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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:39

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Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

39. Search the Scriptures ] It will never be settled beyond dispute whether the verb here is imperative or indicative. As far as the Greek shews it may be either, ‘search,’ or ‘ye search,’ and both make sense. The question is, which makes the best sense, and this the context must decide. The context seems to be strongly in favour of the indicative, ye search the Scriptures. All the verbs on either side are in the indicative; and more especially the one with which it is so closely connected, ‘and ye will not come.’ Ye search the Scriptures, and (instead of their leading you to Me) ye are not willing to come to Me. The tragic tone once more: see on Joh 1:5. The reproach lies not in their searching, but in their searching to so little purpose. Jewish study of the Scriptures was too often learned trifling and worse; obscuring the text by frivolous interpretations, ‘making it of none effect’ by unholy traditions.

for in them ye think ] ‘Ye’ is emphatic; because ye are the people who think; it is your own opinion. Not that they were wrong in thinking that eternal life was to be found in the Scriptures; their error was in thinking that they, who rejected the Messiah, had found it. Had they searched aright they would have found both the Messiah and eternal life.

they are they ] See on Joh 10:1.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Search the scriptures – The word translated search here means to search diligently or search anxiously. It was applied to miners, who search for precious metals – who look anxiously for the bed of the ore with an intensity or anxiety proportionate to their sense of the value of the metal. Compare the notes at Job 28:3. It is applied by Homer to a lioness robbed of her whelps, and who searches the plain to trace out the footsteps of the man who has robbed her. It is also applied by him to dogs tracing their game by searching them out by the scent of the foot. It means a diligent, faithful, anxious investigation The word may be either in the indicative or imperative mood. In our translation it is in the imperative, as if Jesus commanded them to search the Scriptures. Cyril, Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, Kuinoel, Tholuck, DeWette, and others, give it as in the indicative: Chrysostom, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wetstein, Stier, Alford, and others, regard it as in the imperative, or as a command. It is impossible to determine which is the true interpretation. Either of them makes good sense, and it is proper to use the passage in either signification. There is abundant evidence that the Jews did search the books of the Old Testament. It is equally clear that all people ought to do it.

The scriptures – The writings or books of the Old Testament, for those were all the books of revelation that they then possessed.

In them ye think ye have eternal life – The meaning of this is: Ye think that by studying the Scriptures you will obtain eternal life. You suppose that they teach the way to future blessedness, and that by diligently studying them you will attain it. We see by this:

That the Jews in the time of Jesus were expecting a future state.
The Scriptures teach the way of life, and it is our duty to study them.

The Bereans are commended for searching the Scriptures Act 17:11; and Timothy is said from a child to have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make us wise unto salvation, 2Ti 3:15. Early life is the proper time to search the Bible, for they who seek the Lord early shall find him.

They are they … – They bear witness to the Messiah. They predict his coming, and the manner of his life and death, Isa 53:1-12; Dan 9:26-27, etc. See the notes at Luk 24:27.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 39. Search the Scriptures] . This should be translated, not in the imperative, but in the indicative mood-thus, Ye search the Scriptures diligently. That these words are commonly read in the imperative mood is sufficiently known; but this reading can never accord well with the following verse, nor can the force and energy of the words be perceived by this version.

The rabbins strongly recommend the study of the Scriptures. The Talmud, Tract. Shabbath, fol. 30, brings in God thus addressing David: “I am better pleased with one day in which thou sittest and studiest the law, than I shall be with a thousand sacrifices which thy son Solomon shall offer upon my altar.”

Perhaps the Scriptures were never more diligently searched than at that very time: first, because they were in expectation of the immediate appearing of the Messiah; secondly, because they wished to find out allegories in them; (see Philo😉 and, thirdly, because they found these scriptures to contain the promise of an eternal life. He, said they, who studies daily in the law, is worthy to have a portion in the world to come, Sohar. Genes. fol. 31. Hence we may infer: 1st. That the Jews had the knowledge of a future state before the coming of Christ; and 2ndly. That they got that knowledge from the Old Testament Scriptures.

The word , which might be translated, Ye search diligently, is very expressive. Homer, IL. xviii. l. 321, applies it to a lion deprived of his whelps, who “scours the plains, and traces the footsteps of the man.” And in ODYSS. xix. l. 436, to dogs tracing their game by the scent of the foot.

In the Septuagint, the verb answers to the Hebrew chapash, to search by uncovering; to chakar, to search minutely, to explore; to chashaph, to strip, make bare; and to mashash, to feel, search by feeling. It is compounded of , I seek, and , a bed; “and is, “says St. Chrysostom, “a metaphor taken from those who dig deep, and search for metals in the bowels of the earth. They look for the bed where the metal lies, and break every clod, and sift and examine the whole, in order to discover the ore.” Those who read the verse in the imperative mood consider it an exhortation to the diligent study of the Sacred Writings. Search; that is, shake and sift them, as the word also signifies: search narrowly, till the true force and meaning of every sentence, yea, of every word and syllable, nay, of every letter and yod therein, be known and understood. Confer place with place; the scope of one place with that of another; things going before with things coming after: compare word with word, letter with letter, and search the whole thoroughly. See Parkhurst, Mintert, and Leigh.

Leaving every translation of the present passage out of the question, this is the proper method of reading and examining the Scriptures, so as to become wise unto salvation through them.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Search the Scriptures; the words may be read either imperatively (as our translation readeth them) or indicatively, You do search the Scriptures; that is, of the Old Testament, for the books of the New Testament were not at that time written; but as they had the books of the Old Testament, so they made use of them: Moses was read in the synagogues every sabbath day; and they (the Pharisees especially) were very well versed both in the law and the prophets.

For in them ye think ye have eternal life; they did agree that the way of salvation and everlasting life was revealed unto them in the Holy Scriptures; nay, they did judge, that eternal life was to be obtained by their observation of the law.

They are they which testify of me: they (saith our Saviour) are my principal testimony; he doth not only say, they testify, but they are they which testify. No writings but those testify of me; I principally appeal to them to give you an account of me.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

39-42. Search the scriptures,c.”In the Scriptures ye find your charter of eternal life gosearch them then, and you will find that I am the Great Burden oftheir testimony; yet ye will not come to Me for that life eternalwhich you profess to find there, and of which they tell you I am theappointed Dispenser.” (Compare Act 17:11;Act 17:12). How touching andgracious are these last words! Observe here (1) The honor whichChrist gives to the Scriptures, as a record which all have a rightand are bound to searchthe reverse of which the Church ofRome teaches; (2) The opposite extreme is, resting in the mere Bookwithout the living Christ, to direct the soul to whom is itsmain use and chiefest glory.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Search the Scriptures,…. The writings of Moses, and the prophets, which were of divine inspiration and authority, and are often appealed unto by Christ, and his apostles, for the truth of what they delivered; and were the standard of faith, and the test of doctrines; and therefore to be searched diligently into, for finding divine knowledge and improvement in it, and for the trial of doctrines. The words may be rendered in the indicative, as an assertion, “ye do search the Scriptures”: the Jews had the sacred oracles committed to them, and these they read, not only their kings, princes, and judges, but the common people, who brought up their children to the reading of them, and instructed them in them: and besides this, these writings were read, and expounded publicly in their synagogues every sabbath day; and at this time especially these records were examined, and particularly those of them which respected the Messiah, since there was now a general expectation of him: and certain it is, that the chief priests, Scribes, and elders, or the sanhedrim, were very much versed in the Scriptures, and could readily refer to those which concerned the Messiah; see an instance of this in Mt 2:4;

for in them ye think ye have eternal life; not the doctrine of eternal life, nor the promises of it, nor the way to it; though all these are contained in them, and pointed out by them: for though life and immortality are brought to light by the Gospel, and the promise of eternal life belongs to the covenant of grace, and the way of life and righteousness by Christ is manifested without the law, and not by it; yet there is much of the Gospel, and an exhibition of the covenant of grace, and its promises, and Christ, the way of life, is directed to typically by the tree of life, and the brazen serpent, and other things in those writings. But the meaning here is, that they imagined, by having these writings in their hands, and by their reading them, and hearing them expounded every sabbath day, they should obtain and inherit everlasting life: hence they call r the law eternal life, and say s concerning the reading of it, that

“he that begins to read in the book of the law is obliged to bless after this manner: blessed be he that has chosen us above all nations, and hath given us his law.–And he that finishes blesses after him in this manner: blessed is he who hath given us his law, the law of truth, and has planted “eternal life” in the midst of us.”

This was an opinion of theirs: so the Persic version reads, “for such is your opinion”; and though this was a very vain one, yet it shows what a very high opinion they had of the Scriptures: and now to these our Lord appeals as witnesses for him, and against which they could not object, upon their own principles:

and they are they which testify of me; as they do of his proper deity and divine sonship, calling him Jehovah, God, the mighty God, and the Son of God; and of his offices as prophet, priest, and King; and of his incarnation of a virgin; and of the tribe, family, and place of his birth; of the miracles which he should work; of the treatment he should meet with from men; of his sufferings and death; of the circumstances leading on to them, and attending them; as his riding on an ass into Jerusalem, the betraying him by one of his familiar acquaintance, the selling him for thirty pieces of silver, the spitting upon, and scourging him, giving him gall for his meat, and vinegar for his drink, and parting his garments, and casting lots for his vesture, and the crucifixion of him, and that between two thieves; and of his burial, resurrection from the dead, ascension to heaven, and session at the right hand of God, and of his future coming to judgment.

r Zohar in Gen. fol. 100. 3. s Maimon. in Misn. Megilla, c. 4. sect. 1.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Ye search (). Proper spelling as the papyri show rather than , the old form (from , search) as in 7:52. The form here can be either present active indicative second person plural or the present active imperative second person plural. Only the context can decide. Either makes sense here, but the reason given “because ye think” ( , clearly indicative), supports the indicative rather than the imperative. Besides, Jesus is arguing on the basis of their use of “the Scriptures” ( ). The plural with the article refers to the well-known collection in the Old Testament (Matt 21:42; Luke 24:27). Elsewhere in John the singular refers to a particular passage (John 2:22; John 7:38; John 10:35).

In them ye have eternal life ( ). Indirect assertion after without “ye” expressed either as nominative () or accusative (). Bernard holds that in John always indicates a mistaken opinion (John 5:45; John 11:13; John 11:31; John 13:29; John 16:20; John 20:15). Certainly the rabbis did make a mechanical use of the letter of Scripture as a means of salvation.

These are they ( ). The true value of the Scriptures is in their witness to Christ (of me, ). Luke (John 24:27; John 24:45) gives this same claim of Jesus, and yet some critics fail to find the Messiah in the Old Testament. But Jesus did.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Search [] . Rev., rightly, ye search. Jesus is appealing to a familiar practice of which for in them ye think is explanatory. See 1Pe 1:11; Rom 8:27; 1Co 2:10; Rev 2:23.

The scriptures [ ] . Literally, the writings; possibly with a hint at the contrast with the word (ver. 38).

They [] . Those very scriptures.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Search the scriptures; (ereunate tas graphas) “You all search the Scriptures,” to learn, not just to judge, but to comprehend them and me, my identity as the Star out of Jacob, The virgin-born one, that prophet you are to heed in all things, etc., Num 24:17; Isa 7:14; Deu 18:16-18.

2) “For in them ye think ye have eternal life: (hoti humeis dokeite en autais zoen aionion echein) “Because you all think or suppose that in them you continually have, hold, or possess eternal life,” by keeping their rites, forms, and ceremonies, Mar 7:1-12; Mat 5:20; Rom 10:1-4. The indicative idea of “you all are searching” conveys the idea the these Jews were sincerely trying to find ways to work out their own salvation, Rom 11:6; Eph 2:9; Tit 3:5.

3) “And they are they which testify of me.” (kai ekeinai eisin hai marturousai peri emou) “And those are the ones testifying (as prophetic witnesses) concerning me,” if you could only understand and interpret their prophetic testimony, Act 10:43; Rev 19:10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

39. Search the Scriptures. We have said that the statement which Christ formerly made — that he has the Father for a witness in heaven — refers to Moses and the Prophets. Now follows a clearer explanation; for he says that that testimony is to be found in the Scriptures. He again reproves them for their foolish boasting, because, while they acknowledged that they had life in the Scriptures, they perceived nothing in them but the dead letter. For he does not absolutely blame them for seeking life in the Scriptures, since they were given to us for that end and use, but because the Jews thought that the Scriptures gave them life, while they were widely opposed to its natural meaning, and — what is worse — while they quenched the light of life which was contained in them; for how can the Law bestow life without Christ, who alone gives life to it?

Again, we are taught by this passage, that if we wish to obtain the knowledge of Christ, (109) we must seek it from the Scriptures; for they who imagine whatever they choose concerning Christ will ultimately have nothing instead of him but a shadowy phantom. First, then, we ought to believe that Christ cannot be properly known in any other way than from the Scriptures; and if it be so, it follows that we ought to read the Scriptures with the express design of finding Christ in them. Whoever shall turn aside from this object, though he may weary himself throughout his whole life in learning, will never attain the knowledge of the truth; for what wisdom can we have without the wisdom of God? Next, as we are commanded to seek Christ in the Scriptures, so he declares in this passage that our labors shall not be fruitless; for the Father testifies in them concerning his Son in such a manner that He will manifest him to us beyond all doubt. But what hinders the greater part of men from profiting is, that they give to the subject nothing more than a superficial and cursory glance. Yet it requires the utmost attention, and, therefore, Christ enjoins us to search diligently for this hidden treasure. Consequently, the deep abhorrence of Christ which is entertained by the Jews, who have the Law constantly in their hands, must be imputed to their indolence. For the lustre of the glory of God shines brightly in Moses, but they choose to have a vail to obscure that lustre. By the Scriptures, it is well known, is here meant the Old Testament; for it was not in the Gospel that Christ first began to be manifested, but, having received testimony from the Law and the Prophets, he was openly exhibited in the Gospel.

(109) “ Si nous voulons avoir cognoissance de Christ.”

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE WITNESS OF THE SCRIPTURES

Text 5:39-47

Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;

and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.

I receive not glory from men.

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves.

I am come in my Fathers name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?

Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.

For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.

But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Queries

Why did the Jews search the Scriptures?

Why would Jesus not accuse them?

Where did Moses write concerning Jesus?

Paraphrase

You are searching the Scriptures because you think you have eternal life through searching them; and these very Scriptures which you search so diligently are testifying of Me. But still, you are not willing to come unto Me so that you might have eternal life. The glory of men is not My motive in making these claims to deity, but I know you do not receive Me because you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come with the authority and nature of My Father, and you do not receive me, but if another come in his own authority and seeking the glory of men, you will accept him. How is it possible for you to believe, seeing that you are always seeking approval from one another, and not the approval of the only true God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father, for Moses, the very person upon whom you have built your hopes, he is the one accusing you. If you really believed Moses you would believe in Me, for he wrote concerning Me. But if you do not believe what Moses wrote concerning Me in the Scriptures, how can you believe what I say?

Summary

The incomparable and irrefutable witness of the Scriptures is called to testify to the deity of Jesus. This same testimony also produces judgment upon the unbelieving Jew.

Comment

The Greek verb eraunte (search) of Joh. 5:39 may be interpreted two ways. It may be either in the indicative mood (mood of stating a fact) or in the imperative mood (mood of command). The verb has been translated both Ye are searching the scriptures . . . and Search the scriptures . . . The context, however calls for the indicative mood rather than the imperative for the following reasons: (a) They were searching the Scriptures for a reason, e.g., because ye think, etc. . . . which would preclude the necessity for a command for them to search the scriptures. (b) Jesus is basing His whole argument as to their unbelief on their perverted use of the Scriptures. (c) The practice of the-Jews at that time was to study each word minutely, and to build absurd mystical and allegorical interpretations around these word studies.

With all their diligent searching, their tedious allegorical interpretations, and their rote memorization of the Law, the Jews rejected the Messiah when He came to them. There are at least two reasons for this: (a) Their minds were made up as to what the Messiah must be before they read the Scriptures. Then they read the prophecies and perverted them to conform to their prejudiced ideals. (b) They were Bibliolatrists (Bible worshippers): they worshipped the words of the Bible. The Bible should NOT be worshipped. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Lifethe Bible is merely the INSPIRED RECORD of Gods revelation. The true function of the Scripture is expressed by Jesus Himself, These are they which testify concerning me. Only when we have the Scriptures in our minds and written on our hearts (cf. Heb. 8:10)only when they bring us into a personal relationship of trust and obedience to the Person of Christ do we have life from them, Entrance into the promises of Gods Word comes by the free gift of God, but only to those who have become sons of God through the adoption covenant recorded in the New Testament, i.e., the plan of salvation.

Joh. 5:40 very definitely shows salvation to be more than a passive acceptance of a soverign, irresistable grace of God. Jesus affirms the free will of man. Man is partially responsible for his own eternal destiny (cf. Joh. 7:17; Joh. 8:44).

Jesus rebuked the Jews for their superstitious and fruitless searching of the Scriptures in Joh. 5:39-40. The Jews then probably reasoned: He is angry because we did not give Him our praise and approval for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus anticipates their reasoning and answers, I receive not the glory of men. What the Lord is saying is this, I am not making these claims to deity and doing these works for ambitions sake (to win the applause of men). I am claiming deity and showing you your error because I want to save you (cf. Joh. 5:34). The statement of Joh. 5:41 does not mean that we should refuse to praise the name of Christ. Christs motive in doing His works and making His claims was not selfish glory-seeking, but deep self-sacrificing love. This very sacrificial motive, however, earned for Him exaltation from God and praise from men (cf. Php. 2:5-11).

What was the real reason for their failure to acknowledge Him as the Messiah? It was not that He was a praise-seeker. The real reason was their lack of the love of God in their hearts (cf. 1Jn. 2:5; 1Jn. 4:7-9; Rom. 5:5-8). They had no real spiritual knowledge of God or love for Gods will and purpose; thus it was impossible for them to recognize the presence of God in Christ.

Joh. 5:43 shows the correctness of the statement of Joh. 5:42 (complete lack of fellowship of the Jews with Gods will). Jesus came in the effulgence of Gods glory and was the very image of His substance, but they rejected Him. If a mortal comes in his own authority, patterning his programs after their desires, they will receive him. Jesus may have had in mind all the false Christs and insurrectionists who came before Him, and would come after Him (cf. Act. 5:36-37). The worldling offers men a comparatively easy and glorious path to fame or satisfaction. Jesus offers only the strait (confined) and humiliating road to satisfaction.

The root of their unbelief was their earthly idea of glory, what they could win or bestow. This incapacitated them from seeing the glory of Christ, which was divine and heavenly, which men could not give or remove (The Expositors Greek Testament). According to Joh. 5:44 the Jews made the praise and glory of men their goal and standard. So long as they sought only the praise of men and measured themselves by human comparisons it was impossible for them to believe (cf. 2Co. 10:12) . . . they were, by such action, without understanding. In order to trust in the mercy of God and believe His promises one must need to believe in God. One can only need to believe in God when one has compared himself with God and has seen his lost estate. The next step one must take is to desire the approval, or praise, of God and His salvation. The Jews were not interested in Gods approval (cf. Mat. 6:1 ff; Mat. 23:5; Joh. 12:43).

Jesus says in Joh. 5:45, Do not complacently suppose that in rejecting Me you have done away with the possibility of being accused before God! The very Moses in whom you base your hopes will accuse you through his writings, for he prophecied of My deity which you have rejected. The Greek word kategoreso has been translated accuse here. It is a composite of kata (against) and agoreuo (speak in the public assembly), hence, bring a public accusation against. We have the English word categorize from this word.

Jesus would not need to condemn or accuse them for their rejection of Him, since the prophecied Messiah of the Pentateuch would cause their esteemed Moses to condemn them. In spite of their claiming to be the disciples of Moses (Joh. 9:28), they did not believe his writings.

Joh. 5:46 is another of the numerous places where Jesus bears witness to the fact that Moses was the author of some portion of the Scriptures, and further that Moses prophecied concerning the Christ. In other instances, Jesus establishes Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (cf. Luk. 24:44).

If they had believed Moses they would have believed Him (Joh. 5:46). The converse is now given if they believe not the words Moses has written how shall they believe the words of Jesus? If they could not believe Moses words, and seek the approval of God how could they believe the words of Christ which came to them without the recommendation of use and age?

That which had been the greatest advantage and privilege of the Jew (cf. Rom. 3:1-4) became their accuser and condemner (cf. Rom. 2:1-29). Knowledge carries with it responsibility. The greater ones privilege or position is, the greater is the responsibility and condemnation for failure (Jas. 3:1).

Quiz

Is Jesus commanding them to search the Scriptures, or merely stating the fact that they do so, in Joh. 5:39?

Give two reasons why the Jews could not come to Jesus even though they searched the Scriptures diligently.

How does Joh. 5:40 refute the doctrine of irresistible grace?

In what way does Christ not seek the praise of men?

Why do they receive one who comes in his own name, but not Jesus Who came in the name of the Father?

How does Moses accuse the Jews?

Give two Scripture references which show the greater the position, the greater the responsibility.

SPECIAL STUDY NO. 3

Christianity stands or falls with the deity of Jesus. The Fourth Gospel is vigorously attacked by hostile critics because it so plainly declares the deity of Jesus of Nazareth. The unbeliever assumes that once he has destroyed the historicity of Johns Gospel, he has destroyed the deity of Jesus, since the remainder of the New Testament (according to the unbelieving critic) makes no such claims as the Gospel of John.
We introduce here a term paper written by Miss LaDonna Woods, student at Ozark Bible College. Her paper is a very comprehensive and well-organized compilation of facts gathered from many sources. The author gratefully acknowledges Miss Woods permission to reproduce the study. The reader will notice that Christs deity is asserted and substantiated throughout the entire New Testament.

THE DEITY OF JESUS

by LaDonna Woods
I. CLAIMS OF JESUS

The Son of Man

This was Jesus favorite name for Himself. It occurs about seventy times in the Gospels: Matthew, 30 times; Mar. 5:1-43 times; Luke, 25 times; Joh. 10:1-42 times.

It was used in Dan. 7:13-14; Dan. 7:27 as name for the coming Messiah. Jesus adoption of it is thought to have been equivalent to a claim of Messiahship.

He also carried this title with Him to heaven (Act. 7:56).

II.

The Son of God

Jesus called Himself the Son of God in Joh. 5:25. John tells us in Joh. 5:18 that the Jews sought to kill Him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making himself equal with God. Three times Jesus categorically said, I am the Son of God: Mar. 14:61-62; Joh. 9:35-37; Joh. 10:36.

III.

Expressions of Himself that can be predicated only of deity:

I am the Way the Truth and the Life (Joh. 14:6).

I am the door; by Me if any man enter in he shall be saved and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture (Joh. 10:9).

No man can come unto the Father but by Me (Joh. 14:6).

I am the Bread of Life (Joh. 6:35; Joh. 6:38).

I am the Life (Joh. 11:25; Joh. 14:6).

I am the Resurrection (Joh. 11:25).

He that believes on Me shall never Die (Joh. 11:26).

I am the Messiah (Joh. 4:25-26).

Before Abraham was I am (Joh. 8:58).

Father, glorify Me with the glory I had with Thee before the world was (Joh. 17:5). (a clear declaration of His pre-incarnate existence).

He that has seen Me has seen the Father (Joh. 14:9).

I and the Father are one (Joh. 10:30).

All power on earth and in heaven has been given unto me (Mat. 28:18).

I am with you always, even unto the end of the world (Mat. 28:20).

I am the Light of the world (Joh. 8:12).

I am the good Shepherd (Joh. 10:11).

You are of this world; I am not of this world. You are from beneath; I am from above (Joh. 8:23).

Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad (Joh. 8:56).

Moses wrote of Me (Joh. 5:46).

The Father, He has borne witness of Me (Joh. 5:37).

Except you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins (Joh. 8:24).

Blessed are your eyes, for I say unto you many kings and prophets desired to see the things that you see, but did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, but did not hear them (Luk. 10:23-24).

The queen of Sheba came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. A greater than Solomon is here. The Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, Here is a greater than Jonah (Mat. 12:41-42).

Who else could have said such things about himself? Only God incarnate! Of whom else could we say them? None except the Son of the living God. Let us now consider what the apostles had to say concerning the deity of Jesus.

II. THE APOSTLES CLAIMS CONCERNING CHRIST

Peter

When at Caesarea Philippi Jesus asked His disciples who men said that He was, Peter answered and said unto Him, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Mat. 16:13-20). This is told also in Mar. 8:27-29 and Luk. 9:18-20.

It had been some three years since Peter had first accepted Jesus as the Messiah (Joh. 1:41-42). A year later he called Him Lord (Luk. 5:8), Half a year later he called Him the holy One of God (Joh. 6:68-69). Now, after two and one-half years of association with Jesus he expresses his conviction in the deity of Jesus.

The Rock (Mat. 16:18) on which Christ would build His church is not Peter, but the truth which Peter confessed, that Jesus is the Son of God. The deity of Jesus is the foundation upon which the church rests, the fundamental creed of Christendom.

II.

John

Jesus was in the beginning.

In Joh. 1:1-3 we are reminded of the opening words of Genesis. Jesus is called God and Creator. John is very positive that Jesus was a personality existing from eternity, and that He had a hand in the creation of the universe. In Joh. 17:5 Jesus is quoted as referring to the glory He had with the Father before the world was.

Jesus is also called the Word in Joh. 1:1; that is, Jesus was Gods expression of Himself to mankind. Jesus was God. Jesus was like God. Jesus was Gods message to mankind.

Jesus is the Light of the world.

John tells us this in Joh. 1:4-13; Joh. 8:12; Joh. 9:5; Joh. 12:46. This is one of the keynotes in Johns thought about Jesus (cf. 1Jn. 1:5-7). It means that Jesus, as Light of the world, is the One who makes clear the meaning and destiny of human existence.

The Incarnation (Joh. 1:14-18).

God became a man in order to win man to Himself. God could have made man with an instinct to do His will; but He chose rather to give man the power to decide for himself his attitude toward his Creator. But God is a spirit; and man is hedged in by the limitations of a material body, and has scant conception of what a Spirit is. So the Creator came to His creatures in the form of one of them to give them an idea of the kind of being He is. God is like Jesus. Jesus is like God.

III.

Jesus is called the Son of God by:

Mark (Mar. 1:1)

John (Joh. 3:16; Joh. 3:18; Joh. 20:31)

John the Baptist (Joh. 1:34)

Nathanael (Joh. 1:49)

Peter (Mat. 16:16)

Martha (Joh. 11:27)

The Disciples (Mat. 14:33)

Gabriel (Luk. 1:32-35)

These are the claims of some of Jesus apostles and disciples concerning His deity. Let us take a general look at the Scriptures.

NAMES AND TITLES APPLIED BY THE SCRIPTURES TO CHRIST

The Christ, the Messiah, Saviour, Redeemer, Wonderful Counsellor, Faithful Witness, the Word of God, the Truth, the Light of the World, the Way, the Good Shepherd, Mediator, Deliverer, the Great High Priest, the Author and Perfector of our Faith, the Captain of our Salvation, Our Advocate, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God, the Holy One of God, only begotten Son, Mighty God, the image of God, everlasting Father, Lord, Lord of All, Lord of Glory, Lord of Lords, blessed and only Potentate, King of Israel, King of Kings, Ruler of the kings of the Earth, Prince of Life, Prince of Peace, the Son of David, the Branch, David, Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star, Immanuel, the second Adam, the Lamb of God, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the beginning of the creation of God, the First born of all creation, the Amen.
Only Jesus could be rightfully named all these names. It is not enough, however, for one just to be called these names, for they merely claim deity. We must have proof if we are to trust in Jesus as divine. This proof is found in the fulfillment by Jesus of the Old Testament prophecies, in the amazing character of Jesus, in the miracles which Jesus performed, in His resurrection and in His ascension.

III. PROPHECIES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, AND THEIR FULFILLMENT IN JESUS CHRIST

The complete story of Jesus life: its main features, events, and accompanying incidents, even in minutest detail, is plainly foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures.

Birth

Prophecy that a Messiah was to come:

Jesus accepted the Old Testament prophecies which declared the absolute deity of the coming Messiah, as referring to Himself. Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isa. 7:14). This is a clear statement of the birth of Christ. It also plainly says that the Son born of this virgin should be called Immanuel, literally, God with us.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6). The names of this child are the names of deity! The child to be born, the Son to be given, was to be very God, as clearly deity as God the Father Himself, and in fact, a very manifestation of the Father.

Gen. 3:15 The Seed of Woman

The Deliverer from sin must be:

Of the seed of woman

Temporarily hindered

Finally victorious

Paul writes, but when the fulness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of woman (Gal. 4:4-5).

The Deity of Christ is substantiated by the virgin birth.

It was prophesied that the Christ would be born of a virgin. (Isa. 7:14).

Mat. 1:20-21 is the fulfillment of this prophecy.

It was prophesied that He would be born in Bethlehem. Mic. 5:2 fulfilled Mat. 2:6; Luk. 2:47 (cf. Joh. 7:42).

It was prophesied that He was to be of Davids family.

Old Testament.

2Sa. 7:12-16; Psa. 89:3-4; Psa. 110:1; Gen. 49:8-10

New Testament

Mat. 1:1, Rev. 22:16; Rom. 1:3

His Life

Prophesied that He would sojourn in Egypt

Hos. 11:1 fulfilled Mat. 2:13-15

Prophesied that Jesus would live at Nazareth

Isa. 11:1; Jer. 23:5; Zec. 3:8 fulfilled Mat. 2:23; Luk. 4:16

Jesus Ministry

Prophesied that He would proclaim a jubilee to the world. Isa. 61:1 fulfilled Luk. 4:16-21

Prophesied His ministry to be one of healing. Isa. 53:4 fulfilled Mat. 8:14-17

Prophesied He would teach by parables. Isa. 6:9-10; Psa. 78:2 fulfilled Mat. 13:14-35

Prophesied He would be rejected by the rulers.

Psa. 69:4; Psa. 118:22 fulfilled Mat. 21:42; Mar. 12:10-11; Luk. 20:17; Act. 4:11-12; 1Pe. 2:4

Isa. 53:1 fulfilled Joh. 12:37-41; Joh. 15:25 (cf. Psa. 35:19; Psa. 119:4).

III

His Death in Prophecy

Prophesied that He would be betrayed by a friend for thirty pieces of silver.

Zec. 11:12-13; Psa. 41:9 fulfilled Mat. 27:9-10; Joh. 13:18.

Prophesied that He would be given vinegar and gall.

Psa. 69:21 fulfilled Mat. 27:34; Joh. 19:29

Prophesied that they would cast lots for His garments.

Psa. 22:18 fulfilled Joh. 19:24

Even His dying words were foretold.

Psa. 22:1-31; Psa. 33:5 fulfilled Mat. 27:46

Prophesied that not a bone of His body would be broken.

Exo. 12:46; Num. 9:12; Psa. 34:20 fulfilled Joh. 19:36

Prophesied that His side would be pierced.

Zec. 12:10; Psa. 22:16 fulfilled Joh. 19:37

His Burial in Prophecy

It was prophesied that He would be buried by a rich man, Isa. 53:9; Mat. 27:57-60 (The fact is stated in Matthew, but the prophecy is not quoted).

His Resurrection in Prophecy

Prophesied that He would rise from the dead the third day: Mat. 12:40, Luk. 24:46. No particular passage is quoted from the Old Testament for this, but Jesus likens His burial and resurrection to Jonahs entombment in the belly of the whale.

That He would rise from the dead as prophesied is Peters application of Psa. 16:8 ff in his sermon in Act. 2:25-32 (cf. also Act. 13:33-35 and Psa. 2:1-12).

Jesus said, it is written, that the Christ should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day (Luk. 24:46).

Christ is the theme of the Bible (Joh. 5:39; Heb. 10:7). He is the Word of God (Joh. 1:1-18; Rev. 19:13), and the Bible is the Word of God (Heb. 4:13). He is the Word incarnate, and the Bible is the Word written.

He is the theme of the whole Bible. Not only in the New Testament but in the Old Testament as well, He is the central figure. Throughout the Book the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10). In 1Pe. 1:10-11 it is declared that the sufferings of Christ and the glory that shall follow constitute the theme of the Old Testament writers.

We have already seen some of the prophecies concerning Christ in the Psalms that were completely fulfilled. There are many more references to the prophetic nature of the Psalms yet in the New Testament.

When Christ was talking to His apostles after His resurrection, He definitely mentioned the Psalms (Luk. 24:44). There are many references to the Second Psalm in the New Testament, and their application to our Lord is clear:

1. Psa. 2:1-12 is applied to Christ in Act. 4:23-26; Act. 27:1-44; Act. 28:1-31.

2. Psa. 2:7 : I will tell of the decree Jehovah said unto me, Thou art my son. In Act. 13:35 the same words are applied to Christ: Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. That the Lord Jesus is the One spoken of here is shown by the New Testament references to this verse. In Heb. 1:4-5, His superiority to the angels is deduced from the fact that to none of the angels did God ever say, Thou art my Son; and in Heb. 5:5, it is declared specifically that the words of this seventh verse of the Second Psalm refers to Christ. This day have I begotten thee The day referred to here is the day of His resurrection, as is seen by Pauls words in Act. 13:32-33 declaring the glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. On that day He became the first begotten from the dead. Others had been raised from the dead, but in their case it was only resuscitation of the natural body; He was the first to come forth with an immortal and glorified body.

3. Psa. 22:1-31; Psa. 23:1-6; Psa. 24:1-10 are all Shepherd Psalms: In the New Testament our Lord is presented as a Shepherd in three ways: (1) In Joh. 10:1-42 He is the Good Shepherd giving His life for the sheep (Joh. 10:11); (2) In Heb. 13:20 He is the Great Shepherd, brought again from the dead . . . through the blood of the everlasting covenant, Who is now in resurrection power and glory caring for His flock; (3) In 1Pe. 5:4 He is the Chief Shepherd who will one day appear to reward His under-shepherds and take immediate charge of His sheep. All these relationships are set forth in the three Shepherd Psalms: (1) In Psa. 22:1-31 the Good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep; (2) In Psa. 23:1-6 the Great Shepherd is leading His sheep and caring for them; (3) In Psa. 24:1-10 He is the King of glory, in His appearing at the end of the age.

We have seen how the prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Christ show that He truly is the promised One, the Messiah. Let us now look at the character of Jesus while He was here among men. Even though He came as a man we can see from a study of His earthly life that He was divine, the One sent forth from God.

IV. CHRISTS UNPARALLELED CHARACTER (Joh. 18:19-40)

Challenge of a Perfect Life

He prayed for forgiveness of His murderers Luk. 23:34

He laid down His life for the unrighteous. Rom. 5:8

His enemies find no fault in Him

Pilate said, Behold, the man, I find no fault in him. Joh. 19:4-6.

Bovee said, Even if we should reject all other miracles of the Christ, yet we have the miracle of Christ Himself.

III

Characteristics of an Ideal Man

He was a man of strength, not a weakling (Mat. 4:1-10) Jesus withstood the temptation of Satan. Even Samson, a physical giant, could not do that.

Jesus was a man of power, not an incompetent (Joh. 18:1-11)

As a man alone against a great mob of people who were sent to take Him, He caused the mob to fall to the ground when he said, I am He.

Jesus was a man of courage, not a coward (Luk. 9:51-56)

Knowing that a horrible death awaited Him at Jerusalem, he set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

Jesus was a man of compassion (Joh. 11:30-36).

Men sometimes look upon tears from the eyes of men as a sign of weakness, but they most certainly are not. Severity, harshness, coldness, are not signs of real manhood. Tears reveal a heart. A powerful man without a heart is more liable to be a menace than a blessing. The coward may be brazen, but a courageous man may yet be tender to the point of tears. Jesus tears for the suffering but enhance Him as the Man of men.

Jesus was a man of forgiveness (Luk. 23:23-38)

Could we only experience Christs humiliation when He was mocked, jostled, lied about, spat upon, thorn-crowned, and then nailed to the cross to die in the most excruciating agony, actually praying in the midst of His agony for the forgiveness of those who were cursing, mocking and taunting Him, we should have some idea of the degree of forgiving grace which He possessed. There is none to equal it! (cf. 1Pe. 2:21-25)

From these instances alone we have the picture of One who perfectly fulfills every characteristic of the ideal man. He is the one and only such fulfillment the world has ever known!
Such a man as this would be able to do great wonders. Jesus did do many miracles while He was here on this earth in the form of man. Let us look at some of these miracles.

V. MIRACLES OF JESUS

Jesus said, The works which the Father has given me to do, the very works that I do, bear witness of me (Joh. 5:36).

Aside from supernatural manifestations such as angelic announcements, virgin birth, the star that guided the Magi, Jesus passing through hostile mobs, cleansing the temple, His transfiguration, soldiers falling, darkness at the crucifixion, the tombs opened, the earthquake, Jesus resurrection, angel appearances, there are recorded thirty-five miracles which Jesus wrought. Below are a few of the more outstanding ones:

Bodily Cures

Healing the noblemans son at a distance (Joh. 4:41-54)

Healing a leper (Mat. 8:2-4; Mar. 1:40-45; Luk. 5:12-15)

Healing the lame man at the pool (Joh. 5:2-9)

Many others!

Miracles over the forces of nature

Turning the water into wine (Joh. 2:1-11)

The draught of fishes near Capernaum (Luk. 5:1-11)

Stilling the tempest (Mat. 8:23-27; Mar. 4:35-41; Luk. 8:22-25)

Feeding the five thousand (Mat. 14:13-21; Mar. 6:34-44; Luk. 9:11-17; Joh. 6:1-14)

Walking on the water (Mat. 14:22-33; Mar. 6:45-52, Joh. 6:19)

Jesus feeds the four thousand (Mat. 15:32-39; Mar. 8:1-9)

Cures of Demoniacs

One healed in a synagogue (Mar. 1:21-28)

Blind and dumb one healed (Mat. 12:22; Luk. 11:14)

Syro-Phoenician womans daughter healed (Mat. 15:21-28; Mar. 7:24-30)

Three raised from the dead

Jairus daughter (Mat. 9:18-26; Mar. 5:22-43; Luk. 8:41-56)

Widows son at Nain (Luk. 7:11-15)

Lazarus (Joh. 11:1-44)

Other Miracles

Joh. 2:23

Mat. 4:24

Mat. 15:30-31

Joh. 21:25

Purpose of the Miracles

Jesus miracles imply an exercise of creative power a life-giving source. They were a part of Gods way of authenticating Jesus mission. Jesus said that if He had not done the works that no other ever did, they would not have had sin (Joh. 15:24) thus indicating that He regarded His miracles as proof that He was from God. Then, too, His miracles were the natural expression of His sympathy for suffering humanity (Mar. 2:10; Joh. 5:36; Joh. 14:11-12).

We could not leave this study of the deity of Jesus without discussing how His resurrection and ascension definitely show forth His deity.

V. THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS

It is absolutely certain that the apostles of Christ, and the first teachers of Christianity asserted the fact of Jesus resurrection (every recorded sermon in the book of Acts mentions His resurrection as its basis, plus all the mention of it in the Epistles).
Should the question arise whether the things told of Christ be the very things which the apostles and first preachers delivered concerning Him, we must rely upon the evidence we possess of the genuineness of the Scriptures. On the subject of the resurrection we need no such discussion, for such a doubt cannot be entertained. The only points we could discuss on this subject is whether the apostles knowingly published a falsehood or whether they were themselves deceived; whether either of these suppositions be possible. It is very unlikely that the first supposition is true. The nature of the undertaking, and of the men; the extreme unlikelihood that such men should engage in such a measure as a scheme; their personal toils and dangers and sufferings in the cause; their appropriation of their whole time to the object; their zeal and earnestness, their sincerity, relives any suspicion of imposture.
Some would like to resolve the conduct of the apostles into misguided enthusiasm; which would class the evidence of Christs resurrection with the numerous stories of the apparitions of dead men. There are many circumstances found in the Bible which destroy this hypothesis completely.
It was not one person who saw Jesus after His resurrection, but many; they saw Him not only separately, but together, not only by night, but by day, not at a distance but near, not once but several times; they not only saw Him, but touched Him, conversed with Him, ate with Him and examined His person to satisfy their doubts.
These facts are recorded in the Bible. Here are the appearances Jesus made after His resurrection:

To Mary Magdalene (Mar. 16:9-10)

To the other women (Mat. 28:9-10)

To two disciples on the way to Emmaus (Mar. 16:12-13; Luk. 24:13-32)

To Peter (Luk. 24:34)

To the eleven (Mar. 16:14; Luk. 24:36; Joh. 20:19)

To the eleven (Joh. 20:26-31 Thomas present)

To the seven (Joh. 21:1-25)

To the eleven (and 500 at once?) (Mat. 28:16-20)

To James (1Co. 15:7)

10.

Ascension (Mar. 16:19; Luk. 24:44; Act. 1:6-11)

In 1Co. 15:5-8 and Act. 9:1-9 we learn that Jesus also appeared, twenty-seven years after the Resurrection, to the arch-enemy of the church, Saul of Tarsus!

The statement in Act. 1:3, showed himself alive by many proofs by the space of forty days, speaking things concerning the kingdom of God, along with similar statements in Act. 10:41; Act. 13:31, implies the possibility that He may have made many appearances besides those recorded and that His post-resurrection ministry may have been more extensive than we know.

With all these accounts, the writings of five different men, plus the conversion of the most determined and feared persecutor of Christianity, how could anyone doubt that Jesus did rise from the dead and did show Himself alive to eyewitnesses? We know such testimony would stand up in any court of any nation as evidence to establish the fact beyond a reasonable doubt! If any person persists in rejecting the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, he rejects the historic evidence and testimony which, above all other history, meets the test of sound canons of credibility. Such a person could not believe any history!

VII. THE ASCENSION OF JESUS

The final miraculous event in Jesus life as a man here on earth occurred forty days after His resurrection. After His resurrection, Jesus appeared unto His apostles, teaching them things concerning the kingdom of God. He gave to them the Great Commission to go into all parts of the world and preach the gospel, and also the promise of the Holy Spirit. On the final day, as they were all assembled together on the Mount of Olives, Jesus was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight (Act. 1:9). As the apostles stood watching, two men in white apparel appeared and told the apostles that Jesus would one day come again in like manner as they beheld Him going (Act. 1:1-11).

We do know that Jesus returned to His heavenly glory. Stephen tells us, as he is being stoned for preaching the deity of Jesus, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God (Act. 7:56).

VIII. CONCLUSION

We have set forth the names and titles which ascribe deity unto Jesus of Nazareth. It is not enough, however, to accept these claims unsubstantiated.
We then proceed to prove the deity of Jesus of Nazareth by: (1) fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in His Person; (2) the undeniable perfect character of Jesus; (3) the miracles He actually performed; (4) His own bodily resurrection foretold by Himself as proof for His claims to be the Son of God; (5) His ascension to the right hand of God.
The resurrection and the ascension of Jesus would have been stupendous events to behold. Yet we will one day witness just as great an event the day when Jesus comes again. Those who have believed and trusted Jesus those who have obeyed Him and remained faithful shall be caught up with Him to be with Him forever. We must remain strong in our faith, never doubting. We must believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God. If we believe this, then we will believe in the deity of Jesus, for we know that this is the central theme of the entire Bible.

SPECIAL STUDY NO. 4

The earthly ministry of the Lord of Glory was fraught with controversy and objection. It is surprising to some to discover this fact. It is even more surprising to recognize that Jesus actually performed some of His miracles (such as the one in Joh. 5:1-47) to touch off controversy.

Again, we are indebted to Seth Wilson, Dean of Ozark Bible College. He has compiled all the research and has graciously permitted us to introduce it here as Special Study No. 4.
The ministry of Jesus, judged by modern standards, would appear unsuccessful, ill-prosecuted and certainly not an ideally peaceful ministry.

Notice that controversy began almost immediately at the commencement of His public ministry. The controversy, however, did not intensify and cause determinate conclusions by the Jews until the Second Year of His ministry (Joh. 5:1-47).

CONTROVERSIES AND OBJECTIONS IN JESUS MINISTRY
by Seth Wilson

FIRST PASSOVER Cleansing of temple in Jerusalem (Joh. 2:1-25). Jewish officials challenge His authority to do it: Does Nicodemus coming at night indicate that Jesus was a controversial figure? (Joh. 3:1-36)

Beginning of Galilean Ministry, 89 months after first Passover at Nazareth; sermon in Synagogue, pushed to the cliff Luk. 4:23-30

At Capernaum; paralytic forgiven; scribes and Pharisees thought it blasphemy (Mat. 9:2-8; Mar. 2:1-12; Luk. 5:18-26). (Note Pharisees following from Jerusalem)

At Matthews house; feast with publicans and sinners; Pharisees object (Mat. 9:10-13; Mar. 2:15-17; Luk. 5:29-32).

Objection implied in the question of John the Baptists disciples about fasting (Mat. 9:14-17; Mar. 2:18-22; Luk. 5:33-39).

SECOND PASSOVER

At pool in Jerusalem; heals lame man on Sabbath; first definite effort of Jews to kill Him (Joh. 5:1-47, esp. Joh. 5:18).

In grain fields; 2nd Sabbath controversy – – – over plucking grain (Mat. 12:1-8; Mar. 2:23-28; Luk. 6:1-5).

In Synagogue; 3rd Sabbath controversy; heals man with the withered hand (Mat. 12:9-14; Mar. 3:1-6; Luk. 6:6-11).

In house of Simon the Pharisee; Simons mental objections to Jesus letting sinful woman touch Him (Luk. 7:36-50).

At Capernaum; very busy with great crowds; dumb demoniac healed; Pharisees claim He is possessed by Beelzebub (Mat. 12:22-37; Mar. 3:22-30); His family attempts to interfere, seeming to object to the strenuousness of His ministry (Mat. 12:46-50).

East side of Galilean sea, land of Gadarenes; casts out demons; people ask Him to leave (Mat. 5:43; Mar. 5:17; Luk. 8:37).

At Nazareth, last visit recorded; general unbelief and rejection (Mat. 13:54-58; Mar. 6:1-6).

THIRD PASSOVER NEAR

Fed 5000; sermon on Bread of Life at Capernaum; This is a hard saying, who can receive it? They forsook Him (Joh. 6:1-71).

General Condition:

Joh. 7:1 the Jews seek to kill Him.

Capernaum: Jerusalem Pharisees publicly criticize Jesus for His disciples eating with unwashed hands (Mat. 15:1-20; Mar. 7:1-23).

At Magadan; Pharisees and Sadducees demand a sign from heaven (Mat. 15:39; Mat. 16:1-4; Mar. 8:10-12).

At Caesarea Philippi; Peter objects to the first plain prediction of Jesus death (Mat. 16:21-26; Mar. 8:31-38; Luk. 9:22-26).

At Capernaum; Jesus unbelieving brothers object to His staying in seclusion, and urge Him to go to the Feast of Tabernacles (Joh. 7:3-9).

FEAST OF TABERNACLES (Six months before His death)

Jerusalem during the Feast; the rulers seek to kill Him (Joh. 7:14-24). They seek to arrest Him (Joh. 7:30). Disputing over their freedom and fatherhood (Joh. 8:-31-47). They accuse Jesus of being a Samaritan and having a demon, and object to the promise that believers will never see death, they take up stones to stone Him (Joh. 8:48-59).

Jerusalem; man born blind healed on the Sabbath. The healed man is excommunicated . . . brief exchange between Jesus and Pharisees on blindness and guilt (Joh. 9:1-41). Dispute among the Jews about the sermon on the Good Shepherd (Joh. 10:19-21).

Judea; dumb demoniac healed and Jesus again accused of demon possession Luk. 11:14-26.

Dining in house of Pharisee; Jesus does not wash His hands, Pharisees astonished . . . they press Him hard to catch something for which to accuse Him (Luk. 11:37-54).

In a Synagogue on Sabbath; healing a bent woman; ruler of synagogue indignant (Luk. 13:11-17).

FEAST OF DEDICATION

Jerusalem; Jesus tells Jews I and the Father are one. They take up stones to stone Him. They accuse Him of blasphemy and try again to arrest Him (Joh. 10:34-39).

DEPARTURE TO PEREA (Three months before His death)

In Perea; Herod seeks to kill Jesus (Luk. 13:31-35).

In home of Pharisee on Sabbath; man with dropsy healed. Jesus accused of unlawful action (Luk. 14:1-6).

Publicans and sinners come to Jesus; Pharisees murmur (Luk. 14:1-35).

Teaching in Perea; Pharisees scoff at Him (Luk. 16:1-31).

After raising Lazarus from dead; priests and Pharisees seek to put Jesus and Lazarus both to death (Joh. 11:-43-54).

Last Journey to Jerusalem; Pharisees test Him with question about divorce (Mat. 19:1-9; Mar. 10:1-12).

At Jericho; Zacchaeus receives Jesus, the people sneer (Luk. 19:1-10).

Few days before Passover; chief priests demand anyone knowing where Jesus is must inform so they may arrest Him (Joh. 11:55-57).

Feast in Bethany; Judas objects to Marys anointing Jesus as being wasteful (Mat. 26:6-13; Mar. 14:3-9; Joh. 12:-1-8).

TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

Crowds praising Him; Pharisees say, Teacher rebuke thy disciples (Luk. 19:37-40).

Next day (Monday); cleanses Temple again, (Mat. 21:12-17; Mar. 11:15-19; Luk. 19:45-48).

Healing in the Temple; children praise; priests and scribes object (Mat. 21:14 ff).

Next day (Tuesday) in Temple; Jesus authority challenged by priests (Mat. 21:23-27; Mar. 11:27-33; Luk. 20:1-8). A trap question about tribute to Caesar (Mat. 22:15-22; Mar. 12:13-17; Luk. 20:20-26).

The Sadducees question about marriage in resurrection. The Lawyers question about the greatest commandment. Jesus question about Davids son being Davids Lord (Mat. 22:23-46; Mar. 12:18-37; Luk. 20:27-44).

Disciples warned against the Pharisees and their hypocrisies (Mat. 23:1-39).

Last Tuesday or Wednesday; Reflections about the coming of the Greeks to Jesus; many believe but will not confess for fear of the Jews (Joh. 12:20-50).

Thursday night; Trials before Annas, Caiaphas, Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, Pilate. Mockings and charges at the trials and at the Crucifixion.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

(39) Search the scriptures.Better, Ye search the Scriptures. The question whether the mood is imperative or indicative, whether we have here a commandment to examine the writings of the Old Testament canon, or a reference to their habit of doing so, is one which has been discussed through the whole history of New Testament exposition, and one on which the opinion of those best qualified to judge has been, and is, almost equally divided. It is not a question of the form of the Greek word, for it may certainly be either. The English reader therefore is in a position to form his own opinion, and is in possession of almost all the evidence. He should observe that all the parallel verbs in the context are in the indicativeYe have neither heard . . . nor have seen (Joh. 5:37); Ye have not His Word . . . ye believe not (Joh. 5:38); Ye think that . . . ye have (Joh. 5:39); Ye will not . . ye might have (Joh. 5:40). Why should there be a sudden change of construction in this instance only?

We find, then, this order of thought. (1) God has in the Old Testament witnessed of Me, but ye, with unreceptive hearts, have never heard a voice nor seen a shape of God (Joh. 5:37). (2) Ye have not His word dwelling in you, or it would have witnessed of Me (Joh. 5:38). (3) Instead of receiving the Scriptures as a living power within you, ye search and explain the letter of them from without (Joh. 5:39). (4) Ye think they contain eternal life, and hence your reverence for them (Joh. 5:39). (5) They really are witnesses of Me, and yet you; seeking in them eternal life, are not willing to come to Me that ye may have this life.

It is believed that this is the most natural interpretation of the words, and that it gives a fuller meaning than any other to the teaching of Christ.
The only objection to it of weight is that the Greek word for search () is one which would not have implied blame. It means to search after, track, inquire after (comp. Joh. 7:52); but, surely, this is just the expression for the literal spirit in which the Rabbis treated their Scriptures. Moreover, it is not the searching which is matter for blame, but the fact of the searching and not finding, which is matter for wonder.

Here, too, as elsewhere, the argument from the meaning of a Greek word must be pressed only within strict limits when we remember that it represents in translation a late Hebrew original. The Hebrew language had a word which just at that time was frequent on every Rabbis lips, and which exactly corresponds to it. As early as the Book of Chronicles we find mention of the Midrashim, or Commentaries in the sense in which this word is used, e.g., in Csars Commentaries. The rest of the Acts of Abijah are written in the Midrash of the prophet Iddo (2Ch. 13:22). More than we now know of the history of Joash is written in the Midrash of the Book of Kings (2Ch. 24:27). In both cases our Authorised version renders the word by story; but this was at a time when its connection with history as involving inquiry was not forgotten. (Comp. The Translators to the Reader:This will be easily granted by as many as know story, or have any experience.) These Midrashim sprang up after the Captivity, when the people had lost the older language of the Law and the Prophets; and paraphrases, expositions, and homilies, became at first indeed necessary, but grew into a vast and intricate system with Secrets and Precepts, and Fences and Traditions of Elders (Mat. 15:2; Mar. 7:3), which gave abundant room for the learning and pride of men, but made the word of God of none effect (Mat. 15:6; Mar. 7:13). Now, the period of the arrangement of the Midrashim of the Law commenced half a century before the ministry of Christ. Hillel the First succeeded to the presidency of the Sanhedrin, B.C. 30, and Akiba, his successor in the compilation of the Mishna, was a boy when these words were spoken. The influence of the former was all-powerful among those who now accused Jesus of breaking what the Law did not contain but the Midrash did. Those who now listened to Christ were disciples or assistants of the great Rabbi whose school of a thousand pupils left eighty names of note.

May it not be, then, that the true meaning of these words is to be found in their bearing upon these Rabbinic lives and works?Ye make your Midrashim on the Scriptures; ye explain, and comment, and seek for hidden mystic meaning; ye do all this because ye think they contain eternal life; their true meaning is not hidden; they tell of life, and ye who seek it do not hear them, and will not come unto Me that ye might have life.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

39. Search the Scriptures Whether the word search should be, as it is in our translation, imperative, or whether it should be in the indicative, is a matter on which commentators differ. We prefer the indicative. It is one of a series of indicatives, in the plural second person, both preceding and succeeding. It is given as a proof of the last preceding proposition. Joh 5:38 says the word abides not in you, since ye believe not Him whom the word declares. Joh 5:39, expanding and confirming the same thought, says, Ye do indeed search the Scriptures, because ye think therein is eternal life; and yet, though they contain me, ye will not come to me to obtain that same eternal life revealed by them as being in me.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The authority of the Scriptures:
v. 39. Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of Me.
v. 40. And ye will not come to Me that ye might have life.
v. 41. I receive not honor from men.
v. 42. But I know you that ye have not the love of God in you.
v. 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.
v. 44. How can ye believe, which receive honor one of another, and seek not the honor that cometh from God only?
v. 45. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
v. 46. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me.
v. 47. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?
A most diligent perusal, a ceaseless searching of Scriptures is recommended by Jesus. The Scriptures, as the Jews had them in those days, as they were used by them in synagogue and Temple, contained the historical books of the Old Testament, the books of the prophets, and the Psalms. This book was complete in the days of Jesus, it bore that collective title; the Jews knew exactly to what Jesus was referring. And to the Scriptures Jesus appeals as to an authority. He thereby acknowledges and confesses the inspiration and the inerrancy of the Old Testament. And this fact was accepted without question also by the Jewish teachers. For that reason their belief that they could find in it eternal life, that they had in it the revelation of the way to heaven, was well founded. But one thing they no longer knew, or else ignored most shamefully, namely this, that the Scriptures contain eternal life only because they testify of Jesus the Savior. Jesus Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of the Old Testament revelation. The Jews should therefore have gotten a correct picture of the Messiah, and they should have applied the Old Testament prophecy to this great Teacher. But their evil will refused to come to Jesus; they rejected the life which He was offering to them. They deliberately spurned His offer of grace and mercy and chose rather the way of damnation than to accept the Holy One of God. And, incidentally, they had no reason for their rejection, so far as the behavior of Jesus was concerned. For He did not seek honor from men. His methods did not savor of the schemes of the modern evangelists that seek honor and get notoriety. Christ wanted no glory from men, would not receive it from them. So they cannot make that a reason for rejecting Him. Jesus has a full understanding of them and of their case, and His words are a merciless exposure of the thoughts of their mind. There was no real love of God in their hearts, They dissembled, they proved their hypocrisy at every turn. For if such love were truly in their hearts, they would have felt obliged to accept Christ, the Minister of God in a most peculiar sense. He did not come in His own name, seeking His own aggrandizement, any benefit from men; His motives were altogether unselfish. But such is the perversity of their hearts that they refused Him a decent hearing and were far from accepting Him, whereas they would be easily taken in by a deceiver who would come in his own name. This was shown in a number of instances in the history of the Jews. Again and again false Messiahs arose, among whom Bar Cochba and Shabbatai Sebi are notable, who found no difficulty in getting many adherents. The Jews were altogether insane in their eagerness to follow these deceivers. But Jesus, who came in His Father’s name, was rejected. That fact characterized the Jews of the time of Jesus, and also since: they sought their own honor, they were very much concerned about honor before men, and wanted flattery and received homage from one another. This spirit is diametrically opposed to the spirit of the Christ, who scorned all such flimsy subterfuge. Far better to seek the honor which God alone can give, and which comes only to the meek and lowly in heart! That is the real reason for unbelief, that men seek their own advantage and care nothing about God and about His opinion concerning their sinfulness and their need of regeneration. Therefore the final judgment of unbelief will be all the more severe.
Under these circumstances, it will not be necessary for Jesus to bring any accusation against the Jews at the court of God, for their own Moses, their lawgiver, of whom they boast, will condemn them in his own writings. They hoped to be saved by the works of, the Law, not knowing that Moses himself in no way taught that they could be saved by such deeds, but that he pointed forward, in type and prophecy, to the Messiah and His salvation. Really to believe the message of Moses is to believe in Jesus the Savior. For Moses had prophesied of Jesus and had urged his people that they give Him honor and obedience. It would be Moses, therefore, that would condemn them. The writings of Moses they would not believe; how. then, would they believe the sayings of Christ? Things that had been written and codified and taught for centuries they refused to believe, although they pointed directly forward to only one Man. There was therefore little hope of their believing the words of this one Man, though all the circumstances of prophecy and fulfillment could be shown to agree. The same facts hold true today. Many people refuse to believe Scriptural sermons because they refuse to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God.
Summary. Jesus heals the sick ma n
of Bethesda, answers the objection of the Jews to this Sabbath healing, shows the relation between Him and His Father, and proves that He has the witness both of the works and of the Word of the Father for His divine mission.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

Joh 5:39. Search the scriptures; Because the Jews were exceedingly averse to acknowledge the Lord Jesus for their Messiah, not withstanding that the evidences of his divine mission were so unexceptionable; he desired them, for further proof, to search their own scriptures, and particularly the writings of the prophets; which, says he, is certainly your duty, because those writings, as you justly suppose, contain the knowledge of eternal life,and therefore the knowledge of the Messiah; and I can with confidence refer you to them, knowing that they confirm my pretensions in the most ample manner, the characters of the Messiah pointed out by them being all fulfilled in my person. The word , rendered search, implies the most diligent attention and scrutiny into the meaning of the scriptures. Several great writers contend, that this verse is in the present tense; and that the passage should be rendered, Ye search the scriptures, because you apprehend that you have eternal life in them: that is, the directions of heaven for obtaining it; Now these are they, the very writings, which testify of me; yet, Joh 5:40. Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have life. The words which express their high opinion of the scriptures, seem rather to suit this translation; and it is highly probable, that, at the time when the Pharisees were so impatient of the Roman yoke, they would with great diligence search the sacred oracles for predictions relating to the Messiah; though it is too plain, they had a most unhappybias on their minds, which prevented the good effects that might have been expected from that inquiry, had it been impartial. It is also well known, that refined criticism on the sacred writings made the most fashionable branch of learning among the Jews; in comparison of which, prophane literature was held in contempt, and indeed by many of the zealots in great abhorrence. Dr. Rutherford would read the verse interrogatively, as by way of reproach; Do you search the scriptures,and yet will not come to me?
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Joh 5:39-40 bring out to view the complete perversity of this unbelief . “The Scriptures testify of me, as the Mediator of eternal life; he, therefore, who searches the Scriptures, because in them he thinks he has eternal life, will by that witness be referred to me; ye search the Scriptures, because, etc., and yet refuse to follow me according to their guidance.” How inconsistent and self-contradictory is this! That is Indicative (Cyril, Erasmus, Casaubon, Beza, Bengel, and many moderns, also Kuinoel, Lcke, Olshausen, Klee, De Wette, Maier, Hilgenfeld, Brckner, Godet), and not Imperative (Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Luther, Calvin, Aretius, Maldonatus, Cornelius a Lapide, Grotius, Calovius, Wolf, Wetstein, Paulus, B. Crusius, Tholuck, Hofmann, Luthardt, Baeumlein, Ewald, Hengstenberg, arguing from Isa 34:16 ), is thus clear from the context, in which the Imperative would introduce a foreign element, especially out of keeping with the correlative . Comp. also Lechler in the Stud. u. Krit . 1854, p. 795. The searching of the Scriptures might certainly be attributed to the Jews, comp. Joh 7:52 (against B. Crusius and Tholuck); but a special significance is wrongly attached to (a study which penetrates into the subject itself, and attains a truly inward possession of the word, Luthardt); and the contradiction of Joh 5:40 , which forms such a difficulty, is really nothing but the inconsistency which Jesus wishes to bring out to view.

] emphatic, for you, ye on your part , are the people who think this. Still there lies in neither blame, [222] nor (as Ewald maintains, though Joh 5:45 is different) a delicate sarcastic reference to their exaggerated and scholastic reverence for the letter of Scripture, but certainly a contrast to the actual , which Jesus could not affirm concerning them, because they did not believe in Him who was testified of in the Scriptures as the Mediator of eternal life. Comp. Hofmann, Schriftbeweis , I. 671. Theoretically considered, they were right in their , but practically they were wrong, because Christ remained hidden from them in the Scriptures. Comp. as to the thing itself, 2Co 3:15-16 ; and on ., Joh 3:15 .
] The possession of Messianic life is regarded as contained in the Scriptures, in so far as they contain that by which this possession is brought about, that which is not given outside the Scriptures, but only in them.
, . . .] Prominence assigned to the identity of the subject, in order to bring out the contrast more fully: and they , those very Scriptures which ye search, are they which , etc.
] does not mean and yet , but simply and . This simplicity is all the more striking , more striking and tragic even than the interrogative interpretation (Ewald). On , denoting a believing adherence to Christ, comp. Joh 6:35 . They stood aloof from Him, and this depended on their will , Mat 23:37 .
.] “in order that that of yours might become a reality.”
[222] According to Hilgenfeld, Lehrbegr . p. 213 (comp. his Evang . p. 272, and Zeitschr . 1863, p. 217), directed against the delusion of the Jews, that they possessed the perfect source of blessedness in the literal sense of the O. T. which proceeded from the Demiurge, and was intended by him. Even Rothe, in the Stud. u. Krit . 1860, p. 67, takes in the sense of a delusion , viz. that they possessed eternal life in a book . Such explanations are opposed to the high veneration manifested by Jesus towards the Holy Scriptures, especially apparent in John, though here even Weiss, p. 106, approves of the interpretation of an erroneous .
Vers. 41 44. “I do not utter these reproaches against you from (disappointed) ambition, but because I have perceived what a want of all right feeling towards God lies at the root of your unbelief.”
.] These words go together, and stand emphatically at the beginning of the sentence, because there is presupposed the possibility of an accusation on this very point . Comp. Plato, Phaedr . p. 232 A; see also 1Th 2:6 .
.] i.e . “I reject it,” as in Joh 5:34 .
] “ cognitos vos habeo ; hoc radio penetrat corda auditorum,” Bengel.
. . . ] If they had love to God in their hearts (this being the summary of their law!), they would have felt sympathy towards the Son, whom the Father (Joh 5:43 ) sent, and would have received and recognised Him. The article is generic; what they lacked was love to God .
] in your own hearts; it was an excellence foreign to them, of which they themselves were destitute a mere theory, existing outside the range of their inner life .
Joh 5:43 . Actual result of this deficiency with reference to their relation towards Jesus, who had come in His Father’s name, i.e . as His appointed representative, and consequently as the true Christ (comp. Joh 7:28 , Joh 8:42 ), but who was unbelievingly despised by them, whereas, on the other hand, they would receive a false Messiah.
] in his own name, i.e . in his own authority and self-representations, not as one commissioned of God (which He of course is alleged to be), consequently a false Messiah; [223] , Nonnus. He will be received, because he satisfies the opposite of the love of God, viz. self -love (by promising earthly glory, indulgence towards sin, etc.). For a definite prophecy of false Messiahs, see Mat 24:24 . To suppose a special reference to Barkochba (Hilgenfeld), is arbitrarily to take for granted the uncritical assumption of the post-apostolic origin of this Gospel. According to Schudt, Jdische Merkwurdigkeit . vi. 27 30 (in Bengel), sixty-four such deceivers have been counted since the time of Christ.
Joh 5:44 . The reproach of unbelief now rises to its highest point, for Jesus in a wrathful question denies to the Jews even the ability to believe.
] has a deeply emotional emphasis: How is it possible for you people to believe? And the ground of this impossibility is: because ye receive honour one of another ( . are taken together), because ye reciprocally give and take honour of yourselves. This ungodly desire of honour (comp. Joh 12:43 ; Mat 23:5 sqq.), and the indifference, necessarily concomitant therewith, towards the true honour, which comes from God, must so utterly blight and estrange the heart from the divine element of life, that it is not even capable of faith. That divine is indeed the true glory of Israel (Luthardt), comp. Rom 2:29 , but it is not here designated as such , as also the . . does not appear as a designation of the “ spurious-Judaism ,” which latter is in general a wider conception (Rom 2:17 ff.).
, . . .] for it consists in this, that one knows himself to be recognised and esteemed of God. Comp. as to the thing itself, Joh 12:43 ; Rom 2:29 ; Rom 3:23 .
] not “ from God alone ” (Grotius, De Wette, Godet, and most others, from an erroneous reference to Mat 4:4 ; Mat 4:10 ), but from, the alone (only) God . Cf. Joh 17:3 ; Rom 16:26 ; 1Ti 6:15 . The adj. shows the exclusive value of this honour.
] The transition from the participle to the finite tense gives greater independence and impressiveness to the second clause.
[223] This reference of the text to false Messiahs is not too narrow (Luthardt, Brckner), because corresponds to the ; and this, as the entire context shows, indicates that the appearance of the Messiah had taken place. This also tells against Tholuck’s general reference to false prophets. Many of the Fathers have taken the words to refer to Antichrist .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 1630
CHRISTS APPEAL TO THE SCRIPTURES
Joh 5:39. Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
WHEN our Lord professed himself to be the promised Messiah, and claimed an authority equal to that of Almighty God, it was necessary that he should bring abundant evidence of his Divine mission, and prove, by testimonies of the most unquestionable kind, his title to the honour he assumed. Nor was he backward to give all the proof which the occasion required. He appealed to the testimony of John the Baptist, whom the whole Jewish nation considered as a prophet, and whose testimony therefore ought to have great weight with them. He appealed also to his own miracles, which were so great and numerous as to be in themselves an indubitable evidence that God was with him. He further appealed to the testimony which his heavenly Father also had given to him at his baptism, both by an audible voice from heaven, and by the visible descent of the Holy Spirit upon him. Lastly, he appealed to the Holy Scriptures, which the Jews themselves received as the word of God, and which bore testimony to him; even such testimony as would be found to agree exactly with his person and character in every respect. As these had existed for centuries, and might be compared with all that he had either done or taught, their testimony must be unexceptionable, and must carry conviction to every mind.
From the words before us we shall be led to notice,
I.
The transcendent excellency of the Holy Scriptures
Two things are here spoken respecting them:
1.
They reveal unto us eternal life
[Reason never could suffice for discovering the immortality of the soul. Philosophy never enabled any man so to establish the certainty of a future state, as to render it an article of general belief, or to produce any considerable influence on the minds of those around him. Many have reasoned well upon the subject, and spoken what approximated to the truth: but they never could with certainty affirm a future state of rewards and punishments; much less could they tell us how to avoid the one, and obtain the other. But the Scriptures have drawn aside the veil and shewn us that this present world is introductory to another, in which men shall exist to all eternity. The Old Testament, it is true, speaks but darkly on this point: yet was it sufficiently clear to impress the Jewish nation at large with a persuasion that both the souls and bodies of men should live in a future state of existence. The Sadducees, who were the free-thinkers of the day, were exceptions to the general rule. The national creed in these respects accorded with what was more fully revealed under the Christian dispensation. By the Gospel, life and immortality have been fully brought to light; yea, and the way of salvation been clearly revealed: so that we who live under its benign influence, do not merely think, but know, that there is for those who believe in Christ, a salvation treasured up, a salvation with eternal glory. In this respect therefore a very child amongst us is better instructed than all the wisest philosophers of Greece and Rome.]
2.
They testify of Christ Jesus our Lord
[The testimony of Christ, we are told, was the spirit of prophecy from first to last. The testimony which the Scriptures have borne to Christ is clear; not like the ambiguous answers of heathen oracles, which were so formed, as to be, without any great difficulty, accommodated to any event; but clear and precise, and incapable of any other interpretation than that which, upon the very face of it, it professed. Take, for instance, the prophecy relating to the time and place of our Saviours birth; and it was as much understood before his advent as afterwards, even by those who had not the grace to welcome his arrival. It was also copious, so that no one thing which could by any means be desired to designate the Messiahs advent, was omitted. His person, his work, his offices were all described and shadowed forth: the nature of his salvation was fully delineated, and the extent of his kingdom declared. Nothing was left for any reasonable man to desire either for the rectifying of his views, or the ascertaining that those views were correct. It was in the highest possible degree convincing. The prophecies concerning him were so minute that they could never have entered into the mind of an uninspired man, nor could by any possibility have been accomplished by any contrivance or conspiracy of men. Though a Jew, our Lord Jesus was to die, not a Jewish, but a Roman death, the death of the cross. Yet in his crucifixion he was not to suffer all that was usually associated with that punishment; for not a bone of him was to be broken. On the other hand, there were to be inflicted on him indignities, never associated with that punishment in other instances; he was to be scourged before his crucifixion, and to be pierced to the heart with a spear after it. The very taunts with which he was to be insulted on the cross were accurately and literally foretold; as was also the cruelty in offering him vinegar in the midst of all his torments. The division of one of his garments, and the casting of lots upon the other, were among the circumstances which no human being could have divined, and which no impostor would have ventured to predict. And who would ever have imagined, that one so ignominiously treated in his death, should yet have his grave with the rich? The very price which was to be paid for his blood, together with the subsequent application of it in the purchase of a potters field, and the untimely death of the person that betrayed him, these, and a great variety of other circumstances equally minute, prove beyond a doubt that Jesus was the person testified of, and that the testimony borne of him was divine.
Had the different witnesses been contemporaneous, it might have been supposed possible that these infinitely diversified circumstances should have been devised and executed by means of a well-concerted conspiracy. But the witnesses lived in ages and places far distant from each other, even many hundreds of years apart: yet did all the prophets so harmonize with each other in all their various predictions, that no room is left for doubt but that they were wholly unconnected with each other, and altogether under the direction and influence of the Spirit of God. Thus whether we consider the testimony itself, or the witnesses by whom it was delivered, we can have no doubt but that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.]
Such then being the excellency of the Scriptures, let us contemplate,
II.
Our duty in relation to them
This is clear and manifest:
1.
We must search the Scriptures for ourselves
[Possessing such Divine records, we should apply ourselves diligently to the study of them. We should search them with simplicity of mind, desiring to learn from them the will and mind of God, and determining through grace to comply with them in every respect, receiving implicitly whatsoever they declare, and obeying without reserve whatsoever they command. We must not bring to them any of our own prejudices whereby to judge of them, or any thing of our own passions wherewith to limit them. We must bring to them the simplicity of a little child, submitting our own wisdom to the wisdom of our God, and our own will to the will of God. In fact, we must desire to know Gods will in order that we may do it. Like Samuel we must lend to every word of God a willing and obedient ear, saying, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. We have a most instructive example in the conduct of the blind man whom Jesus healed. Jesus asked him, Believest thou in the Son of God? The man immediately replied, Who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? The whole bias of his soul was towards his God; and his desire of instruction was for the sole purpose of glorifying God by the strictest possible conformity to his holy will. And if we resemble him in these respects, we are assured, that we shall be enabled to know of every doctrine whether it be of God [Note: Joh 7:17.].
Of course, we must prosecute our search with all diligence, The very word, Search, imports, that we should sift every word, as miners sift the earth in the pursuit of precious jewels; and must exercise all our faculties about it, as dogs do in the pursuit of their prey [Note: .]. A slight and cursory perusal of the Scriptures will be of little use; nor will a formal habit of reading, as some do, the psalms and lessons for the day, answer the ends for which we are to read the Scriptures. There must be in us a habit of weighing every sentiment, and of imploring God to convey to our minds its true import. Diligence of itself will not avail for the full understanding of the Scriptures. We must have the eyes of our understanding opened by the Spirit of God; and his aid will only be given to us in answer to fervent prayer. We must, in fact, never approach the Scriptures without that petition of holy David, Open thou mine eyes, O Lord, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law. Hence these two, diligence and prayer, are united by Solomon as equally necessary for the attainment of divine knowledge: If thou apply thine heart to understanding, yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; then shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding [Note: Pro 2:3-6.].
But in particular we must search the Scriptures with a more especial view to derive from them the knowledge of Christ. As they all testify of him, so it should be our most anxious care to see and learn what they do testify. A mere critical knowledge of Scripture, though good, will bring with it no saving benefit. Nor will an historical knowledge of Scripture, no, nor even a speculative knowledge of its doctrines and its precepts, avail us any thing. It is the knowledge of Christ, and that alone, that will convey to our souls the blessings of salvation. This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. In the great mystery of a crucified Saviour are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge: and in comprehending the height and depth and length and breadth of the love of Christ as revealed in that mystery, we shall be filled with all the fulness of God. My dear brethren, even good people do not sufficiently bear this in mind. Men, in going into the fields, obtain, for the most part, that which they are in pursuit of. One obtains health, and another pleasure; but it is the botanist only that acquires the science of herbs. So in perusing the Holy Scriptures, whatever else men may obtain, none will obtain the knowledge of Christ in all the glory of his person, the extent of his love, and the fulness and excellency of his salvation, but those who go to them with this express view, and bend all the force of their minds towards the attainment of them. You will remember that the Cherubim upon the mercy-seat were in a bending posture looking down upon the ark, that peculiar symbol of the Lord Jesus Christ as mediating between God and us. This St. Peter explains to us, declaring respecting all the wonders of salvation revealed to us in the Scriptures, that the angels are desiring to look into them [Note: 1Pe 1:12.]. Be ye then, brethren, in this posture whenever ye take the sacred volume into your hands, and, like the Apostle Paul, seek to your dying hour to know more and more of Christ, of the power of his resurrection, and of the fellowship of his sufferings: for, in proportion as ye behold the glory of Christ, ye shall be changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord [Note: 2Co 3:18.].]
2.
Endeavour to diffuse the knowledge of them to the utmost of your power
[The command to search them evidently implies the duty of promoting in others also the knowledge of them. In this respect the Christian world has done well in spreading the Holy Scriptures both at home and abroad, to an extent altogether unprecedented. And in the work of translating the Holy Scriptures, and of sending forth missionaries to diffuse the knowledge of them, this age has also excelled all that have ever gone before it [Note: If this be a subject for a Bible Society, or a Mission Society, the line of discussion must be suited to the occasion.]
But who would ever have thought that a great part of the Christian world should set themselves against the circulation of the Scriptures, and should actually prohibit their people from reading them? Yet this is done by the Church of Rome in every quarter of the world. The Governors of that Church will not suffer the word of God to be read, except by their special permission, and with their corrupt glosses, which in ten thousand instances obscure and falsify its meaning. And what shall we say to this? I stand amazed at such conduct in a Church professing itself the Church of Christ. I know not whether is the greater, the impiety or the cruelty of such conduct. The Lord Jesus Christ says, Search the Scriptures. No, says the Papist; ye shall not search them: I will not even suffer them to be in your possession: and if they be given you, I will wrest them out of your hands. But if it he replied, In them we have eternal life; I care not for that, says the Papist; ye shall perish, rather than I will suffer you to read that book. But Christ has said, They testify of me; and I want to know what they testify. I care not for that, says the Papist; I will not suffer you to know what they testify: you shall not hear their testimony any farther than I please to inform you of it, and then you shall know it only as corrupted and falsified by me. What such priests will answer at the bar of judgment, God alone knows: but I fear their doom will be very terrible, seeing that they will have to answer for the souls of thousands whom they have kept in the sorest bondage, and blinded to their eternal ruin. Judge then ye, brethren, whether ye should not endeavour to counteract this impious tyranny, and to diffuse the knowledge of salvation through the perishing millions of your fellow-subjects. I mean not that you should do this in a spirit of opposition, but in a spirit of love. And as the legislature at their request has made them partakers with you in all civil and political privileges, so do ye, unsought and unsolicited, labour to impart unto them the full enjoyment of your spiritual privileges, in the knowledge of Christ, and of his salvation [Note: Preached for the Society of Scripture Readers in Dublin, March 1830.].]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Ver. 39. Search the Scriptures ] Audite saeculares, comparate vobis Biblia, animae pharmaca, Listen to the world, compare with your Bibles, the medicine of our souls, saith Chrysostom. But Bibles lie (like old almanacs) moulding in corners, while play books (the devil’s catechisms) are even worn out with overly diligent perusal. It is a sad complaint which Reverend Moulin makes of his countrymen, the French Protestants; While they burned us, saith he, for reading the Scriptures, we burnt with zeal to be reading from them. Now with our liberty is bred also negligence and disesteem of God’s word. Is it not so also with us?
They are they which testify of me ] The babe of Bethlehem is bound up in these swathing bands. He is both author and matter of the Scriptures, and is therefore called the Word. The dignity of the Scriptures (saith one) and the majesty of Christ mutually look on one another: as the sun doth on the stars, and the stars on the sun. For as the excellency of the sun appears by the glory of the stars, to whom it giveth light; so the majesty of Christ is manifest by the Scriptures, to whom he giveth credit. On the other side, as the glory of the star is magnified, because it is the light of the sun; so the credit of the Scriptures is exalted, because they concern the Son of God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Search. Greek. ereunao = to search as a lion or hound tracks by the scent. Not the same word as in Act 17:11. Here the Verb may be the imperative or indicative mood; but the indicative never commences a sentence without the pronoun or some other word, while the imperative is so used. See Joh 7:52; Joh 14:11 (Believe); Joh 15:20 (Remember).
the scriptures = the (sacred) writings.
eternal. App-151. as in Joh 5:24.
testify. See note on Joh 1:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Joh 5:39. , ye search) Hafenreffer, in his edition of the New Testament, Greek and Latin, translates, Ye inquire into [inquiritis] the Scriptures. He thereby has guarded against any one understanding search into [scrutamini] as an Imperative. Of the ancients, Athanasius also recognises it as an Indicative, Profecti in pagum, T. i., f. 989: and Nonnus. For which reason Cyril need not have been afraid of being left alone in giving, or being about to give, that explanation. Brentius says, that there are interpreters of great judgment, who decide for the Indicative: and the whole structure of the discourse certainly confirms it: comp. Joh 5:33, etc., and especially that clause, because ye think. Jesus approves of their search into the Scriptures, which they were not wanting in, inasmuch as at that very feast they read much of them in public; just as He approves of the embassy to John, Joh 5:33, and their high estimation of Moses, Joh 5:45; but He adds, that none of these are enough by themselves. Wherefore this explanation is attended with no loss to the sense: and they are usually, to say the least, equally diligent searchers of the Scriptures, who decide on the Indicative (which very lately has been adopted by Zeltner and Walchius), as those who decide on the Imperative. This clause, Ye search and ye will not come, Paul has rendered by synonymous expressions, 2Co 3:15-16, Even to this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Some one has demanded, that similar instances of the second person plural indicative, closing a period, should be brought forward. See therefore ch. Joh 7:28, , ; Joh 12:19; Mat 22:29; Mat 24:6; Mat 27:65; 2Co 8:9; Jam 4:2-3. On the other hand, the imperative occurs with , ye, Mat 28:5, ; Mar 13:23. The imperative, Search ye, Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read, Isa 34:16. The hearers of Jesus Christ (though they had not heard the testimony even of John, who was greater than the prophet, and though they had not read the Scriptures) might at that time have derived faith from the words alone of Jesus Christ.- , the Scriptures) of Moses, Joh 5:46, He wrote of Me; and of the prophets.-, ye) This is joined rather with the word think than with search, and contains the proof, and is put as it were by Anaphora [repetition of the same word in the beginnings of clauses]: comp. the notes, Joh 5:33. So also ye, Joh 5:45, Moses, in whom ye trust.- , ye appear to have) In antithesis to , that you may really have, Joh 5:40, Ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life. Akin to this is that clause, Joh 5:45, Ye have placed your trust in Moses.- , in them) By the mere fact alone, that you search them, ye think that you have life.-, life) Why dost thou deny, O Socinian, that there was known to the ancients the hope of eternal life?- – , and those-and ye will not) A double Epicrisis [an enunciation added to a sentence, to make the subject in hand the more clear]: the one, , approves of the search and trust of the Jews; the other, , etc., shows their defect. , those, subjoined to the , in them, has in some measure the force of removing to a distance. Life is to be had more nigh at hand in Christ than in the Scriptures.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Joh 5:39
Joh 5:39
Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;-The Jews claimed to believe and read the scriptures of the Old Testament, and thought that through them eternal life would be gained, yet they foretold of Jesus. He presents two witnesses, the works or miracles of Jesus and the fulfillment of prophecies found in the Old Testament concerning him. [The scriptures that they searched contained the testimony of Christ. All the prophets had borne witness of him. The one of whom the scriptures spoke was light and life, yet they refused to come to him that they might have life.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Willful Rejection of Truth Condemned
Joh 5:39-47
Our Lord was accused by the Jews of Sabbath breaking. There were many grounds on which He might have claimed exoneration, but He forbore to use them. He dwelt on these things very lightly, lest He should direct mens attention to Himself, His one aim being to bring glory to His Father. In utter self-oblivion; in distinct refusal to act on His own authority-that is, to come in His own name; with the one desire to reveal the inner source of His life, Jesus said, I am come in my Fathers name, Joh 5:43. Let us learn not to be too careful of our own reputation, standing, or honor; but to live at first-hand, taking our orders and the power to fulfill them direct from Christ. Too often we consult this mans opinion and that persons whim, and our course becomes tortuous and uncertain. What new interest we should take in the Pentateuch, if we really believed! Joh 5:46.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Luk 24:27, Luk 24:44
Search: Joh 5:46, Joh 7:52, Deu 11:18-20, Deu 17:18, Deu 17:19, Jos 1:8, Psa 1:2, Psa 119:11, Psa 119:97-99, Pro 6:23, Pro 8:33, Pro 8:34, Isa 8:20, Isa 34:16, Jer 8:9, Mat 22:29, Mar 12:10, Luk 16:29, Luk 16:31, Act 8:32-35, Act 17:11, Rom 3:2, Col 3:16, 2Ti 3:14-17, 2Pe 1:19-21
ye think: Deu 32:47, Psa 16:11, Psa 21:4, Psa 36:9, Psa 133:3, Dan 12:2, Mat 19:16-20, Luk 10:25-29, Heb 11:16, Heb 11:35
they which: Joh 5:32, Joh 5:36, Joh 1:45, Deu 18:15, Deu 18:18, Act 26:22, Act 26:23, Act 26:27, Rom 1:2, 1Pe 1:10, 1Pe 1:11, Rev 19:10
Reciprocal: Deu 31:12 – men 2Ch 17:9 – the book Psa 19:7 – testimony Psa 40:7 – in the Psa 119:45 – for I seek Ecc 12:12 – by these Son 2:9 – showing Son 8:2 – who Jer 6:16 – Stand Mal 4:4 – the law Mar 9:4 – appeared Mar 10:3 – What Mar 10:17 – eternal Mar 12:24 – Do Luk 4:21 – This day Luk 22:67 – If Joh 3:21 – he that Joh 6:29 – This Joh 6:68 – thou hast Joh 10:28 – I give Joh 12:41 – spake Joh 20:31 – believing Act 3:22 – him Act 8:28 – and sitting Act 8:30 – Understandest Act 10:43 – him Act 18:28 – showing Act 24:14 – believing Rom 6:23 – but the 1Ti 4:13 – to reading 2Ti 1:1 – the promise 2Ti 3:15 – which Tit 1:2 – hope Heb 3:5 – for 1Jo 2:25 – General 1Jo 4:14 – we have 1Jo 5:9 – we
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE TESTIMONY OF THE SCRIPTURES
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me.
Joh 5:39
There are four great fundamental principles which lie at the foundation of this great subject.
I. We receive the Bible as the Word of God, as a Divinely inspired communication from God to man.
II. We believe it to contain a vast store of most precious treasure far beyond the capacities of man, so that the most advanced and successful student has always much to learn. After years of study we are not unlike children by the seashore, delighting in the waves that are playing on the surface, but unconscious of all the wonders of its hidden depths.
III. It is Gods purpose that these wonders shall be gathered and made our own, by diligent investigation. They do not lie on the surface, but must be searched for as hidden treasure.
IV. We shall make no progress in this search without the personal teaching of the Holy Ghost.It is His sacred office to guide us into all truth, so that without His guidance we shall not through mere intellectual efforts gain any real insight into the things of God. It is well, therefore, whenever we study Scripture, to begin with the prayer that God would throw His own light on the written Word that it may be clear to our view; and also on our own understandings, that they may be enlightened to behold its truth.
Rev. Canon Edward Hoare.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
BIBLE READING
A few thoughts on the study of Holy Scripture.
I. Study critically.We are all possessed of judgment and reason, if not of knowledge of Greek and Hebrew.
II. Consecutive reading is good.We do not do the Bible justice if we only read a scrap here and there.
III. Occasional reading.Carry about a Bible with you.
IV. Didactic reading, or topical study reading, with a view to instructing yourself in some particular subject.
V. Experimental reading.It is a great thing to read with a view to practice.
VI. Devotional reading.We may have very many happy hours alone with God and our open Bible.
Rev. Canon Aitken.
Illustration
Whatever be the particular character of our study at any given time, let us never forget the sacred character of that marvellous Book. Whether it be for practical wisdom, for devotional help, for doctrinal instruction, or for expository acquaintance with its truth, let us never forget that it is the Book of God, or lose sight of the words spoken to Moses, Take off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. It is the Book of God, and therefore must not be handled like any work of man. It is the Divine revelation of the salvation of God; and therefore must be approached with the holy earnestness of those who really desire to be saved. It is the inspired exhibition of the Son of God, and whatever be the particular department of our study, our one prevailing object must be, under the teaching of the Holy Ghost, to learn all that God has been pleased to reveal of His Person, His work, and His most gracious covenant of life.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

9
As the King James translators word this verse, it sounds like a command or directive, telling the Jews to go and search the scriptures. Several other versions have the pronoun “ye” before the word “search,” and the inflection of the word in the Greek composition justifies it. The context also bears out that form of rendering. Jesus was showing the Jews another of their inconsistencies. They professed to have so much confidence in the Old Testament that they would search its pages to find the conditions on which they could obtain eternal life. And yet, that very document had told the Jews that a person like Christ was to come.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
[Search the Scriptures.] This seems not to be of the imperative, but indicative mood: “Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels

Joh 5:39. Ye search the Scriptures. The link connecting this verse with the last is the mention of Gods word. We have seen that our Lord had referred in a marked though not an exclusive manner to the Scriptures. To the Jews indeed it might seem that He intended to speak of these alone; and that He should deny Jews the glory which they esteemed most highly, by declaring that they had not Gods word abiding in them, would arouse their wonder and their wrath. Now, therefore, Jesus allows them the praise that was their due, but shows also that the very possession of which they boasted had been so used by them as to increase their condemnation.Because ye think that in them ye have eternal life: and it is they which bear witness concerning me
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The next testimony which Christ appeals to, is the testimony of the scriptures; that is, the writings of Moses and the prophets, which Christ bids the Jews diligently search, and they shall find that they abundantly testified of him, and that all the prophecies and types were fulfilled in him. The word (search) signifying to search, as men do for a golden mine in the bowels of the earth, which they must dig deep for, before they can come at.
It intimates, 1. That there is an inestimable treasure lying hid in the holy scriptures, which we shall never fathom by a slight, superficial search.
2. That this inestimable treasure may be found out by the painful searcher: and it is the duty of all the members of the visible church to read and search the scriptures, which point out the way to eternal life.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Joh 5:39-40. Search the Scriptures Because the Jews were exceedingly averse to acknowledge Jesus for their Messiah, notwithstanding that the evidences of his mission were so unexceptionable, he appeals, lastly, to their own scriptures, which, for further proof, and their full satisfaction, he desires them to search, because these writings, as they justly supposed, contained the knowledge of eternal life, and of the way leading to it, and therefore the knowledge of the Messiah. As if he had said, I can with confidence refer you to them, knowing that they confirm my pretensions in the most ample manner, the characters of the Messiah pointed out by them, being all fulfilled in my person. It must be observed that the word , here rendered imperatively, search, may with equal propriety be translated as Le Clerc, LEnfant, Vitringa, Raphelius, &c., contend it ought to be, in the present tense, ye search, the ambiguity of the word justifying either translation. If thus rendered, the sense of the passage will be; Ye search the Scriptures, because in them ye think ye have eternal life, or, infallible directions from God, concerning the true way of obtaining it. Now they testify of me; yet, or, nevertheless, ye will not come to me that ye might have life. Dr. Doddridge, who reads the clause in that manner, observes, he thinks the following words, which express their high opinion of the Scriptures, rather suit this translation than the common one, and that it is exceeding probable that, at a time when the Pharisees were so impatient of the Roman yoke, they would with great diligence search the sacred oracles for predictions relating to the Messiah; though it is too plain they had an unhappy bias on their minds, which prevented the good effects which might have been expected from that inquiry, had it been impartial. It must be observed, however, that Origen, Chrysostom, and Austin, confirm our version, which certainly is fully as agreeable to the scope of the passage; for having told them that they would find abundant evidence of his mission in the Scriptures, he observed, that their want of faith was not owing to any deficiency in the proofs of his mission, but to the wickedness and obstinacy of their own dispositions. It is justly observed by Grotius, on the word , search, or, ye search, that it does not merely mean to read, but to weigh and consider with an attentive mind, as it is taken Joh 7:52, where the Jews bid Nicodemus search and look; and 1Pe 1:10-11, where we read of the ancient prophets inquiring and searching diligently, respecting the salvation to be received through the Messiah, and the time of its manifestation, of which they had prophesied. The expression means the same with that used Act 17:11, namely, , where we read of the Jews at Berea searching the Scriptures daily, to know whether the things declared to them by Paul and Silas really accorded with those divine oracles or not. For in them ye think Or rather, as evidently means, ye know, or, are assured; ye have eternal life Ye know they show you the way to eternal life; and these very Scriptures testify of me, and of the necessity of believing in, receiving and obeying me, in order thereto. And yet, such is the obstinacy of your hearts, that, notwithstanding you profess so great a regard for them, ye will not come to me Will not believe in, and make application to me; that ye may have life Even that eternal life which they direct you to seek, and assure you may be obtained in this way; but you rather choose to die under the force of your inveterate prejudices. It is justly observed by Dr. Whitby here, that if the Jews were justified in supposing that the doctrine of eternal life was contained in the scriptures of the Old Testament, and that they, by searching, might find it there, it must be to them a sufficient rule of faith and practice: but that, if in this they erred, it behooved Christ to correct in them an error so pernicious.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Even though the Jews diligently sought God in the pages of their Scriptures they failed to recognize Jesus for who He was. The Greek verb translated "search" could be an imperative (AV) or an indicative (NASB, NIV). The context favors the indicative mood. The Jewish leaders of Jesus’ day were serious students of the Old Testament, but they studied it for the wrong reason, namely, to earn eternal life through their effort (cf. Rom 7:10; Gal 3:21).
"After the destruction of the temple of Solomon in 586 B.C., the Jewish scholars of the Exile substituted the study of the Law for the observance of the temple ritual and sacrifices. They pored over the OT, endeavoring to extract the fullest possible meaning from its words, because they believed that the very study itself would bring them life." [Note: Tenney, "John," p. 68.]
The study of Scripture had become an end in itself rather than a way of getting to know God better. Their failure to recognize Jesus as the Messiah testified to their lack of perceiving the true message of Scripture (cf. Joh 1:45; Joh 2:22; Joh 3:10; Joh 5:45-46; Joh 20:9; 2Co 3:15). Life comes through Jesus, not through Bible study (Joh 5:21; Joh 5:26; cf. Joh 1:4; Rom 10:4), even though it is through Bible study that one comes to know Jesus. As John the Baptist, the Old Testament pointed away from itself to Jesus.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

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