Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:7
The impotent 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.
7. I have no man ] He is not only sick but friendless.
is troubled ] No doubt this took place at irregular intervals, else there would be no need to wait and watch for it.
to put me into the pool ] Literally, in order to (Joh 4:47) throw me into the pool; perhaps implying that the gush of water did not last long and there was no time to be lost in quiet carrying. But in this late Greek ballein (= throw) has become weakened in meaning. Comp. Joh 13:2, Joh 20:25.
while I am coming ] Unaided, and therefore slowly.
another steppeth down ] This seems to shew that the place where the bubbling appeared was not large. He does not say ‘others step down before me:’ one is hindrance enough.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Sir, I have no man … – The answer of the man implied that he did wish it, but, in addition to all his other trials, he had no friend to aid him. This is an additional circumstance that heightened his affliction.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 7. Sir, I have no man] , – “Yes, sir; but I have no man:” – this is the reading of C*GH, fourteen others, both the Syriac, later Persic, Arabic, and Chrysostom. Reader, be thankful to God for health and outward comforts. When long affliction has been allied to deep poverty, how deplorable is the state!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What his particular impotency was the Scripture doth not tell us. Some have (not improbably) judged it the palsy, which deprives the person of motion, by the stoppage of the animal spirits, so that without help he cannot move from one place to another, which it is manifest this poor man could not; for he complains for want of help, that he could not get into the pool.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Sir, I have no man,c.Instead of saying he wished to be cured, he just tellswith piteous simplicity how fruitless had been all his efforts toobtain it, and how helpless and all but hopeless hewas. Yet not quite. For here he is at the pool, waiting on. It seemedof no use nay, only tantalizing,
while I am coming, anothersteppeth down before methe fruit was snatched from his lips.Yet he will not go away. He may get nothing by staying, he may dropinto his grave ere he get into the pool; but by going from theappointed, divine way of healing, he can get nothing. Wait thereforehe will, wait he does, and when Christ comes to heal him, lo! he iswaiting his turn. What an attitude for a sinner at Mercy’sgate! The man’s hopes seemed low enough ere Christ came to him. Hemight have said, just before “Jesus passed by that way,””This is no use; I shall never get in; let me die at home.”Then all had been lost. But he held on, and his perseverancewas rewarded with a glorious cure. Probably some rays of hope dartedinto his heart as he told his tale before those Eyes whose glancemeasured his whole case. But the word of command consummates hispreparation to receive the cure, and instantaneously works it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The impotent man answered him, Sir,…. Which was a common and courteous way of speaking, much in use with the Jews, especially to strangers. The Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions read, “yea Lord”, which is a direct answer to the question:
I have no man; the Ethiopic version reads, “men”; he had no servant, so Nonnus, or servants, to wait upon him, and take him up in their arms, and carry him into the pool; he was a poor man, and such God is pleased to choose and call by his grace:
when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool; that is, as soon as it is troubled by the angel, to put him in first before any other; for it was the first man only that had a cure this way:
but while I am coming; in a slow way, by the help of his crutches, or in the best manner he could:
another steppeth down before me; not so much disordered, or more active and nimble: so among those that wait on the ministry of the word, some are sooner in Christ, or earlier called by his grace, than others; some lie here a long time, and see one and another come to Christ, believe in him, profess his name, and are received into the church; and they still left, in an uncalled and unconverted estate.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
When the water is troubled ( ). Indefinite temporal clause with and the first aorist passive subjunctive of , old verb to agitate (Mt 2:3). The popular belief was that, at each outflow of this intermittent spring, there was healing power in the water for the first one getting in.
To put me into the pool ( ). Final use of and the second aorist active subjunctive of , “that he throw me in” quickly before any one else. For this use of see Mark 7:30; Luke 16:20.
But while I am coming ( ). Temporal use of the relative, “in which time” ( or understood). (I) is emphatic.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Put [] . Literally, cast; indicating the hasty movement required to bring him to the water before its agitation should have ceased. See on Mr 7:30; Luk 16:20.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “The impotent man answered him, Sir,” (apekrithe auto ho asthenon kurie) “The ailing paralytic replied to him, Sir,” respectfully.
2) “I have no man,” (anthropon ouk echo) “I have not a man,” anyone I can depend on at all, no servant or friend. How much this is like David’s once forlorn cry “no man cared for my soul,” Psa 142:4. This is a forlorn cry of many infirm and aged, when the world passes them by, too busy to show compassion, Jas 1:27; 2Co 1:3-4.
3) “When the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: (hina hotan tarachthe to hudor bale me eis ten kolumbethran) “in order that when the water is troubled he may put me into the pool,” Joh 5:3.
4) “But while I am coming,” (en ho de erchomai ego) “Yet while I am coming,” of my own accord, by strain of will and muscle, trying to get into the new stirred, healing swell of the waters, slowly and painfully struggling, desiring, repeatedly attempting.
5) “Another steppeth down before me.” (allos pro emou katabainei) “Another goes down before me,” into the pool, one less ill, less crippled than I, unwilling to delay his cure. Such reflects not only the incurable nature of all men but also the selfish, covetous nature of children of wrath, Eph 2:3; Rom 3:8-23. The primary remedy for the malady of all internal and external maladies, in the light of eternity, is coming to and found in Jesus Christ. The secondary source of help is the service of His children who respond to the cry of the troubled “How can I except some man should guide me?” Act 8:31-39.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
7. I have no man. This diseased man does what almost all of us are wont to do; for he limits the assistance of God according to his own thought, and does not venture to promise to himself any thing more than he conceives in his mind. Christ forgives his weakness, and in this we have a mirror of that forbearance of which every one of us has daily experience, when, on the one hand, we keep our attention fixed on the means which are within our reach, and when, on the other hand, contrary to expectation, he displays his hand from hidden places, and thus shows how far his goodness goes beyond the narrow limits of our faith. Besides, this example ought to teach us patience. Thirty-eight years were a long period, during which God had delayed to render to this poor man that favor which, from the beginning, He had determined to confer upon him. However long, therefore, we may be held in suspense, though we groan under our distresses, let us never be discouraged by the tediousness of the lengthened period; for, when our afflictions are long continued, though we discover no termination of them, still we ought always to believe that God is a wonderful deliverer, who, by His power, easily removes every obstacle out of the way.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) What does the question mean? Will this Stranger, whom he has never seen before, do for him what none of those who often saw him had ever done? Will he watch for the bubbling water, and place him first in it? Is there one being in all the world who regards his state as calling for loving pity, rather than scornful loathing?
I have no man.There is an eloquence of helplessness more powerful than that of words. Day by day he has watched, listened for the first sound, caught the first movement in the bath, summoned the feeble vestiges of strength to an action on which all depended, and hoping each succeeding time, in spite of despair in which last times hope has been engulfed, has been coming, when another goeth down before. I have no man is to-day the helpless, unspoken cry of thousands imaged here.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7. I have no man Doubtless the paralytic expected either some medicine or some aid from Jesus in moving into the pool at the proper instant. He knew not the presence of the great physician.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
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 steps down before me”.’
Someone may have brought the man there each day, or he may have been there permanently, but no one was concerned enough to stay with him to help him down into the water. Possibly they had little confidence in the powers of the pool, or perhaps they had previously tried and had found it hopeless. There was always going to be someone else there who was more agile. What a sickening position he was in. Constant hope, and yet hopelessness.
‘When the water is troubled’. If the explanation in Joh 5:2-3 is a gloss this stands on its own as unexplained, but it may be that John assumed that any reader would read into his words the significance of them and did not want to publicise a superstition. The ‘moving of the water’, possibly caused by an intermittent spring, was probably seen by many as a divine phenomenon. Psychological healings no doubt took place.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 5:7. Sir, I have no man, &c. He complains for want of friends to help him in: “I have no man, no friend to do me that kindness.” One would think some of those who had been themselves healed; would 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 one to another. We may observe how mildly this man speaks of the unkindness of those about him;a lesson to all in misfortunes.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
7 The impotent 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.
Ver. 7. I have no man, &c. ] He looked that Christ should have done him that good office; and could not think of any other way of cure. How easy is it with us to measure God by our model, to cast him into our mould, to think he must needs go our way to work!
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
7. ] The man’s answer implies the popular belief which the spurious but useful insertion in Joh 5:3-4 expresses. Bauer asks why the person who brought him there every day , could not have put him in? But no such person is implied. The same slow motion which he describes here, would suffice for his daily coming and going.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Sir. Greek. kurios. App-98. B. b. Supply the Ellipsis thus: “Sir [I am indeed willing, but] I have, “&c.
no. Greek. ou. App-105.
to = in order that (Greek. hina) he may.
time = when.
into. Greek. eis. App-104.
while = in (Greek. en) the
another. App-124.
before. Greek. pro. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
7.] The mans answer implies the popular belief which the spurious but useful insertion in Joh 5:3-4 expresses. Bauer asks why the person who brought him there every day, could not have put him in? But no such person is implied. The same slow motion which he describes here, would suffice for his daily coming and going.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 5:7. , answered) He gives no answer as to His wish to be made whole. The surer and the nearer the hope is, the greater is the wish: when the hope is small, the wish becomes dormant.- , I have not) He was a man very needy, and, as it seems, untutored. See Joh 5:11, notes.-, to put [mittat]) having taken me up quickly to let me down gently.- , before me) It would have been the part of love, that all the other sick men with one consent should have conceded the first place to him in particular; but all were eager to be made whole themselves. [Would that there were as great an anxiety for the healing of the soul!-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 5:7
Joh 5:7
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.-This answer shows that something like the condition described in verse 4, in the Common Version, was supposed to exist. His poverty and his complete helplessness prevented his securing the benefit, whether real or supposed, of water.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
I have: Deu 32:36, Psa 72:12, Psa 142:4, Rom 5:6, 2Co 1:8-10
before: Joh 5:4, 1Co 9:24
Reciprocal: Act 14:8 – impotent
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
The impotent (weak or feeble) man had confidence in the curative properties of the water, whatever was the basis of that belief. He explained to Jesus why he was compelled to lie there from time to time, not getting any relief from his illness.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 5:7. The sick man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water hath been troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me. The man does not give a direct answer to the question Wilt thou? but the answer sought is implied. He had the will, but he had not the power to do what he believed must be done before healing could be obtained. The very extremity of his need rendered unavailing his repeated efforts to be the first to reach the waters when the mysterious troubling had taken place. He had no friend to help, to hurry him to the pool at the moment when the waters were thought to have received their healing power.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Joh 5:7. The impotent man answered, I have no man I am poor as well as lame, and unable to hire any one to put me into the pool when the water is troubled, and I have neither friend nor relation to do this kind office for me. He seems to consider Christs question as implying an imputation of carelessness and neglect in him, and, therefore, gives the reason why he was not made whole, notwithstanding his desire. While I am coming, another steppeth down before me He signifies that he had made many efforts to get into the pool, but hitherto without success, one or another always preventing him; and none having the charity to say, Your case is worse than mine; do you go in now, and I will stay till the next time; for the old maxim is but too true, Every one for himself. Observe, reader, how mildly this man speaks of the unkindness of those about him, making no peevish reflections on any one. As we should be thankful for the least kindness, so we should be patient under the greatest contempts: and whatever cause we may think we have for resentment, yet we should take care that our expressions be always 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.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Obviously the paralytic believed that only the first person to enter the water after its stirring would experience healing. This was probably the popular idea that arose from superstition. The man’s statement that he had no one to help him appears to have been a veiled request that Jesus would volunteer to be that helper. The invalid had the desire for healing but not the means to obtain it.
"We must feel that, while faith was commonly the prerequisite of healing, it was not absolutely necessary. Jesus is not limited by human frailty as he works the works of God." [Note: Morris, p. 269.]