Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:25
Verily, 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.
25. Repetition of Joh 5:24 in a more definite form, with a cheering addition: Joh 5:24 says that whoever hears and believes God has eternal life; Joh 5:25 states that already some are in this happy case.
The hour is coming ] Better, There cometh an hour: comp. Joh 4:21; Joh 4:23.
and now is ] These words also exclude the meaning of a bodily resurrection; the hour for which had not yet arrived. The few cases in which Christ raised the dead cannot be meant; (1) the statement evidently has a much wider range; (2) the widow’s son, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus were not yet dead, so that even of them ‘and now is ’ would not be true; (3) they died again after their return from death, and ‘they that hear shall live’ clearly refers to eternal life, as a comparison with Joh 5:24 shews. If a spiritual resurrection be understood, ‘and now is’ is perfectly intelligible: Christ’s ministry was already winning souls from spiritual death.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The hour – The time.
Is coming – Under the preaching of the gospel, as well as in the resurrection of the dead.
Now is – It is now taking place. Sinners were converted under his ministry and brought to spiritual life.
The dead – Either the dead in sins, or those that are in their graves. The words of the Saviour will apply to either. Language, in the Scriptures, is often so used as to describe two similar events. Thus the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world are described by Jesus in the same language, Matt. 2425. The return of the Jews from Babylon, and the coming of the Messiah, and the spread of his gospel, are described in the same language by Isaiah, Isa. 4061. Compare the notes at Isa 7:14. The renewal of the heart, and the raising of the dead at the judgment, are here also described in similar language, because they so far resemble each other that the same language will apply to both.
The voice of the Son of God – The voice is that by which we give command. Jesus raised up the dead by his command, or by his authority. When he did it he spoke, or commanded it to be done. Mar 5:41; he took the damsel by the hand, and said, Talitha cumi. Luk 7:14; and he came and touched the bier, and said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. Joh 11:43; he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. So it is by his command that those who are dead in sins are quickened or made alive, Joh 5:21. And so at the day of judgment the dead will be raised by his command or voice, though there is no reason to think that his voice will be audibly heard, Joh 5:28.
Shall live – Shall be restored to life.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 5:25-27
The hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.
The spiritual resurrection
I. Its SUBJECTS. The spiritually dead, in trespasses and sins. To have life we must be born again.
II. Its MANNER.
1. The dead hear the voice of the Son of God in the word preached.
2. This word receives its power from heaven.
III. Its NATURE. Those who hear
1. Live.
2. Shall live. Death is banished for ever.
IV. Its SEASON.
1. The hour is coming.
(1) At Pentecost.
(2) Ever since.
(3) Till time shall be no more.
2. Now is.
(1) The day of the Spirits power had already in some measure come. Under every dispensation many heard the voice of the Son of God and lived.
(2) Now is the accepted time.
V. Its SOURCES.
1. The life which is in the Son (Joh 5:26).
2. The authority exercised by the Son. (A. Beith, D. D.)
The spiritual awakening
I. THE TIME OF IT. Now, during the currency of this Christian dispensation, at any and every moment thereof (2Co 6:2; Heb 3:7; Heb 4:7).
II. THE SUBJECTS OF IT (Eph 2:1).
III. THE MANNER OF IT. The vitalizing of a dead soul results from the infusion into it of life by the Son of God (Joh 5:21).
1. Not directly.
2. But indirectly through the word which the Son speaks.
IV. THE COGNITION OF IT. Not all the spiritually dead are quickened, or even all to whom the word of Christ is externally addressed, but only those who hear and believe (Joh 5:24-25, cf. Isa 55:3).
V. THE GROUND OF IT. The fact that the Son is possessed of life in Himself as an original and inexhaustible fountain, even as it exists in the Father (Joh 5:26).
VI. THE END OF IT. Life in the fullest and highest sense. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Life for the dead
I. SINNERS ARE BY NATURE DEAD.
1. Legally under the sentence of death (Rom 5:1-21.). We are guilty and condemned. The curse of the law and the wrath of God are upon all viewed in their relation to Adam.
2. Really. The body is subject to death and to all the miseries which precede death. The soul is dead in trespasses and sins. Natural death makes the body lifeless; spiritual death makes the soul graceless, and both soul and body comfortless for ever.
(1) In natural death the body is without the soul; in spiritual the soul is without God.
(2) Natural death disfigures the body; spiritual the soul.
(3) Natural death makes the body cold; by spiritual the soul becomes cold toward God.
(4) In the one a man loses all right to property that once was his; by the other men lose all their right which they had in Adam to communion with God.
(5) As a dead body is without understanding, so the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God.
(6) A dead body cannot raise itself, neither can a dead soul.
II. IN THE GOSPEL MEN ARE PROMISED LIFE.
1. This life is real.
2. It is suitable, removing condemnation, extracting the sting of death, imparting spiritual vitality to the condemned, guilty, and helpless.
3. Christ is this life, and the Holy Spirit applies it to the soul.
4. This life becomes part of a mans being.
5. This fife, although obstructed in its growth, is capable of endless development.
III. WHAT IT IS THAT QUICKENS THE SOUL OF THE DEAD. The voice of Christ is the Gospel, heard by the faith of the heart. (J. W. Reeve, M. A.)
Life in Himself
Life unoriginated, independent, absolute, eternal life
(Psa 36:9).
I. SPIRITUAL.
II. EVERFLOWING.
III. OVERFLOWING.
IV. ALL SATISFYING to men and angels. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
God is the focus and fountain of life
In Him life may be contemplated in its twofold activity.
I. THE LIFE OF GOD PASSES FORTH FROM ITSELF. It lavishes itself through the realms of nothingness. It summons into being worlds, systems, intelligences, orders of existences unimagined before. In doing this it obeys no necessary law of self-expansion, but pours itself forth with that highest generosity that belongs to a perfect freedom. That is to say that God the Life is God the Creator.
II. GOD IS BEING RETURNING INTO ITSELF, FINDING IN ITSELF ITS PERFECT SATISFACTION. God is thus the object of all dependent life. He is indeed the object of His own life; all His infinite powers and faculties turn ever inward with uncloyed delight upon Himself as upon their one adequate end. We cannot approach more nearly to a definition of pleasure than by saying that it is the exact correspondence between a faculty and its object. Pleasure is thus a test of vitality; and God as being Life is the One Being who is supremely and perfectly happy. (Canon Liddon.)
And hath given Him authority to execute Judgment
The advent in judgment
I. WHO IS THE JUDGE? Christ. He must be Divine to work out so great a judgment; but His humanity is expressly given as a reason for His judgeship.
1. We know His character, and can rely on His fairness and goodness.
2. He knows us, can sympathize with our weakness, and can understand our temptations.
3. Having in His human life conquered the same temptations, He has a right to condemn us if we fail.
4. As Messianic King He has the office of judging those who submit to Him and those who reject Him.
II. WHO ARE TO BE TRIED?
1. The dead. Death is no escape. Those who would not hear the voice of mercy must hear that of judgment. Spiritual death might prevent their hearing the first, but with physical death added they will hear the second.
2. All men.
III. WHAT IS THE GROUND OF TRIAL?
1. Not opinions, feelings, professions, resolutions, but deeds.
2. Not what men expected of us, what the world did, what was fashionable, convenient, suitable or aesthetic in our conduct, but its moral character solely. The simplest but deepest lines of cleavage will separate men–the question of good or evil.
3. But this will be judged by One who reads the heart, weighs all circumstances, and characterizes an act according to its motive. Thus many deeds which the world accounts good will be condemned, and others that are condemned will be justified.
IV. What will the sentences be?
1. A resurrection of life. The reward of obedience is for further obedience–not luxurious indolence.
2. A resurrection of judgment. To the impenitent death does not end all, nor any judgment-day. Their future is dark, but just and fair.
V. WHEN WILL THIS JUDGMENT BE? No one can know. God has fixed it. Every day brings it nearer. To each man it comes virtually at death. (W. F.Adeney, M. A.)
The Son of Man our Judge
As a man His life will condemn us.
I. His HUMILITY our pride.
II. His TEMPERANCE our indulgence.
III. His FORBEARANCE our impatience.
IV. His CHASTITY our sensuality.
V. His PIETY AND DEVOTION our ungodliness and worldly-mindedness. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The Son of Man
1. In His exaltation (Joh 1:51); as being in heaven while on Joh 3:13).
2. As Lord of the Sabbath (Mat 12:8).
3. As blasphemed (Mat 12:32).
4. As coming in glory (Mat 16:27).
5. As suffering (Mat 17:12).
6. As rising (Mar 9:9).
7. As Saviour (Mat 18:11).
8. As sitting on His throne (Mat 19:28).
9. In His second advent (Mat 24:30).
10. As made under the law (Gal 4:4).
11. As subject to Gods decrees (Mat 26:25).
12. As forgiving sins (Mat 9:6).
13. As houseless (Mat 8:20).
14. As wearing a golden crown (Rev 14:14).
15. As Lord of the angels (Mat 13:41).
16. As supreme Judge (Rev 1:7).
17. As head of the Church (Rev 1:13). (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The judgment of the Son of Man
Judgment, as Scripture knows it, is not the popular idea of judgment, which bids us be careful in reverence for the tribunal of human opinion; nor the scientific idea, which shows us how inexorably what we are about to-day will tell upon what we shall be; nor even the moral idea, which challenges us to say whether there is not a right and a wrong, and a choice which we can make between them. The judgment of Scripture is a simpler, deeper, stronger thing, which includes and explains all these. The judgment of Scripture is that which brings each man before God his Maker. In it God is a present, silent Judge of all. Gods revealed Word declares a judgment which must be stringent and searching, because it is the judgment of the All-Holy and All-Knowing. What question is it that we should ask? It is, By what standard shall we be judged? The text seems to suggest the answer, The Father hath given to the Son authority to execute judgment, because He is (the) Son of Man. Not, as we might have expected, because He is Son of God, but because He is Son of Man. The Judge wears our manhood; His manhood equips Him for judgment, even as it equips Him for sympathy and compassion. It is by mans standard, then, that we are judged and shall be judged; and fairly, for it is both the judgment which tries us by what we are made to be, and the judgment which we know; the judgment which speaks within us, just in proportion as our manhood is true and our conscience clear and strong; the judgment which speaks to us still more clearly through the human voices of men and women better than ourselves, calling us to quit as like men. In the Gospels we see the Son of Man beginning thus to judge. By the human instinct of compassion, the priest and Levite are condemned, and the good Samaritan approved; by the human instincts of gratitude and humility, the forgiven, but unforgiving, servant is judged; by the common standard of faithful human service, and even by that of worldly sagacity and foresight, the servant who hid his lords talent and the foolish virgins are judged; by comparison with the purely human qualities of zeal and pluck in the jewel collector, or of skilfulness even in the unjust steward, He rebukes mens slackness and unwisdom in the things that concern their souls; by the human instincts of charity, He declares that men shall be eternally judged, according as they have, or have not, regarded the appeal of the poor, sick, naked, hungry, and captive. Think, then, that we, individually and collectively, shall be judged by the standard of human excellence as it stands in our time, and as we may know it if we will what a dignity and value this gives to the human life about us in all its width and variety. For there, amidst much that corrupts and confuses, are to be found the best thinkings, doings, and strivings of our time and place; and by them, as men of our time and place, we must be judged. In this respect there are some simple counsels which may help. We must, for example, often learn from those whom we can by no means wholly follow. The prudence of the unjust steward is commended, without sanction of his character; the Positivist, who believes in no hereafter, may be admirable in his tenderness for all the natural parts and sympathies of this present life; students, whom, perhaps, we must think narrowly indifferent to interests outside their own departments of knowledge, are often excellent examples to us by their thoroughness, their perseverance, their reverence for every fragment of fact. Again, there is judgment for some of us in simple things, in natural virtues. We may go highflying after intellectual ambitions, and forget modesty and homely courtesy and kindness to those about us; or after special devotion and piety, while we neglect the simple duties of industry in daily work, or dutifulness at home, or brotherly kindness to Christians who are not of our sort. Once again, it would be well to judge ourselves by what is good in men of habits or temperament unlike our own; not to hug our own one-sidednesses, but to suspect them; to remember, if we are eager and easily moved, how much the slow, sober people have to teach us; or, if our pride is in moderation and solidity, how likely we are to need examples of warmer and less self-centred character, and a more generous appreciation of ideals. Remember, then, that the standard by which you must be judged is not that of your own low aims and narrow thoughts, but it is the standard of what you have the opportunity of raising those aims, or enlarging those thoughts, to he by a due use of all that is best and most inspiring in human life, as you have the privilege of knowing it. But we have not exhausted the meaning of the text. It cannot merely mean that we shall be judged by human standards. It must, mean that we shall be judged by the standard of the true manhood of Christ, and of humanity, taught, restored, illuminated by Christ. We have His Name on our lips, His cross before our eyes, His teaching in the gospels, His means of grace lavishly given to us. Must there not be a judgment in this–a judgment because Be is Son of Man revealing to His brother-men how they may be true men, as God their Father would have them be; and they will not? (E. S. Talbot, D. D.)
Christ will bring men to judgment
A man goes into an inn, and as soon as he sits down he begins to order his wine, his dinner, his bed; there is no delicacy in season which he forgets to bespeak. He stops at the inn for some time. By and by the bill is forthcoming, and it takes him by surprise. I never thought of that!–I never thought of that! Why, says the landlord, here is a man who is either a born fool or else a knave. What! never thought of the reckoning–never thought of settling with me! After this fashion too many live. They eat and drink and sin, but they forget the inevitable hereafter, when for all the deeds done in the body the Lord will bring us into judgment. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Death will be followed by judgment
After a mission festival several pastors and deacons continued an hour together, when the conversation drifted from the heathen abroad to those around us, and the following story was told by a village miller:–I sat at a garden concert with a friend of mine. The first part of the programme was ended, when an acquaintance of my friends came to us. Have you heard, said he to my friend, that Mr. R–died yesterday quite suddenly? A great pity; he was an agreeable andclever business man, and a pleasant companion. Ah well! he enjoyed life while he lived, and he was quite right; for when we are once dead its all finished. Is it all finished? Do you really think there is an end of it? said I. Ah! returned he, I see you are one of the old superstitious ones. What shall come after death greater or better than this life? As the tree falls, so it lies. Quite right, said I; As the tree falls, so it lies; but–do not take it amiss, friend–when you wish to prove by this quotation that after death it is finished with respect to us, you have not considered the matter on all sides, or your opinion is a blind one. Near my mill I have a woodyard, and now and then I buy some trees to cut down. Often have I stood over the fallen trunks and thought of those words, As the tree falls, so it lies; none will grow one inch taller or thicker, better or worse; all that can be done in him is done. But now, dear sir, it is not all finished; does it not rather begin? I go from trunk to trunk proving the wood. This, I say to myself, will be good for building purposes, that will prove useful; but for others, I say it is but fit for the fire. You know now how I think of the text. May God help us to become trees of righteousness. (Der Glaubensbote.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 25. The dead shall hear the voice] Three kinds of death are mentioned in the Scriptures: natural, spiritual, and eternal.
The first consists in the separation of the body and soul. The second in the separation of God and the soul. The third in the separation of body and soul from God in the other world. Answerable to these three kinds of death, there is a threefold life: Natural life, which consists in the union of the soul and body. Spiritual life, which consists in the union of God and the soul, by faith and love. Eternal life, which consist in the communion of the body and soul with God, by holiness, in the realms of bliss.
Of the dead, our Lord says, the hour is coming, and now is, when they shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and live. The hour is coming, when all that sleep in the dust shall awake at the voice of the Son of man, and come to judgment: for he giveth life to the dead, Joh 5:21; Joh 5:28-29. Again, the hour is coming, when some of those who have died a natural death shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live again here. It is likely that our Lord had not as yet raised any from the dead; and he refers to those whom he intended to raise: See Clarke on Joh 5:21. Lastly, the hour now is, when many who are dead in trespasses and sins, shall hear the voice (the word) of the Son of God, believe, and receive spiritual life through him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: some understand this concerning the special resurrection of such bodies as Christ raised while he was upon the earth from death to life, of which number was Lazarus and the daughter of Jairus, &c. Others understand it of the general resurrection, spoken of Joh 5:28,29. That which favoureth this sense is, because here is no mention of believing, but only hearing a voice. But the most and best interpreters rather understand these words of those who are dead in trespasses and sins, and the quickening and life mentioned Eph 2:1, which is called
the first resurrection, Rev 20:5, because of what was said immediately before, that such a one is passed from death to life; and what was said before, He that heareth my word, agreeth with what is said here of hearing the voice of Christ; and what followeth seemeth better to agree with this sense. And Joh 5:28,29 speak plainly of the second and general resurrection of the body.
They that hear shall live; those who so hear the voice of Christ in the gospel, as to give a firm and steady assent to it, and, upon the credit of it, shall receive Christ as their Mediator and Saviour, shall live eternally; they do live the life of grace, and shall live the life of glory.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
25-29. The hour comethin itswhole fulness, at Pentecost.
and now isin itsbeginnings.
the deadthespiritually dead, as is clear from Joh5:28. Here He rises from the calmer phrase “hearing hisword” (Joh 5:24), tothe grander expression, “hearing the voice of the Son ofGod,” to signify that as it finds men in a deadcondition, so it carries with it a resurrection-power.
shall livein the senseof Joh 5:24.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Verily, verily, I say unto you,…. With the same asseveration as before, and for the further illustration and confirmation of the same thing, occasioned by the last clause of the preceding verse, as well as improving upon the argument in Joh 5:21 for his equality with the Father, which he is still pursuing:
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; which may be understood either of a corporeal resurrection, and of some particular instances of it, which should shortly be; and of some persons who would be in the state of the dead, and to whom the voice of Christ would be attended with such power as to cause them to hear and live; as did Jairus’s daughter upon his saying “Talitha Cumi”, damsel arise, and the widow of Naim’s son upon his saying, young man arise, and Lazarus, upon his calling to him, Lazarus come forth; and which is a full proof of his being equal to God that quickens the dead: or rather this is to be understood of a spiritual resurrection, and the rather, because this sense best agrees with the foregoing verse; and a corporeal resurrection is expressed in somewhat different words, and seems to be distinguished from this in Joh 5:28. And besides, the hour, or time of the resurrection of the above particular persons, was not strictly come; nor could they, with propriety, be said to be dead; to which may be added, that the phrase, “they that hear shall live”, and none but them, best agrees with this sense: so then by the “dead” are meant such who are dead in trespasses and sins; who are separated from God, alienated from the life of God, and in whom the image of God is defaced; who are dead in all the powers and faculties of their souls, to that which is spiritually good; and are without spiritual breath, sense, feeling, and motion. And by “the voice” of Christ is intended his Gospel, which is a voice of love, grace, and mercy, of life and liberty, of peace, pardon, righteousness, and salvation by him; and which being attended with his power, is the means of quickening dead sinners; who may be said to hear it, when it comes not in word only, but in power, and works effectually in them; and is spirit and life, and the power of God unto salvation to them; when they receive it, understand, believe, and obey it: and such persons “shall live”; comfortably, pleasantly, and delightfully, a life of faith on Christ, a life of communion with him, and shall live eternally with him hereafter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
And now is ( ). See 4:23 for this phrase. Not the future resurrection in verse 28, but the spiritual resurrection here and now.
The dead ( ). The spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1; Eph 2:5; Eph 5:14).
Shall hear the voice of the Son of God ( ). Note three genitives ( after , with , with ). Note three articles (correlation of the article) and that Jesus here calls himself “the Son of God” as in John 10:36; John 11:4.
Shall live (). Future active indicative, shall come to life spiritually.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
The dead. Spiritually.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” (amen lego humin) ”Truly truly I tell you all,” as another certain and solemn truth.
2) “The hour is coming, and now is,” (hoti erchetai hora kai nun estin) “That an hour comes and now and hereafter exists forever,” an hour of opportunity, for men to prepare for the hour of the better resurrection, (the first) and the better judgement, 2Co 5:10; 2Co 5:12.
3) “When the dead shall hear,” (hote hoi nekroi akousousin) “That the dead bodies (corpses) will hear,” give heed to, or respond to, (as well as those who are spiritually dead), Eph 2:1.
4) “The voice of the Son of God: (tes phones tou huiou tou theou) “The voice of the Son of the God,” the one true God, and their hearing of that voice will prove that the speaker is Divine, through His teaching, and through His miraculous deeds.
5) “And they that hear shall live.” (kai hoi akousantes zesousin) “And the ones who hear or give heed will live.” The alternative is that those who hear or heed not His voice shall die in their sins, Joh 8:24; Luk 13:3; Luk 13:5; Act 3:22-23.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
25. Verily, verily When the Evangelist represents the Son of God as swearing so frequently in reference to our salvation, hence we perceive, first, how eagerly he desires our welfare, and next, of how great importance it is that the faith of the Gospel should be deeply fixed and thoroughly confirmed. The statement has indeed some appearance of being incredible, when we are told that this is the effect of the faith of which Christ speaks; and therefore he confirms by an oath that the voice of his Gospel has such power of giving life that it is powerful to raise the dead It is generally agreed that he speaks of spiritual death; for those who refer it to Lazarus, (Joh 11:44,) and to the widow’s son at Nain, (Luk 7:15,) and similar instances, are refuted by what follows. First, Christ shows that we are all dead before he quickens us; and hence it is evident what the whole nature of man can accomplish towards procuring salvation.
When the Papists wish to set up their free-will, they compare it to the Samaritan whom the robbers had left half-dead on the road, (Luk 10:30😉 as if by the smoke of an allegory they could darken a clear statement, by which Christ declares that we are fully condemned to death. And indeed as we have been, since the revolt of the first man, alienated from God through sin, all who do not acknowledge that they are overwhelmed with everlasting destruction do nothing else than deceive themselves by empty flatteries. I readily acknowledge that in the soul of man there remains some remnant of life; for understanding, and judgment, and will, and all our senses, are so many parts of life; but as there is no part which rises to the desire of the heavenly life, we need not wonder if the whole man, so far as relates to the kingdom of God, is accounted dead. And this death Paul explains more fully when he says, that we are alienated from the pure and sound reason of the understanding, that we are enemies to God, and opposed to his righteousness, in every affection of our heart; that we wander in darkness like blind persons, and are given up to wicked lusts, (Eph 2:1.) If a nature so corrupted has no power to desire righteousness, it follows that the life of God is extinguished in us.
Thus the grace of Christ is a true resurrection from the dead. Now this grace is conferred on us by the Gospel; not that so much energy is possessed by the external voice, which in many cases strikes the ears to no purpose, but because Christ speaks to our hearts within by his Spirit, that we may receive by faith the life which is offered to us. For he does not speak indiscriminately of all the dead, but means the elect only, whose ears God pierces and opens, that they may receive the voice of his Son, which restores them to life. This twofold grace, indeed, Christ expressly holds out to us by his words, when he says, The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they who hear shall live; for it is not less contrary to nature that the dead should hear, than that they should be brought back to the life which they had lost; and therefore both proceed from the secret power of God.
The hour cometh, and now is. He thus speaks of it as a thing which had never before happened; and, indeed, the publication of the Gospel was a new and sudden resurrection of the world. But did not the word of God always give life to men? This question may be easily answered. The doctrine of the Law and the Prophets was addressed to the people of God, and consequently must have been rather intended to preserve in life those who were the children of God than to bring them back from death. But it was otherwise with the Gospel, by which nations formerly estranged from the kingdom of God, separated from God, and deprived of all hope of salvation, were invited to become partakers of life.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(25) The hour is coming.The same solemn words repeat in another form the same great truth. The reference here, as in the whole of this paragraph (Joh. 5:21-27), is to the spiritually dead. This is shown by the now is, which cannot be applied to the physical resurrection (comp. Joh. 5:28), and cannot be explained by the instances of physical restoration to life during the earthly ministry of our Lord; and also by the last clause, where live must mean the higher spiritual life, as it does in the whole context. It is shown too by the parallelism of the clauses with those of the previous verse:
He that heareth. . . . the dead shall hear
My word. . . .the voice of the Son of God,
Hath eternal life. . . . they that hear shall live. The world is as a vast moral graveyard where men lie dead in sin,sense-bound hand and foot, with spirits buried in bodies which should be holy temples, but have become as unclean tombs; but the voice of the Son of God speaks, and spirit, love, life, passes through the chambers of death, quickening souls whose death is as yet but a sleep, and those who hear and obey come forth into new life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
25. And now is It is even now here; but not with the fulness in which it cometh. They that hear They that listen; this resurrection is conditional and of a part only; and being present as well as future in time, is spiritual, and of the soul.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“In very truth I tell you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.”
‘The hour is coming.’ That was the expectancy of the Pharisees, that an hour was coming when men would be raised from the dead for either life or judgment. But Jesus tells them that that hour has now come. Because He is there men can hear His voice and receive eternal life immediately, because He is the Son of God.
‘And now is’. The claim is momentous and epoch-making. The hour has now come for men to hear the voice of the Son of God and receive life, and it is here now. It is true that they are spiritually dead, but they can come alive by responding to Him and receiving life from Him (as the woman of Samaria and her fellow Samaritans had already done). It does not await Pentecost. It does not await the resurrection. He is speaking now, and they can respond now. He who ‘has the Son has life’ (1Jn 5:12). So if they do respond they will receive life now and the guarantee of resurrection at the last day. ‘Spiritual resurrection’ is now a present possibility for those who respond to His words. This is the ‘first resurrection’ which results in our sharing the throne with Jesus Christ (Eph 2:6; Rev 20:4-6). From this point on the title ‘the Son of God’ takes on new meaning (compare on Joh 1:34; Joh 1:49). He is God, the Son.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, These repetitions of this solemn asseveration are by no means vain, considering the vast importance of the truth, and how incredible it would appear to the natural mind, that he, who stood before them in so humble a form, was in reality the Lord of life, and universal Judge. “The season cometh, (says our Lord,) and is now just at hand, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it shall immediately live; for within these few months there shall be some dead bodies raised to life by the word of his power (see Mar 5:41. Luk 7:14. Joh 11:43 and compare Mat 27:52-53.): and many souls that are dead in sin, shall by his grace be quickened, and made spiritually alive.” We explain the passage thus, because it is doubtful whether it may not have this joint reference. It is well known, that sinners are often represented in scripture as dead: Mat 8:22. Eph 2:1; Eph 5:14. 1Ti 5:6, and if the expression , is to be taken as we render it, with the most literal exactness, for they that hear, or they, and they alone, that so attend to the voice of Christ as to believe in him, it will then limit it to this sense; which seems also favoured by Joh 5:24 where death plainly signifies a state of sin and condemnation.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 5:25 . Jesus re-affirms what He had already asserted in Joh 5:24 , but in the more concrete form of allegorical expression.
] i.e . in its beginning, since Christ’s entrance upon His life-giving ministry. Comp. Joh 4:23 . The duration of this , however, continues till the second advent; already had it begun to be present, but, viewed in its completeness, it still belonged to the future. The expositors who take the words to denote the literal resurrection (see Joh 5:25 , even Hengstenberg), refer to the individual instances of raising from the dead which Jesus wrought (Joh 11 ; Mar 5:41 ; Luk 7:14 ; Mat 11:5 ); but this is as inappropriate in general as it is out of keeping with John’s Gospel, for those individuals were not at all awaked to in the sense of the context, but only to the earthly life, which was still liable to death. Olshausen, who illogically explains Joh 5:25 as referring to the resurrection of the body, appeals to Mat 27:52-53 .
] the spiritually dead; Mat 8:22 ; Rev 3:1 ; and see on Joh 5:21 .
] according to the context, the resurrection summons (Joh 5:28 ), which is here really , in the connection of the allegory, the morally life-giving preaching of Christ. The spiritually dead, generally , according to the category , will hear this voice, but all will not awake to its call; only , which therefore cannot be taken in the same sense as , but must signify: those who will have given ear thereto . Comp. Joh 8:43 ; Joh 8:47 . In Latin: “Mortui audient et qui audientes fuerint ,” etc. It is the , Plut. Sert . 11, al ., , and the like, (Polyb. xi. 19. 5). If we understand the words of bodily awakening, with the article is quite inexplicable . Chrysostom: ; Grotius: “simul atque audierint.” All such renderings, as also the vague explanation of Hengstenberg, [211] would require merely without the article; [212] and would, in opposition to the entire context, signify “ to live ” generally, in an indifferent sense. Olshausen, indeed, supplements which, nevertheless, must of necessity refer to by from Joh 5:24 : “they who in this life hear the word of God.” It is just as impossible to hold, with Luthardt (so far as he would include the literal resurrection), that refers to those “who hear the last call of Jesus differently from others, i.e. joyfully receiving it , and therefore attain to life.” This is an imported meaning, for there is no such modal limitation in the text ; but alone , which, so far as it must differ from the general , can only designate those who give ear , and by this the literal resurrection is excluded . For this double meaning of in one sentence, see Plat. Legg . p. 712 B: (cum exaudiverit) , and also the proverbial expression .
[211] The article is said to indicate the inseparable connection between hearing and life .
[212] See Eurip. Hec . 25, 26, and Pflugk thereon. But with the article is: quicunque audiverunt .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
25 Verily, 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.
Ver. 25. The dead shall hear the voice ] The dead in sins shall believe the promises, and shall live the life of grace here and of glory in heaven.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
25. ] This verse continues to refer to spiritual awakening from the dead. The . is an expression (see ref.) used of those things which are to characterize the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, which was even now begun among men, but not yet brought (until the day of Pentecost, Act 2 ) to its completion. Thus it cometh, in its fulness, and even now is begun.
, in reference to of the preceding verse the spiritually dead: see below on Joh 5:28 .
, His call to awake , in its widest and deepest sense; by His own preaching, by His Apostles, His ministers, &c. &c. In all these He speaks to the spiritually dead.
. ] Not merely , which would be ‘and having heard it, shall live:’ but ., and THEY WHO have heard it (or, who hear it) shall live. This determines the verse to be spoken of spiritual, not bodily awakening.
are the persons to whom the Lord cried so often , : the persons who stand opposed to those addressed in Joh 5:40 , , .
is explained in the next verse.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 5:25 . introducing a confirmation of the preceding statement, in the form of an announcement of one characteristic of the new dispensation; , cf. Joh 4:3 . In this already arrived “hour” or epoch, the message of God is uttered by the voice of Jesus, and , they who have not made the transition spoken of in the preceding verse, , shall hear it; [or ], not “and having heard shall live,” nor “and when they hear shall live”; but “and those who have heard [or hear] shall live”. The insertion of the article indicates that not all, but only a certain class of the are meant: all the dead hear but not all give ear (Weiss). in the former clause means hearing with the outward ear, hearing with faith. The question, how can the spiritually dead hear and believe? is the question, how could the impotent man rise in response to Christ’s word? Perhaps psychologically inexplicable, it is, happily, soluble in practice.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
The hour = An hour. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6, for a definite and special time. now is. Because, had the nation repented, “all that the prophets had spoken” would have been fulfilled according to Act 3:21, including the resurrection foretold in Eze 37, and Isa 26:19, &c.
the Son of God. App-98. This title is associated with resurrection, as in Joh 5:27 judgment is with the Son of man.
shall live.See note on Joh 4:50.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
25.] This verse continues to refer to spiritual awakening from the dead. The . is an expression (see ref.) used of those things which are to characterize the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, which was even now begun among men, but not yet brought (until the day of Pentecost, Acts 2) to its completion. Thus it cometh, in its fulness,-and even now is begun.
,-in reference to of the preceding verse-the spiritually dead:-see below on Joh 5:28.
, His call to awake, in its widest and deepest sense;-by His own preaching, by His Apostles, His ministers, &c. &c. In all these He speaks to the spiritually dead.
.] Not merely, which would be and having heard it, shall live: but ., and THEY WHO have heard it (or, who hear it) shall live. This determines the verse to be spoken of spiritual, not bodily awakening.
are the persons to whom the Lord cried so often , :-the persons who stand opposed to those addressed in Joh 5:40, , .
is explained in the next verse.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 5:25. , the dead) Used literally, in the body, as Jairus daughter, the young man at Nain, and Lazarus: ch. Joh 11:23, etc.; who all were raised up after that these words had been spoken: comp. Mat 27:52, etc., The graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. There follows a gradation: all, Joh 5:28; in which verse the words [added to] the hour, the time that now is [ ], are not repeated; [but there is added mention of the graves, which, since Jairus daughter and the young man were not yet in the grave (when restored to life), is in this ver. omitted.-V. g.]-) Middle: also at Joh 5:28; a rare form.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 5:25
Joh 5:25
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 knowledge of the resurrection was but slightly known. So Jesus plainly declares that the time was now coming that all the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who heard that voice would live. [We take it that the reference is primarily to those spiritually dead. It will also be true of those in the graves at the resurrection. (Verse 28). Jesus demonstrated his power to give life by raising Lazarus.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Verily, 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. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
We continue to examine our Lords words uttered after the healing of the palsied man at the pool of Bethesda. Following that great gospel message of verse 24: 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 into condemnation; [or judgment-this is exactly the same Greek word that is translated damnation in v. 29 and judgment in v. 27], but is passed from death unto life.
Now in verse 25 our Lord again used that solemn form of address by which He would challenge our most serious attention, Verily, 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. He is not speaking in this verse of the physically dead but rather of the spiritually dead, of those who are dead in trespasses and sins. This is true of all men out of Christ, all men who are in Adam by natural generation. Death passed upon all men when Adam sinned. As God looks down upon the race today He sees it as a race of men and women dead to Himself and everything spiritual, and alive to what men call pleasure, alive to their own personal affairs, but with not one pulse-beat toward God-every one dead and utterly helpless, for, of course, a dead man cannot do anything to change his condition. He cannot help himself, and if those dead in trespasses and sin are to live, they must receive life through Another, even our Lord Himself.
The hour is coming, and now is. He is introducing this wonderful dispensation of the grace of God. The hour began when He came to earth and has been in progress for over nineteen hundred years-the hour when God is quickening dead souls and bringing men and women to find life in Christ. Millions have heard His voice and repented, and know what it is to have life eternal through receiving that Word.
The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God. That voice is a voice of power. It is a voice that can reach the heart that is utterly dead to everything holy. Remember Lazarus. He was physically dead and Jesus came to that graveside and said, Roll away the stone. But he has been dead four days, and his body has become offensive. But Jesus commanded them to do as He said, and they did, and He called, Lazarus, come forth! (Joh 11:43), and he came forth. That dead man heard the voice of Jesus because that voice was a life-giving voice.
I had a friend who was deep in sin, dead to God, living in the vilest corruption. One night in Fresno, California, as he passed a little open-air meeting he heard the group singing:
He breaks the power of cancelled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.
Those words, sung over and over, went right home to his heart, and that man, dead in sin, heard the voice of the Son of God, and that night believed the message and became a new creature in Christ. The old sinful habits that had bound him so long dropped away. He was different because he had heard the voice of the Son of God. I think of another, who came into a meeting a poor drunkard, utterly lost, but he heard someone repeat the words of Christ, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Mat 11:28). He said, Is that for me? Is He inviting me to come? That man was made to live. He never touched a drop of liquor again. He was through, because he had heard the voice of the Son of God. Life is in His word.
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. Notice, God does not set people working in order to obtain life. We could do nothing to deserve life, and we cannot please God until we have received it. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life (Rom 6:23). We cannot obtain life through subjection to certain religious ordinances or availing ourselves of sacraments. Men do not get life through baptism or the Lords Supper, or through doing penance, attending church, or giving money. They receive eternal life through hearing and believing the voice of the Son of God. Hear, and your soul shall live (Isa 55:3). Have you heard that voice? Men turn away from it. Christ is speaking all the time, down through the ages, but many turn away and go on in their sins. They continue in their state of death. But the moment a man hears that voice in the depths of his heart, that moment he receives life. This life is given by the Son of God. He says, As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man (Joh 5:26-27).
If men refuse the message of the gospel, if they turn away from the Word of the Son of God and spurn His grace, then the same God, who has made Him a Giver of life to all who believe, has appointed Him as Judge of those who refuse Him, in the last day. The Father has given to the Son to have life in Himself and has given Him the authority to execute judgment. We had something like this in verse 22. There we read, For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. This gives us to know that the Son is God because Scripture declares that it is God who will judge the world. God will sit upon the Great White Throne and call sinners before Him to answer for the guilt of rejecting the salvation that He has provided, but the person of the Godhead who will appear on that throne will be the Lord Jesus Christ. Men who stand before that throne in their sins will be judged by the Man, Christ Jesus. The Father has given Jesus authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man.
When Job was utterly bewildered because of Gods dealings with him, he said, I look on my right hand and on my left hand, but He is not there. He is not a man as I am, that we might come together in judgment. Neither is there any Daysman that might put His hand upon us both (see Job 9:32-33; Job 23:8-9). But that for which Job longed, a man who could represent God to him, is found in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is as truly Man as He is God. There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1Ti 2:5). If men refuse to trust that blessed Man, who bore our sins in His own body on the tree, they will be judged according to their works. In order that this might not be, He died on that shameful cross: He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5). If men refuse Him and turn away from Him now, some day they will have to meet Him. Some day they will have to face Him in their sins when it is too late to be saved. He who would have given life will then have to be their Judge.
But now, having spoken of one hour, the hour in which God is quickening dead sinners into life, He goes on to speak of another hour, the hour of the resurrection of dead bodies. For both are found in Scripture. He is quickening those dead in trespasses and sins in this hour. By-and-by He is going to quicken those whose bodies are in their tombs. The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation (Joh 5:28). Marvel not at this. It is as though He said, Do not be surprised that I can quicken dead souls, that I can give eternal life to those who believe. Some day I am going to empty all the graves of earth. There is an hour coming in which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth. Well, how can that be? you say. Millions, untold millions, have died and their bodies have been dissolved into their chemical parts. How can they come back to life? Nothing is impossible with God, who created these wonderful bodies. There will be a resurrection, both of the just and the unjust.
Yes, the hour is coming when all that are in the graves shall come forth. Notice that there will be two resurrections. Some people have imagined that both resurrections would take place in the same moment, that the Savior would utter His voice and that all the graves would be emptied at once. This is not exactly what our Lord said. Scripture shows that there will be two resurrections: first, a resurrection unto life, the resurrection of the just. In Rev 20:6 we read, Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. And then we read that after the thousand years are expired there will be the resurrection of the wicked dead, who will stand before the Great White Throne for judgment. Two resurrections, one resurrection to life of the just, and one resurrection to the second death of the unjust. And yet they both take place in one hour? Yes, in one hour.
Remember though, how our Lord used this term. 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. This hour began when Christ was here on earth and is still in progress. Nineteen hundred years have elapsed, and we are still living in the hour when Christ is quickening dead souls. Then we look on beyond this hour. The hour of resurrection will be at least a thousand years in length. At the beginning of that thousand years the righteous dead will be raised. At the close of the thousand years the wicked dead will be raised. The righteous dead stand before the judgment seat of Christ to be rewarded. The wicked dead rise to stand before the Great White Throne, there to answer for the awful sin of rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ and to be judged for all the sins from which they might have been delivered.
Someone says, I am a bit perplexed about that twenty-ninth verse. It says, They that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Is salvation then after all based on what one does? Are we saved because we do good, and lost because we do evil? Well, if men persist in their sins they will be judged for their evil doing. All men are lost today not merely because of the sins they have committed but because they have rejected the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (Joh 3:18). Elsewhere Jesus said the Holy Spirit would come to convict of sin because they believe not in Him. That is the one great damning sin that will ruin your soul for eternity if you persist in it. If you refuse the work of the cross, if you turn away from the One who died upon that tree, then the merits of that work can never be applied to you. In the day of resurrection you will come forth from the tomb as one who has done evil, and you will have to be judged for your sins.
But now, how about the rest? Who are those who have done good or, literally, those who have practiced good? What does He mean by that? Are we saved because of our goodness? We know very well from other Scriptures that salvation is not based on human merit. By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast (Eph 2:8-9). And again we are told, To him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness (Rom 4:4-5). There is no contradiction. The minute a sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ there is a change. That is the outward sign that he is a Christian. Immediately following that verse in Ephesians 2, we read, For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them (v. 10). If I tell you I am justified by faith, you cannot see my faith. You have no other way of knowing whether my testimony is true than by watching my life. You wonder if my life corresponds with my testimony. Do I live a Christlike life? And if I do not live such a life, you refuse my testimony. God Himself does not accept any mans testimony if his life does not correspond. In that day it is those who have practiced good who will be raised and manifested as the children of God.
Let me stress this: just as there are two ways to live, so there are two ways to die; there are two resurrections, and following those two resurrections there are two destinies. Have you received Christ as your Savior? If so, death for you will mean to die in the Lord, and you will be raised in the first resurrection and enter into the blessings of heaven. On the other hand, if you continue to reject Him, then the day will come when you will die in your sins. Those who die in their sins will stand in the judgment and will be left in their sins through all eternity. In order that this might not be, our Lord Jesus Christ came to Calvary and gave Himself a ransom for all, a propitiation for each one who would trust in Him.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
The hour: Joh 4:23, Joh 13:1, Joh 17:1
when: Joh 5:21, Joh 5:28, Luk 9:60, Luk 15:24, Luk 15:32, Rom 6:4, Eph 2:1, Eph 2:5, Eph 5:14, Col 2:13, Rev 3:1
Reciprocal: Num 5:22 – Amen 1Sa 2:6 – killeth 2Ki 13:21 – touched Isa 55:3 – hear Eze 16:6 – Live Eze 37:4 – O ye Eze 47:9 – shall live Mat 5:18 – verily Mat 27:52 – many Mar 4:24 – hear Mar 5:35 – thy daughter Mar 14:18 – Verily Luk 7:14 – Young Joh 1:51 – Verily Joh 5:19 – and Joh 5:20 – greater Joh 10:27 – sheep Joh 11:11 – awake Joh 11:44 – he that Joh 12:34 – who Joh 14:6 – the life Joh 16:32 – the hour Rom 1:3 – his Son Rom 4:17 – who quickeneth 1Co 15:45 – a quickening 1Co 15:52 – for 2Co 5:14 – then Eph 1:21 – in that Phi 3:21 – the working Heb 3:7 – hear 1Pe 4:6 – to them Rev 2:18 – the Son Rev 14:7 – hour
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
This passage pertains to the same death and life as that in the preceding verse. To hear the voice of the Son of God in the sense of this statement, means to heed and obey His requirements; a dead faith will not save.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Verily, 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.
[The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear, etc.] the Jews, as we have said before, looked for the resurrection of the dead at the coming of Messiah: and that truly, and with great reason, though it was not to be in their sense.
The vision of Ezekiel about the dry bones living, Ezekiel_37, and those words of Isaiah, “thy dead men shall live,” etc., Isa 26:19, suggest to them some such thing, although they grope exceedingly in the dark as to the true interpretation of this matter.
That of R. Eliezer is well enough; The people of the earth [the Gentiles] do not live; which somewhat agrees with that of the apostle, Eph 2:1; “Ye were dead in trespasses and sins.” Nor does that of Jeremiah Bar Abba sound much differently: “The dry bones [Eze 37] are the sons of men, in whom is not the moisture of the law.”
It is true, “many bodies of the saints arose” when Christ himself arose, Mat 27:52; but as to those places in Scripture which hint the resurrection of the dead at his coming, I would not understand them so much of these, as the raising the Gentiles from their spiritual death of sin, when they lay in ignorance and idolatry, to the light and life of the gospel. Nor need we wholly expound Ezekiel’s dry bones recovered to life, of the return of the tribes of Israel from their captivity, (though that may be included in it) but rather, or together with that, the resuscitation of ‘the Israel of God’ (that is, those Gentiles that were to believe in the Messiah) from their spiritual death.
The words in Rev 20:5; “This is the first resurrection,” do seem to confirm this. Now what, and at what time, is this resurrection? When the great Angel of the covenant, Christ, had bound the old dragon with the chains of the gospel, and shut him up that he should no more seduce the nations by lying wonders, oracles, and divinations, and his false gods, as formerly he had done: that is, when the gospel, being published amongst the heathen nations, had laid open all the devices and delusions of Satan, and had restored them from the death of sin and ignorance to a true state of life indeed. This was ‘the first resurrection.’
That our Saviour in this place speaks of this resurrection, I so much the less doubt, because that resurrection he here intends, he plainly distinguishes it from the last and general resurrection of the dead, verses 28, 29 Joh 5:28-29; this first resurrection from that last: which he points therefore to, as it were, with his finger, by saying, “The hour is coming, and now is;” etc.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
The Apologists Bible Commentary
John 5
25″Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
CommentaryJesus emphasizes and makes concrete the statements He has just made in verse 24. Jesus calls the dead to life, and His voice can be no other than the voice of God: “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live” (Isaiah 55:3). The same voice who shall call the physically dead to life on the Last Day now calls the spiritually dead to spiritual life. The phrase “an hour is coming and now is” points to both future and present action – those who heard His words passed immediately into eternal spiritual life, and this promise extends to us, who “hear” His voice 2000 years removed, from the pen of the Fourth Evangelist, carried along, as he was, by the Spirit of Truth. The phrase “and has now come” may refer to the present era that will terminate in the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, or it may refer to the power Jesus had to raise the dead during his lifetime, as in the case of Lazarus. There is another sense in which our Lord’s words are true. As the source of life, he was promising to those who were spiritually dead, like the woman at the well, a new and eternal life if they would listen to his voice (EBC ).
Fuente: The Apologists Bible Commentary
Joh 5:25. Verily, verily, I say unto you. The third Verily, verily, introducing the third step in the argument.
An hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that have heard shall live. What was said of Joh 5:24 applies here also; for this verse has a direct connection with that which precedes it (heareth my word rises into shall hear the voice of the Son of God); and yet a still more important link unites it with the opening words of the discourse, especially with Joh 5:20, He will show Him greater works. In the 21st and 22d verses, these works are looked at in their own nature as done by the Son; in the 24th verse, they are looked at in their effect on the believer. Now, the will show is brought into prominence, for it is of the historical fulfilment of those words that the verse before us speaks. An hour cometh when the Sons power to give life to the dead (Joh 5:21) shall be manifested. Of the two spheres in which this power is exercised this verse has in view one only; the dead are those who are spiritually dead. In regard to these alone could it be said that the hour has already begun (an hour cometh, and now is), or would the limitation in the last words be in place, they that have heard shall live. The general meaning therefore is the same as that of the last verse; but, as it is to the dead that the Son speaks, we here read of the voice and not the word. In saying the voice of the Son of God, Jesus recalls to our thought all the majesty of His first words (Joh 5:11; Joh 5:17; Joh 5:19).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 25. Verily, 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.
A new affirmation, which Christ draws from the depths of His consciousness. An immense perspective opens before Him. The great act of the spiritual resurrection of humanity dead in its sins, dead to God, is to begin at this hour, and it is through Him that it will be wholly accomplished! The identity of the formula which begins these two verses, Joh 5:24-25, verily, verily, I say unto you as well as the asyndeton, which makes the second the energetic reaffirmation of the first, would suffice to prove that Joh 5:25 cannot refer to a fact essentially different from the preceding, and how wrong it is for Keil to find included here at once the physical and the spiritual resurrection. Jesus has passed, at Joh 5:24, from the general idea of resurrection to that of the spiritual resurrection in particular; He does not return backward.
Only in order to make a picture, He borrows from the physical resurrection the images by which He wished to depict the spiritual work which is to prepare the way for it. He seems to allude to the magnificent vision of Ezekiel,in which the prophet, standing in the midst of a plain covered with dry bones, calls them to life, first, by his word, and then, by the breath of Jehovah. Thus Jesus abides here below the only living one in the midst of humanity plunged in the death of sin, and the hour is approaching in which He is going to accomplish with reference to it a work like that which God entrusted to the prophet with regard to Israel in captivity. There is here a feeling analogous to that which leads Him to say in the Synoptics: Let the dead bury their dead. The expression:The hour cometh, and is now come, is intended (comp. Joh 4:23) to open the eyes of all to the grandeur of this epoch which is passing and of that which is in preparation. Jesus says: the hour cometh; what He means is the sending of the Holy Spirit (Joh 7:37-39). But he adds: and is now come; for His word, which is spirit and life (Joh 6:63), is already preparing the hearts to receive the Spirit. Comp. Joh 14:17. For the expression: my word, Jesus substitutes: the voice of the Son of God. The teaching of Christ is thus presented as the personal voice of Him who calls sinners to life. The article before (those who have heard), distinctly separates the spiritually dead into two classes: those who hear the voice without understanding it (comp. Joh 12:40), and those who, when hearing it, have ears to hear, hear it inwardly. Only these last are made alive by it. It is the function of judging which is accomplished under this form.
Those who apply this verse to the resurrection of the dead in the strict sense, are obliged to refer the words:and now is, to a few miraculous resurrections wrought by Jesus in the course of His ministry, and to explain the words in this sense: and after having heard …But all Hengstenberg’s efforts have not succeeded in justifying this grammatically impossible interpretation of . According to Olshausen, Joh 5:24 refers to the spiritual resurrection, and Joh 5:25 to the first bodily resurrection that of believers at the Parousia (1Co 15:23). Joh 5:28-29, finally, designate the final, universal resurrection. The words: and now is, must, in that case, refer to the resurrection of the few believers who appeared after the resurrection of Christ (Mat 27:52-53). Undoubtedly, Jesus admits a distinction between the first resurrection and the universal resurrection (Luk 14:14 : to the resurrection of the just; comp. Rev 20:6); but the explanation which Olshausen gives of the words: and now is, is not open to discussion. Nothing in the text authorizes us to see here the indication of a resurrection different from that of Joh 5:24. The following verse explains the secret of the power which the voice of Christ will display in the hour which is about to strike for the earth.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 25
The dead; the spiritually dead. The sense in which the term is used is fixed by the last clause of the John 5:24.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
5:25 {6} Verily, 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.
(6) We are all dead in sin and cannot be made alive by any other means, except by the word of Christ apprehended by faith.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus continued to describe what believers will experience in the future fully that they already experience now in measure (cf. Joh 4:23), namely, resurrection life. We will experience it in the future physically, but we experience it now spiritually (cf. Rom 6:13). Jesus’ word gives believers spiritual life now, and it will raise the dead in the future (cf. Joh 5:28-29; Joh 11:43).