Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 5:46
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
46. had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me ] Better, If ye believed Moses, ye would believe Me: the verbs are imperfects, not aorists. See on Joh 8:19 (where we have a similar mistranslation), 42, Joh 9:41, Joh 15:19, Joh 18:36. Contrast the construction in Joh 4:10, Joh 11:21; Joh 11:32, Joh 14:28. This proves that Moses is their accuser.
for he wrote of me ] Christ here stamps with His authority the authority of the Pentateuch. He accepts, as referring to Himself, the Messianic types and prophecies which it contains. Comp. Luk 24:27; Luk 24:44.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 46. He wrote of me.] For instance, in reciting the prophecy of Jacob, Ge 49:10. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until SHILOH come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. And in De 18:18: I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, c. Confer this with Ac 3:22, and Ac 7:37. Besides, Moses pointed out the Messiah in a multitude of symbols and figures, which are found in the history of the patriarchs, the ceremonial laws, and especially in the whole sacrificial system. All these were well-defined, though shadowy representations of the birth, life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the Saviour of the world. Add to this, Moses has given you certain marks to distinguish the false from the true prophet, De 13:1-3; De 18:22, which, if you apply to me, you will find that I am not a false but a true prophet of the Most High God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Had you given a hearty credit and understanding assent to Moses, that is, to the writings of Moses, for so the term is oft taken, Luk 16:31; 24:27, you would have received me: as all the law of Moses pointed to and prefigured me, so he in particular wrote of me, Gen 3:15; Deu 18:15.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
46. he wrote of me“animportant testimony to the subject of the whole Pentateuch’of Me'”[ALFORD].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For had ye believed Moses,…. The doctrine of Moses, and what he says in his writings:
ye would have believed me; for there is an agreement between Moses and Christ; Christ is the end of the law of Moses, and in him is the accomplishment of his writings:
for he wrote of me; in the books written by him, Christ is spoken of, as the seed of the woman, that should bruise the serpent’s head; as the seed of Abraham, in whom all nations of the earth should be blessed; as the Shiloh, to whom the gathering of the people should be; and as that prophet, who should be like unto himself, to whom the people of Israel should hearken; and he wrote many things typically of Christ; and indeed, the whole Mosaic economy was typical of Christ, as the epistle to the Hebrews shows: and therefore disbelieving Christ, was disbelieving Moses; who therefore would be an accuser of them, and a witness against them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Ye would believe me ( ). Conclusion of condition of second class (determined as unfulfilled) with imperfect indicative in both protasis and apodosis and in apodosis. This was a home-thrust, proving that they did not really believe Moses.
For he wrote of me ( ). De 18:18f. is quoted by Peter (Ac 3:22) as a prophecy of Christ and also by Stephen in Ac 7:37. See also Joh 3:14 about the brazen serpent and 8:56 about Abraham foreseeing Christ’s day. Jesus does here say that Moses wrote concerning him.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “For had ye believed Moses,” (ei gar episteute Mousei) ”Because if you all actually believed Moses,” instead of vainly hoping and trying to acquire eternal life through the forms, ceremonies, and deeds of his law, ignorantly, and adding to it the traditions of the elders, Mar 7:1-13.
2) “Ye would have believed me:- (episteuete an amoi) “You all would have trusted or believed in me,” Act 10:43, Pro 3:3-5, Psa 145:18-19. Their unbelief in Christ caused them to be accused of Moses, since Moses witnessed of Him, See?
3) “For he wrote of me.” (peri gar emou ekeinos egrapsen) For that one (Moses) wrote concerning me,” Gen 3:15-17; Gen 49:10; Num 21:9; Num 24:17; Deu 18:15-18; See also Joh 6:31-32; Joh 6:45.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
46. For if you believed Moses, you would also believe me. He shows why Moses will be their accuser. It is because they do not reject his doctrine. We know that it is impossible to offer a greater insult to the servants of God than when their doctrine is despised or reproached. Besides, those whom the Lord has appointed to be ministers of his word, ought to be ready to defend it against despisers; (117) and therefore, he gave to all his prophets a twofold commission, that they might teach and instruct for the salvation of believers, and that, one day, they might confound the reprobate by their testimony.
For he wrote concerning me. When Christ says, that Moses wrote concerning him, this needs no long proof with those who acknowledge that Christ is the end and soul of the Law. But if any person be not satisfied with this, and desire to have the passages pointed out to him, I would advise him, first, to read carefully the Epistle to the Hebrews, with which also agrees Stephen’s sermon, in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles; and, next, to observe the quotations which Paul applies to his purpose. I acknowledge, indeed, that there are few in which Moses expressly mentions Christ; but what was the use of the tabernacle, and sacrifices, and all the ceremonies, but to be figures drawn in conformity to that first pattern which was showed to him in the mountain ? (Exo 25:40; Heb 8:5.) Thus, without Christ, the whole ministry of Christ vanishes. Again, we see how he continually reminds the people of the covenant of the Fathers which had been ratified in Christ, and even how he makes Christ to be the principal subject and foundation of the covenant. Nor was this unknown to the holy Fathers, who had always their eyes fixed on the Mediator. To treat the subject more largely, would be inconsistent with the brevity at which I aim.
(117) “ Contre contempteurs.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(46) For had ye believed Moses.The present incredulity springs from that of the past. If they had really believed Moses, they would have seen in the whole spirit of the Pentateuch a manifestation of God, which would have led them to the fuller manifestation in Christ. Worship, and sacrifice, and offering, and priesthood, were all meant to teach. Their very name for law (Thorah) meant instruction. But they accepted what the senses could know, and never went down beneath this surface to its true significancei.e., they never believed Moses. We have here, in another form, the thought of Joh. 5:39-40.
For he wrote of me.See the marginal references; but the thought is not to be confined to these passages.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
46. Had ye believed Moses They wilfully, but falsely, believed that they believed Moses. But the Moses they believed, like the Messiah they believed, was a false one. They substituted a false Moses because they desired a false Messiah. And so it is that false religions, and false moralities, and false philosophies are formed. They are false beliefs engendered by corrupt desires and dispositions.
He wrote of me The Old Testament is prophet of the New. To prepare for Christ was the purpose of its whole system. He who rejects the Old Testament can never find the true Christ. A Colenso rejects Moses, and of course he diminishes and mutilates Jesus.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 5:46-47. For he wrote of me. “Had you believed the writings of Moses, which are daily read in your synagogues, you would have believed me; for these writings describe me, as by a variety of striking types and figures, so likewise by many strong and direct prophesies: see the last note: But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? If you do not believe the testimony of your own lawgiver, I have no reason to be surprised that you do not credit me upon my testimony.” Thus the Lord Jesus asserted his own personal dignity, as the Sonof God, and Judge of the world; and at the same time proposed the evidences of his divine mission from God with such strength of reason, perspicuity, and brevity, as nothing can equal.
Inferences drawn from our Lord’s miracle wrought at the pool of Bethesda.It is very pleasing to observe, that the eternal Son of the most high God, when, as the Lord and Ruler, the great Messenger of the covenant, he suddenly came to his temple, and when he was about to deliver the most sublime discourse concerning his equality with the Father, should, on the sabbath-day, enter as a physician those five porches, which were a kind of hospital, where there lay so great a multitude, so sad a spectacle of the wretched and suffering children of Adam!
This serves to assure us, that Christ, though reigning in equal power and glory with the Father, does not therefore disregard our miseries; but exerts the office of a loving Mediator in this world, as a great hospital, assisting by his grace, and ready to help, the afflicted in soul as well as body, and not forgetting to extend continually his rich mercy and compassion towards both.
Nay, if he condescended to come down into this wretched world, this place of misery and woe, and to assume our nature, and to open from his most precious heart a fountain for all our uncleanness; can we doubt of his fatherly care over us? Can we doubt of his tender regard for us?We must necessarily be dear to him, who, of his own free love, paid so inestimable a price for us! Let us learn hence, with full and humble confidence to repose ourselves upon him, and in all our miseries and necessities to commend ourselves into the hands of this faithful Redeemer; to wait upon him in all those means, which he himself has ordained and appointed, and wherein he has promised to meet and refresh our longing souls!
What a blessing was this pool of Bethesda, endowed with this miraculous virtue, to the Jewish people! You see how they thronged it; the five porches were full; all were wishing and striving to enjoy its advantages. Were there such a miraculous bath in this nation, there would be no less crowding thither. Each would be pressing towards it, when labouring under diseases; all desirous of stepping in first, that they might be made whole.
How amazingly do men, by their own conduct in temporal things, condemn themselves in spiritual! Such a pool, such a fountain there is for the soul, a fountain opened for sin, and for all uncleanness; a fountain, in which whosoever will, may come, wash, and be clean. Such a fountain is the most precious blood of Jesus Christ, streaming forth in all his divine ordinances,those waters of life, by which spiritual maladies are healed, and vigour is restored to our enfeebled souls!
And yet, how little are they thronged by men, wishing and earnestly striving to be healed; how few comparatively are there who come to them with a full sense of their spiritual impotency, and a resolution to step in that they may be made whole! Multitudes were continually attending at this pool; and why then is the house of God forsaken, where not one alone, but many, at the same moment may receive spiritual sight and strength, yea, and life from the dead? But, alas! under the diseases of the soul, how few comparatively desire to be made whole. Blessed Jesus! if thou hast awakened that desire in us, we would adore thee for it, as a token for good; and would lift up our believing eyes to thee, in humble expectation that thou wilt graciously fulfil it.
How many are there who never come to the ordinances of God at all; who have either found out some new methods of spiritual cure; or, proud in heart, will confess no spiritual infirmities, and despise the weakness of their proffered cure; or, wise in their own inventions, have too much sense to believe the gospel. God grant that they may all understand in time how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God! more especially, when so much grace, when so much goodness, when so much mercy, has been long and obstinately rejected; the grace, the mercy, the goodness of an eternal Saviour, who, unbounded in his voluntary love, hath endured sufferings unspeakable, to procure so divine a remedy for all our evils; a remedy infallible! All sicknesses, all disorders, however complicated, however inveterate, are here removed by one hand, and one water: none ever were, none ever will be sent empty away, who come desirous of relief; nor is that relief confined to the first only who steps in; it is a fountain flowing plenteously unto every draught!
And thus may all be cured; but their own will must concur: Christ first asked the man, Wilt thou be made whole? Joh 5:6 before he bid him arise and walk. There could be no doubt of his desire to be cured, who waited at the pool for this very purpose; and you, reader, must shew your will and desire to be cured in this same way; you must wait at the pool,must wait for Christ in those general ordinances, which himself hath enjoined, in the sacraments, in prayer and the word: and if, with hope, duly sensible of your weakness and misery, you thus wait upon him, you need not fear but he will perfect the cure of all your spiritual maladies, and enable you to walk and glorify him.
But if you attend at the pool, if you frequent the ordinances of the gospel, with any other motive than a real desire to meet there the Saviour of your souls, and to be healed of all your infirmities by his blood; be assured you will frequent them in vain, and never find them, what they are to the contrite and humble, means of grace, and channels of heavenly life and support to the soul.
Should you frequent them, and still find them not efficacious, you must not therefore cease to frequent them. The man before us, was thirty-eight years in his infirmity, Joh 5:5 and yet was perfectly healed by the power of Christ at the last. God sometimes delays his mercies to make them more signal and acceptable; and when we have no man to put us into the pool, when none is able or willing to help, he speaks the word, and we are delivered. Bethesda must be waited on; he is worthy of his crutches, who will not stay God’s leisure for his cure: there is no virtue, no success without patience; and here we all have need of it. One is sick of an overflowing of the gall,the jaundice of malice; another of the swelling of pride; another of the fever of concupiscence; another of the vertigo of inconstancy; another of the choaking quinsey of curses and blasphemies; another of the dropsy of covetousness; another of the pleuritical pangs of envy: one is consumed with emulation; another rotten with corrupt desires; and all are so much the sicker, if they feel not these distempers.
We work hard, and we endure much for the body; what toil do we take, that we may toil yet a little longer! We endure many certain pains for the addition of a few uncertain days. Why will we not do thus for the soul, for the immortal, the better part, when we know that our waiting will not be unsuccessful; and when we know that our waiting here, shall procure for us eternal rest hereafter? O wait then upon the Lord in all the means of grace, in all the paths of duty; come by these means, duly sensible of your spiritual evils; lay them before the Lord, confess your sins to him, and with earnest desire to be delivered from the body of this death, cry to him, and he will at length give you the victory, and by his grace enable you to rise, take up your bed and walk; to leave sin, and all the occasions of it, and to serve him in holiness and newness of living.
The sure evidences of a spiritual cure are these: 1. A forsaking of our former sins: 2. A laying aside the marks and occasions thereof: and, 3. A performing the contrary actions; particularly the duties of praise and thanksgiving to God, as this infirm man did, who, languishing as he was lately on the couch, we quickly after see found by Jesus in the temple, Joh 5:14. And where indeed should they be found, who have been raised up from beds of weakness, and brought out from chambers of sorrow and confinement, but in the sanctuary, rendering their praises to the God of their mercies? It was here that Christ said to him, for a lesson to us all, Behold, thou art made whole; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee; hereby shewing us, that diseases and sickness are the punishment of sin, and that of consequence the best remedy we can apply for their cure, is sincere repentance and conversion through the grace of God.
Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. To deter from relapses into sin, Christ shews the danger of them. It was bad enough to lie thirty and eight years bound by a terrible disease: but it is worse, infinitely worse, than pen can describe, or thought conceive, to lie bound in flames of ever-during fire, not for thirty-eight, or thirty times thirty-eight years, but for ever and ever!Let them remember this admonition of our Lord, who have made upon sick-beds good resolutions, and determined to turn and amend their lives, when the hand of God hath been sore upon them; but have forgotten all, when, to prove their sincerity, he hath saved them awhile from the jaws of death! O let such remember, how fearful a woe hangs over their heads, who, having been made whole, have yet indulged as usual in the practice of sin; and lest a worse thing, even eternal misery, come unto them, let them make haste, with broken hearts and humbled souls, to the heavenly pool of Bethesda, the blood of Christ, the fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness.
Sin is the fruitful parent of all human evils; and, till the body rests in the silent grave, the temptations to sin will never cease: so that we have continual need to be upon the watch, and to remember our Lord’s warning. The only method to secure us from relapses, is a full dependance upon the almighty grace of God, sought for in all its converting powers with sincerity and humility, accompanied by a strict attendance on all the means of grace, on all the gospel ordinances, and by a holy and conscientious walking, and a strict watchfulness over all our thoughts, words, and actions. If endeavouring thus to wait, and thus to act, we shall find God’s grace sufficient for us; if thus Christ find us in the temple, paying our grateful tribute of praise and adoration, he will enable us boldly to confess him before men, as this man did before the Pharisees; and if we perseveringly do so, we have his infallible promise that he will also confess us before his Father and all the holy angels, in the realms of glory and immortality. See Mat 10:32-33.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The feast spoken of Joh 5:1 was probably the passover; the second which our Lord kept at Jerusalem, after his public entrance on the ministry; and there he works the following gracious and very remarkable miracle:
1. The place where the miracle was wrought, is worthy of note. It was a pool of water near the sheep-gate, Neh 3:1 called Bethesda, or the house of mercy, surrounded with cloisters, or covered walks, where the impotent lay sheltered, who came with their several complaints, blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water, in hopes of a cure. For this pool was impregnated with a strange virtue at certain seasons, owing to the descent of an angel who troubled the waters; and the first person who immediately stepped in, was cured of whatever disease he had.
When this healing power began to be communicated to the waters, or when it ceased, the Jewish historians are entirely silent; it served however to shew, that God had not left his people without witness, and represented that fountain which should be opened in the Saviour’s side, in which whoever washed should be made clean: This fountain has not at seasons merely, but at all times, the power of healing; and therefore whoever continues under his spiritual maladies, has only his own negligence to blame, that he will not come to Christ that he may be cured.
2. The person on whom the cure was wrought, had been thirty-eight years under his infirmity, probably paralytic, and unable to move; and therefore when Jesus, passing by, compassionately observed his pitiable case, and graciously addressed him, Wilt thou be made whole? he relates his unhappy condition, and his continual disappointment, while some other stepped in, before he could find a friend to assist him to reach the troubled waters; so that he began now to despair of ever obtaining his cure. Note; (1.) What thankfulness do we owe to our preserving God, if we enjoy perfect health and strength, whilst others totter with weakness and disease, and wearisome days and nights are appointed to them? (2.) The compassionate eye of Jesus is on his afflicted but faithful people; and though he suffer them to be long exercised, he will pass by them in due season, and deliver them. (3.) They who would receive a cure from him of their spiritual maladies, ought at least to be waiting at the pool of ordinances, where Jesus usually manifests his power and grace.
3. Christ with a word heals his disease, bidding him arise, take up his bed, and walk; and such power accompanied his command, that the impotent man instantly felt his strength return; arose perfectly cured; and taking up his bed, walked away in the sight of, and to the amazement of the beholders; and the same day was the sabbath. Note; (1.) when Christ speaks to the penitent soul, he gives ability for that which he commands. (2.) They who are healed by his grace, will instantly be obedient to his will.
4. As, according to the tradition of the elders, it was accounted unlawful to carry a bed on the sabbath-day; the Jews jealous, therefore, for the honour of that sacred day of rest, rebuked the healed person for being guilty of such a profanation. The man thought he had sufficient authority when he who healed him gave him his orders, and pleads the command of the person who had wrought the cure upon him. They suspected who had done the miracle, and wanted the man to accuse his kind benefactor, against whom they wished to proceed as a sabbath-breaker: What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? With such contempt and indignation do they speak of Christ, as if he was a mere man, and a wicked man too, notoriously guilty of a breach of God’s law. The man, who knew not Jesus, could give them no information; for he had disappeared immediately, mixing among the crowd, probably to avoid the admiration of some, and the malignity of others, who he knew would be offended at him for this glorious act of mercy, because it was the sabbath-day. Note; (1.) The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath; therefore works of mercy and charity are always commendable. (2.) They who are eminent for well-doing, may expect to pass through evil report as well as good report.
5. Soon after this, the poor man going up to the temple, probably to return thanks for his late mercies, met Jesus there, who gave him a solemn caution with regard to his future conduct; sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. Should he provoke the wrath of God by his sins, it would yet be worse than his past long affliction. The man in the simplicity of his heart went, and told the Jews that it was Jesus, which had made him whole: probably he hoped that this notable miracle might engage them to acknowledge him as the Messiah; but so far were they from being led to admire his character, that, filled with envy and enmity, they sought to slay Jesus; and, for a pretext, pleaded that this work of mercy was a profanation of the sabbath. Note; (1.) They who have received signal mercies from God, are peculiarly obliged to be found in the temple, offering up their thanksgivings. (2.) In the Lord’s house we may expect to be favoured with his presence. (3.) Sin is at the root of all sufferings, in time and eternity. (4.) They who are by grace delivered from the guilt and power of sin, should be doubly watchful not to return again unto folly. (5.) Many cover, with pretended zeal for religion, their enmity against the most faithful servants of Christ.
2nd, We have our Lord’s vindication of himself from the charge laid against him as a sabbath-breaker.
1. He argues from his Father’s works to his own. My Father worketh hitherto; by his continual operation, every day he administers the affairs of the kingdom of providence; and I work as one with him, in nature and operation; and therefore my works of power and grace can be no more the subject of blame, than his. Most absurd, therefore, was the charge laid against him as a sabbath-breaker, who was Lord of the sabbath, and one with the eternal Father, the Maker and Preserver of all things.
2. This defence exasperated them but the more. Such a claim to God, as his own Father, in that peculiar sense which implied a co-equality with him in power, authority, and operation, they regarded as the highest blasphemy, and more deserving of death than even the breach of the sabbath.
3. Far from blaming his enemies as perverting his words, he vindicates what he had said; asserting and proving in the most exalted sense the eternal union and co-equality between the Father and the Son, and his title to the dignity of the undivided Godhead. Verily, verily, I say unto you, what I speak is certain, and my word truth itself; the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; such is the unity of their nature, that they are alike intimately acquainted with each other’s councils and designs, having one eternal mind. The Son, therefore, never acts separately from the Father, but with his consent and cooperation: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise; whatever the Father doth in the continual agency of his Providence, the Son, as one with him, is a co-worker, and acts with the same divine power and authority as the Father himself. For the Father loveth the Son, an infinite mutual complacence subsists between the divine Persons; and sheweth him all things that himself doeth, communicating to him all his councils and designs, and doing nothing in the kingdom of grace or providence, but in conjunction with him: and he will shew him greater works than these, performed by him and with him, greater miracles of power and goodness than this wrought on the impotent man, that ye may marvel; either led to admire my works, and believe in my divine mission, or to wonder and perish in obstinate infidelity.
4. In confirmation of what he had said, he instances his own divine power in two most remarkable particulars; both of which are interwoven in his discourse, and nearly connected.
[1.] He hath power equally with the Father to quicken the dead. He is the prince of life: self-existent as the Father, he hath life in himself; for as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; in the oeconomy of man’s redemption this life eternal is lodged in the hands of the Son, resides in him, and is to be derived from him; and he bestows it on all his faithful saints. By him,
(1.) The souls of penitent sinners are raised from the death of trespasses and sins, in which they lay; by the word of gospel-grace they are called from the grave of corruption, and awake to newness of life: and the hour is coming, yea, now is, when this great work shall be performed; now by his own ministry, hereafter more abundantly by the preaching of his apostles. Note; (1.) Our souls, by the fall, are become utterly incapable, in the mere state of nature, of all spiritual good, insensible to our real state of misery, and altogether dead before God. (2.) Our hearts must experience a spiritual resurrection to newness of life here, or we can never hope for eternal life hereafter. (3.) The voice of Jesus in his word made effectual by his Spirit, is the powerful agent which accomplishes this glorious work in the hearts of those who believe.
(2.) By him the dead bodies of men shall be raised up at the last day. Nor need any marvel, that he who first created men upon earth, should be able to repair the ruined tabernacle, and restore it from the dust: all, from the first man whom God formed, to the last whom death shall seize, shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and instantly at his word shall come forth, leaving the prison of the grave, restored to life that never more shall end: though, according to their several characters, very different will their doom be; they that have done good, whose hearts were renewed by divine grace, and whose works and ways evidenced faith unfeigned, and love without dissimulation, they, and only they, will rise unto the resurrection of life, to that state of immortal bliss and glory, which shall be the reward of their fidelity; and they that have done evil, have continued under the power and dominion of their native corruption, have lived without experiencing a divine change upon their hearts, and died under the guilt of unrepented sin, they shall be raised unto the resurrection of damnation, condemned to those eternal torments which are the wages of sin, without measure and without end; lying down in hell under that wrath of God, which is for ever wrath to come. How awful! how alarming the admonition! oh that we might feel the weighty import of it, and prepare to meet our God!
[2.] He hath the power of finally determining the everlasting state of men and angels. Not only as God the Son is he judge of all, in common with the Father, administering all the affairs of the kingdom of providence and grace, and without him the Father judgeth no manbut as Mediator also, he has a peculiar authority delegated to him, to execute judgment as the Son of man; to pronounce sentence from his throne at the last day, to take vengeance on all who have been rebellious against his government, and despised or rejected his salvation; and to fix, by an irrevocable decree, the eternal blessedness of his faithful people: and the rule of his judgment at that day will be his own word, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life: where we may observe, (1.) The sinner’s title to glory, faith in the Redeemer. (2.) The effect of it; deliverance from all condemnation; and, if he persevere in this faith, eternal bliss. (3.) They who have passed from spiritual death to spiritual life, have therein the earnest and foretaste of eternal life. (4.) The judgment of Jesus is just; for all that he doth is in correspondence with the will of the Father, and according to the commission that he has received from him. Such, then, being his infinite dignity, the Son, who is in glory equal, in majesty co-eternal, must be honoured, worshipped, and adored, even as the Father; and so far from its being blasphemous, and derogatory from the Father’s glory, that he should thus claim equality with him, in nature, perfections, and uncreated excellence; so inseparably connected are they, and their honour and interest so entirely the same, that the Father regards every instance of disrespect shewn to his Son as dishonour done to himself; both as he is one with him in the same undivided Godhead, and also as he is the Son of man sent from him, commissioned by him, and, as his ambassador, representing himself.
3rdly, In confirmation of the glorious character which he assumed, and his mission from the Father, our Lord, proceeds to produce other evidence than his own; admitting, that if what he asserted were utterly unsupported, they might reject his testimony of himself as untrue.
1. John the Baptist bore witness of him; to his evidence Christ appeals, fully assured that it was true: and they themselves, who applied to him as a prophet, were bound to embrace his testimony, which in the most solemn manner he delivered to those deputies of the Sanhedrim who were sent to inquire who he was, and under what authority he acted. He plainly asserted Christ’s divine character, (See Ch. Joh 1:19-30.); and his evidence they could not but allow to be most respectable. For though he was not that light, the Messiah, he was a burning and a shining light; his exemplary conduct and zealous preaching bespoke the simplicity of his soul, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. They gloried in him at first, and raised their expectations high; but when he would neither himself assume the character of the Messiah, nor declare himself that Elias whom they expected, they could not bear the sharpness of his rebukes, and plainness of his testimony to that Messiah whom they rejected; and therefore they soon fell off and neglected him: not that Christ indeed needed human testimony; he had far greater. But for their conviction he mentions this, if any thing might be the means of rescuing them from ruin. Note; (1.) Every minister of Jesus, like John, should burn with zeal for his glory, and shine in all holy conversation, that he may adorn and give weight to the doctrine that he preaches. (2.) Many at first seem to rejoice in the light of the gospel, who soon grow cold and careless, and neglect so great a salvation. (3.) They who trifle with their mercies, are justly deprived of them.
2. He appeals to a greater witness than that of John, even his own works, which bore witness of him. His whole life and ministry bespoke his glorious character; and especially his miracles, wrought by his own divine power, evinced his mission from God. And greater works than he had yet done, remained for him to finish, to leave them at least without excuse, if they obstinately persisted in their infidelity.
3. God the Father himself had expressly borne witness to him by a voice from heaven at his baptism, Mat 3:16-17 which was solemnly repeated, Mat 17:5 at his transfiguration; and this was a singular attestation, such as had never before on any occasion been vouchsafed. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape; all the voices that were heard, and the appearances that were seen, under the Old Testament, were either those of the Son in a human form, or of the angels employed by him in this ministry: then first when the Father in person spoke from heaven at the baptism of his Son, was his voice audibly heard, and a most wonderful visible manifestation made of his glory. (See the Annotations for another view of this passage.) And ye have not his word abiding in you; neither this immediate testimony from heaven, nor his former word by his prophets, had ever made any abiding impression; for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not: after all this evidence they, notwithstanding, rejected the testimony of God, and refused to believe in the Messiah. Note; (1.) When God sends, he will bear witness to his own servants, and attest with his Spirit the commission that he has given them. (2.) Many have the word of God in their hands, and sounding in their ears, and yet have it not abiding in their hearts.
4. He refers them to their own scriptures for the proof of his divine character and mission: search the scriptures. The scriptures were by many of them much studied, and they boasted of their wisdom in these sacred oracles, but they were great strangers to the meaning of them; they had need therefore look farther and deeper than ever yet they had done; and he ventures to rest his cause upon an appeal to these authentic records, which they themselves so highly and justly valued: for in them ye think ye have eternal life: they placed the chief stress of their religion upon the knowledge of the law; and flattered themselves, that by constantly reading these sacred writings, and getting them by rote, they were sure of heaven. Now these, saith he, are they which testify of me; all the types, promises, prophesies, centre in him, and refer to him; and yet ye will not come to me, that ye might have life; such were their prejudices and wilful blindness, that though the scriptures were so express in pointing him out to their notice, they would not submit to apply to him, that they might obtain the pardon, life and salvation which he alone could give. Not that he affected to exalt himself, to gather a party, or obtain temporal dominion. I receive not honour from men; he neither courted nor needed human applause; his only aim was to advance his Father’s glory and the salvation of men. But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you; he tried their hearts, and, notwithstanding all their high pretences of zeal for God’s honour, the love of the world predominated in their affections, and they had really no heartfelt and sincere regard to God or godliness, and rejected him because he did not correspond with their earthly expectations. Hence, though I am come in my Father’s name, with evidences of a divine mission so strong and striking, ye receive me not, because the salvation that he brought was spiritual salvation from sin, and death, and hell: and he so sharply rebuked their vices, and undeceived them in their vain expectation of a temporal Messiah, who should come with outward pomp and grandeur, therefore they rejected him: but if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive, eager to embrace every impostor who pretended to deliver them from the Roman yoke, and aggrandize their nation, though vouching no authority but his own boastings. And being under the influence of such a carnal mind, how can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Their spirit and temper, and the proud affectation of pre-eminence, were the reverse of the kingdom which Christ came to erect, where humility and self-denial stood in the first and most distinguished place; and must for ever exclude them from the spiritual, substantial, and eternal honours which God alone bestows on his faithful children. Learn hence, (1.) The necessity of deep and serious examination of the scriptures, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and diligently seeking for Christ in them, who is the sum and substance of them; for without the practical knowledge of him, all other attainments in the letter, language, and phrases of the scripture, are really no better than splendid ignorance. (2.) In the scriptures eternal life is to be obtained, because they reveal to us that Redeemer, who is the author of it to all who obey him. The Old Testament, as well as the new, is full of him; the moral law drives us for refuge to him, the types of the ceremonial law all prefigure him, the prophesies all centre in him. He is indeed all, and in all. (3.) All who come by faith to Christ, perseveringly embracing the salvation which is in him, will assuredly find pardon, grace, and glory: the reason why any sinners perish is this, that, blinded by wilful ignorance, and perverted by pride and self-righteousness, they will not come to Christ that they may have life. Their eternal ruin, therefore, lies at their own door. (4.) Christ searches the heart, and trieth the reins; he knows what is in man; and, under the guise of the warmest profession of religion, can discover the enmity which reigns within against himself and his gospel. (5.) Where inordinate love of this world prevails, and ambition, covetousness, and a desire of human applause possess the soul, it is impossible that the love of God should dwell there. No man can serve two masters. (6.) When men choose those false prophets, who flatter them in their iniquities, and run without being sent; and, pleased with their smooth prophesies, turn a deaf ear to the warning voice of truth, justly does God give up such to the delusions which they have chosen. (7.) True honour comes from God alone; his estimation of us, not that of all the world beside, stamps our character with excellence or infamy. His approbation, therefore, a gracious soul desires in the first place. (8.) Whilst our hearts affect earthly honours, it is impossible that we should believe in, embrace, and submit to him, whose kingdom is not of this world, and whose first demand from us is to take up our cross and follow him, as men who are wondered at.
Lastly, Christ turns them over to Moses, in whose writings they so much gloried, for a proof of his mission, and as their accuser, if they persisted in their infidelity. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father, as if I came to spy out your faults, with a view to their condemnation; No, there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. That law on which they trusted for salvation, must needs condemn them as transgressors: and Moses in person at the last day must, to their confusion, testify against their impenitence and unbelief. For had ye believed Moses, ye should have believed me: for he wrote of me, as the great Prophet who should arise; as the great end of the law, moral and ceremonial, to which both pointed; but if ye believe not his writings for whom you pretend such high veneration, and are not convinced by them of my divine mission, how shall ye believe my words? against whom you entertain such inveterate prejudices, and whom you treat with such insolent contempt? Note; (1.) Many make their boast in those privileges which will at last prove their more aggravated condemnation, because they have abused them. (2.) They who refuse to fly by faith for refuge to the gospel of Christ, must inevitably perish under the accusations of the law.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 5:46 . Proof that Moses was their accuser. Moses wrote of Christ , referring to Deu 18:15 , and generally to all the Messianic types (comp. Joh 3:14 ) and promises of the Pentateuch, and to its general Messianic import (Luk 24:44 ; Rom 10:5 ); in this, that they did not believe Christ ( i.e . that He spoke the truth), is implied that they rejected the truth of what Moses had written concerning Him. This unbelief is the subject-matter of Moses’ accusation. Well says Bengel: “Non juvit Judaeos illud: Credimus vera esse omnia, quae Moses scripsit. Fide explicita opus erat.”
Joh 5:47 . ] Further conclusion from the unbelief with regard to Moses, pointed out in Joh 5:46 . Thus the discourse ends with a question implying hopelessness.
The antithesis is not between and (as if the writings were easier of belief than the words ), but between and (faith in him being the necessary condition of faith in Christ ); while the distinction of Moses having written (comp. Joh 5:46 ), and Christ spoken , simply presents the historical relation. Were the antithesis between . and ., these words would have taken the lead; were it between both , in . and ., and at the same time in and likewise, this twofold relationship must have been shown, thus perhaps: .
Note .
The discourse, Joh 5:19-47 , so fully embodies in its entire progress and contents, allowing for the necessary Johannine colouring in the mode of representation, those essential doctrines which Jesus had to advocate in the face of the unbelieving Jews, and exhibits, in expression and practical application, so much that is characteristic, great, thoughtful, and striking, that even Strauss himself does not venture to deny that it came substantially from the Lord, though as to its form he attaches suspicious importance to certain resemblances with the first Epistle; but such a suspicion is all the less weighty, the more we are warranted to regard the Johannine idiosyncrasy as developed and moulded by the vivid recollection of the Lord’s words, and as under the guidance of His Spirit, which preserved and transfigured that recollection. The reasons which lead Weisse to see nothing in the discourse but synoptical matter, and B. Bauer to regard the whole as a reflection of the later consciousness of the Church, while Gfrrer supposes a real discourse, artificially shaped by additions and formal alterations, consist so much of arbitrary judgments and erroneous explanations and presuppositions, that sober criticism gains nothing by them, nor can the discourse which is attacked lose anything. Certainly we have in it “a genuine exposition of Johannine theology” (Hilgenfeld, Evang . p. 273), but in such a manner, that this is the theology of Christ Himself, the miracle of healing at Bethesda being historically the occasion of the utterance in this manner of its main elements. This miracle itself is indeed by Baur regarded as a fictitious pretext, invented for the delivery of the discourse, so much so that “every feature in it seems to have been intended for this purpose” (p. 159); and this in the face of the fact that no reference whatever is made (in Joh 5:19 ff.) to the point in connection with the miracle at which the Jews took offence, viz. the breaking of the Sabbath (Joh 5:16 ). Nothing whatever is specially said concerning miracles (for denotes a far wider conception), but the whole discourse turns upon that Messianic faith in the person of Jesus which the Jews refused to entertain. The fundamental truths, on this occasion so triumphantly expressed, “were never taught by Him so distinctly and definitely as now, when the right opportunity presented itself, at the very time when, after the Baptist’s removal, He came fully forth as the Messiah, and was called upon, quietly and comprehensively, to explain those highest of all relations, the explanation of which was previously demanded.” Ewald, Gesch. Chr . p. 298 f.; comp. his Johann. Schr . I. 206 ff. At this crisis of His great mission and work, the references in the discourse to the Baptist, and the apologetic statements concerning His life-giving work and the divine witness of Scripture, connect themselves so necessarily with His historical position, that it cannot even remotely suffice to suppose, with Weizscker, p. 282, that the discourse was composed simply with an eye to the synoptical statements of Mat 11 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
Ver. 46. For he wrote of me ] Both clearly and mystically, in the many sacrifices and ceremonies of the law. Whence Theodoret calleth Moses, , , ocean of divinity, out of whom all the prophets and apostles have watered their several gardens. And Pareus closeth up his commentary upon Genesis, with these words, Quicquid Scripturarum sacrarum dehinc sequitur, huius est Commentarius. Whatever was written next to the scripures, of this it is commentary.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
46. ] The former part of this verse should not be rendered as in E. V. ‘ had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; ’ but if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me . The imperfects render this necessary: the other rendering would require aorists.
“ nusquam non .” Bengel. This is an important testimony by the Lord to the subject of the whole Pentateuch; it is . It is also a testimony to the fact , of Moses having written those books , which were then, and are still, known by his name.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 5:46 . They will be accused by Moses because their unbelief in Christ convicts them of unbelief in Moses, . Had they believed the revelation made by Moses and understood it, they would necessarily have believed in Christ. “Disbelief in me is disbelief in him, in the record of the promises to the patriarchs, in the types of the deliverance from Egypt, in the symbolic institutions of the Law, in the promise of a prophet like to himself; for it was of me (the order is emphatic) he wrote,” Westcott.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
had ye = if (App-118. a) ye had.
wrote. See App-47.
Me. See note on Luk 24:27.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
46.] The former part of this verse should not be rendered as in E. V. had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; but if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me. The imperfects render this necessary: the other rendering would require aorists.
-nusquam non. Bengel. This is an important testimony by the Lord to the subject of the whole Pentateuch;-it is . It is also a testimony to the fact, of Moses having written those books, which were then, and are still, known by his name.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 5:46. , ye would have believed) It did not help the Jews to say, We believe, that all things, which Moses has written, are true. There was need of explicit faith.[112]-, He wrote) There is no part of his writings where he did not.
[112] And not merely of implicit faith, which took Moses writings in the mass, and not in detail.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 5:46
Joh 5:46
For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.-Moses prophesied of Christ, and those who properly understand Moses must believe in Christ. The fact that they did not receive Christ who was the end to which the law led was evidence that they did not believe in Moses or his writings.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
had: Gal 2:19, Gal 3:10, Gal 3:13, Gal 3:24, Gal 4:21-31
for: Joh 1:45, Gen 3:15, Gen 12:3, Gen 18:18, Gen 22:18, Gen 28:14, Gen 49:10, Num 21:8, Num 21:9, Num 24:17, Num 24:18, Deu 18:15, Deu 18:18, Deu 18:19, Act 26:22, Rom 10:4, Heb 7:1 – Heb 10:39
Reciprocal: Deu 30:14 – very Deu 31:9 – Moses 2Ch 17:9 – the book 2Ch 20:20 – believe his Son 2:9 – showing Son 8:2 – who Isa 8:20 – the law Jer 6:16 – Stand Mat 11:13 – General Luk 24:44 – in the law Joh 5:38 – ye have Joh 5:39 – Search Rom 3:21 – being Heb 3:5 – for
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE TESTIMONY OF MOSES
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?
Joh 5:46
We might almost so express the converse, Had ye believed Me ye would have believed Moses, for our Blessed Lord quotes Moses, I think, thirty-two or thirty-three times. You see, in those days, it was the Jews who did not believe Christ; they did believe Moses. Now we have those who do believe Christ, and do not believe Moses. But, as true believers, of course, we believe Moses and believe Christ too. Moses is the beginning, Christ the end of our revelation. And on this I wish to say a few words this evening, as our Collect is about the Bible.
I. From the beginning.Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed that our religion is the oldest and the newest. You know that Napoleon refused Christianity on the ground that it was not the oldest religion. He said that the religion of the EastConfucianism, for instancewas older than Christianity. He dated Christianity only from Pentecost, or from our Lords time. But for our religion we go back to the very beginning, we believe Moses, and turning over the Bible to the first chapter, we read, In the beginning. We cannot date behind that. There is no date which lies behind the beginning; it is the very first. If you date Calvary, take care what date you give to it; it has no date. It was pre-ordained before the beginning of the world. Our religion lies back in the beginning with God, and the last word of the Bible is Jesus.Come, Lord Jesus. And Jesus is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. The Lord Jesus belongs to the past, present, and the hereafter.
II. Development in religion.Had ye believed Moses you would believe in the right theory of development in religious matters, for our holy religion is not a stone, immovable, cold, but it is as the plant full of life, expansion, possibilities, future. The Lord said that the Kingdom of Heaven was like a grain of mustard seed, which, indeed, is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs. And, again, we are told that our religion is within usgrows out of the tender plant within the soul, and, by the Holy Ghost, is spread abroad. The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, Which is given unto us. There is no knowing how the love of God may expand within the soul and develop. The Lord pointed out this truth when He talked with the disciples on the way to Emmaus. He spake to them things concerning Himself, but He began at the beginning; He began at Moses, and went all down till He came to Himself, and showed from Moses and the Prophets how the things that had happened to Him must be. He threw light right over the Old Testament, and showed them the true revelation.
III. The doctrine of Atonement.Had ye believed Moses ye would have known the true doctrine of the Atonement, the saintly doctrine of Christianity, for had ye believed Moses ye would have read of the hyssop, dipped in the blood, striking the lintel and the two side posts of the house; sprinkling the horns of the altar of the sanctuary. You would have read that everything must be sprinkled with blood to be acceptable. That is the testimony from without. You wonder that you meet blood so often in the Old Testament. Look out the word blood in the Concordance, and see how often it occurs in the Old Testament. You thought Leviticus was a useless book; you have hardly read it. It is the testimony from without. Then comes the testimony from within to meet ithow that if the hands be washed with water, the heart must be washed with blood. And then, when the cry comes out of the heart, and the sigh out of the soul, and the tear from the eye, you can pronounce the word in a way that you understandThe Atone-ment. And you are led to the blood of Christ, and you say: Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Quite white in the blood of the Lamb. The blood of Christ has spoken to you better things than the blood of Abel. In the Old Testament you come to blood, the blood of vengeance, which is the blood of Abel, and that has led you on to the blood not of vengeance, but of redemption from the heart of God. Oh, if only you had believed Moses you would have been right!
IV. The unity of the Bible.And then let me say thisif you had believed Moses you would never have cut your Bibles in two. Oh, how cruel it is to mutilate Gods Word! How cruel to cut in two the Bible! They have begun by cutting off the Old Testament, and now they want to cut off the New with the sharp knife of criticism. But do not you be persuaded into the first step to cruelly cut off the Old. Had ye believed Moses ye would have believed Me. The two go together. It is cruel to separate them. And he said unto them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. And One did rise from the dead; but how can you believe it? One died for our sins, and rose again for our justification; and they that do not believe Moses do not believe that One rose from the dead. How true it all comes!
V. The inspiration of the Scriptures.Last of all, let us who hold the true faith about the revelation of God be quite certain all Scripture is given by the inspiration of Godby God the Holy Ghost. You read the Bible by the power of the Spirit. The Lord Jesus Christ came in the flesh, but you and I know Him no longer after the flesh; we know Him by the Spirit; we know Him in the Sacraments and in His Word; we know Him now no longer in the flesh. The Bible tells us: It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing. We do not know Gods Word after the letter. The literalist will ever perish by the letter that killeth, and these critics are all on the letter. It is plain, Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me. There is the sober truth.
Rev. A. H. Stanton.
Illustration
All that it was necessary for Christ to ask of the Jews, for the purpose of His own mission, was that they should believe Moses; for if they believed Moses, they would believe in Himself. It deserves further consideration whether the reference of these five books to Moses necessarily involves the inference that he wrote every word of them. But it does certainly seem to involve the assumption that they are substantially the work of Moses; and still more certainly does it involve the assumption or the assertion that they are thoroughly trustworthy. Again and again our Lord refers to the books of Moses in the same spirit. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill Me? Moses gave unto you circumcision (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers). In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham is represented as saying, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them; and he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they would repent. And He said unto them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though One rose from the dead. Most important, perhaps, of all is His language to His disciples after His resurrection, when He must at least be regarded as speaking with unclouded knowledge and authority. O fools, He exclaims, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself; and again, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, and said unto them, Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.
(SECOND OUTLINE)
CHRIST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
We have often remarked the reverence with which our Lord regarded the Old Testament.
I. Christ refers to the Old Testament on every possible occasion.When He is tempted in the wilderness; when He is preaching in the synagogue (Luke 4), or on the mountain (Mat 5:17); when He is teaching in the Temple or arguing with the Sadducees (Mark 12); when He is dying on the Cross (three of the seven sayings are taken from the Book of Psalms), or walking on the Emmaus road on the afternoon of the first Easter Day, or standing in the upper chamber that same evening in His risen glory, the words of Holy Scripture (the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms) are on His lips.
II. The Apostles and the Evangelists used the Old Testament in exactly the same way, and with the same reverence as their Master before them. For example, in Act 28:23 St. Paul persuaded the Jews concerning Jesus, both out of the Law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening. In the many sermons recorded in the Acts, we find the same line of thought. I will add one more text. In Heb 10:15, etc., a quotation is made from Jeremiah 31; but the prophets name is omitted, and the words are ascribed, not to Jeremiah, but to the Holy Ghost. Our Lord had used the same expression in Mat 22:43 : David in Spiriti.e. David writing in the Holy Spirit, in the power of the Holy Spirit. And compare Act 1:16 and Heb 3:5.
III. Our Lord interpreted the Old Testament for us.He pointed to the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms (the three divisions of the sacred Books in our Lords day), and He says, Moses wrote, and prophets wrote, and psalmists wrote of Him. Moses wrote of Me. The whole Mosaic institution was more than a blaze of ritual pompit was grand picture-lesson of Christ. Take Christ out of the Old Testament and it is like a great organ with no breath in it. It is just this in the hands of the Jew to-day, voiceless, lifeless, because Christ is not the interpreter.
IV. Have you found Christ in the New Testament?Do you reverence it? Can you say, My heart standeth in awe of Thy word? Do you believe it? If ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?
V. My Words.And beautifully simple they were! He said He was the Shepherd, and they that believe on Him were the sheep; He said He was the Vine, and they that believe on Him were the branches; He said He was the Light, and they that believe in Him should not abide in darkness; He said He was the Life, and they that believe in Him should never die; He said He was the Master, and they that served Him on earth should be for ever with Him where He is. And these promises of His, which brought tears to so many eyes, have been echoing all down the ages! But He spoke of judgment as well as mercy. He said that those who would not believe in Him should die in their sins, that they should be cast out into outer darkness, that they should go away into everlasting punishment. And these awful threatenings have been echoing down the ages too!
Let us not think we can put these words away from us: He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath One that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (Joh 12:48).
Rev. F. Harper.
Illustration
The most solemn of all Christs attestations to this truth consisted, perhaps, in His own familiar use of it, especially in the great crisis of His life. As in the Temptation He rested His resistance to the tempter on passages in the Book of Deuteronomy, so He went to the Cross itself in obedience to the Scriptures, saying, How then shall the scriptures he fulfilled, that thus it must be? and He breathed out His spirit in the language of the Psalms. In an admirable little book by a Lord Chancellor, the late Lord Hatherley, the passages are carefully collected in which our Lord and the other writers of the New Testament refer to the Old; and it is most striking to see how our Lord refers to the whole course of the Old Testament Scriptures with the same undoubted acceptance of their truth. His references and quotations are shown to be taken from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, the Psalms, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Jonah, Micah, Zechariah, and Malachi. The whole course of the Old Testament records is thus endorsed by Him and appealed to by Him as authoritative.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
6
When the Jews rejected Jesus it was the same as rejecting Moses.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 5:46. For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me: for he wrote concerning me. Our Lord, no doubt, refers in part to special predictions (such as that of Deu 18:15; Deu 18:18); but more especially He refers to the whole revelation contained in the books of Moses, and by parity of reasoning to the whole Old Testamentthe Scriptures of Joh 5:39. In all the revelation given through him Moses wrote concerning Jesus. His great purpose was to prepare the way for the true Prophet and Priest and King of Israel. Christ was the end of the law. Had, therefore, the Jews believed Moses,that is, accepted his witness in its true character, and entered into its spirit,they would have been led by that preparatory prophetic teaching to believe the Christ of whom Moses wrote.