is said to become more brackish and unpleasant. It is the common water used by the people of Kefr Selwân. We did not learn that it is regarded as medicinal, or particularly good for the eyes, as is reported by travellers; though it is not improbable that such a popular belief may exist.” At the upper fountain (the Fountain of the Virgin) Robinson observed a sudden bubbling up of the water from under the lower step. “In less than five minutes it had risen to the basin nearly or quite a foot; and we could hear it gurgling off through the interior passage. In ten minutes more it had ceased to flow, and the water in the basin was again reduced to its former level….Meanwhile a woman of Kefr Selwân came to wash at the fountain. She was accustomed to frequent the place every day; and from her we learned, that the flowing of the water occurs at irregular intervals; sometimes two or three times a day, and sometimes in summer once in two or three days. She said, she had seen the fountain dry, and men and flocks, dependent upon it, gathered around and suffering from thirst; when all at once the water would begin to boil up from under the steps, and (as she said) from the bottom in the interior part, and flow off in a copious stream.” [I. p. 342].
[For these reasons Dr. Robinson merely suggests, without expressing a definite conviction himself (I. p. 343), that this Fountain of the Virgin may have been Bethesda, the same with the “King’s Pool” of Nehemiah and the “Solomon’s Pool” of Josephus. T. Tobler, during frequent visits to the Fountain of the Virgin in the winter of 1845, early in the morning and late in the evening, confirms the observations of Robinson as to its intermittent character which bring it into striking resemblance with the Pool of Bethesda. Neander (Leben Jesu, p. 282), and Tholuck (in loc.) are inclined to Robinson’s view Tholuck, who frequently visited the springs of Kissingen in Bavaria, speaks of a gaseous spring of this kind in Kissingen, which after a rushing sound about the same time every day commences to bubble and is most efficacious at the very time the gas is making its escape. Comp. also an article on the miracle of Bethesda by Macdonald, in the Andover Bibliotheca Sacra, for Jan. 1870, pp. 108 ff. According to Wolcot and Tobler, the water of the Fountain of the Virgin and the Pool of Siloam, as well as that of the many fountains of the Mosque of Omar, proceeds from a living spring beneath the altar of the temple.41 This spring was, as Dean Stanley says, (Sinai and Palestine, new ed., Lond. 1866, p. 181), the treasure of Jerusalem,’ its support through its numerous sieges—the ‘fans perennis aquæ’ of Tacitus (Tac. Hist. v. 12)—the source of Milton’s
‘Brook that flowed
Hard by the oracle of God.’
But more than this, it was the image which entered into the very heart of the prophetical idea of Jerusalem. ‘There is a river (a perennial river), the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High’ (Psa_46:4). ‘All my fresh springs shall be in thee’ (Psa_87:7). ‘Draw water out of the wells of salvation’ (Isa_12:3). In Ezekiel’s vision (Eze_47:1-5) the thought is expanded into a vast cataract flowing out through the Temple-rock eastward and west ward into the ravines of Hinnom. and Kedron, till they swell into a mighty river, fertilizing the desert of the Dead Sea. And with still greater distinctness the thought appears again, and for the last time, in the discourse, when in the courts of the Temple, ‘in the last day, that great day of the feast (of Tabernacles), Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me,…out of his belly shall flow rivers of living I water’ (Joh_7:37-38).”—P. S.]
Other hypotheses see in Meyer [who, however, thinks that the exact situation of Bethesda, cannot be fixed with certainty; see p. 219]. What leaves the theory of Robinson in need of further investigation is the assumption that here, contrary to the usual order, the bathing pool or fish pool must have been placed above, and the B spring below on the same fountain stream or flume. This difficulty may be obviated by distinguishing between the point of the spring itself and a bathing pool situated somewhat aside. But the distance of the Fountain of the Virgin from the Sheep Gate invalidates Robinson’s theory. [Or rather it may invalidate the identity of the Sheep Gate with St. Stephen’s Gate, which is of more modern origin.42—P. S.]
It is more probable that, according to Krafft (Topographie Jerus. p. 176), the now dry Struthion pool in the church of St. Anna was the pool of Bethesda, “To attribute the healing virtue of the water, which, according to Eusebius, was of a red tinge, and was perhaps impregnated with mineral substance, to the sacrificial blood from the temple, and to derive the name from אַשְׁדָא,43 effusio (Calvin, Arret., and others, after Eusebius), is unfounded, and contrary to Joh_5:7. The usual interpretation of the name is found even in the Peshito.” (Meyer). “Struthion is an alkali. This alkali, together with particles of iron, mixed with the water, may have given it its red color and medicinal effect.” (Krafft).
Joh_5:3. Blind, lame, withered.—Three kinds of sick folks [τῶν ἀσθενούντων] are specified: The blind first; comp. John 9; the lame, those disabled in their limbs; the withered, those who were fallen away, emaciated, consumptive, (comp. Mat_12:10; Luk_6:6; Luk_6:8). [Also paralytics, as this man was, to judge from his lameness and the κράββατος paralylicorum, Mar_2:4; Act_9:33.—P. S.]
Waiting for the moving of the water.—See the textual note above. On this passage together with the next verse, criticism has four theories:
1. All is spurious; a later interpolation of the popular belief for the explanation of Joh_5:7. This is favored by (a) the omission of the whole locus in B. C.,* 157, 314, and in the Coptic and Sahidic V.;44 (b) the many variations in the several expressions, see Tischendorf; (c) the many ἅπαξ λεγόμενα as κίνησις, ταραχή etc.; (d) the stamp of popular tradition upon the statement; (e) “If the passage were genuine, it would not have been omitted.” Lücke, Olshausen, Tischendorf, Meyer. [Tregelles, Alford, Westcott and Hort.—P. S.]
2. The whole doubtful passage is genuine, (a) In favor of the close of Joh_5:3, Cod. D., etc.; in favor Joh_5:4, Cod. A., etc. Tertullian,45 the Peshito (b) The insertion could not well be accounted for, Baumgarten-Crusius, Brückner,46 Lachmann, [Reuss, Lange, Hengstenberg].
3. The close, of Joh_5:3, ἑκδεχ.—κίνησιν, is genuine, Joh_5:4, a later addition. This is favored by (a) the omission in D., where the close of Joh_5:3 remains; (b) the consideration that without this passage Joh_5:7 would be unintelligible. Ewald, Tholuck, [Godet].
4. The close of Joh_5:3 is spurious, Joh_5:4 is genuine; being more strongly supported by A. C.* So Hofmann.
It is of great weight, (1) that Tertullian stands so early a witness for the whole text. He ought not to be estimated here according to his realistic view elsewhere, but as reporting a document which was sacred to him.47 (2) that Joh_5:7 would be in fact unintelligible without Joh_5:4. (3) that Joh_5:4 is more strongly attested than the close of Joh_5:3, particularly by Code A. (4) that the close of Joh_5:3 might have been carried away with Joh_5:4, when the latter was omitted. (5) that the silence of Origen leaves us to suppose that the Alexandrian school found the passage offensive for its realism.
On the other hand Joh_5:4 cannot be sustained (a) by Hofmann’s doctrine of angels, which makes angels the agents in all second causes, or natural phenomena; (b) by Tholuck’s observation that John himself would no doubt have explained that natural phenomenon, as the Christian and the general religious popular opinion explained it in the second century, especially after what the Apocalypse says of the angel of the waters and of fire (Joh_16:5; Joh_14:18). The Revelation, like the book of Daniel, is a symbolical book.
The matter is no doubt to be thus explained: According to the Jewish popular conception there was a personal angel who produced the moving of the water. John found the conception and admitted it in his narrative, translating in his own mind the personal angel into a symbolical angel, or a distinct divine operation, i. e., in reference to such facts, for in a higher sphere he well knew the personal angels. He could leave the reader to adjust the passage according to Joh_1:51.48
Joh_5:4. Troubled the water.—According to Wolcott on Arabian substituted for the angel in the fountain of the Virgin “the convolutions of a dragon at the bottom.” Tholuck, p. 161. [The common legend is that a great dragon lies within the intermittent Fountain of the Virgin; when he is awake, he stops the water; but when he sleeps, it flows. See Robinson, I. p. 342; Porter, I., 140.—P. S.]
First after the troubling.—The popular religious idea of the periodical moments of healing efficacy in the spring.
Joh_5:5. Thirty-eight years [τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη ἔχων ἐν τῇ ἀσθενείᾳ αὐτοῦ].—It is a question whether ἕχων is to be referred to the thirty-eight years, or to ἐν τῇ ἀσθ [that is, whether the exact expression is, he had so many years in his infirmity,=ἔχων τριάμκοντα κ. ὁ. ἐ., or had his infirmity for so many years=ἀσθενῶς ἕχων], The usage of John is in favor of the former (Joh_5:6; Joh_8:57; Joh_11:17; comp. Lücke, II. p. 25). He had lived thirty-eight years in his impotency. [He had been sick thirty-eight years—not at Bethesda all that time. The long disease makes the cure appear all the greater. Hengstenberg allegorizes here again, and discovers in the sick man of Bethesda a symbol of the Jewish nation, and in the thirty-eight years of his sickness a symbol of the thirty-eight years which Israel spent under the bane in the wilderness (I. 300 f.). So also Wordsworth in loc.—P. S.]
Joh_5:6. And knew.—Γνούς when He perceived. We cannot venture to assert, with Meyer, that this does not intend supernatural knowledge. A natural medium there might have been; the insight into the whole situation partook of the supernatural. The indefinite πολὺν χρόνον also indicates this. [So also Hengstenberg, Godet and Alford.—P. S.]
Desirest thou to be made whole?—Meyer: “The question is asked to excite the attention and expectation of the suffering man. Paulus falsely: The man had been a malicious beggar, who represented himself as sick; wherefore Jesus asked him with reproving emphasis, Desirest thou to be made whole? Art thou in earnest? Similarly Ammon; whereas Lange takes him only for a man of faint will, whose slumbering energy of will Christ here aroused again (?); of which the text gives as little sign, as that the question was intended for the whole people of whom this invalid was a type (Luthardt).”But the following points are clearly implied in the narrative, as Meyer himself must admit: (1) that in this miracle of healing alone an unasked offer occurs, though in John 9. there is an unasked healing (yet every honest beggar virtually asks the greatest possible alms); (2) that, besides, the man always allows himself to be anticipated by all others, though he is still able feebly to walk; (3) that he complains in a feeble manner without point; (4) that he lets his benefactor slip away, without learning his name, or even eagerly asking it, and then, against the Jews, appeals only to the command of Jesus; (5) that he receives from Jesus in the temple a warning, which implied a fickle character; (6) that immediately after his recognition of Jesus he goes to the Jews and gives the name of his miraculous healer, though he must have observed their evil designs. All this is in the test. Yet malevolence properly so called cannot be asserted. His continuance at the pool of Bethesda leads us to recognize in his indolence a spark of spiritual patience; in his helpless and forlorn condition he appears a very peculiar object of sympathy; his visiting the temple seems to bespeak a sense of gratitude; even in his giving of the name of Jesus a mistaken obedience may have had a share; but exegesis cannot make him a valiant confessor. [The question of Jesus, addressed to the cripple’s desire for health, was a proof of sympathy with his sufferings, and kindled a spark of hope when on the brink of despair, and thus naturally prepared the way for his cure.—P. S.]
Joh_5:7. Another goeth flown before me.—Meyer: “The brief motion must be conceived as limited to a particular point of the pool, so that only one at a time can receive the benefit.” But there is nothing of this in the text; and motion in a pool cannot possibly be confined to a particular point, Rather might the stairs have been constructed on the presumption that only one bather would receive healing. In Joh_5:4 Meyer, without warrant, sees the apocryphal expression of a superstitious popular opinion. [Alford: “The man’s answer implies the popular belief, which the spurious but useful insertion in Joh_5:3-4 expresses.”—P. S.]
Joh_5:8. Rise, take up thy bed,49 and walk.—Three words of power in one wonderful work, or even three thunder strokes of the might of the divine healing will, which awaken at once the faint will and the worn-out energy of the deceased man. The words of healing addressed to the paralytic in Matthew 9, are similar indeed, in Mark (John 2) the very same, yet they have here a different import; they are intended to give threefold vividness to the outward visibility of the power of Jesus in proof of His invisible work of grace on the heart of the sufferer. The criticism of Strauss and Weisse, which can make of this story a legendary exaggeration of the healing of that paralytic, shows more than mere indifference to place, time, and circumstances, and all connected with them; it confounds a true heroic faith with the most weak-minded inclination to faith, and a man who causes his friends to break through the roof with a man, who can find no one even to put him into the water. Critical opinions of this sort themselves lie like blind, lame, and withered about the pool of Bethesda. [Against Baur and Hilgenfeld see Meyer, p. 221 f.]
Joh_5:9. And on that day was the Sabbath.—A twofold scruple might arise, one against the healing, another against the carrying. In reference to the healing, the principle universally prevailed: “All danger or preservation of life removes the Sabbath restrictions” (Omne dubium vitæ pellit Sabbatum); though this principle was so encumbered with casuistic distinctions and exceptions that in most cases it was not possible for the laity duly to distinguish the lawful and the unlawful, the forbidden and the allowed (Lücke, II., p. 29). So too the carrying of articles on the Sabbath is, according to the Talmud, not indeed absolutely forbidden, but was at most allowed only under many restrictions; for one thing it could not be done on the open street (see Tholuck).
Joh_5:10. The Jews.—[Not the people, but those in authority who misrepresented the people in their rejection of Christ]. In such cases the matter goes quickly through fanatics, informers, and subordinates to the chiefs. Here the hierarchical chiefs already seem to speak; according to Meyer and Tholuck, the Sanhedrists. Yet it is possible that the matter only gradually reached them. At first they attack only the man himself for his carrying, which was the most palpable.
Joh_5:11. He that made me whole.—Beyond the word ἐκεῖνος, no trace again of individual energy appears in the answer, nothing but historical statement. Unquestionably the words seem to say: One who made me whole, a wonder-worker, must certainly have had the right to heal me. Hence Meyer: They savor of defiance; Tholuck: The man puts the authority of the Wonder-worker as in Joh_9:30 against theirs. But the character of the blind man in John 9. is at least an entirely different one from this. That man makes bold to draw inferences, this one does not, and the sentence before us, according to the connection, may be taken as well for an excusing of himself by the strange injunction of the strange man, as for anything else. At all events this man seems not to make head against the Jews. It must be remembered, too, that he could not otherwise designate Jesus, since he did not know His name.
Joh_5:12. Who is the man that?—Not only is the contemptuous expression the Man50 characteristic, but also the fact that they seem entirely to ignore the miraculous healing itself. [They do not ask: ‘Who is he that healed thee?’ but they carefully bring out the unfavorable side of what had taken place, as malicious persons always do.—Alford.]
Joh_5:13 f. And he that was healed knew not.—Bengel’s apology: “Grabbato ferendo intentus et judaica interpellations districtus,” says less than the rest of the verse itself, for Jesus had withdrawn himself,51 Meyer incorrectly: He withdrew “when this collision with the Jews arose.” This would be at least a very equivocal course, to forsake one who was attacked on His account; this Jesus never did. He turned aside because a multitude was there, whose demonstrations He wished to avoid; perhaps the treatment of this invalid also required it.
Joh_5:14. Jesus findeth him in the temple.—Chrysostom, Tholuck, Meyer: The healing made a religious impression upon him, Yet the evangelist seems intentionally to imply that this meeting did not immediately follow; he writes μετὰ ταῦτα, not μετὰ τιῦτο.52 And the address of Christ to him does not indicate a man thoroughly possessed with gratitude. Sin no more, lest, etc.—An unusually earnest injunction upon one whom He had healed, notwithstanding He finds him in the temple. Hence, too, it cannot be supposed that no more is intended here than merely the general connection of sin with evil (Iren. Adv. hær., v. 15; Bucer, Calov, Neander). This interpretation on the contrary, is no doubt a false application of Joh_9:3. Here a special connection between a particular kind of sin and the particular disease must have existed, according to Chrysostom, Bullinger, Meyer, and others. Neither the special sin nor the special disease is known; which magnifies the penetrating knowledge of the Lord.53 But a sin which produced disease thirty-eight years before, may be designated in general even in an old man as a sin of youth. Lest something worse befall thee.—Bengel: “Gravius quiddam quam infirmitas 38 annorum.” [Trench: The χεῖρον τι “gives us an awful glimpse of the severity of God’s judgments.” Comp. Mat_12:45.]
Joh_5:15. The man departed.—Strictly: Then departed the man; ὁ ἄνθρωπος. Chrysostom concludes that it was not ingratitude which moved him to this; that he had spoken before the Jews not of carrying his bed, but of that which they cared least to hear: that Jesus had healed him. This apology falls, when we consider his former declaration. There he described the unknown man by the words, He that made me whole. For this reason he now says in giving his information: He that made me whole is Jesus. Meyer explains: the motive is neither malice (Schleiermacher, Lange [incorrect citation; Comp. Leben Jesu, II. p. 769], Paulus, etc.), nor gratitude wishing to get Jesus acknowledged among the Jews (Cyril, Chrysostom), nor obedience to the rulers (Bengel, Lücke, De Wette, Luthardt), but his authority (Jesus) is to him forthwith higher than that of the Sanhedrists, and he braves them with it. (Thus this man would be a hero, while Nicodemus is supposed to be hampered.) According to Tholuck the man is somewhat stupid and without suspicion of the rulers. Probably he added to weakness of heart and ignorance a fear of the Jews, in which he sought to shield himself from their reproach without perceiving that he might be prejudicing. It is worthy of notice, that they probably let his case drop, while the blind man in chap. 9. they in the end excommunicate; that here in fact they even base upon the statement of this man a process against Jesus.
Joh_5:16. For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus.—What follows evidently refers to a trial (Lampe, Rosenmüller, Kuiuoel; against Meyer [and Alford]; comp. Luk_21:12, διώκειν used of judicial process), though the terms are so chosen as at the same time to express the continuance of the persecutions after the failure of the process. Probably Jesus was arraigned before the little Sanhedrin. Winer: “There were smaller colleges of this name (Sanhedrin, the little Sanhedrin), consisting of twenty-three counsellors (according to Sanhedrin, 1, 6) in every Palestinean city which numbered more than one hundred and twenty inhabitants; in Jerusalem even two (Sanhedr. 11, 2).” But of these, as also of the courts of three, to which the cognizance and punishment of lighter offences pertained, Josephus knows nothing; whereas he mentions a court of seven (Antiq. iv. 8, 14) in the provincial cities, which always had among its members two from the tribe of Levi (Mat_5:21; Mat_10:17). The variations in the form of the little Sanhedrin amount, however, to nothing; enough that it existed.
Because he did54 these things; ταῦτα.—They craftily combine the two charges: (1) the healing of the invalid on the Sabbath, and (2) the commanding him to carry his bed, in the single indictment for breaking the Sabbath in various ways: thus covering the main fact that He had wrought a miracle. Concerning the restriction of healing by the Sabbath regulations of the Pharisees, see above on Joh_5:9.
[On the Sabbath, ἐν σαββάτῳ.—This was the cause of offence and brings out, in connection with Joh_5:17, the difference between the then prevailing Jewish and the Christian idea of Sabbath observance. The former is negative and slavish, the latter positive and free. The Pharisees scrupulously adhered to the letter of the fourth commandment as far as it forbid any (common) work, and hedged it around with all sorts of hair-splitting distinctions and rabbinical restrictions, but they violated its spirit which demands the positive sanctification of the Sabbath by doing good. The rest of the Sabbath is not the rest of idleness or mere cessation from labor, else God Himself who is always at work (Joh_5:17), would be a Sabbath-breaker as well as Christ. It is rather rest in God, a rest from ordinary work in order to a higher and holier activity for the glory of God and the good of man. We must cease from our earthly work, that God may do His heavenly work in and through us. The Sabbath law, like the whole law, is truly fulfilled by love to God and love to man. Christ refutes the false conception of Sabbath rest, as a mere cessation from labor, in various ways, now by the example of David eating the show-bread, now by the example of the priests working in the temple, now by the readiness of the Jews to deliver an ox out of a pit on the Sabbath. Here He takes higher ground and claims equality with the Father who never ceases doing good. God’s rest after creation was not a rest of sleep or inaction, but a rest of joy in the completion of His work and of benediction of His creatures. “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it.” (Gen_2:3). His strictly creative activity ceased with the Hexaëmeron, but his world-preserving and governing, as well as His redeeming activity continues without interruption, and this is properly His Sabbath, combining the highest action with the deepest repose. In the case of man while on earth abstinence from the distracting multiplicity of secular labor and toil is only the necessary condition for attending to his spiritual interests. Acts of worship and acts of charity are proper works for the Christian Sabbath, and are refreshing rest to body and soul, carrying in themselves their own exceeding great reward. The eternal Sabbath of God’s people will be unbroken rest in worship and love, as Augustine says, at the close of his Civitas Dei: “There we shall rest and see, see and love, love and praise.” Christ never violated the fourth or any other commandment of God, in its true divine meaning and intent, but fulfilled it by doctrine and example (Mat_5:17). He emancipated us from the slavery of the negative, superstitious and hypocritical sabbatarianism of the Pharisees, and set us an example of the true positive observance of the Sabbath by doing good; the Sabbath being made for man (Mar_2:27), i. e., for his temporal and eternal benefit. This was its purpose when God instituted it, together with the marriage relation, in the state of man’s innocence, and this Christ has restored, as He restored the marriage relation to its original purity. The commentators pass too slightly over this point, and some of them misconstrue Christ’s and Paul’s opposition to the Jewish sabbatarianism of that age into a violation or abrogation of the fourth commandment.55 Trench, in his work on Miracles, p. 206 (Am. ed.), has some good remarks on Joh_5:16, which I shall transfer here:
“ ‘The Jews,’ not here the multitude, but some among the spiritual heads of the nation, whom it is very noticeable that St. John continually characterizes by this name, (1:19; 7:1; 9:22; 18:12, 14) find fault with the man for carrying his bed in obedience to Christ’s command, their reason being because ‘the same day’ on which the miracle was accomplished ‘was the Sabbath;’ and the carrying of any burden was one of the expressly prohibited works of that by Hero, indeed, they had apparently an Old Testament ground to go upon, and an interpretation of the Mosaic law from the lips of a prophet, to justify their interference, and the offence which they took. But the man’s bearing of his bed was not a work by itself; it was merely the corollary, or indeed the concluding act of his healing, that by which he should make proof himself, and give testimony to others of its reality. It was lawful to heal on the Sabbath day; it was lawful then to do that which was immediately involved in and directly followed on the healing. And here lay ultimately the true controversy between Christ and His adversaries, namely, whether it was most lawful to do good on that day, or to leave it undone (Luk_6:9). Starting from the unlawfulness of leaving good undone, He asserted that He was its true keeper, keeping it as God kept it, with the highest beneficent activity, which in His Father’s case, as in His own, was identical with deepest rest,—and not, as they accused Him of being, its breaker. It was because He Himself had ‘done those things’ (see Joh_5:16), that the Jews persecuted Him, and not for bidding the man to bear his bed, which was a mere accident and consequence involved in what He himself had wrought.”—P. S.]
Joh_5:17. My Father worketh until now [ἔως ἄρτι “inde a creatione sine intervallo sabbati” Bengel], and I work also.—A difficult answer. It undoubtedly asserts (1) Christ’s exaltation above the Sabbath law, like Mar_2:28; (2) the conformity of His working to the law of the Sabbath, in other words His fulfilling of the Sabbath law, Mat_12:12; (3) the relation of the working of God to His own working as its pattern, Joh_5:20; (4) His working out from God and with God, which makes their charge a charge against God Himself, Joh_5:19. The last idea has special emphasis. According to Strauss the sentence is Alexandrian. [Philo of Alexandria, in his Treatise on the Allegories of the Sacred Laws, chap. vii. says with regard to the institution of the Sabbath after creation: “God never ceases to work (ποιῶν ὁ θεὸς οὐθέποτε παύεται), but when He appears to do so, He is only beginning the creation of something else; as being not only the Creator, but also the Father of everything which exists.”—P. S.] But Alexandrianism explained only the law of the Sabbath by the eternal working of God. There is a distinction between the creative work of God at the beginning which originates the world, and looks like human effort, and His subsequent festive working in the created world. This way of God, working on the Sabbath the works of the Spirit, works of relief, and love, in incessant divine agility, as it manifests itself in the objective world, must manifest itself also in the Son. According to Tholuck, modern expositors (Grotius, Lücke) stop with the idea that human activity is allowed on the Sabbath. We substitute: Divine activity.
According to Luthardt the words are uttered with reference to the future Sabbath: First the working of the Father, then that, of the Son, then that of the Holy Spirit. A correct idea, but not here in place, for according to our text the Father and the Son work simultaneously and together. Meyer: “The subject is not the preserving and governing of the world in general, but the continued activity of God for the salvation of mankind in spite of His Sabbath resting after the creation” (Gen_2:1-3). But this is in fact the work of preserving and governing, providentia. Olshausen and De Wette explain: the working of God is rest and activity together, and so it is in Christ. Meyer on the contrary: of rest and contemplation there is not a word. The subject, however, is a divine working which as such is also repose, combining at once activity and festive contemplation. Grotius: It is a relation of imitation. Meyer denies this, contrary to Joh_5:19; it is only the necessary correlation of volition and execution. The Father’s having the initiative brings in the element of imitation which by no means exhausts the idea of co-operation (so as to reduce it to a mere working side by side after the same manner, as of one God with another). On Hilgenfeld’s discovery of the demiurge, see Meyer [p. 223 f., 5th ed.].
[Godet compares with this ver. Luk_2:49, and justly remarks that it virtually contains the whole following discourse. It asserts the mysterious union of Christ with God, which Christ had already expressed in His twelfth year to His parents. It is rightly understood by the Jews (Joh_5:18), though wrongly construed by them into blasphemy, since they saw in Him a mere man. It is at the same time the most triumphant refutation of the charge of Sabbath-breaking. What a sublime apology this! In charging Me, He says to His adversaries, with breaking the law of God, you charge the Law-giver, my Father, with breaking His own law: for my activity continually and in each moment corresponds to His. Owen remarks on this verse: “There is not the shadow of a doubt, that Jesus did here claim, and intended to claim, absolute equality with the Father. What is here most logically inferred, is distinctly stated, Joh_1:1; Col_1:15-17; Heb_1:2-3.”—P. S.]
Joh_5:18. The Jews sought the more to kill him, etc.—The one complex charge (of Sabbath-breaking) now becomes two, and the second is the greater. He has ascribed to Himself a singular relation to God. By this He is supposed to have blasphemed God and incurred the death of the blasphemer, Lev_24:16 (Bengel: “Id misere pro blasphemed habuerunt”). They had already hated Him unto death on the could not easily under the circumstance make out of the Sabbath-breaking, and in their second charge their real intention becomes also the formula one of finding Him guiltu of death. Hence nunc amplius,to interpret for the μὰλλον [Bengel], is more suitable than the magis of Meyer. Amplius means not only insuper, but also appertius. Tholuck incorrectly: the murderous wish still remains informatta. The matter still depended on the inquisition only in so far as the pretended blasphemy seemed to be not sufficiently established by Christ’s expression: My Father. “The name of father, except in the much disputed passage, Job_34:36, and in Psa_89:26 where it is descriptive, is not used in the Old Testament as a personal name. In the Apocrypha the individual use of the word first begins to develop itself, Wis_14:3; Sir_23:1; Sir_23:4. Otherwise God is only in the national (theocratic) sense Father of the people, and even in the use of the term in this sense there still appears in the century after Christ a certain reserve, etc. Thus this specific calling of God his Father (comp. ἴδιος, Rom_8:32) must have been very striking in his mouth.” Tholuck.
[The Jews correctly understood ὁ πατήρ μου (instead of ἡμῶν) to assert a peculiar and exclusive fatherhood (πατέραἵδιον, patrem proprium) in relation to Jesus such as no mere man could claim, and a peculiar sonship of Jesus such as raised Him above all the children of God and made Him equal in essence with God. (Comp. the μονογενἠς υἱός of John and the ἵδοις υἱός of Paul, Rom_8:32). But regarding Jesus as a mere man, and evidently a man in His sound senses, the Jews charged Him with blasphemy. This is inevitable from their premises. The only logical alternative is: Christ was either a blasphemer, or equal with God. Comp. 10:33. Alford remarks: “The Jews understood His words to mean nothing short of peculiar personal Sonship, and thus equality of nature with God. And that this their understanding was the right one, the discourse testifies. All might in one sense, and the Jews did in a closer sense, call God their, or our, Father; but they at once said that the individual use of ‘My Father’ by Jesus had a totally distinct, and in their view a blasphemous meaning: this latter especially, because He thus made God a participator in His crime of breaking the Sabbath. Thus we obtain from the adversaries of the faith a most important statement of one of its highest and holiest doctrines.” Augustine says (Tract. 17): “Ecce intelligunt Judæi, quod non intelligunt Ariani.”—P. S.]
Joh_5:19. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing,56 etc.—introduced with Verily, verily; thus opening a new truth. He retracts nothing that He has said, but now, that the question of the Messiah comes up, plants Himself on general ground, and speaks alternately now objectively of the Son and the Father, Joh_5:19-23; Joh_5:25-29, now subjectively of Himself and the Father, Joh_5:24; Joh_5:30-47. By this changing of the grammatical person, with the perfect identity of the real person, so that the objective sentences assert universal Christological relations, and the subjective His relation to the Jewish rulers,—by this master stroke of self-vindication, not noticed by expositors, He sustains His wisdom, without prejudicing in the least the steadfastness of His confession, and He puts their inquisition in the issue utterly to shame (or makes it a mandatum de supersedendo). Luther: “A beautiful excusatio, making the matter worse.” Tholuck: “Jesus strengthens that which gave offence.” But the turn, with which He does this ought not to be overlooked. The time of His unveiled revelation of Himself as the Messiah was the time of His death: this was not yet come. On the different views of the fathers as to the ensuing discussion, whether it presents the revelation of the Father to the Son in the internal trinitarian aspect, or in the economic, see Tholuck, p. 165. Tholuck remarο (p. 97): “In the Gospels, as in Paul, the predicate υἱός is not to be understood of the λὸγος α1σαρλος, but of the ἕναρλος (Nitzsch, System, § 83; Hofmann, Schriftbeweis, I., p. 173): yet like the Pauline, the Johannean view also regards the Incarnate Word in continuity with the λόγος ἅσαρλος, and hence applies to Him what is said of the former.” It is to be observed that the opposition between eternity and time is not so ,abstractly carried out in the Scriptures, as in scholastic theology.
Can do nothing,57 nothing at all, denotes not only the dependence of the Son on the Father in His working, the negative side of obedience, nor only His imitation of the Father, the formal side of obedience, but also His working at the motion of the Father. The Father is the limit or the law, the Father is the example, and the Father is also the motive, the impulse of His action. The action of the Son is at every point begotten by the action of the Father. The negative side of the obedience of Christ consists in His being unable to do anything of Himself; the positive side consists in His seeing, His intuitive perception of the initiative of the Father (βλέπειν, comp. Joh_8:38, and ἁφ̓ἑαυτοῦ Joh_16:13). [Meyer: “In ἀφ’ ἐαυτοῦ we must not find a distinction between the human and the divine will (Beyschlag), nor an indistinct and one-sided reference to the human element in Christ (De Wette), but the whole divine-human subject, the incarnate Logos, with whom there can be no ascitas agendi, no self-determination independent of the Father; otherwise He would be exclusively divine or exclusively human. Hence there is here no contradiction with the Prologue.”—P. S.]
[In like manner, ὁμοίως, excludes the idea of imitation and the analogy of master and servant, or teacher and pupil; it points to the equality of the Son with the Father. The Son does the same things with the same power and in the same manner. He is as the Nicene Creed has it, “God of God,” “very God of very God.”—P. S.] The human analogy of the child doing like the father, is here only distantly alluded to; the main thing is the original priority of the Father even in the Trinity, a point which the Greek church rightly asserts, but falsely exaggerates. [A priority of office and dignity, but not of substance, for this is the same in the three Persons of the Trinity.—P.S.]
Joh_5:20. For the Father loveth the Son.—Not merely the ethical foundation of what precedes (Meyer), but more than all the substantial.58 The term φιλεῖν [which always expresses the affection of love] is more personal or individual [and tender] than the more general ethical term ἀγαπᾶν. This φιλεῖν with respect to the Son not merely proceeds from the eternal relation of the Father to the Son, it is the foundation of this relation itself.
And it manifests itself in the Father’s showing the Son all things.59 The showing of the Father answers to the seeing of the Son. It is the absolute self-revelation of God in His acting, in its teleological working. The Son sees the Father in all His works, and sees what He intends by the works. And the Father shows Him in all things Himself and His works, and therein impels the Son to carry out and finish those works in redemption and judgment. The seer has momentary visions, shown him by the Lord (Rev_1:1; Rev_4:1); in Christ the whole view of the world is an insight of the working of God, in which spiritual intuition and sensible vision are one. Christ moves in this living symbolism of the infinite, which in its essential elements the fourth Gospel opens to us; He hears and understands all the words of God, He sees and knows all the signs of God, and His total view of things concentrates itself in the guiding ἐντολή of the interior aim and spirit of His life.
And greater works than these will he show him.—[The theme of all that follows to Joh_5:30. Comp. here the striking parallel, 14:12: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these [μείζονα τούτων] shall he do; because I go unto the Father.”—P. S.] Tholuck: “Here appears for the first time that use of ἕργα which is peculiar to John’s reports of the discourses of Christ. In John Christ designates as ἕργον, for the fulfilment of which He came, the communication of life to the world (Joh_4:34; Joh_17:4); all actual operations for this object he calls ἕργα, such as the miracles (Joh_10:32; Joh_10:38; Joh_15:24; Joh_9:4), and His ordinary labors for salvation, as here. It is further to be considered that just these ἕργα here named were proofs of the Messiah, for the doctrine of the Messiah and raiser of the dead, in its external positive shell, the people possessed.” The greater works of which Christ here speaks, lie in the same line with the work which Christ has just performed. The fundamental thought is the restoration of a life mortally damaged. The Father restores impotent life by healing springs, miraculous remedies, angels of health: Thus He is the example to the Son. But Ho also shows Him to what purpose He has now appointed Him Saviour. And with the first, the further greater works, the quickenings of the dead, are announced, for He must finish His work, Joh_5:36.
That ye may marvel.—Faith they might withhold, astonishment He will compel. [ἵνα expresses not only the result, but the (divine) intention.—P. S.] They suppressed and dissembled the impression which the miracles at the pool of Bethesda had made, and ignored the miracle itself. To this His expression refers, Ye shall at last break out in astonishment [of shame]. Calvin: “Oblique ingratitudinem per-stringit, quod illud tam splendidum virtutis Dei specimen contemserant.” Ye. Meyer: “The [unbelieving] hearers;” Tholuck: “The present unbelieving generation, viewed in identity with the future, as in Joh_6:62; Mat_23:39.” Yet the present hearers form the foreground (see Mat_26:64).
[Godet, II., p. 35, regards Joh_5:19-20 as the most remarkable Christological passages in the N. T., and ably defends against Reuss their agreement with the ideas of the prologue.—P. S.]
Joh_5:21-29. As the Father raiseth up the dead, etc.
Joh_5:21-23 collect in a unity the total quickening working of the Son of God, spiritual and bodily, including the spiritual and bodily judgment, yet with special reference to his historical evangelic working at that time. (So also Luthardt and Tholuck). Joh_5:24 is the first personal address and practical application. Then Joh_5:25-27 treat of the spiritual quickening and judging of men by the Son. Joh_5:28-29 refer to the quickening and judging as completed in the body. Finally Joh_5:31-47 are again personal address and application. [This view of the passage as progressing from the general to the particular, and from the moral or spiritual resurrection in this life to the general resurrection of the body in the life to come, was indicated by Augustin (though not consistently), and is held (though with various modifications) by Calvin, Lampe, Lücke, Tholuck, Olsh., De Wette, Meyer, Hengstenb., Godet, Alford, Wordsworth.—P. S.]
Various constructions:
1. Most suppose that in Joh_5:21-27 the subject is only the moral operation of Christ in general; in Joh_5:28-29 the real universal raising of the dead is added as the consummation. This division is the prevailing one (Calvin, Jansen, Lampe, Lücke, [Meyer], etc.)
2. Even in Joh_5:28-29 the moral resurrection alone is to be understood (the Gnostics, Eckermann, Ammon, Schweizer, Baumgarten-Crusius [Reuss].
3. The whole passage, Joh_5:21-29 is to be understood (especially in opposition to the Gnostics) of the bodily resurrection, and the judgment in the strict sense (Tertullian, Chrysostom), etc., (Erasmus, etc. Schott, Kuinoel, etc.60)
Against this go (1) the manifold features of an operation already beginning and pre-eminently spiritual (“ye may marvel,” Joh_5:20, etc.); (2) the distinctly different characterizing of the resurrection proper in Joh_5:27-28.
It is a question whether the distinction between the first and second resurrection, Rev_20:5-6 (the disputing of which in Hengstenberg’s exposition of the Revelation has great weight, it seems, with Tholuck), is also to be found intimated here. Olshausen thought he found the intimation of it in Joh_5:25; but the expression and now is, contradicts this. The first resurrection, however, though it may not be literally expressed here, is nevertheless here fully implied in the gradualness of the resurrection. In other words, a resurrection which proceeds by organic unfolding from within outward, and from the centre of humanity to the circumference, must give us to expect a distinction between the first fruits of the resurrection and the universal final manifestation of the resurrection power, (see 1Co_15:22-24).
Joh_5:21. As the Father raiseth up the dead.—It is a question how this is to be understood: whether improperly of quickenings and restorations in the general sense (Deu_32:39; 1Sa_2:6) according to the earlier books of the Old Testament; or of the future work of resurrection according to the later books, especially the Apocrypha (2 Maccabees 7) [Job_13:2; Sap. 16:13], or of an omnipresent motion of reviving in the whole province of the working of the Father in general. Undoubtedly the last is meant. Raising up, quickening, bodily and spiritual, spiritual and bodily, is a fundamental tendency of the government of the Father in nature, history, and theocracy. Hence the tokens of His quickening agency in His healing agency, of outward quickening through inward and the reverse, and the constant development of strong and stronger facts, like the teaching by facts in the Old Testament, Rom_4:17. Meyer: “Ἐγείρει καὶ ζωοποιεῖ might be expected in the reverse order (as in Eph_2:5-6).” The bodily healing itself, however, serves to awaken spiritual life, and in general the first raising up must precede the quickening, in order to lead to the last, most proper raising. Tholuck: “Ἐγείρειν gives the negative idea of the abolition of death, ζωοποιεῖν, the positive.”
Even so the Son quickeneth [ζωοποιεῖ].—As the redeeming and judging consummator, the finisher of the work of the Father.Ζωοποιεῖν here involves ἐγείρειν; yet the idea of the spiritual quickening, as the decisive one, predominates. Meyer would have only spiritual awakening asserted in the οῦς θέλει, Tholuck justly finds bodily also; by which again are meant not simply the particular raisings of dead persons by Jesus. The present tense denotes at the same time the particular case (that present) and the law (all present). Whom he will.—Calvin: Referring to His purpose. Meyer: Referring to faith, Joh_5:24. We refer οὕςθέλει to the tribunal of the Jews which would restrain Him in that work. He asks not for your judgment for that is no judgment of God; it is not ye that administer the judgment of the Father, but the Son. This explains the connection with what follows. [Alford refers whom He will, not to any selection out of mankind, nor to the Jewish prejudice that their nation alone should rise from the dead, but rightly makes it to mean, that in every instance where His will is to vivify, the result invariably follows. So also Bengel: “Nunquam ejus voluntatem destituit effectus.” Ewald refers θέλει to God, which is unnatural.—P. S.].
Joh_5:22. For neither61 doth the Father judge any one.—Explanations of the connection: 1. In the full power of the Son to quicken whom He will, His power to judge is already manifest (Lücke, De Wette, Meyer). 2. Not the θέλειν, but the ζωοποιεῖν is corroborated, and this by the fact that the Son is Judge. He who is the Judge, must also be the quickener (Luthardt, Tholuck). 3. Assuredly, however, the θέλει is confirmed, as the unlimited freedom of the Son to spread life in the region of death; though the connection of the ideas of quickening and judging remains to be considered. Those who, according to their hierarchical statutes, would hinder the Son in His raising and quickening, thereby set themselves up to judge the world already, so far as in them lies, and condemn it to death. And further their judgment against the Son is a sentence of condemnation, against the world. But only as an unauthorized encroachment upon the judgment which the Father has committed to the Son. That is to say, the judgment and the last day are not now immediately to follow upon the sin and death of the old world, but the universal ministration of grace, quickening, and salvation intervenes, and unbelief towards the Son alone forms the inner judgment, and brings on the last day. Κρίνειν here is condemnation [pronouncing sentence of spiritual death] (Joh_3:17; Joh_5:24; Joh_5:27; Joh_5:29) in distinction from ζωοποιεῖν.—The whole judgment, not “the whole condemning” (Meyer), but the total work of judging, in which acquitting is included. Committed to the Son.—The new, the gospel economy of salvation; the representation of the Father by the Son—for the glorifying of the Father in the Son.
Joh_5:23. That all men may honor the Son.62—Teleology of the divine administration. The Father manifests Himself in the acts of the Son, because He manifests Himself in the being of the Son. And the acts of the Son unfold themselves in the total works of salvation and judgment, to the end that the Son maybe honored and glorified as the Father, in order that the Father may be glorified in Him. He that honoreth not the Son, etc.—Spoken most especially against the Sanhedrists.
[Joh_5:23 is another argument for the divinity of Christ from His own mouth. Τιμᾷν does not necessarily imply acts of worship (προσκυνεῖν), but it expresses the sentiment of religious reverence from which worship flows. And as Christ claims precisely the same honor (καθώς) as is due to the Father, He puts Himself on such a footing of equality with Him as implies unity of essence; since monotheism is very jealous of the honor of Jehovah, as the only being entitled to the worship of the creature. There can be no two rival Gods. The worship of the Son is so far from interfering with the worship of the Father, that there can be no true worship of the Father without the worship of the Son. The Fatherhood of God is an unreal abstraction without the co-eternal Sonship of Christ. Comp. with this passage Joh_20:28; Php_2:10.—P. S.]
Joh_5:24. He that heareth my word.—Here is the first of the pregnant turns from the third person to the first, which we have pointed out above. Still more emphatic is the introduction of Christ’s reference to Himself by the Verily, verily. Expositors so entirely overlook this turning point of Christ’s description of Himself in His discourse that Tholuck here remarks: “The view is now directed to the commencement of the quickening process of time, Joh_5:24 in abstracto, Joh_5:25 in the historical development.” Rather is Joh_5:24 the practical application of what precedes, and Joh_5:25 the beginning of the distinction between the period of the spiritual resurrection and the epoch of the bodily. The hearing of the word of Jesus is put in the closest relation to the believing on the God that sent Him; the two are distinct, the two are one. A man cannot truly hear Him, without believing in God; believing in God depends upon a man’s hearing Christ. This gives the counter statement, Joh_12:47. Such an one has eternal life. Thus the operation of the word of Christ in believers is the act of imparting life, of quickening (see 1Pe_1:23; Jam_1:18). The result of this quickening to eternal life is: He comes not into condemnation, and that because conversely he has passed from the state of a condemned one into life, i.e., from internal, essential death into internal, essential life.63 The death internally accomplished must pass through the judgment into death externally accomplished, the pains of damnation; the internally accomplished life transforms the judgment itself to an entrance into life, Joh_8:51. But not without effort, not without a transition does this great change take place. This most prodigious effort, bringing to pass the greatest work of God, is performed in the most silent passive way: Hearing the word of Jesus, believing the God in Him and above Him.
Joh_5:25. Verily, verily—an hour is coming (see Joh_4:23)—Second change of the grammatical person. Objective talk again concerning the Son. At first only concerning the spiritual resurrection, Joh_5:25-26. The hour which is one day to come, already is [νῦν ἐστιν]. In other words, these hours are in one another, coherent, because the things in hand are eternal. The whole resurrection exists in germ in the life of Jesus and His quickening work. The antithesis is, the hour as coming, the apostolic and New Testament period till the second advent, and the hour as already present, the time of the earthly ministry of Jesus. The awakening of mankind to new life virtually began with His earthly work; it developed itself on the day of Pentecost. Reference to the particular instances of His bodily raising of the dead, as well as to Mat_27:52 (Olshausen), is not by this cut off (against Meyer); for in those signs the spiritual awakening power of Christ is manifest; but the primary subject is the spiritual awakening of men, for which the physical not only morally, but even dynamically and organically, prepares.—The dead [οἱνεκροί], therefore, are the spiritually dead (Mat_8:22.)
His voice [τῆςφωνῆςτοὖυἱοῦτοῦθεοῦ].—The word of Christ figuratively represented, or rather designated as an awakening call in its total effect upon spirit and body together. And also φωνή for the sake of the succeeding antithesis. Precise antithesis: οἱνεκροὶἁκούσονταιτῆςφωνῆς, and οἱνεκροϊἀκούσονταιτῆςφωνῆς. All the dead must hear the word of the Son, but unbelievers stop with the hearing of the φωνή (see Joh_12:28; Act_9:17; comp. Act_22:9; Act_26:14). The others, on the contrary, are persons who have simply heard, actually heard. He, therefore, who has heard, shall live; for the call of Christ is a call of creative life and a summons to life eternal. Meyer: If the passage be referred to bodily resurrection, the οἱ ἀκούσαντες is, on account of the article, utterly inexplicable. On the attempts to adjust this to that interpretation, see Meyer (p. 232). [Alford also regards οἱ, “they who have heard it” or “hear it”, (not ἀκούσαντες merely, “having heard it”), as conclusive in favor of spiritual awakening in this verse. Godet says that the article divides the dead into two classes, those who hear, and those who having ears, yet hear not (12:40). He sees in Joh_5:25 a reproduction of the thought of Joh_5:24 under a more dramatic and solemn form, the images being borrowed from the future physical resurrection to paint the spiritual resurrection. Christ appears here as the only living one in a world of spiritual death and desolation. Comp. the magnificent vision of the dry bones made alive by the breath of Jehovah, Ezekiel 38—P. S.]
Joh_5:26. As the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself.—The Son in his incarnation, (comp. Joh_10:18), or the λόγος ἕνσαρκος; but on the ground of His essential nature as λόγος ἅσαρκος. Tholuck: “If the emphasis lay on ἑν ἑαυτῷ, to give prominence to the self-subsistence of the life, this assertion would be in contradiction to ἕδωκε; it must therefore be assumed that ἕχειν ἐν ἑαυτῷ only serves to express more emphatically in the Johannean idiom the idea of possession, as in Joh_5:42; Joh_6:53, etc. Comp. the formula μένοντα ἕχειν” But after all the emphasis does evidently lie on the repeated ἐν ἑαυτῷ, and the thing spoken of is not a thing which Christ has in common with Christians, but a thing which He has in common with the Father. Between the primal originalness which pertains to the Father (to be carefully distinguished from the aseity or self-subsistence of the triune God, which pertains to all three persons), and the permanent possession of life, which is communicated to believers, lies yet the great mystery, that Christ is in Himself the second personal principle of all life. Euthym. Zigabenus: πηγάζει. He has an essential, absolute power of regeneration, not only for Himself, but also for the life of the world.
[“Εδωκε refers to a historical fact, the incarnation, and τῷ υἱῷ to the God-Man, the Saviour of the world. But this communication of life to the incarnate Son is itself only the temporal manifestation of an eternal self-communication of life by the Father to the pre-existent Son; and οὕτως implies an underlying equality of essence. To have life in Himself just as the Father has it in Himself, and to be an independent source of life to others, cannot be said of any creature or mere man. We all live and move and have our being in God, and are absolutely depending on Him. The Nicene doctrine of the eternal generation of the Son by the Father is not a mere idea, but a fact, as the eternal subordination of the Son to the Father is a fact. Both are acts of divine love, the one of the Father to the Son, the other of the Son to the Father. By the generation the Father gives eternally His own self-existing independent life, i.e., His all to the Son, by His subordination, the Son gives Himself to the Father. “To give all, to return all, this is love. God is love. He loves divinely, and is beloved divinely.”—P. S.]
Joh_5:27. And gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is Son of man [Καὶἐξουσίανἔδωκεναὐτῷκρίσινποιεῖ ν, ὅτιυἱὸςἀνθρώπουἐστίν].—Besides the power of life which the Father gave Him as Son of God, and from which proceeds the activity before mentioned, the Father gave Him the power of judgment also, because He is Son of man. We must note the distinction. And since assuredly the ideal judgment has been presented as a corollary of the saving and quickening work of Christ, the full power of judging in general, and of the solemn final judgment in particular, is here intended. This last is grounded especially in the fact that Christ is Son of man, as in particular the vicarious position and work of Christ in justification are grounded in the same.
Account must be made of the fact that in this passage alone υἱὸς ἀβθρώπου stands without the article.64 Different explanations:
1. The omission is unimportant, and the expression means here as elsewhere: the Messiah (Lightfoot, Lücke, etc.) Against this is the fact that the Son of Man with the article denotes the Messiah, and therefore the Son of God, and that as such He has been already here introduced. Of course the Son of Man is the Son of God in an undivided human identity; but here His being man is emphasized by itself as a new point.
2. Because He is man (Luther, Jansen, etc., Meyer). And how is He made Judge on this account?
(a) Luther, etc., De Wette [Reuss]: “The judgment is to take place with human publicity, therefore the Judge must be visible as man.”
(b) Bucer, etc.: “He humbled Himself to be made man, therefore as man He is glorified.”
(c) Wetstein, Stier: “Man is to be judged by the lowliest, most loving man,” Heb_2:17-18.
(d) Este, Meyer: “Because He is man, and would not have had the authority to judge, if it had not been given to Him” (merely, therefore, to make room for the “given”).
(e) Tholuck: “Because He is incarnate Redeemer, the judging also is given to Him in this redemption itself.
(f) The idea is no doubt a juridical principle: because He is to judge men, therefore He must have not only knowledge of man, but also a human experience. As Son of man, thus embodying the ideal of human life, He is the standard of the judgment, and virtually the judgment itself; as Son of man, He has the whole experience of humanity, sin excepted (which is no pure experience), and as He, in that He has been tempted, is able to succor them that are tempted, He is able also to judge them that are tempted.65
[By His incarnation Christ has so identified Himself with all the interests of humanity, as its Head and Saviour, that humanity belongs to Him: it is for Him to redeem, to save, to make alive, to judge, to condemn. The final resurrection and judgment are only the completion of the process commenced in His becoming man for us, and for our salvation. Alford explains: Man is to be judged by Man,—by that Man whom God has appointed, who is the inclusive Head of humanity, and to whom mankind, and man’s world, pertain by right of covenant-purchase. Jacobus (Notes on John): This is the kindest arrangement, 1) because as mediator He must have the most tender regard for man; 2) because as man He would sympathize with us, as to all our temptations; 3) as God-Man He would have a fellow-feeling with us as well as with God.—P. S.]
Joh_5:28. [Marvel not at this. Bengel: “They are great things which He spake all along from Joh_5:21, and worthy of marvel; but greater and more marvellous are the things which follow: τοῦτο, this, is to be referred to what goes before. Jesus knew the feeling of wonder which had been jusst now raised in the mind of the Jews.”—P. S.] In which all that are in the graves.—[Joh_5:28-29 evidently refer to the future general resurrection; hence πάντες οἱ ἐν τοὶς μνημείoις, and hence also the omission of the words, και νῦν ἐστιν, Christ rises now to the last and highest mediatoral act of His ἐξουσία.—P. S.]—The expression, in the graves, is to be taken strictly, i.e., of those who are bodily dead, yet not literally: of those only that are buried. It is not, however, the dust of the dead that is intended any more than it is the risen themselves (Tholuck), when it is said they shall hear His voice, but the souls of the dead on the way to resurrection. Their being in the graves signifies their need of entire reclothing or new embodiment in the day of the appearance of Christ. The subject here is evidently the general resurrection (1 Corinthians 15), which excludes neither the first resurrection (Revelation 20), nor the gradual, organic reclothing (2 Corinthians 5). The distinguishing of those who have done good and those who have done evil, proves that the subject here cannot be the spiritually dead; and to the same effect is the expression: that are in the graves. Comp. Isa_26:19; Eze_37:12; Dan_12:2.
[Shall hear his voice.—1Th_4:16 : “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God.” Comp. 1Co_15:52. The same voice, which ye hear this very moment for your spiritual resurrection, shall summon your dead bodies from the tomb for the final resurrection, and I shall award them, according to their deeds, eternal life, or eternal woe. Comp. the third stanza of the terrific Dies Iræ:
Tuba mirum spargens sonum,
Per sepulchra regionum,
Coget omnes ante thronum.
“Wondrous sound the Trumpet flingeth,
Through earth’s sepulchre it ringeth,
All before the Throne it bringeth.”—P. S.
Joh_5:29. They that have done good [lit. the good ταἀγαθά and the evil, τὰφαῦλα. The article gives the terms an absolute meaning.—Comp. Rom_2:7; Mat_7:21; Mat_25:31, sqq. also Joh_3:20, on the difference between ποιεῖν applied to good, and πράσσειν to evil]. At the last day righteousness of faith must have ripened into righteousness of life, and all will have had opportunity to make it their own, 1Pe_3:19; 1Pe_4:6. Unto a resurrection of life [εἰς ἀνάστασιν ζωῆς].—1. Meyer: “A resurrection to life locally conceived, i.e., a resurrection, the essential result of which is life, that is, the life in the kingdom of Messiah.” 2Ma_7:14 ἀνάστασις εἰς ζωήν; Dan_12:2]. 2. Tholuck (after Luthardt): “After the pregnant sense in which the promise of the ἀνάστασις occurs in Joh_6:40; Joh_6:44; Joh_6:54, it seems more correct to translate: life-resurrection, and damnation-resurrection, indicating that in this act the ζωή and the κρίσις respectively reach their summit.” No doubt correct. The one class come forth into the resurrection of life, into the final perfect manifestation of life; the other, into the final perfect manifestation of condemnation. This includes the first interpretation in the strongest form of expression. That Christ is here standing before a Jewish tribunal, is indicated by His bringing out in ever mightier prominence the thought of the divine judgment committed to Him. [Unto the resurrection of judgment, εἰςἀνάστασινκρίσεως.—A resurrection from death temporal to death eternal. Who can realize the awful idea! The resurrection of the wicked is expressly taught Dan_12:2; Act_24:15 (ἀνάστασις νεκρων, δικαίων τε καὶ ἄδίκων), and implied Mat_10:28, (ψυχὴν καὶ σῶμα ἀπολέσι ἐν γεέννῃ); 25:34 ff.; Rev_20:5.—P. S.]
Joh_5:30. I can of mine own self do nothing.—Having asserted so great things concerning the Son, Jesus again speaks of Himself in the first person. Thus we have not here (and in Joh_5:31) a new train of thought according to John’s mode of connecting ideas (Tholuck), but the second turn of the discourse into self-assertion and personal application (other misapprehensions of the connection, see in Meyer, p. 237.) The portion Joh_5:30-39 treats of the true Messianism, the witnesses to it, and the unbelief which receives not the testimony. The portion Joh_5:41-47 treats of the false Messianism, which runs finally into anti-Messianism. I can do nothing, etc. See Joh_5:19.
As I hear.—Denoting in the form of sensible perception absolute, sensible, spiritual knowledge. A hearing, in the sense of perfect moral, teleological perception of the divine will, as previously a seeing in the sense of perfect intellectual perception of things in principle. The words at the same time assert the Saviour’s knowledge of the men’s condemnation of themselves. Because I seek not mine own will.—Because He perpetually sacrifies Himself, He can judge the world in execution of the will of His Father, who sent Him. The paternity points to His origin, the sending, to His object.
Joh_5:31. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.—A man’s testimony in his own cause is not received; it must be supported by the attestation of another: the oath. A human tribunal requires at least two witnesses, Num_35:30; Joh_8:16-17.66 Yet not the number of witnesses, but the nature and quality of the witness, is the thing here emphasized by the Lord. The attester must be distinct from the one attested. This is the human rule. In theocratic terms: A prophet without divine attestation, or even the Messiah without the same, would be a contradiction. “The precise principle is, that the individual does not testify to himself, and thus separate himself from the universal, but that one testifies for another, and then on the highest scale he who is other to the Son, the Father, testifies to the Son. Joh_8:14 seems to contradict this. But: (1) In the law of judicial testimony a person’s testimony respecting himself has its place; (2) particularly in regard to a fact of personal consciousness; (3) in case of a testimony which has the testimony of the Father associated with it.
Joh_5:32. There is another.—The sequel shows that this ἄλλος is the Father. [So Cyr., Aug., Beza, Beng., Lücke, Thol., Olsh., Luthardt, Hengstenb., Brückner, Meyer, Godet, Alford. It cannot be John the Baptist (Chrys., Erasm., Grot., De Wette, Ewald), on account of Joh_5:31; Joh_5:36, where Christ presents His testimony as unnecessary, and assigns it a subordinate value as compared with that of the Father. “The reason why our Lord mentions John is not ‘as ascending from the lesser witness to the greater’, but purposely to remove the idea that He meant him only or principally by these words, and to set his testimony in its proper place: then at Joh_5:36 He returns again to the ἅλλος μαρτ. περὶ ἐμοῦ.” (Alford.) I know that, etc. This, as Meyer observes, is too strong and solemn for the testimony of the Baptist. “It is the Son’s testimony to the Father’s truth,” comp. 7:28, 29; 8:26, 55.—P. S.]
Joh_5:33-34. Ye sent unto John.—Reminding them of the fact which the evangelist relates in Joh_1:19. Towards the end of His pilgrimage also, Mat_21:25, He again reverts to this. At the same time hinting what follows farther on. This leads to the more precise explanation of the words: I receive not testimony from man (Joh_5:34). That is, not: I reject it (Tholuck), or, do not make use of it (Beza), or, do not catch at it (De Wette), but: I do not need it for Myself, and do not make account of it, as necessary to support my public appearance as Messiah.67 I expect my attestation in a higher testimony, in the testimony of the Father. John was a witness with whom, as the completer of the Old Testament, they must from their point of view be satisfied; but Jesus cannot satisfy Himself with this testimony; as founder of the New Testament, He must have a new and higher. But these things I say, that ye may be saved.—[Not for My benefit, for I do not need this human testimony, having a divine one, which is all sufficient, but for your salvation. Bengel: Vestra res agitur.—P. S.] He reminds them of that testimony, because for them it was valid, and contempt of it would be an undoing of the old covenant, and would bring perdition upon them.
Joh_5:35. He was the lamp burning (or, lighted) and shining. [Ἐκεῖνοςἦνὁλύχνοςὁκαιόμενοςκαὶφαίνων. “What a glorious phenomenon was he, and how little have you appreciated him!” Meyer.] He was John has retired. He was in prison at the time of the Lord’s return to Galilee (Joh_4:44; Mat_4:12), and was soon after beheaded (Joh_6:1; comp. Mat_14:13). [So also Stier and Alford.—P. S.] Jesus therefore considered his imprisonment as the end of his course.
The lamp. With the article.68 The appointed lamp of the advent of the Messiah, burning and shining. Interpretations: 1. Bengel: Elijah, with reference to Sir_48:1 : “Then stood up Elijah the prophet like a fire, and his word burned like a lamp.”69 2. Luthardt: The figure of the one who carries a light before the coming bridegroom. The rejoicing just afterwards mentioned, which might be probably the performance of a wedding dance in the torch-light, might be decisive for this view. But the one who holds the torch is not the torch itself. The general figure in Luk_1:76 (Meyer) is not quite satisfactory.70 It must be observed, that the manifestation of Jehovah is always preceeded by a token of light and fire. The indication of this appears even in Genesis, Joh_3:24; Joh_15:17. Then the burning bush becomes the token of the manifestation of Jehovah, Exo_3:2; afterwards the pillar of fire, Exodus 13. The permanent typical symbol of the manifestation of God in Israel was the candle-stick in the temple; its complement being the fire upon the altar. In the prophetic vision the manifestation of Jehovah is announced and marked by a token of light and fire combined (Eze_1:13); by light and fire the advent of the Messiah is heralded and proclaimed, Zec_14:7; Mal_3:2. All those tokens of light and fire meet in the Baptist. He is the flame-signal of the Messiah, the last Old Testament form of the pillar of fire and of the candle-stick in the temple; therefore the lamp, at once flaming and shining. The figure of the lamp (λύχνος) was current (2Sa_21:17; 2Pe_1:19; Rev_21:23).
Burning and shining. Meyer disputes the opinion that these words denote two peculiarities of John: fiery zeal and illumination; since the two belong together.71 And yet the two are also to be distinguised. It was the sin of the Jews, that they were not warned by the burning of John and so made his shining a mere transitory appearance.
And ye were willing.—Ἠθελήσατε. Bringing out the sinful caprice in which they made the earnest light a passing festival torch for a joyous throng or dance. Respecting the enthusiastic concourse on the appearance of the Baptist, see Mat_3:5. Out of this came, instead of the μετάνοια which John preached, an ἀγαλλιασθῆναι. We might think here of the dancing of gnats in the twilight, or a swarm of flies around a lamp; but more natural is the thought of a joyous dance approaching with a festive torch. For a while.—Πρὸςὥραν belongs according to Bengel, ἠθελήσατε, according to Meyer, to ἀγαλλιασθῆναι; but the two things are not to be separated. To their fickle ἐθέλειν it belonged to make to themselves out of the earnest preacher of repentance, an entertaining event of the day. In his light.—They made the λύχνος itself for awhile the light, φῶς, of which it was to be only the harbinger. Comp. Mat_11:16. Furthermore they endeavored to find a bright entertaining side to the earnestness of his preaching of repentance, and hence at last forsook him, because he was too earnest for them.
Joh_5:36. Greater witness.—Μείζωτοῦ ’Ι ωάννου, instead of τῆς μαρτυρίας τοῦ Ἰωάννου. Constructio compendiaria. For the works which the Father hath, etc.—The testimony of His miracles is the testimony of His Father Himself, because the Father hath given Him the works. To finish.—The idea of consummation again; description of Christianity. That the Father hath sent me.—The end (τὸ τέλος) points back to the beginning, the ἀρχή, the sending, which, in its eternity, becomes a perfect: ἀπέσταλκε, Joh_3:34.
Joh_5:37. And the Father himself.… hath borne witness of me.—It is a question whether a new and different testimony from that of the works (Joh_5:36) is here introduced. 1. This is the testimony of the works (Augustine, Grotius, Bauer, Neander, Stier, etc.). 2. The testimony of God at the baptism of Christ (Chrysostom, Bengel, Paulus).72 3. The witness in the spirit of the believer, the drawing of the Father (De Wette [Alford], Baumgarten-Crusius, Tholuck; but wavering). 4. The testimony which God has given in His word, in the Scriptures of the Old Testament, to His Son (Cyril, Nonnus, etc., Bede, Calvin, Lücke, Meyer). Unquestionably this last interpretation is established by the perfect μεμαρτύρηκε, as well as by the ensuing discussion on the Holy Scriptures. Evidently, however, Christ combines the outward word with the inward word in the spirit; and He means not the abstract letter of the Scripture, but the concrete, living Old Testament revelation as a unity of word and spirit (see Joh_5:37-38). The third and fourth interpretations, therefore, must be combined. This is the direct, strongly pronounced testimony of the Father.
Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.—Christ denotes the soul, the inner life, the truth of the Old Testament revelation. This consisted in the hearing of the voices of God, the word of revelation given in vision, and seeing the emblems of God, His δόζα (the Angel of the Lord), by the true believers of the ancient covenant, particularly by the prophets. From this life of revelation, i.e., from the spirit and truth of the Old Testament, these persons were so alienated that Jesus could say to them: Ye have never heard even one of His voices (one living tone of His voice), never seen a single form of His manifestation (a glimmer of His living revelation). And this He could say to them with perfect assurance, because they did not perceive the voice of God even in the word of Christ (comp. Heb_1:1), because they did not see even the angel of the Lord in His incarnation, as He stood before their eyes, Joh_14:9. In this reproof it is implied that the process of revelations by visions, out of which the Holy Scripture as a document proceded, must in some sense repeat itself in the inward awakening (hearing) and illumination (seeing) of the true reader (Leben Jesu, III., p. 598). Hence also the conjunctive οὔτε, οὔτε, is followed by καὶ οὐ. The result of such an awakened hearing and enlightened seeing is the abiding of the word, as a new life and vision, in the believing heart (λόγος μένων ἐν ὑμῖν). That is, the φωνή and the εἶδος go together in the one effect and efficient power of the λόγος μένων.
Different interpretations: 1. The voice at the baptism (Chrysostom, Lampe, Bengel; Lücke on the contrary: We should then expect τὴν φωνήν). 2. Jesus concedes in His words some objection which the Jews would have made (Euthymius Zigab., Kuinoel, Pauls; a characteristically rabbinical interpretation). Similarly Baumgarten-Crusius: “Never before has this direct exhibition of God been made, as it now is.” 3. Cyril, Theophylact: Jesus denies to them all direct apprehension of the Old Testament revelations (Lücke: “then Jesus must have spoken of their fathers”). 4. A reproof that they had no eye nor ear for the direct testimonies of God in His—the Messiah’s—appearance and work (Lücke). But this comes in the succeeding demonstrative words: For whom He hath sent, Him ye believe not. 5. A metaphorical interpretation (still more definite than in Lücke): “Metaphoricæ sunt locutiones, quibus in summa docere vult, alienos esse prorsus a Dei notitia. Nam sicuti vultu et sermone homines se patefaciunt, ita Deus vocem ad nos suam Prophetarum voce emittit, et in sacramentis quasi visibilem formam induit, unde cognosci pro modulo nostro queat. Verum qui eum in viva sua effigie non agnoscit, satis hoc ipso prodit, nullum se numen colere, nisi quod ipse fabricarit (2Co_3:14).” Calvin. Similarly Luthardt: “φωνή and εἶδος are not to be referred to particular symbolical revelations in the Old Testament, such as Isaiah’s and Jeremiah’s hearing the φωνή of God, and Ezekiel’s and Daniel’s seeing his εἶδος in the Spirit; but to the total revelation recorded in the Old Testament, as God’s exhibition Himself.” So Meyer also, except that he includes theophanies and visions. And to just these, in their symbolical import, the whole matter comes.
Joh_5:38. And ye have not his word abiding in you—[καὶτὸνλόγοναὐτοοὐκἔχετεμένονταἐνὑμῖν.] A Johan nean phrase, 1Jn_2:14. Meyer: “You lack a permanent inward appropriation of His word.”73 Not the revelation of God in the conscience (Olshausen,74 Frommann), but the living, especially the Messianic word of God as the seed of the knowledge of Christ. For whom he sent him ye believe not.—The fact that they did not recognize and accept in Christ the perfect revelation, the φωνή and εἶδος, of God, proves that they had not understood the intimations of this revelation in the Old Testament; that they had not the Old Testament living in them; that they were deaf and blind to the word of God in the Holy Scriptures as a direct testimony to the Son (see Isa_6:6; Mat_13:14; Joh_12:40; Act_28:26; Rom_11:8; 2Co_3:14). The ὅν ἀπέστ. is emphasized by being placed first, and made yet more prominent by τούτω ὑμεῖς. [Grotius: Quomodo mandata regis discet, qui legatum excludit. With the messenger of God they necessarily also rejected His message.—P. S.]
Joh_5:39. Ye search the Scriptures.—Meyer: “That ἐρευνᾶτε is indicative (Cyril, Erasmus, Casaubon, Beza, Bengel, and many moderns, including Kuinoel, Lücke, Olshausen, Klee, De Wette, Maier,75 etc.), not imperative (Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigab., Luther, Calvin, etc., Paulus, Baumgarten-Crusius, Hofmann, Luthardt,76 etc.), is shown by the context, to which an imperative would be foreign matter, particularly out of harmony with the correlative καὶ οὐ θέλετε. Comp. also Lechler in the Studien und Kritiken, 1854, p. 795.” Comp. 2 Corinthians 3. As the Jews, in their way, searched the Scriptures very diligently (see Tholuck, p. 175), the sentence, if imperative, must have specified and strongly emphasized the right mode of search.
[Grammatically, ἐρευνᾶτε may be imperative: search, or indicative: ye search. It is not easy to decide between the two interpretations. The former has, by Luther’s German V. and by the A. E. V., become the current interpretation in the Protestant, as it was in the old Greek Church, and is often (by an a fortiori application to the New Testament) popularly used as an argument against Romanists. It is favored by the following considerations: 1) The position of ἐρευνᾶτε before τὰς γραφάς, which, however, is by no means conclusive. 2) The omission of ὑμεῖς before ἐρευνᾶτε, comp. ὑμεῖς before the indicative δοκεῖτε. 3) The consent of the Greek fathers, with the important exception, however, of Cyril of Alexandria. 4) The intrinsic improbability that Christ should have spoken in anyway reproachfully of the study of the Scriptures. (Hengstenberg discovers a far fetched allusion to Isa_34:16 : “Seek ye out of the book of the Lord,” a passage which is omitted in the Sept.)—Yet these arguments are in themselves insufficient, and must give way, in my judgment, to the one consideration that the connection and natural sense of the passage as a whole requires the indicative. The Saviour exposes the inconsistency, blindness and perverseness of the Jews in searching the letter of the Scriptures, and imagining to have eternal life in them, and yet refusing to believe in Him to whom these very Scriptures bear witness, and who alone can give to them that life which they vainly sought in the killing letter instead of the vivifying spirit. Thus by their unbelief the very book of God which they professed to honor, became their accuser, and a savor of death to them. Had He intended to exhort the Jews to search the Scriptures, He would not have continued: “for in them ye think, or, imagine to have (ὑμεῖς δοκεῖτε ἔχειν) eternal life,” but: “through them ye have (ἔχετε) or rather, shall have, shall find, eternal life;” nor would He have added: “And they are they which testify of Me,” but “for;” this being the reason why they should study the Scriptures. He would also probably have defined the verb as to the spirit and manner of searching the Scriptures; for the Jews did search them nicely and diligently, although by no means in the best way. The more natural interpretation, therefore, is this: “Ye do (indeed) search the Scriptures (not τὸν λόγον θεοῦ, but τὰς γραφάς, the letter of the several written books of the Old Testament), for in them (not through them, as a mere means to get at the living word of God) ye imagine to have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me. And (yet—how inconsistent, how preposterous!) ye are not willing to come to Me that ye might have (that eternal) life. Ἐρευνάω is the very word which the Sanhedrists used of the study of the Scriptures, 7:52, when they told Nicodemus: “Search (ἐρεύνησον), and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.”77 The Pharisees studied the Old Testament as they kept the Sabbath, and Christ rectified their study by pointing out the Christ in the Bible, as He rebuked their Sabbath keeping by doing works of mercy on the Sabbath day. They knew the shell of the Bible and ignored the kernel within. They searched minutely, pedantically and superstitiously the letter, but had no sympathy with the indwelling soul. They idolized the written book, while they resisted the living word contained therein (comp. Joh_5:38). Such bibliolatry led them away from Christ, while the true study of Moses and the prophets leads to Christ, as the fulfiller of the law and the promise. The O. T. promises life, not to the mere reader and searcher, but to the doer, of the law: “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments: which if a man do, he shall live in them” (Lev_18:5). The Rabbis said: “He who acquires the words of the law, acquires for himself eternal life (Qui acquirit sibi verba legis, is acquirit sibi vitam eternam).” The unbelieving Jews search the Old Testament to this day in the same spirit and with the same result; their minds are blinded, and the vail is upon their heart (2Co_3:14-15). In like manner the New Testament is a sealed book to thousands of its readers and students within the Christian church, who either superstitiously, like the Jews, or skeptically, like the rationalists, stick to the mere outside of the Bible, and ignore or oppose the Christ within. Christ is the life and light of the whole Bible, its Alpha and Omega, and the only key that unlocks its mysteries to the believing mind. Comp. the remarks on Joh_5:46.—P. S.]
For in them ye think ye have.—Thinking, or imagining (δοκεῖτε) in opposition to believing or knowing [and thinking to have in opposition to actual having; comp. Joh_5:45, and Joh_8:54 ὑμεῖς λέγετε], imply in the first instance ignorance, but hero error also; therefore a censure (contrary to Meyer); for the sense is not: Ye think that eternal life is communicated to you through the Scriptures, but: Ye think to have eternal life in the Scriptures themselves (the plural is significant), in their mere outward letter, and to have it as an external possession outside of yourselves in their objective existence; thus clearly designating that Rabbinism, which for the Word of God made man substitutes the Word of God made book (see Sir_24:23 [ταῦταπάντα βίβλος διαθήκης θειῦ ὑψίστου]; comp. H. Richter: Die evang. und röm. Kirchenlehre, Barmen, 1844, p. 47.)78
And they are they [καὶἐκεἶναίεἰσιν].—Καί emphatic. [Just they, these very Scriptures which ye search. The copula brings out the absurdity of coupling contradictory things. Ye search the Scriptures which testify of Me, and ye reject Me; ye seek life, and ye will not come to Me who alone can give you life.—P. S.] “Which testify of me.—The participle εὐσιν αἱμαρτυροῦσαί means strictly: they are the testifiers of me, i.e, their proper nature and office is to bear witness of me. [The Old Testament was to Christ a mirror which reflected His own image.]
Joh_5:40. And ye will not.79—The Scriptures point to Christ; but they will not come from the Scriptures to Him, that they might have life. The αἰώνιος seems designedly omitted. They think they already have the ζωὴ αἰώνιος in the letter of their Scriptures; but they must come to Christ before they can have any life at all. Of course the life meant is the ζωή αἰώνιος, but here great stress falls on its very conditions and incipiency. Bengel: Propius in Christo, quam in Scripturis vita habetur. [Οὐθέλετε implies the voluntary character, and hence the moral guilt of unbelief, comp. Mat_23:37.80 The end of the discourse uncovers the secret motive of this unbelief, namely the self-seeking ambition of the heart. Reason may be more easily convinced of the truth of Christianity than the will may be subdued to the obedience of Christ. The springs of belief and unbelief are in the heart rather than the head. “Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life,” Pro_4:23.—P. S.]
Joh_5:41. Glory from men.—Glory. Mere honor, especially in John, cannot be intended by the word δόξα. It is the δόξα of the Messiah. This Christ declares He will not receive, or appropriate, from human sources. The connection is: The Father testifies of Me in the Scripture; I must leave all to Him, as He glorifies Me; I cannot be glorified by the testimony of John in his ministry among you. That Jesus intended to prevent the charge of injured ambition (Luthardt, Meyer), is hardly to be supposed.
Joh_5:42. But I know you.—[“Εγνωκα, perfect. Bengel: Cognitos vos habeo; hoc radio penetrat corda auditorum. He knew them from their past history and from their conduct towards Him.—P. S.] With His sure discernment, that their heart is not directed towards God, He cannot and will not expect that His δόξα will be prepared for Him by the Sanhedrin, or by Judaism in general. The reason why they did not know, and honor Him, was that they did not love God. Ye have not the love of God in you.—They had none of that spirituality which is earnestly directed towards God and eternal things, ̓́Ι γ́νἀγάπην the love which is required by the law, as its sum and substance, or even that which is awakened by the promise. In you.—Ἐνἑαυτο ῖς [in your own hearts]. They have this love in their holy Scriptures, outside of themselves, in the holy medium of revelation, as they have eternal life outside of themselves;—they themselves are full of worldliness.
Joh_5:43. In my Father’s name.—The very fact that He is come in the name of His Father, that He has predicated nothing of Himself, that He has executed the mission of the Father, done the works of the Father, answered to the testimony of the Father in the Old Testament, that He has even avoided the oft falsified name of Messiah, is the reason why they do not receive Him.
If another shall come in his own name.—We might doubt whether the Lord does not intend to say: under the assumed name of Messiah in some specifically shaped form. But the man coming in his own name is, in any case, a false Messiah (Meyer, against Luthardt); for he comes, (1) with no commission from the Father, but of his own ambitious impulse; (2) not with the works of the Father, but with self-chosen deceptions; (3) not for the glory of the Father, but for his own; (4) not in agreement with the holy Scriptures, but with a false Messianic idea. Meyer: “He will find acceptance, because he satisfies the opposite of the love of God, self-love (by promise of earthly glory, etc.). A distinct prediction of false Messiahs. See Mat_24:24. According to Schudt: Jüdische Merkwürdigkeiten, 6, 27, 30 (in Bengel), sixty-four such deceivers have been counted since the time of Christ.” Since then many new ones have doubtless been added. (See the periodical: Dibre Emeth, Breslau, 1853 and 1854, and the note in Heubner, p. 304.) Tholuck, without sufficient reason, disputes the reference of the passage to false Messiahs, and refers it only to the false prophets, who came in their own name, and always found more followers than the true. Yet all appealed to a divine commission. Those who came in their own name, did so in opposition to the true Messiah; and this method is always pseudo-Christian and anti-Christian at the same time. Meanwhile the false prophets of the ancient time were but fore-runners of the pseudo Messianic manifestations of the New Testament age; and such future manifestations the Lord evidently has in view.81 Him ye will receive. Affinity of the ungodly mind, more explicitly declared in Joh_12:43.
Joh_5:44. Who receive glory one from another.—Not merely honor, but here again δόξα, with reference to the specific honor of Messiah: Messianic honors. Messianic dignities are both accorded and accepted in a hierarchical system from human, sinful motives, ambition, favor and the like. And seek not the glory that cometh from the only God.—Here evidently the δόξα is the divine pleasure, as conferring honor and glory on the believer; the δόξα θεοῦ of Paul in Rom_3:23. From the only God, παρὰτοῦμόνουθεοῦ. Grotius, De Wette [E. V., Godet]: From God only; making the adjective rather adverbial. Meyer and Tholuck [Alford], on the contrary, take μόνος after the analogy of Joh_17:3 : Ὀ μόνος ἀληθνὸιος θεός; 1Ti_6:15 : Ο μόνος δυνάστης. It was the deepest reproach to Jews, who gloried in the worship of the one God, that they recognized so various, and even human, sources of the δόξα, as really to be polytheistic in their conduct. These creature lights, in which the lustre is not recognized as radiance from the centre of light and honor in the only God, but which are made by men of men,—these form a disguised and subtle polytheism, a heathenism within a Judaistic hierarchical system.
Joh_5:45. Do not think that I shall accuse you.—[Christ’s office is not to accuse, but to judge.] Referring, no doubt, to the accusations which they brought against Him and the human trial upon which they put Him. Before their court He has assumed more and more the mien of a majestic judge. He has finally represented them as contradicting the testimony of God, as anti-Christs, pagans. They are disarmed by the authority and power of His words, and discharge Him. Now, so far as He is concerned, He proposes to discharge them. He will not accuse them to the Father, but another, says He, will accuse you, even Moses, in whom ye hope [ἠλπίκατε, have set your hope, comp. 2Co_1:10]. This is the last, the mightest stroke.82 That very Moses on whom they set their hope, will accuse them, and put their hope to shame. Not exactly the Holy Scriptures (Tholuck), but Moses himself, in his spirit, as the representative of the legal basis of the Holy Scriptures. If they rightly searched the Scriptures, they would find Christ and only Christ in the Old Testament, even in the books of Moses alone; but they find Moses in them, and only Moses, only law even in the prophets, and on this omnipresent Moses, whose all the Scriptures are in their view (see Joh_5:47), that is, on the legal element of the Holy Scriptures, they placed their self-righteous confidence. Through Moses they sought to be heirs of the Messianic kingdom; Christ Himself was to appear as a second Moses (nova lex). But Moses, says He, is the very one who will accuse you. Not so much that the law pronounces the curse on those who deal in the works of the law, as that Moses, both in single passages (Deu_18:15), and in his whole law, especially in the types, wrote of Christ. Bengel: Scripsit nusquam non. [Comp. further remarks sub. Joh_5:46.—P. S.] Where and how accuse? In all judgments of conscience as well as in all the historical judgments of Israel the real Moses, the spirit of the law, accuses them for their unbelief even unto the end of the world. Not, therefore, for unbelief of particular prophecies, “as even De Wette thinks, but because the religious spirit of his law deposes so strong a testimony in favor of Him who, by His whole appearance, proves that He is the fulfilment of it.” Tholuck.
Joh_5:46. For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me.—True law-Jews are true faith-Jews. The same applies to Christianity. [Every true Jew who follows the teachings of the Old Testament revelation, becomes naturally a Christian, as was the case with the apostles and primitive disciples, but every bad Jew instinctively rejects the gospel, because the Old and New Testaments are the revelation of one and the same God, the Old being a preparation for the New, the New the fulfilment of the Old. “Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Test. in Novo patet.” The agreement of Moses and Christ is also the underlying thought of the whole sermon on the Mount; Matthew and John are the disciples of one Master.—P. S.]
[For of me he wrote, περὶγὰρἐμοῦ—emphatically placed first—ἐκεῖνοςἔγραψεν.—Moses wrote of Christ, as the seed of the woman that shall bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3), as the seed of Abraham by which all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12. ff.), as the Shiloh unto whom shall be the gathering of the people (Genesis 49), as the Star out of Jacob, and the Sceptre that shall rise out of Israel (Num_24:17), as the great Prophet whom God will raise up, and unto whom the Jews should hearken (Deuteronomy 18). Moreover, the moral law of Moses, by revealing the holy will of God and setting up a standard of human righteousness in conformity with that will, awakens a knowledge of sin and guilt (Rom_3:20; Rom_7:7), and thus serves as a school-master to bring us to Christ (Gal_3:24). Finally, the ritual law and all the ceremonies of Mosaic worship were typical of the Christian dispensation (Col_2:17), as the healing serpent in the wilderness pointed to Christ on the cross (Num_21:9; Joh_3:14). This is a most important testimony, from the unerring mouth of Christ, to the Messianic character and aim of the whole Mosaic dispensation, and to the Mosaic origin of the Pentateuch. Comp. Luk_24:44; Rom_10:5.—P. S.]
Joh_5:47. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?—Twofold antithesis [Moses and Christ—Moses’ writings and Christ’s words]. First, as the stronger, ἐκείνου—ἐμοῖς. Not as if Moses were more credible than Christ. But he is easier for beginners, and only through him do men get to Christ. This antithesis does not, as Meyer thinks, exclude the second. The Sanhedrists, like the Rabbins in general, officially concerned themselves simply with the writings; the words of Christ they heard only by the way.83 They had sought to prosecute Him according to the Sabbath law of Moses; He declares that they are apostates from Moses. But as they postpone their judgment, He postpones His.
[The discourse ends, as Meyer says, with a question “of hopelessness,” I prefer to say, holy sadness. Yet after all there is implied in this question a tender appeal of that infinite love which would again and again gather the children of Jerusalem together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, though they would not (Mat_23:37).—This whole discourse is one of the most remarkable in the New Testament. Nowhere else does Christ so fully explain His relation to His Father. It is not metaphysical, but the simple expression of His filial consciousness. With the utmost naturalness and almost childlike simplicity He utters the sublimest truths concerning His official dependence on, and essential oneness with, the Father. This relation the Nicene Creed has briefly and clearly expressed by calling Christ “Light of Light, God of God, very God of very God.” What can we mortals do but reverently listen to these astounding disclosures of the mysterious union of the Saviour of the world with the infinite God! And how terrific is the force of the argument against the blind and dead leaders of the Jews, especially when, at the close, He pursues them to their own territory and takes away the very foundation from under their feet by calling the grand figure of their liberator and lawgiver in whom they placed their hope, from the grave, and changing their pretended advocate into their accuser! The whole discourse is so characteristic, grand, pointed and telling, that the idea of an invention is utterly preposterous. Even Strauss and Renan dare not deny its essential genuineness, though they insist upon its Johannean coloring. “Le thème,” says Renan of the Johannean discourses in general (Vie de Jêsus), “peut n’être pas sans quelque authenticitê; mais dans l’exécution, la fantaisie de l’artiste se donne pleine carrière.” But John first became conformed in his mind to Christ before he conformed Christ to his mode of thought and speech, so that his theology is a faithful reflection of the theology of Christ. It would take no less than another superhuman Jesus to invent such a Jesus as the one exhibited by this plain fisherman of Galilee. The historical reality is the only sensible solution of the problem.—P. S.]
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. The advancing opposition of the darkness to the light of the world, in its most diverse forms.
2. Christ, the quickening life, is the central thought of chapters 4–7 In the fourth chapter He presents Himself as the refreshment of life, the fountain of peace; in the fifth, as the fountain of healing, the healing quickener of the sick and the dead, even to resurrection; in the sixth, as the sustaining and nourishing bread of life; in the seventh, as the hidden, mysterious spirit-life, whence the fresh fountain-life of the spirit flows. After this the idea of light comes forward. In the eighth chapter Christ is the preserving, enlightening light, the day of the word; in the ninth, the awakening, quickening light, the light-star of the world, by which the blind receive sight, and those who profess to see, become blind; in the tenth, the shepherd through life to death; in the eleventh, the resurrection from death to eternal life; in the twelfth, the transfigurer of death into the seed of full and glorious life.
3. As the fourth chapter presents Christianity in contrast with sacred antiquities (Jacob’s well), and with the places and services of the temple in the ancient time, so this fifth chapter unfolds it in contrast with ancient miraculous localities and curative resorts.
4. The very first public attendance of Christ at a feast had been followed by a hostile demonstration of the Jews; and this second one brings them already to the commencement of capital process against Him. This contrast of the feasts of the Jews and the feasts of Christ runs through the whole fourth Gospel; the former preparing death for Christ, the latter quickening the world with miracles of life. A contrast which reminds us of autos-da fe,84 Maundy Thursday=bulls, and Saint Bartholomew nights on the one hand, and the true evangelical festivals of the faith on the other.
5. The man healed at the pool of Bethesda is not only parallel, but also in some respects a contrast, to the man healed at the pool of Siloam. The most important point of contrast is the indolence and sleepiness of the one and the brightness and energy of the other. But just this makes the former case the more suitable type of the general resurrection. The re-animating principle in Christ raises up not only living believers, but also in the last day the most lifeless unbelievers; though a whole age intervene between the first and the general resurrection.
6. The fountain of Bethesda an example of earthly sources of healing, a symbol of the divine source; the pool and hall of Bethesda an example of watering-places, hospitals, etc., a symbol of the theocracy; the hall of Bethesda, visited by Christ, a representative of the church, the dispensary of divine grace in the sinful world.
7. The Sabbath of the Jews and the Sabbath of Christ. Christ here gives the deepest warrant for the higher Sabbath work, in opposition to a dead Sabbath rest. God’s creating, and God’s working in His creation, are different things. And the most important works of God in His Sabbath are His festal works of love for the restoration of man. So with this festal Sabbath work of Christ. The Sabbath of the Christian should follow the example. [Comp. Exeg. Notes on Joh_5:16.—P. S.]
8. The two accusations brought against Jesus before the Jewish court mark the two positive fundamental motives of the persecution of Him, which come out stronger and stronger in the progress of the Gospel history. The first is His offending against their statutes, particularly their Sabbath laws; the second is His manifestation of Himself (as Son of God), offending against their deistic theology. But we must not overlook two corresponding negative motives: (1) Their anger at His refusal to embrace and yield Himself to their chiliasm; (2) their envy at His greatness and consideration with the people. These different motives may be reduced to the single motive of the offence He gave their hierarchical malignity. This offence was (1) objective; a statutory offence, both (a) ecclesiastical, with reference to the Sabbath, and (b) theological, with reference to the doctrine of the unity of God. The offence was (2) subjective; an official offence, in that (a) He does not fall in with their ideas, is not a Messiah to suit their worldly ambition, and (b) He eclipses them before the people, rousing their envy. The opposition may also be expressed in Johannean terms, as the hostility of darkness to light (of lie to truth), of hatred to love, of death to life.
9. The self-offence of Christ before the judgment-seat, in respect to its wisdom, which is especially striking in the interchange of the third and first persons, is a master-stroke, eclipsing all human rhetoric. In respect to its matter, it is the divine depth of the doctrine of the organic nature and process of the resurrection, from its origin in Christ, through the awakening and quickening wrought by Him, to the full regeneration of the world; the organic difference and contrast also between the first resurrection and the second being indicated thereby. In respect of its issue or effect, the discourse marks a victory, after which the Jewish court drops the action, but does not abandon it.
10. The discourse of Christ speaks of the Father in His deepest nature and work: as being life in and of Himself and giving life; of the nature of the Son as corresponding to the essence and operation of the Father; and of this in particular, as bringing with it a corresponding moral administration. The discourse then exalts the economy of the Son as an administration of saving quickening (a time of grace), which suspends the old judgment, and presents the new judgment of the Son purely as a condemnation to be left unquickened by the Son. It presents the healing work of Christ as a basis and presage of the awakening of the dead, the spiritual awaking as the introduction and beginning of the bodily; and it exhibits this last in its double aspect of the consummation of life and the consummation of damnation. It declares the final purpose of the judgment: The glorifying of the Son for the glory of the Father. Next it treats of the great testimonies which accredit this mission of Christ: The testimony of a historical office (John); the testimony of the Father in miracles, and in the holy Scriptures; and in particular the testimony of Moses. Finally it holds up the contempt of these witnesses as punishing itself by preventing the man, misled and obstructed by the false witnesses of human ambition, from perceiving the witness of the Holy Ghost, and so deprives him of all witnesses of power and blessing, and plunges him through unbelief into condemnation. “The re-awakening of the dead of Israel in the time of the Messiah had been predicted by Isaiah (26:19) and Ezekiel (37); and the general resurrection of the righteous and the wicked, by Daniel (12:2), pointing, in immediate connection, to the Messiah intrusted with the judgment of the world; comp. Psa_2:8; Psa_110:6; Isa_45:23-24; Is. 46:13, 21; Joe_3:1; Mal_3:2. But as the kingdom of God among Israel had to begin inwardly, before it could appear in outward glory, so the resurrection of the dead and the judgment; he alone who is spiritually quickened has the pledge, and the beginning, of the bodily resurrection to life; by faith or by unbelief each one already pronounces his own sentence, Joh_3:18. In token of the spiritual and the future bodily resurrection, and of the unity of the two, Jesus at that time raised dead persons to life,” etc. Gerlach.
11. The quickening work of Christ. He who would hinder Him in it, passes judgment, because he closes the day and the work of grace. But Christ does not suffer Himself to be hindered, because the Father, with His quickening power, gives Him commission to perfect His quickening. This judging is the reverse side (the medium) of His quickening. In proportion as He cannot and does not quicken, condemnation exists; either still exists, or exists anew.
12. The different witnesses of Christ. If the testimony of the Baptist here seems subordinate to the testimony of the Scriptures, it is not his testimony as such, but only his testimony by itself, in distinction from the entire testimony of the Old Testament, of which his is the completion.
13. Christ, in picturing the Jews thinking they have eternal life in their sacred books, characterizes every false estimate of ecclesiasticism or the objective church. The general perversion of this spirit is objectivism, a person’s alienating his religion from himself, and thinking he has his life as an external treasure in ecclesiastical objects and means; whether the mere outside, the letter, of the holy Scriptures, or the mere elements of the sacraments, or the mere official processes of church discipline. The essence of this objectivistic churchliness is lifelessness, unspiritual ness, residing first in the spiritually dead persons, and thence making the objects dead likewise. The objectivism of the Jews had a double form. They thought they had their life in the Scriptures, and in their traditional theology, or the traditions of the elders. Christ intimates the second point, but gives the prominence to the first, because the Scriptures have, besides the letter that kills, a spirit that quickens; and because this spirit is their true life, in which they testify of Christ. The same sort of exaltation of the legal canonical authority of the Bible over the living revelation of God in voices and visions, and especially in Christ, shows itself in various ways even in the Protestant theology. The true ground, however, is not the opposite extreme of a subjectivism which loosens off from the Scriptures, but a subjective spirit of faith which inwardly unites itself with the testimony of holy Writ.
14. The crown of the address of Jesus in this judicial hearing is the gradually developed idea of the essential judgment, in which Moses himself, to whom Christ’s accusers appeal against Him, will appear against them as their accuser.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
In proportion as Christ, the Light and the Life, attracts kindred, susceptible souls, He repels the haters of light.—The awaking and the working of the powers of darkness in Israel against the Lord.—Christ’s act of healing in the little Bethesda (house of grace), and His discourse of the great Bethesda of the Father and the Son.—The reflection of the legalistic spirit of the Jews in the capital action which they brought against Christ: 1. They are scandalized by His entrance into the emblematical “house of mercy” with a substantial work of mercy (eclipsing the medicinal bubbling and the angel). 2. They charge against Him His festal work of charity on the Sabbath as a labor deserving of death, and as a bad example. 3. On the feast of Purim, the feast of the reversed lot (which gave safety to the Jews and destruction to the heathen, reversing what seemed to be decreed), they made a sinner’s lot of new life the lot of death for him. 4. His vindication, appealing to the example of his Father, they turn into a second and a heavier accusation. 5. When they cannot condemn Him, and are speechless, they turn their nonsuit into a reservation to persecute Him the more steadily.—On the feast-day, which the people are keeping with merry-making, Christ visits the hospital.—The most helpless of all attracts most Christ’s attention.—As the hand of justice touches the highest haughtiness, the hand of mercy touches the lowest misery.—The sufferer says: “I have no man;” and the Saviour stands by him.—The pool of Bethesda a type of favored localities in a religious community in which the highest miraculous aid has not yet appeared. The miraculous aid is (1) enigmatical (an angel troubling the water); (2) occasional (at a certain season); (3) extremely limited (to the one who steps in first;) (4) to many unavailable (the impotent).—Irresolution and impotence, the worst part of any malady (in melancholy, hypochondria, etc.): 1. It is itself disease. 2. It aggravates the other disease. 3. It hinders the cure. 4. It can make the cure uncertain again (“lest a worse thing come unto thee”).—Christ takes even the honest wish of a man of faint faith, for faith.—As here Christ’s word of power puts an impotent man upon his feet, so in the general resurrection it sets the universe upon its feet.—The cripple at the pool of Bethesda, compared with the blind man sent to the fountain of Siloam, John 9.—“He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.” The feeblest confesssion, still a confession.—If it is lawful to be made whole, it must be lawful to go home with the bed.—The first word of Christ to the impotent man in Bethesda, and His second word to the healed man in the temple.—Christ’s self-defence (see Doctrinal Thoughts, No. 9).—“My Father worketh.” The difference between a festal, divine working and an unlawful, human laboring.—The working of God in the medicinal spring (or well of health) an emblem of the saving operation of God in general. 1. In its forms: a. The saving operation of the Father in the kingdom of nature. b. The saving operation of Christ in the kingdom of grace. 2. In its stages: a. Christ’s miraculous healing and raising of dead in general. b. The spiritual awakening and the organic unfolding of salvation in the New Testament dispensation. c. The finished work of salvation in the general resurrection.—The Lord’s highest justification made a capital charge against Him.
Joh_5:19 : Christianity the second, the spiritualized and glorified creation. 1. Christ the image of the Father; 2. His word the spirit of the creation; 3. His work the copy of the works of the Father.—The Son’s inability to do any thing of Himself, a paraphrase of His omnipotence to do whatever the Father does.—The Father’s speaking and showing to the Son, an out-flowing of His love.—The Son’s hearing and doing, a proving of His reciprocal love.—The perfect harmony of Christ’s moral conduct with His essential nature.—“And He will show Him greater works than these.” The works of healing a fore-shadowing of the miracle of the resurrection.—The Son unrestricted in His quickening work (“quickeneth whom He will”); or, Christ’s ministration of grace amenable to no limitations: 1. To no abridgment of its day. 2. To no contraction of its field. 3. To no diminution of its wonders.—Every opposition to the saving work of Christ a condemnatory judgment, which would make (call in, administer) the judgment day itself.—The Father has committed judgment to the Son; implying: a. Every condemnation of the old dispensation, before the Son judged, is removed (it is a day of grace), b. The Son’s judging is but the consequence
and the reverse of His quickening (the manifestation of the self-condemnation of unbelievers).—The design of the merciful judgeship of Christ: 1. To glorify the Son above all (Php_2:6-11). 2. To glorify the Father through the Son.—Only as men honor Christ as Son, do they honor God as Father.—Only in personal homage to Christ does the brightness of the personal divine Being disclose itself to man (the personal essence is known through the essentially personal manifestation).
Joh_5:24 : “Verily, verily, etc. The sure way to the highest salvation for all. 1. The way: a. Hearing Christ’s word. b. Believing God in His sending of Christ. 2. The salvation: a. Having everlasting life. b. Coming not into condemnation. c. Being passed from death unto life.—The utmost passiveness of submission to God through Christ, the highest action.—All in the foundation of the Christian life has been already done, when any decisive beginning is made in the manifestation.—“The hour is coming, and now is.” All the future is included in the present of Christianity. This is true (1) in the history of Christ, (2) in the history of the church, (3) in the individual Christian.—In one hour of the eternal life all hours of the eternal future lie in germ.—The spiritual resurrection as the ground-work and the genesis of the universal resurrection.—All must hear the voice of Christ; but only those who hear aright, shall live.—The resurrection of all bodies must follow as by natural necessity from the operations of Christ, but the resurrection of hearts depends on voluntary faith, which Christ does not force.—Christ the dispenser of life, in the special sense, as Son of God.—Christ the judge, in the special sense, as Son of Man. And yet at once life giver and judge in both relations.—Christ’s power to have life in Himself (see above).—“Marvel not” (comp. Joh_5:20); or, the most extraordinary manifestations of Christianity yet impend.—“The hour is coming in which all.” It is coming, (1) as the hour of the great trumpet which all must hear; (2) as the judgment-day of pure light, in which all must appear; (3) as the millennial summer, which brings everything to maturity.—Those who come forth on the day of the resurrection: 1. What all have in common (all come forth under the operation of Christ’s power; all must hear the voice of His power, follow its call). 2. How they differ and separate (in their relations to the operation of the grace and Spirit of Christ). a. The result of the manifestation: Some have done good according to the principles of the kingdom of God, have sealed their faith by works of love; the others have done evil, have sealed their unbelief in obduracy. b. The reward: The two classes come severally to the resurrection, the complete development, of the sentence which is in them.
Joh_5:30 : The judgment of Christ, a judgment of the Father also.—The witnesses who accredit the Lord: 1. He does not begin with His own testimony (but leaves this to follow other testimonies, without which it could not have its full weight). 2. He does not rest upon the official testimony of John, which ought to have satisfied the Jews, but could not satisfy Him (and so to this day He rests not on the official testimony of the church, though to men this must suffice for the beginning). 3. But He appeals to the testimony of the Father in His works (miracles of power) and in the Holy Scriptures (miracles of prophetic knowledge).
Joh_5:32 : Christ sure of His divine credentials.—The misconduct of the Jews towards John the Baptist a presage of their misconduct towards the Lord: 1. Of John’s solemn mission (preaching repentance) they made a pleasant entertainment; and, conversely, of the glad tidings of Christ they made a tragic offence. 2. They separated John’s light from his fire, that they might dance with the visionary hope of an outwardly glorious Messianic kingdom; and in Christ they despised the light, that they might harden themselves in the fire of His love. 3. In the fickleness of their enthusiasm they soon gave John over to the caprice of Herod; and with the same fickleness they delivered the Lord to Pilate.—The misconduct of the spirit of the world and the spirit of the age towards the messengers of God.—Christ still attested, and more and more attested, by the words of Scripture and tokens of the life.—Marks of dead and false faith: 1. It adheres to the means of revelation (Scriptures, tradition, church, sacraments, ministry), and has no sense for their living origin, the personal God. 2. It adheres to the forms of those means, and has no heart to receive the personal centre of them, Jesus Christ, with His word. 3. It adheres to the particulars of the forms (the letters of the Scripture), and imagines it has eternal life in them, while it is full of antipathy to Christ and the life itself. Or: 1. It has a Scripture and tradition of revelation, and no quickening power of it in the Spirit of the living God. 2. It has holy Scriptures, but no holy Scripture, the centre of which is the living Christ. 3. It thinks it has eternal life outside of itself in the means of grace, while it bears enmity to the life of the spirit in Christ, the very life itself.—This dead faith alienates itself more and more (1) from the Father, the source of revelation, (2) from the living Christ, the word of revelation, (3) from the life of the Spirit, the life of revelation.—Men cannot have eternal life merely outside of themselves, in external church privileges.—Even the Holy Scripture should not be exalted, in a legal spirit, above the living Christ.—A man’s study of Scripture must be vivified by the study of his own heart.—Faith, when merely external, may turn itself upon any means of revelation: (1) Turn from personal life to things, (2) from the inner life, the spirit, to the outer form, (3) from the centre of the life to the details of its exhibition.—The moral causes of dead faith: 1. Want of sense for the divine spiritual glory of Christ, for the purity of His life and the revelation of the Father in Him. 2. Morbid sensitiveness to the false spiritual glory (honor) of men. 3. Ambitious desire to take part in the mutual glorification of men; or, the want of that simplicity which constitute the true responsiveness to God through Christ, arising from the ambition of the heart, which is a false responsiveness to the honor of men.—Aversion to God and propensity to deify the world and self, the fundamental characteristic of sin and of heathenism, and the root of the perversion of the (theocratic and ecclesiastical) disposition to believe.—The condemnation of the false, legalistic faith: 1. It misses salvation in Christ, and falls over to false prophets and false Messiahs, and to anti-Christ at last. 2. It loses the honor which is from God, and comes to shame before the world itself. 3. It finds its heaviest condemnation in the law of the Lord itself, which it hypocritically professes to honor.—Unbelief, the soul of a dead and empty legalistic faith.—The spirit of legalism is much more completely condemned and overthrown by its own illegality (its lawlessness) than by Christianity.—Before the eyes of the world this, spirit is put to confu sion by the law, especially by the fundamental laws of humanity as laid down by Moses, far in advance of the judgment-day.—Christ in His first judicial appearance, and in His last.
Starke: Nova Bibl. Tub. The example of Christ in attending public worship at every opportunity, even though He had no need of it.—Ibid.: What is the world but a hospital, the abode of the bodily and spiritually sick—Zeisius: The world a very Bethesda.—Majus: Hospitals, asylums for poor and sick are most justly established and maintained.—Ibid.: From the wells of charity flow many healing waters.—The movings of the heavenly water of healing are not under our control, yet that we may expect and wait for them is itself a mercy.—Zeisius: Look into the mirror of this most wretched and patient sufferer, thou who art so discontented and impatient under sufferings hardly as many days, or even hours, protracted, as this man’s infirmity was years!—Hedinger: Patience, the best thing.—Tedious infirmities, veritable trials of patience.—Quesnel: The more we are deprived of human help, the better right we have to hope for the help of God.—Majus: Jesus looks graciously upon those at whom the proud world casts not a glance. Follow His example.—To visit and help the sick, a large part of love.—By questions God encourages our faith.—Though men cannot or will not help, yet God stands by with sure mercy.—Nova Bibl. Tub.: When Jesus speaks, it is done, etc. Psa_33:9.—Zeisius: Help comes at last.—Hedinger: Hypocrites strain out gnats.—Quesnel: A servant of Christ, upon a noble achievement, must not wait for the applause of the people, but withdraw himself.—Canstein: All temporal benefits should promote our conversion.—Hedinger: If God take one cross off thee, be not sure another and greater may not be laid upon thee.—We must never take holiday from good works.—Canstein: The honor which the children of God have from God their Father, and from their sonship, is always an eye-sore to the ungodly.—If Jesus, our Head, is all life, we His faithful members are perfectly certain also to live forever.—Majus: God testifies in us and of us by the divine works which He performs in and through us.—On Joh_5:35. Zeisius: As a burning light, while lighting others, consumes itself, so Christian teachers should sacrifice themselves in the service of God and their fellow men.—How rarely are light and heat found together!—Quesnel: When a light arises in the church, it immediately gives forth a brightness in which people are glad but this lasts not long.
Joh_5:38 : And His word ye have, indeed, in books, in schools, and on lips, and outwardly hold it high, but have it not abiding in you.
Joh_5:39 : Even from the Old Testament Christ may be known.—He who departs from Christ, flies before life.—Teachers must seek not their own honor, but the salvation of men.—He who does not obediently receive the word of God, has no love for God.—Majus: It is by no means a mark of true doctrine, that it and its teachers are eagerly received by the multitude.—Ambition not only corrupts the desires, but also as it were, bewitches the judgment and sensibilities, so that in religion the man never yields to, but always resists, the light and truth,—Ambition is with many the cause of their hardening themselves against the preaching of the gospel.—A Christian, after the example of Christ, must not accuse the enemies of the truth to God, but pray for them.—Quesnel: Christ the key of the Old Testament.—The cavillers are mightily refuted on their own ground.—The appeal of the Son of God Himself to the written word should quicken in us the deepest reverence for the Holy Scriptures.
Braune: If God rested as the Jews would have men rest on the Sabbath, no sun would rise, no flower would bloom.
Heubner: Jesus never (as a rule) let, a feast go by without visiting Jerusalem: (1) To fulfil the duty of an Israelite; (2) to use the opportunity of preaching the word not only before the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but before all Israel, and before strangers; (3) to testify the truth there to the leaders at a time when He might appear before them without their venturing to lay hands on Him.—Evangelical clergymen also should use the high Christian festivals with conscientious fidelity, (1) because it may be expected that the Spirit of God will then be specially active; (2) because souls are then in more solemn mood than at other times; (3) because at least many will be present then, who at other times are not. At such festivals it is disclosed, of what manner of spirit a preacher is.85—Bethesda, i.e., asylum, hospital, an emblem of the Christian church (primarily an emblem of the theocratic church of the law).—Jesus did not avoid such sad sights, the retreats of the diseased. In fact He was the physician.—There is a true waiting for divine help: waiting for that which God alone can do; but there is also a false waiting: waiting for that which we ourselves should do, or for the removal of that which should not hinder us at all.
Joh_5:4 : This and the whole passage would be a grand text for sermons at watering places, where it is rarely heard.—The angel. Even nature has invisible spiritual forces for her own secret spring. All proceeds from the spiritual world.—The judgment of a great physician, that a man cannot be a thorough theologian unless he also understand nature, nor a thorough naturalist unless he be also a theologian.—The healing powers in the kingdom of nature, emblems of the healing powers in the kingdom of grace.—Troubled the water. The first operation of the Spirit of God upon the soul seems even to be a troubling, disquieting; all is stirred up in the soul, the bottom of the heart is shaken up; but by that very means new energies are excited, life is quickened, and clearness comes.—Whosoever then first, etc. Watch the time!—Wilt thou? Jesus would have our earnest will.—Rise! The word of Jesus has power; what He commands, He gives.—True and false observance of the Sabbath.—God’s working is eternal: He is the living God, He is the absolute life, and this life is love. This flows forth without interruption forever.—The thought of the living God, the highest stimulus to work.—Unbelievers will marvel with terror and to condemnations, believers with joy and triumph in their glory.—Unwillingness in spite of the most pressing invitations is the cause of the misery of men.—(Luther:) In more secular callings, positions, and talents, it is less pernicious to be proud and ambitious, but in theology to be arrogant, haughty, and ambitious, does the utmost mischief.
Besser: (Brenz:) Wilt thou be made whole? So the Lord asks us in all our troubles, whether we would be delivered.—(Chemnitz:) The Lord speaks to the Jews exactly as if I should say to the Papists: It is not I, but the very fathers whose authority you allege in support of your superstition, that will accuse you of ungodliness. Or as if we should say to the pope: It is not we that accuse or condemn thee, but Christ Himself whose vicar thou callest thyself, Peter whose successor thou claimest to be, Paul whose sword thou pretendest to carry; these are they that accuse thee. (And Mary as surely impeaches mariolatry, as every true saint the distribution of the honor of Christ among the saints.)
Schleiermacher: How could it have been that so many refused to accept the Redeemer? There is unbelief on the one hand, irresolution on the other, and the two, in their innermost and deepest root, are one and the same. If man can come to a firm resolution to forsake the earthly and strive for the heavenly, the eye of the Spirit will soon open in him, enabling him to seek and to find the true fountain of healing whence eternal life proceeds.—We have life not in ourselves, but from Him and through Him.
[Schaff: Joh_5:1. Christ went up to Jerusalem at a feast: 1. Because it was a divine ordinance, and to teach us to attend religious assemblies (Heb_10:25); 2. Because it was an opportunity for doing good. (From Henry.)—When Christ came to Jerusalem, He visited not the palaces, but the hospitals, for He came to save the sick and wounded. (The same.)
Joh_5:2-4. Nature has provided remedies, men must provide hospitals.—How many are the afflictions in this world, how full of complaints, and what a multitude of impotent folks! (The same.)—The earth is a great Bethesda. (Scott.)—The fathers, and the high Anglican, Wordsworth, regard the healing pool of Bethesda stirred by an angel, as a figure of baptismal water to which all mankind is invited, and whose virtue is never exhausted. But Christ healed the cripple simply by His word, Joh_5:8.—Matthew Henry calls Bethesda a type of Christ, who is the fountain opened.—Albert Barnes indulges in remarks against the frivolous amusements of modern watering places, where more than anywhere else men should be grateful for the goodness of God.
Joh_5:8. Rise, lake up thy bed and walk. Christ first gives, and then commands, He imparts the strength to do His will. Augustine: “Give what Thou commandest, and command what Thou wilt.” (Da quod jubes, et jube quod vis. Conf. x. 29. This sentence was especially offensive to Pelagius, as it was directly opposed to his view of the inherent moral ability of man.)
Joh_5:9. The day of rest was chosen by Christ as the fittest season for Divine acts of mercy. Thus He fulfilled the law and showed His oneness with the Father. God rested on that day from all His works of creation; but on that Day of rest He specially works in doing acts of mercy to the souls of His creatures in public worship. (Wordsworth.)
Ver 14. Jesus escapes from the crowd; but finds us and is found by us in the temple. God is seen in solitude. (Wordsworth.)—They who are healed from sickness should seek the sanctuary of God, and give Him thanks for His mercy. (Albert Barnes.)—Sin no more, lest a worse thing, etc. The doom of apostates is a worse thing than thirty-eight years’ lameness. (Henry.)—From the healing of the sick at Bethesda we learn 1. What misery sin has brought into the world; 2. How great is the mercy and compassion of Christ; 3. That recovery from sickness should impress us with the determination to sin no more, lest a worse thing happen to us. (Ryle.)
Joh_5:17. What would become of the Sabbath unless God worked on the Sabbath? (Bengel.)—Christ speaks here as God who makes His sun to rise and His rain to fall, and clothes the grass of the field on the seventh day as well as on the other six. (Chrysostom.)—The law of the Sabbath is a law of a Being who never rests from doing good. (Theophylact.)—The Jews, understanding the law of the Sabbath in a carnal sense, imagined that God was wearied by the labor of the creation, and was resting from fatigue. As He works always without labor, so Christ. (Wordsworth.)—Jesus did not deny the obligation of the Sabbath law, but explained its constitution. The solemnities of the Sabbath were and are necessary to restore the human spirit, distracted by the diversity of earthly affairs, to the oneness of the Divine Being, but Christ, who ever reposed in this unity, observed a perpetual Sabbath, like the Father, and no activity could distract Him. (Olshausen.)—Christ nowhere sets aside the obligation of the fourth commandment, but places it on the right foundation, and shows us that works of necessity and mercy are no breach of the commandment. The error and danger of the present age is the opposite of the Jews. The experience of eighteen centuries proves that vital religion cannot flourish without the Sabbath. (Ryle.)
Joh_5:19. If the Son does the same things as the Father, and in the same manner, then let the Jew be silenced, the Christian believe, the heretic be convinced; the Son is equal with the Father. (Augustine.)—This is the strongest possible assertion of equality. If the Son does all that the Father does, then like Him, He must be almighty, omniscient, all-present and infinite in every perfection; in other words, He must be God. (Barnes.)
Joh_5:21-29. That form of Man which was once judged will judge all men. He who once stood before the judge will sit as Judge of all. He who was once falsely condemned as guilty, will justly condemn the guilty. Christ will be seen by the good and the wicked; God by the good alone. (Augustine.) All that are in the graves (Joh_5:28), whether in costly sepulchres or with monuments of marble, or in lonely deserts, whether in the catacombs, or in the depths of the sea, whether their bodies have been embalmed, or burned to ashes and scattered to the winds of heaven, all must appear before the Judge “of tremendous majesty” for a final settlement of the accounts of this earthly life.—The immortality of the soul without faith in Christ, is only an immortality of misery.—Live always in view of the judgment to come, prepare for it in time.
“ Quid sum miser tunc dicturus,
Quem patronum rogaturus,
Qaum vix justus sit securus.
Recordare, Jesu pie,
Quod sum caasa taæ viæ;
Ne me perdas illa die!” (From the Dies Iræ.)
Wretched man, what shall I plead,
Who for me will intercede,
When the righteous mercy need?
Recollect good Lord, I pray,
I have caused Thy bitter way;
Don’t forget me on that Day!
[Joh_5:38-40. Different modes of searching the Scriptures, the one purely critical and heartless, mechanical, dwelling on the outside, confined to the letter, excluding the spirit, leading away from Christ; the other spiritual, experimental, penetrating to the marrow, leading to Christ. The former mode may he either hyperorthodox and superstitious, as with the Pharisees and Rabbinical Jews, or rationalistic and skeptical, as with the Sadducees and many nominally christian commentators.—The old Testament an unbroken testimony to Christ. So He read it, so we ought to read it.—Henry: “Christ is the treasure hid in the field of the scriptures, the treasure hid in the field of the scriptures, the water in their wells.”—Alford: “The Command[?] to the Jews to search the Scriptures, applies even more strongly to christians; who are yet, like them, in danger of idolizing a mere written book, believing that in the Bible they have eternal life, and missing the personal knowledge of Him of whom the scriptures testify.”—42. I know you. Christ knows men better than they know them.
Joh_5:44. worldly ambition a great hindrance to faith. (Henry.)
Joh_5:46. Moses leads to christ, the law is a school for the gospel (Gal_3:24).—]
Footnotes:
[1]Joh_5:1.—The reading ἡ ἑορτή is after Codd. C. E. F. L. (also Cod. Sin.). It probably arose from an effort to make the feast the chief feast of the Jews, the passover. [Tischendorf, ed. viii., influenced mainly by א., reads ἡ ἑορτή but Lachm., Alf., Treg., Westcott and Hort omit the definite art. with A. B. D. G. K. Orig. The article has some bearing on the question whether the great feast of the passover, or a subordinate feast is meant; yet it is not absolutely conclusive; for in Hebrew a noun before the genitive is made definitive by prefixing the article, not to the noun itself, but to the genitive, and the same is the case in the Sept. (Deu_16:13; 2Ki_18:15) and in some passages of the N. T., as Mat_12:24; Luk_2:4; Act_8:5. Comp. Winer, who quotes also examples from the classics, p. 119 f. (Thayer’s transl., p. 126). Tholuck remarks: “Were the article genuine, we would be compelled to regard the chief festival, that is the Passover, as the one meant. If it is not genuine, the Passover may be meant, but so also may some other feast.”—P. S.]
[2]Joh_5:2.—[Sheep gate is the marginal reading of the E. V. πύλῃ is usually supplied to ἐπὶ τῇ πρωβατικῇ—P. S.]
[3]Joh_5:2.—[Different spellings of this name—Βηθεσδά, Βηθεσαιδά, Βηθζαθά, There are also different readings for ἐπιλεγομένη, sc. λεγομένη and τὸ λεγόμενον. Tischendorf prefers the last, which is supported by Cod. Sin. The lect. rec. ἐπιλεγομένη, zubenamt, surnamed, would imply that the pool had another proper name, perhaps the Sheep’s Pool. The Vulgate connects κολυμβήθρα (dative) with προβατικῇ and translates: “Est autem Jerosolymis probatica piscina quæ cognominatur hebraice Bethsaida.” ̔Εβραἵστί refers to the prevailing Aramaic which was spoken by the Jews after their return from the exile. It proves incidentally the Greek composition of the Gospel.—P. S.]
[4]Joh_5:3.—[Πολύ is wanting in B. C. D. L., etc. [and Cod. Sin.]; put in brackets by Lachmann; rejected by Tischendorf.
[5]Joh_5:3-4.—Omissions: (1) The words: “Waiting for the moving of the water,” and Joh_5:4, are wanting in B. C.*, etc. [also in the Cod. Sin.—Y.]; (2) the words: “waiting for the moving of the water,” in A. L.; (3) the 4th verse alone, in D. See further below. [Tischendorf (ad. viii.), Alford (ed. vi.), Tregelles, Westcott and Hort omit the last clause of Joh_5:3 (ἐκδε χομένων τὴν τοῦ ὕδατος κίνησιν), and the whole of Joh_5:4 (̓́Αγγελος νοσήματι). Lachmann retains here the text. rec., which is backed by the authority of Tertullian (De Bapt., John 5), an authority much older than the oldest MSS. But it is not easy to account for the omission of the clause (its legendary character was certainly not objectionable to the fathers, translators and transcribers). The large number of ἅπαξ λεγόμενα—κὶνησιν, ταραχή, δήποτε, νόσημα—also speak against it. It was probably a very ancient marginal gloss suggested by the popular belief in order to explain the assemblage of the sick, Joh_5:4, and the answer in Joh_5:7, which implies that belief. Its omission saves some trouble to the commentator by relieving John from the superstition of the Jews in regard to the healing water. Comp., however, the Exeg. Notes.—P. S.]
[6]Joh_5:5.—[The best authorities read αὐτοῦ, after ἐν τῇ ἀσθενεία. The meaning is: he had been sick for 38 years. ἔχων belongs to τριάκοντα καὶ ὀκτὼ ἔτη, (as the accusative of the time, comp. Joh_8:57; Joh_11:17), not to ἐν τῇ ἀσθ. αὐτοῦ=ἀσθενῶς ἔχων.—P. S.]
[7]Joh_5:6.—[Or, in that condition, or, sick; ὅτι πολὺν ἥδη χρόνον ἔχει sc. ἐν ἀσθενεία, Joh_5:5. Alford, in his revision, retains the rendering of the A. V. Noyes: “that he had been for a long time diseased.” Version of the Am. Bible Union: “that he had been already a long time thus.”—P. S.]
[8]Joh_5:7.—[Κύριε is here, as in 4:11, simply a title of courtesy to a stranger, and hence correctly translated, Sir, instead of Lord.—P. S.]
[9]Joh_5:10.—[ῆ̓ν δὲ σάββατον ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ἡμέρα. Alford: “Now on that day was the sabbath.” Noyes: “And that day was the sabbath.” Young: “It was a sabbath on that day.”—P. S.]
[10]Joh_5:12.—[The οῦ̓ν of the text. rec. after ἠρώτησαν is sustained by A. C., bracketed by Tregelles, omitted by א. B. D. Alf., Tischend.—P. S.]
[11]Joh_5:12.—Τὸν κράββατόν σου is wanting in א. B. C.* L., omitted by Tischendorf. With the omission the expression is more significant, as the addition contains something palliative.
[12]Joh_5:13.—[Tischend. reads ὁ δὲ ἀσθενῶν, the diseased man, (from Joh_5:7), but ἰαθείς, the healed man is supported by א. A. B. C., et al., Vulg. (curatus), Lachm., Treg., Alf.—P. S.]
[13]Joh_5:15,—Waverings between ἀνήγγειλε, A. B., Recepta, Lachmann; ἀπήγγειλε, D. K., etc.; εῖ̓πεν C. L., etc. [Cod. Sin.—Y.]. The first reading is at once the most exact and the most suitable. [Tischend. reads εῖ̓πεν, Treg., Alf., Westcott and Hort.: ἀνήγγειλεν.—P. S.]
[14]Joh_5:16.—The words [of the text. rec.]: καὶ ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι, are wanting in א. B. C. D. L., etc., the Vulgate, etc. Probably occasioned by the μᾶλλον, etc., Joh_5:18.
[15]Joh_5:20.—[Μείζονα is emphatically put first.—P. S.]
[16]Joh_5:24.—[So μεταβέβηκε ἐκ is translated by Alford, Noyes, and Conant. Luther: hindurchgedrungen; Lange: hinübergegangen.—P. S.]
[17]Joh_5:27.—[The καὶ before κρίσιν is omitted by Tischend., Alf., etc.—P. S.]
[18]Joh_5:27.—[Here υὶὸς ἀνθρώπου, without the article, as also Rev_1:13; Rev_14:14 (with reference to Dan_7:13); but in other passages where it is applied to Christ in the full, ideal sense, we have ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου. See the Exeg. Notes, and Excursus on 1:52, p. 93.—P. S.]
[19]Joh_5:30.—The addition of πατρός is feebly supported. Joh_5:34.—[Or, Yet the witness which I receive is not from man, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ παρα ἀνθρωπου τὴν μαρτυρίαν λαμβάνω.—P. S.]
[20]Joh_5:34.—[Or, Yet the witness which I receive is not from man, ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ παρὰ ἀνθρωπου τὴν μαρτυρίαν λαμβάνων.—P. S.]
[21]Joh_5:35.—[ὁ λύχνος (not φῶς, comp. 1:8) ὁ καιόμενος καὶ φαίνων. Alford: He was the lamp that burneth and shineth. Lange inserts the gloss: “the signal-light of the Messiah, illuminating also the Messiah and the way to Him.”—P. S.]
[22]Joh_5:35.—[Lange inserts these comments; Ye were willing (ye liked) for a little while to rejoice (exult, revel) in his (own) light (as summer flies).—P. S.]
[23]Joh_5:36.—[Alford: But the testimony I have is greater than John.—P. S.]
[24]Joh_5:37.—Tischendorf, after B. L., ἐκεῖνος. [So also the Cod. Sin.—Y.]
[25]Ibid.—Cod. D,, μαρτυρεῖ.
[26]Joh_5:39.—Ἐρευνᾶτε is taken as the indicative mood by Cyril, Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, Olsh., De Wette, Meyer, Godet, Lange; as the imperative by Chrysostom, Augustin, Grotius, Tholuck, Ewald, Hengstenberg, Alford. See Exeg. Notes.—P. S.]
[27]Joh_5:41.—A. K., et al., ἀνθρώπου, a man; B. D. [Cod. Sin.—Y.], and many others, ἀνθρώπων.
[28]Joh_5:44.—[τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρα τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ the only God, in exclusion of all the idols of the natural heart; comp. Joh_17:3 : ὁ μόνος ἀληθινὸς θεός. The rendering of the A. V. would require μόυον, or μόυον after θεοῦ, Mat_4:4; Mat_12:4; Mat_17:8. Alford: “The words from the only God, are very important because they form the point of passage to the next verses, in which the Jews are accused of not believing the writings of Moses, the very pith and kernel of which was the unity of God and the having no other gods but Him.”—P. S.]
[29]Joh_5:47.—D. G. S. Δ., Origen [Lange]: πιστεύσητε [credatis, א. A. L., etc., Vulg., Treg., Tischend., Alf.: πιστεύσητε credetis. B. V. Iren. etc., Westcott and Hort. πιστεύστηετε creditis.—P. S.]
[30][Lücke makes μ. τοῦτο (2:12; 11:7, 11; 19:28) to signify the immediate, μ. ταῦτα (3:22; 6:1; 7:1) the mediate succession. Tholuck and Alford assent, Meyer and Hengstenberg object. The latter occurs uniformly in the Apocalypse, usually in the Gospel of John, comp. Joh_5:14, which speaks rather against the distinction. But in this case at all events some interval must have elapsed since the last verse of John 4, and much matter must be inserted from the Synoptists between John 4, 5.—P. S.]
[31][Neander (Leben Jesu, 6 ed., 1862, p. 280), upon the whole, decides rather in favor of the passover, and should be transferred.—P. S.]
[32][So also Stier, Bäumlein, Godet.—P. S.]
[33][Who makes it the second passover of our Lord’s ministry, Adv. hær. ii. 22, 3 (I. 357 ed. Stieren): “Et post hæc iterum secunda vice ascendit in diem festum paschæ in Hierusalem, quando paralyticum curavit.” But Irenæus had an interest to lengthen Christ’s ministry, for two reasons which he brings out in this very connection. 1. Because he believed that Christ passed through all stages of human life to save them all, consequently He became also “senior in senioribus, ut sit perfectus magister in omnibus, non solum secundum expositionem veritatis, sed et secundum ætatem, sanctificans simul et seniores” (II. John 22, § 4, p. 358); 2. Because he inferred from the question of the Jews, Joh_8:57, that Jesus was not yet, but nearly fifty years of age at the time (II. 22, 6, p. 360). This somewhat weakens this testimony, which is pressed too much by Robinson and others.—P. S.]
[34][So also Grotius, Lightfoot, Hengstenberg, Neander, and Robinson.—P. S.]
[35][Alford also, after giving, from Lücke, a brief statement of the different views on this much controverted point, expresses his opinion that “we cannot with any probability gather what feast it was.” In this case, of course, the elaborate chronological argument based upon a definite view of the feast here spoken of, falls to the ground. On the chronological bearing of the interpretation see Robinson, Gr. Harmony of the Gospels, p. 190 ff.—P. S.]
[36][Comp. on the force of the article may addition to the first Text. Note.—P. S.]
[37][שַׁעַר הַצֹּאן, porta gregis, mentioned Neh_3:1; Neh_3:32; Neh_12:39. Meyer, however, with the Vulgate, Theodore of Mopsu. and Nonnus, connect προβατικῇ with κολυμβήθρᾳ (reading this as dative): “There was at the sheep pool the so called Bethesda.” Eusebius and Jerome speak of a προβατικὴ κολυμβήτρα, probatica piscina. Comp. the Text, Notes.—P. S.]
[38][Robinson, I. 330, says that there is not the slightest evidence that can identify the present Bethesda, or Sheep Pool, or, as the natives call it, Birket Israîl, with the Bethesda of the N. T. Eusebius and Jerome indeed speak of a Piscina Probatica shown in their day as Bethesda, but give no hint as to its situation. Robinson derives the tradition from the fact that St. Stephen’s gate, owing to its proximity, was erroneously held to be the ancient Sheep gate.—P. S.]
[39][So called because the Virgin Mary is said to have frequented this fountain before her purification in order to wash the linen of the infant Saviour. See Robinson, I. 337. According to another explanation, mentioned by Porter (Handbook of Syria and Pal. I., p. 139), the water of this fountain was a grand test for women accused of adultery; the innocent drank harmlessly; hut the guilty no sooner tasted than they died. When the Virgin Mary was accused, she submitted to the ordeal, and thus established her innocence. Hence a name it was long known by—the fountain of accused women.—P. S.]
[40][Since that time Lieutenant Charles Warren, of the Palestine Exploration Society, in Dec. 1867, likewise made his way with great difficulty through that winding rock-cut passage, entering from the Siloam end. His measurements differ 42 ft. from those of Dr. Robinson, but, considering the length of the Virgin’s Fount, they nearly agree.—P. S.]
[41][The recent excavations of the Palestine Exploration Society have not yet established such a connection, but make it very probable. In Oct. 1867 they discovered a sloping rock-cut passage above the Fountain of the Virgin leading N. E. by E. 8 ft. wide and from 10 to 12 ft. deep. See the account of Lieut. Warren at a meeting of the Society held at London, June 11,1868, in the Reports of the Society, and the maps published with them.—P. S.]
[42][Porter, Handbook of Syria and Palestine, I. p. 140, likewise doubts Robinson’s theory, and supposes that the Fountain of the Virgin is identical with the King’s Pool mentioned by Neh_2:14-15, and called by Josephus Solomon’s Reservoir, situated between the Fountain of Siloam and the Southern side of the Temple. Robinson suggests the identity of the Fountain of the Virgin with the King’s Pool (I. p. 343). Grove (Art. Bethesda in Smith’s Bible Dictionary), urges against Robinson’s view the confined size of the Fountain of the Virgin, and the difficulty of finding room for the five porches. But there might have been some artificially constructed basin in connection with this spring which has perished. Grove defends the traditional view of the identity of Bethesda with the large reservoir called the Birket Israil, within the walls of the city, close by the St. Stephen’s gate, and under the North-East wall of the Haram area. But there is not the slightest indication that this dry fosse, full of weeds and rubbish, ever could have been an intermittent spring. So far the greater probability is in favor of Robinson’s conjecture. It is to be hoped that the labors of the Exploration Society will before long settle this disputed point.—P. S.]
[43][Meyer (p. 220) writes אַשָׁדָא. The word does not occur in the O. T., but אשׁד does, Num_21:15, “at the effusion of the brooks.”—P. S.]
[44]
[To these must be added the testimony of Cod. Sinaiticus, which reads thus:
(Joh_5:3) τωνασθενουντων
τυφλων
χωλων
ξηρεν
(Joh_5:5) ηνδετισανθρωπος.
The chasm here does not indicate an omission, but probably the co-ordination of τυφλῶν, χωλῶν and ξηρῶν, as specifications of the various classes of disease implied in the general term τῶν ἀσθενούντων—P. S.]
[45][De baptismo, John 5, ed. Œhler, vol. I., p. 615: “Piscinam Bethsaidam angelus interveniens commovebat: observabant qui valetudinem querebantur. Nam si quis prævenerat de illuc, queri post lavacrum desinebat.” But Tertullian does not give this as a quotation from John. He may have found it as a gloss on the margin of a copy of the Text.—P. S.]
[46][Formerly, but in the last edition of De Wette, Brückner rejects the whole passage.—P. S.]
[47][But comp. the preceding footnote, p. 182 f.—P. S.]
[48][Hengstenberg, I. 293 ff. defends Joh_5:4, as being in entire harmony with the Scripture idea of the living God, who clothes the lilies, who feeds the birds, who rides in the storm, and uses winds and flames as messengers (Psa_104:4; Heb_1:7), He refers especially also to the angel of the Waters, Rev_16:5, as a parallel to the angel moving the water of Bethesda. Bengel says: Circa balnea frequens θεῖον, aliquid divinæ opis est. Very true, but the Divine power and goodness in the healing waters makes itself felt not supernaturally by angels, but through the laws and agencies of nature, and not exceptionally, but uniformly. I prefer, with Tischendorf, Meyer and the best English critics, to omit the whole passage.—P. S.]
[49][Κράββατος, Lat. grabbatus, used only by late writers, is a small couch, a mat or rug, or a cloak, which might easily be carried about.—P. S.]
[50][Meyer quotes Ast, Lex. Plat. I., p. 178 for this contemptuous use of ὁ ἄνθρωπος—P. S.]
[51][ἐξένεσεν, not from ἐκνέω, enatavit, emersit, “He emerged from the waves of the crowd and reappeared in the quiet harbor of the Temple,” as Wordsworth fancifully explains, but from ἐκνεύω, turned aside; He spoke the healing words and passed on unobserved.—P. S.]
[52][But the distinction between μετὰ ταῦτα and μετα τοῦτο is made doubtful by this very passage and the uniform use of μετα τοῦτα in the Apocalypse. Comp. note on Joh_5:1.—P, S.]
[53][This is as striking an instance of the penetrating look of our Lord into the inner recesses of man’s heart, as His knowledge of the history of the Samaritan woman.—P. S.]
[54][Not had done (E. V.). The imperfect ἐποίει seems to imply the malignant charge of repeated or habitual Sabbath-breaking. Comp. Godet in loc,—P. S]
[55][So also Reuss, against whom Godet, ΙΙ., p. 26, justly remarks that Christ’s condition as a Jew, and His mission as the Jewish Messiah, forbid that He should ever, during His earthly life, have violated any of the Divine commandments, in their proper sense, which it was His sacred duty strictly to fulfil. Ewald, the great oriental scholar, is perfectly correct in saying (on John, p. 205), that Christ in Joh_5:17, mortally hit the Sabbath laws as they were then understood and carried out, but not the true sense of the primitive Sabbath and the fourth commandment, which forbid not higher work, but only the ordinary work of week days.—P. S.]
[56][Bengal’s remarks on this verse are worth quoting: “ἀφ’ ἑαυτοῦ οὐδέν; Hoc gloriæ est, non imperfectionis.… Hæc ex intimo sensu unitatis naturalis el amorosæ cum Patre profecta sunt. Defendit Dominus, quod fecerat opus in sabbato, Patris sui exemplo, a quo non discedut. Sic de Spiritu Sancto, 16:13, ubi etiam simillimum huic loco sequitur antitheton. At diabolus ex propriis loquitur, 8:44, et falsi doctoris est in suo nomine, venire et ex suo corde loqui aut facere, 5:43.” Godet directs attention to the naivete of the form of this sentence as contrasted with its sublimity. Jesus speaks of His intimate relation with the infinite Jehovah as of the simplest thing in the world. It is the saying of the child of twelve years: “I must be about my Father’s business,” elevated to the highest key.—P. S.]
[57][Οὐ δύναται is here a moral, not metaphysical, inability, and such an inability which is absolute unwillingness, and hence identical with the highest moral ability. So perfect freedom is the highest ability to do good, or negatively expressed, the absolute inability or unwillingness to do wrong, hence identical with moral necessity. Christ’s assertion, therefore, that He can do nothing independently of the Father, far from indicating imperfection, implies the highest moral perfection. Godet: “Tout est moral dans cette relation. Le non-pouvoir dont il s’agit ici n’est que le côté négatif de íamor filial,”—P. S.]
[58][In the note on the preceding verse, however. Meyer (p. 226) distinctly asserts that the union of the Son to the Father is metaphysical as well as moral.—P. S.]
[59][Bengel: Qui amat, nil celat.—P. S.]
[60][So most of the older expositors, also Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Bäumlein, Ewald, Owen. Against this view Meyer (p. 223) raises six objections, viz. 1) ἵνα ὑμεῖς θαυμάζητε Joh_5:20, which represents the hearers as continuous witnesses; 2) οὕς θέλει which must be understood ethically; 3) ἵνα πάντες τιμῶσι, 23, which implies the divine purpose of a continuous effect commencing in this world; 4) ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου which cannot be understood of physical death; 5) νῦν ἐστιν and οἱ ἀκούσαντες clearly refer to the present spiritual quickening; 6) the literal resurrection Joh_5:28 f., is distinguished as something greater and future from the former.—P.S.]
[61][The οὐδέ is generally overlooked by commentators, and entirely omitted by the E. V. Meyer explains: For not even the Father judges any man, to whom by universal consent judgment belongs; consequently it depends entirely upon the Son, and the οὓς θέλει is all right. Comp. on οὐδέ 7:5; 8:42; 21:25. Alford explains; As the Father does not Himself, by His own proper act, vivify any, but commits all quickening power to the Son; so it is with judgment also.—P.S.]
[62][Bengel observes to τιμῶσι: “vel libenter, judicium effugientes per fidem, vel inviti, judicis iram sentientes.” But a voluntary homage in meant here, as the following ὁ μὴ τιμῶν τὸν υἱόν shows. But those who refuse this honor to the Son, will, by their damnation, negatively and reluctantly glorify the Son. Comp. Php_2:10-11.—P. S.]
[63][Note the present tense ἔχει, already, not shall have, spiritual life, and the corresponding perfect μεταβέβηκεν, has passed from the death of unbelief and sin to the life of faith and righteousness. Of the unbelievers it is said likewise in the perfect ἤδη κέκριται, he is already judged. Partly from Bengel.—P. S.]
[64][ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου in the Synoptists and Joh_1:51; Joh_3:13 f.; 6:27, 53, 62; 7:28, etc.; υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου only here, and with ὅμοιον, Rev_1:13; Rev_14:14, in allusion to Dan_7:13. Comp. the Excursus on this designation of Christ, p. 98 f.—P. S.]
[65]The false construction, which connects the words with what follows: Because he is man, marvel not, etc. (Peshito, Chrysostom, Paulus, and others), need only be mentioned.
[66][According to the usual rule of law. Chetub. f. xxiii. 2: Testibus de se ipsis non credunt. Christ argues here hypothetically: If My testimony concerning Myself could be independent and separated from that of the Father, it would be false according to the law of testimony. In Joh_8:13-16 the other side of the same argument is presented: Christ does in fact bear witness of Himself, hut as He is the Logos of God, the organ of the Father, His testimony is the testimony of the Father in and through Him, and therefore true. “Though I bear witness of Myself, yet My witness is true, for I know whence I came…. Yet if I judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.”—P. S.]
[67][λαμβάνειν τ. μαρτυρίαν, as in 3:11, 32, to receive, to accept, but here as testimony (not in the sense of believing). See Meyer, p. 238.—P. S.]
[68][Omitted, as often, in the E. V., which also translates λύχνος light (γῶς), instead of lamp, and thus brings this passage needlessly in conflict with 1:8: οὑκ ἦν ἐκεῖνος τὸ φῶς, ἀλλ’ ἵνα μαρτυρήσῃ περὶ τοῦ φωτός. John was, indeed, a light, but only in a subordinate sense, a derived light, a light lighted, not lighting, and hence ἐν τᾦ φωτι αὐτοῦ is spoken of in the next clause in the sense of the predicate, not the noun.—P. S.]
[69][Καὶ ἀνέστῃ Ἠλίας προφητης ὡς πῦρ, καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ὡς λαμπὰς εκαίετο. Stier and Alford think that this passage may be referred to here, and gave rise to a common way of speaking of Elijah, as certain Rabbis were called “the candle of the law,”—P. S.]
[70][Meyer: The article signifies the particular lamp which was to appear in John as the forerunner of the Messiah whose mission was to teach the people the knowledge of the Messianic salvation, δοῦναι γνῶσιν σωτηρίας τῷ λαῷ αὐτοῦ, Luk_1:76 f. Lange goes deeper, as usual, where he differs from Meyer. De Wette takes the article as meaning “the lamp which was to lead you.”—P. S.]
[71][Meyer quotes in support, Luk_12:35 : οἱ λύχνοι καιόμενοι; Rev_4:5; λαμπάδες πυρὸς καιόμεναι, but in both cases φαινόμενοι is omitted. According to Alford φαίνων sets forth the derived and transitory nature of John’s light.—P. S.]
[72][This interpretation is excluded by the addition, at any time.—P. S.]
[73][Meyer puts only a comma after Joh_5:37. John might have continued: οὔτε τὸν λόγον, etc., but by using καί, and connecting the negation with the verb (οὐκ ἔχετε) instead of the particle (οὔτε), he lays greater stress on the new charge against the Jews.—P. S.]
[74][Olshausen: According to John the word of the eternal God speaks or sounds in the mind of every man. Sin has diminished, but not destroyed his susceptibility to truth. Without something analogous in the mind, man cannot perceive the things of God. It is the same as the “light in thee,” Mat_6:13. But Lange’s interpretation (the same as Meyer’s) is preferable.—P. S.]
[75][Also Henry, Doddridge, Barnes, Brückner, and Godet.—P.S.]
[76][The imperative is also preferred by Maldonatus (R. C.), Cornelius a Lap. (R. C.), Grotius, and, among recent commentators, by Stier, Tholuck, Ewald (p. 218), Hengstenberg (who refers to Isa_34:16), Bäumlein, Alford, Wordsworth (wavering), Owen, Jacobus.—P. S.]
[77][Hence Luthardt is all wrong in ascribing to ἐρευνᾶτε here a profounder meaning.—P. S.]
[78][Rothe (Studien und Kritkem,1860, p.67), and Weiss (Johan. Lehrbegriff, p.106), likewise maintain that δοκεῖτε implies a censure of the excessive Rabbinical over-estimate of the letter of the Bible. This view is strengthened by the emphatic ὑμεις, ye on your part, and the obvious sense of δοκεῖτε in Joh_5:45. I suggest also that ἐν αὐταϊς is significantly chosen instead of δι’ αὐτῶν, as if the written Scriptures were the eternal life itself, while they are only the record of life and the witness of Christ. Meyer rejects this interpretation, as being inconsistent with the high veneration of Christ for the Scriptures; but he is simply protesting (and that in the wisest and most guarded manner) against the abuse and perversion of the Scriptures, just as He protests against the Jewish perversion of the Sabbath. Meyer admits, however, that there is an opposition here to real ἔχειν ζωήν which Christ could not say of the Jews, as they rejected the Christ of the Scriptures.—P. S.]
[79][Ewald reads this as a question. But it is stronger as an assertion.—P. S.]
[80][Alford: “The words ye are not willing to come, here set forth strikingly the freedom of the will, on which the unbeliever’s condemnation rests: see Joh_3:19.”—P. S.]
[81][Some of the fathers, and recently also Alford, refer the passage to the anti-Christ who shall appear in the latter days, 2Th_2:8-12.—P. S.]
[82][Bengel: “Maxime aptus ad condusionem.” Godet: “Sa parole prend une forme dramatique et saisissante.… Il se trouvera que celui dont vous me reproche de transgresser la loi, témoignera pour moi, tandis qu’ il s’élevera contre vous, seszélateurs. Quel renversement de toutes leurs notions.”—P. S.]
[83][Alford insists on the antithesis of γράμματα and ῥήματα. “Men give greater weight to what is written and published than to mere words of mouth;—and ye in particular give greater honor to Moses than Me: if then ye believe not what he has written, which comes down to you hallowed by the reverence of ages,—how can you believe the words uttered by Me, to whom you are hostile? But this is not all: Moses loads to Christ; if then ye reject the means, how shall ye roach the end?”—P.S.]
[84][The inquisitorial “acts of the faith,” it will be remembered, were usually celebrated on some church festival.—E.D.Y.]
[85][This observation is truly German, and scarcely applicable to America where church festivals are little esteemed, while the weekly Lord’s Day is the more strictly observed. Of late, however, the observance of Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter has made much progress.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain § 32.—HEALING OF THE INFIRM MAN AT BETHESDA, vv.…
§ 32.—HEALING OF THE INFIRM MAN AT BETHESDA, vv. JERUSALEM, vv. Joh_5:1-47.
1. A feast of the Jews—According to most ancient commentators, the Passover; by the latest critics, more generally, the Feast of Purim, held in honour of the preservation of the Jews under Esther.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1–9. The Sign at the Pool of Bethesda
1–9. The Sign at the Pool of Bethesda
1. After this] Better, After these things, a more indefinite sequence.
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a feast of the Jews] This is the reading of highest authority, although some important MSS. read ‘the feast of the Jews,’ probably because from very early times this feast was believed to be the Passover. If ‘a feast’ is the true reading, this alone is almost conclusive against its being the Passover; S. John would not call the Passover ‘a feast of the Jews.’ Moreover in all other cases where he mentions Passovers he lets us know that they are Passovers and not simply feasts, Joh_2:13, Joh_6:4, Joh_11:55, &c. He gives us three Passovers; to make this a fourth would be to put an extra year into our Lord’s ministry for which scarcely any events can be found, and of which there is no trace elsewhere. Almost every other feast, and even the Day of Atonement, have been suggested; but the only one which fits in satisfactorily is Purim. We saw from Joh_4:35 that the two days in Samaria were either in December or January. The next certain date Isa_6:4, the eve of the Passover, i.e. April. Purim, which was celebrated in March (14th and 15th Adar), falls just in the right place in the interval. This feast commemorated the deliverance of the Jews from Haman, and took its name from the lots which he caused to be cast (Est_3:7; Est_9:24; Est_9:26; Est_9:28). It was a boisterous feast, and some have thought it unlikely that Christ would have anything to do with it. But we are not told that He went to Jerusalem in order to keep the feast; Purim might be kept anywhere. More probably He went because the multitudes at the feast would afford great opportunities for teaching. Moreover, it does not follow that because some made this feast a scene of unseemly jollity, therefore Christ would discountenance the feast itself.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) A feast of the Jews.—The writer does not…
(1) A feast of the Jews.—The writer does not tell us what feast this was, and we must be content to remain without certain knowledge. There is, perhaps, no Jewish feast with which it has not been identified, and it has been even proclaimed confidently that it must have been the Day of Atonement! (Caspari, Chron. and Geogr., Introd., Eng. Trans., p. 130). Our reading is to be regarded as the better one, though not a few authorities insert the article, and interpret “the Feast” to mean the Feast of Passover.
The time-limits are Joh_4:35, which was in Tebeth (January), and Joh_6:4, which bring us to the next Passover in Nisan (April), i.e., an interval of four months, the year being an intercalary one with the month VeAdar (and Adar) added, or, as we should say, with two months of March. The only feast which falls in this interval is the Feast of Purim, and it is with this that the best modern opinion identifies the feast of our text. It was kept on the 14th of Adar (March), in commemoration of the deliverance of the Jews from the plots of Haman, and took its name from the lots cast by him (Est_3:7; Est_9:24 et seq.). It was one of the most popular feasts (Jos. Ant. xi. 6, § 13), and was characterised by festive rejoicings, presents, and gifts to the poor. At the same time it was not one of the great feasts, and while the writer names the Passover (Joh_2:13; Joh_6:4; Joh_13:1), the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh_7:2), and even that of the Dedication (John x 22), this has no further importance in the narrative than to account for the fact of Jesus being again in Jerusalem. (Comp. Introduction: Chronological Harmony of the Gospels, p. 35)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Here commences the second division of the Gospel (ch.…
Here commences the second division of the Gospel (ch. 5-1)
II THE CONFLICT WITH THE CHOSEN PEOPLE IN JERUSALEM, GALILEE, AND JERUSALEM, TO THE DEATH SENTENCE RECORDED BY THE SANHEDRIN.
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Vers. 1-47. 1. Christ proved, by signs and wonders and testimonies, to be Source of life.
Vers. 1-9. (1) A sign on a paralyzed body and an unsusceptible soul.
The journey to Jerusalem is said to have taken place at the time of "a feast," or "the feast of the Jews. After these things (meta tauta). Suggesting a number of events, not necessarily connected with each other. (For the latter idea of a period expressed by meta touto see Joh_2:12 and Joh_11:7, Joh_11:11; for meta tauta , see Joh_6:1 and Joh_21:1 etc.) There was the feast of the Jews. Now, "the feast" of the Jews could hardly be any other than the second Passover, while Joh_6:4 would indicate a third. "The feast" referred to in Joh_4:45 undoubtedly means the first Passover. "A feast" would leave the question open, though by no means excluding positively the second Passover, as the anarthrousness of the word might be chosen with a view to call special attention to it. However, the indefinite eorth has been identified by commentators with every feast in the calendar, so there can be no final settlement of the problem. If the feast be the Passover, then our Lord"s ministry lasted a little more than three years. If not, it must be one or other of the feasts that elapsed between the Passovers of ch. 2 and ch. 6 Edersheim, with many others, refuses to accept any chronological hint in Joh_4:35, and therefore throws the journey from Jerusalem to Galilee a few weeks after the first Passover, in the early summer, and supposes that Jesus returned to the unnamed feast in the autumn. Several critics say of Joh_4:35, one part of the sentence must be parabolical and the other literal, and that the disciples might be anticipating a spiritual harvest after four months, and Jesus drew from the physically ripening corn fields his comparison. This seems to me entirely contrary to our Lord"s ordinary method; and that the disciples were in too carnal a mood to be credited with an anticipation of spiritual results in Samaria at all. Those who think that Joh_4:35 does give a hint of four months preceding harvest, place the journey between the middle of December and the middle of January. To my mind there is consequently no difficulty in imagining that when those four months should have been spent, and before the regular calling and appointment of the twelve apostles, our Lord should have gone up to the feast one of the feasts which did summon the adult men to the metropolis. This is the view of Irenaeus, Luther, Cretins, Lampe, Neander, Hengstenberg, Conder, and many others. Wieseler, Hug, Meyer Lance, Godet, Weiss, Farrar, Watkins, think that the Feast of Purim, celebrated on the 15th of Adar (or March), (RAPC 2Ma 15:36) in commemoration of the deliverance of the people from the evil intention of Haman, (Est_9:21, etc.) was that national fast and feast which Jesus thus honoured. Purim was not one of the divinely appointed festivals, but it is also stated that the Lord undoubtedly attended one of the national and recently appointed festivals, that of Dedication. (Joh_10:22) The more serious objection is that it could, if desired, have been celebrated quite as well in Galilee as in Jerusalem, and that the method of celebration seemed contrary to the whole spirit of the Master, and the whole tone of the discourse which followed. It is said that part of the ritual of the feast was the free and frequent gifts made spontaneously by one to another. Westcott prefers the autumn Feast of Trumpets as more suitable on several grounds than the Passover,
(1) because of the absence of the article, this, however, is very problematical (see Tischendorf, 8th edit.);
(2) because when at the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh_7:2) the incident described in ch. 5 is still in lively recollection;
(3) because the great events of the Feast of Trumpets, the commemoration of the Creation and the Law giving, correspond with the theme of the Lord"s great discourse. The fact that this particular miracle on the sabbath should be referred to a few mouths later in Jerusalem, on Christ"s third appearance there, is not improbable, if we bear in mind that Judaean emissaries in Galilee had been bitterly assailing Jesus, on the ground of his persistent determination to heal sickness and hopeless maladies on the sabbath day. This Jerusalem "sign," and the claim he made on the ground of it, had roused the cry, and was still the matter of contention. The claims of the Purim feast turn principally on the fact that, since it occurred, about a month before the Passover, on the 14th or 15th of Adar, this visit might have taken place in the course of the four months referred to in Joh_4:35, and therefore between the sojourn in Samaria and the Passover of Joh_6:4, which Jesus diet not attend. Dr. Moulton (assuming the anarthrous form of the eorth) thinks that the feast is left undetermined because there was nothing in it typical of our Lord"s work, and fulfilled in his Person. Such a position renders the visit itself strange and apparently unealled for. These long gaps, silences, during which there is no record of event or discourse, constitute a leading feature of the gospel history, and indeed of most of the history of both Old and New Testaments. To my mind there is advantage rather than otherwise in supposing more time than a few months to have been consumed in the Galilaean ministry described in Mark 2 and 3 Tregelles and the Revisers, with Westcott and Hort, have relegated the deuteroprwtw of Luk_6:1 to the margin, but; Tischendorf (8th edit.) and Canon Cooke, etc., retain the remarkable expression, on the overwhelming evidence of a host of authorities. If it stand, which we believe it must, then during the Galilaean ministry, and in the interval which preceded the Passover mentioned in Joh_6:4, there is a reference to the proximity of a previous Passover and a previous harvest; the Galilaean opposition to Christ on this question of ritual being at its very height. If so, the feast must have been the Passover. The question cannot be finally settled, and commentators are in hopeless conflict with one another. It must be admitted that the majority of modern critics assume the Feast of Purim to be that intended, and thereby reduce the length of our Lord"s ministry from Cana to Calvary to two short years. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. This was before the formal call of the twelve apostles, and there is no proof that he was accompanied by his disciples. Many of the commentators (and see Weiss, "Life of Christ," vol. 2:321) urge that not even John himself was present on the occasion, from the absence of lifelike touches and particularity of incident. There is, however, much detail in the first fifteen verses. The great discourse that follows is not broken into dramatic dialogue, and does certainly present more of the biographer"s subjective treatment than other portions of the narrative. It is more conceivable, however, that John did, on grounds mentioned by Caspari (see Introduction), accompany his Lord, and learned, by what he heard of these great words, and by subsequent converse with Jesus, the burden of the mighty revelation. Thoma sets to work in the most dogmatic way, and Weiss with a perfectly different spirit, to demonstrate the identity of the narrative which follows, with the famous story of the cure of the paralytic "borne of four" which occurs in the synoptic narrative. Thoma goes further, and imagines that the supposed healing of the paralytics by both Peter and Paul are also here idealized.
Vers. 1-9. The cure of the impotent man.
The scene changes once more to Jerusalem. There unbelief develops very rapidly, and. there is a foreshadowing of the dread reality: "It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." Jesus finds himself once more in the very focus of controversy.
I THE TIME OF THIS MIRACLE. "After these things there was a feast of the Jews." It is generally believed that this was the Feast of Purim.
1. It was not one of the three great feasts.
2. It was a feast in which the Jews gave presents to one another. Jesus would signalize it by a deed of miraculous beneficence.
II THE SCENE OF THE MIRACLE. "Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches." This was a thermal, intermittent spring, such as are still to be found at Jerusalem, possessing rare curative properties in cases of disease. "The blind, the halt, the withered," gathered round it, seeking shelter in the porches while they were awaiting "the moving of the waters.
III THE CASE OF THE IMPOTENT MAN.
1. He had been for eight Had thirty years afflicted will impotence in his limbs.
2. Perhaps his impotence had some connection with youthful sins and follies. (Ver. 14)
3. He had no strength to enable him to plunge into the bubbling springs as they arose with healing power.
4. He had no money to hire a carrier.
5. The bystanders, whether sick or hale, had no mercy or sympathy for him.
6. Yet he came from day to day in the hope of a cure.
IV OUR LORD"S COMPASSION FOR HIM. "Wilt thou be made whole?
1. The question was designed to shake off the long apathy of years, and revive the hopes of the afflicted man.
2. It was designed to withdraw his mind from the Bethesda waters, and bring him into contact with the Saviour himself.
V THE ACTUAL CURE. "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
1. The command was accompanied by the exercise of Divine power on Christ"s part, and of faith on the part of the impotent man.
2. The impotent man walked in the joy of his recovered power.
3. The miracle was done on the sabbath day. It was a deed of mercy, and therefore suitable to the day.
4. The miracle was one not to be gainsaid, as this man had been long known to resort to the Bethesda springs in search of cure.
HOMILIES BY B. THOMAS Vers. 1-9. The Help of the helpless.
Here we have
I JESUS ATTRACTED BY MISERY. Why was Jesus found at Bethesda? Because there were such misery and need. He was ever found where he was most wanted, and where he might do most good. He was not found in places of luxury, but in the haunts of misery.
1. The misery was great. There was presented to the eye of Jesus there such pain, degradation, poverty, and misery, physical, mental, and moral, as could scarcely be described, and all presented to him together in one scene.
2. The misery was various. It was not confined to one disease, but embraced many classes impotent, the halt," etc. The diseases were various in their kind and history, but all baneful branches from the common stem of physical and moral disorder.
3. The misery was distributed among a great number. There was a multitude. The porches were full, and doubtless many could not be admitted for want of room. Physical suffering is the heritage of the human family, and the special heritage of some. It is a mercy that suffering is distributed. We only know of One who could and did bear all in himself "the Man of sorrows," etc.
4. All were waiting and struggling for the same blessing, viz. restoration to health. With what anxiety they would watch the moving of the waters, and what efforts they made to have the first bath! To this place Jesus was attracted. Being the incarnation of mercy, he was attracted by misery. The whole scene was such as would naturally excite his compassion, and stood forth as a picture to him of a more terrible and universal malady, that of sin, which he came to take away.
II JESUS SPECIALLY ATTRACTED BY THE MOST MISERABLE. They were all miserable enough, but there was a certain man standing alone in misery and helplessness.
1. He was impotent, perhaps paralytic, thoroughly helpless, and unable to plunge into the healing pool, and had no one to help him in.
2. He had been a long time in this condition. Thirty-eight years. The best part of his life was spent in pain and misery. He had only just sufficient life left to feel his pain and woe.
3. He was almost in the grip of utter despair. Impotent in mind and will as well as in body. He had been there for years, and doubtless was the sport of the more fortunate, and the prey of despair. Still he mechanically crawled there day after day, with an occasional glimmer of hope that some good chance would turn up. And it turned up at last. Jesus, the Son of God, was there, and this poor man became the chief object of his pity. He doubtless pitied the multitude, but the most miserable riveted his compassion. The most helpless and miserable became the most fortunate.
III JESUS HELPING THE MOST MISERABLE. We have here:
1. A wonderful question. "Wilt thou," etc.? We see:
(1) The importance of the consent of the will in physical as well as spiritual recovery. Christ did not choose to help people against their will. The consent of the will is essential to the efficacy of even Divine influences, especially in spiritual restoration. It is the first step towards it.
(2) Christ was anxiously willing to help every one who had the wish for it, and even more, he was anxious to create and encourage the will so as to be able to lay hold on the help. In consequence of long and repeated failures to get relief, even the will for it now in this poor cripple seemed to be weak; but Jesus fans the smouldering embers with the question, "Wilt thou," etc.? This is a vivid picture in the physical domain of the indifference and apathy of men with regard to spiritual recovery. But this is an exceptional picture, for as a rule men are intensely anxious for health of body. Look at the multitude at Bethesda; what struggle they make to be the first in the moved water! But in a lamentable contrast to this is the conduct of men with regard to the water of life; they seem to struggle to be the last there. The appeal is made by the physician to the sick, and not as usual by the sick to the physician. God in grace first prayed to man, and thus teaches man to pray to him, and create in him an interest in his own welfare. "Wilt thou," etc.?
(3) The question brings from the man a sad tale. A tale of human helplessness on the one hand, and of human selfishness on the other. The "will" was not entirely gone, but it was very weak through his own helplessness and the stolid selfishness of others. "Sir, I have no man," etc. "Every one for himself" was the rule then. A picture of life. "The survival of the fittest" seems to be the law of nature under sin; but there is a law of grace by which the seemingly unfittest may survive, and its question is, "Wilt thou," etc.? There is a gracious power on which the weakest may lay hold.
2. A wonderful command. "Rise," etc. In this command we distinctly hear:
(1) The voice of Divine power. "Rise." This he was utterly unable to do. "Take up thy bed." As well tell the bed to take him up. Every human power had failed even at earlier stages of the disease. And human power never speaks thus under such circumstances but in madness. But is natural in the Divine.
(2) The voice of Divine authority. Divine power and authority go together. There is here a Divine will, and a Divine right and power for its immediate execution. There is no hesitancy, no timidity, but full and serene Divine consciousness of power to carry out his will, and make the man whole.
(3) The voice of Divine mercy. Power alone, or swayed by justice, could kill and perform any miraculous feat of destruction, as in the case of Lot"s wife; but infinite power, under the guidance of mercy, heals and saves, and that most completely. "Whole." Amidst the thunders of power and the majestic lightnings of authority we hear the genial voice of mercy answering its own question, "Wilt thou?" etc., by the command, "Rise," etc.
3. A wonderful effect. "Immediately the man was made whole." Consequent upon the command an effort was made; strength came with the effort. The effect was instantaneous; the miracle was complete and thorough. The man rose and walked away; a wonder to ethers, not less to himself, and an unmistakable monument of Divine power as well as Divine mercy.
CONCLUSIONS.
1. Jesus selected his own object. The most helpless and miserable. This was a most gracious act to the man himself. And this most helpless and furthest from the reach of human aid, answered well the purposes of Jesus in revealing himself as the Son of God. Among the suffering throng there was not one who answered this purpose so well. The greatest misery attracts most of the relieving compassion of Jesus, and when relieved will redound most to his glory.
2. Jesus often helps in a manner and degree which we should not expect. This poor cripple never expected more than to he helped to the pool; but Christ made him whole by his mere word and will. "He is able to do exceeding abundantly," etc.
3. What Christ did physically to this man, he is ready and willing to do spiritually to the human race. The human family by sin are spiritually impotent and helpless. Christ, in the gospel of his love and power, asks the question to each, "Wilt thou," etc.? If they are willing, he is willing and able.
4. There is much suffering in the world, but there is mercy here as well. The world is a Bethesda, the house of mercy; Jesus has made it so. Every healing spring in nature, as well as the river of life, is from him. B.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain After this there was a feast of the Jews
Joh_5:1-18
After this there was a feast of the Jews
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The Pool of Bethesda, a type of favoured localities in a religious community in which the highest miraculous aid has not yet appeared
The miraculous aid is
I.
ENIGMATICAL: An angel troubling the water.
II. OCCASIONAL: At a certain season.
III. EXTREMELY LIMITED: To the one who steps in first.
IV. TO MANY UNAVAILABLE: The impotent. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
The working of God in the medicinal spring an emblem of the saving work of God in general
I. IN ITS FORMS.
1. The saving operation of the Father in the kingdom of nature.
2. That of the Son in the kingdom of grace.
II. IN ITS STAGES.
1. Christs miraculous healing and raising of dead in general.
2. The spiritual awakening and the organic unfolding of salvation in the New Testament dispensation.
3. The finished work of salvation in the general resurrection. (J. P.Lange, D. D.)
The sins of summer watering-places
Outside Jerusalem there was a watering-place, the popular resort for invalids. At a certain season an angel troubled the water. That angel has his counterpart in the angel of healing, that in our day steps into the mineral springs or into the salt sea, where multitudes who are worn out with commercial or professional anxieties, as well as these who are affected with disease, go and are cured. These Bethesdas are scattered all up and down our country, thank God. Let not the merchant begrudge the employs, or the patient the physician, or the Church its pastor, a season of inoccupation. But I have to declare the truth that our fashionable watering-places are the temporal and eternal destruction of thousands.
I. The first temptation that hovers in this direction is TO LEAVE YOUR PIETY AT HOME. Elders and deacons and ministers, who are entirely consistent at, home sometimes when the Sabbath dawns, take it all to themselves. On the other days the air is bewitched with the world, the flesh, and the devil, and the toughest thing is to keep religion.
II. Another temptation is the HORSE RACING BUSINESS. I never knew a man who could give himself to the pleasures of the turf and not be battered in morals. And the betting, drunkenness, and financial ruin associated with it everywhere cluster round it under a pleasant pseudonym at the watering-place.
III. The temptation to SACRIFICE PHYSICAL STRENGTH. Instead of recuperating their health many lose it. Families accustomed to retire early gossip until one or two in the morning, and dyspeptics take strange liberties with viands they would be afraid to touch at home.
IV. THE FORMATION OF HASTY AND UNDESIRABLE ALLIANCES. Watering-places are responsible for more of the domestic infelicities of this country than all other things combined. You might as well go among the gaily-painted yachts of a summer regatta to find war vessels, as to go among the light spray of the summer watering-place to find character that can stand the test of the great struggle of human life. Ah! in the battle of life you want a stronger weapon than a lace fan or a croquet mallet! The load of life is so heavy that in order to draw it you want a team stronger than one made up of a masculine grasshopper and a feminine butterfly.
V. The temptation to BANEFUL LITERATURE. There is more pestiferous waste read by the intelligent classes in July and August than in the other ten months of the year. Men and women, who at home would not be satisfied with a book that was not really sensible, read those which ought to make them blush. Oh, you must have intellectual recreation. Yes, there is no need to take books on metaphysics. But you might as well say, I propose now to give a little rest to my digestive organs, and instead of eating heavy meat and vegetables, I will, for a little while, take lighter food--a little strychnine and a few grains of ratsbane. Literary poison in August is as bad as literary poison in December.
VI. The temptation to INTOXICATING BEVERAGE. The watering-place is full of this temptation; after the bath, the game, the dinner, in the morning and at night the custom is to tipple.
VII. CONCLUSION:
1. The grace of God is the only safe shelter.
2. There are spiritual watering-places accessible to all. (T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.)
The house of mercy
Bethesda means house of mercy, and we have such a House and such a pool in the Church of God and the water of salvation. The pool was a crowded spot, and the poor crippled man had been all these years without finding a place in it.
I. But THERE IS ROOM IN CHRISTS HOUSE OF MERCY, AND IT IS THE BEST PLACE FOR ALL.
1. For little children.
2. For young men and maidens.
3. For the old.
II. Gods House is the best place for all who HAVE SINNED AND REPENTED. Very often people who have gone wrong cease to come to Church. They feel unfit. But let them repent and come home like the prodigal. Then they will find pardon and peace.
III. Gods House is the best place for those WHO CAME TO JESUS, BUT HAVE GONE BACK AGAIN. Can that companion of drunkards and bad women be the same who used to say, Our Father with innocent lips, and was ashamed to tell a lie? Are you happier for going back from Jesus? Well, there is room for even you in the House of Mercy, and cleansing for you in the Blood of Jesus.
IV. HOW MANY OF US ARE LYING LIKE THESE MEN AT BETHESDA?
1. Some of us are paralyzed by sin, evil habits, worldliness.
2. Some are dumb who babble in the world but never speak to God.
3. Some are deaf who hear the offers of the market, yet cannot hear the offers of God.
4. Here in Gods House of mercy there is a hospital for all manner of disease. (H. J. W. Buxton, M. A.)
Waiting in mercys house
1. Who wonders that a place which had such a history as that described in this chapter should be called mercys house? We should not have been surprised if we had heard of it as being near the Temple; but, as if God would teach us that His mercy is to be got wherever sought, the house of mercy is close by the place where money is made.
2. How came the five porches to be built? Had some of those which had found health built them for the comfort of seekers for mercy, and thus shown their appreciation of what they had received? Let those who find grace to help in the means provided see that others have the chance of getting the same privileges. Let us write on the walls of these porches
I. IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND. It is evident this man thought so. Thirty-eight years hoping for a cure. How often he had been disappointed! One can see him as he smiles a sickly smile, and whispers, Better luck next time. Some need to be encouraged to hope that it is not too late to be cured of the malady which threatens their soul. Do Dot despair. Satan could not wish for anything better than that your hopes should die, and your prayers cease.
II. On the second porch, write, WAITING ON THE LORD IS TRUE WISDOM. If you dont wish to grow worse, keep in mercys house. Do not be persuaded to give up going to Church. How pleased the enemy of your soul would be if he could but persuade you to spend the whole of your life away from God. Faith cometh by hearing. Some convinced of sin, never able to rejoice in God our Saviour, are tempted to give up. People might have said to this man, Why keep going to the pool? If I die without salvation, I will die at the feet of the Saviour.
III. On the third porch, write, CHRIST IS THE SHORT WAY TO COMFORT. The pool was called the house of mercy, but Christ was mercy itself. All mere human instrumentalities are to Jesus what the house is to the Master. We have an indication of Christs plan of saving men. The poor man did not ask Jesus to heal him. It was mercy who took the initiative. Christ gave a command as well as asked a question. Take up thy bed and walk. This was something that was a physical impossibility; yet the man made the effort, and was helped of God, and so was made whole. Jesus says to you, who are willing to be saved, Believe on Me. Why say you cannot believe? Gods commandments are promises. He never commands what He will not help us to do.
IV. In the next of the porches we will write up, THE NEWLY SAVED MAY EXPECT A CHECK. The man was met as he was going down the street by those who objected to his carrying his bed. Do not be surprised if some one tries to rob you of your new-found joy. Let not any one stop you from joy in the Lord, it is your strength.
V. There is yet one porch on which we will write, SIN WILL HURT YOU MORE THAN DISEASE. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. (T. Champness.)
Scripture a record of human sorrow
What a scene of misery Bethesda must have presented.
I. THE BIBLE IS FULL OF SUCH DESCRIPTIONS OF HUMAN MISERY. It begins with the history of the curse, and ends with predictions of judgments.
II. And, further, IT SEEMS TO DROP WHAT MIGHT BE SAID IN FAVOUR OF THIS LIFE, and enlarges on the unpleasant side of it. Little does it say on the pleasures of life. But then human tales and poems make things better than they are. Scripture tells the truth, Man is born to trouble.
III. THIS VIEW IS THE ULTIMATE AND TRUE VIEW OF HUMAN LIFE, AND A VIEW WHICH IT CONCERNS US MUCH TO KNOW, else we shall he obliged to learn it by sad experience; whereas if we are forewarned we shall unlearn false notions of its excellence and be saved from disappointment, and learn to bear a sober and calm heart under a smiling cheerful countenance.
IV. CONSIDER WHAT IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF IGNORANCE OR DISTRUST OF GODS WANING VOICE. For a while all will be enjoyment: health is good, spirit high, troubles easily mastered; but as years roll on it is discovered that substantial good is wanting. Then a man will get restless and discontented, for he does not know how to amuse himself. He has made no effort to change his heart, strengthen his faith, or subdue his passions. Now their day is come, and they begin to domineer. He had no habitual thought of God in the former time, and now he dreads Him. Where shall he look for succour? To those around him he is a burden. And so he will lie year after year by Bethesda no one helping him, and unable from long habits of sin to advance towards a cure.
V. THERE IS A MORE SOLEMN CONSIDERATION STILL--THAT TAUGHT BY LAZARUS AND DIVES. Suppose the world to remain a faithful friend till the last, its vanity will be disclosed after death. These disclosures of Scripture, then, are intended to save us pain by preventing the unreserved enjoyment of the world. Let this not seem to make life melancholy. The true Christian rejoices in those earthly things which give joy, but in such a way as not to care for them when they go.
VI. OUR SAVIOUR GIVES US A PATTERN WHICH WE ARE BOUND TO FOLLOW. True, such self-command composure and inward faith are not to be learned in a day; if they were why should this life be given us? It is given us as a preparation time for obtaining them. Its sights and sorrows are to calm you, and its pleasant sights to try you. Learn to be as the angel who could descend among the miseries of Bethesda without losing his purity or happiness. Gain healing from troubled waters. Be light-hearted and contented because you are a member of Christs pilgrim Church. (J. H.Newman, D. D.)
An old Jerusalem infirmary
I. THE HOSPITAL (Joh_5:2-3).
1. Its site. Where God has a temple His worshippers should found a hospital (Isa_57:7; Mat_25:35-40).
2. Its form. It was not the five porches of mans construction, but the water of Gods providing that healed; but the former enabled patients to take advantage of the latter. In nature and grace man is permitted to be Gods fellow-worker (Deu_8:3; Deu_8:18; Psa_23:1; Psa_67:6; Hos_2:21; 2Co_11:1; Php_2:13), but in both He is Jehovah Rophi (Exo_15:26; Deu_32:39; Psa_103:3).
3. Its name: House of Grace, than which none could be more appropriate for an institution whose origin was love and whose end was healing, and to which Christ came.
4. Its inmates: specimens of the poor creatures who still crowd the worlds infirmaries, and emblems of spiritual invalids.
II. THE PATIENT (Joh_5:5).
1. A great sufferer for half a lifetime.
2. A friendless outcast, touching the lowest deep of human wretchedness Psa_142:4). Many such in the lazar house of humanity.
3. A disappointed seeker. One wonders that his heart was not broken by his endless disappointments (Pro_13:12; Pro_18:14). But hope springs eternal in the human breast (Rom_8:24). What a comfort there are no such disappointed seekers after spiritual health (Isa_45:19;Mat_7:7-8; Zec_13:1; Tit_3:5).
III. THE PHYSICIAN (verse 6).
1. His quick observation. Christs people should cultivate the seeing eye, for there is no lack of opportunities (Ecc_9:10; Heb_13:6).
2. His perfect diagnosis. Christ apprehends both the man and his malady in every instance (Psa_7:9; Psa_119:168; Psa_139:1-4; Pro_15:11; Joh_1:48; Joh_2:24-25; Joh_4:29; Rev_2:23).
3. His tender compassion, implied if not expressed. He distinguished between the sinner and his sin (verse 14). So in imitation of Mt
5:45 Christian philanthropy should embrace the criminal classes within itsGa 6:10).
4. His hopeful inquiry.
5. His extraordinary prescription equivalent to Eph_5:14; Mar_1:15. Christian duty transcends natural ability, but what Christ commands He is willing to supply (Joh_1:12).
IV. THE CURE.
1. Instantaneous, like all His cures physical and spiritual.
2. Complete. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
A hospital sermon
I. Christ always honoured the religious observances of his day. He shows us
1. The advantage of church institutions.
2. The relative value of religious ritual.
3. The duty of public worship.
II. NEAR THE TEMPLE WAS A HOSPITAL. The connection between the Church and benevolent institutions (and between the philanthropist and the Christian) is vital. Show one and you will find
1. That Christian love has started it.
2. That Christian liberality has supported it.
3. That Christian charity has been its daily guardian.
III. WHAT HAVE THE SYSTEMS OF INFIDELITY DONE FOR THE POOR AND SICK OF OUR LAND? Did Voltaire ever endow an almshouse? What have Tom Paine, Rousseau, Hume, Gibbon, etc., done for the amelioration of the race? What building stands to commemorate the sympathy, heroism, and liberality of the secularism of our day? It was the Christian in Howard that made him a religious reformer; in Wilberforce that made him a slave emancipator; that inspired Florence Nightingale, etc. The Church is the poor mans refuge; the Bible the sorrowing mans hope; Christ the worlds great need; heaven the weary mans rest. (G. Minkle.)
Bethesda
I. THE POOL.
1. In Jerusalem, typical of the Church into which you have been introduced by baptism.
2. The pool itself is emblematical of that Fountain opened in the house of David, etc. It is full, not of water, but of Spirit, and His baptism is life to the soul and healing and power to its injured and enfeebled faculties.
3. The five porches set forth the five springs in the Rock of Ages, hands, feet, side, each yielding its separate stream of blessing.
II. THOSE WHO LAY ROUND THE POOL.
1. Representatives of the unconverted citizens of the Spiritual Jerusalem.
(1) The blind, unable to discern the right hand from the left, nay, incapable of seeing any hand to the soul at all.
(2) The halt, divested of faculty for every motion.
(3) The withered, incompetent as paralytics are to move the limbs or organs of the soul. Why, if the powers of the congregation were suddenly let loose, the results would arouse the whole world: there would not be a house in the district, however poor and sinful; however rich and worldly, that would not be beset, as it were, by a host of inspired apostles. Attempt to move men in their ordinary state to Sunday-school teaching, missionary exertion, or hearty contribution towards religious objects: some will say, We cannot see the matter as you do; others will say, We approve of the object, but cannot move in it; we are bound by such special bonds that we cannot stir in the case, or if we went and followed your advice, we should be helpless as the dead. What is this but being blind, halt, withered?
2. Take the case of an actual believer. He may feel himself providentially impeded; his way may be hidden, his powers confined, fast bound with bonds invisible. The thought of what a neighbour, or a newspaper, or an enemy, or a dignitary may say, ties him as within gates of brass. He would speak, but invisible ligatures fasten his tongue. He will say, For that I should have a higher position, a larger fortune, more vigorous powers. Well, this may be true; yet an energetic grasp of the Hand that moves the universe might remove all these restrictions.
III. THE TROUBLING OF THE POOL.
1. The day: the Sabbath. The pool is always troubled, but the Lords day is the day for finding it out. Abolish Sunday and not only would the pool he neglected, but it would become dry.
2. The place: Gods House, not exclusively of course, for it is everywhere accessible But hers are unusual facilities.
3. The troublers: Gods ministers as His agents.
(1) By prayer.
(2) By preaching.
(3) By sacraments. (T. D. Gregg, D. D.)
Bethesda
I. How eager were these folk to be cured! Would that there were the same earnestness for the healing of the soul.
II. GOD CAUSED THE TROUBLING OF THE WATERS, BUT LEFT THE SICK TO GET THEMSELVES IN. As Matthew Henry says, God has put virtue into Scripture and ordinances, and if we do not make a due improvement of them, it is our own fault.
III. THIS MANS INFIRMITY WAS OF THIRTY-EIGHT YEARS STANDING; SHALL WE COMPLAIN OF ONE WEARISOME NIGHT. We should visit hospitals sometimes that we may learn to be thankful for our own blessings and to pity the sufferings of others.
IV. HE SEEMS TO HAVE HAD NO FRIEND. Some day troubles may come upon us which no earthly friend can alleviate or understand. But Jesus knows, He can sympathize and heal.
V. LEARN PATIENCE AND HOPE PROM THE PERSEVERANCE OF THIS MAN Heb_2:3; Luk_18:1). (G. J. Brown, M. A.)
Bethesda
The porches were once places of luxurious indulgence for the rich. In the process of time they became hospitals for the poor.
I. THE WORLDS PAIN IS SCATTERED OVER A VAST SURFACE, BUT THERE ARE GATHERING PLACES, FOCUSSES OF SUFFERING. It will do us good to go into the back street or infirmary where it hides itself.
II. THE PEOPLE WERE A GREAT MULTITUDE.
1. Sorrow has always been in a majority.
2. The great multitude represented a great variety of diseases. There are some thousands to which the human frame is subject. Think of a thousand ways of taking a man to pieces; of God having a thousand scourges by which He can lay His hand of punishment and trial on the sinner. I can run away from fire and water; but who can escape God?
3. The man who is, popularly speaking, in the robustest health to-day may be smitten before the setting of the sun with a fatal disease. In the midst of life we are in death. Therefore, Whatsoever thy hand, etc.
4. All the people were waiting. We are all doing the same. Man never is, but always to be blest. There are two methods of waiting.
(1) The method which means patience, hope, assurance that God will in His own time redeem His promises; (2)the method of impatience and distrust and complaining that wears the soul out.
III. EVERY LIFE HAS SOME OPPORTUNITY GIVEN IT. There is a tide in the affairs of man, etc. Every one has bad a door opened. The angel is present to-day.
1. You may heal the disease of selfishness by timely generosity.
2. You may heal the disease of indolence by Christian work.
IV. TROUBLED WATERS ARE OFTEN HEALING WATERS. Not the little puddles you make with your own foot; but the troubles that God makes by His angels and a thousand ministries by which He interposes. You may take hold of trouble by the wrong end and abuse it, or you may make it a place for thought and vow.
V. IN ALL CLASSES THERE IS A SPECIAL MAN. I am groaning over something I have had for ten years, and there is a man that has had something for five and twenty and never made half the noise about it. I have only one loaf; another man says he has not tasted for three days. There is always someone worse off than you are.
VI. WE CANNOT GET USED TO PAIN, BUT WE GET ACCUSTOMED TO THE SIN THAT MAKES IT.
VII. THE PHYSICIAN IS SENT NOT TO THE WHOLE BUT TO THE SICK. The very asking of His question has healing in it. Some people ask about our sickness but make us worse; others ask us how we are and the kind inquiry makes us feel better.
VIII. THE SELFISHNESS OF PAIN. Here again we come on the subtle working of sin. Does any one say to the man who has been lying in pain for thirty-eight years, You are worse than I, I shall give you a turn this time. Great numbers of people had been healed, but no one offered help. Blessing unsanctified may increase our selfishness.
IX. CHRISTS POWER IS NOT SECONDARY BUT PRIMARY. He speaks and it stands fast.
X. LET US APPLY THE WHOLE THING TO THE MATTER OF SALVATION.
1. It was an angel who troubled the water; it is the Son of God who opens the fountain for sin.
2. The water was moved at a certain time only; the atonement of the Son of God is open to our approaches night and day.
3. Whosoever first stepped in was cured at Bethesda; here the whole world may all go in at once.
4. Go to the fountain and one thing you will never find there--one dead man. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Bethesda
Christ was eminently a public man. Wherever most people were congregated, there was He; not induced by curiosity, pleasure, or desire for admiration, but to fulfil His mission. Here we find Him after a fifty-six miles walk. The prospect of usefulness made it worth the trouble.
I. THE NARRATIVE.
1. The hospital and its bath. The cloisters were designed for ordinary bathers, but since it bad become medicinal, they were filled with the diseased.
2. The patients and their diseases.
(1) The blind with all manner of ophthalmic complaints.
(2) Halt, persons lame from accident, disease, or eruptions.
(3) Withered, those whose sinews had shrunk, and power of movement had become impossible.
3. The angel and his operations.
4. The impotent man and his special infirmity. He was deprived of the power of rapid motion, and laid expecting help; but helpful friends are only found at feasts, not in hospitals,
5. The Physician and His cure.
(1) What a question He asked! The doctor generally says, Tell me your disease, its symptoms; let me feel your pulse. This Physician knew more than the patient.
(2) Power came with the healing word, and the man instantly became vigorous.
6. The objectors and their cavils.
7. The restored man and his lesson.
(1) The miracle had a beneficial effect, for he went into the Temple to express his gratitude.
(2) Christ gave him a caution. A worse evil might accrue through sin than thirty-eight years affliction. And so now: a guilty conscience, loss of Gods friendship, hell.
8. The communication and its effects. Who can blame the man for his effusive testimony to his benefactor? Yet it was scarcely prudent, a fact that should be borne in mind by the over-zealous, for the Jews sought to kill Jesus.
II. THE INSTRUCTION.
1. Sickness is often Gods discipline to prepare the mind to welcome Christ. Blessed is the man whom Thou chastenest. The Thessalonians received the Word in much affliction.
2. If we would be healed of our spiritual maladies we must be found where that healing is ordinarily bestowed.
(1) This may be a work of difficulty, as in the case before us.
(2) There are special seasons in which God vouchsafes signal blessings to the Church.
3. The most desperate and lengthened cases are not beyond the reach of Christs powers.
(1) Those who have reached the age of this man and whose sin seems inveterate.
(2) Backsliders.
4. Copy the sympathy of Christ to the afflicted. We cannot help them as He did, but we can help and comfort them. Visit the fatherless and widows, the sick, etc. (J. Sherman.)
The pool of Bethesda
This is a picture in miniature of the world.
I. The world is GREATLY AFFLICTED.
1. Effects of sin.
2. Often the means of salvation.
II. The world has ALLEVIATING ELEMENTS.
1. Medicinal properties of the earth.
2. Soothing influences of nature.
3. Offices of social love.
4. The Gospel of Christ.
III. The world is SADLY SELFISH.
1. The injustice of selfishness.
2. Its impiety.
3. Its misery.
IV. The world has a GLORIOUS SAVIOUR.
1. He cures the greatest of sufferers.
2. By His own Word.
3. At the earnest desire of the patient. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The pool of Bethesda
I. SOME PROBABLE ACCOUNT OF WHAT IS MYSTERIOUS HERE. This pool is placed near the sheep market or gate. You read of this sheep gate in Nehemiah. Josephus tells us that near one of the gates which corresponds with this was Solomons pool, which we may conclude to be Bethesda. But the pool of Solomon derived its waters from the fountain of Siloam or Shiloh, which also fed the pool of Siloam. Isaiah uses the waters of Siloam that go softly to represent the kingdom of David, which is emblematic of the kingdom of Christ. Accordingly, the Jews attached a sacred character to them, applying to them during the feast of Tabernacles the words, With joy shall ye draw water, etc. May we not think, therefore, that as those waters foreshadowed the kingdom of Christ, God was pleased when that kingdom was near to endue those waters with a healing power, as though to give notice of the restorative virtue that Christ would exert? A long and dreary season, without prophecy and miracles, had elapsed since Malachi; but when the time of Christ was at hand prodigies began again; and prophecy recommenced. Why not add to other attestions that one furnished by the text? Here an angel descended in token of the return of intercourse between earth and heaven. The cripple had lain for thirty-eight years, and attendance probably commenced when the waters became healing. This would place the first advent of the angel about 7 B.C., just when the heraldy of approach was likely to begin.
II. CONSIDER THE NARRATIVE AS SIGNIFICATIVE.
1. It was only at certain seasons that the angel descended, and only he who was instantly upon the alert became healed. The fountain opened for sin is ever equally efficacious, but there are precious opportunities in every mans life, on the taking advantage of which may depend his final salvation. There is too much ground to believe that Sunday assemblings are seasons to many of the troubling of the waters, and nevertheless not seasons of the restoration of health, because the agitation is allowed to subside.
2. The condition of cure was personal willingness. The man might have found it profitable to be maimed. Many a cripple prefers begging with one arm to working with two.
(1) Wilt thou be made whole, oh young man, who art the slave of thy passions, and whose god is pleasure? Think what it is to be made whole, to mortify thy passions, to deny thyself, to live soberly, etc.
(2) Wilt thou, oh man of ambition?
(3) Wilt thou, oh woman of frivolous tastes? There is a secret unwillingness which frustrates the ordinances of grace, and keeps Bethesda still crowded. Men dread the stirring of the waters, and whenever they find them agitated pour upon them the oil of flattering deceit.
3. The man was not wearied out by repeated disappointments. Men now wait upon the means week after week without apparent benefit, and are tempted to give up. But you may be giving up at the very moment when God, having duly exercised your patience, is about to interpose. The greatest promises are to those who wait upon the Lord. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
Jesus at Bethesda
I. THE DIVINE HELPER.
1. He saw him. It is something for a man to look on wretchedness. Mens eyes, as a rule, are turned the other way. The Christian rule is, Look not every man on his own things, etc.
2. He knew the circumstances of this patient, and He knows ours.
3. He pitied this poor man. Mans inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn. But Jesus is a high priest that can be touched.
4. He addressed him. He made the first advances, and awoke new hope within him.
5. He healed him. But not until the arm of flesh had failed. Sir, I have no man, etc.
II. THE FAULTFINDERS. Surely a life so beneficent should have been left alone. But the faultfinders are everywhere, and are never at a loss for a text or pretext. They are dogs in the manger. They sneer at foreign missions, protesting that Charity begins at home, but when beggars pass by mutter, This is a fine sight in a Christian country. How shall we behave towards such people? Let them alone, and go on with our own business as Jesus did.
III. THE NEW CONVERT.
1. He was obedient.
2. He was found in the Temple, doubtless to give praise to God. But thanksliving is better than thanksgiving; therefore our Lord says, Sin no Job_20:11). The ruin of the soul is worse than thirty-eight years of palsy (Heb_6:4-9).
3. He testified of Jesus. Witness-bearing is the best preaching. (D. J.Burrell, D. D.)
Jesus at Bethesda
I. THE PATIENT.
1. He was fully aware of his sickness, and owned it He was not like those who are lost by nature, who do not know it or will not confess it.
2. He waited by the pool expecting some sign and wonder. This, too, is how many wait, persevering in ordinances and unbelief, expecting some great thing, that on a sudden they will experience strange emotions and remarkable impressions, or see a vision or hear a supernatural voice. No one will deny that a few have been thus favoured--Colossians Gardiner, e.g.
but such interpositions are not to be looked for. Jesus Himself is the greatest of wonders. In regard to this matter of waiting remark
(1) That it is not the way which God has bidden His servants preach. The gospel of our salvation is Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2) This ungospel-like gospel of waiting is immensely popular. Why? Because it administers laudanum to the conscience. When the minister preaches with power and mens hearts are touched, the devil says Wait.
(3) Is not this waiting a very hopeless business? Of those who waited how few were healed? What right have you to expect that if you wait another thirty years you will be different?
(4) There lies our poor friend. I do not blame him for waiting, for Jesus had not been there before.
(5) Having been so often disappointed he was growing in deep despair. Moreover he was getting old; and life is wearing away with you. You have waited all this while in vain, sinfully waited. You have seen others saved, your child, your wife; but you are not.
II. THE PHYSICIAN.
1. He made an election. This man was possibly selected because his was the worst case and had waited longest of all.
2. Jesus said, Wilt thou be made whole? not for information, but to arouse attention.
3. He gave the word of command.
4. There is nothing said in the text about faith, but the whole incident shows that the man must have had faith.
5. The cure which Christ wrought was
(1) Perfect. The man could carry his bed.
(2) Immediate. The man was not carried home by friends and gradually nursed into vital energy.
III. APPLY THE INSTANCE TO THE PRESENT OCCASION. Why should we not on this very spot have instantaneous cures of sick souls? Man fell in a moment; why should not Christ restore in a moment?
1. Look at the Biblical illustrations of what salvation is. Noah built an ark, the type of salvation. When was Noah saved? After he had been in the ark a week or two? No; the moment Noah went through the door and the Lord shut him in he was safe. Take the case of the Passover; the moment the blood was sprinkled the house was secured. When the brazen serpent was lifted up were the wounded told to wait till it was pushed in their faces, or until the venom showed certain symptoms? No, they were commanded to look. Were they healed in six months time?
2. Take Biblical instances. The dying thief, the 3,000 at Pentecost, the Philippian jailer.
3. The work of salvation is all done. You want washing, but the fountain does not need filling. You want clothing, but the robe is ready.
4. Regeneration cannot be a work of a long time. There must be a line, we cannot always see it but God must, between life and death.
5. For God to say, I forgive thee, takes not a century or a year. The Judge pronounces the sentence and the criminal is acquitted. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The miracle at Bethesda
I. THE PORCHES WERE FULL OF SICK FOLK. The world is full of the spiritually sick--thieves, drunkards, harlots, proud, covetous, etc.
II. THESE SICK FOLK WERE FULL OF EXPECTANCY ALL THE TIME. So are many now, but their expectancy is misdirected. As soon as I get out of my present business I will reform; I am going to church oftener; Next week is my birthday; I will then turn over a new leaf; I will repent on my death-bed; I expect to be healed in the next revival.
III. THE SICK MANS HEALING DEPENDED ON HIS TURNING FROM THE POOL TO JESUS.
IV. HEALED THE MAN WAS; NOW JESUS BIDS HIM BE HOLY. Christ our physician
I. WE ARE ALL LABOURING UNDER THE MALADY OF SIN. This malady is
1. Universal.
2. It pervades our whole nature.
3. It is attended by
(1) Degradation;
(2) suffering;
(3) loss of power.
4. It will issue if not arrested in eternal death.
II. NO MAN CAN CURE HIMSELF. This is proved
1. By consciousness.
2. By experience. All efforts at self-cure result in failure or self- deception, or, at best, in mitigation of the symptoms.
III. NO MAN OR SET OF MEN CAN CURE OTHERS. This has been attempted
1. By educators.
2. By philosophers.
3. By ascetics.
4. By ritualists. The world is filled by spiritual charlatans.
IV. CHRIST IS THE ONLY PHYSICIAN.
1. He secures the right of applying the only effectual remedy by propitiating the justice of God, and securing liberty of access to the soul for the Holy Spirit.
2. He sends that Spirit as the Spirit of life and strength. As the constitution is radically affected, a radical cure is necessary, which can only be effected by a life-giving Spirit.
3. The cure is certain and permanent. It results in immortal vigour, beauty, and strength.
4. This Physician is accessible to every one at all times. He requires no preparation, and will receive no recompense.
Inferences:
1. The duty of every one to apply to Him for cure.
2. The reason why any are not cured must be in them, not in Him.
3. The duty of making this Physician known to others. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
Conversion as illustrated by the miracle
1. The utterly lost, hopeless state of every sinner sitting by the waters of salvation (Joh_5:5).
2. The offer of help addressed to each mans free will for his personal acceptance (Joh_5:6).
3. The first phase of conflict that pride is apt to make in blaming others and excusing self (Joh_5:7).
4. The peremptoriness of the gospel demand: Do something, and God will help (Joh_5:8-9).
5. The next phase of conflict which external opposition makes discouraging the soul with mere cavils (Joh_5:10).
6. The full and honest justification of conduct: The One that healed me told me what to do (Joh_5:11).
7. The salutary experience of solicitude against old besetting sin (Joh_5:14).
8. The happy obedience of active confession of Christ before others; say openly and everywhere, It was Jesus that made me whole! (Joh_5:15) (C. S.Robinson, D. D.)
Jesus went up to Jerusalem.--Jesus never, as a rule, let a feast go by without visiting Jerusalem.
1. To fulfil the duty of an Israelite.
2. To use the opportunity of preaching to the largest multitudes.
3. To testify the truths then to the leaders at a time when He might appear before them without their venturing to lay hands upon Him.
Evangelical clergymen should use the high Christian festivals with conscientious fidelity.
1. Because then larger congregations are attracted, and many are present then who come at no other time.
2. Because souls are then in a more solemn mood than at other times. (Heubner.)
Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep-market a pool
The water supply of Jerusalem
was one of the most wonderful things in that wonderful city. The cisterns, in what is now called the Sanctuary, appear to have been connected by a system of channels cut out of the rock, so that when one was full the surplus water ran into the next, and so on until the final overflow was carried off by a channel into the Kedron. One of the cisterns, that known as the Great Sea, would contain two million gallons; and the total number of gallons which could be stored probably exceeded ten millions. This supply of water appears to have been obtained from springs, wells, the collection of rain in pools and cisterns, and water brought from a distance by aqueducts. The extensive remains of cisterns, pools, and aqueducts show that little dependence was placed on any natural springs existing in or near the city; and, indeed, from the formation of the ground it is doubtful whether any existed besides the Fountain of the Virgin in the Kedron Valley. There may have been a source in the Tyropaeon Valley, but it could only have been a small and not very lasting one. Water was brought into the city by two aqueducts, the low level and the high level; but the course of the former can alone be traced within the walls of the city. (Recovery Jerusalem.)
Bethesda.--The most natural etymology of the word is House of Mercy. Whether the name alludes to the munificence of some pious Jew who had constructed the porches as a shelter for the sick, or whether it relates to the goodness of God, from whom this healing spring proceeded is uncertain. Delitsch supposes that the etymology was Beth-estaw, peristyle. Others have taken it from Beth Aschada, place of out-pouring (perhaps of the blood of victims). It might be supposed that the porches were five isolated buildings arranged in a circle round the pool. But it is more natural to consider it one single edifice, forming a peritagonal peristyle, in the centre of which was the reservoir. Some springs of mineral water are known at the present day at the east of the city; among others the baths of Ain-es-Schefa. Tobler has proved that this spring is fed by the large chamber of water situated under the mosque which has replaced the Temple. Another better known spring is found at the foot of the southeastern slope of Moriah, called the Virgin Spring. It is very intermittent. The basin is quite dry; then the water is seen springing up among the stones. On one occasion Tobler saw it rise four and a half inches with a gentle undulation; on another it rose for more than twenty-two minutes to a height of six or seven inches, and came down again in two minutes to its previous level. Robinson saw it rise a foot in five minutes. He was assured that this movement is repeated at certain times twice or thrice a day, but that in summer it is seldom observed more than once in two or three days. These phenomena present a certain analogy to what is related of the Bethesda spring. Eusebius speaks also of springs in this locality, the water of which was reddish, evidently due to mineral elements, but, according to him, to the filtering of the blood of victims into it. Tradition places Bethesda in a great square hollow, surrounded by walls, at the north of the Haram, south from the street which leads from the St. Stephens Gate. It is called Birket-Israil, and is about twenty-three yards deep, forty-four yards broad, and more than double in length. The bottom is dry, filled with grass and shrubs. Bethesda must have been in this vicinity, for here the sheep-gate was situated. As it is impossible to identify the pool, it may have been covered with debris or have disappeared, as so often happens in the case of intermittent springs. Those which are found at the present day prove only how favourable the soil is to this sort of phenomena. (F. Godet, D. D.)
The identity with Bethesda of the deep reservoir in Jerusalem, which today bears its name, Robinson regards as improbable, and is more inclined to find it in the intermittent fountain of the virgin on the south-east slope of the Temple Mount. From Joh_5:7 and the close of Joh_5:8, it appears that this spring probably was gaseous, and bubbled at intervals. There is a spring of this kind at Kissengen, which, after a rushing sound about the same time every day, commences to bubble, and is most efficacious at the very time the gas is making its escape. This spring is especially used in diseases of the eye. (Tholuck.)
For an angel went down at a certain season
Textual criticism
This verse has undoubtedly no right to a place in the text. That fourth verse the most important Greek and Latin copies are without, and most of the early versions. In other MSS. which retain this verse, the obelus which hints suspicion, or the asterisk which marks rejection, is attached to it; while those in which it appears unquestioned belong mostly, as Griesbach shows, to a later recension of the text. And this fourth verse spreads the suspicion of its own spuriousness over the last clause of the verse pre- ceding, which, though it has not so great a body of evidence against it, has yet, in a less degree, the same notes of suspicion about it. Doubtless whatever here is addition, whether only the fourth verse, or the last clause also of the third, found very early its way into the text; we have it as early as Tertullian, the first witness for its presence At first probably a marginal note, expressing the popular notion of the Jewish Christians concerning the origin of the healing power which from time to time these waters possessed, by degrees it assumed the shape in which now we have it: for there are marks of growth about it, betraying them- selves in a great variety of readings--some copies omitting one part, and some another, of the verse--all which is generally the sign of a later addition: thus, little by little, it procured admission into the text, probably at Alexandria at first, the birthplace of other similar additions The statement rests upon that religious view of the world, which in all nature sees something beyond nature, which does not believe that it has discovered causes, when, in fact, it has only traced the sequence of phenomena, and which everywhere recognizes a going forth of the immediate power of God, invisible agencies of His, whether personal or otherwise, accomplishing His will. (Archbishop Trench.)
The other side
The verse is not found in Sin, B.C. 0, nor in a few cursive MSS., nor in the Cureton Syriac, but they were in copies of this Gospel in the time of Tertullian, and are quoted by Chrysostum, Cyril, Augustine, and others, and they exist in important MSS. As to the question why it is inserted, the reply is to assign a cause for the phenomenon. But, on the other hand, reasons no less valid may account for its omission. Who had seen the angel? What Jewish writer had recorded his appearance and operation? These are questions which might have been urged by sceptics of old as now, and the easiest way of removing objections might seem to be to omit the words. We know that this feeling operated so strongly with critics of old as to lead them to omit, not only a few words, but entire books. (Bp. Wordsworth.)
Jewish legends about healing waters
The Jews themselves had several legends of the healing waters. Thus the Fount of Miriam, from which the Israelites drank in the desert, was said to flow, after the conquest of Canaan, into the lake of Galilee; and it was believed that, at the end of every Sabbath, its waters flowed out and mingled with the waters of all fountains. Whoever had the good fortune to draw from a fountain at the moment when the waters of the Fount of Miriam mingled with it, and bathed himself with that water, would be cured of all his diseases--even if these were of the most loathsome description. Lightfoot cites an instance of a man suffering from a grievous disease who went down to the lake of Galilee to swim. Now, it happened to be the time when the Fount of Miriam was flowing, so that, when he came out of the water, he found that he was healed. The same author instances a case from the rabbins, of a fountain that was inhabited by two spirits--one evil and one good. When Abba Joses sat at this fountain, there appeared to him the spirit that resided there, and said, You know well enough how many years I have dwelt in this place, and how yourselves and your wives have come and returned without any damage done to you. But now you must know that an evil spirit endeavours to supply my room, who would prove very mischievous to you. He saith to him, What must we do then? He answered him and said, Go and tell the townspeople that whoever hath a hammer and an iron pin or bolt, let him come hither to-morrow morning, and have his eye intent upon the waters, and when you see the waters troubled, then let them knock with the iron, and say, The victory is ours; and so let them not go back till they see thick drops of blood upon the face of the waters. To which the gloss adds, By this sign it will appear that the spirit was conquered and killed. The reader who is concerned about the result of this stratagem may be glad to know that it proved quite successful. In connection with this general subject it is interesting to note the belief, among primitive peoples all over the world, in the waters of life. In a legend found among the Modern Greeks the water of life flows within a hollow rock, and is inaccessible except to a favoured few; in another case where the waters are concealed in the same way, the rock opens at noon, and discloses several springs, each of which calls out, Come, draw from me, but only one is the spring of the water of life; and this true spring is pointed out by a bee which flies directly to it. Whoever draws this water Of life can sprinkle a few drops of it upon any dead animal or man, and immediately the dead will spring to life. Even when the dead have been hacked to pieces, the water of life sprinkled over the parts will bring them together, and unite them into a new and youthful life. In some cases, two springs are said to flow side by side, one giving forth the water of life, the other giving forth the water of death. If the water of death is taken instead of the water of life, the opposite effect is produced. A drop or two will kill a living man at once. There are also legends throughout the whole world concerning the waters of strength. These are generally fabled to be guarded by some mythical monster--snake or dragon--but whoever eludes the vigilance of these guardians, and possesses himself of the water, has the means of endowing himself with superhuman strength. To swallow a few drops is to make ones self, according to the legend, more than a match for any mortal foe.
The significance of the angels action
What St. John affirms is that a certain invisible angel or minister was the instrument of making the water beneficial to the persons who went down into it. He accounts in this way for its operation being more useful at one time than another. That assertion, you say, interferes with the doctrine that there were certain properties in the water itself which affected the condition of human beings. How does it interfere? You hold that the vaccine matter has in itself the property of counteracting the virus of the small-pox. But you hold also that the intelligence of Jenner had something to do with making this vaccine matter available for actual cure; you hold that the intelligence of different medical men has something to do with bringing the preventive power to bear on particular cases. You know this for a fact, but physical science tells you nothing of the way in which the intelligence co-operates with the natural agent. The notion that it does is a fallacy. In no instance whatever can the mere study of physics help you to determine anything respecting moral or intellectual forces, though at every turn the study of physics compels you to the acknowledgment of such forces. It will save us from innumerable confusions if we take this proposition in the length and breadth of it. Through neglect of it the physician and the metaphysician are perpetually stumbling against each other when they might be the greatest helpers of each other. (F. D. Maurice, D. D.)
It seems a worthy exercise of Divine revelation to lead human philosophy to regard what are called physical phenomena as being not produced by natural laws, though they may be regulated according to them, but as effected by Divine agency; in a word, to elevate the human mind from the lower level of material mechanics to the higher region of spiritual dynamics. (Bp. Wordsworth.)
The troubling of the water.--In every excited fear of the vengeance of God, in every impulse which would send you to your knees, in every brief aspiration after holiness and heaven, you have tokens that the angel has been with you, summoning you to be heedful, and not to lose the opportunity which may, perhaps, be the last. And if you take not advantage of the troubling of the waters, if, that is, when you feel prompted to pray you omit to pray; when made conscious of the evil of a practice, you do not forthwith set yourselves to correct that practice; and when moved to the study of the Scriptures, you defer that study to a more convenient season, why, there is more than a probability that you will not soon again be visited with the desire after salvation, and that, even when so visited, it will be in less measure; for the Spirit of God, who is the actual agent, whatever the instrumentality employed in troubling the waters, is grieved and provoked by resistance to His influences, and may be tempted altogether to withdraw, when He has striven with you, and agitated you in vain. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
An infirmity thirty and eight years
The gospel equal to the most inveterate cases
There is a city missionary traversing this district, who finds in a room a woman ninety-eight years of age, and begins to tell her about Christ and salvation; and the poor old woman receives it, and comes to this table, at ninety-eight years of age, for the first time, avowing her faith in Christ, and linking in her hand a little girl fourteen years old, who was received into the Church with herself. Aged and young can be cured by Christs power. There sat in a country village a poor old diseased woman, who with the greatest difficulty got into the kitchen of a butcher, in whose house some itinerants used to go and preach, to listen to the Word; and she is seventy-two years of age; but the Word goes into her mind, she receives it, and not only becomes a devoted follower of Christ, but one of the most useful women in the village. There is hope for you! When I was at Bath I heard of a gentleman who had retired from business, surrounded with the bounties of Providence, but had not sought Christ. His wife was very anxious, good woman! about him. One day she prevailed upon him to come with her to Gods house; and as she went she prayed that God would give the minister some text that would be likely to impress her poor thoughtless, witty, indifferent husbands mind; and when the minister gave out his text, it was this, My Beloved is mine, and I am His. I thought, she said, I should sink in the pew; I knew what fun he would be likely to make of the passage. However, the Word went home to him, and his thought was this--I know my wife can say that Christ is her Beloved, and that she is Hisbeloved, but He is not mine; and from that moment he became a devoted follower of the Lamb, used his property for the service of Christ, and went to heaven rejoicing in His favour. (J. Sherman.)
Wilt thou be made whole?
The Physicians inquiry
I. A MARK OF AFFECTIONATE SOLICITUDE.
II. AN INSTANCE OF GRACIOUS INVITATION.
III. THE EXPRESSION OF CONSCIOUS POWER. The question is still asked--How many refuse the offer! (Preachers Analyst.)
The Good Physicians question
I. ASSUMES THAT THEY TO WHOM IT IS ADDRESSED ARE NOT WHOLE.
II. SUGGESTS THAT NEVERTHELESS THEY MAY BE MADE WHOLE.
III. IMPLIES THAT IT DEPENDS UPON THEIR OWN WILLS WHETHER OR NOT THEY SHALL BE MADE WHOLE.
IV. PROFFERS THE NEEDED WHOLENESS TO ALL WHO ARE WILLING TO RECEIVE IT. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
A singular but needful question
It seems a strange question. Who would not be made whole? Would the poor man have been lying at the pool had he not been anxious for healing? Yet, as our Lord spake no superfluous words, it may be perceived that the paralysis was mental as well as physical. He had waited until despondency had dried up his spirits, and he scarcely cared whether he was made whole or not. The Saviour touched a chord that needed to vibrate; He aroused a dormant faculty whose exercise was essential to cure. Are there not those here who, through having waited so long, are beginning to get paralyzed in their once earnest desires to come to occupy this seat as a mere matter of custom.
I. This question is needful, because IT IS NOT ALWAYS UNDERSTOOD.
1. It is not the same as Wilt thou be saved from going to hell?--every one answers Aye to that; but Wilt thou be saved from sin?
2. To help you, let me remind you that there never were but two men perfectly whole.
(1) The first Adam. We should all be willing to be in paradise with him; but are we willing to walk with God as he did?
(2) The second Adam. Holy, harmless, undefiled, etc. Whole towards God, man, holiness. Do you wish to be like Him?
3. When a man is whole there are certain evil propensities which are expelled, and Certain moral qualities which he is sure to possess
(1) Honesty;
(2) sobriety;
(3) truthfulness;
(4) generosity in giving and forgiving.
4. He will have spiritual graces also
(1) Humility;
(2) prayerfulness;
(3) consecration.
II. THIS QUESTION IS CAPABLE OF A GOOD MANY REPLIES, and therefore it is the more necessary that it should be asked and answered.
1. There are some whose only reply is no answer at all. They dont want to consider anything of the sort.
(1) We are young, and have plenty of time.
(2) We are business people, and have something else to do.
(3) We are wealthy and cultured, and must not be expected to look at these things as coarse-minded people do.
(4) We are too ill to trouble about it. But there is another class, who once had a religious concern, whose answer is not very earnest. They have become habituated to unbelieving misery, and persist in carrying a burden of which their Saviour wants to relieve them.
2. Too many give evasive replies to the question
(1) How am I to know whether I am Gods elect or not? That is not the question at this stage. It will be answered by and by.
(2) I have not the power to cease from sin. God will give the power in proportion as He gives the will.
(3) I have been so guilty in the past. The question is not, How sick art thou? but Wilt thou be made whole?
3. There are a good many persons who practically say No.
(1) One says, I would be made whole, and yet when Divine service is over he goes back to his sin.
(2) Those say No who neglect the house of God.
(3) So do those who hear the Word inattentively; and
(4) those who fear lest their being made whole would involve the loss of social position, gains, or companions.
III. WHEREVER AN HONEST AFFIRMATIVE ANSWER IS GIVEN TO THIS QUESTION WE MAY CONCLUDE THAT THERE IS A WORK OF GRACE COMMENCED IN THE SOUL.
IV. WHERE THIS QUESTION IS ANSWERED IN THE NEGATIVE IT INVOLVES MOST FEARFUL SIN. You prefer yourself to God, sin to holiness. This is your deliberate choice. When you come to die, and when you live in another state, you will curse yourself for having made such a choice as this. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The cure of spiritual disease
I. WHAT IS SUPPOSED IN THE CONDITION OF THE PERSON ADDRESSED. A state of disorder and disease, or the question would be absurd. You often hear of the dignity of human nature.
1. Physically and intellectually it is dignified when we see man, in his capacity for boundless improvement, a little lower than the angels.
2. But how lamentable it is to find his fine powers misapplied and abused! What is man morally and religiously?
(1) His body has become mortal and subject to every calamity.
(2) His soul is alienated from the life of God.
(3) He has no spiritual health.
II. WHAT IS IMPLIED IN THE QUESTION?
1. That the disease is curable. But not by man;
(1) not by government;
(2) philosophy;
(3) the law;
(4) morality;
(5) but only by the Cross of Jesus Christ, the efficacy of whose cure is attested by millions.
2. That willingness to be cured is essential to recovery. The cure is not forced upon you, nor is it accomplished by an insensible process, nor by a charm, nor by chance. A Divine influence makes us sensible of our need, and of the importance of the blessing; then we have to choose the good part.
III. HOW ARE YOU TO RETURN AN ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION?
1. By inquiring after the way and the means.
2. By applying to the Physician.
3. By submission to the prescription without murmuring or complaint. Not like Naaman, but like the blind man who went to the pool of Siloam.
4. By the eagerness with which you look after convalescence.
IV. WHAT SHOULD URGE YOU TO AVAIL YOURSELVES OF THIS PROPOSAL?
1. The nature of the complaint, than which nothing is more dreadful.
2. The Physician who addresses you. He has everything to recommend Him. He is able; willing. He demands no fee.
3. The brevity and uncertainty of the time in which the cure must be effected.
4. The fact that rejection will be the greatest aggravation of the misery by which it will be ended.
V. WHAT IS THE DUTY OF THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN ENABLED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION IN THE AFFIRMATIVE.
1. To avoid the sins which led to the injury.
2. Gratitude.
3. Consecration of renewed spiritual health to the Physician.
4. To recommend the cure to others. (W. Jay.)
Hindrances to Christian development
I. Many are hindered by a VAGUE SENSE WORKING THROUGH VENERATION AND THE IMAGINATION OF THE MAGNITUDE AND IMPORTANCE OF RELIGION. They have the impression that they are to carry the world on their shoulders. They are cautious, timid, conscientious, and feel that their strength and resolution are not adequate to so great a thing as the amplitude of religious life. This would be valid ii religion called men at first to take the service of Jesus Christ in its perfected form. But it is not so. The Master bids us become as little children, and go on step by step. The question is whether you are willing to take the childs step towards the consummation.
II. There are others who are caught IN MORBID INTELLECTUALISM, AND ARE STUCK UPON THE SPIRES AND THORNS OF SOME DOCTRINAL SYSTEM. They fail to separate between religion and its doctrines. With one it is election, with another reprobation. They have not learned to let such things alone. They are insoluble, most of them. Christ says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His--not catechism, confession of faith, doctrine, but righteousness. Let life, practice, experience, precede, and they will shape theory and philosophy.
III. Others are hindered by THE FRAGMENTS AND RUINS OF PAST ATTEMPTS.
1. There are many who have entered on a religious life under such misconceptions we have been buffeted by such influences that sentiment, honour, conscience, taste, or pride, has been almost fatally wounded.
2. Others become torpid or dead. In youth, while enthusiasm was strong, they felt that there was a reality in religion; but it having proved a mockery to them they come to have the impression that there is nothing in it.
3. But there are a great many who do not fall so far. They hoped to be saved, but are without any definite purposes. But the mistakes that have been made are no reason why you should not with better light and ampler experience regain the lost ground. No man can afford to throw himself away because he has made a mistake in attempting to be healed. The woman with the issue of blood did not do so. Forget, then, the things that are behind. If you would be made whole, remember that failure is no reason for not striving again.
IV. Many are hindered by THE INSPECTION OF THE LIVES OF CHRISTIAN MEN. This is ignoble, and has nothing to do with your own case. However others may be cowardly and false, that is no reason why you should not be courageous and true. This is no excuse, it is the plea of a man who is in search of one.
V. THE DEBILITATING EFFECT OF SCEPTICAL DOUBTS UPON THE MORAL SENSE. Such is the nature of things that we live by faith and not by sight in respect to the whole realm of the invisible from which the power is to be derived, by which the soul is to be rectified. Once let a man doubt, and it will break the power of his believing. And many people are so moved that their moral root is impaired. Is not this so? To you, then, Christ comes and asks this question. There is healing in Him for those who are impotent from doubt.
VI. THERE ARE THOSE THE HABIT OF WHOSE MIND CONVERTS MORAL IMPRESSIONS INTO IDEAS RATHER THAN INTO ACTIONS.
1. Some are so familiar with their Bible that it is worn smooth. Their wheels slip on the track.
2. Others never break into flame. They are compacted of thoughts and feelings which are so covered up and smothered that they never have disclosure. They are given to revive. The work of the world is not accomplished in this way, nor is that of Christianity. Dont, then, think about the poetry of religion, but brace yourself for its activities.
Conclusion:
1. Every man, whatever his hindrances, should be faithful to the inward yearning to be made whole. If that lives there is hope.
2. To such Christ will come. There is a way when there is a will. (H. W.Beecher.)
Gods pool and mans porches
All the healing work of the pool was Gods work, and His alone; but in our text we have mans work side by side with Gods. There were five porches. In all probability these porches were built by some charitable people in the city of Jerusalem, who had argued something after this sort--We have no power to heal the sick, but we can at all events build a shelter for them when they come seeking a cure. It is not in us to move the water into an all-healing pool, but we can build a place so near the water that when the sufferers come after many a weary mile, they will be able to rest there, secured from the sun, and sheltered from the tempest, and wait in comfort until the angel of mercy stirs it with his wing. Thus, I think, you will see we have in our text the union of Gods work and human agency. God digs the pool and man builds the porches.
I. LET US LOOK AT BETHESDA, WITH ITS PORCHES, AS ILLUSTRATING SPIRITUAL WORK. It is a high honour, beloved, to be a co-worker with God, no matter in how humble a capacity. God can do without us. The pool could do without the porches, and do as well without them. It had none of its healing qualities from them. No poor sufferer was ever eased of his pain because of the influence of the porches upon the pool. It was the pool alone that did the work and had all the glory of the cure. But remember, on the other hand, that God so ordered it that the porches should be built by man. God digging the pool does not exonerate man from building the porches. Let us for a moment look and see how this may be applied in many ways. This blessed book is all of Him. No human hand dug its deep well of truth. From Genesis to Revelations it makes one glorious Bethesda. It is a house of mercy, and in its chapters and verses there is latent healing power, that needs but the moving of the Spirit to heal any. To write this book, and make it a power of healing unto souls, is Gods work, and His work alone. But you and I can place this book into the hands of different people, and that is our work. God writes the book, but it is for us to print it, and scatter it on every hand. He makes this pool of Bethesda; but you and I, perhaps through the agency of a Bible Society, have to help build the five porches. Man can neither give himself nor anyone else faith; but man can build the sanctuaries for the gospel to be preached in. Therefore God does not build any chapels by miracles. If men want to have houses to worship in, God says, that is your work: you must toil, and you must collect, and you must give, and you must pay for it. You can build the brick porch, but it is for Me to make it a Bethesda, a house of mercy unto thousands. It has occurred to me that in many ways Bethesda makes a very beautiful illustration of what a sanctuary ought to be. I will briefly notice one or two points.
1. The first thing we observe is--that those porches were only built for the sake of the pool. You cannot imagine any gentleman in Jerusalem having built them merely for the sake of an architectural display. Most certainly they were not built for lounges and as equally certain is it they were not built for people to sleep in. They were simply built to help men to get to the water that could heal them. Every sanctuary that is built aright is built from the same motive. It is built simply to lead men unto Christ.
2. But observe, secondly, that the porches were only of value as they led to the pool. In other words, the porch was no good to any man except he went beyond it. Do you observe, too, that those who filled the porches were just the very ones we want to see filling our sanctuaries? They were not only sick ones in those porches. They were something better. They were those who knew themselves to be sick. They came there with a special purpose, and that purpose was to be healed. That preacher has delightful work who preaches to a congregation drawn by the same desire. And then you observe that they were poor people that were there, people that could not any way afford to have a doctor. I would that we could see more of the poor and penniless helping to fill our sanctuaries. And observe, lastly here, that there were plenty of them. It is said, In these lay a great multitude. There is nothing easier than to sneer at numbers when they come to hear the preaching of the Word, though I never heard them despised when the meeting is of a political or secular nature. May God make every porch in this great east end of London too straight for the throngs of the poor and the sick and the spiritually diseased that shall crowd into them.
II. And now, lastly, I desire to use this text as illustrating THE WORK WE MAY DO IN CONJUNCTION WITH GOD FOR THE ALLEVIATION AND HEALING OF BODILY SICKNESS. Alas, that group at Bethesda is but a very small sample of a great multitude--a multitude seeking health. Mark you the means are nothing of themselves. The water was nothing until the angel touched it. The medicine is nothing until God blesses it. The physician of himself is powerless, let him be never so clever in his profession. What is it then that is needed? It is the blessing of the angel of the covenant resting on the means that are used--it is God commanding health through their instrumentality. But you and I may say, Brother, we cannot make you whole, we wish we could, but there is a Bethesda which, by the Lords blessing, may, and we can build a porch to help you get and stay there. We know you are poor and cannot afford to have a long doctors bill come in, and your poverty only deepens our sympathy, so we will build you a porch which shall be free of all expense. We will build you a place where you can obtain just the care, and just the nursing, and just the medicine that you need, without it costing you a penny. (A. G. Brown.)
Wilt thou be made whole?
Do you think it a strange question? Do you take it for granted that a man must long to be freed from the tyranny of sin. Ah! I would to God it were so. But it is not.
1. One desires to be saved only from the consequences of sin, and from the eternal death which is the bitter wages of sin; but not--not to be made whole! No! To be made whole would mean giving up some practice which has become second nature. It would mean making new rules of life which would stand in the way of present prosperity.
2. If this one were to say straight out what is in his heart, he would answer the question, Wilt thou be made whole?--thus, Ah, Lord Jesus, leave me as I am! Only--in the hour of death, and in the day of judgment, good Lord, deliver me!
3. Another, does desire to be released from his sin. But this one is so slothful that he cannot rouse himself and look that sin in the face, like a man, and close with it, determined to overcome it once and for all And so he gets into a way of taking his state for granted. He uses prayer, and the means of grace, in a limp, perfunctory manner, hoping for nothing, expecting nothing, in fact believing nothing, and so getting nothing. His answer would be something like this--It is no use now. It might have been once. I am too far gone. My brethren, if we do not desire it, then our blood be on our own heads. God does not save men against their wills, and in spite cf their wills. But if we are in earnest, let us arise at Christs bidding and do His commands. (I. B. C. Murphy, B. A.)
The force of the question
Jesus says to the man not Dost thou desire? but Art thou really determined? For the desire is not doubtful, but energy of will seems wanting. It can only be restored by means of faith.
On the one hand Jesus draws the sufferer from the dark despondency into which his long and useless waiting had plunged him, and revives his hopes; on the other, he withdraws his mind from the source of cure to which it was exclusively attached, and puts him in moral connection with the true Bethesda. (F. Godet, D. D.)
Wilt thou be made whole?
A superfluous question, it might seem, for who would not be made whole if he might? But the question has its purpose. This poor man had been so often defeated of a cure, that hope was dead, or well-nigh dead, within him, and the question is asked to awaken in him anew a yearning after the benefit, which the Saviour, pitying his hopeless case, was about to impart. (Archbishop Trench.)
Sir, I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool.
Supplementary ministries
This child of pain suffered a double martyrdom--that of being incapable of reaching the pool, and that of seeing others less needy snatch the boon from before his very eyes. A multitude of various crippled people wait for chances of social, intellectual, and moral improvement, who for the want of a helping hand have the mortification of seeing less encumbered folks step into the opening.
I. THE WORLD IS FULL OF THOSE THAT WAIT FOR THE TROUBLING OF THE WATER BY THE ANGELS OF LIFE.
1. These are paralysed by the lack of friends, funds, or facilities.
2. In gracious response to this expectancy angels of life frequently stir the water. In our day the spirit of change is abroad.
3. The ever-recurring changes of life contribute to the good of mankind. Stagnation is the curse of life; revolution is its salvation.
II. WHEN THE POOL IS STIRRED THE ABSENCE OF A FRIEND IS OFTEN FATAL TO SUCCESS.
1. The Bible may fall into the hands of an illiterate person, and thus the fountain of all good may be sealed. Self-help is a note frequently sounded, but a great section of the race have little power of self-help. No doubt they are cognizant of chances, but are constitutionally or circumstantially incapable of seizing them.
2. With an energetic helper a fair proportion might rear themselves. Artists, preachers, etc., long for fame, but having no helper, live and die in obscurity.
3. All through life supplementary ministries are in requisition. Wanted:
(1) In the scientific world the missing link!
(2) In the political world the man for the hour!
(3) In the Christian world souls not too absorbed to care for others!
III. WHEN THE WATER IS STIRRED THE SELF-SUFFICIENT ARE OFT FOUND TO AVAIL THEMSELVES OF THE PRECIOUS OPPORTUNITY.
1. The world comprises that class who attain by sheer audacity, and are deterred by no modesty or charity. Many, however, collapse, which saves us much bitterness of soul.
2. God is our law and pattern. Let us be merciful as He is. We require to be careful, lest in the race of life we grow callous and unsympathetic. Turner, when the hanging committee could find no place for an obscure painters picture, took down one of his own magnificent productions and hung the strangers there in the very forefront of publicity. That was compassion like a man.
IV. THE ONLY RESOURCE OF NEGLECTED MEN IS CHRIST. We hail Him as the One mighty to save in all the provinces of life.
1. He loves to take the world by surprise. The most this unfortunate expected was a promise to assist him to the pool some day.
2. Take up thy bed, etc., suggests to us strike out for yourself. Christ the Author of faith communicates to us who will receive it the capacity to think, act, pray, etc., which is infinitely superior to the habit of dependence on the services, modes, doctrines of others. (W. J. Acomb.)
The universal cry of humanity
is one of
I. MISERY.
II. HELPLESSNESS.
III. HOPELESSNESS. (Van Doren.)
Irresolution and impotence the worst part of any malady
(in melancholy, hypochondria, etc.)
I. IT IS ITSELF DISEASE.
II. IT AGGRAVATES THE OTHER DISEASES.
III. IT HINDERS THE CURE.
IV. IT CAN MAKE THE CURE UNCERTAIN AGAIN (lest a worse thing come unto thee). (J. P. Lange, D. D.)
Helpfulness
One wintry day Hawthorne, the American author, went home with a heavy heart, having lost his government appointment. He cast himself down, as men generally do under similar circumstances, and assumed the very attitude of despondency. His wife soon discovers the cause of his distress. But instead of indulging in irrational hysterics, she kindles a bright fire, brings pen, ink, and paper, and then, lovingly laying her hand on his shoulder, exclaims, as she gazes cheerfully in his face, Now you can write your book. The word wrought like a magic spell. He set to work, forgot his loss, wrote his book, made his reputation, and amassed a fortune. God-fearing women, go and do likewise! (W. J.Acomb.)
Perseverance
It is said of Bruce, that, in prison, and discouraged with the heat of his campaign for the liberties of his country, he in moody thoughts meditated giving up the struggle; but as he lay and thought, a spider, spinning down, caught his web upon some point, and almost fell to the floor. Not daunted, it crept up and back, and started again; and missed again. And again it tried, and fell again. It went through seven trials, and finally, on the eighth, caught and established itself. And then, with a baseline laid, it formed its web. Bruce took heart from that, through rebuke, and determined never to give up the struggle. And at last victory came. (H. W.Beecher.)
Christs method of salvation varied
He looked that Christ should have done him that good office (of putting him into the pool), and could not think of any other way of cure. How easy it is of us to measure God by our model, to cast Him into our moulds, to think He must needs go our way to work. (J. Trapp.)
Help must be opportune
I had a friend who stood by the rail-track at Carlisle, Penn., when the ammunition had given out at Antietam, and he saw the train from Harrisburg, freighted with shot and shell, as it went thundering down towards the battlefield. He said that it stopped not for any crossing. They put down the brakes for no grade. They held up for no peril. The wheels were on fire with the speed as they dashed past. If the train did not come up in time with the ammunition, it might as well not come at all. So, my friends, there are times in our lives when we must have help immediately or perish. (Dr. Talmage.)
When men are willing to be saved we must help them
A poor fellow in Exeter Hall signed the temperance pledge some twenty or thirty years ago. He was a prize-fighter--a miserable, debauched, degraded, ignorant creature. A gentleman stood by his side, a builder in London, employing some hundreds of men, and he said to him--what did he say? Stick to it? No! I hope you will stick to it, my friend? No! It will be a good thing for you if you stick to it? No! He said this--Where do you sleep to-night? Where I slept last night. And where is that? In the streets. No you wont; you have signed this pledge, and you belong to this society, and you are going home with me. (J. B. Gough.)
The value of help to seeking souls
Christian was left to tumble in the Slough of Despond alone; but still he endeavoured to struggle to that side of the slough which was furthest from his own house, and next to the wicket gate: the which he did, but could not get out by reason of the burden that was upon his back; but I beheld in my dream, that a man came to him whose name was Help. Then said he, Give me thine hand. So he gave him his hand, and he drew him out and set him upon sound ground, and bid him go on his way. (J. Bunyan.)
Take up thy bed and walk
The hospital of waiters visited by the gospel
It was the Sabbath day and a feast. Where and how would Jesus spend it? Not in any trifling manner. He would do good; so He spent it amongst the afflicted, and not even among His friends.
I. First we will go down to BETHESDA, the hospital of waiters. There was nothing else that they could do before the troubling of the waters. There are enough waiters to-day to fill all the five porches.
1. Some are waiting for a more convenient season--on a sick-bed, possibly, or a dying-bed. How many years have you been waiting? The wise man lives to-day.
2. In the second porch a crowd is waiting for dreams and visions like those with which some ancient prophet was favoured. What is this but insulting unbelief? Is not Christ to be believed until a sign or wonder corroborates his testimony?
3. The third is full of people who are waiting for a sort of compulsion, They have heard about the drawing of the Spirit of God. But He acts upon the will by enlightening the understanding. The gospel, which says Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ is His, and to reject that is to reject Him.
4. In the fourth are people who are waiting for a revival. But the gospel command is not suspended until revival comes: that says, To-day, if ye will hear His voice, and if a revival should come it is very unlikely to affect procrastinators.
5. Many are waiting in the porch of expected impression. They want the minister to preach a sermon that touches them. But he has done so, again and again, and yet they are waiting. The people in the narrative were waiting for the moving waters, and not for Jesus, and that is what you are doing; and I want to teach you better.
(1) They attach great importance to the place. So do you, but Jesus can save as readily in your place of business on Monday as in your chapel on Sunday. Get ye to Him and not to the Church.
(2) They waited for an influence that was intermittent, and you are thinking of special seasons, whereas Now is the accepted time.
(3) They were waiting for an influence that was very limited to certain persons, and so many regard salvation as a privilege of a few, the moral, the well circumstanced, etc. But in the gospel there is room for all.
6. Some like the poor man placed reliance on others, and many now rest on the prayers of others rather than on Christ Himself.
II. CHRIST PICKS OUT THE MOST HELPLESS MAN IN THE WHOLE WORLD. He was not only impotent in body, but in mind, for instead of saying yes at once, he went on with a rambling story; and when healed he never asked Christs name. There are people like that now, who scarcely know their own mind, irresolute, unstable. But Christ pities them as He did him.
III. HOW JESUS DEALT WITH HIM. If Christ had belonged to a certain class of ministers He would have said, Right, my man; you are lying at the pool of ordinances, and there you had better lie, or--You had better pray. But, on the contrary,
1. He gave him a command. But to rise was impossible. Never mind, there was the command. It was a command which implied faith, and which had to prove itself by practical works. The man did believe, and rose, etc. Now, if you believe in Jesus, you will rise up and walk immediately.
2. The way faith came was very remarkable. He did not know Jesus: but you do, and His atonement for sin.
3. His faith, proved by rising, settled the matter.
4. There is life in a look at the crucified One here and at once. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The third miracle in Johns Gospel--Christ giving power to the powerless
This third of the miracles recorded in Johns Gospel finds a place there, as it would appear, for two reasons--first, because it marks the beginning of the angry unbelief on the part of the Jewish rulers, the development of which it is one part of the purpose of this Gospel to trace; second, because it is the occasion for that great utterance of our Lords about His Sonship and His Divine working as the Father also works, which occupies the whole of the rest of the chapter, and is the foundation of much which follows in the Gospel. Christ comes to this impotent man, and says, Wilt thou be made whole? meaning thereby to say, I will heal thee if thou wilt. And there comes the weary answer, as if the man had said, Will I be made whole? What have I been lying here all these years for? I have nobody to put me into the pool. Yes! It is a hopeful prospect to hold out to a man whose disease is inability to walk, that if he will walk to the water he will get cured, and be able to walk afterwards. Why, he could not even roll himself into the pond, and so there he had lain, a type of the hopeless efforts at self-healing which we sick men put forth, a type of the tantalizing gospels which the world preaches to its subjects when it says to a paralyzed man, Walk that you may be healed; keep the commandments that you may enter into life. I fix upon these words, the actual words in which the cure was conveyed, as communicating to us some very important lessons and thoughts about Christ and our relation to Him.
I. CHRIST MANIFESTING HIMSELF AS THE GIVER OF POWER TO THE POWERLESS THAT TRUST HIM. His words may seem at first hearing to partake of the very same almost cruel irony as the condition of cure which had already proved hopelessly impracticable. He, too, says, Walk that you may be cured; and he says it to a paralyzed and impotent man. But the two things are very different, for before this cripple could attempt to drag his impotent limbs into an upright position, and take up the little light couch and sling it over his shoulders, he must have had some kind of trust in the person that told him to do so. A very ignorant trust, no doubt, it was; but all that was set before him about Jesus Christ he grasped and rested upon. He only knew Him as a Healer, and he trusted Him as such. So it is no spiritualizing of this story, or reading into it a deeper and more religious meaning than belongs to it, to say that what passed in that mans heart and mind before He caught up his little bed and walked away with it, was essentially the same action of mind and heart by which a sinful man, who knows that Christ is his Redeemer, grasps His Cross and trust his soul to Him. In the one case, as in the other, there is confidence in the person; only in the one case the person is only known as a Healer, and in the other the person is known as a Saviour. But the faith is the same whatever it apprehends. Christ comes and says to him, Rise! take up thy bed and walk. There is a movement of confidence in the mans heart; he tries to obey, and in the act of obedience the power comes to him. All Christs commandments are gifts. When He says to you, Do this! He pledges Himself to give you power to do it.
II.
We have in this miracle our lord set forth as the absolute master, because he is the healer.
The Pharisees and their friends had no eyes for the miracle; but if they found a man carrying his light couch on the Sabbath Day, that was a thing that excited their interest, and must be seen to immediately.
And so, paying no attention to the fact that it was a paralyzed man that was doing this, with the true, narrow instinct of the formalist, they lay hold only of the fact of the broken rabbinical restrictions, and try to stop him with it.
It is the Sabbath Day! It is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
And they got an answer which goes a great deal deeper than the speaker knew, and puts the whole subject of Christian obedience on its right footing.
He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk.
As if He had said, He gave me the power, had He not a right to tell me what to do with it? It was His gift that I could lift my bed; was I not bound to walk when and where He that had made me able to walk at all, chose to bid me? And if you generalize that it just comes to this: the only person that has a right to command you is the Christ that saves you.
He has the absolute authority to do as He will with your restored spiritual powers, because He has bestowed them all upon you.
His dominion is built upon His benefits.
He is the King because He is the Saviour.
It is joy to know and to do the will of One to Whom the whole heart turns with gratitude and affection. And Christ blesses and privileges us by the communication to us of his pleasure concerning us, that we may have the gladness of yielding to His desires, and so meeting the love which commands with the happy love which obeys.
III. WE HAVE HERE OUR LORD SETTING HIMSELF FORTH AS THE DIVINE SON, WHOSE WORKING NEEDS AND KNOWS NO REST. Father worketh hitherto, and I work. The rest, which the old story in Genesis attributed to the Creator after the Creation, was not to be construed as if it meant the rest of inactivity. But it was the rest of continuous action. Gods rest and Gods work are one. Throughout all the ages preservation is a continuous creation. The Divine energy is streaming out for evermore; as the bush that burns unconsumed, as the sun that flames undiminished for ever, pouring out from the depth of that Divine nature; and for ever sustaining a universe. So that there is no Sabbath, in the sense of a cessation from action, proper to the Divine nature; because all His action is repose, and een in His very motion there is rest. And this Divine coincidence of activity and of repose belongs to the Divine Son in His Divine human nature. With that arrogance which is the very audacity of blasphemy, if it be not the simplicity of a Divine consciousness, He puts His own work side by side with the Fathers work, as the same in principle, the same in method, the same in purpose, the same in its majestic coincidence of repose and of energy--My Father worketh hitherto, and I Work. Therefore for Me, as for Him, there is no need of a Sabbath of repose. Human activity is dissipated by toil, human energy is exhausted by expenditure. Man works and is weary; man works and is distracted. For the recovery of the serenity of his spirit, and for the renewal of his physical strength, repose of body, and gathering in of mind, such as the Sabbath brought, were needed; but neither is needed for Him who toils unwearied in the heavens; and neither is needed for the Divine nature of Him who labours in labours parallel with the Fathers here upon the earth.
IV. WE HAVE IN THIS INCIDENT THE HEALER, WHO IS ALSO THE JUDGE, WARNING THE HEALED OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF A RELAPSE (verse 14). The mans eight-and-thirty years of illness had apparently been brought on by dissipation. It was a sin of flesh, avenged in the flesh, that had given him that miserable life. One would have thought he had got warning enough, but we all know the old proverb about what happened when the devil was ill, and what befell his resolutions when he got better. And so Christ comes to him again with this solemn warning. There is a worse thing than eight-and-thirty years of paralysis. You fell once, and sore was your punishment.
If you fall twice, your punishment will be sorer. Why? Because the first one has done you no good. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The rising life
I. WHO ARE TO RISE.
1. The sinful.
2. The spiritually depressed.
3. Declining Christians, for
(1) Their prayers have got low,
(2) their Bible reading,
(3) their attendance at Church and Holy Communion.
(4) Their intercourse with their family and the world.
(5) Their charities and general usefulness.
II. ABOVE WHAT ARE THEY TO RISE?
1. Sin.
2. Self.
3. The world.
4. Their retrospects.
5. Their hopes.
6. Their sorrows.
III. TO WHAT are they to rise?
1. To Christ.
2. To duty.
3. To heaven. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
Reasons for rising
I. TO PROCLAIM THE CURE.
II. TO EXCITE ATTENTION.
III. TO PROTEST AGAINST SUPERSTITION.
IV. TO PROVE HIS DIVINITY.
1. As a Worker of miracles.
2. As Lord of the Sabbath.
V. TO TEST THE FAITH AND OBEDIENCE OF THE HEALED. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The bed
which the man was commanded to take up was neither a walnut bedstead, nor an iron bedstead, nor any other of the bed-structures to which we are accustomed in the West. The bed of a low-class Oriental may consist of anything from a rag to a rug. The poorer classes have often no other bed than the garment which they wear by day, which thus serves for a cloak by day and a bed by night. The bed which the infirm man was commanded to take up was, in all probability, simply the ordinary Oriental mat or rug, which could easily be rolled up and carried under the arm. (S. S. Times.)
Faith and works
Paul and James seem, to some, to take different views of faith and works. John here combines the views of the two inspired writers. It is faith that is demanded in this miracle; it is works that are called for. The man is to take up his bed and walk, as a proof that he believes that Jesus is able and ready to cure him. The reward is not of works as works, nor yet of faith without works, but of faith that is shown in works, and of works that arc a proof of faith. And thus it is in every call on us for faith or for works. Our works must be in evidence of our faith; our faith must be of the sort that shows itself in works. (H. C.Trumbull, D. D.)
The significance of the mans act
For thirty-eight years had his bed borne the sick man, now the healed man bears his bed of infirmity away: in like manner do converted sinners take the materials of their former conversation, and at the same time with joy and shame bear them as trophies of victory, but as reminders too; thus does the converted miser, for example, say to mammon, Formerly thou hadst me, but now I have thee; he takes his possessions and goes away ready to lay out all that he has to Gods honour and service. But the bed of sickness, when it is turned into the restored mans trophy of victory, should also preach of the healing work of God. (R. Besser, D. D.)
The same day was the Sabbath.
The Sabbath
I. ALL THE OLD TESTAMENT INSTITUTIONS HAD A SPECIAL FOUNDATION.
1. Those which have a foundation in the common necessities of man and the common relation of men to God. These were not peculiar to the Jews, but were incorporated into their system because they were men. To this class belong all moral precepts and the Sabbath.
2. Those which had respect to the peculiar circumstances of the Jews; such as distinction between clean and unclean meats, circumcision, etc. These bound the Jews as Jews and them only.
3. Those which were designed to be typical of the Messiah, His work and Kingdom. These were mostly incorporations of prior institutions with the Mosiac law.
II. THAT THE SABBATH BELONGS TO THE CLASS OF UNIVERSAL LAWS, binding all men and ages is evident.
1. Because it was instituted before the Law.
2. Because the ground of its observances was a general ground, one in which all nations were concerned.
3. Because it was predicted that it would be observed under the reign of the Messiah.
4. Because its observance has been, in fact, continued as a Divine injunction by the whole Christian Church.
5. It is incorporated in the decalogue.
III. REASONS FOR THE INSTITUTION.
1. Special.
(1) The reason why the seventh day was appointed was to commemorate the work of creation. This is the foundation of all religion, and it is of universal importance that it should be remembered.
(2) The special reason for the observance of the first day was the commemoration of the Resurrection, on which rested the truth of the gospel. If Christ rose then the gospel is true. If the world was created then there is a personal God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of the universe.
2. Reasons why one day in seven should be observed.
(1) The necessity of rest for man and beast, for mind and body.
(2) To afford time for public worship.
(a) This is essential for the preservation and diffusion of truth; without it the people would sink into ignorance.
(b) It is necessary as a means of conversion, as it is by the preaching of the gospel that men are saved.
(c) As a means of edification when attendance is not possible. A Sabbath-neglecting people are notoriously irreligious.
(d) As the only opportunity of rendering God that public worship which is the duty of every community as such, as well as of every individual.
(3) To arrest the tide of worldliness; to cause men to stop and remember that this world is not all nor greatest. Without this we should not be aware of our progress toward eternity.
IV. THE MODE OF OBSERVANCE IS DETERMINED BY THE OBJECT OF THE DAY.
1. It includes rest from all worldly avocations and amusements.
2. The cultivation of a religious spirit and the discharge of religious duties. The Pharisaic mode is one extreme, the latitudinarian is another. The latter is the tendency now. (C. Hodge, D. D.)
Sabbath work
Christ healed men on all sorts of days: but Sabbaths were high days of grace. Six special cases are recorded.
1. The evil spirit cast out (Luk_4:31-35).
2. The withered hand restored (Luk_6:6-10).
3. The crooked woman made straight Luk_13:10-17).
4. The man with the dropsy cured (Luk_14:1-6).
5. The impotent man made whole (text).
6. The blind mans eyes opened (Joh_9:1-14). As God rested on the Sabbath and hallowed it; so as God it was rest for Jesus to heal, and thus He hallowed the day. As Man also He rested His heart, exercised a holy ministry, glorified God, and hallowed the day.
I. THESE CURES MET MANY CASES.
1. Those under satanic influence. Many are in this case.
2. Those conscious of spiritual inability.
3. Those bowed down with great distress, despondency and despair. This poor woman had been infirm for eighteen years.
4. Those smitten with mortal disease, which typifies the deadly character of sin.
5. Those altogether paralyzed. This man was impotent for thirty-eight years.
6. Those in total darkness as to all spiritual truth.
II. THESE CURES REPRESENT USUAL PROCESSES.
1. A word addressed to the devil. Satan feels the power of the
Word of God, but cares for nothing else.
2. A word personal to the sufferer. He was unable, and yet he was commanded; and he obeyed. This is the gospel method.
3. A word accepted as done. Faith turns promise into fact, gospel-teaching into actual salvation.
4. Power without a word.
5. A word arousing and commanding. Many are saved by being stirred up from long inactivity and lethargy.
6. A word associated with other means. The whole miracle is deeply instructive on this point. In these varied forms and fashions, Jesus works on the Sabbath.
III. THESE CURES WERE BOTH IN AND OUT OF THE SYNAGOGUE.
1. There, and misbehaving.
2. There and singled out from the crowd.
3. There and called to Jesus.
4. After the synagogue service.
5. Too feeble to get there.
6. Too poor to be there.
IV. THESE CURES WERE ALL UNSOUGHT. This is one special feature about them all.
1. The possessed man entreated Christ to leave him alone.
2. The man with the withered hand did not think of cure.
3. The infirm woman did not hope for healing.
4. The man with the dropsy did not ask for the blessing.
5. The infirm man was too paralyzed to seek Christ.
6. It was an unheard-of thing that the eyes of a man born blind should be opened, and therefore he did not expect it.
This also is the Sabbath; let us look to the Lord of the Sabbath. Will He not this day bless those who are seekers? Will He not bless those whom we bring to Him? Will He not bless those for whom we pray? (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The arrest of a (so-called) Sabbath-breaker
I. AN ACCUSATION PREFERRED (Joh_5:10).
1. Certainly strange. Congratulation might have been expected towards the man and gratitude towards Jesus.
2. Seemingly just. The action violated Rabbinical prescription and the letter of Scripture. But an action may contravene the literal sense and yet be in accordance with the Spirit (Mat_12:4-5), and vice versa Mat_15:3-6).
3. Essentially false. Christ repudiated the ordinance which renders criminal a natural and necessary action.
II. AN EXPLANATION OFFERED (verse 11).
1. Transparently simple (Eph_4:25; Col_3:9; Mat_5:37; Jam_5:12).
2. Perfectly natural. To the unsophisticated mind it seemed obvious that One who could heal him should bid him take up his bed.
3. Wholly insufficient. The defence was an aggravation. He had obeyed a Sabbath-breaker. His physician was a greater sinner than himself. So men who from good motives at the outset begin to deviate from the laws of heaven by addition or subtraction, and by confounding moral distinctions, end by turning vice and virtue upside down (Mat_17:12).
III. A VINDICATION GIVEN (verse 17).
1. Startlingly bold. Based on three facts
(1) That the supreme Lawgiver ceased not from Sabbath activity.
(2) That He (Christ) stood towards that Supreme Sabbath Worker in the relation of Son.
(3) That He, as such, was co-worker with God in all that God did.
Hence, whatever He as Fathers Son did was that Fathers working itself.
2. Completely unanswerable. Hence they accused Him of blasphemy.
3. Fatally decisive. They resolved on His destruction.
Learn:
1. To sanctify the Sabbath by doing good to the bodies and souls of men.
2. To help Christs cause by telling what great things He hath done.
3. That people do not always know who their best benefactors are.
4. That those whom Christ has healed should be found in the sanctuary.
5. That the best prophylactic against physical disease is to fear God, and keep His commandments.
6. That Christ is perfectly able to vindicate His ways. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
He that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk.--The principle here is grand and far reaching, it applies to the whole life. He that saves has the right to command.
I. SALVATION, HEALING OF SOUL, IS THE FOUNDATION AND STARTING POINT OF THE TRUE CHRISTIAN LIFE. We must be before we can do.
II. WHY DO I LIVE AS A CHRISTIAN?
1. Is it because it is safe, or prudent, because the evidence seems predominantly in favour of Christianity, because others are Christians? There may be something in these motives, but
2. No Christianity can live and flourish which is not more deeply rooted.
3. What, then, is the root?? Gratitude, not fear, custom, or calculation. This animated the apostles--We love Him because He first loved us; the glorified Unto Him that loved us, etc.
4. This motive of gratitude is the deepest, strongest, most constraining and abiding. If this ever dies Christianity dies with it.
III. CHRISTS RIGHT TO RULE IS GROUNDED ON HIS SALVATION. He gives the life; surely, then, it is His to control and direct. He cannot have saved us that we may do as we like with ourselves. That is just what we did before we were saved. When we are saved, we are saved from our self-will. The man took up his bed and walked because he had been made whole, and that he might show that he was made whole. It was both obedience and evidence, and there is no Christian life that is not the same.
IV. HOW DOES OUR LIFE BEAR THIS TEST, that He who is the healer of the soul is also the authority for our life. We are challenged again and again as this man was challenged. The men of custom meet us as they met Him.
1. It is well not wantonly to defy a practice which is not foolish or mischievous. Many established practices should be respected because they exist and do no harm, and render intercourse possible and pleasant. Many of them Christ respected.
2. But the customs which seek to govern us with all the authority of a Divine claim when they have no such claim, eating with unwashed hands, etc., should be resisted as He resisted them. They make men slaves, turn religion into a torture, and quench the light of the sabbath. We are under the law to Christ.
V. It is a glorious thing to remember that WHAT CHRIST COMMANDS IS RIGHT, whether we understand His reasons or not. We must grow into the knowledge of them little by little.
VI. WHATEVER CHRIST COMMANDS HE GIVES US POWER TO DO. He never separates duty from power. My grace is sufficient. (E. Mellor, D. D.)
The work of grace the warrant for obedience
I. A JUSTIFICATION. This poor man could not defend his action, for his enemies were learned in the law and he was not, but he did what you and I must always do when we are at all puzzled--he hid himself behind Christ and pleaded; He that made me whole, etc. I may not find in my own knowledge and ability an authority equal to that of learned unbelievers, but my personal experience of the power of grace will stand me in as good a stead as this mans cure was to him. He argued that the cure made the healer an authority above that of the greatest rabbi.
1. There are certain ordinances about which the world raises a storm of questions. The world does not take notice that a man who was once a drunkard has become sober, etc. It lets that miracle pass by unheeded; but he is going to be baptized and they at once object to the ordinance, or he is going to join the church and straightway they jeer at him as a Presbyterian or a Methodist. Blind creatures to despise the medicine which heals because of the bottle or the label! We seek no justification but this--He that made us whole gave us the command. The same with the Lords supper.
2. The same apology applies to the doctrines of the gospel. Justification by faith is quarrelled with. They will lead loose lives; they will sin that grace may abound. A complete answer to the calumny may be found in the fact that believers in justification are among the best and purest; but we prefer to remind our adversaries that He who has regenerated us has taught us that Whosoever believeth in Him shall be saved, etc., that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
3. The same applies to Christs precepts. If the Christian is true to his colours he keeps himself aloof from the sinful pleasures, practices, and policies of the world, consequently he is told that he is precise, singular, and self-opinioned. The text is the answer for all Christians.
II. AN OBLIGATION.
1. The argument takes this form: If He made me whole He is Divine, or at least must be divinely authorized, and I am therefore bound to obey. Jesus, who has saved us, is our God--shall we not obey Him?
2. There was also goodness as well as power, and this touched the poor mans heart--I must do what my great Deliverer bids me.
3. If you have been saved you are under an obligation to do what Jesus bids you.
(1) Are you redeemed? Then henceforth ye are not your own.
(2) Are you forgiven? Does not pardon demand amendment? Whatsoever He saith unto you do it. Pray, love your brethren; be perfect.
III. A CONSTANT. It was not an ordinary word, but one with power. Not unwillingly did the restored man carry his bed, yet he did it of constraint, for the same power made him obedient. Do you feel reluctant in duty? Surely you need to draw near to the Lord again and hear His voice anew. The love of Christ constraineth us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Willing obedience
We do not want to destroy willinghood, but we would have it quickened into entire subservience to the will of the Lord. Like Noahs ark on dry land, the will keeps its place by its own dead weight. Oh! for a flood of grace to move, to lift, to upbeat it; to carry it away by a mighty current! We would be borne before the love of Christ as a tiny piece of wood is drifted by the gulf-stream, or as one of the specks which dance in the sunbeam would be carried by a rushing wind. As the impulse, which begins with Jesus, found the poor man passive because utterly unable to be otherwise, and then impelled him on to active movements as with a rush of power, so may it ever be with us throughout life. May we for ever yield to the Divine impulse. To be passive in the Lords hands is a good desire, but to be what I would call actively passive, to be cheerfully submissive, willingly to give up our will, this is a higher spiritual mood. We must live, and yet not we, but Christ in us. We must act, and yet we must say, He that made me whole bade me do this holy deed, and I do it because His power moves me thereunto. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
The highest authority must be obeyed
In Michelets Joan of Arc it is related that the two authorities, the paternal and the celestial, enjoined her two opposite commands. The one ordered her to remain obscure, modest and labouring; the other, to set out and save the kingdom. The angel bade her arm herself. Her father, rough and honest peasant as he was, swore that rather than his daughter should go away with men-at-arms he would drown her with his own hands. One or other disobey she must. Beyond a doubt this was the greatest battle she was called upon to fight; those against the English were play in comparison.
What man is that which said unto thee
Tendencies of society
I. TO STIR UP AND STRENGTHEN THE IMPULSES OF OUR ANIMAL NATURE.
II. TO PRODUCE HABITS OF SUPERFICIAL THOUGHT.
III. TO DESTROY THE SENSE OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY.
IV. TO PROMOTE FORGETFULNESS OF GOD. (H. W. Van Doren, D. D.)
Winter worship
1. If the first power of Christianity was embodied in miracle it was miracle distinctly expressive of its spirit. The gift of tongues and of healing represent the two grand functions of our religion to bear persuasion to the minds and bring mercy to the physical ills of men. When the men of Galilee stood forth to preach the first glad tidings to that multitude of many tongues, what better symbol could there be of that religion whose spirit is intelligible to all because it addresses itself to the universal human heart? And when the crowd of weary sufferers thronged the apostles steps, how better could be represented the character of that faith which has lessened age after age the stripes wherewith humanity is stricken. In the spirit of these acts of Providence we may participate.
2. But nothing could be more unostentatious than the diffusion of Christs mercy by the missionaries in the days of old. We feel an idle pride in Pauls conspicuous adventures; but watch him even in Rome. He was not one to pass through its scenes of magnificence with stupid indifference. But his noblest dignity was not that he paced the forum, but that he lingered in the dens of wretchedness, and shed on the darkest lot a light of hope. And the true dignity of our religion is that it has gone about doing good, and so silently that he that was healed wist not who it was.
3. It can never be unreasonable for those who bear Christs name to imitate His Spirit, but winter brings with it a peculiar call to mercy, for, however constant the visitations of sickness and bereavement, the fall of the year is most thickly strewn with the fall of human life. How shall we render the fitting service of the season?
I. By thinking Of human ills in the SPIRIT OF RELIGION; regarding them in their relation to the Great Will, and recognizing their position in a system of universal Providence, and being moved by them to reverence and trust.
II. In the SPIRIT OF SELF-APPLICATION. This is difficult, and it is asked, Why should it be otherwise? Why forestall the inevitable day? I grant that to think of death in an abject and melancholy spirit is no act of wisdom or duty. Futurity is not to mar but to mend our duty. But it is a fact, and the sense of it breaks up the superficial crust of life and stirs the deeper affections.
III. In the SPIRIT OF HUMANITY. It were selfish to gather round our firesides without a thought or deed of pity for the poor sufferers outside. Oh, could we but see the dead gripe of misery, the only difficulty would be, not to stimulate our generosity, but to persuade it to work wisely.
1. This is indeed a difficulty how to relieve the want and raise the man; how to combine the deed of condescension with the helpful recognition and inspiration of human brotherhood.
2. Another difficulty; we form our good intentions too late. We rarely better ourselves till evils get well ahead, and by no effort can we well be overtaken. We permit a generation to grow up neglected, and then consider how it is to be reclaimed.
3. But, taking facts as they are, you cannot mechanize benevolence, nor put Christian love into an Act of Parliament or a subscription list. However necessary may be the remedial action of laws and institutions, the ties between man and man can be drawn closer, and common ills remedied only by personal agency. (J. Martineau, D. D.)
The malignity of the questioners
reveals itself in the very shape which their question assumes. They do not take up the mans words on their more favourable side, which also would have been the more natural: nor ask, What man is that which made thee whole? But probably, themselves at least, guessing who his Healer was, they insinuate that He could not be from God, who gave a command which they, the interpreters of Gods law, esteemed so grievous an outrage against it. So will they weaken and undermine any influence which Christ must have obtained over this simple man--an influence already manifest in his finding our Lords authority sufficient to justify him in the transgression of their commandment. (Abp. Trench.)
Jesus had conveyed Himself away.--There is something beautifully significant in this word as here applied to Christ. He emerged, glided, dived forth invisibly from the waves of the crowd, and re- appeared in the quiet harbour of the house of God. Our Lord has now withdrawn His bodily presence from the crowd of this world in order that we may see Him with the eye of faith. He has dived through the clouds of this lower world of sin and sorrow, and has emerged into the pure, crystal, empyrian of heaven. (Bp. Wordsworth.)
A metaphor from swimming; the multitude like water closing behind Him. We have no word in our poor tongue to express the retiring of Deity Pro_25:2). The secret descent of the nightly dew, and the noiseless movement of the mighty orbs of heaven illustrate this. No one hears the sunlight, or the operation of those laws that bind atoms and worlds. (H. W. Van Doren, D. D.)
Thou art made whole: Sin no more lest a worse thing come unto thee
Sin and Judgment
I. WE HAVE ALL SINNED.
1. What is sin?
(1) Its Scriptural appellations. Injustice (Heb_8:12; Jer_31:34). Error (Heb_8:12; Jer_31:34; Jdg_20:16). Unlawfulness (Heb_8:12; Exo_34:7).
(2) Its nature (1Jn_3:4).
(a) Contrarity to Gods law, either habitual or actual.
(b) Provocation of His anger (Psa_95:8; Psa_95:10; Psa_106:29; Psa_106:32).
(c) A separation from God (Isa_59:2).
(d) A loss of innocency or righteousness.
(e) A staining or defiling of the soul (Tit_1:15).
(f) Guilt or obligation to the penalty denounced (Gal_3:10). Hence all sins are called debts (Mat_6:12).
2. How does it appear that all have sinned?
(1) From Scripture (1Ki_8:46; Ecc_7:20; 1Jn_1:8).
(2) From reason, because all descend from Adam (Ro 1Co_15:22; Psa_51:5; Eph_2:3).
(3) From experience.
3. Uses. Hence we may learn
(1) The sad effects of the first sin (Rom_5:19).
(2) That we have no reason to complain of any of Gods judgments Lam_3:39).
(3) That no salvation can be expected from ourselves (Gal_2:10; Gal_3:10).
(4) That it highly concerns us to search our own hearts, and view our lives, and find out our sins, and to condemn ourselves for them.
II. SIN IS THE CAUSE OF GODS JUDGMENTS
1. What are judgments? Toe effects of Gods anger.
2. How are sins the cause of Gods judgments (Ezr_9:13; Job_11:6; Psa_107:17; Lam_1:5-8; Lam_5:10).
3. How does it appear that sins are thus the cause of judgments?
(1) Sin brought misery in general upon mankind at first (Gen_3:16-19); for man at first was made as upright, so happy (Gen_1:26; Ecc_7:29); yet he was mutable. Hence God, to awe him to obedience, threatened death if he sinned (Gen_2:17). But man, notwithstanding this, sinned, and God therefore could not but in justice inflict the punishment (Gen_18:25). Hence all mankind became liable to all the judgments of God.
(2) Sin is the cause also of particular judgments; as appears
(a) From Scripture (Psa_107:17; Ezr_9:13, etc.).
(b) From reason for all judgments came from an offended God Lam_1:12), and nothing offends God but sin.
(c) From experience: the old world, Sodom, etc.
4. Uses.
(1) Therefore, in time of adversity, consider (Ecc_7:14) our sinfulness, Gods sovereignty and power (Isa_45:7; Amo_3:6), and the danger of incurring His displeasure.
(2) Rend your hearts and turn to the Lord (Joe_2:12-13).
III. HOW ARE WE TO BEHAVE WHEN DELIVERED FROM ANY JUDGMENT?
1. Resort to public ordinances
(1) To make public confession of our sins in offending God (2Ch_7:13-14), and of Gods justice in afflicting us (Psa_51:4).
(2) Make public acknowledgment of our thankfulness to God for His power and mercy (Lam_3:2).
(3) Make our public prayers to God
(a) For the pardon of those sins whereby we have deserved His judgments.
(b) For a blessing upon His judgments.
(c) For grace to live like those who have been under the rod.
2. It must be our greatest study and endeavour to sin no more.
(1) How sin no more. Not with love to sin, nor delight in it (Psa_119:113; Rom_7:22), nor with allowance of it; but do our utmost to avoid commission of it.
(2) What must we do to keep ourselves from sin. Search the Scriptures; frequent ordinances (Rom_10:17); avoid occasion of sin, such as vain thoughts, idle words, loose company, etc.
IV. GOD HAS YET WORSE judgments in store for us if we still go on sinning Lev_26:15-16).
1. Temporal, and these
(1) National--a worse plague (Num_16:49; 2Sa_24:15); a worse fire (Gen_19:24); a worse sword, civil war or invasion (Lev_26:37; Lam_1:1-3); a worse famine (2Ki_6:25).
(2) Or personal, for He can curse our remaining blessings Mal_2:2), or deprive us of them, or send a disease upon us Act_12:23).
2. Spiritual.
(1) He can remove His ordinances (Rev_2:5).
(2) Withdraw His blessings (Mat_21:43).
(3) Blind our eyes (Isa_6:9-10).
(4) Suffer us to be led into heresies (2Th_2:11).
(5) Withhold His restraining grace (Rom_1:24-27).
(6) Let us alone in our sins without control (Hos_4:17; Isa_1:5).
(7) Harden our hearts (Exo_4:21; 2Ki_6:33).
(8) Startle and affright our conscience into despair.
3. Eternal (Mat_25:41). (Bp. Beveridge.)
Sin and suffering
This is the parting advice of a physician. It is not ordinary medical advice. It utters no warning against the night air, exposure to infection, irregular habits, or indigestible food. Let us inquire into
I. THE PRINCIPLE ON WHICH THIS WARNING IS FOUNDED. This; that we are under the moral government of God.
1. Evils are divinely inflicted on men on account of sin. God is holy, which means that He hates sin and seeks to destroy it; that He is good, and delights in the happiness of His subjects; that He is wise, and contemplates the highest ends, and selects the most effectual method to carry them into effect. But there are no purposes higher than those of perfect holiness and infinite love, and there are no means more effectual than to link sin with suffering, and purity with happiness.
2. When one stroke of Gods hand is not followed by the end desired, He may inflict a heavier; just as human governments have graduated punishments. God is in no want of resources. All the agencies of nature are at His command, and if His first stroke has been too light, the second will be heavier; and if gentleness has failed, severity will be tried.
II. ITS PRACTICAL BEARING ON OURSELVES. What his sin was we are not informed; but possibly it was just what many of you young people are guilty of every day, a general godlessness of heart and life. And so the stroke came as much as to say, If that is the use you are going to make of your powers, it is well that they should be for a while taken from you. In long weary years he learnt the lesson, and the gifts of God were restored. So some of you have been blessed by a curse; take care that you are not cursed by means of a blessing.
1. It is a shame if we should need a worse thing to come upon us.
(1) In the course of our affliction we were made to feel the connection of our suffering with our sin. Then is it not shameful that, having been taught this once, we should need to learn it again in still deeper sorrow?
(2) Our souls have also been touched by the lovingkindness of God--then ought not the current of our grateful impulses to carry us in a course of duty?
2. Are we prepared for this worse thing? God has given His people a succession of calamities as an example of what He can do in this way-- Amo_4:1-13., Pharaoh, etc.
3. There is not only a worse, but a worst thing impending over the impenitent sinner--the final loss of the soul. (Prof. Charlton.)
The pardon of sin
Pardon is an essential stage in the subjugation of sin.
1. There are those who place it last, but this is counter to Rom_7:1-25. where forgiveness is assumed, and yet the conflict is maintained.
2. Others, again, make pardon to cover all future delinquencies, which contradicts St. John (1Jn_1:1-10.). But pardon goes a great way to the conquest of sin.
I. THE CONDEMNATION OF SIN CANNOT GO WITHOUT SOMETHING OF THE SIN GOING TOO. The Lamb of God taketh away not the punishment, but the sin of the world. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin, actual sin. What would it avail us that results were taken away while the first cause remained in its strength?
II. THE MAN WHO HAS TASTED OF GODS FORGIVENESS IS IN WHICH BETTER CONDITION TO OVERCOME THE CORRUPTIONS OF HIS OWN HEART. His weakness is linked on to Gods omnipotence.
III. A SPRING OF ACTION IS SET AT WORK IN THE HEART WITH WHICH NOTHING ELSE CAN COMPARE. The love of Christ. We can all see what a difference it is to fight in the light of a smile or to fight in the darkness of a frown. The Saviours method with the impotent man was analogous; pardon was a part of expulsion; and having forgiven him, connected his first calamity with his sin, and his future happiness with his future goodness. This gave him a reason, a capacity for good. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
In the temple
Not in the market; and there Jesus met him who had not known Him in the crowd. Jesus escapes from the crowd, but He finds us and is found by us in the temple. God is seen in solitude; the multitude makes a din around us and hides Him from us. The Divine vision demands religious retirement and holy peace in His house, apart from the strife of tongues. (Bp. Wordsworth.)
Retribution
A worse thing even in this life might befall him. His sickness had found him a youth, and left him an old man; it had withered up all his manhood, and yet a worse thing than this is threatened him, should he sin again. Let no man, however miserable, count that he has exhausted the power of Gods wrath. The arrows that have pierced him may have been keen; but there are keener yet, if only he provoke them, in the quiver from whence these were drawn. What the past sin was we do not know, but the man knew, and Christ connected the mans suffering with his sin. As some eagle, pierced with a shaft feathered from its own wing, so many a sufferer, even in this present time, sees, and is compelled to acknowledge, that his own sin fledged the arrow which has pierced him and brought him down. And lest he should miss the connection, oftentimes he is punished, it may be is sinned against by his fellow man in the very kind wherein he has sinned against others (Jdg_1:6-7; Ge Exo_35:6; Exo_35:15; Jer_51:49; Hab_2:8; Rev_16:6). The deceiver is deceived as was Jacob (Gen_27:19; Gen_27:24; Gen_29:23; Gen_31:7; Gen_37:32): the violater of the sanctities of family life is himself wounded and outraged in his nearest and tenderest relations as was 2Sa_11:4; 2Sa_13:14; 2Sa_16:22); the troubler is troubled Jos_7:25). He has no choice but to say, like Edmund in King Lear, The wheel has come full circle, I am here. And many a sinner who cannot thus read his own doom, for it is a final and fatal one, yet declares in that doom to others that there is indeed a coming back upon men of their sins. The grandson of Ahab is himself treacherously slain in the portion of Naboth (2Ki_9:23); William Rufus perishes, himself the third of his family who does so, in the New Forest, a chief scene of the sacrilege and the crimes of his race. (Abp. Trench.)
Apostasy dangerous
A person who suspected that a minister of his acquaintance was not truly orthodox went to him and said, Sir, I am told that you are against the perseverance of the saints. Not I, indeed, answered he; it is the perseverance of sinners that I oppose. The other replied, But that is not a satisfactory answer. Do you think that a child of God cannot fall very low, and yet be restored? The minister answered, I think it will be very dangerous to make the experiment. (E. Foster.)
Penalty of apostasy
Richard Denton, an English blacksmith, who apostatized to avoid martyrdom, perished, shortly after, in the flames of his own dwelling. (E. Foster.)
A warning to the restored
We are not told what the effect was of this warning; whether it restrained the man, as it was intended to do, to a moderate enjoyment of his restored health. But, for the sake of illustration, let us suppose that he did not profit by Christs warning, but that he made the most, as it would be called, of his newly acquired health and strength; that he let himself loose in the enjoyment of everything that came within his reach; that he gave free play to the long pent-up desires of his youth, just like one who has unexpectedly come into the possession of a large fortune which he sees no bounds to, and accordingly determines to enjoy to the uttermost, so that he comes again to the old disease. And now let us compare his second illness with his first. As far as his mere bodily state is concerned, we may imagine him to be in much the same condition as when he lay by the side of the pool of Bethesda, waiting for the stirring of the waters. But what must be the state of his feelings now in this second stage of his infirmity, compared with what they were before? What a use to have made of Jesus Christs great kindness to him and of His words of warning; what an end to bring himself to after having thus come close to his Deliverer; how bitterly would he repent of ever having been healed; how he would wish with all his heart that he had gone through life the impotent cripple that he was when Jesus Christ first met with him! I may seem to be putting an unlikely case, but, indeed, it is a far too common one. Some of us have had occasion to thank God for a recovery from a bad accident or dangerous illness; after weeks, or perhaps months of pain or weakness, we have, by Gods blessing, got quite strong and well again, and have gone about our old occupations and amusements as before; we have felt an increased delight in everything, from the very fact of having been for a time deprived of it all. Well, then, on every such occasion Jesus Christ meets us with the same warning which He addressed to this man, Behold,. thou are made whole; sin no more, lest, etc. He has given you your health again, or rather, He has lent it to you again, on certain conditions. And the chief of these is, that you should make a better use of your powers than you did before, that you should spend them more freely and heartily in His service. He sent you your sickness because He saw you making a bad use of your health; He sends you health again, that you may have an opportunity of showing that you have learned the lesson which your sickness was sent to teach you. But if you go on after your recovery just as you did before, if you still go on living to yourself and to your sins, and not to God, then you must expect this worse thing to come to you, of which your Saviour has warned you. And it will be well for you if God, in His mercy, sends you a still severer sickness, or still heavier misfortune, to force you away from your sinful enjoyment of this life, and to make you at least, give the days of your sickness to God, since you will not give Him the days of your health. But there is a worse thing still in store for us, if we neglect to hear Jesus Christ when He calls us. We may go through life with all our powers of body and mind in their full strength; we may enjoy all that this world has to give us, down to the very dregs; we may go down at last to the grave with no sign of the fulfilment of Christs warning; and then it is reserved for the warning to fulfil itself in all its awfulness in another world than this. Oh, may none of us have to wait for this worst thing of all to happen to us; let us beseech God to visit us with every kind of suffering here, rather than leave us to bear the accumulated weight of our sins in eternity. (H. Harris, B. D.)
Christian fear of relapse into sin
Consider, first, what awful notions our Saviour would here impress on us concerning the future end and sure punishment of sin. A worse thing--worse, that is, than a palsy of thirty and eight years: worse than lying, helpless and weary, day after day in sight of relief, and seeing one after another step down into the pool and be made whole, while he was himself unable to stir, and had no friend to lift him: yet, says Christ, if you fall again into wilful sin, you are to expect worse than this. Here, then, you at once discern one most merciful purpose of Almighty God, in sending upon men pain and calamity. It may serve effectually, as a kind of sample, to teach them, feelingly as it were, somewhat of the wrath and justice of God. It may serve to awaken a wholesome fear of falling into His hands without a Mediator to speak for them. And happy indeed will that man prove, whose severe bodily pains shall have taught him in time to recollect and fear the torments of hell. But where things unhappily turn out otherwise; where the caution of our Lord is slighted, and the evil habit, suspended only by the affliction, returns and grows over the man anew; or he falls into fresh transgressions; that mans case is worse in many respects than if he had never been visited at all.
1. First, his wickedness is greatly aggravated by his ingratitude for Gods especial mercies. The goodness of God, says an Apostle, leadeth to repentance; i.e., the very purpose of the Almighty Father in sparing such disobedient children, was to melt them as it were by His mercy, and make them feel pained and ashamed at the thought of displeasing Him any longer.
2. Again, as such a case is very bad in itself, so it has the worst possible effect. It sears and deadens the heart and conscience, rendering it more and more difficult for any good advice, either of God or man, to find its way into our thoughts. If you reflect on such a relapse at all, you must own it to be mere wickedness of heart, settled ingratitude to your best friend; and that is a thought so painful, that impenitent souls, in order to avoid it, shrink from serious reflection altogether. Thus every day their bad habits strengthen, while their chance of repenting grows less and less.
3. Observe by what steps and degrees that wretched decay comes on, which makes the redeemed of the Son of God first unthankful and then, unholy; and do you, by the blessing of God, resolve to set yourself against every one of them. Thus, there can be no doubt that the first step in most mens corruption and degeneracy is their wilful neglect of private prayer; of reading and meditating on holy things. Again: it is a perilous step towards relapsing, when a man finds himself content to stand still, sad taking no pains to get forward. There are some hills so steep, that he who would climb them must keep urging himself upwards, else he is sure to fall back: he cannot stop and breathe where he will. (Plain Sermons by Contributors to Tracts for the Times. )
The man departed and told the Jews
Confession of Christ
I. ITS NATURE. Told. Some think a healed life a sufficient testimony. So it is when the author of the healing is known, but not otherwise. When a man is cured of a dangerous disease his health is a testimony to some ones medical skill; but whos? The restored patient must tell to bear testimony to the physician. So the life of a renovated Christian is a witness to some power. But who has exercised the power? Himself: by thought and resolution? His friends: by advice and influence? No, Jesus Himself. Then let the renovated Christian say so.
II. Its SUBSTANCE. That it was Jesus which had made him whole.
1. It avoids controversial matters. The man declined to say anything about taking up his bed; probably he could not discuss the Sabbath question; anyhow it was irrelevant. Let the confessor of Christ not be tempted into disputes.
2. It keeps to the point.
(1) The person of Jesus.
(2) The work of Jesus--personal, miraculous, complete.
III. Its BASIS.
1. Experience. As in the case of conversion it was not a fancy, but a felt fact. He knew that he was made whole by the use of his limbs. The Christian knows that he has been made whole by the employment of his regenerated powers.
2. Revelation (verse 14). It was not a speculation, but a statement grounded on Christs information. So the Holy Spirit of Christ bears witness with our spirits.
IV. Its INSPIRATION.
1. Certainly not a desire to injure Jesus by revealing Him to His enemies. Such a thought could hardly have entered the mans mind.
2. But gratitude desiring to make widely known the source by which he was healed. What is ours? Personal display or self-abnegating thankfulness?
V. Its OBJECTS. The Jews. Probably the Sanhedrim, for so the expression seems to mean in John (cf. Joh_1:19; Joh_7:1; Joh_9:22; Joh_18:12; Joh_18:14)
.
1. Whoever asks for it. The Jews challenged it, and the man took up the challenge. Be always ready to give an answer for the hope that is in you to every man.
2. The most influential. The Sanhedrims acknowledgment of Jesus would have carried the nation. How helpful to his Master the Christian in high places, in the court or parliament. Let him not hide his light under a bushel.
VI. Its CHARACTERISTICS.
1. Courage. The poor man bore his testimony before the rich, powerful, learned. God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
2. Self-abnegation. It was to Jesus alone, not to his co-operation with Jesus, Made him whole, not by whom he walked.
3. Beneficent. By this means the sick might know the healer.
VII. Its EFFECTS.
1. Unstudied by the man. How it would be received he knew not. The Christian is to do his duty regardless of consequences, Whether they will bear or forbear.
2. Apparently disastrous. The Jews sought to slay Jesus. Let the man who fears to bear witness before infidels and scoffers remember this. Augmented antagonism must not discourage duty.
3. Eventually glorious: This was the first act in the drama of redemption. The Jews slew Jesus, but by that He became the Saviour of the world. The preaching of Christ in the early centuries and more recently, e.g., in Madagascar, led to terrible persecution, but eventually to the triumph of the gospel. (J. W. Burn.)
Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus.
The fickleness of popularity
On the 25th of July, 1553, Northumberland and Lord Ambrose Dudley were brought in from Cambridge, escorted by Grey and Arundel with four hundred of the Guards. Detachments of troops were posted all along the streets from Bishopsgate, where the Duke would enter, to the Tower to prevent the mob from tearing him to pieces. It was but twelve days since he had ridden out from that gate in the splendour of his power; he was now assailed from all sides with yells and execrations, bareheaded, with cap in hand, he bowed to the crowd as he rode on, as if to win some compassion from them; but so recent a humility could find no favour. His scarlet cloak was plucked from his back; the only sounds which greeted his ears were, Death to the traitor, and he hid his face, sick at heart, and Lord Ambrose burst into tears. (J. A. Froude.)
My Father worketh hitherto and I work.
The best workers
God the Father and God the Son are the best workers, because they work.
I. SO EXTENSIVELY. To do anything extensively is to do it on a large scale. If you had a flower-garden which covered twenty acres of ground, that would be an extensive garden. If you were a carpenter, or a printer, and giving work to four or five hundred men, then you would, be carrying on that business extensively. If I could preach in all the churches of this city at the same time, then I should be preaching extensively. But I can only preach in one place at a time. And so it is with a carpenter, or a mason, or any other human worker. But it is very different with these heavenly workers. They can work in all places at the same time--in heaven, directing the angels and making them happy; in this world; in this church; in all our homes; on the sea as well as on the land; upon the sky.
II. SO QUIETLY. It is very pleasant to have things done quietly, but it is very hard for some to do anything in this way. Many children get into a noisy habit of doing things. They are like alarm-clocks, going off all the time. But God works very differently, e.g.
1. When the sun rises, it is to give light to thousands and millions of people, and yet how softly, how quietly it rises! Nobody ever heard it. We make more noise in lighting a match.
2. The dew is falling on the grass, the flowers, and trees. Their growth and beauty all depend upon the dew. But no noise attends the falling.
3. The farmer has sowed his wheat; the rains have moistened it; the sun has warmed it. It is just beginning to grow. There are millions of grains all bursting. But did any one ever hear them growing? This is the way in which these heavenly workers carry on most of their works.
III. SO POWERFULLY. All things are possible with God. Look at some of the servants they employ. Who can resist them? There is the wind, e.g.; the sea; the earthquake; the angels (Isa_37:36).
IV. SO CAREFULLY. When God had finished the work of creating the world, He said it was very good. When Jesus was on earth, the people who saw Him working so many miracles, cried out in astonishment, He hath done all things well! And what was true of the miracles, is true of everything else that He does. Everything which He does is done in the very best way. The works of man were not half as good in old times as they are now. But it is very different with the works of God. The sunshine which the people in old times used to have, was just as good as what we have now. And so it was with the air, and the rain, and the dew. So it was with the seasons, etc. God is just as careful about the least things He has made as He is about the greatest.
V. SO WISELY. Gods wisdom is illustrated in
1. Our bodies. Suppose our hands had been put where the feet are, of what use would either of them have been to us? And suppose the eyes put at the back of the head, and the nose on one side of it, how awkward and inconvenient it would have been!
2. In the colour of the sky and the fields. Suppose the sky had been made white instead of blue, and the fields scarlet instead of green, how trying it would have been to the eye!
3. In the way in which the sun rises and sets. It is done very gradually.
4. In the way in which he provides for the preservation and protection of different animals. (R. Newton, D. D.)
The Divine workers
He rested on the seventh day from the works of creation. Yet He is still working continually and doing good every day.
I. He PRESERVETH all things
1. That He does so appears
(1) From Scripture (Neh_9:6; Heb_1:3; Act_17:25-28).
(2) From reason.
(a) He is the first cause of all things, now as well as at the first, and, therefore, all other causes and things must needs depend on Him.
(b) As great power is required for preservation as for creation. No finite power can preserve all things for itself, being but a creature needs preservation. An independent creature is a contradiction.
(c) Hence should not God support us we should fall down to nothing (Job_6:1-30.).
2. How doth God preserve all things. Either
(1) Immediately from Himself; as the angels, sun and fixed stars Rev_4:11).
(2) Mediately, as all other creatures in heaven and earth, by secondary causes, who with Himself concur; by
(a) Propagation whereby all creatures, even of the shortest continuance, successively are preserved to the end of the world (Gen_7:3; Psa_36:6).
(b) Continuation and maintaining of individuals in giving them food Psa_104:27-30; Psa_145:15-16; Psa_147:8-9; Mat_6:26); giving a blessing to it (Mat_4:4; Deu_8:3-4; Dan_1:12-15). Inspection of
I. All things--the stars (Psa_147:4); the number of the sands and weight of mountains (Isa_11:12); the hairs of the head (Mt Act_27:34).
II. Of everything that is done by mankind (Psa_14:2; Psa_33:13-15), particularly of thoughts (Gen_6:5; Jer_4:14; Psa_139:2); hearts and affections (Pro_24:12; Pro_21:2; Eze_33:31; Joh_5:42); words (Psa_139:4; Mat_12:36); actions Rev_2:2-9); sins (Psa_56:8; Rev_2:14); repentance (Psa_16:8; Jer_8:6); good works (Ge Mat_25:34).
III. He RULES AND GOVERNS all things so that there is nothing falls out without His will effecting or permitting it.
1. Not only the greatest and noblest parts of creation, but the least
(1) The ravens, etc. (Psa_147:9; Mat_10:29-30):
(2) The oxen (1Co_9:9; Deu_25:4) much more of His ministers.
2. All natural things
(1) Sunrise and sunset (Mat_5:45);
(2) Grass (Psa_147:8; Psa_155:13-15);
(3) The elements (Psa_147:16-17; Jer_10:13; Job_37:10-12);
(4) Fruitfulness (Deu_11:12);
(5) The senses (Exo_4:11);
(6) Family increase (Gen_30:2; Deu_10:22).
3. All such things as are contingent and accidental. So Achan (Jos_7:16-18); Jonathan (1Sa_14:41-42), etc.; Hophni and Phineas 1Sa_4:11; 1Sa_2:25); the bow drawn at a venture (1Ki_22:34, cf. verses 17, 28).
4. All things that are done by the free will of men which is inclined by God Pro_21:1; Psa_119:36; 1Ki_8:58; Act_16:14; 2Sa_17:14).
5. Use
(1) Acknowledge God in everything (Jam_4:13-14; Pro_3:6).
(2) Pray to Him for all true grace and virtue and depend on Him alone for it.
6. Question: If God thus governs the world how comes it to pass that there is so much sin in it.
(1) God could so have ordered it that no sin should ever have been committed.
(2) Though He permits it He is not the cause of it (Jam_1:13-14).
(3) God so orders it that good comes out of it
(a) By permitting one sin He sometimes punisheth another Rom_1:21-25).
(b) He so overrules it as to turn it to the good of the righteous Gen_45:7-8; Act_2:23; Act_4:28).
(c) He makes it redound to either the glory of His mercy in pardoning (Rom_9:23); or of His justice in punishing it Pro_16:4; 2Th_1:7-9).
IV. He ORDERS AND DISPOSES of all things giving them to whomsoever He pleases.
1. Wealth and riches (Deu_8:18; Gen_32:9-10; 1Ti_6:17; Job_1:21; Ecc_5:18-19; Ecc_6:1-2).
2. Honour and preferments (1Ch_29:12; Psa_75:6-7; 2Sa_12:8; 1Ki_3:13; 1Sa_2:7-8; Psa_113:7).
3. Love and favours (Gen_39:21; Dan_1:9; Exo_12:36; Exo_3:21).
4. Health and strength of body (2Sa_12:15-16).
5. Gifts and parts of mind (1Ki_3:9-12; Exo_35:30-31; Exo_36:1-2; Exo_31:1-6; Jam_1:5).
6. All true grace and virtue.
(1) Faith (Eph_2:8).
(2) Repentance (Act_11:18; Act_5:31).
(3) All other graces (Jam_1:17-18; 1Co_4:7).
7. Heaven and eternal life (Rom_6:23). Conclusion:
1. All these works of God are done
(1) With infinite power; for He doth all things without trouble, and only with His word since none can resist Him (2Ch_20:6; Job_9:2).
(2) With infinite wisdom; so that He directs all things to the best and His own glory (Psa_104:24; Rom_11:33).
(3) With infinite justice and righteousness; so that He wrongs none, nor is unjust or unrighteous to any (Psa_145:17).
(4) With infinite goodness and mercy (Psa_145:9).
2. Use
(1) Learn to think that nothing comes by chance or fortune, but acknowledge God in everything (Pro_3:6; Exo_8:19).
(2) Fear nothing but God. No good can be withholden from us, and no evil can fall upon us without Him (Mat_10:28-30).
(3) Although we ought to make use of means, yet we must put our whole confidence in God without whom the best means are unsuccessful and with whom the least are effectual (Psa_37:3-7). (Bp. Beveridge.)
The conjoint working of Christ with the Father
The Jews considered Christ as claiming equality with God. But supposing that they mistook His meaning what can be said of His not correcting them? The charge of Sabbath breaking from which He vindicated Himself in the text was insignificant compared to the charge based upon His vindication. Why not defend Himself against such awful blasphemy. On the contrary, He confirms the inference of the Jews in Joh_5:19. If He were not God He had no right to refer to what God did as His vindication. The practice of the Creator could not be quoted in proof that a mere creature might do what He thought fit on the Sabbath. But were Christ and God equal He could act as God and therefore on all days alike. Notice
I. THE CONTINUED WORKING OF THE FATHER
1. It would present no satisfactory account of the beautiful arrangements of the visible creation to say that matter was first endowed with certain properties and placed in certain relations and then left to obey the laws originally impressed. Of course God has given laws, and exerts no immediate agency to supersede them; but He is continually working by and through them as instruments.
(1) This is the teaching of philosophy which insists that where there are laws there must be an agency and a power of which laws are modes.
(2) The Bible teaches not only the production but the preservation of all things by God. There is scarcely a natural production or occurrence which is not referred immediately to His agency.
2. God has also revealed Himself as a moral Governor, and observes every motion of the human will, makes it subservient to His own purposes, registers whatever occurs for judgment, instigates every good action and overrules every bad. No calamity which can befall us, no anxiety disquiet, no joy cheer, no prayer escape which does not proceed either from His permission or appointment.
3. There are worlds upon worlds for which He does practically the same as ours. It were to be God to know what God has to do.
II. THE CONTINUED WORKING OF THE SON.
1. We may suppose that Christ partly referred to the perfect union of will and person which there is between the Persons of the Trinity when Paul declared that He was the brightness of the Fathers person, etc. He went on to speak of Him as upholding all things by the word of His power.
2. But as Christ wrought the miracle in His mediatorial capacity, it is rather as the Saviour than as the Creator that He here speaks. The truth then is that Christ has all along been redeeming as the Father has been with preserving all mankind.
(1) This is true all through the dispensations. As soon as there was sin there was salvation--through Christ, so theft every human being added fresh employment to the Mediator as well as to the Creator.
(2) We cannot but conclude that Christ in the office of Mediator has done something for unfallen beings, and if so, how immeasurably this widens the sphere of Christs activity.
III. THE EFFECT OF THIS DOCTRINE should be
1. To give us the same confidence in addressing the Mediator as in addressing the Father. Providence, in giving us our daily bread, is not more uniform than that intercession from which we derive daily grace.
2. To console the timid and downcast. My Father worketh hitherto, and whom will He neglect or fail to sustain? I work, and whom will I refuse to save? Who shall come to me and be cast out?
3. To encourage an application to that Divine Saviour who in His house provides healing for the impotent on the Sabbath day. (H. Melvill, B. D.)
My Father worketh hitherto
I. THE UNIVERSAL PRESENCE OF THE FATHER AT WORK.
1. Men do not imagine God to be near them in actual presence. They acknowledge Him as Creator chiefly because it relieves them of the greater difficulty of otherwise accounting for the existence of things.
2. In addition to this scientific concealment there is a figurative disguise of the Divine presence. The grand creations we invest with personality, and the spaces and elements we people with airy shapes of poetry and romance. These imaginations serve for the Divine Being, and to introduce Him boldly into conversation is considered bad taste or something worse. What a symptom of our universal ungodliness, God is not in all our thoughts!
3. But while being enemies to neither science nor imagination, let us open our Bibles and look on the works of God in their light. We let a ray fall on a flower, a structure, a strata, and we exclaim, The work of Thy fingers. If you ask us about genera, species, and laws of variation, we leave them to scientists. We cannot detect half so many qualities as they can, but we see our Father at work. If you tell me that the instinct of a bird leads it to pick up a grain accidentally scattered, is it less true that our heavenly Father feedeth it? David was no mean naturalist, yet when he speaks of the sustentation of animals, their dissolution, and the renewal of their generations, he passes over the laws of these changes and only sees the Father at work (Psa_145:15, etc.). This is not mere poetry; it is written in the largest spirit of science. But a higher Authority, when referring to a flower, affirms that the Father clothes it, and when bidding His disciples imitate the trustful and uncareful birds, He adds, Your heavenly Father feedeth them.
II. IF THE FATHER IS WORKING AROUND US WHAT A SECURITY WE ENJOY. Each one of us may say, My Father worketh for me. When I consider the heavens, etc. I say, Can I have a separate place in the Fathers heart. He responds, The very hairs of your head are all numbered. It is sometimes hard to realize this; then in my loneliness I hear the expostulation from one who knoweth my frame and remembereth that I am dust, Why sayest thou, O Jacob? (Isa_11:1-16.). Thus He giveth power to the faint. We are not alone, for the Father is with us.
III. THE FATHER WORKETH NOT BECAUSE AN INTELLIGENT BEING IS NECESSARILY ACTIVE, BUT FOR SOME GREAT DESIGN WHICH THE TRIUNE GOD IS ADVANCING AND MUST COMPLETE. This work, extending over many generations, may be called the second genesis. After the first creation God did not, as the Jews supposed, enter on a Sabbath of inaction. His primal work was done, but the Sabbath was as full of work as the six days, but work of a nobler kind. The Spirit that moved on formless matter must now move on mind. Evil had come into being, and evil is to mind what chaos is to matter. God spent His Sabbath in making a new heaven and a new earth, not of matter, but of mind. Who shall write the history of Gods Sabbath work for man? The Bible is but a chapter of it. Eternity will unroll the volume. But following the Bible, how evident is the progressive design of love--the Father working in counsel; the Son in personal revelation; the Spirit in influence; and looking more closely we observe the Divine Son is the centre of this more glorious genesis. From Adam to John, all revelations pointed to Christ, and the Father is now drawing all men to Him. All men are proceeding Christward. (E. E. Jenkins, LL. D.)
Thoughts for the busy
I. The DIGNITY of labour. Toil is not incident to man as a fallen creature. There is royality in it, for the greatest worker is God.
1. God has been working in nature. His works are His thoughts, and how beautiful they are is written on every hand.
2. God is working in providence and grace through all the millenniums for a great purpose of redemption. Patriarchs, lawgivers, prophets, kings, and priests have been His instruments. All the best works have been done because God works.
3. Let these sublime truths point out the dignity of labour. Throw off the delusion that freedom from work is to be sought as an end in itself. By indolence man throws away his crown and rebels against that Divine law of work which finds its highest expression in God.
II. The QUALITY of labour.
1. Divine work is always of the highest and most perfect kind.
2. Always faithful and true.
3. Each man therefore should take his work as a sacred charge to do his best at it. To do the truth (1Jn_1:6) would work a reformation in this country. All bad work is a lie. Men are lying when they build houses that cannot stand, when they supply goods we cannot wear, and when they sell foods that poison us.
III. The METHOD of labour.
1. We never see in Christ, though He was always busy, any symptoms of rashness and hurry. There were depths in Him of holy peace which outer storms could not disturb.
2. There are causes for anxiety and haste which are not easy to control. But how many of them we never seek to master; desire for display and to be rich, a neglect of the deeper elements of character which leaves us open to the annoyances of little-minded men. It matters little to us whether God works or not. We have taken our concerns out of His hands. Thus we miss the confidence and restfulness which is our strength.
IV. The true MOTIVES of labour. Many work as though they said, The world worketh hitherto, and I work. The cardinal point is that success must be achieved at all costs. Christ worked, and we must work because the Father works. (W. Manning.)
Gods Sabbath
What would become of the Sabbath unless God worked on the Sabbath (Bengel.)
The law of the Sabbath is a law of a Being who never rests from doing good (Theophylact.)
The Divinity of Christ
A citizen of London once became angry with the sunlight, and he vowed that no sun should ever again shine within his home. Closing the door and shutters, and lighting the lamps, he lived and died many years as though there had been no sun. The world justly pronounced him insane. In a similar spirit liberal theologians and infidels deny Christs Godhead. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
Work must be constant
A few days ago, in the mountains, we went down in a valley to see a wonderful cascade, a marvellous sheet of water precipitating itself from lofty rocks, and there sat our German friends by scores contemplating it, and reverently admiring its sublimity. As I looked at the cascade the thought struck me it was rather too orderly to be altogether what it professed to be, and, looking on, I noticed that the floods which poured down from the rocks had suddenly diminished, as if the supply of the liquid element had become exhausted. We found that this wonderful waterfall was played three or four hours a day, and was an artificial wonder. But there is plenty of religion of that sort; it is played three hours a day or so many hours a week. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Work and joy
I do not remember reading in Mr. Wesleys diary a question about his own salvation. He was so busy in the harvest of the Master that it did not occur to him to distrust his God. Some Christians have little faith in consequence of their having never sown the grain of mustard seed which they have received. If you do not sow your faith by using it, how can it grow? When a man lives by faith in Christ Jesus, and his faith exercises itself actively in the service of his Lord it takes root, grows upward, and becomes strong, till it chokes his doubts. Soma have sadly morbid forebodings; they are discontented, fretful, selfish, murmuring, and all because they are idle. These are the weeds that grow in sluggards gardens. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Royal workers
We read in Homer of princesses drawing water from the springs, and washing, with their own hands, the linen of their respective families. Here the sisters of Alexander, that is, the daughters of a powerful prince, are employed in making clothes for their brother. The celebrated Lucretia used to spin in the midst of her female attendants. Augustus, who was sovereign of the world, wore, for years together, no other clothes but what his wife and sister made him. It was a custom in the northern parts of the world, not many years since, for the princes who then sat upon the throne, to prepare several of the dishes at every meal. (Rollins History.)
Gods work is perfect
There is not a more necessary and consolatory truth than this--reason allows it, revelation affirms it the work of the Lord is perfect. Whatever He does sustains its consistency and answers its end. Neither is there redundance nor defect. The question of degrees, the scale of dimensions, cannot alter the fact; whether the emmet or the leviathan, whether the atom or the world, each bears a stamp of entireness and self-sufficience. The most cautious inspection, the most fertile imagination, can discover no want, can suggest no improvement. You can relieve no difficulty, you can facilitate no process, you can heighten no result. The system of the individual is as faultless as that of the species, the economy of the particle as that of the universe. The grain imbedded on the shore, the star set among the constellations of the sky, in their differing ranks of constituted nature, exhibit the same matchless adjustment, fitness, and application. (R. W. Hamilton, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain Chapter 12
Chapter 12
SABBATH CURE AT BETHESDA.
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After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered. And a certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, He saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole? The sick man answered Him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said unto him that was cured, It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk? But he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in the place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.- Joh_5:1-14.
The miracle here recorded is selected by John because in it Jesus plainly signified that He had power to quicken whom He would (Joh_5:21), and because it became the occasion for the unbelief of the Jews to begin the hardening process and appear as opposition.
The miracle was wrought when Jerusalem was full; although whether at the Feast of Tabernacles, or Purim, may be doubted. The pool at the sheep-gate or sheep-market is commonly identified with the Fountain of the Virgin, which still supplies a bath known as Hammam esh Shefa, the Bath of Healing. It seems to have been an intermittent spring, which possessed some healing virtue for a certain class of ailments. Its repute was well established, for a great multitude of hopeful patients waited for the moving of the waters.[14]
To this natural hospital Jesus wended His way on the Sabbath of the feast. And as the trained eye of the surgeon quickly selects the worst case in the waiting-room, so is the eye of Jesus speedily fixed on a man which had an infirmity thirty and eight years, a man paralysed apparently in mind as well as in body. Few employments could be more utterly paralysing than lying there, gazing dreamily into the water, and listening to the monotonous drone of the cripples detailing symptoms every one was sick of hearing about. The little periodic excitement caused by the strife to be first down the steps to the bubbling up of the spring was enough for him. Hopeless imbecility was written on his face. Jesus sees that for him there will never be healing by waiting here.
Going up to this man, our Lord confronts him with the arousing question, Are you desiring to be made whole? The question was needful. Not always are the miserable willing to be relieved. Medical men have sometimes offered to heal the mendicants sores, and their aid has been rejected. Even the invalid who does not trade pecuniarily on his disease is very apt to trade upon the sympathy and indulgence of friends, and sometimes becomes so debilitated in character as to shrink from a life of activity and toil. Those who have sunk out of all honest ways of living into poverty and wretchedness are not always eager to put themselves into the harness of honest labour and respectability. And this reluctance is exhibited in its extreme form in those who are content to be spiritual imbeciles, because they shrink from all arduous work and responsible position. Life, true life such as Christ calls us to, with all its obligations to others, its honest and spontaneous devotion to spiritual ends, its risks, its reality, and purity, does not seem attractive to the spiritual valetudinarian. In fact, nothing so thoroughly reveals a man to himself, nothing so clearly discloses to him his real aims and likings, as the answer he finds he can give to the simple question, Are you willing to be made whole? Are you willing to be fitted for the highest and purest life?
The man is sufficiently alive to feel the implied rebuke, and apologetically answers, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool. It is not that I am resigned to this life of uselessness, but I have no option. The very answer, however, showed that he was hopeless. It had become the established order of things with him that some one anticipated him. He speaks of it as regularly happening-another steps down before me. He had no friend-not one that would spare time to wait beside him and watch for the welling up of the water. And he had no thought of help coming from any other quarter. But there is that in the appearance and manner of Jesus that quickens the mans attention, and makes him wonder whether He will not perhaps stand by him and help him at the next moving of the waters. While these thoughts are passing through his mind the words of Jesus ring with power in his ears, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk. And he who had so long waited in vain to be healed at the spring, is instantaneously made whole by the word of Jesus.
John habitually considered the miracles of Jesus as signs or object lessons, in which the spiritual mind might read unseen truth. They were intended to present to the eye a picture of the similar but greater works which Jesus wrought in the region of the spirit. He heals the blind, and therein sets Himself before men as the Light of the world. He gives the hungry bread, but is disappointed that they do not from this conclude that He is Himself the Bread sent by the Father to nourish to life everlasting. He heals this impotent man, and marvels that in this healing the people do not see a sign that He is the Son who does the Fathers works, and who can give life to whom He will. It is legitimate, therefore, to see in this cure the embodiment of spiritual truth.
This man represents those who for many years have known their infirmity, and who have continued, if not very definitely to hope for spiritual vigour, at least to put themselves in the way of being healed-to give themselves, as invalids do, all the chances. This crowding of the pool of Bethesda-the house of mercy or grace-strongly resembles our frequenting of ordinances, a practice which many continue in very much the state of mind of this paralytic. They are still as infirm as when they first began to look for cure; it seems as if their turn were never to come, though they have seen many remarkable cures. Theoretically they have no doubt of the efficacy of Christian grace; practically they have no expectation that they shall ever be strong, vigorous useful men in His Kingdom. If you asked them why they are so punctual in attendance on all religious services, they would say, Why, is it not a right thing to do? Press them further with our Lords question, Are you expecting to be made whole? Is this your purpose in coming here? They will refer you to their past, and tell you how it has always seemed to be some other persons case that was thought of, how the Spirit of God seemed always to have other work than that which concerned them. But here they are still-and commendably and wisely so; for if this man had begun to disbelieve in the virtue of the water because he himself had never experienced its power, and had shut himself up in some wretched solitude of his own, then the eye of the Lord had never rested upon him-here they are still; for the best part of a lifetime they have been on the brink of health, and yet have never got it; for eight-and-thirty years this man had seen that water, knew that it healed people, put his hand in it, gazed on it,-yes, there it was, and could heal him, and yet his turn never came. So do these persons frequent the ordinances, hear the word that can save them, touch the bread of communion, and know that by the blessing of God the bread of life is thereby conveyed, and yet year by year goes past, and for them all remains unblessed. They begin despairingly to say-
Thy saints are comforted, I know, And love Thy house of prayer; I therefore go where others go, But find no comfort there.
This miracle shows such persons that there is a shorter way to health than a languid attendance on ordinances-an attendance that is satisfied if there seems to be still in operation what may be useful to others. It is the voice of Christ they need to hear. It is that voice summoning to thought and hope that we all need to hear, Wilt thou be made whole? Are you weary and ashamed of your infirmity; would you fain be a whole man in Christ, able at last to walk through life as a living man, seeing the beauty of God and of His work, and meeting with gladness the whole requirements of a life in God? Does the very beauty of Christs manhood, as He stands before you, make you at once ashamed of your weakness and covetous of His strength? Do you see in Him what it is to be strong, to enter into life, to begin to live as a man ought always to live, and are you earnestly looking to receive power from on high? To such come the life-giving voice of the Word who utters God, and the life that is in God.
It is important to notice that in Christs word to the sick, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk, three things are implied-
1. There must be a prompt response to Christs word. He does not heal any one who lies sluggishly waiting to see what that word will effect. There must be a hearty and immediate recognition of the speakers truth and power. We cannot say to what extent the impotent man would feel a current of nervous energy invigorating him. Probably this consciousness of new strength would only succeed his cordial reliance on the word of Christ. Obey Christ, and you will find strength enough. Believe in His power to give you new life, and you will have it. But do not hesitate, do not question, do not delay.
2. There must be no thought of failure, no making provision for a relapse; the bed must be rolled up as no longer needed. How do those diseased men of the Gospels rebuke us! We seem always half in doubt whether we should make bold to live as whole men. We take a few feeble steps, and return to the bed we have left. From life by faith in Christ we sink back to life as we knew it without Christ-a life attempting little, and counting it a thing too high for us to put ourselves and our all at Gods disposal. If we set out to swim the Channel we take care to have a boat within hail to pick us up if we become exhausted. To make provision for failure is in the Christian life to secure failure. It betrays a half-heartedness in our faith, a lurking unbelief which must bring disaster. Have we rolled up our bed and tossed it aside? If Christ fails us, have we nothing to fall back upon? Is it faith in Him that really keeps us going? Is it His view of the world and of all that is in it that we have accepted; or do we merely take a few steps on His principles, but in the main make our bed in the ordinary unenlightened worldly life?
3. There must be a continuous use made of the strength Christ gives. The man who had lain for thirty-eight years was told to walk. We must confront many duties without any past experience to assure us of success. We must proceed to do them in faith-in the faith that He who bids us do them will give us strength for them. Take your place at once among healthy men; recognise the responsibilities of life. Find an outlet for the new strength in you. Be no longer a burden, a charge to others, but begin yourself to bear the burdens of others, and be a source of strength to others.
Before the man could get home with his bed he was challenged for carrying it on the Sabbath. They must surely have known that he himself, and many more, had that very morning been carried to Bethesda. But we can scarcely conclude from the Jews thus challenging the healed man that they sought occasion against Jesus. They would have stopped any one going through the streets of Jerusalem with a bundle on the Sabbath. They had Scripture on their side, and founded on the words of Jer_17:21, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day. Even in our own streets a man carrying a large package on Sunday would attract the suspicion of the religious, if not of the police. We must not, then, find a malicious intention towards Jesus, but merely the accustomed thoughtless bigotry and literalism, in the challenge of the Jews.
But to their It is not lawful, the man promptly answers, perhaps only meaning to screen himself by throwing the blame on another, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed. The man quite naturally, and without till now reflecting on his own conduct, had listened to Christs word as authoritative. He that gave me strength told me how to use it. Intuitively the man lays down the great principle of Christian obedience. If Christ is the source of life to me, He must also be the source of law. If without Him I am helpless and useless, it stands to reason that I must consider His will in the use of the life He communicates. This must always be the Christians defence when the world is scandalised by anything he does in obedience to Christ; when he goes in the face of its traditions and customs; when he is challenged for singularity, overpreciseness, or innovation. This is the law which the Christian must still bear in mind when he fears to thwart any prejudice of the world, when he is tempted to bide his time among the impotent folk, and not fly in the face of established usage; when, though he has distinctly understood what he ought to do, so many difficulties threaten, that he is tempted to withdraw into obscurity and indolence. It is the same Voice which gives life and directs it. Shall I then refuse it in both cases, or choose it in both? Shall I shrink from its directions, and lie down again in sin; or shall I accept life, and with it the still greater boon of spending it as Christ wills?
But though the man had thus instinctively obeyed Jesus, he actually had not had the curiosity to ask who He was. It is almost incredible that he should have so immediately lost sight of the person to whom he was so indebted. But so taken up is he with his new sensations, so occupied with gathering up his mats, so beset by the congratulations and inquiries of his comrades at the porch, that before he bethinks himself Jesus is gone. Among those who do undoubtedly profit by Christs work there is a lamentable and culpable lack of interest in His person. It does not seem to matter from whom they have received these benefits so long as they have them; they do not seem drawn to His person, ever following to know more of Him and to enjoy His society, as the poor demoniac would have done, who would gladly have left home and country, and who cared not what line of life he might be thrown into or what thrown out of, if only he might be with Christ. If one were to put the case, that my prospects were eternally and in each particular changed by the intervention of one whose love is itself infinite blessing, and if it were asked what would be my feeling towards such a person, doubtless I would say, He would have an unrivalled interest for me, and I should be irresistibly drawn into the most intimate personal knowledge and relations; but no-the melancholy truth is otherwise; the gift is delighted in, the giver is suffered to be lost in the crowd. The spectacle is presented of a vast number of persons made blessed through the intervention of Christ, who are yet more concerned to exhibit their own new life and acquirements, than to identify and keep hold of Him to whom they owe all.
Although the healed man seems to have had little interest in Christ, Christ kept His eye upon him. Finding him in the Temple, where he had gone to give thanks for his recovery, or to see a place he had so long been excluded from, or merely because it was a place of public resort, our Lord addressed him in the emphatic words, Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee. The natural inference from these words is that his disease had been brought on by sin in early life-another instance of the lifelong misery a man may incur by almost his earliest responsible acts, of the difficulties and shame with which a lad or a boy may unwittingly fill his life, but an instance also of the willingness with which Christ delivers us even from miseries we have rashly brought upon ourselves. Further still, it is an instance of the vitality of sin. This mans lifelong punishment had not broken the power of sin within him. He knew why he was diseased and shattered. Every pain he felt, every desire which through weakness he could not gratify, every vexing thought of what he might have made of life, made him hate his sin as the cause of all his wretchedness; and yet at the end of these thirty-eight years of punishment Christ recognised in him, even in the first days of restored health, a liability to return to his sin. But every day we see the same; every day we see men keeping themselves down, and gathering all kinds of misery round them by persisting in sin. We say of this man and that, How is it possible he can still cleave to his sin, no better, no wiser for all he has come through? One would have thought former lessons sufficient. But no amount of mere suffering purifies from sin. One has sometimes a kind of satisfaction in reaping the consequences of sin, as if that would deter from future sin; but if this will not hold us back, what will? Partly the perception that already God forgives us, and partly the belief that when Christ commands us to sin no more He can give us strength to sin no more. Who believes with a deep and abiding conviction that Christs will can raise him from all spiritual impotence and uselessness? He, and he only, can hope to conquer sin. To rely upon Christs word, Sin no more, with the same confident faith with which this man acted on His word, Rise, take up thy bed-this alone gives victory over sin. If our own will is too weak, Christs will is always mighty. Identify your will with Christs, and you have His strength.
But the fear of punishment has also its place. The man is warned that a worse thing will fall upon him if he sins. Sinning after the beginning of deliverance, we not only fall back into such remorse, darkness, and misery as have already in this life followed our sin, but a worse thing will come upon us. But worse. What can be worse than the loss of an entire life; like this man, passing in disappointment, in uselessness, in shame, the time which all naturally expect shall be filled with activity, success, and happiness; losing, and losing early, and losing by ones own fault, and losing hopelessly, everything that makes life desirable? Few men so entirely miss life as this man did, though perhaps our activities are often more hurtful than his absolute inactivity, and under an appearance of prosperity the heart may have been torn with remorse as painful as his. Yet let no man think that he knows the worst that sin can do. After the longest experience we may sink deeper still, and indeed must do so unless we listen to Christs voice saying, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee.
[14] Verse 4 (Joh_5:4) is omitted by recent editors on the authority of the best ancient MSS.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 1. There was a feast of the Jews. Probably…
1. There was a feast of the Jews. Probably the second passover attended by the Lord after his ministry began. Such is the view of Irenæus, Eusebius, Lightfoot, Neander, Gresswell, Andrews and Dr. Wm. Milligan.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain “Up to the present time our Lord has offered…
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
“Up to the present time our Lord has offered Himself to typical representatives of the whole Jewish race at Jerusalem, in Judæa, in Samaria, and in Galilee, in such a way as to satisfy the elements of true faith. Now the conflict begins which issues in the Passion. Step by step faith and unbelief are called out in a parallel development. The works and words of Christ become a power for the revelation of men’s thoughts. The main scene of this saddest of all conceivable tragedies is Jerusalem. The crises of its development are the national festivals. And the whole controversy is gathered round three miracles” (Westcott).
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THE HEALING OF THE IMPOTENT MAN AT BETHESDA
Joh_5:1. After these things.—μετὰ ταῦτα indicates perhaps a less immediate succession of events than μετὰ τοῦτο, after this (vide Joh_2:12, etc.). A feast.—This has been identified with all the feasts of the Jewish year in turn. Many of the Fathers held that it was Pentecost; others, e.g. Irenœus, Eusebius, etc., considered that the passover is meant;—Chrysostom, Calrix, Bengel, etc., Pentecost. But in view of the notes of time indicated in Joh_4:35, etc. (December–January = Tebeth), and Joh_6:4 (April—Nisan), the feast of Purim, which was observed in the month of March (Adar), would seem to be the feast referred to. Our Lord’s absence from Jerusalem at the succeeding passover would be accounted for by the hostility of the Jews (Joh_5:16-18; Joh_7:1).
Joh_5:2. There is, etc.—This phrase would seem to imply that this narrative was written before the destruction of Jerusalem (see Introduction). At the sheep (gate) (ἐπὶ τῇ προβατικῇ).—The word “gate” seems to be the only suitable name to place after this adjective (see Neh_3:1; Neh_3:32; Neh_12:39). Bethesda (בִּית חֶסְדָּא).—The house of mercy. This was probably the designation of the building under which the sick and diseased folk sheltered themselves whilst waiting at the healing spring. The Birket-Israil, near St. Stephen’s Gate in modern Jerusalem—the gate leading from the Haram Area to the Kidron—is the traditional site. But great weight is to be placed on the evidence that identifies the Pool of Siloam with this healing spring. It is a mineral spring, with an intermittent flow of water at irregular periods (see Alford’s Greek Testament, in loco, and note on chap. Joh_5:2). “Dr. Guthe’s excavations have laid bare the remains of four such pools in the neighbourhood of that of Siloam” (Sayce, Fresh Light from Ancient Monuments, p. 105).
Joh_5:3. In these lay a great multitude, etc.—This pool was in fact an ancient spa. A modern instance is to be found in the hot springs near Tiberias, on the shores of the lake of Galilee. Waiting for, etc.—This clause and Joh_5:4 are omitted in all the great MSS. but A. They seem to have been a gloss, finally incorporated in later MSS. But on Joh_5:4 see Rev_16:4-5.
Joh_5:5. Thirty and eight years.—This man has been regarded as a type of Israel in the wilderness compelled to wander nearly forty years on account of their unbelief, and thus of the unbelieving Jews of Christ’s time.
Joh_5:6. Jesus saw him lying there, etc., and reading with His searching glance this man’s history (Joh_2:25), the long years of helplessness, and the sinful cause of it all, was moved with compassion as He saw this victim of sin lying before Him helpless and desponding. His compassion led Him to the spontaneous offer of help. “Wilt thou be made whole?” were the words which fell on this lonely and helpless sufferer’s ear.
Joh_5:7. Our Lord’s words seem hardly to have quickened hope. But he explained why it was that he had no hope of cure. When the water has been troubled.—Some special advantage was apparently popularly connected with this phenomenon.
Joh_5:8. Jesus said, etc.—It was a word of power. κράββατόν σου.—Mattress, or probably something like the kind of thick quilt, בַֽ (Lihòâf), used now by many of the poorer natives of Palestine as a “bed.”
Joh_5:9. The effect of Christ’s words was immediate. It was the Sabbath.—This statement introduces and explains what follows.
Joh_5:10. It is not lawful, etc.—The objectors would found on such a passage as Jer_17:21.
Joh_5:11. He that made me whole, etc.—The restored man felt that this was a sufficient vindication of his action. He who had shown His divine power in this miracle was not one who would contravene the divine law.
Joh_5:12. Thy bed (τὸν κράββατόν σου).—Omitted by א, B, C, L.
Joh_5:13. A multitude, etc.—No doubt our Lord did not desire to attract attention; and the presence of the multitude is mentioned to show how our Lord was able to withdraw quietly and at once, so that “he that was healed” even lost sight of Him.
Joh_5:15. The man departed, etc.—There is no indication in the narrative that there was any malice in the man’s heart in making this communication to the Jews. What reason had he to hide the truth? A great and miraculous cure had been effected in his case: why should he not make known his benefactor, who would be able to clear up all difficulties?
Joh_5:17. My Father worketh hitherto (ἕως ἄρτι, until now).—The working of God knows no cessation (Psalms 121.).
Joh_5:18. Because He not only had broken, etc.—Or, more accurately, He was destroying or dissolving the Sabbath. He was, however, only freeing it from the human restrictions which changed in part its purpose and effect.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_5:1-18
Joh_5:1-9. Bethesda, a witness of divine compassion, grace, and power.—In this narrative Jesus is again in Jerusalem when a great feast of the Jews, probably Purim, is in progress. The feast of Purim was one during which great festivity was kept up, gifts were distributed to the poor, etc. This fact might account for the number of sick, blind, halt, etc., then congregated at Bethesda—just as during the Easter festival at the present day Jerusalem is crowded with lame, etc., beggars from all quarters of the country. The spring by which these people lay was noted for the curative power of its waters, and pious hands had erected a covered portico to protect those who waited for a periodical disturbance of the waters, which indicated the presence of some healing element. The Saviour, ever compassionate and gracious, seeking to save men and give them His best gifts, sought out this sorrowful crowd. And seeing one of that crowd most miserable physically, but perhaps more truly penitent and receptive than all the rest, He showed toward him—
I. His divine compassion.—
1. There was one who was a sad epitome of the race—sick and impotent in body, the result of soul-sickness, of moral disease (Joh_5:14).
2. This poor man was utterly helpless, unable to do more than crawl to this place of hope. For thirty-eight years he had been in this miserable condition. How long he had lain at Bethesda does not appear; but it had been long enough to depress him on account of that “hope deferred which makes the heart sick.” Hope was well-nigh extinguished when the Redeemer appeared to him.
3. Jesus, the Son of the All-merciful, could not but be moved in view of this epitome of human wretchedness, of helpless, despairing, miserable humanity. Thus we are prepared for the display of—
II. His divine grace and goodness.—
1. As Jesus looked on this poor, forsaken, despairing being, He sought first to awaken in that hopeless breast a desire for healing and an impulse to seek to attain it. Therefore he said, “Wilt thou be made whole?”
2. The answer serves to reveal the poor man’s state of mind. He had fallen into a dumb and numbed state of resignation. One fancies that in his heart was heard in a whisper the modern Oriental’s Kismet: “It is fate.”
3. It was doubly sad that during this joyous festival, when gifts were lavished abroad, he sat there, friendless and alone, none offering him a helping hand.
4. But a better Friend was near him now than all earthly friends; and as the Saviour’s question fell on his ear, it must have been like a ray of heaven’s own light coming in on the dull and sombre sky of the man’s existence, and bidding hope spring up in his heart.
5. But our Saviour’s gracious compassion did not end—it never does end—with the mere awakening of hope. It is active and beneficent, and therefore His gracious question is followed by—
III. His gracious word of power.—
1. “Wilt thou be made whole?” Jesus had said. And ere the sick man’s almost querulous statement of his sad position had well ended the word of power went forth: “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.”
2. It was a divine voice that spoke, and its speech was with divine authority. For thirty-eight years human skill, and latterly what at Bethesda seemed (popularly) to possess supernatural efficacy, had failed to help this miserable being. But here in a moment “the man was made whole.” All who reflected might see that this was the power of God, and that Jesus only more fully explained this when He said, “My Father worketh,” etc. (Joh_5:17). And thus to all who were not spiritually blinded the divine mercy and power were unmistakably displayed.
Joh_5:5-14. Help to the wretched.—A sentimental humanitarianism is one of the features of our day. External cures are applied to inward ills. As it has been well said, “men try to dam up the brook, but still leave the fountain-head untouched.” They seek to heal the wound superficially, whilst the deep-seated cause of all the pain and trouble is left unhealed. The outward causes of misery and wretchedness are pointed to, and endeavours are made to remove and alleviate them. But our age seems to have lost sight of the great fact of indwelling sin—that it is this that is at the base of all those evils, and that the removal of this is the true summum bonum for the race. Free men from the power of sin, and bring them into conformity to the mind and will of God, and the result will be a new world. Could this be effected universally, the earth would become a province of heaven. Where this result does take place, the individual life is new-created, and the individual heart becomes a temple of the Holy Ghost. It is thus that Christ goes to the roots of our misery and wretchedness. He alone can redeem humanity. His name proclaims Him a true Redeemer; for “He shall save His people from their sins” (Mat_1:21).
I. The misery that oppresses men.—
1. This impotent man was a most miserable object—a poor, wretched human being.
2. But his greatest misery was not his physical but his spiritual deadness. There was little aspiration after what was higher. His wretched state, perhaps caused by his sin, was more wretched from its apparent hopelessness and his want of spiritual comfort.
3. His state represents men spiritually by nature. They are impotent—they cannot of themselves attain to a new life. What they desire is the material, not the spiritual. And they have experienced the vanity of their own efforts, even when some vague desire after the higher life has come into their souls.
4. Like this man, they need to have the word of power spoken to them, ere they can arise and walk in spiritual freedom.
II. The awakening of hope.—
1. Pitying the man’s wretchedness, the Saviour sought to awaken faith and hope in the heart of the poor sufferer. And although hopelessness seems to have numbed the man’s spiritual sense, so that even his aspirations were dulled, yet we may believe that some ray of hope and inarticulate longing of faith came to him when the Saviour spoke. His respectful address shows that he considered the Saviour’s word to be more than an idle inquiry.
2. This incident is a parable of man’s spiritual state. It is a matter of eternal rejoicing that the Redeemer pitied our wretchedness, and came to earth in order that He might put to us the all-important question, “Wilt thou be made whole?” and that He puts this question with full power to answer with His omnipotent affirmative, however feeble and faltering our reply may be. He sees our wretchedness, and comes with divine messages of love and peace to awaken hope and lead to salvation.
III. The word of power and the renewed life.—
1. The word of Jesus laid hold of even by this man weak in faith as in body brought about a marvellous cure. Thirty-and-eight years of waiting, latterly of despairing, and in a moment the man was renewed, though still the same. The “impotent” frame received new strength for labour in what remained of life.
2. And how closely parallel is this to the spiritual experience of many! During a long life, it may be, they have been “impotent” in the divine service. At one time there may have been a desire for spiritual strength; but because help was not sought in the right direction, or for some other cause, the blessing has never been attained. And at last perhaps a kind of despair has settled down on the soul as one after another passes away healed—a kind of hopeless apathy, and acquiescence in enduring what seems inevitable. But to such the word of power can bring renewal and spiritual strength, just as healing came at last to the poor helpless one at Bethesda. And then life becomes changed, and for its remaining years there is a joy and freedom in service, the only regret being that their healing did not come sooner, and for the wasted years.
3. Many have thought the man healed at Bethesda a kind of churl—thankless and ungrateful (Joh_5:15). But there does not seem any trace of this in the narrative. Despite Jewish prejudice, he obeyed the command of Christ (Joh_5:9). And although his faith may have been feeble and imperfect, yet it seems to have been real, for he was found by Jesus just where he should have been, worshipping and thanking God in the temple (Joh_5:14).
4. A true sign of the reality of spiritual healing, of genuine though feeble faith, is the giving of praise and thanks to God with heart and life, not only in the courts of His house, but in all the activities of life.
Joh_5:6. Jesus the life-giving Saviour.—The miracle wrought by Jesus at Bethesda is typical of His spiritual working, in saving men. By nature the sinful are like the impotent man: they are “dead in trespasses and sins” (Eph_2:1). Their life is a moral death. And it is only when Christ, the life of men, speaks the word of power that there comes spiritual activity where before there was impotence, spiritual health where before lurked spiritual disorder, spiritual life where before reigned spiritual death. But though men cannot of themselves rise from their low and lost spiritual state by nature, yet it does not seem that they are raised against their will. The willingness and desire for healing are apparently conditions of the gift. This is shown in our Lord’s question to the impotent man: Dost thou desire, hast thou the will, to be made whole?
I. Men are spiritually impotent by nature.—
1. It needs but a glance at history and experience to prove that it is so.
2. Have not men through the millennia since the Fall sat beside the pools of human systems of religion and philosophy, vainly awaiting spiritual healing? And did not each new system, usurping or superseding what had gone before, prove that these were vain for the purpose?
3. And does not individual experience confirm this? Do not most men sit down patiently by the fountain of the law at one time or other of their life-history, expecting to find spiritual health through obedience to its precepts, and in the end have to confess themselves spiritually powerless, unable to attain salvation, spiritual healing, in this way?
4. And do not many fall into the hopeless acquiescence in their condition into which the impotent man fell? Indeed, do not many become strangely unconscious of their inability to gain salvation, and, worse still, of their need of it? “They are dead,” etc. (Eph_2:1).
II. Jesus quickens the desire for spiritual life.—
1. The human will must be brought into harmony with the divine will in order to spiritual healing. There must be human receptivity ere the divine gift is accorded.
2. It was so with this poor man. The desire after healing, deadened and almost extinguished during those long years of waiting, must be quickened anew. Therefore Jesus said, “Wilt thou be made whole?” He will not force His gifts on unwilling men. He will not violate the conditions of the freedom of human nature.
3. So, too, He does not force salvation on unwilling men (Joh_5:40); and thus want of willingness to be saved rests at the basis of the doom of the unsaved.
4. Hence Jesus seeks to bring men to willing obedience; to see their need and to desire to have it satisfied. Then He directs them to Himself as the giver of spiritual healing and life.
5. Thus one of the chief duties of the ambassador of Christ is to seek, divinely aided, to awaken this desire for spiritual healing in men’s hearts; for this is what the Spirit is ever seeking to do (Joh_16:7-10; Gen_6:3). A New Testament ministry should be an enlightening and quickening ministry through the grace of the Spirit.
III. Jesus gives spiritual life.—
1. He and He alone can give it. No human help can avail here. No profound and even spiritual philosophy; no system of education and training, however perfect; no laws, however good, can accomplish this. No sacrifices, however costly; no devotion, however unremitting; no asceticisms, however strict. But let those who desire spiritual life turn to Christ, and it is theirs. To the truth of this let the Christian ages testify: “We believe, and therefore speak” (2Co_4:12-13).
2. This, indeed, is the chief end of Christ’s appearing. “Christ’s chief purpose was not so much to inaugurate new moral precepts or simply anew to enforce the old, which, indeed, He certainly did, as to bring into humanity a new divine and mighty element of life. For just as while on earth, in this and similar wondrous works, He gave new power to the body, so He grants new spiritual power to our souls, that we may walk in that new obedience which is well pleasing unto Him. So is the kingdom of nature in which the Lord works visibly ever the symbol of the kingdom of grace, in which the unseen (spiritual) powers which proceed from Him alone are bestowed” (Lisco).
3. It is therefore to Christ that His true servants must ever point sin-sick, weary, despairing souls. This duty must ever lie to the hand of ministers of the word; and, when it is neglected, what wonder is it to find many lying spiritually impotent by many a far-famed “pool” vainly waiting for spiritual healing!
Joh_5:10-16. Traditionalism versus truth.—The conflict between our Lord and the dominant Jewish party, which was inevitable, became from this point more acute. The hatred of the Jewish traditionalists began to wax more fierce and deadly; for our Lord’s action and teaching would, they saw, if permitted to continue and to influence the people, lead to the overturning of their authority. And they were well aware that in regard to no other part of the law would our Lord’s action be more prominent than in regard to the observance of the Sabbath. Its observance was so universal, so frequent, so hedged about with traditional enactments, that deviation from it would be more marked than in any other direction. Hence the prominence of this question in the conflict between our Lord and the Jews.
I. The blindness of traditionalism.—
1. Here a great miracle had been wrought. A man whose case had been apparently hopeless for thirty-eight long years was cured in a moment; and yet those Jews, because a seeming infringement of the traditional Sabbath law had been made, ignored the miracle, and cavilled at the supposed infringement.
2. But their strictures were founded on human misinterpretations of the law. There seemed some ground for their complaint in a passage like Jer_17:21. But in Neh_13:19 it is evident that such restrictions as to burden-bearing were not intended to apply to a case like this. The central idea of the Sabbath was rest from ordinary toil (Isa_58:13). Only the priests in their temple duties continued their work as on ordinary days, showing that the life of devotion and worship should be daily and unceasing. But rabbinic subtilising had built up round this ordinance a superstructure of minute observances that altogether neutralised the design of the law.
3. The Jews themselves permitted works of mercy and necessity to be performed on the Sabbath; and here they found fault with such a work. Had the man who was healed remained where he was not only would he have occupied the space where some now more needy sufferer could find accommodation, but he would not have been able to do what thankfulness and gratitude impelled him to do—to “pay his vows” to God in the temple.
4. Thus traditionalism, in seeking rigidly to maintain the letter, frequently transgresses the spirit of the law.
II. The command and example of Christ the true corrective to traditionalism.—
1. The man who was healed, against whom the Jews brought this serious charge, which rendered him liable to excommunication at least (Joh_9:34), had a convincing answer: “He that made me whole, the same said,” etc. (Joh_5:11). It was surely a divine power that was exerted to work that miracle, and therefore He who wrought it would not require aught to be done inconsistent with the divine law.
2. The power of tradition to warp men’s minds and shut them against the truth is seen in the question asked by the Jews. They say nothing about the miracle; the evidence it gave of the presence of heavenly power in Him who wrought it is thrust aside, and they ask, “What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk?”
3. The true corrective to traditionalism and formalism is still the same. We must ever get back from the tradition of men and the rudiments of the world to Christ and His inspired word.
III. The result of unenlightened traditionalism.—
1. Our Lord sought to complete the good work He had begun in this poor man; and finding him in the temple, thanking God for his recovery, thus evidencing his gratitude and faith, our Lord gently counselled him to sin no more, lest a worse evil than that which had afflicted him should come upon him. And when the man knew that it was Jesus who had healed him he went, as in duty bound, and told the Jews. Here was their opportunity of being enlightened.
2. But in place of endeavouring to come to a, right decision on the matter—without adopting even the calm and in part temporising position afterwards counselled by Gamaliel (Act_5:34-40)—these formalists wilfully shut their eyes against the light and set themselves in opposition to eternal truth. Ignorance and prejudice combined led them to persecute Jesus because He was wont to do such things on the Sabbath, i.e. to teach the true nature of the Sabbath and to vindicate for His disciples that it is “lawful to do well on the Sabbath day.”
3. The spirit of unenlightened traditionalism is ever the same. The wrong it has wrought in the Christian Church is matter of history. Especially evident was its baleful influence before Reformation times. And it still appears in various forms among the Churches, forming the chief barrier to Christian unity and a powerful drag on Christian activity.
4. The only cure for it is to open our minds to the teaching of the Spirit, to the word and example of Christ; and thus living in His Spirit we shall “discern the things that are more excellent, being filled with the fruit of righteousness,” etc. (Php_1:10-11).
Joh_5:16. True Sabbath-keeping.—Here, as elsewhere in the Gospel history, Jesus gives us an example that we should follow in His steps. He did not abrogate the Sabbath law; He simply freed it from traditional incrustations and showed it in its true light, as intended for the good of man, and not to be a burdensome yoke (Mar_2:27), as Jewish rabbinical enactments made it. But in order that it may bring to men the blessing intended, a certain method of observance must be complied with.
I. We must desire to honour God in its observance.—
1. This must be done by first observing the primary meaning and purpose of the Sabbath. It is for rest—rest from ordinary and daily occupations. The necessity for such a stated period of rest from labour is arrived at by reason and experience, as well as revealed.
2. It is for worship. Our Lord gave us a clear and unmistakable example in reference to this (Joh_5:14 and Luk_4:16, etc.). Men have a spiritual being as well as a material frame, and it too must be appropriately nourished. And on this day in God’s worship this end is achieved in an especial fashion.
II. We must not neglect works of mercy and kindness to others.—
1. Works of mercy are not to be neglected on that day. Our Lord has here also shown us the way. But in reference to works of necessity we must ever enquire whether we seek to do them from merely self-interested motives, or from love to God, and for His honour.
2. Hence Sabbath desecration would be avoided were Christians everywhere to obey the law of love in reference to Sabbath-keeping—love to God, who ordained this day for man’s higher good; and love to our neighbour, which will not only urge us to come to his aid with works of mercy and kindness on the Sabbath, but will prevent us from unnecessarily disturbing his Sabbath rest.
Joh_5:16-18. Evil designs against Jesus.—Here for the first time in this Gospel history “the shadow of the cross” falls athwart our path. Hitherto our Lord had appeared to the Jews more in the light of a prophet with revolutionary ideas. But as in His activity He came into clearer opposition to many of their traditional customs and ideas, and especially now when He made a claim which, were it admitted, would entitle Him to make such changes as He had given an indication of in His activity, in their blind hatred they resolved to kill Him. This was, as we may say, “the beginning of the end.” The evil seed, sown by the wicked one, and permitted to lodge in the hearts of those Jews, began then to germinate and grow up, until at last those miserable men were filled with its bitter fruit.
I. The answer of Jesus to the Jews who accused Him.—
1. It was an answer that fully vindicated His claim to pronounce on the interpretation of the Sabbath law and all the other laws of Israel. And it especially vindicated His activity on this occasion, for doubtless the attack on the man who was healed was simply a cover for an attack on his Healer (Luk_13:14).
2. By His words, “My Father,” etc., He defines His position to the Sabbath law. He points out that in accusing Him they accuse the Father. God’s works of beneficence never cease; His care and love of man never intermit. If they did, where were the race of men? And thus Jesus, whose work on earth is to carry out the high purpose of divine love in the salvation of man, must continue His saving work uninterruptedly.
3. But in doing this He was violating no divine law. He was rather emphasising the merciful purpose of that law. Just as the Father does not break that Sabbath which followed His creative work by His loving and providential care of His people, so the Son does not break His Sabbath law for men in working works of beneficence and love and mercy.
4. From this we infer that Christ’s disciples and ministers best serve Him by following in this His blessed example. On His day we are to cease from ordinary occupations, but only that we may more fully realise and engage in His work, in seeking the redemption of our fellow-men.
II. Their interpretation of the claim of Jesus.—
1. They understood clearly what Jesus meant by the words He had spoken. Not only had He, according to their ideas, broken the Sabbath, but (which in their eyes was even worse) He had claimed equality with God as entitling Him to interpret and determine what was the law of the Sabbath. Not only by His teaching and example was He leading men to neglect the traditional observance of that law, but He had said in effect that God was His Father, which was blasphemy in their view.
2. This is one of the many and clear declarations, from which there is no escape, of our Lord’s divine Sonship set forth in this Gospel, which indeed makes it to many “a savour of death.” Many are offended at this claim just as those Jews were, and in their dogmatic enmity they seek to “slay” this witness to that great truth, and thus in reality to crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, etc. (Heb_6:6).
III. The inception of their evil designs.—
1. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill Him, etc. In place of enquiring earnestly whether His zeal for God’s honour (Joh_2:14-18), and the divine authority He evidently possessed in the realm of nature, did not bear out His claim, and whether the witness of John to Him as the Messiah was not, therefore, heaven-inspired, their hostility became only more bitter and determined. What a sequel to a work of divine mercy and grace!
2. How can it be accounted for save on the supposition that most of those men had lost all true spirituality of mind and heart, whilst their religion had become a cold, dead formalism? Indeed it was so. Their idea of God and His law was utterly defective; they conceived of them as shorn of their highest attributes—judgment, mercy, truth, and love (Mat_23:23; Luk_11:42); and Jesus had afterward to point them sorrowfully to the source of their evil thoughts of Him and their wicked designs against Him (Joh_8:41).
3. Much of enmity to the gospel as a divine revelation is excused on the plea so finely expressed by the poet: “There lives more faith in honest doubt, believe me, than in half the creeds.” And more than a half truth is here expressed. Had these Jews simply come to Jesus “perplexed in faith,” seeking for more light, like Nicodemus or Thomas, they had gone away believing. But they confronted Christ with bitter enmity, because they elevated their ideas to the position of infallible truths. So many of the bitterest attacks on the gospel and divine revelation are the result, not of “perplexed faith,” but because men come to them not seeking light, rather indeed to judge them according to some standard already set up and fixed by their own reason or prejudice.
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh_5:1-18. The immediateness of divine help.
I. The divine aid is often delayed.—
1. Whilst we see that His power and grace help others (Joh_5:1-4).
2. Thus we ourselves often remain in our misery (Joh_5:5).
II. But although it is delayed yet it will be given at the proper time.—And this help comes:
1. From Jesus, the true helper in time of need, who graciously draws near to us (Joh_5:6).
2. And who comes when no man has pity upon us (Joh_5:7).
3. And who comes unexpectedly and gloriously (Joh_5:8-9).
III. The help experienced, so full of power and grace, should animate us.—
1. To do what our Helper commands us regardless of the judgment of the world (Joh_5:10-13).
2. To bring our thankoffering to God (Joh_5:14). Jesus found him in the temple.
3. To begin a new consecrated life in the Lord (Joh_5:14): sin no more.
4. Not to bring down new punishment on ourselves through thoughtless conduct (Joh_5:14): “lest some worse thing befall thee.”
5. To magnify Jesus as our Helper, and to make Him known to others (Joh_5:15).—Translation from F. G. Lisco.
Joh_5:14-15. Causes of evil.—Concerning the cause of his disease, we are not left in any doubt; the Redeemer’s own lips have told us what it was: “Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.” So we see there was a strange connection between this bodily malady and moral evil, a connection that would have startled all around if it had been seen.
1. No doubt the men of science, versed in the healing art, would have found some cause for his malady connected with the constitution of his bodily frame; but the Redeemer went beyond all this. Thirty-eight years before, there had been some sin committed, possibly a small sin, in our eyes at least, of which the result had been thirty-eight years of suffering; and so the truth we gather from this is, there is a connection between physical and moral evil, more deep than we have been accustomed to believe in. Often when we have been disposed to refer the whole to external causes, there has been something of moral disorder in the character which makes that constitution exquisitely susceptible of suffering, and incapable of enjoyment. Thus we see that external suffering is often connected with moral evil; but we must carefully guard and modify this statement, for this is not universally the case.
2. We must remember this when we see cases of bodily suffering; we must consider that there is a great difference between the two senses in which the word “punishment” is used. It may be a penalty, it may be a chastisement; one meaning of punishment is, that the law exacts a penalty if it is broken—notice having been given that a certain amount of suffering would follow a certain course of action. All the laws of God, in the physical world, in the moral world, or in the political world, if broken, commonly entail a penalty. But there is another kind of law, written in the hearts of men, and given to the conscience, when the penalty is awarded as the result of moral transgression, and then it becomes a chastisement, and the language of Scripture then becomes the language of our hearts. It is the rod of God that hath done all this.
3. There is another thing that we must bear in mind, that there are certain evils which fall upon man, over which he can have no control. They come as the result of circumstances over which he has no power whatever.
4. The punishments of God are generally not arbitrary; each law, as it were, inflicts its own penalty. It does not execute one that belongs to another. So, if the drunkard lead a life of intoxication, the consequence will be a trembling hand and a nerveless frame; but if he be drowned in the seas when sailing in the storm, he is punished for having broken a natural law, not a moral law of God.
5. There is one thing more. It is perfectly possible that transgressions against the natural laws of God may, in the end, become trespasses against His moral law, and then the penalty becomes chastisement.—From F. W. Robertson, Brighton.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Wilt thou be made whole?—To judge from appearances merely, was there ever a question less necessary than that which the Son of God asked this impotent man? Here was one who had suffered for thirty-eight years, lying among other sick people beside the wonderful pool. He was waiting impatiently for the time when some one would assist him to go down into the pool at the moment when its waters were moved by the angel of the Lord. He yearned for the advent of some kind fellow-mortal to perform this good office for him. He was miserable, and complained that he had not yet been able to find such an one. In short, he desired nothing more ardently than to be healed. No other thought, no other care, so occupied him. Why then ask him, “Wilt thou be made whole?” “But,” says St. Augustine, “this was not without reason. This impotent man was a type of all sinners. And he himself as a sinner could not be healed ere he was converted, according to the method of the Saviour of men, who did not heal men’s bodies without at the same time sanctifying their souls.” Now, however desirous this man might be of healing, perhaps he was not equally desirous of his conversion. And it was for this reason that Jesus Christ, who knew that the one depended upon the other, and who would not accord the one without the other, asked him before everything else: “Wilt thou be made whole?”—Bourdaloue.
The value of the Sabbath.—On the Sabbath this act of healing had taken place. On being expostulated with regarding His acts of healing on the Sabbath our Lord had defended His works of love with man; counter-arguments—e.g., that a man is better than a beast which is led out to be watered on the Sabbath; and that surely on a day of blessing it is lawful to do and to receive good, because the Sabbath was made for man; and whether what David was permitted to do when he had need, what the priests alone could do on the Sabbath, might not be permitted to the Lord of the Sabbath. His kingly authority, however, He demonstrated by this very miracle, and the self-consciousness with which He declared Himself equal with the Father: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work”—unconditionally, continually, whether on the Sabbath—and where were our rest without God’s work?—or in the night, for “the Keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.” Among our people[2] dominates the opposite error to that of the Jerusalem Jews. Not an over, but an under, estimation of the value of the Sabbath rest. Not an observance according to the letter of Sabbath sanctification, but a negligence of the heavenly gift; not an idolatrous reverence of church buildings, but a prevailing neglect and contempt of churches, especially in our large cities. And yet (a fact worthy of notice) it was just in the temple that Jesus found the man who had been healed, and thus had further dealing with him. And so it is still. It is in the house of God where the man who has recovered from sickness, after long absence pays his vows in the presence of God’s people—where he who has been preserved through God’s grace learns to prepare himself to meet evil days.—Dr. R. Kögel
[2] This refers especially to Germany, but is not without application to us.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain Joh 5:1-47. “After these things there was a feast…
CHAPTER 13
THE POOL OF BETHESDA
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Joh 5:1-47. “After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” You always find the phraseology in the Bible, “Go up to Jerusalem.” This was literally true, as Jerusalem is high up on Mt. Zion. It is also a peculiar Orientalism, in harmony with the phraseology of all nations, who, through the ages, have always thus alluded to the seat of Government, whether it be on a lofty mountain or down on the seashore.
“There is in Jerusalem a pool at the sheep-market, called Bethesda in Hebrew, having five porches. In these were lying down a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed, awaiting the moving of the water.” Bethesda means “house of mercy,” because it was a celebrated sanitarium. It is near the gate now called St. Stephen’s, because they say that he was dragged out through this gate, and stoned in front of it, pointing out to us the place of his martyrdom. I went into this pool during both of my visits at Jerusalem. The five porches, with their stone arches, are still there.
Joh 5:4, in E.V., about the angel coming down and troubling the water, and the first incomer being healed, is not in the original, but an interpolation which some one has added.
“And there was a certain man there, having thirty-eight years in sickness. Jesus seeing him lying down, and knowing that he already has much time, says to him, Do you wish to be made whole? The sick man responded to Him, Lord, I have no man that, when the water may be troubled, may cast me into the pool; and while I am going, another goes down before me. Jesus says to him, Arise, take thy bed and walk about. And immediately the man was made whole, and took his bed and continued to walk round. And it was the Sabbath; on that day therefore the Jews continued to say to the man who had been healed, It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed. He responded to them, The One having made me whole, He said to me, Take up thy bed and walk about. Then they asked him, Who is the Man who said to thee, Take thy bed and walk about? And the man who had been healed did not know who He is; for Jesus went out, the multitude being in the place. After these things, Jesus finds him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, thou hast been made whole; sin no more, in order that something worse may not come upon thee. The man departed, and reported to the Jews that Jesus is the One having made him whole. Therefore the Jews continued to persecute Jesus, and seek to kill Him, because He was doing those things on the Sabbath. And Jesus responded unto them, My Father worketh, and I work also, even till now. Then the Jews, on this account, continued the more to seek to kill Him, because He was not only breaking the Sabbath, but was even saying that God is His own Father, making Himself equal to God.” While the Jews could not criticize the miraculous philanthropy of healing the poor man, who had suffered thirty- eight years, they now focalize all their diabolical malice on the Sabbath question, alleging that He was going right ahead with His work on the Sabbath-day. How stunningly Jesus answers them, “My Father worketh, and I work even until now!” — i.e., God goes ahead with His work all day Sunday, keeping the planets spinning in their orbits, worlds moving, systems revolving, the sun shining, rivers flowing, all hearts beating, the blood circulating, the vital functions all going on, and the mighty machinery of the boundless universe still moving along its appointed way. If God did not work on Sunday, the worlds and systems of worlds would cease to move, vital currents no longer flow, and life cease in all the universe. This they could not deny. So Jesus certifies that He is working on through the Sabbath-day in harmony with the example of His Father. Now remember that His example is ours too. Therefore we have no right to spend the Sabbath in idleness, worldly pleasure or pastime. But, like Jesus, we should work hard on the Sabbath, doing good, saving souls, glorifying God, and laboring to girdle the world with gospel grace and heavenly philanthropy. Like all fallen Churches, the Jews had run the forms of religion into silly fanaticism, taking the shadow for the substance. The Sabbath is all right in its place, and we should certainly keep it holy; but remember that it is to be subordinated to the glory of God, and devoted to works of mercy, those of necessity being also recognized. Every age has had its fanaticisms. In my travels I frequently meet these Sabbatical fanatics, preaching holy days instead of holy hearts, disturbing and unsettling the people of God, much to the detriment of our Savior’s kingdom. If the heart is holy, the Sabbath will be kept, and all other duties faithfully performed. I find another class of fanatics preaching baptismal regeneration, thus worshipping a water-god, while the poor Sabbatarians worship a daygod. Good Lord, deliver us from all sorts of idolatry!
“Then Jesus responded and said to them, Truly, truly, I say unto you, The Son is not able to do anything of Himself unless He may see the Father doing something; for whatsoever things He may do, these the Son doeth likewise.” These statements certainly do prove the identity of the Father and the Son, which is in perfect harmony with their distinct personalities. I am editor in the morning, teacher in the afternoon, and preacher at night, thus exhibiting to the world three personal characters, and still I am but one.
“For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth Him all things which He doeth; and greater works than these will He show unto Him, in order that you may be astonished.” Though our Savior, during the first year of His ministry, had wrought many wonderful works, yet those attending His crucifixion witnessed far greater; i.e., the darkening of the sun, the earthquake, the rending of rocks and the temple veil, and His own resurrection and glorious ascension, transcended anything they had hitherto witnessed.
“For as the Father raiseth up the dead and createth life in them, so the Son also createth life in whom He willeth.” Not only does this wonderful and comprehensive statement apply to the resurrection of the body, but pre- eminently to that of the soul, whom God raises from the dead in regeneration, actually “creating life” in that dead human spirit as really as the creation of a world. So Jesus here affirms that He raises from the dead, human souls and bodies, just like the Omnipotent Father.
“For the Father judgeth no one, but hath given all judgment to the Son, in order that all may honor the Son as they may honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father who sent Him.” This not only sweeps away one hundred and seventy-five millions of Mohammedans, who are very zealous worshipers of the Father, but it demolishes all of the Unitarians, who claim to worship and honor the Father, ignoring the Divinity of the Son, and thus insulting Him with the vilest dishonor by degrading Him to the status of a man. Truly do Jesus and Paul say that Christ is a stumbling-block, over which millions stumble and plunge headlong into hell. O how stoutly the Moslem millions do argue and preach against the Divine Sonship, alleging that it is utterly incompatible with the character of God to have a Son!
“Truly, I say unto you, That the one hearing My Word, and believing on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and doth not come into condemnation, but has passed out of death into life.” O what a grand, unmistakable, and irrefutable declaration of salvation through faith alone! In this wonderful verse we see the subject has already passed out of spiritual death into spiritual life, so that he already has in his heart the eternal life, which the angels and redeemed around the throne enjoy, while there is no human condition specified but hearing the Word and believing. Repentance is involved in faith, being a prerequisite, to put us on believing ground, while obedience and a holy life follow invariably, as the stream flows from the fountain. In this one verse we have the whole plan of salvation in a nutshell. What a wonderful text from which to preach the everlasting gospel!
“Truly, truly, I say unto you, That the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and hearing, they shall live.” This has direct allusion to spiritual resurrection. That very moment, the Omnipotent Son of God was standing before them, whose providence it is to speak the dead to life. O what an auspicious time and golden opportunity the thronging multitudes attending the Passover enjoyed! What a pity they let the devil, through the influence of their preachers and leaders, blind their eyes and plunge them into irretrievable ruin, their bodies hastening to an awful death in the destruction of Jerusalem, and their never-dying souls into the doom of a Christless eternity!
“For as the Father hath life in Himself, so He has also given unto the Son to have life in Himself.” Here we see the co-equality of the Son with the Father, having life in Himself, which is peculiar to God alone, thus proving most unequivocally the Divinity of Christ.
“And He hath given Him power also to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man.” It is a precious consolation to know that a member of our own race, in purest and truest sympathy with us, is to judge us in the great day. Whereas fallen human beings are the children of the devil (Joh 8:44), Jesus is the only Son of unfallen humanity the world has ever seen. Hence the Man Jesus is perfectly free from every taint of human corruption. Consequently we know that His judgment in our behalf is not only infallible, but sweetened with that unutterable love which brought Him from heaven to die for us.
“Be not astonished at this; because the hour cometh in which all who are in their graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth: those who have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” Here we have a clear and positive revelation, assuring us that all, both good and bad, will be raised from the dead. While the resurrection and glorification of the bodies of the saints, and their reunion with their spirits, will prove a glorious augmentation of their happiness, it follows, as a legitimate sequence from the law of Divine retribution, that the physical resurrection of the wicked will infinitely increase their torments in the regions of endless woe. There are mysterious problems connected with these momentous truths, solvable only from the consideration of the participation in good or evil appertaining to these bodies. Man is mysteriously and wonderfully made, consisting of spirit, intellect, and body, and all immortal, like God, who created him “in His own image and likeness.” Therefore the body of man is as immortal as his soul. You see how these words of the Savior sweep away the silly dogma of the annihilationist, showing clearly that the bodies of the wicked will be raised in the general resurrection, clothed with immortality, again becoming the receptacles of the wicked souls once inhabiting them, and soul and body, thus reunited, cast into hell, sinking down to deeper depths and more horrific retributions than ever known in the disembodied state. On the contrary, though the saints, disembodied, are perfectly happy in heaven, as everything there is perfect, yet when, responsive to the archangel’s trump, they shall descend and receive their bodies, lustrous with the resurrection glory, and, soul and body united, fly away to explore the boundless celestial universe, with adoring wonder eternally contemplating the ineffable glory of creative Omnipotence, profounder depths, broader latitudes, more infinite longitudes, and more glorious altitudes will continue to burst upon the enraptured soul, now not only in possession of the glorified intellect, but the risen, transfigured, and immortalized body; thus, with ever-increasing sunburst of ineffable glory and immortality, triumphant humanity, probation left far behind in total and eternal eclipse, will sweep on, parallel with the flight of celestial cycles, accumulating new luster, exploring hitherto unseen worlds, and will sweep on through ceaseless cycles of eternity.
“I am not able to do anything of Myself; as I hear, I judge; My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.” Of course, the Divine will of the Son is identical with that of the Father, while His human will must be perfectly subordinated to it, otherwise a trend to aberrate from the Divine will would supervene, which could only prove detrimental and focalize ultimately in selfwill. As the Man Jesus is our Paragon, and He ignored His own will to do that of His Father — thus His human will, not only being subsidiary to, but identical with, the Divine will — so in our case, self-will must be totally abnegated and absorbed in the will of God. You must remember that while Jesus is perfect God, He is also a perfect Man, having a personal human will, like all other men, with the single exception that, having no participation in the fall, His will was always perfectly free from every taint of selfishness.
“If I testify concerning Myself, My testimony is not true.” Lord, save us from testifying about ourselves! Jesus abnegated it. While on earth, He was God’s Witness, testifying to the word the power, love, and grace of the Father. We should do likewise — go and tell the people about God, His wonderful salvation, at the same time, in the attitude of His humble witnesses, testifying to a lost world His power to save, witnessing to all His mighty works in our own souls and bodies.
“There is Another who testifieth concerning Me, and I know that His testimony is true that He testifieth concerning Me. You sent to John, and he testified to the truth; but I do not receive the testimony from man; but I speak these things in order that you may be saved. He was a bright and shining light, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light.” John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets and the greatest of all, was sent of God to witness to the people the Christhood of Jesus. He did his work faithfully, courageously, and unequivocally, not only preaching to the multitude the presence of the Messiah on the earth, but actually pointing Him out, and formally introducing Him to the gazing throng. Those very people, to whom Jesus is here preaching on the Temple Campus, had sent a delegation of priests and Levites to John to make a special inquiry in reference to this momentous issue. To these, John gave a most unequivocal answer, making them all witnesses to his testimony to the Christhood of Jesus. Here our Savior tells them how they “rejoiced for an hour” in the grand and glorious light of John the Baptist. Here He touches a memorable and significant fact; i.e., the evanescence of that wonderful Johannic revival which, beginning in the desert of Judea with the illiterate peasantry, swelling out, magnetized Jerusalem, Judea, and all the regions round about Jordan, so that, dropping their employments, they hastened away to hear the wonderful prophet of the wilderness: the tide rising, the revival wave broadening, multitudes coming from foreign lands; e.g., Apollos from Africa, such a revival having never been known in the annals of the world. Yet how transient the effect! Well does Jesus speak of it as lasting but “an hour.” While that was true of the great multitude, the same tumultuous throng who hung spellbound six solid months on the lips of the eloquent Baptist, three years subsequently, manipulated by their leading ministers, shouted, uproariously, “Crucify Him!” Yet we must remember that the apostles and the original disciples of Jesus, the faithful few who followed Him in all of His peregrinations, and stood by Him in all His persecution — His enemies hounding Him for His life — subsequently receiving the Pentecostal baptism, and preaching the gospel to the ends of the earth, were, in the main, disciples of John the Baptist.
“I have a testimony greater than that of John; for the works which the Father gave Me, in order that I may perfect them, these works, which I do, testify concerning Me, because the Father hath sent Me; and the Father having sent Me, Himself bath testified concerning Me.” While the testimony of John and many others is really conclusive and unanswerable, yet the stupendous miracles which Jesus was all the time performing — so many cases of bodily healing and demoniacal ejectment that we may justly conclude that the New Testament record is but a tithe — prove and demonstrate His Christhood, to the satisfaction of every diligent inquirer after truth, beyond the possibility of cavil.
“You have never heard His voice, nor seen His face, and you have not His Word abiding in you, because you do not believe Him whom He has sent.” Did not God come into the garden and speak to Adam and Eve face to face? Did not Moses look upon the rear of His person as He passed by, putting His hand over him that he might not see His face? Did not Moses abide with Him, hear His voice, and see His face forty days on Mt. Sinai when He gave him the law? Did He not come, accompanied by two angels, to Abraham’s tent at Mamre, conversing and eating with him? There are two Hebrew words occurring throughout the Old Testament representing God — i.e., Elohim, which means God Almighty, the word being in the plural number, including the Son and the Spirit; and Yehovah — i.e., Jehovah, which means the Excarnate Christ. John the Baptist (M. in) and Paul (1 Corinthians 10) certify the identity of the Jehovah of the Old Testament with the Christ of the New. Hence these personal manifestations of God in the Old Testament are the Excarnate Son; as we must remember that Christ has always been in the world, throwing wide open the door of God’s saving mercy to all appreciative souls, making salvation graciously possible in all ages and nations, and under all circumstances, as He is the “True Light, which lighteth every man which cometh into the world.”
“And you have not His Word abiding in you, because you do not believe Him whom He has sent.” Now, remember, Jesus rang out this awful truth in the faces of the pastors of the popular Churches, the great preachers, the ruling elders, and the Official Board. If these people, who claimed to understand and love the Word of God, were in this awful dilemma, “without the Word abiding in them,” should we not all profit by their sad example?
“Search the Scriptures, because in them you think you have eternal life, and they are the witnesses testifying concerning Me; and you do not wish to come to Me, in order that you may have light.” Those people, with the highest culture of the age, graduates from the rabbinical colleges, expounders of the Scriptures in the synagogue, lights and leaders of the people, could not see that the Bible was literally full of Christ. The same phenomenon this day confronts us on all sides: men of highest culture, with collegiate diplomas, standing at the front of the Churches, leaders to whom the multitudes look for light, example, and wisdom, can not find Christian perfection in their Bibles. What is the solution? The Bible is a sealed book until revealed by the Holy Ghost. These people are without the indwelling Expositor, standing precisely where the clergy and official members stood in the days of Christ. They would not come to Christ because they believed they were already saved, when they were barbarically ignorant of first principles.
“I do not receive glory from men; but I have known you, that you have not the love of God in yourselves.” Jesus here uses that profoundly significant word agape, which means the Divine nature, and constitutes the essence of human salvation. The Holy Ghost pours it out into the heart in regeneration (Rom 5:5), while it is made perfect in the sanctification, which eliminates away all depravity, leaving this love to reign in the heart and life without a rival. The very fact that these preachers and influential Church members, to whom Jesus made this statement, were without the love of God abiding in their hearts, simply means that they were sinners, exposed to wrath and hell. Lord, help us to profit by their fatal mistake!
“I have come in the name of My Father, and you are not receiving Me; if another may come in his own name, him you will receive.” A number of false Christs did rise, within the next forty years after this utterance, whom those same people did receive and follow. It is equally true this day, that if a man wants a following, he must come in his own name, with a flourish of trumpets, high-sounding titles, and human display. If he sinks away into God, the world will lose sight of him, and the worldly Churches reject him.
“How are you able to believe, receiving glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory which is with God alone?” Here we see that human ambition, in all of its forms and phases, is incompatible with real faith. For this reason, everything possible should be done to divest preachers and Church members of all human eclat, worldly aggrandizement, and vain glory. Ministerial ambition ruins the clergy and the Churches, defeating all efforts in the way of their sanctification; as no one can be sanctified who is a candidate for anything but reproach, persecution, and heaven. The New Testament bishop is simply a pastor — i.e., a leader of a holiness band, as the apostolic Churches knew nothing about human ecclesiasticisms, but were simply holiness bands. The creation of these high, honorable, and remunerative ministerial offices is calculated to ruin all of the young preachers, inflating them with ambition, and stirring them up to seek office, place, and emolument — i.e., human honor — which Jesus here utterly condemns, certifying its irreconcilable disharmony with faith, without which neither preacher nor people can be saved.
“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; Moses, in whom you have hope, is the one accusing you. If you believe in Moses, you believe in Me; for he wrote concerning Me. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” Our Savior’s learned audience at this time boasted in the discipleship of Moses, claiming to keep every ramification of the Mosaic law, and making it their daily business to expound to the people the Scriptures of Moses; yet Jesus certifies that they didn’t believe them. Of course, they thought they did. Do not forget that the preaching of Jesus is as applicable to the present generation as to His contemporaries. His audience verily thought that they not only believed the Pentateuch of Moses, but were walking daily in obedience to the same. The mystery clears away when we remember that the Bible is a spiritual book, having a spiritual interpretation, of which unspiritual people are utterly ignorant. God’s religion is a secret, which none but God — i.e., the Holy Ghost — can reveal. The apostate Jewish Church had fallen into the hands of the unspiritual clergy, who are utterly incompetent to dispense to the people the bread of life, because they themselves were spiritually dead, and dead men are not very suitable to feed others. John is the only evangelist who gives an account of our Savior’s visit to Jerusalem at this time, attending the second Passover, of His ministry, and preaching to the vast multitudes convened on the Temple Campus. In this chapter he gives us one of the Master’s powerful sermons, which shot the lightning of conviction in forked horrors in all directions, hewing down the tall clergy without distinction or mercy, revealing inbred sin in its Gorgon horrors, and sending the dynamite of conviction into the deep interior of all appreciative hearts, thus scoring deep with the gospel ax, and hewing to the line of the infallible plummet.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain Joh 5:2-3
Joh 5:2-3
Scripture a Record of Human Sorrow
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I. There lay about the Pool of Bethesda a great multitude of impotent folk—of blind, halt, and withered. This is a painful picture, such as we do not like to dwell upon—a picture of a chief kind of human suffering, bodily disease; one which suggests to us and typifies all other suffering—the most obvious fulfilment of that curse which Adam’s fall brought upon his descendants. Now it must strike everyone who thinks about it that the Bible is full of such descriptions of human misery. Little does it say concerning the innocent pleasures of life; of those temporal blessings which rest upon our worldly occupations and make them easy; of the blessing which we derive from the sun and moon and the everlasting hills; from the succession of the seasons and the produce of the earth; little about our recreations and our daily domestic comforts; little about the ordinary occasions of festivity and mirth which occur in life, and nothing at all about those various other enjoyments which it would be going too much into detail to mention. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity; man is born to trouble; these are its customary lessons.
II. God does nothing without some wise and good reason, which it becomes us devoutly to accept and use. In truth, this view is the ultimate true view of human life. But this is not all; it is a view which it concerns us much to know. It concerns us much to be told that this world is, after all, in spite of first experiences and partial exceptions, a dark world; else we shall be obliged to learn it—sooner or later we must learn it—by sad experience; whereas, if we are forewarned, we shall unlearn false notions of its excellence, and be saved the disappointment which follows them. By being told of the world’s vanity at first, we shall learn, not indeed to be gloomy and discontented, but to bear a sober and calm heart under a smiling, cheerful countenance. The great rule of our conduct is to take things as they come. The true Christian rejoices in those earthly things which give joy, but in such a way as not to care for them when they go. For no blessing does he care much, except those which are immortal, knowing that he shall receive all such again in the world to come. But the least and the most fleeting he is too religious to contemn, considering them God’s gift; and the least and most fleeting, thus received, yield a purer and deeper, though a less tumultuous joy.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. i., p. 325.
References: Joh 5:2.—A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 273. Joh 5:3, Joh 5:4.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. vii., p. 194; H. Wace, Ibid., 2nd series, vol. ii., p. 197. Joh 5:4.—G. Colborne, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 360; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 242; vol. viii., p. 202. Joh 5:5-14.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. ii., p. 203. Joh 5:6.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 112.
Joh 5:6-7
Consider whether, over and above the general typical features which we may detect in this miracle, there be not significative circumstances in the history from which, as Christians, we may draw great practical lessons.
I. Observe, that it was only at certain seasons that the angel descended, and only the individual that was instantly on the alert, to take advantage of the troubling of the waters, that was healed of his infirmities. The waters were not at all times equally efficacious, and the dilatory, by letting slip an opportunity, ran no inconsiderable risk of remaining uncured up to the day of their death. Now, we do not mean to say that there is any moment at which men can turn in repentance to God and find Him unwilling to receive them. I do not mean to say of the Fountain open for sin and uncleanness that, like the Pool of Bethesda, it is healing only at certain times, and loses its power when stated solemnities have passed. But, nevertheless, there are precious opportunities in every man’s life, turning-points as we may well call them, on the taking advantage of which may altogether depend his final salvation. So far as we ourselves are individually concerned, the troubling of the waters is an occasional, rather than a permanent, thing. The point to be observed is, that if we be not on the watch for that troubling of the waters, and if we do not, as soon as it takes place, endeavour to avail ourselves of these motions, we are likely to die in the porches of Bethesda, with the sickness of the soul altogether unrelieved.
II. The lesson comes out clear and distinct, that in religion everything depends on taking immediate advantage of the suggestions and emotions of God’s Spirit, seeing that the visitations of grace are only occasional, and there is no pledge that a neglected opportunity will ever be followed by another. There is something singular in the question which Christ proposed to the cripple: "Wilt thou be made whole?" You may possibly decide against being cured. It is a secret unwillingness which frustrates the ordinance of grace, and keeps our Bethesda still crowded with the halt, the withered, and the blind.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 3251.
References: Joh 5:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvi., No. 955. Joh 5:6.—W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 380; J. Williamson, Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 196; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. xiv., p. 302; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 307. Joh 5:8.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 128. Joh 5:9.—Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 133; Church of England Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 258. Joh 5:10-20.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 374.
Joh 5:11
The authority for our life
I. The principle contained in these words of the healed man is a grand and far-reaching principle. When truly interpreted, it applies to the whole life of every saved man. He that saves the soul has a right to command and govern the life.
II. The motive—I mean gratitude—is the purest, the deepest, the strongest, the most constraining, the most abiding of all the motives which a Christian man can feel. There is nothing which it cannot impel us to do, nothing that it cannot enable us to sacrifice, nothing that is cannot strengthen us to bear; and if this ever dies within a man, all that is distinctively Christian dies with it.
III. It is a glorious thing to remember that whatever He commands us to do is right. Having assured ourselves that it is His command, then the obedience should be prompt—as prompt as was the obedience of the healed man, who at once "arose, and took up his bed, and walked."
E. Mellor, In the Footsteps of Heroes, p. 17.
References: Joh 5:11.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1479. Joh 5:13.—Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 129.
Joh 5:14
I. We feel interested in hearing that the impotent man was restored to health, and yet, what was the benefit he received? He lived a few years, and then he died. What is life? Holy Scripture saith, "It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." Therefore, observes St. Augustine, in his comment on this miracle, "In that health was restored to this man’s body for a time, some duration was added to a vapour; so then, this is not to be valued much, for vain is the health of man." The health of the soul is the thing to be thought of, for the soul endureth for ever; and the miracles effected by our blessed Lord on the bodies of men were only types of those greater miracles which, throughout the last dispensation, He works by His Spirit on the souls of men, in their regeneration, renovation, and sanctification.
II. What is our exhortation to those who have come to the Lord and are cleansed through the living stream—the spiritual Bethesda? We do not tell them to take their ease and be at rest. Our Sabbath is not here; it is an eternal one in the heavens. The threescore and ten short years, which is our appointed time on earth, are our working days. And we would send every one away from our Bethesda with the injunction, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk." We would say, Go and serve God by doing the duties of your calling, whatever they may be. Dare bravely to be singular in the cause of Him who died to save you. To be singular, in order to attract notice to yourself, is indeed folly, and it may be a sin; but to be singular in rendering obedience to the word of the Lord, as speaking to you through the precepts of Scripture and the injunctions of your Church—this is the part of godliness. Let your answers to all gainsayers be the same in principle as his was who replied to the cavilling Jews, "He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk; such a Benefactor I cannot distrust; and such a Benefactor I will, by God’s help, in all things strive to obey."
W. F. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles, vol. i., p. 121.
Christian fear of relapse into sin
I. Consider what awful notions our Saviour would here impress on us concerning the future end and sore punishment of sin. Do so no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. From what we read of the sufferings of him to whom this was said, it is plain with what peculiar force the expression would come home to him. "A worse thing:" worse, that is, than a palsy of eight-and-thirty years. Suppose the man never so thoughtless and ignorant, such a threat would naturally fill him with alarm. Coming as it did from One who had just before clearly shown His almighty power! it would set him upon meditating, more seriously than ever he had done, upon the infinite danger of offending God, and the absolute necessity of amending his ways.
II. Where the caution of our Lord is slighted, and the evil habit of a man, suspended only by the affliction, returns and grows over the man anew, or he falls into fresh transgressions, that man’s case is worse in many respects than if he had never been visited at all. (1) First, his wickedness is greatly aggravated by his ingratitute for God’s especial mercies. (2) As such a case is very bad in itself, so it has the worst possible effect. It sears and deadens the heart and conscience, rendering it more and more difficult for any good advice, either of God or man, to find its way into our thoughts. The evil spirit knows his advantage, and presses it, of course, more and more earnestly, with sullen thoughts of the hardship of Christian obedience. While the evil spirit is thus gaining strength, the good Spirit of God is gradually so grieved and vexed that He begins entirely to depart from those who will not listen to His gracious admonitions. And when God leaves a sinner to himself, we know too well what must follow. To all, therefore, who have been made whole by baptism, and not to those only who have been favoured with any signal temporal mercy, the Son of God here gives counsel, that they should make it very much their care to keep up a tender sense of the great things which have been done for them, the wretchedness from which they have been redeemed, and the continual danger of a relapse. It is in vain to think of continuing religious and improving in goodness as a matter of course; your heart must be steadfastly set upon that great blessing, and resolved to obey the good rules, by which only the Holy Spirit has taught us to obtain it.
Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. i., p. 88.
References: Joh 5:14.—J. M. Charlton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 19. Joh 5:15.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 282. Joh 5:16-18.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of St. John, p. 141.
Joh 5:17
I do not think there is a better characteristic of the more earnest thinking of these days than its profound reverence for faithful work; its profound sense that if a man have found his work he has found his felicity. In the text we have our Lord’s own example, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." We are not able to understand much concerning God; but we are perfectly sure of this, that week-day or sabbath-day He is never idle. He does not abide in remote glory, hearkening to the praises of heaven. We think of Him as with the keen eye that misses not a movement of a being in nature; with the sharp ear that loses not a sound; with the unwearying hand that has wrought on from eternity and will work on to eternity. The Being who has set every man his work does not shrink from His own. And if He has appointed man’s lot to be a laborious one, He bids His creature do no other than He does Himself. He does not say, Go; He says, Come.
I. God works in creation. When our bewildered mind owns its utter incapacity to grasp the millionth part of the awful sum that we name so easily when we say the universe, then remember that One Mind planned it all, and One Hand fashioned it; that all this, with its infinite relations and adaptations, of which science is daily telling us more, is God’s work; and think what commentary it reads on my text—"My Father worketh hitherto."
II. God works in Providence. It is fresh this day. It is sustaining each of us at this moment. The universe is not like a machine that just needed to be wound up once and then it could go by itself. It was not enough to launch a world on its orbit and then leave it alone; its course must be steered and prescribed, as it rolls on its way. To think that everything that is high and low, in earth, and air, and sea, is considered by God’s eye, is tended by God’s hand—what a comment on the Creator and Redeemer’s declaration, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."
III. God works in Redemption. What work on God’s part is implied in man’s Redemption! All the persons of the Godhead are tasked here. The Father so loved us as to send the Son; the Son came and lived and died; the Blessed Spirit must now apply the Gospel remedy to the refractory and repellent soul. Truly, in the case of each separate soul brought into the fold of the Good Shepherd, you may see a repetition of the work that was done in the creation, that is done in the Providence of the outer world.
A. K. H. B., From a Quiet Place, p. 225.
References: Joh 5:17.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 14; A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 233. Joh 5:19.—C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons; p. 331. Joh 5:21-23.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 484. Joh 5:23.—H. Bonar, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 163; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 49. Joh 5:22-23.—Ibid., vol. iii., p. 18.
Joh 5:24
There are two things here which at once stand out to the mind with equal prominence—the smallness of the conditions and the magnificence of the offer. The salvation of a man’s soul is simply a matter of capitulation. All that God requires of His creatures, who have become by sin first rebellious and then hostile, is surrender—absolute, unqualified surrender. The terms of this capitulation are simply two—hear the messenger and believe the mission. The proffered result is instant security of life—that life infinitely prolonged, and no punishment.
I. This life which Christ offers to every man is a present possession; it is a fact. The moment that you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ you live, and there is no more death. The elements of death are taken away. You did die with Christ upon the Cross, as a member of His mystical body. Now you as essentially live with Christ; therefore, there is no more death for ever and ever.
II. Secondly, this life lasts. In that life which you have had to do with, and which you used to live before you became a Christian, there was nothing Very lasting; either the thing itself passed away, or the zest of it went, or your power to enjoy it ceased. In this life nothing perishes, because it draws out of the infinite; it is a life with hidden springs in God, and therefore there is eternity in it all.
III. There is nothing now behind; there is no condemnation to you; there is nothing hanging over your head; no future to be afraid of, for your sins have already been condemned and punished in Crist. Being in Him, and continuing in Him, there will be no processes of prosecution, there will be no terror. The old sins lie buried, there is no resurrection for forgiven sins, they will never appear again; they shall not come into judgment.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 121.
References: Joh 5:24.—R. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 17; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxviii., No. 1642; J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 464. Joh 5:24-30.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 495. Joh 5:25.—Church of England Pulpit, vol. v., p. 197; Ibid., vol. xix., p. 277. Joh 5:25-28.—C. J. Vaughan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 262. Joh 5:27.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 97. Joh 5:27-29.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 451. Joh 5:28, Joh 5:29.—Ibid., vol. xii., p. 54; W. Landels, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 412; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xv., No. 896. Joh 5:30.—Homilist, new series, vol. ii., p. 385. Joh 5:32.—H. Calderwood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 266. Joh 5:35.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 95; J. Hamilton, Works, vol. vi., p. 86; M. Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p. 272; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 350; Ibid., third series, vol. i., p. 329; W. Braden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 65; J. Brown, Ibid., vol. xxxiv., p. 168; G. Huntsworth, Ibid., vol. viii., p. 65; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 362. Joh 5:37, Joh 5:38.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 65.
Joh 5:39-40
Searching Scripture and finding Christ
I. It is evident that the failure of many men to find Christ is not from any deficiency in the means of discovering Him. It is this which our Lord so emphatically marks in the case of the Jews. They had the Scriptures, and they searched them. They had the mine, and they dug in that mine in quest of the eternal riches. They not only venerated, but almost worshipped, the sacred volume. With privileges far less than the mass of professing Christians have now, they improved them far more. Yet, after all, they failed; multitudes of those who thus searched the Scriptures failed in finding Christ; or, if they found Him, found Him only to reject Him.
II. The failure in question does not arise wholly from a want of intelligence—right understanding in the use of the means. Observe the case of the Jews, We have seen how they searched the oracles of Divine truth, and let us now observe the views with which they searched them. "Ye search the Scriptures," said Christ, "because in them ye think ye have eternal life." They thus sought the right thing, as well as sought it in the right place. How many Bible readers now-a-days are there of whom even this much can be said? Surely we may ask if the Pharisees and Scribes of those degenerate and unhappy days were not nearer the kingdom of heaven than many of ourselves?
III. Now, then, the true reason for the failure of these men. The evil lay in the will. "Ye are not willing," says Christ, "to come to Me, that ye might have life." It is thus a moral perversity, not an intellectual defect; not a want of light, but a want of love. The reason of this unwillingness is twofold:—(1) The natural carnality of the heart. By nature and by habit we live immersed in the things of sense. At home, among things outward, material, tangible, we with difficulty rise to any conception and contemplation of things spiritual and unseen. (2) The love of sin. They instinctively feel that they cannot come to Jesus and live in His Divine and holy fellowship and yet live in sin. They feel that there is a natural and eternal incompatibility between the two things. They may come to Jesus just as they are, but they cannot abide with Jesus just as they are. Therefore He and they remain strangers for ever. Learn, in conclusion (a) The preciousness of the Bible as a means of leading us to Jesus. (b) The worthlessness of the Bible if it leads us not to Christ.
J. Burns, Select Remains, p. 18.
Joh 5:40
The Lamentations of Jesus
I. Men, before regeneration, and apart from the salvation of God, are in a state which Jesus counts and calls death. In this plaint of the Saviour the true condition of sinners is seen with awful distinctness. No room is left here for dispute or mistake. In the bosom of the Father, Jesus knows the mind of God. He sees the end from the beginning. On the foreground of time He declares that death is men’s character; with His eye on eternity He pronounces that death will be their doom. If we remain to the last where we are found at first we shall be lost for ever.
II. In order to pass from death unto life, it is necessary to come to Jesus. The lost must wrench themselves away from a whole legion of possessing spirits,—come to Jesus as simply and as really as the cured demoniac came, to sit at His feet. To put off the old man and put on Christ is as real as to put off garments that are filthy and put on garments that are clean, and as great in its results as to put off this mortal and put on immortality.
III. In order to life, nothing more is needed than to come to Jesus. No preliminary qualification is demanded. No selection of persons according to their merits is made. None are excluded for the presence of one quality or the absence of another. To the dead one thing only is essential, that they should come to Christ.
IV. Those who are spiritually dead are not willing to come to Christ for life. This seems strange, even the Lord Himself wondered at their unbelief. It is the very mystery of iniquity, that man’s resistance to the Divine proposal is great in proportion to the easiness of its terms.
V. Jesus complains that men will not come to Him for life. It follows from this, as clear and sure as the reflection of your face in a mirror, that He delights to give, to be eternal life to the lost. Here the Saviour opens His heart, that we may look in and see the love that fills it. I know not any passage of Scripture whence the compassion of Emmanuel more freely flows. This plaint, when interpreted aright, is more consoling than any promise—more solemnising than any terror. When Jesus tells us what grieves Him, we learn with certainty what would make Him glad. The inference is infallible. No truth can be more plain or more sure than this, that the flight of sinners to Himself for life is the chief delight of God our Saviour.
W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life, p. 38.
References: Joh 5:39.—W. Dorling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 232; vol. xxxii., p. 250; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, pp. 161, 162; J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 1st series, p. 8; W. Cunningham, Sermons, pp. 42-58; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 186. Joh 5:40.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., pp. 210, 326; E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. iii., p. 47; Homilist, new series, vol. iii., p. 642: L. Campbell, Some Aspects of Christian Ideal, p. 71; G. Macdonald, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 165; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. i., No. 52; vol. xxii., No. 1324. Joh 5:43.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of St. John, p. 156. Joh 5:44.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1245. Joh 6:1-10.—Phillips Brooks, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 364. Joh 6:1-14.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 59; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 291. Joh 6:1-15.—R. Lorimer, Bible Studies in Life and Truth, p. 357. Joh 6:3.—Sermons for Boys and Girls, p. 136.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain Section 1. (Joh 5:1-47.)
Section 1. (Joh 5:1-47.)
Quickening by the sovereign grace of Christ; righteousness attaching to it.
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The first section has been already briefly characterized. We find in it, more clearly than in what has preceded, an incident taken from one of the Lord’s abundant miracles, and made an object lesson from which the teaching following it is drawn. Yet the truth given goes beyond the illustrative object, as is necessarily the case in one way or other with all typical or parabolic teaching: a thing which needs to be at once fully realized, and guarded from the abuse which has been often made of it. We shall have help given as to this in all this part of John.
1. The impotent man as healed by Christ is the object lesson of this chapter. The background of this is the story of Bethesda with its own impotence to heal such a case as his, spite of the angelic intervention, which made the pool a "house of mercy," but with conditions with which the man here before us could not comply. The nature of the disease forbade his availing himself of the proffered remedy.
A "feast of the Jews" brings up the Lord again to Jerusalem. We are not even told what feast it was, and the language seems plainly to tell us why, sufficiently striking as it is, even in John’s Gospel, where alone it is found. A "feast of the Jews," as such, we are outside of here, even though it was the occasion of the Lord’s visit; which, indeed, as all this Jerusalem ministry, only served to expose the hollowness of what was going on there, and along with this the powerlessness of the law itself as a remedy for man’s condition. This last is surely the main point here: it brings us at once to what Bethesda shows us, -a truth which sets aside all help in the old covenant, and shuts one up to the grace of God alone.
Bethesda immediately comes into view with its porches filled with the sick, who are waiting for the visitation of that miraculous power which at a certain season troubled the water. Then for the moment there is healing virtue for the one who can first step in: there is the condition, the only one; whatever the virulence of the disease, it may be cured, if only one can get into the pool; but for impotence there is no healing possible.
In the midst of this multitude our eyes are fixed upon one man who lies there vainly seeking help. For thirty and eight years the disease that has fastened upon him has rendered him helpless; and there he lies in the presence of a remedy which for him is none. Others may be healed, not he. He is not able to step into the pool; he has none to put him in. The desperateness of this condition engages the heart and hand of Jesus on his behalf; he is not put into the pool; but he hears the omnipotent word which heals him, and in a moment rises up, takes up the bed he lies upon and walks.
As all these miracles are types of spiritual healing, we cannot be wrong in interpreting this of such. Moreover, the connection in this case between sin and helplessness is plain from our Lord’s words to this man afterwards (ver. 14). It is a general truth which the Lord affirms that "he that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin" (Joh 8:34, R.V.); and none can break this bondage but the Redeemer of men. All modes of healing man’s disease, short of the power and grace of Christ Himself, do but by their failure make its obduracy more manifest, and the need of Christ. And for this the law was given -not of God’s choice, but of man’s choice -to demonstrate against his unbelief man’s utter helplessness. For all modes of man’s devising are but law in principle, and men can imagine no other: it must be man’s work or God’s grace. Of the impossibility of its being the former Bethesda speaks to us.
The law, indeed, as given the first time, -pure law and nothing else, -had nothing remedial in its nature, and as under it Israel stood not at all, so none could expect to stand. The first tables of the covenant were broken at the foot of the mount by the hand of him who had just brought them down, and nothing remained of it but penalty.
But this was not the sufficient trial of man, for the very reason that in it as yet there was nothing remedial. We recognize without much difficulty that we are sinners, and that God must show mercy, while yet we cannot give up the legal principle. We need forgiveness, -need help, -need abatement of the severity of pure law: that is readily owned; but to give up all possibility -all need, therefore -of human work, man’s pride and conscience unite in an earnest struggle against such a complete setting aside of responsibility, as he imagines it, -such an acknowledgement of complete failure in responsibility as it really means. Thus arise the various schemes of amalgamation of law and grace with which the religious systems of men abound; all of which the second giving of the law anticipated and has set aside, while it has shown how alone such a scheme could satisfy the requirements of the divine character.
The standard of responsibility never can be lowered, whether actually or virtually. The same tables of the covenant that had been broken are restored. The mercy of God may blot out the past, and allow a new beginning, but never an alteration of the terms (if they are to be legal terms) of final acceptance. Thus with the declaration made this second time, that God is "gracious and merciful, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin," it is no less positively maintained that He "can by no means clear the guilty." "When the wicked man turneth from his wickedness, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive"; but it must be "that which is lawful and right," -nothing less. But that is the very thing which is so hopeless.
If God can accept less, how much less? where can one stop? with the best that one can do? A careless soul may treat that carelessly; but who ever has done really the best one could? Will He take less still? These thoughts are only inventions of the enemy, and of which the word of God knows nothing. But then the whole scheme breaks down at that very point.
This Bethesda witnesses: at the place of sheep, whether gate or pool (the doubt about what it is may be itself significant), the "house of mercy" rears its five pillars, clinging still to the number of responsibility, with no help for the impotent such as is this man, for thirty-eight years afflicted for his sin, as Israel for theirs wandered in the wilderness an equal time, until "that evil generation" had perished from among them. No thought could there have been of help in the pool at all, if that heavenly influence had not troubled the water. But for him it is still in vain -vain as the troubling of law by grace, which in a legal system is always that, two contradictory principles being at work in it. From the typical point of view, however, the case of the impotent man is no exception; yet how many as with him think of it as such, are "coming," but always ineffectually, and looking for help, whether from man or God, to get into the pool.
How new an experience comes with the voice of Jesus. "Wilt thou be made whole?" Yet he begins to talk about the pool. Why not? Must it not be of God, when the angel comes down into it? And the law: is it not of God? was it not "given by the disposition of angels"? And we would even have Christ but a servant of Moses, a means of enabling us to keep the law; or One giving virtue to sacramental ordinances, always with man’s aid in some way to perfect them. But Jesus passes by the pool altogether, making whole at once by His word. The thirty-eight years of impotence are ended in a moment: the man rises and walks.
2. Conflict begins on the part of the fleshly religionists who know neither their own need nor the grace of God. We have seen the image of law in the pool, and the grace and power of Christ manifested in contrast with it. We shall find in what follows how fully in accordance with this is the truth that is now to come before us. The healed man in obedience to the Lord’s word takes up his bed.; and that day was the Sabbath. The Jews naturally object that he is violating the law; and his answer throws the entire responsibility for this upon the One who healed him. He knows not even who He is, He has got lost from him among the throng: so that the miracle itself seems to have had no right effect upon him; and this is confirmed by what shortly follows, when the Lord, finding him in the temple, warns him not to bring on himself again by sin a judgment which would increase in severity. The result is that he goes and tells the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.
Thereupon the anger of the Jews flames out against Jesus because He has done these things on the Sabbath. It was for them the sign of that covenant to which they held, and which they did not discern had gone so fatally against them. The Lord in answer takes the highest ground here. True, He works on and knows no rest in His labor of love. He was in communion with His Father, who worked on and knew none. How could He rest -how could they wish God to have His rest, with men in the misery into which sin had brought them? Had they given Him His rest, of whom He had complained that they had made Him to serve with their sins, and wearied Him with their iniquities? (Isa 43:24.) But then where were they with reference to this covenant of law of which the Sabbaths were the sign, and which had gone so terribly against them?
It was indeed the highest ground that He could take, Himself not with the people in their sin and failure, universal as it was, nor under its penalty, but working in the pity of His Father towards them in those divine works which manifested Him as all that He claimed to be. What could they give as answer? Nothing but, alas, the vindictive animosity of their pride so humbled, sin so unanswerably charged against them! Yet how had He charged? Nay, it was not He, whose works of mercy besought them rather to take shelter under the wings that brooded over them. They flung from them the appeal. Of Him, the Son of the Father, in their midst, they will not permit themselves to face the possibility, and as the only alternative must persecute Him to the death for claiming it.
3. They are in fact forced to a decision; and He will not leave them, therefore, without the distinct revelation of the glory that is His. This follows consequently immediately, with an overwhelming argument against their unbelief. The effect seems to have been for the time the silencing of His accusers, although their enmity is not removed, and we find it at His next visit to Jerusalem bursting out in a more determined effort to get Him into their hands.
(1) They might have misunderstood Him as to His unique claim to have God for His Father; although no Israelite would have ventured to speak of God after that manner. That God was a Father to Israel meant something very different, as they rightly conceived, though faith might have found in it an encouragement to draw nearer to Him than in fact there was ability for. But the Lord leaves them no room to doubt in what follows now of the high and exclusive way in which He declares himself the Son of God. Even the refusal of the possibility of an independent will with Him in what He did, was itself a claim of the highest kind that could be made, consistent with the unity of the Godhead. It is true, also, that the unity of which he speaks here is a practical, ethical one, and not a unity of essence; but it goes so far as to lead up to this. He does not either for a moment forget the manhood that He has taken. The Father "shows" Him; He "sees what the Father does" and does in like manner; but who beside the Eternal Son could speak of doing "in like manner" to the Father? even to raising up the dead and quickening them?
The threefold "verily, verily," -the strong form of affirmation which only John records -naturally divides what is here said into three parts; the first of which declares this practical unity. So perfect is it that He can do nothing of Himself; there is a moral impossibility of His doing anything that is not the expression of the Father’s mind. He sees the Father’s doing, and does in like manner whatever the Father does. Omniscience and omnipotence are involved in this, and yet in One who is in the place of dependence, but to whom, in the love He has to Him, the Father shows all things that He does. The One who is able to see all that God sees: who is He?
Thus what had startled the Jews -the recent miracle -was but a small thing in comparison of what would indeed awaken their wonder. The Father, they acknowledged, raised the dead and quickened them*: true, and the Son quickens whom He will. But this involves power in His hands as Judge: for to bring up really from the dead those to whom death, as with men in general, is by divine sentence, means judicial power to reverse that sentence. This leads on to a most important consequence, as we shall see directly. In fact, the Father judges no one, but has committed all (final, definitive) judgment to the Son, giving Him honor such as belongs to the Father Himself; and indeed, necessarily, he who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father either: for He has sent Him. Such is the unity of the Son with the Father. It is a unity in Godhead; or else we are taught to give to a creature the honor due to God alone.
{* Raising the dead without quickening might be, as in the case of Samuel: to make them really alive is a further and greater thing.}
(2) Such then is the glory of the One they are challenging He is the divine Judge of all: the Lord of life and death. Hence follows the blessed consequence: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth Him that sent Me hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but is passed out of death into life." Thus with the possession of eternal life comes deliverance not merely from condemnation, as the common version renders it, but from judgment itself; the very reception of life is an acquittal: the Judge has spoken, and there is no more judgment needing to be reached.
Eternal life is thus marked by bowing to the word of Christ, which is the accrediting of Him who sent Him; and so He says when speaking to the Father at an after-time: "This is life eternal, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent" (ch. 17: 3). On the other hand, those are dead who "having the understanding darkened, are alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness" -or "hardness" -"of their hearts" (Eph 4:18). This, alas, is not the exceptional condition of a few among men, but of the Gentiles, the "nations," says the apostle; and Israel is no better. "As in water face answereth to face, so the heart of man to man." It is God alone who can break through a barrier of this kind, and bring "out of death into life."
(3) Life then is the fundamental necessity, the first thing needed by the soul: there is no middle state, as is evident, between life and death. We have to learn, and it may be only very gradually, as the child born into the world learns, what life is as the condition into which we have come; but without the life itself we could not have even the most rudimentary experience. We live the life, because we have the life whereby we live: if we do not distinguish in the spiritual realm, as we have to do in the natural, these two things from one another, all will be in confusion with us.
Life for the dead is resurrection-life; and the Lord now asserts the power of resurrection to be in His hands in a double way, spiritual and physical. He speaks as the Incarnate Word, and does not go back to the time of His pre-existence. He speaks of what shall be, but what is already begun, and of Himself as the Son of God among men, distinguishing between the "hour" of the spiritual and the "hour" of the physical renewal. The one had come already, though in its full blessedness as in Christianity, it had yet to come. The dead were already hearing the voice of the Son of God, and to every one that heard it it was life. Nor was there any distinction between the life as then given, and the life as it would be given: it was in either case an impartation of the life that was in Himself, as Source of it for men. For as the Father had life in Himself, so had He given to the Son to have life in Himself: "given," according to the divine counsel, to Him who was to be the "Last Adam," the Head of the new humanity; but thus to have it in Himself as the Father had it in Himself, as the Source from which others might derive it.
Let us clearly understand what is taught us here. The life in Him is of course eternal life: we understand why it is eternal; that which is in the Father and in the Son must be so. It is not simply because it will never end, but because also it never began: it always was and it always will be; that is eternity in the full sense of eternity.
It is not eternal life because it has come through death and is beyond it: in the Father, it never came through death; as divine life it never can be touched by it. It begins in us, and in us is in character a resurrection life; but that is not why it is eternal life, but it is eternal because it is divine.
It is life in us also: that is distinctly declared. Quickening is the impartation of life: except it were life in us, it would not be our being made to live at all. It is not Christ’s having it in Himself that constitutes the difference between Him and those to whom He imparts it, but that He has it as the Father has it, is the perpetual Source and Fountain of it to others. We have it always in dependence -always in Him; were it possible to be cut off from Him, all would be at an end for us, but that does not mean that it is not in us, which it is positively asserted to be. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you": that on the one side; on the other, "he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life" (Joh 6:53-54). Thus it is eternal life or no life, and it is of "life in you" -therefore eternal life in you -that He is speaking throughout. Otherwise it would be still true as to the one who had eaten the flesh of the Son of man, that there was no life in him. And again in His first epistle John says, "Every one that hateth His brother is a murderer, and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1Jn 3:15): words that would have no force except from the fact that the Christian has eternal life abiding in him.
Notice that expression, "abiding in him": it naturally refers us to what we have in the Gospel afterwards, where the Lord figures under a vine and its branches the relation of His people to Himself. Here the branch abiding in the vine is the condition of the vine in its life, which is its sap, abiding in the branch. This the Lord follows up with His "ye in Me and I in you" as the condition of fruit-bearing. So in the epistle, the life abiding in the professing Christian is tested by the fruit; the abiding of the life being maintained by the constant active inflow of the fulness that is in Christ into the lives of His people.
That our life is in Christ, then, -or as John rather puts it, in the Son, -is in no wise in opposition to its being in us also, as communicated, dependent life. Such it always is, and always will be. Our ability to define or give it rightful expression is feeble enough; even natural life has never been successfully defined; in cleaving closely to the inspired language we shall find a safeguard to our thoughts which will at the same time help them to legitimate expansion.
If the Father has given to the Son to have life in Himself in the same way that the Father has, the natural corollary to this is that "He hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is Son of man." The giving of life we have already seen in fact to imply such authority, inasmuch as it is at the same time a freeing from judgment; that is, from coming personally into it. A giving account of ourselves there will surely be, and a judgment of works, but not a judgment by works or according to works. That is the judgment of the "great white throne" (Rev 20:12-13), and in it no fallen creature could ever stand. Even the psalmist cries: "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant: for in Thy sight shall no man living be justified" (Psa 143:2). The confusion that exists among Christians in such a matter as this is as lamentable as it is inexcusable: for Scripture has made it as plain as can be, that, raised or changed into His image in glory, all the saints of the present and the past shall at Christ’s coming be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and to be ever with Him. When He comes to judge even the living, we shall be with Him, and with Him "the saints shall judge the world." The judgment of the dead before the great white throne is separated from this by an interval of a thousand years: a broad enough division, surely. But the indifference to prophecy, and even to the subject of the Lord’s coming itself, has had its sad recompense in the loss of knowledge of things of fundamental importance to Christianity itself.
Judgment, all final judgment, is in the hands of Christ alone: for the tender and beautiful reason, "because He is Son of man." By a Man perfect in manhood, who has known even the weakness of it, as that title, "Son of man" indicates, -by One who "gave His flesh for the life of the world" -shall the world be judged. What assurance this gives of the most perfect consideration for creature frailty, of all circumstances that can be pleaded, in the judgment executed!
Lastly, physical resurrection is also in His hand: "The hour is coming in which all that are in the tombs shall hear His voice and shall come forth" -the hour for each and all, but which does not necessarily imply the same hour for each and all: which we are assured by many another scripture that in fact it will not be. "Every man in his own order," says the apostle: "Christ the first-fruits; afterwards they that are Christ’s, at His coming" (1Co 15:23). There is no confusion. "Each" will be "in his own rank," as it would be better rendered; and each rank will come forth at its appointed time; only "they that are Christ’s, at His coming."
Time is not specified in the Lord’s words here; for time does not affect the question of authority, and it is of the authority given to Him that He is speaking. But the "life" and "judgment" which are in His hands to dispense characterize respectively two contrasted resurrections. "They that have done good "come forth" to a resurrection of life; and they that have done evil to a resurrection of judgment." In either case death is seen in its merely provisional character: for the full carrying out of God’s purpose it must disappear. Man apart from the body is not man as God made him; and therefore not what His dealings contemplate. Life, on the one hand, claims the body of the saint; as judgment, on the other hand, the body of the sinner. It is for the "deeds done in the body" men are to receive; and it is in the body that they are to receive it. And it is noticeable that the saint here, as well as the sinner, is characterized by his "doings." Although life is a "gift," and not a reward, yet the fruits of that life, brought forth by the renewed man, are recognized in the resurrection. The holiness of God is seen in result to have been maintained by His grace, as it is manifested in the judgment of evil.
4. Thus the Lord has in the presence of His enemies, soon to be as criminals before His judgment-seat, revealed His personal glory as the Son of the Father, with the authority belonging to Him as Man, come in the purpose of divine love among men. He proceeds to reprove them for their unbelief, in view of the witness that had been given to Him in so many ways. The character of His own testimony; the testimony of His forerunner; the supernatural works which accredited Him on the Father’s part; the Father’s own testimony; the Scriptures accepted by themselves: all united to put His claims beyond the power of all the cavils of unbelief to affect. And He then proceeds to point out the nature of the unbelief itself which they manifested, what it proceeded from, what it would lead to, and leaves them in the hands of Moses, whom they so trusted, yet who was their real accuser before God. It is a crushing reply, which for the present seems to stagger and confound them, so that we hear of nothing from them more, until after another period of labor in Galilee, He returns at the feast of tabernacles to Jerusalem.
(1) He returns to speak of that practical oneness which he had with the Father, which forbade Him doing anything simply of Himself. As a consequence, no independent will of His own perverted His judgment. He judged as He heard: that is, according to the real facts of the case. This perfect simplicity made His word to be indeed the word of God, and to have a character far removed from that of others. Thus it had to be confessed, "Never man spake like this Man." It was indeed the most signal witness to Him. Yet it stood not alone: it would have been an anomaly had it done so, and the word of the law, "the testimony of two is true," would have rendered it invalid. If He bore witness regarding Himself, though perfectly qualified to do so, it would not by itself be valid: which is clearly the meaning of the law. The testimony of one man might be true -absolutely; just as true in itself as that of two. But it would not be true in the same way to others: it would need confirmation. The Lord appeals therefore to another testimony -His Father’s. This confirmed His own in such a way as that there could not be any more testimony needed. And, in fact, all the testimony of which He speaks here resolves itself into these.
(2) John’s testimony He refers to: a merciful concession to the need of man, though as a merely human one He could not have need of it. It was a call to rouse men’s attention and awaken the sense of need on their part; and in fact many had been roused: they had sent to him and he had borne witness to the truth. He was as the lamp, burning and shining, not the light of day, but lighting up the darkness of the night. They had been glad of it, and willing to avail themselves of its cheer for a season. Limited like all of man both as to time and place, John’s testimony had of necessity to give way to Him of whom he testified.
(3) But now there was greater witness. The glorious works that were being done by Him, and which in their completeness spoke of a work far more glorious, these were gifts from the Father which manifested His Son, while the Father had even directly uttered His voice in attestation. But they, alas, had never at any time heard His voice -to them He had never spoken; nor had they seen one form of His many manifestations.
(4) The Lord proceeds to speak of what in one sense was, in another should have been, a matter of their own experience. Scripture was in their bands, they searched it, they thought they found in it eternal life. Well it spoke of Him, the Giver of life: yet they would not come to Him to find it. In fact they had not God’s word abiding in them; for the One whom He had sent they believed not.
(5) The truth was, the conditions of faith were lacking in them. They received glory from one another; they did not seek it from God; they had not the love of God. Thus One coming in His Father’s Name they would not receive. But that would put them into the hands of Antichrist. He will come in his own name, doing his own will, and be received. A solemn thing to realize, and yet most sure, that all that would displace Christ in the soul makes room for Antichrist.
They could not believe, therefore. Moses had written of Him; and they trusted Moses, without believing His testimony. Moses, not He, was their accuser. If they had believed Moses, they would have believed Him. If they believed not Moses’ writings, how would they believe His words? A serious question for the days in which we are.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain Bethesda. Christ and the Sabbath
Bethesda. Christ and the Sabbath
1-47. A miracle at the Pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath Day, and a controversy arising therefrom. This miracle may be regarded as a parable illustrating the deadly effects of sin, and the power of the Saviour to deal with the most hopeless cases. This poor man in his youth had shattered his nervous system by a life of sensual indulgence (Joh_5:14), and had lain for thirty-eight years a hopeless paralytic (Joh_5:5). This being an extreme case, the usual order of Christ's miracles is reversed. Instead of being wrought as a reward of faith (see Joh_5:13), the miracle is wrought to produce faith. The man was too much broken down in mind and body to believe, until some signal mercy had been vouchsafed to him. The mercy was vouchsafed, and repentance and faith followed (Joh_5:14).
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This visit to Jerusalem took place in March, 28 a.d., consequently the Galilean ministry mentioned Joh_4:54 lasted three or four months. Among its most notable incidents were the appointment of the Twelve and the Sermon on the Mount. Desiring to visit Jerusalem without interrupting the Galilean work, our Lord sent the apostles on a preaching tour through the country (Mar_6:7), and then went up to the capital, either alone, or more probably accompanied by St. John, who acted as His host. Having stayed there about a week, He rejoined the Twelve in Galilee, shortly before the Passover, 28 a.d. (Mar_6:30 : cp. Joh_6:4).
1. A feast] i.e. the Feast of Purim, which occurs in March (Adar 14, 15), about a month before the Passover. Its origin is doubtful, though the Jews commemorated in it the triumph over Haman, who proposed to exterminate the Jews in the Persian empire on a particular day (13th Adar, 473 b.c.), chosen by lot (pur, Est_3:7). The feast was mainly of a convivial and charitable character, but in the synagogues the book of Esther was read, and the congregation applauded the name of Mordecai, and cursed that of Haman. (An inferior but strongly supported reading here is 'the feast,' which would probably mean the Passover. Those who adopt it are compelled to add a whole year to Christ's ministry.)
2. Sheep market] RV 'sheep gate': cp. Neh_3:1; Neh_12:39. Bethesda] i.e. 'house of mercy,' or, possibly, 'house of the stream,' is perhaps the Virgin's pool, SE. of the Temple, the only natural spring in Jerusalem. It is an intermittent spring, and when 'the troubling of the waters' occurs, the Jews still bathe in it for medicinal purposes. Variant spellings are 'Bethzatha' and 'Bethsaida.'
3, 4. The best authorities omit the words waiting for.. whatsoever disease he had, which describe the troubling of the water by an angel. The troubling of the waters was a natural phenomenon, which popular superstition ascribed to supernatural agency.
8. Thy bed] i.e. mat.
10. The man's act was not unlawful, even from the OT. standpoint. Jer_17:21 and Neh_13:19 only forbid the bearing of burdens on the sabbath in connexion with labour and trade.
15. And told the Jews] doubtless to win honour for Jesus as a prophet and worker of miracles.
17. RV 'My Father worketh even unto now, and I work.' (1) These words enunciate a new ideal of the sabbath. The 'rest' of God after the creation, which the sabbath typifies, is not mere inertia, but activity in doing good. So man's true sabbath rest is not inactivity, but leisure for work of a higher character, e.g. the worship of God, and works of mercy. (2) The words also imply our Lord's Deity, for (a) He claims that God is His Father in a unique sense ('My Father,' not 'our Father'), and (b) He coördinates His own work with God's.
19-29. An important doctrinal section. Our Lord, while affirming His filial subordination to the Father ('the Son can do nothing of Himself,' Joh_5:19), and the derivation of His own Being from His (Joh_5:26); yet declares that He exercises the Father's whole power and authority (Joh_5:20);—the power to quicken those dead in sins (Joh_5:25), the power to raise men from literal death at the Last Day (Joh_5:28), and the power to judge the world (Joh_5:22). He accordingly demands 'that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father.'
20. Loveth the Son] Hence God is love (1Jn_4:8) from eternity. Greater works] something greater than miracles; the giving of new life to those dead in sins (see Joh_5:21, Joh_5:24-25).
21. This v. speaks both of spiritual and literal death.
24. Heareth] and obeyeth.
25. The dead] i.e. the spiritually dead. They are raised from the death of trespasses and sins to a new life by the preaching of the gospel.
26. The Father is the fountain of life even within the Godhead. From Him the Son is begotten, and the Spirit proceeds.
27. Because he is the Son of man] rather, 'because He is man,' lit. 'a son of man.' As man He can sympathise with the nature which he shares: cp. Heb_4:15.
28. The literal resurrection at the last day is meant.
29. Damnation] i.e. condemnation, lit. 'judgment.'
30-36. Our Lord mentions four 'witnesses' through which men may be brought to believe in Him: (1) the witness of the Baptist, good, but insufficient; (2) the witness of the Father, which Christ's hearers are not willing to receive; (3) the witness of Moses and the prophets, which they also reject; and (4) the witness of Christ's own 'works,' the character of which is sufficient evidence that the Father has sent Him.
30. As I hear] viz. from the Father.
31. Christ's witness to Himself could not be received according to the principles of Jewish law: see Joh_8:13, and cp. Num_35:30; Deu_17:6.
32. Another] i.e. the Father, not the Baptist.
34. 'I attach little importance to John's testimony, for he, though a prophet, was but a man. Nevertheless, since you attach importance to it, I will use it, for I wish, in whatever way, to bring you to believe in Me, and so to be saved.'
35. 'John is only a lamp or lantern, shining feebly by borrowed light; I am the True Light which he feebly reflects.' Ye were willing] John's ministry was plainly past.
36. The works] include the miracles, but should not be confined to them. The gracious character, and redemptive purpose of Christ's acts, prove that they come from God.
37. The witness of the Father is given (1) in the OT. Scriptures, (2) in the response of all that is good in the heart of man to the teaching of Christ. The divine element in man, which the Father planted there, recognises and welcomes the divine in Christ: cp. Joh_3:21.
38. His word] is not here the Scripture, but the Divine Voice speaking through the conscience and spiritual nature of man.
39. Search] rather, 'Ye search' (RV).
43. If another] 'A false Messiah, adapting his views to your carnal ideas, you will receive.' Our Lord's words were literally fulfilled a century later, when the bulk of the nation accepted the claims of the impostor Barcochba.
46. He wrote of me] in type and figure as well as in direct prophecy.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XXXVII. Jesus Heals…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XXXVII. Jesus Heals on the Sabbath].
P A R T F I F T H. FROM SECOND PASSOVER UNTIL THIRD. TIME: ONE YEAR.
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XXXVII. JESUS HEALS ON THE SABBATH DAY AND DEFENDS HIS ACT. (At Feast-time at Jerusalem, probably the Passover.) dJOHN V. 1-47.
d1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [Though every feast in the Jewish calendar has found some one to advocate its claim to be this unnamed feast, yet the vast majority of commentators choose either the feast of Purim, which came in March, or the Passover, which came in April. Older commentators pretty unanimously regarded it as the Passover, while the later school favor the feast of Purim. Joh_4:35 locates Jesus in Samaria in December, and Joh_6:4 finds him on the shores of Galilee just before a Passover. If, then, this was the feast of Purim, the Passover of Joh_6:4 was the second in Jesus' ministry, and that ministry lasted but two years and a fraction. But if the feast here mentioned was a Passover, then the one at Joh_6:4 would be the third Passover, and the ministry of Jesus lasted three years and a fraction. Since, then, the length of Jesus' ministry is largely to be determined by what the feast was, it becomes important for us to fix the feast, if possible. That it was not Purim the following arguments may be urged. 1. Purim was not a [192] Mosaic feast, but one established by human laws; hence Jesus would not be likely to observe it. True, we find him at the feast of Dedication, which was also of human origin, but he did not "go up" to attend it; he appears to have attended because he was already in Jerusalem ( Joh_10:22). 2. Here the pregnant juxtaposition of "feast" and "went up" indicates that Jesus was drawn to Jerusalem by this feast, but Purim was celebrated by the Jews everywhere, and did not require that any one should go to Jerusalem, as did the three great festivals--Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. 3. It was kept in a boisterous, riotous manner, and was therefore not such a feast as Jesus would honor. 4. It came early in the year, when the weather was too rigorous and inclement for sick people to frequent porticos. 5. It did not include a Sabbath Day. 6. As Purim was just a month before the Passover, Jesus would hardly have returned to Galilee before the Passover ( Joh_6:4) unless he intended to miss the Passover, which he would hardly do for the sake of attending Purim in Jerusalem. Those contending that it was not the Passover, present several arguments, which we note and answer as follows: 1. Since John gives the name of other Passovers, he would have named this also, had it been one. But the conclusion is inferential, and not logical; and the answer is to be twofold: first, perhaps John did give the name by prefixing the article to it, and calling it "the feast," for being the oldest--older than the law and the Sabbath--and most important of all feasts, it was rightly called by pre-eminence "the feast." Since the Sinaitic manuscript gives the article, and calls it "the feast," the manuscript authority for and against this reading is pretty evenly balanced. Second, if John did not name it, there is probably this reason for his silence. Where he names the feast elsewhere it is thought that the incidents narrated take color from, or have some references to, the particular festal occasion which is named; but here there is no such local color, and failure to name the feast prevents mistaken attempts to find such local color. 2. Again it is objected that if this is a different Passover from Joh_6:4, then John skips [193] a year in the life of Jesus. He probably does so skip, and this is not strange when the supplemental nature of his Gospel is considered. In favor of its being the Passover we submit two points: 1. Daniel seems to forecast the ministry of the Messiah as lasting one-half of a week of years ( Dan_9:27). 2. It fits better in the chronological arrangement, for in the next scene we find the disciples plucking grain, and the Sabbath question is still at full heat. But the harvest season opens with the Passover.] 2 Now there is [the present tense is used, for while the city was destroyed, the pool evidently still existed.] in Jerusalem by the sheep i gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew [i. e., in Aramaic, a dialect of the classic Hebrew, in which the Old Testament was written, and the language then in use in Palestine] Bethesda, having five porches [It had five covered porticos, probably erected for the accommodation of the sick, whence it is called Bethesda, i. e., "house of mercy." Dr. Barclay thinks that this pool is buried in the rubbish of the Kedron valley. Dr. Robinson suggested that it might be the Fountain of the Virgin, which is found in a cavern under the east side of Ophel, a little north of midway between the southeast corner of the temple wall and the Pool of Siloam. Though this pool's claim has been objected to because of its inaccessibility--for it lies thirty feet below the surface of the valley and forty feet back under the mountain, and is approached by two flights of steps numbering in all twenty-six--yet it has three distinct features which make its claim exceed those of any other known pool in the temple neighborhood: 1. It is fed by an intermittent spring, whose ebbing and flowing at intervals of several hours, would cause the troubled waters called for in Joh_5:7. 2. It has a superstition connected with it kindred to that which crept into the text at Joh_5:4, but the Mohammedans have changed the angel into a dragon; when the dragon is awake he swallows or stops the water, but when he sleeps the water flows! 3. The modern Jerusalem Jews believe in the special healing properties of this fountain. "Every day," says Conder, "crowds of both sexes go down [194] to the spring, and, entering the dark archway, descend the steps, and await the fitful troubling of the waters, which rise suddenly and immerse them, fully clothed, nearly up to the neck." But Nehemiah's description of the walls seems to locate the sheep gate near the middle or northern portion of the temple area, and too far north for the Virgin's fountain to be described as near it, unless John's sheep gate differs from that of Nehemiah.] 3 In these lay a great multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered. [The Joh_5:3, Joh_5:4, as given in the King James version, were probably added as a marginal explanatory gloss early in the second century, and from thence gradually became incorporated in the text. John's failure to mention that the pool was thought to have medicinal qualities tempted transcribers to add a few marginal words in the nature of comments.] 5 And a certain man was there, who had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity. [It is not said that he had spent all these years beside the pool, nor is it likely that he had. The time is given to mark the inveteracy of the disease, and to show the pathos of his situation. The facts that he had a bed, and that his healing was demonstrated by his walking, argue that his disease was either rheumatism, or some form of paralysis.] 6 When Jesus saw him lying, and knew [By divine intuition, just as he also knew the lives of Nathanael and the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well] that he had been now a long time i in that case, he saith unto him, Wouldest thou be made whole? [By this question Jesus aroused the man from the apathy of despair, awakening him to hope and effort. Moreover, Jesus only healed as men consented to his healing.] 7 The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. [The man's lack of healing was not due to want of interest, but to want of means. The lower flight of ten steps leading to the Virgin's pool is only four and half feet wide, and the pool itself is but twenty-one feet and nine inches by nine feet [195] in breadth at its widest part. A half-dozen selfish men rushing down this narrow passage, and filling the small space in the pool, would easily crowd out one who was friendless and more than usually helpless.] 8 Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. [The bed was the light mattress or pallet of the poor elsewhere noted, which could be easily rolled up and carried under the arm.] 9 And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked. [Christ spoke, the man obeyed, and by the obedience of faith was made whole.] Now it was the sabbath on that day. [There was apparently nothing urgent in the sick man's condition which made an immediate cure necessary; but Jesus healed because it was the Sabbath, that he might thereby draw such an issue between himself and the Jewish rulers as would afford opportunity for him to present his divine claims to them in the clearest and most forceful manner. He healed on the sabbath, that he might assert divine relations to the Sabbath, and by so doing bring about a disputation which would enable him to develop before them his divine relations to the Father.] 10 So the Jews [That is, the Jewish rulers. John frequently uses the term with this restricted meaning ( Joh_1:19, Joh_7:13, Joh_9:22, Joh_18:12, Joh_18:14). The man was officially stopped and questioned] said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed. [They would have cited in proof of their assertion Exo_31:13, Num_15:35, Jer_17:21-23, Neh_13:19. Alford and Schaff both assert that the man broke the Mosaic law; but this position is not well taken. Jesus would not have ordered the sabbath to be broken, for he came to fulfill and not to break the law. At no time did he break the sabbath or countenance its violation, as some able thinkers are erroneously led to suppose. In this case a man lying on his bed, away from home, is suddenly healed. Under such circumstances Jewish tradition said that he must either spend the rest of the day watching his bed, or else he must go off and leave it to be stolen. But He who rightfully interpreted the law of [196] his own devising, and who knew that "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath," ordered the healed one to carry his bed along home with him. The modern notions that this constituted a breach of the Mosaic sabbath doubtless arose from the nature of the accompanying justification given by Jesus, which fails to assert that the law has not been broken, but seems almost to admit that it has. Nothing, however, can be argued against Jesus on this score. A man may be able to justify an act in a dozen different ways, and may choose to rest content in justifying himself in only one way. Such is the case here. Elsewhere we shall find that Jesus was careful to show that his sabbatic actions were strictly legal; but in this case, that he might bring his divine claims plainly before the rulers, he ignored the question as to the human legality of his act that he might present without confusion its divine legality. Hence he used only one order or method of justification; viz.: an appeal to his divine rights as exhibited in the habits of his Father. It was the divine and not the human in Jesus which wrought this miracle, so Jesus causes the whole controversy to turn on the divine rights, that he may use the occasion for an elaborate discussion of his divine claims and the proofs by which they are sustained.] 11 But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. [The man very naturally shifts the burden of responsibility. If he was violating the sabbath, he had been ordered to do it by one who had alone empowered him to do it. Of himself he would not and could not have done it.] 12 They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take up i thy bed, and walk? [By using the word "man" they suggest the contrast between human authority and divine law. They were more concerned about the law than about mercy.] 13 But he that was healed knew not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. [Jesus, not wishing to unduly excite the multitude by his presence, had passed on.] 14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the [197] temple [possibly he was there offering sacrifices in thanksgiving for his recovery, in the spirit of Psa_66:13, Psa_66:14, but it is as likely that he was there merely enjoying the sights and privileges from which he had so long been excluded], and siad unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee. [Many human ills are directly traceable to sin, and this one appears to have been so; for death is the wages of sin, and sickness is partial payment. It is a solemn thought that sin can produce worse conditions than even this case, where it found its victim in youth, and left him a withered old man, bed-ridden, helpless, and friendless.] 15 The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole. [There was evidently no unworthy motive in his action; for, as Chrysostom observes, he did not report it that it was Jesus who made him break the sabbath to condemn Jesus; on the contrary, he said it was Jesus who made him whole, so honoring Christ. Feeling (as any Jew would have felt) that he ought to clear himself before the rulers of his people, the man, no doubt, honestly thought that the name and authority of the great Prophet of Nazareth would end all question as to the conduct of both Healer and healed. If so, he was sadly mistaken.] 16 And for this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus [Literally, pursued, or hunted Jesus. This is John's first plain declaration of open hostility to Jesus, though he has already implied it. From this point the blood red line of conspiracy against the life of Jesus runs through this Gospel], because he did these things on the sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. [The dual nature of Jesus permitted both a divine and human attitude toward the sabbath. We have shown that Jesus chose to assert his divine attitude, for in no other matter did these Jews have clearer distinction as to the difference between divine and human right than in this matter of sabbath observance. If Jesus was a mere man, their ideas of law clearly condemned him; but if Jesus were indeed God, their knowledge of divine conduct in the whole realm of nature [198] clearly justified him, and the miracle asserted his divine control in nature's realm. While God rested from creation on the sabbath, nothing can be clearer than that in works of sustenance, reproduction, healing and providence, God has never rested, and never made distinctions between the days of our week. In the light of the gospel we find also that his redemptive work has never ceased and, considering the part which Jesus was even then accomplishing in this field of labor, his words, "and I work," are full of meaning.] 18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath [Not only violated, but denied its authority over his divine nature], but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. [They rightly interpreted Jesus as asserting relationship to God differing from that sustained by others, as expressed in some few passages in the Old Testament, where God is spoken of as a Father to the people generally; i. e., their Creator. No man could claim such unity of nature as would exempt him from the obligation of the fourth commandment. Had they misunderstood Jesus in this all-important point, how quickly would he have corrected them, for he could not have been less righteous than Paul and Barnabas-- Act_14:11-15.] 19 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them. [His answer is a connected address, the theme being his own character, mission, authority, and credentials as the Son of God. It is the Christology of Jesus, and instead of being a retraction of the claim to divinity which the Jews accused him of making, it is a complete and amplified reassertion of it, so that Luther fitly called it "a sublime apology, which makes the matter worse." Jesus first declares his relations to the Father ( Joh_5:19-23), which are set forth in four divisions, each of which is introduced by the word "for;" viz.: 1. Unity of action. 2. Unity of love, counsel, and plan. 3. Unity in life-impartation. 4. Unity in judgment, resulting in unity of honor. This last division formed a turning-point in the discourse. Since there is there unity of honor, it is important that men should honor Jesus, [199] and also otherwise sustain right relationships to him, and Jesus therefore, to enlighten the Jews as to their duty toward him, proceeds to set forth his relations to men ( Joh_5:23-30), which he also gives in four divisions, closely correlative to his four statements as to the Father, thus: 1. Right to receive divine honor from men. 2. Authority to execute life and death judgment over men. 3. Power of life-impartation as to men, and that both spiritually and literally. 4. All Jesus' relationships to man to be sustained and executed according to the will and plan or mission of God. But since all these various relationships grow out of his divine nature, Jesus next submits the credentials which establish his claim to such a nature ( Joh_5:31-39). These also are given in four divisions; namely: 1. Testimony of the Baptist. 2. Testimony of the Father. 3. Jesus' own works and ministry. 4. Testimony of Scripture. Or we may regard Jesus as asserting that the Father testifies to the Son's divinity in four different ways; that is, "God is properly the sole and original testifier, and all others are his signatures and seals." The discourse then closes with an application of its truth to the Jewish auditors ( Joh_5:40-47). They are told that all this truth is lost on them because of their own fourfold sinful condition, which is thus stated: 1. Want of will to come to Christ. 2. Want of real love toward God, or desire for his honor. 3. Love for the honor of men, rather than the honor of God. 4. Want of real faith in the Mosaic writings], Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. [The Jews regarded Jesus as claiming equality with God in a vain-glorious, honor-seeking spirit; but Jesus restates himself, so as to show that the claim is really a renunciation or abdication of all independent greatness--as having an equality exercised in absolute subservience ( Isa_42:1, Phi_3:6-9). They had accused him as a human being acting contrary to the law of the Father. But he declares himself to be a divine being, so united to the Father as to have no will or action apart from the Father, a condition the resultant of which is [200] not weakness and insufficiency, but the strength and perfection arising from an absolute and indissoluble union with the Father--the glory of divinity. Chrysostom remarks, "Just as when we say, it is impossible for God to do wrong, we do not impute to him any weakness, but confess in him an unutterable power, so also when Christ saith, 'I can of mine own self do nothing,' the meaning is that it is impossible--my nature admits not--that I should do anything contrary to the Father." Jesus asserts his equality with the Father in such a way as not to depreciate the dignity and glory of the Father.] 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel. [The words here indicate that the love of the Father towards the Son was source of revelation, and that the revelation was progressive. Love constrained the Father to reveal, and love in turn constrained the Son to act according to the revelation. Moreover, this unity of love would be evidenced by greater works in the future, of which two are enumerated; namely, resurrection and judgment, the former being at first spiritually and afterwards literally outlined. The Father would show these works to the Son by causing him to do them; there would be no separate act of the Father so that the works would be twice performed. These works would produce faith in those of right spirit. But among such hardened hearts as those whom Jesus addressed they would only produce wonder and consternation. Those who withheld the tribute of faith should pay that of amazement. Putting the statements of Joh_5:19, Joh_5:20 together, we find that the Son knows all that the Father does, and likewise does all that the Father does, and in like manner. There could be no higher assertion or equality than this; in fact, it asserts identity rather than equality. But the equality is not the result of conquest, nor was it one of power opposed to power, but is freely given and accorded by reason of love.] 21 For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. [Since the verbs in this [201] verse are in the present tense, and since Jesus is not known to have raised the physically dead before this time, it is rightly taken that he her speaks only of raising the spiritually dead, our miserable existence in sin being often spoken of in Scripture as a death from which we must be revived ( Eph_2:1, Eph_2:5, Col_2:13, Rev_3:1). The use of the word "will" likewise indicates a spiritual resurrection, for Christ exercised a discrimination in such resurrections; but the final, literal resurrection is without discrimination. See the word "all" in Joh_5:28. The meaning, therefore, is that as the Father performs physical resurrections, so the Son (for the present) performs spiritual resurrections (to be followed by physical resurrections). Jesus later gave those at Jerusalem a sign of his power to literally raise the dead by the resurrection of Lazarus. Resurrection is bestowed or withheld according to Jesus' will, but his will is not arbitrarily exercised. He visits those who receive him, and revives those who believe him. If the Son possessed right of concurrent action on these lofty planes, concurrent use of the sabbath was a small matter indeed.] 22 For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son. [That is to say, the Father does not act in judgment without the Son, nor the Son without the Father, for in no work is either isolated from the other. Resurrection is nearly always associated with judgment, and in this instance it is in reviving that the judgment is manifested or executed. (See Joh_5:29 also.) Note that judgment begins in this world-- Joh_9:39]; 23 that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. ["Even as" means in the same manner and in equal degrees. The prerogative of judgment was committed unto Jesus that men might behold his true majesty. If this verse does not teach us to worship Jesus as God, language can not teach it, for God gives not his glory unto another ( Isa_42:8), nor could he, by reason of his very nature, arbitrarily will such honor to one whose character and nature were unworthy of it. In these words Jesus exposed the ruinous attitude assumed by the Jews in seeking to slay him.] [202] He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him. [Honor paid to the Father pertains or belongs to his nature and character. But the Son is the manifestation of that nature and character ( Joh_14:7-11, Heb_1:3). Therefore to fail to honor the Son is to fail to honor the Father. Experience shows it to be the rule that only those who honor Jesus take pains to honor the Father.] 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life. And cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. [Eternal life is a present gift, just as condemnation is a present condition ( Joh_3:18). To "hear" means in this case to receive and obey, so that eternal life is conditioned upon a knowledge of the revelation of the Father and Son, and a right use of that knowledge. Those who have learned of and obey Jesus have already escaped or avoided the judgment-- Rom_8:1.] 25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. [The "hath passed" of Joh_5:24 and the "now is" of this verse show that Jesus is, thus far, primarily speaking of a present and hence a spiritual resurrection, or regeneration. Christianity, or the dispensation of regeneration, was to formally begin at Pentecost, but it was already present in a preliminary form in the teaching of Jesus, for those who hearkened to it were counted as already redeemed. Yet the spiritual condition of even the apostles was at that time such that the hour of grace is spoken of as more future than present--more "coming" than "at hand."] 26 For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself [Not only an independent life, such as man does not possess ( Act_2:27, Act_2:28), but a life which is a source of life to others. This regenerating power completed Jesus' official status as judge, so that wherever he awarded life, he could at the same time bestow it]; 27 and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. [We can see several reasons, [203] humanly speaking, why the humanity of Jesus should be made a ground for committing the judgment of the races of men to him: 1. Jesus having experienced our infirmities and temptations, we can feel sure of his sympathy ( Heb_4:15, Heb_4:16). 2. Jesus, partaking of the nature of both God and man, is, because of his unique nature, the only fit daysman or umpire between them ( Job_9:33). Possibly we may regard it as a reward of humility-- Phi_2:8, Phi_2:9.] 28 Marvel not at this [Jesus seems to here answer the surprised expression of their faces by enlarging his statements]: for the hour cometh, in the which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, 29 and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. [We have here the future, literal, and final resurrection ( Dan_12:2); a scene of such stupendous grandeur as to overshadow all the marvelous in all that Christ shall have previously done.] 30 I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. [Jesus here reasserts his dependence upon the Father, not as a bare repetition of his relationship to the Father, but for the purpose of developing his relationship to men as based on or growing out of this relationship to the Father. The Jews, as they listened to him, were conscious that he was even then judging and passing sentence of condemnation upon them. Jesus does not deny the correctness of this view, but shows that, because of his relationship or dependence upon the Father, they are getting perfect justice, for: 1. His judgment was free from all personal bias and selfish retaliation, and was, 2. Positively perfect, being wholly inspired by the Father's will.] 31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 It is another [i. e., the Father; for similar reference, see Joh_8:50-54] that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true. [These two verses form, as noted, a transition in the discourse. [204] In them Jesus passes from discussing himself and the divine and human phases of his nature and office to take up the evidences which attest him, first asserting that the truth of what he has said does not rest solely on his own veracity. There is here an indirect reference to that clause of the Jewish law which required two witnesses. See Joh_8:14-18. But the saying is deeply spiritual. Since Jesus did nothing of himself, his very testimony was not his own, but was the Father's who sent him, and was therefore absolutely true in the consciousness of Jesus. If Jesus had testified independently of the Father--had it been possible--it would have been in the nature of the case contrary to that consensus of the divine will which forms the truth.] 33 Ye have sent unto John [this shows that Jesus was addressing the rulers-- Joh_1:19], and he hath borne witness unto the truth. [John had witnessed the truth concerning the Messiahship of Jesus. Some think that the pronoun "another" in Joh_5:32 refers to John also, but by the present tense "witnesseth" of that verse, and the past tense "hath borne witness" of this verse, the ever-abiding testimony of the Father is contrasted with the finished testimony of John, who is now silenced by imprisonment.] 34 But the witness which I receive is not from man: howbeit I say these things, that ye may be saved. [In the light of Joh_1:6, Joh_1:7, it sounds strange to hear Jesus thus renounce the testimony of the Baptist. But the phrase, "is not from man," is the Hebrew negative, meaning not from man alone. Jesus therefore meant to accept it, as he in the next breath did that of Moses, as prophetic--as the testimony of the Father spoken through a human medium; but meant to reject it as a merely human testimony, such as it was in the view of these Jews who denied in their hearts that John was a prophet. This mission of Jesus was not to be proved by uninspired testimony, for uninspired man can not testify of God from lack of full and adequate knowledge ( Mat_11:27, Mat_16:17). And yet if the Jews were willing to accept such testimony, Jesus in kindness would permit it, that by any fair means they might believe and be saved.] 35 He was the lamp that burneth and shineth; and ye were willing to rejoice for a [205] season in his light. [They were willing, like children, to play in John's light without stopping to seriously consider its meaning, but when he bore testimony to Christ they blasphemed him-- Luk_7:33.] 36 But the witness which I have is greater than i that of John; for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. [By "greater witness" Jesus means testimony which is more convincing. All divine testimony is of equal veracity, but some it is more obviously convincing. The less the testimony savors of humanity, and the more purely divine it appears, the more convincing it is ( 1Jo_5:9). The term "works" is not to be confined to miracles, for the word "accomplish" indicates a wider meaning. The entire Messianic mission or redemptive work which ended with our Lord's words, "It is finished" ( Joh_17:4, Joh_19:30), and which is indicated in this very discourse in Joh_5:20, and outlined by referring to spiritual judgment and regeneration, should be included. Christ's transforming grace still witnesses to Jew and Gentile that the Father sent him, for it it manifests the love of God ( Joh_3:16). The Father did not send the Son to merely work miracles, but to redeem the world.] 37 And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form. 38 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not. [The testimony of the Father was given in three forms: 1. By direct or audible voice and the visible sending of the Spirit--as at Jesus' baptism. 2. By revelations, through the medium of prophets and angels gathered and preserved in the Old Testament Scriptures. 3. Through the Son and his works. Jesus here asserts that all testimony of the first kind had failed to reach the Jewish rulers; that the testimony of the second kind has been utterly lost upon them, for they failed to see its accordance with the testimony of the third kind which he was even then exhibiting to them, neither had it taught them to expect a personal Saviour.] 39 Ye [206] search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; 40 and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life. ["Hillel used to say, More law, more life.... He who has gotten himself words of law has gotten himself the life of the world to come" (Talmud). In their zeal for the Scriptures the Jews had counted every letter of them, expecting to find life in the laws and precepts, but failed to find Him of whom the Scriptures spoke in figure, type and prophecy. In their reverence for the Book they failed to see that it was a mere means intended to acquaint them with him through whom life was to come. Hence, as Canon Cook suggests, there is deep pathos in the co-ordination "and--and." The verses give us three points worthy of deepest reflection: 1. Protestantism may love the Book and show a martyr's loyalty to it, and yet fail utterly to render any acceptable love or loyalty toward the Being revealed in the Book. 2. Criticism, both higher and lower, may submit every text to microscopic investigation, and yet be as blind as the ancient Pharisees to its true meaning. It is profoundly true that the things of the Spirit are spiritually discerned ( 1Co_2:14), and that pride of literary culture, and the self-worship of intellectualism tend to spiritual blindness. It seems to come upon such a visitation from God, as in the case of Elymas ( Mat_11:25, Mat_15:14, Luk_8:10, Eph_4:17, Eph_4:18, Isa_5:21). 3. Though free will is meant to be man's crowning glory, yet it may result in his shame and ruin.] 41 I receive not glory from men. [Jesus here shows that his rebuke of their disbelief does not spring from personal pique or disappointed ambition. He came seeking faith that he might save, not honor that he might be glorified, and honor paid to him is by him transferred to God ( Phi_2:10, Phi_2:11), just as honor paid to the true Christian is transferred to Christ.] 42 But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves. [He speaks as the Searcher of hearts ( Joh_1:47-50, Joh_2:24, Joh_2:25). Knowing them absolutely, he found them to be self-worshipers, devoid [207] of that love Godward which begets belief, and lacking in their natures that which would enable them to understand him and his spirit, no matter what evidence was submitted to them.] 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. [Some think that this is spoken primarily of a pre-eminently great antichrist who is yet to come and deceive many of the Jews, and who, as Stier thinks, shall be such an incarnation of Satan as Jesus was of God ( Rev_13:1-9). But they have already received many false christs with joy. According to Schudt, as quoted by Bengel, there have been sixty-four antichrists who have misled the Jews. Among them Bar Cocheba led 24,000 to ruin, including Akiba, the President of the Sanhedrim. False christs come in their own name--for their own honor--and make no war on bosom sins, but upon earthly enemies; but Jesus came not to manifest himself, but his Father.] 44 How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that i cometh from the only God ye seek not? [The question was as to their believing Jesus to be the Messiah. Expecting one who would bring great honor to themselves by his triumphs over his foes, and seeing nothing of this kind to be expected from Jesus, they could not believe him to be the Messiah.] 45 Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, i even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope. [Jesus here assumes that the Jews gave enough credence to his words to fear that he might hereafter appear as their accuser. But Jesus designs to appear rather as Advocate than as Prosecutor ( 1Jo_2:1). It was their fault that he was not their Advocate.] 46 For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? [In these verses Jesus explicitly endorses the Mosaic authorship and authenticity of the Pentateuch, and sets forth one purpose for which Moses wrote it. Jesus was the essential subject of the law and prophets ( Luk_24:27, Luk_24:44-46, Rom_16:25, Rom_16:26). The emphasis is on "his writings" and "my words." They professed to reverence Moses and to receive his writings, while they openly despised Jesus and repudiated his words as fast as he spoke them. The phrase "wrote concerning me" is not to be restricted to Deu_18:15-18. Moses wrote symbolically of Jesus through his entire work, as Bengel tersely puts it, "Everywhere!" The Epistle to the Hebrews is a partial elaboration of the Christology of Moses. But there is doubtless a depth of meaning in the Pentateuch which has never yet been fully fathomed, for there is a fullness in Scripture greatly exceeding the popular conception. Moreover, the Old and New Testaments are so linked together that to reject one is eventually to reject the other, or to read it with veiled eyes-- 2Co_3:15.]
[FFG 192-209]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (Joh 5:1-9.)
CHAPTER 5
1. The Healing of the Impotent Man. (Joh 5:1-9.)
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2. The Opposition of the Jews. (Joh 5:10-18.)
3. His Unity with the Father. (Joh 5:19-23.)
4. The Present Hour. Believers Delivered from Death and Judgment. (Joh 5:24-25.)
5. The Future Hour. His Power to Raise the Dead. (Joh 5:26-29.)
6. Witness Concerning Himself. (Joh 5:30-32.)
7. The Witness of John. (Joh 5:33-35.)
8. The Witness of His Works. (Joh 5:36.)
9. The Witness of the Father. (Joh 5:37-38.)
10. The Witness of the Scriptures, and the Unbelief of the Jews. (Joh 5:39-47.)
The teachings contained in this chapter are closely linked with the third and fourth chapters. He went up to Jerusalem again. In the foreground stands the healing of the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda with its five porches. An angel troubled the water at Certain seasons, so that some were healed. We believe that it was actually so, though we cannot explain it. Many critics attack this occurrence and reject its genuineness. (“After all there is no more real difficulty in the account before us, than in the history of our Lord’s temptation in the wilderness, the various cases of Satanic possession, or the release of Peter from prison by an angel. Once admit the existence of angels, their ministry on earth, and the possibility of their interposition to carry out God’s designs, and there is nothing that ought to stumble us in the passage. The true secret of some of the objections to it, is the modern tendency to regard all miracles as useless lumber, which must be thrown overboard, if possible, and cast out of the Sacred Narrative on every occasion. Against this tendency we must watch and be on our guard.”) But the impotent man could not avail himself of the opportunity for he was helpless. Such was Israel’s condition under the law. The thirty-eight years point back to Israel’s wandering in the wilderness. Furthermore the impotent man presents a striking picture of the utter helplessness of man as a sinner. By His word the Lord Jesus made him perfectly whole, so that he took up his bed and walked.
Opposition and objection from the Jews followed at once. They accused the healed man of breaking the Sabbath. He evidently did not know the Lord at all; only after He had spoken to him (Joh 5:14) did he find out that it was Jesus. Then he told the Jews. Their hatred was turned at once against the Lord. They persecuted Him and sought to slay Him because He had done this miracle on the Sabbath. The Lord’s answer is most blessed. “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” It is the first time in this Gospel that He speaks of God as “My Father.” He, the Son, was in their midst to make the Father known. He told them that His Father works and that the Son works. Sin made this work necessary. He stood in their presence and claimed perfect and unbroken fellowship with His Father.
The Jews knew what He meant. Had He said “Our Father” instead of “My Father” no word of protest would have escaped their lips. They knew His words could mean but one thing, that He is equal with God, by saying that God was His Father. Augustine remarked on this verse: “Behold the Jews understood what the Arians (deniers of His Deity) would not understand.” And He accepted the charge of the Jews as a correct one. “He thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” (Php 2:6). His words which follow declare His perfect unity with the Father in His work; He is the Beloved of the Father; the Father raiseth up the dead, so does He; judgment is committed unto the Son; He is to be honored as the Father is honored. “Whosoever does not honor the Son with equal honor to that which he pays to the Father, however he may imagine that he honors or approaches God, does not honor Him at all; because he can only be known by us as ‘the Father who sent his Son.’“ (Dean Alford.) Unitarianism, Russellism, the new theology and a host of other which deny the absolute Deity of our Lord, stand condemned and convicted in the presence of these wonderful words, “He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father.” All worship apart from the Son of God is idolatry. He claims the unity in Godhead; and such belongs to Him.
Joh 5:24 is a blessed Gospel text. Hearing and believing are the conditions to receive eternal life. There is no mention made of repentance. The word “repent” so prominent in the Gospel of Matthew in the Kingdom offer is not found once in the fourth Gospel. Faith and repentance, however, are inseparable. He that hears His words and believeth Him that sent the Son also repents. Again eternal life is spoken of as a present possession, “hath” not “shall have” or “shall receive later,” but “hath eternal life.” And with that gift comes deliverance from judgment. The reception of eternal life is a full acquittal; passed from death and all it means, into life.
“The coming hour” in Joh 5:25 is the present dispensation. The dead are the spiritually dead. They that hear the voice of the Son of God shall live; they receive His life. Then He speaks of an hour which was to come and which has not yet come. Two resurrections are revealed by Him; the resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment. This does not mean that these two resurrections are to take place the same time, in, what is termed, a general resurrection. Elsewhere we find the full revelation concerning these two resurrections. There is the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just, and a thousand years later the resurrection of the wicked dead. (Rev 20:1-15.) All the wrong teachings concerning the wicked dead, such as Annihilation, Restitution, Restoration, Second Chance, etc., as taught by Seventh Day Adventism, Millennial Dawnism, (also called “International Bible Students’ Association” and “Jehovah’s Witnesses”) Universalism and others, are completely refuted by the words of our Lord in Joh 5:29.
The five witnesses who testify concerning Himself, that He is the Son of God, are of much importance and should be carefully studied.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The Sick Man of Bethesda.
The Sick Man of Bethesda.
The health-giving waters:
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v. 1. After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
v. 2. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep-market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
v. 3. In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.
v. 4. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.
"After this"; how long is not stated by the evangelist; he merely denotes an interval, in which a part of the Galilean ministry of Jesus took place. The feast of the Jews to which Jesus journeyed up from Galilee was probably the Feast of Purim, which was celebrated on the 14th
and 15th
of Adar (March). See Est 9:21. Now there was in the city of Jerusalem a gate which was known as the Sheep Gate, probably from the fact that the sacrificial animals were driven into the city through this gate. In this neighborhood was located, even as late as the end of the first century, a pool which bore the Hebrew name Bethesda, House of Grace, or Mercy. The Jews had built five colonnades, or porticoes, around of his pool of water, to shelter the sick people from wind and rain. These constituted the hospital of the city, where a large number of sick people, of blind, of lame, of withered, was lying. All of them anxiously awaited the movement, the bubbling of the water in the pool, those that could see having their eyes anxiously fixed upon the surface of the water, and the blind waiting for the sound that told of the movement, or depending upon relatives or friends to lead them to the pool quickly. The phenomenon, which is now generally ascribed, the action of a siphon-like spring, is explained by the evangelist as having been due to the fact that an angel at a certain time came down to the pool and disturbed the water. And the first sick person that entered the water after the phenomenon had taken place became well, no matter what sickness he was bothered with. Many commentators are rather skeptical at this point, refusing to accept the words as the truth, and many critics have simply ruled out this verse. But we hold, according to Scriptures, that the beneficial effects of many so-called natural agencies are due to the work of God’s angels. The decrees of God’s providence are carried out by these servants of His. It is Altogether probable that even today the angels of God are active in the waters of many health springs. "Those who feel little or none of the work of God in their own hearts are not willing to allow that He works in others. This is to make any man’s experience the rule by which the whole Word of God is to be interpreted, and consequently to leave no more divinity in the Bible than is found in the heart of him who professes to explain it."
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
This is the next event in the story, in which Jesus goes up to Jerusalem and heals a man. These verses give background information about the setting of the story. (See: Background Information)
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After this
This refers to after Jesus healed the official's son. See how you translated this in John 3:22.
there was a Jewish festival
"the Jews were celebrating a festival"
went up to Jerusalem
Jerusalem is located on the top of a hill. Roads to Jerusalem went up and down smaller hills. If your language has a different word for going up a hill than for walking on level ground, you may use it here.
pool
This was a hole in the ground that people filled with water. Sometimes they lined the pools with tiles or other stonework.
Bethesda
a place name (See: How to Translate Names)
roofed porches
roofed structures with at least one wall missing and attached to buildings
A large number of people
"Many people"
translationWords
Jew
festival
Jesus
Jerusalem
ewe
gate
Hebrew
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 5:1–10:42 In this section Jesus appears at a series…
5:1–10:42 In this section Jesus appears at a series of Jewish festivals and uses their imagery to reveal more profound truths about himself. He appears at a Sabbath (ch 5), Passover (ch 6), the Festival of Shelters (chs 7–9), and Hanukkah (ch 10). In each case, Jesus himself replaces some vital element in the ceremonies of the festival.
5:1-40 This chapter reads like a courtroom drama, with a description of the crime (5:1-15), followed by a decision to prosecute (5:16), a description of the charges (5:18), and Jesus’ defense (5:17, 19-40).
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5:1 one of the Jewish holy days: Because Jesus returned to Jerusalem for the celebration, it was probably one of the three pilgrimage festivals of Judaism (see Exod 23:14-17; Deut 16:16). These festivals lasted one week.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.