返回Chapter 5
Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Jn. 5:1. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
The feast of the Jews was at hand; I think it was the feast of Pentecost.
The Lord goes to the feast partly so as not to appear an opponent of the law, but to show Himself a participant in the feast of the people; and partly in order to attract a greater number of people to Himself through teaching and signs, especially the simple folk. For at the feasts, both farmers and city craftsmen usually gather, who on other days are occupied with their work.
Jn. 5:2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, which had five covered porticos.
The pool was called "Sheep" because sacrificial sheep were driven to it and their entrails were washed in it.
By the Sheep Pool, understand, if you will, the grace of baptism, by which the Lord Jesus, the Lamb slain for us, was washed, having been baptized for us. This pool has five porches. For in baptism the four virtues and contemplation with dogmas are manifested.
Rightly can it be called a sheep pool. For in it, as sheep, the inward parts and thoughts of the holy and innocent are washed, those who prepare themselves as a living sacrifice acceptable to God.
Jn. 5:3. In these lay a great multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water;
Jn. 5:4. For an Angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water; and whoever first stepped in after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he was afflicted with.
Many thought that the water received a certain divine power from the mere fact that the entrails of the sacrifices were washed in it, and that therefore the Angel also descended upon this water as upon a chosen one and worked miracles.
It seems that Divine Providence pre-ordained the miracle in this pool in order to lead the Jews from afar to faith in Christ. Since baptism was to be bestowed, having great power and the greatest gift, for it cleanses from sins and gives life to souls, God prefigures baptism in the Jewish rites and gives the Jews, for example, water that cleanses them from impurities, though not real ones but imagined ones, such as impurity from touching a dead body or a leper, and many similar things; He also gives the miracle of this pool, guiding them toward the acceptance of baptism.
An angel, descending from time to time, troubled the water and imparted healing power to it. For it was not from the nature of the water that it could heal by itself (for in that case this would have happened always), but everything depended on the action of the angel. So also with us, the water of baptism is simple water, but through divine descent, having received the grace of the Spirit, it destroys the diseases of the soul. Whether one is blind, that is, has damaged eyes of the soul and cannot distinguish good from evil; whether one is lame, that is, immovable toward doing good and advancing in good; whether one has completely withered, that is, is in a state of despair and has nothing good in himself — this water heals all. And then weakness did not allow some to receive healing, but now we have no obstacle to baptism. For with the recovery of one, the rest do not remain without healing; but even if the whole world were to come together, the grace would not be diminished.
The troubling of the water in the pool signifies that the spirits of wickedness are troubled in it, being crushed and trampled by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Oh, if only we too could receive health! We who are paralyzed and immobile toward every good deed, and have no man, that is, no human sense, as though we have become like senseless beasts, to lower us into the pool of tearful repentance, into which whoever enters first receives healing. For he who relies on future time and postpones repentance, and does not hasten to repent here but delays, does not receive healing. Therefore, strive to enter first, lest death overtake you.
This pool of repentance is stirred by an Angel. Which one? The Angel of the great counsel of the Father, Christ and Savior. For if divine teaching does not touch our heart and does not produce in it a stirring by the reminder of the torments in the age to come, then this pool will not be effective, and there will be no healing for the paralyzed soul.
Jn. 5:5. There was a certain man there who had been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years.
The patience of the paralytic is astonishing! For thirty-eight years he was sick, each year expecting deliverance from his illness, but was preceded by the stronger; nevertheless, he did not give up and did not despair.
Jn. 5:6. Jesus, seeing him lying there and knowing that he had been lying there a long time already, says to him: Do you want to be made well?
Why does the Lord also ask him? Wishing to show us this man's patience. He asks not in order to find out, because it is not only superfluous but also foolish to ask a sick person whether he wants to be healthy. So I said that He asks in order to show us this man's patience.
Jn. 5:7. The sick man answered Him: yes, Lord; but I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am coming, another steps down before me.
What then does he do? He answers very meekly. "Yes," he says, "Lord, I desire to, but I have no man to put me into the water." He utters no blasphemy, he does not reject Christ as having asked an inappropriate question, he does not curse the day of his birth, as we, the fainthearted, do, and that in far lighter illnesses, but he answers meekly and timidly. Although he did not know Who was asking him, he perhaps considered Christ useful to himself in this one thing alone, that He would lower him into the water, and therefore he wishes to attract and dispose Him favorably toward himself by his words.
Jn. 5:8. Jesus says to him: Rise, take up your bed and walk.
Christ, however, did not say "do you want Me to heal you?" so as not to appear vainglorious.
He commands him to take up his bed so that no one would consider him a phantom. For if the limbs of the sick man had not been made firm and strengthened, he would not have been able to carry his bed.
He does not require faith from him before the healing, as He did from certain others, because the sick man had not yet seen Him performing a sign. For from those from whom the Lord required faith, He required it not before miracles, but after having performed miracles before them.
So, human nature, like a paralytic broken in all the powers of the soul, had lain in sickness for thirty-eight years. For it did not have sound faith in the Trinity, did not firmly believe in the age to come, that is, in the resurrection and in the judgment for one's entire life. It did not receive healing. For it did not have a Man who would lower it into the pool, that is, the Son of God, Who was to heal by baptism, was not yet Man. But when He became man, then He healed our nature; He commanded to take up the bed as well, that is, to make the body also light and refined, and to rise from the earth, not being weighed down by the flesh and earthly cares, but to rise up from indifference toward the good and to walk, that is, to advance toward the doing of good.
Jn. 5:9. And he was immediately made well, and took up his bed and walked. And it was the Sabbath on that day.
Look, if you will, how he at once heard and believed. He did not think to himself or say: "Is He joking, commanding me to get up immediately? In thirty-eight years of illness I have not received healing, and now I will suddenly get up?" He thought nothing of the sort, but believed and arose.
Jn. 5:10. Therefore the Jews said to the one who had been healed: today is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.
He heals "on the Sabbath," teaching people to understand the rites of the law differently and to place the honoring of the Sabbath not in bodily understood inactivity, but in abstaining from evil. For the law, being the law of the ever-beneficent God, cannot forbid doing good on the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:11. He answered them: He who healed me, He told me: take up your bed and walk.
One must marvel at the boldness of this man before the Jews. They insistently say to him: "You must not carry your bed on the Sabbath"; but he boldly proclaims his benefactor to them: "He who healed me, He told me." He speaks as if to say: "You are mad to command me not to listen to the One who healed me from an illness so prolonged and difficult."
Jn. 5:12. They asked him: who is the Man who said to you: take up your bed and walk?
The Jews do not ask him, "Who healed you?" but rather, "Who told you to take up your bed?" Thus they willingly shut their eyes to the good, while constantly bringing the supposed violation of the Sabbath to the forefront.
Jn. 5:13. But the one who was healed did not know who He was, for Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd that was in that place.
Jesus hid Himself partly so that in His absence the testimony about the healing would be free from all suspicion, and they would not think that this man was favoring Him, but was witnessing to the truth; and partly so as not to inflame the fury of the Jews even more. For even the mere sight of the one who is hated kindles no small spark of hatred in those who hate. Therefore He withdraws, so that this matter might be investigated on its own. For the Jews — the accusers — by subjecting the event to investigation and deliberation, make it all the more widely known.
Jn. 5:14. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him: behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.
From the Lord's words to the paralytic: "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more," we learn, first, that the illness befell this man on account of his sins, and second, that the teaching about Gehenna is true and that the torment is eternal.
Where then are those who say: "I sinned in a single hour, so why should I bear endless punishment?" For behold, this man did not sin for as many years as he endured punishment; rather, he spent nearly an entire human lifetime in punishment. Sins are judged not by their duration, but by the very nature of the offenses. We also learn from this that although we may bear heavy punishment for our former sins, if we fall again into the same sins, we shall suffer even greater punishment. And quite justly so. For he who was not improved by the first punishment is subjected to greater torments, because he is insensible and negligent.
"Why," you will say, "are not all punished in this way? For we see that many wicked people enjoy health and prosperity." But the fact that they suffered nothing here will be the occasion for greater punishment there. Pointing to this, Paul says: "Being judged by the Lord," that is, here, "we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned with the world," that is, there (1 Cor. 11:32). For the sufferings here are corrections, while those there are punishments.
Are all diseases then from sins? Not all, but the greater part. For some of them occur because of sins, as happened with this paralytic; and in the Book of Kings we see that someone fell into leprosy because of sins (2 Kings 5:27, 15:5). Others occur for glorification and manifestation, as happened with Job, so that his virtue might be revealed. Still others come from carelessness, for example, from intemperance and drunkenness.
Some from the Lord's words "sin no more" draw the conjecture that the Lord knew that this paralytic would report about Him to the Jews and would point Him out after meeting Him in the temple, and concerning this He says: "Do not sin then." But it is not so. This man proves to be pious. For Jesus finds him in the temple. If he had not been pious, he would have returned home and given himself over to rest and pleasure, and would have fled from the fury of the Jews and their disputation. But nothing of the sort distracted him from the temple.
Oh, if only we too would receive health and upon recovery would remain in the temple, that is, not defile ourselves with unholy thoughts, so that a worse punishment would not befall us in the future.
Jn. 5:15. This man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Having recognized Jesus, see how wisely he announces Him to the Jews. He does not say, as they wished to hear, that Jesus said "take up your bed," but rather "He healed me," which they did not wish to hear, accusing Him of violating the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:16. And the Jews began to persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He did such things on the Sabbath.
If the Jews began to persecute the Lord, how is this man at fault for telling them about Him? He proclaimed the Healer with a good intention, so that he might also draw others to faith. But if they began to persecute the Benefactor, that is their fault.
Jn. 5:17. But Jesus said to them: My Father works until now, and I work.
The Jews accuse Christ of having performed a healing on the Sabbath. But He, as equal to the Father in honor and authority, says: "Just as God and My Father works even on the Sabbath, and you do not accuse Him, so too you should not accuse Me."
How then does the Father work until now? Moses says that God rested from all His works (Gen. 2:2). Do you wish to know how God works until now? Look at the universe and learn the works of Providence: the sun rises and sets; look at the sea, the springs, the rivers, the animals, in general at all created things, and you will see that creation does its work, and especially is set in action and motion in an ineffable manner by Providence. Without doubt, Providence does its work on the Sabbath as well. Therefore, just as the Father works and governs creation even on the Sabbath, so I too, His Son, work rightly.
Jn. 5:18. And the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
But they, incited by envy, sought to kill Him not only because He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. By calling Himself the Son, He necessarily made Himself equal in honor with God. For every son is of one and the same nature as his father.
Where is Arius in all this? Truly, he is blind in broad daylight. Calling Christ the Son of the Father, he did not accept His consubstantiality with the Father, but regarded the Son of the uncreated Father as a creature. He should have learned at least from the Jews, who persecuted the Lord because He called Himself the Son of God, and from this it necessarily followed that He was equal to God. If the dignity of the Son were not important and He did not make Himself equal to God through it, then why would they have persecuted Him?
Jn. 5:19. To this Jesus said: Truly, truly, I say to you: the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it; for whatever He does, the Son does likewise.
The Son cannot do anything of Himself, because He has nothing foreign or different from the Father, but is like the Father in all things, and does not have a different essence so as to have a different power, and consequently a different activity, but since He has the same Essence, He also has the same Power. Therefore the Son also does the same things and cannot do anything other than what the Father does, for He does not have a different power, lesser or greater than the Father's, but the Father and the Son have one Essence, one power, one activity. "So," you will say, "but does the Father become like a teacher of the Son, showing Him how He must act? For the Son does nothing unless He sees the Father doing it."
So I ask Arius and Eunomius, who say this: "How does the Father teach the Son, by wisdom or not?" Without doubt, by wisdom. And who is the Wisdom of God? Is it not the Son? Yes, without doubt. Therefore, the Son teaches Himself. What folly on your part! You entrust the Son to the Father as if He were some child to be instructed. But I, in agreement with the wisdom of God, affirm that if the Father knows anything, He knows it not without the Son, for His Wisdom is He; if the Father can do anything, He can do it not without the Son, for His Power is He. That this is true, listen: "What the Father does, the Son does likewise." If the Father has authority and power, so does the Son; therefore, the Son is not less than the Father.
Jn. 5:20. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
If it is said in a lowly manner "shows Him all things" and "will show Him greater things than these," one should not marvel at this; for He is speaking with people who are crying out against Him and consumed with envy. If He had not everywhere combined the lowly with the lofty, what would they not have done, when they rise up even while He speaks in a lowly manner for the most part?
What does this mean: "will show greater things than these"? Having strengthened the paralytic, He intends to raise the dead; therefore He also says: "If you marvel that I healed the paralytic, you will see greater things than this." That He used the humble expression "will show" intentionally, in order to soften their foolishness, listen to what follows next.
Jn. 5:21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.
Then He says: "As the Father raises the dead, so the Son also gives life to whom He wills." Thus, the Son raises "as the Father." By this He shows the indifference of power, and by the words "whom He wills" — the equality of authority. The Arians set all this against the glory of the Son, but we, the Orthodox, understand it in favor of it.
Jn. 5:22. For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son,
Christ, having performed many signs, proved that He is able to bestow blessings. But since He did not persuade or draw them to a worthy veneration of Himself, He says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, so that the fear of judgment might incline them to render Him honor. For we humans, especially the most foolish among us, are usually taught what is needful more by fear than by kindness.
The words "The Father has given judgment to the Son" should be understood to mean that He begat Him as Judge, just as you hear that He gave Him life, and you understand that He begat Him as Living. Since the Father is the cause of the Son's being, it is said that everything the Son has, He received from the Father, as having it from Him by nature. Thus, He also has judgment from the Father in the same way as the Father Himself has it.
Jn. 5:23. That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
So that we, hearing that the Father is the cause of the Son, would not begin to understand that He produced Him as He did the creatures, and thereby introduce a diminishment of honor, for this reason He says that between the Father and the Son there is no difference. For he who has the power to punish and reward as he wishes has power equal to the Father; therefore He must also be honored just as the Father: "that," He says, "all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."
Since the Arians think to honor the Son as a creature, it turns out that they honor the Father as a creature as well. For they either do not honor Him at all, and therefore must be ranked with the Jews, or, if they honor Him as a creature, and He must be honored as the Father is, then they are decisively convicted of honoring the Father as a creature as well.
And otherwise, judging by the addition, how do those who do not honor the Son honor the Father? For He adds: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father either," that is, who does not honor Him in the same way as the Father. If anyone says that He is a creature, the most excellent of all creatures, and thinks that such honor is falsely and vainly attributed to Him (as the Son), that person decidedly dishonors the Father who sent Him.
Jn. 5:24. Truly, truly, I say to you: he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
He said "the One who sent" so that they would not become hardened, as we said above. For He, as has been said, wonderfully combines His teaching: sometimes He gives lofty testimony about Himself, as was fitting, and sometimes humble testimony, because of the raging of the hostile Jews.
For if, after His resurrection from the dead, after His ascension into heaven, after the manifestation of His power through the apostles, Arius and Eunomius rose up against His glory and reduced Him to a creature, then what would the Jews of His own time, seeing Him walking in the flesh, eating and drinking with tax collectors and harlots as one of many, not have done if He had spoken only lofty things about Himself and had not also added what was lowly? Therefore He also adds: "He who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life."
Thus, by the fact that those who hear His words will believe in God, He calms their minds. For He did not say "whoever believes in Me," but "in Him who sent Me." Whoever believes in Him does not come to judgment, that is, to torment, but lives with eternal life, not subject to spiritual and eternal death, although he will not escape bodily and temporal death.
Jn. 5:25. Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.
Above He said that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, and He proclaimed something lofty about Himself. Lest His words be taken for pomposity and empty arrogance, He presents confirmation from deeds as well.
He says: "the hour is coming." Then, lest they think of a distant time, He says: "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son," that is, of Me, now living among you. He says this concerning the dead whom He was going to raise, namely: the son of the widow, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and Lazarus.
Jn. 5:26. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself.
Then He adds also a rational proof of His words. "As," He says, "the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself," so that He might give life to those who hear His voice.
Jn. 5:27. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
And He gave Him authority not only to give life, but also to execute judgment, that is, to punish and deliver to torments.
He frequently introduces the subject of judgment in order to draw His listeners to Himself. For whoever is convinced that he will rise again and will have to give an account to Him for his transgressions will, without a doubt, hasten to Him in order to propitiate Him as his future Judge.
"Do not marvel that He is the Son of Man." Although He is the Son of Man, He is at the same time also God. Therefore He rightly has the authority of judgment as the Son of God. Although He appears to be a man, do not marvel.
It is necessary to know that Paul of Samosata, presenting the Lord as a mere man, read this passage thus: "and gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is a son of man." Placing a stop here, he read with a new beginning: "Marvel not at this." Such a reading is completely unreasonable. For the Father gave judgment to the Son not because He is the Son of Man, but because He is God. But he, not tolerating calling Christ God, but calling Him the Son of Man, understood it so that He is judge not as God, but as a son of man. We, however, understand it as it is stated.
Jn. 5:28. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God;
Having spoken about the partial resurrection, that is, of Lazarus and others who had died before, He now speaks about the general resurrection: "the hour is coming, when those who are in the graves shall hear the voice" of God. Here He speaks about the general resurrection.
Jn. 5:29. They shall come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
Since He said above that the believer does not come to judgment, lest we think that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, He says that "those who have done evil will rise to the resurrection of condemnation, while those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life." Therefore, faith alone without works does not justify, but one must also have works; for only then is faith truly genuine.
Look how the teaching is tempered with fear and mercy. For the thought that those who did evil will be condemned instills fear, while the thought that those who did good will rise to life encourages with mercy.
Jn. 5:30. I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, so I judge, and My judgment is righteous; for I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.
These words: "I can do nothing of Myself" and others like them, as was said above, point to the equality of the Son with the Father. I can do nothing new or foreign from the Father; for I have neither a will nor a power distinct from the Father's. "As I hear" from the Father, "so I judge," that is, as the Father Himself judges, so do I.
He says this, as we have often said, in order to show impartiality both in deeds, and in words, and in judgments. Lest some, seeing Him as a Man, should be scandalized — how can one who appears as a Man render righteous judgment, when, in the words of David, "every man is a liar" (Ps. 116:2) — He said beforehand: "Do not marvel at this, that I am the Son of Man." And now He says: "My judgment is righteous, because I judge as I hear from My Father, who judges." "For I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father." He who desires to establish his own will may be suspected of violating justice, but he who does not have himself in view — what motive would he have to pronounce an unrighteous judgment? And I do not seek My own will, for I do not even have a will of My own, but what the Father wills, that I also desire.
Jn. 5:31. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
Here the Lord apparently contradicts Himself. For He repeatedly bore witness about Himself, for example, He said to the Samaritan woman "I am the Christ" (John 4:25–26), to the blind man (John 9:35–37), and at other times on several occasions. If this is false, then how can we hope for salvation?
But the contradiction is not limited to this alone; there is yet another, no less significant. After this (John 8:14) He says: "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true." How then can this apparent contradiction be reconciled? When He says "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true," He speaks in accordance with the understanding of the Jews. Perhaps they intended to say to Him that You bear witness of Yourself, and in testimony about oneself no one deserves to be believed. Therefore He insistently says: "I do not bear witness of Myself, for in that case, in your opinion, I would not be worthy of belief, but there is another who bears witness of Me — John." But when He says: "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true," He speaks by way of concession. Yielding to the reasoning of the Jews, He says: "Granted that I bear witness of Myself; but even if I do bear witness of Myself, My witness is true. For I, being God, am worthy of belief." Therefore the first He said insistently — that it is not I who bear witness, but the Forerunner — while the second He said by way of contrast or concession: "Even if I bear witness, My witness is true."
Jn. 5:32. There is another who bears witness about Me; and I know that the testimony with which he bears witness about Me is true.
"I," He says, "have three witnesses: John, My works, and My Father." He puts forward John first.
Jn. 5:33. You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth.
Lest anyone say to Him that he testified about You out of flattery (to You), He says: "you yourselves sent to John." And, without a doubt, you would not have sent to ask him if you did not consider him worthy of belief. Therefore you yourselves bear witness that John was true.
Jn. 5:34. I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
Although I, as God, have no need of human testimony — the Lord has no need of the testimony of a servant — yet since you consider him more truthful and heed him more than Me, and you resorted to him, while you do not believe in Me even in the face of miracles, therefore I remind you also of John's testimony, and I do everything, accepting even what is unworthy of My divinity, if only you might be saved.
Jn. 5:35. He was a burning and shining lamp; and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
He calls John a "burning lamp," because he had an earthly origin, and had his light not from himself, but from the grace of the Spirit, and "for a time"; but when the day of the Lord came, that is, His teaching, the lamp was hidden. Everything he said they accepted "for a time" and rejoiced in him, but then they forgot what he said about Me and remained in their former unbelief. For if you had once firmly believed him, he would soon have led you to faith in Me.
Jn. 5:36. But I have a greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, these very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
"John," He says, "bore witness about Me — John, whom you consider more trustworthy than all others." But since some slanderers might be found who would say, "What is that to us? John was favorable to You, and therefore gave a very good testimony," He says, "You sent to John and questioned him, undoubtedly considering him truthful."
But I have also another testimony, greater than John's. The works which the Father has given Me, that is, has laid upon Me to accomplish, bear witness of Me. By "works" He means the miracles, for example, the healing of the paralytic and others. Since they accused Him for performing these on the Sabbath, and said that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath, He declares to them that He does what is commanded Him by the Father, and is all the more from God in that He accomplishes the works laid upon Him by God. "The works," He says, "which the Father has given Me to accomplish." But if the Father gave them, then you, by opposing such works, are opposing God.
Jn. 5:37. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me.
"And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me." Where then did the Father testify concerning Him? Some say at the baptism, when He said: "This is My beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). But I think it is better to understand that God testified concerning Him in all of Scripture, in the Law and the Prophets.
Jn. 5:37. And you have never heard His voice, nor seen His face;
Jn. 5:38. And you do not have His word abiding in you, because you do not believe the One whom He sent.
"You," He says, "have not heard His voice, that is, the Father's, nor have you seen His face, and He is utterly unknown to you, because you do not have His word abiding in you, that is, you do not know the Scriptures that bear witness about Me, although you think that you know them and boast that the words of God have been entrusted to you. That you do not know the Scriptures is clear from the fact that you do not believe in the One whom He sent. And just as you have not heard the voice of God, for God does not have a perceptible voice, nor have you seen His face, for He has no form or shape, so also you do not have His word in you, that is, the Scriptures that bear witness about Me."
Jn. 5:39. Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life; and they are the ones which testify of Me.
He told them that the word of God does not abide in them, that is, the Scriptures that testify of Me. And teaching how they can have the word of God in themselves, He says: "Search the Scriptures, for you think through them to have life." Notice, He did not say "you have," but "you think." He said "you think," declaring that they truly received no benefit from them (the Scriptures), since they expected salvation from reading alone, without applying faith.
Jn. 5:40. But you are not willing to come to Me, that you may have life.
They (the Scriptures) bear witness of Me, but you are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life. From this we learn that they were evil by choice. For He did not say "you cannot come," but "you are unwilling to come."
Let the Manicheans hear that evil does not consist in nature, but in free choice.
Jn. 5:41. I do not receive glory from men,
When He reminded them of the testimony of John, the testimony of the Father, and the testimony of His works, solely out of desire for their salvation, and meanwhile many could think that He was saying this out of love for glory, He therefore says: "I do not receive glory from men, that is, I have no need of glory, and My Nature is not such as to need glory from men."
Jn. 5:42. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
You persecute Me under the pretext that you love God. But this is not so, no. For I know about you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves, even though you put forward everywhere that you persecute Me out of love for God. The Jews, indeed, did not have the love of God, because they persecuted self-existent Love — the Son of God. Indeed, they did not have His word abiding in them either, for they rejected the Word and God.
Jn. 5:43. I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
"I," He says, "have come in the name of My Father." Everywhere He glorifies the Father and says that He was sent by Him and that He can do nothing of Himself, and in general expresses many humble things, wishing to cut off every pretext for not accepting Him. But another will come, that is, the antichrist, who will claim that he alone is God.
If you, then, do not receive Me, Who came in the name of the Father, that is, Who says that He was sent by the Father, you will receive him. This will happen to you because he will promise you worldly glory, which you seek, desiring to receive glory from one another and rejecting the glory that is from God alone. But I promise you nothing attractive in this life; rather, in My words you see much that is difficult.
Jn. 5:44. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the Only God?
"That is why," He says, "you do not believe Me, because you do not hope to receive from Me any worldly pleasure." And in another sense: "You do not believe Me because you love glory from one another." For the rulers and teachers, desiring themselves only to be in glory among the people, do not accept Me, lest their glory be diminished. And the people, seeking favor from the rulers, do not wish to turn to Me, lest on account of Me they lose honor with the rulers.
Jn. 5:45. Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.
Since they constantly appealed to Moses, the Lord says that he will accuse you, because he wrote about Me. Where did he write about Him? In many places. Thus the saying "The Lord will raise up a Prophet for you" referred to Christ, and many other things, partly in words, partly in signs and symbols. For example, the miracle of the bush (Exod. 3:2). Here the fire signified the Divinity, and the thornbush signified the sinful nature, which the fire of Divinity assumed and yet preserved unburnt, illuminating it with light and endowing it with His radiance, but not taking on its defects.
This saying of Moses contributed very greatly to faith in Christ. "If," he says, "a prophet arises who works miracles and leads away from God, do not believe him: he is the antichrist. But if a Prophet arises who works miracles and leads to God and the Father, especially not leading away from Him, believe Him." (Deut. 13:1–3) Thus, Christ, who came in the name of the Father, who worked miracles and did not lead them (the Jews) away from piety, was the very One about whom Moses prophesied.
Jn. 5:46. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me.
Jn. 5:47. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
If you do not believe the writings of Moses, how will you believe My words? "He," He says, "wrote, and the Bible is always before your eyes, so that even if you had forgotten, you can easily recall it, and yet you do not believe what is written — how then will you believe My unwritten words?"
Why then do You say this, Lord, when You know that they will not believe? "Although," He says, "I know that they will not listen, nevertheless I speak, so that they may not afterward claim, 'We would have believed, if You had told us.'"
And in another sense: His ungrateful contemporaries did not believe; but it would have been unjust to deprive of the benefit of Christ's words those who would come to believe in the course of time.
Jn. 5:1. After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
The feast of the Jews was at hand; I think it was the feast of Pentecost.
The Lord goes to the feast partly so as not to appear an opponent of the law, but to show Himself a participant in the feast of the people; and partly in order to attract a greater number of people to Himself through teaching and signs, especially the simple folk. For at the feasts, both farmers and city craftsmen usually gather, who on other days are occupied with their work.
Jn. 5:2. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, called in Hebrew Bethesda, which had five covered porticos.
The pool was called "Sheep" because sacrificial sheep were driven to it and their entrails were washed in it.
By the Sheep Pool, understand, if you will, the grace of baptism, by which the Lord Jesus, the Lamb slain for us, was washed, having been baptized for us. This pool has five porches. For in baptism the four virtues and contemplation with dogmas are manifested.
Rightly can it be called a sheep pool. For in it, as sheep, the inward parts and thoughts of the holy and innocent are washed, those who prepare themselves as a living sacrifice acceptable to God.
Jn. 5:3. In these lay a great multitude of sick, blind, lame, withered, waiting for the moving of the water;
Jn. 5:4. For an Angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool and stirred the water; and whoever first stepped in after the stirring of the water was healed of whatever disease he was afflicted with.
Many thought that the water received a certain divine power from the mere fact that the entrails of the sacrifices were washed in it, and that therefore the Angel also descended upon this water as upon a chosen one and worked miracles.
It seems that Divine Providence pre-ordained the miracle in this pool in order to lead the Jews from afar to faith in Christ. Since baptism was to be bestowed, having great power and the greatest gift, for it cleanses from sins and gives life to souls, God prefigures baptism in the Jewish rites and gives the Jews, for example, water that cleanses them from impurities, though not real ones but imagined ones, such as impurity from touching a dead body or a leper, and many similar things; He also gives the miracle of this pool, guiding them toward the acceptance of baptism.
An angel, descending from time to time, troubled the water and imparted healing power to it. For it was not from the nature of the water that it could heal by itself (for in that case this would have happened always), but everything depended on the action of the angel. So also with us, the water of baptism is simple water, but through divine descent, having received the grace of the Spirit, it destroys the diseases of the soul. Whether one is blind, that is, has damaged eyes of the soul and cannot distinguish good from evil; whether one is lame, that is, immovable toward doing good and advancing in good; whether one has completely withered, that is, is in a state of despair and has nothing good in himself — this water heals all. And then weakness did not allow some to receive healing, but now we have no obstacle to baptism. For with the recovery of one, the rest do not remain without healing; but even if the whole world were to come together, the grace would not be diminished.
The troubling of the water in the pool signifies that the spirits of wickedness are troubled in it, being crushed and trampled by the grace of the Holy Spirit. Oh, if only we too could receive health! We who are paralyzed and immobile toward every good deed, and have no man, that is, no human sense, as though we have become like senseless beasts, to lower us into the pool of tearful repentance, into which whoever enters first receives healing. For he who relies on future time and postpones repentance, and does not hasten to repent here but delays, does not receive healing. Therefore, strive to enter first, lest death overtake you.
This pool of repentance is stirred by an Angel. Which one? The Angel of the great counsel of the Father, Christ and Savior. For if divine teaching does not touch our heart and does not produce in it a stirring by the reminder of the torments in the age to come, then this pool will not be effective, and there will be no healing for the paralyzed soul.
Jn. 5:5. There was a certain man there who had been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years.
The patience of the paralytic is astonishing! For thirty-eight years he was sick, each year expecting deliverance from his illness, but was preceded by the stronger; nevertheless, he did not give up and did not despair.
Jn. 5:6. Jesus, seeing him lying there and knowing that he had been lying there a long time already, says to him: Do you want to be made well?
Why does the Lord also ask him? Wishing to show us this man's patience. He asks not in order to find out, because it is not only superfluous but also foolish to ask a sick person whether he wants to be healthy. So I said that He asks in order to show us this man's patience.
Jn. 5:7. The sick man answered Him: yes, Lord; but I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am coming, another steps down before me.
What then does he do? He answers very meekly. "Yes," he says, "Lord, I desire to, but I have no man to put me into the water." He utters no blasphemy, he does not reject Christ as having asked an inappropriate question, he does not curse the day of his birth, as we, the fainthearted, do, and that in far lighter illnesses, but he answers meekly and timidly. Although he did not know Who was asking him, he perhaps considered Christ useful to himself in this one thing alone, that He would lower him into the water, and therefore he wishes to attract and dispose Him favorably toward himself by his words.
Jn. 5:8. Jesus says to him: Rise, take up your bed and walk.
Christ, however, did not say "do you want Me to heal you?" so as not to appear vainglorious.
He commands him to take up his bed so that no one would consider him a phantom. For if the limbs of the sick man had not been made firm and strengthened, he would not have been able to carry his bed.
He does not require faith from him before the healing, as He did from certain others, because the sick man had not yet seen Him performing a sign. For from those from whom the Lord required faith, He required it not before miracles, but after having performed miracles before them.
So, human nature, like a paralytic broken in all the powers of the soul, had lain in sickness for thirty-eight years. For it did not have sound faith in the Trinity, did not firmly believe in the age to come, that is, in the resurrection and in the judgment for one's entire life. It did not receive healing. For it did not have a Man who would lower it into the pool, that is, the Son of God, Who was to heal by baptism, was not yet Man. But when He became man, then He healed our nature; He commanded to take up the bed as well, that is, to make the body also light and refined, and to rise from the earth, not being weighed down by the flesh and earthly cares, but to rise up from indifference toward the good and to walk, that is, to advance toward the doing of good.
Jn. 5:9. And he was immediately made well, and took up his bed and walked. And it was the Sabbath on that day.
Look, if you will, how he at once heard and believed. He did not think to himself or say: "Is He joking, commanding me to get up immediately? In thirty-eight years of illness I have not received healing, and now I will suddenly get up?" He thought nothing of the sort, but believed and arose.
Jn. 5:10. Therefore the Jews said to the one who had been healed: today is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.
He heals "on the Sabbath," teaching people to understand the rites of the law differently and to place the honoring of the Sabbath not in bodily understood inactivity, but in abstaining from evil. For the law, being the law of the ever-beneficent God, cannot forbid doing good on the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:11. He answered them: He who healed me, He told me: take up your bed and walk.
One must marvel at the boldness of this man before the Jews. They insistently say to him: "You must not carry your bed on the Sabbath"; but he boldly proclaims his benefactor to them: "He who healed me, He told me." He speaks as if to say: "You are mad to command me not to listen to the One who healed me from an illness so prolonged and difficult."
Jn. 5:12. They asked him: who is the Man who said to you: take up your bed and walk?
The Jews do not ask him, "Who healed you?" but rather, "Who told you to take up your bed?" Thus they willingly shut their eyes to the good, while constantly bringing the supposed violation of the Sabbath to the forefront.
Jn. 5:13. But the one who was healed did not know who He was, for Jesus had withdrawn into the crowd that was in that place.
Jesus hid Himself partly so that in His absence the testimony about the healing would be free from all suspicion, and they would not think that this man was favoring Him, but was witnessing to the truth; and partly so as not to inflame the fury of the Jews even more. For even the mere sight of the one who is hated kindles no small spark of hatred in those who hate. Therefore He withdraws, so that this matter might be investigated on its own. For the Jews — the accusers — by subjecting the event to investigation and deliberation, make it all the more widely known.
Jn. 5:14. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him: behold, you have been made well; sin no more, lest something worse happen to you.
From the Lord's words to the paralytic: "Behold, you have been made well; sin no more," we learn, first, that the illness befell this man on account of his sins, and second, that the teaching about Gehenna is true and that the torment is eternal.
Where then are those who say: "I sinned in a single hour, so why should I bear endless punishment?" For behold, this man did not sin for as many years as he endured punishment; rather, he spent nearly an entire human lifetime in punishment. Sins are judged not by their duration, but by the very nature of the offenses. We also learn from this that although we may bear heavy punishment for our former sins, if we fall again into the same sins, we shall suffer even greater punishment. And quite justly so. For he who was not improved by the first punishment is subjected to greater torments, because he is insensible and negligent.
"Why," you will say, "are not all punished in this way? For we see that many wicked people enjoy health and prosperity." But the fact that they suffered nothing here will be the occasion for greater punishment there. Pointing to this, Paul says: "Being judged by the Lord," that is, here, "we are chastened, so that we may not be condemned with the world," that is, there (1 Cor. 11:32). For the sufferings here are corrections, while those there are punishments.
Are all diseases then from sins? Not all, but the greater part. For some of them occur because of sins, as happened with this paralytic; and in the Book of Kings we see that someone fell into leprosy because of sins (2 Kings 5:27, 15:5). Others occur for glorification and manifestation, as happened with Job, so that his virtue might be revealed. Still others come from carelessness, for example, from intemperance and drunkenness.
Some from the Lord's words "sin no more" draw the conjecture that the Lord knew that this paralytic would report about Him to the Jews and would point Him out after meeting Him in the temple, and concerning this He says: "Do not sin then." But it is not so. This man proves to be pious. For Jesus finds him in the temple. If he had not been pious, he would have returned home and given himself over to rest and pleasure, and would have fled from the fury of the Jews and their disputation. But nothing of the sort distracted him from the temple.
Oh, if only we too would receive health and upon recovery would remain in the temple, that is, not defile ourselves with unholy thoughts, so that a worse punishment would not befall us in the future.
Jn. 5:15. This man went and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.
Having recognized Jesus, see how wisely he announces Him to the Jews. He does not say, as they wished to hear, that Jesus said "take up your bed," but rather "He healed me," which they did not wish to hear, accusing Him of violating the Sabbath.
Jn. 5:16. And the Jews began to persecute Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He did such things on the Sabbath.
If the Jews began to persecute the Lord, how is this man at fault for telling them about Him? He proclaimed the Healer with a good intention, so that he might also draw others to faith. But if they began to persecute the Benefactor, that is their fault.
Jn. 5:17. But Jesus said to them: My Father works until now, and I work.
The Jews accuse Christ of having performed a healing on the Sabbath. But He, as equal to the Father in honor and authority, says: "Just as God and My Father works even on the Sabbath, and you do not accuse Him, so too you should not accuse Me."
How then does the Father work until now? Moses says that God rested from all His works (Gen. 2:2). Do you wish to know how God works until now? Look at the universe and learn the works of Providence: the sun rises and sets; look at the sea, the springs, the rivers, the animals, in general at all created things, and you will see that creation does its work, and especially is set in action and motion in an ineffable manner by Providence. Without doubt, Providence does its work on the Sabbath as well. Therefore, just as the Father works and governs creation even on the Sabbath, so I too, His Son, work rightly.
Jn. 5:18. And the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
But they, incited by envy, sought to kill Him not only because He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. By calling Himself the Son, He necessarily made Himself equal in honor with God. For every son is of one and the same nature as his father.
Where is Arius in all this? Truly, he is blind in broad daylight. Calling Christ the Son of the Father, he did not accept His consubstantiality with the Father, but regarded the Son of the uncreated Father as a creature. He should have learned at least from the Jews, who persecuted the Lord because He called Himself the Son of God, and from this it necessarily followed that He was equal to God. If the dignity of the Son were not important and He did not make Himself equal to God through it, then why would they have persecuted Him?
Jn. 5:19. To this Jesus said: Truly, truly, I say to you: the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it; for whatever He does, the Son does likewise.
The Son cannot do anything of Himself, because He has nothing foreign or different from the Father, but is like the Father in all things, and does not have a different essence so as to have a different power, and consequently a different activity, but since He has the same Essence, He also has the same Power. Therefore the Son also does the same things and cannot do anything other than what the Father does, for He does not have a different power, lesser or greater than the Father's, but the Father and the Son have one Essence, one power, one activity. "So," you will say, "but does the Father become like a teacher of the Son, showing Him how He must act? For the Son does nothing unless He sees the Father doing it."
So I ask Arius and Eunomius, who say this: "How does the Father teach the Son, by wisdom or not?" Without doubt, by wisdom. And who is the Wisdom of God? Is it not the Son? Yes, without doubt. Therefore, the Son teaches Himself. What folly on your part! You entrust the Son to the Father as if He were some child to be instructed. But I, in agreement with the wisdom of God, affirm that if the Father knows anything, He knows it not without the Son, for His Wisdom is He; if the Father can do anything, He can do it not without the Son, for His Power is He. That this is true, listen: "What the Father does, the Son does likewise." If the Father has authority and power, so does the Son; therefore, the Son is not less than the Father.
Jn. 5:20. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
If it is said in a lowly manner "shows Him all things" and "will show Him greater things than these," one should not marvel at this; for He is speaking with people who are crying out against Him and consumed with envy. If He had not everywhere combined the lowly with the lofty, what would they not have done, when they rise up even while He speaks in a lowly manner for the most part?
What does this mean: "will show greater things than these"? Having strengthened the paralytic, He intends to raise the dead; therefore He also says: "If you marvel that I healed the paralytic, you will see greater things than this." That He used the humble expression "will show" intentionally, in order to soften their foolishness, listen to what follows next.
Jn. 5:21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.
Then He says: "As the Father raises the dead, so the Son also gives life to whom He wills." Thus, the Son raises "as the Father." By this He shows the indifference of power, and by the words "whom He wills" — the equality of authority. The Arians set all this against the glory of the Son, but we, the Orthodox, understand it in favor of it.
Jn. 5:22. For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son,
Christ, having performed many signs, proved that He is able to bestow blessings. But since He did not persuade or draw them to a worthy veneration of Himself, He says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, so that the fear of judgment might incline them to render Him honor. For we humans, especially the most foolish among us, are usually taught what is needful more by fear than by kindness.
The words "The Father has given judgment to the Son" should be understood to mean that He begat Him as Judge, just as you hear that He gave Him life, and you understand that He begat Him as Living. Since the Father is the cause of the Son's being, it is said that everything the Son has, He received from the Father, as having it from Him by nature. Thus, He also has judgment from the Father in the same way as the Father Himself has it.
Jn. 5:23. That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
So that we, hearing that the Father is the cause of the Son, would not begin to understand that He produced Him as He did the creatures, and thereby introduce a diminishment of honor, for this reason He says that between the Father and the Son there is no difference. For he who has the power to punish and reward as he wishes has power equal to the Father; therefore He must also be honored just as the Father: "that," He says, "all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."
Since the Arians think to honor the Son as a creature, it turns out that they honor the Father as a creature as well. For they either do not honor Him at all, and therefore must be ranked with the Jews, or, if they honor Him as a creature, and He must be honored as the Father is, then they are decisively convicted of honoring the Father as a creature as well.
And otherwise, judging by the addition, how do those who do not honor the Son honor the Father? For He adds: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father either," that is, who does not honor Him in the same way as the Father. If anyone says that He is a creature, the most excellent of all creatures, and thinks that such honor is falsely and vainly attributed to Him (as the Son), that person decidedly dishonors the Father who sent Him.
Jn. 5:24. Truly, truly, I say to you: he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
He said "the One who sent" so that they would not become hardened, as we said above. For He, as has been said, wonderfully combines His teaching: sometimes He gives lofty testimony about Himself, as was fitting, and sometimes humble testimony, because of the raging of the hostile Jews.
For if, after His resurrection from the dead, after His ascension into heaven, after the manifestation of His power through the apostles, Arius and Eunomius rose up against His glory and reduced Him to a creature, then what would the Jews of His own time, seeing Him walking in the flesh, eating and drinking with tax collectors and harlots as one of many, not have done if He had spoken only lofty things about Himself and had not also added what was lowly? Therefore He also adds: "He who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life."
Thus, by the fact that those who hear His words will believe in God, He calms their minds. For He did not say "whoever believes in Me," but "in Him who sent Me." Whoever believes in Him does not come to judgment, that is, to torment, but lives with eternal life, not subject to spiritual and eternal death, although he will not escape bodily and temporal death.
Jn. 5:25. Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.
Above He said that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, and He proclaimed something lofty about Himself. Lest His words be taken for pomposity and empty arrogance, He presents confirmation from deeds as well.
He says: "the hour is coming." Then, lest they think of a distant time, He says: "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son," that is, of Me, now living among you. He says this concerning the dead whom He was going to raise, namely: the son of the widow, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and Lazarus.
Jn. 5:26. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given to the Son to have life in Himself.
Then He adds also a rational proof of His words. "As," He says, "the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son to have life in Himself," so that He might give life to those who hear His voice.
Jn. 5:27. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.
And He gave Him authority not only to give life, but also to execute judgment, that is, to punish and deliver to torments.
He frequently introduces the subject of judgment in order to draw His listeners to Himself. For whoever is convinced that he will rise again and will have to give an account to Him for his transgressions will, without a doubt, hasten to Him in order to propitiate Him as his future Judge.
"Do not marvel that He is the Son of Man." Although He is the Son of Man, He is at the same time also God. Therefore He rightly has the authority of judgment as the Son of God. Although He appears to be a man, do not marvel.
It is necessary to know that Paul of Samosata, presenting the Lord as a mere man, read this passage thus: "and gave Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is a son of man." Placing a stop here, he read with a new beginning: "Marvel not at this." Such a reading is completely unreasonable. For the Father gave judgment to the Son not because He is the Son of Man, but because He is God. But he, not tolerating calling Christ God, but calling Him the Son of Man, understood it so that He is judge not as God, but as a son of man. We, however, understand it as it is stated.
Jn. 5:28. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God;
Having spoken about the partial resurrection, that is, of Lazarus and others who had died before, He now speaks about the general resurrection: "the hour is coming, when those who are in the graves shall hear the voice" of God. Here He speaks about the general resurrection.
Jn. 5:29. They shall come forth — those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
Since He said above that the believer does not come to judgment, lest we think that faith alone is sufficient for salvation, He says that "those who have done evil will rise to the resurrection of condemnation, while those who have done good will rise to the resurrection of life." Therefore, faith alone without works does not justify, but one must also have works; for only then is faith truly genuine.
Look how the teaching is tempered with fear and mercy. For the thought that those who did evil will be condemned instills fear, while the thought that those who did good will rise to life encourages with mercy.
Jn. 5:30. I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, so I judge, and My judgment is righteous; for I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me.
These words: "I can do nothing of Myself" and others like them, as was said above, point to the equality of the Son with the Father. I can do nothing new or foreign from the Father; for I have neither a will nor a power distinct from the Father's. "As I hear" from the Father, "so I judge," that is, as the Father Himself judges, so do I.
He says this, as we have often said, in order to show impartiality both in deeds, and in words, and in judgments. Lest some, seeing Him as a Man, should be scandalized — how can one who appears as a Man render righteous judgment, when, in the words of David, "every man is a liar" (Ps. 116:2) — He said beforehand: "Do not marvel at this, that I am the Son of Man." And now He says: "My judgment is righteous, because I judge as I hear from My Father, who judges." "For I seek not My own will, but the will of the Father." He who desires to establish his own will may be suspected of violating justice, but he who does not have himself in view — what motive would he have to pronounce an unrighteous judgment? And I do not seek My own will, for I do not even have a will of My own, but what the Father wills, that I also desire.
Jn. 5:31. If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true.
Here the Lord apparently contradicts Himself. For He repeatedly bore witness about Himself, for example, He said to the Samaritan woman "I am the Christ" (John 4:25–26), to the blind man (John 9:35–37), and at other times on several occasions. If this is false, then how can we hope for salvation?
But the contradiction is not limited to this alone; there is yet another, no less significant. After this (John 8:14) He says: "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true." How then can this apparent contradiction be reconciled? When He says "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true," He speaks in accordance with the understanding of the Jews. Perhaps they intended to say to Him that You bear witness of Yourself, and in testimony about oneself no one deserves to be believed. Therefore He insistently says: "I do not bear witness of Myself, for in that case, in your opinion, I would not be worthy of belief, but there is another who bears witness of Me — John." But when He says: "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true," He speaks by way of concession. Yielding to the reasoning of the Jews, He says: "Granted that I bear witness of Myself; but even if I do bear witness of Myself, My witness is true. For I, being God, am worthy of belief." Therefore the first He said insistently — that it is not I who bear witness, but the Forerunner — while the second He said by way of contrast or concession: "Even if I bear witness, My witness is true."
Jn. 5:32. There is another who bears witness about Me; and I know that the testimony with which he bears witness about Me is true.
"I," He says, "have three witnesses: John, My works, and My Father." He puts forward John first.
Jn. 5:33. You sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth.
Lest anyone say to Him that he testified about You out of flattery (to You), He says: "you yourselves sent to John." And, without a doubt, you would not have sent to ask him if you did not consider him worthy of belief. Therefore you yourselves bear witness that John was true.
Jn. 5:34. I do not receive testimony from man, but I say these things that you may be saved.
Although I, as God, have no need of human testimony — the Lord has no need of the testimony of a servant — yet since you consider him more truthful and heed him more than Me, and you resorted to him, while you do not believe in Me even in the face of miracles, therefore I remind you also of John's testimony, and I do everything, accepting even what is unworthy of My divinity, if only you might be saved.
Jn. 5:35. He was a burning and shining lamp; and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light.
He calls John a "burning lamp," because he had an earthly origin, and had his light not from himself, but from the grace of the Spirit, and "for a time"; but when the day of the Lord came, that is, His teaching, the lamp was hidden. Everything he said they accepted "for a time" and rejoiced in him, but then they forgot what he said about Me and remained in their former unbelief. For if you had once firmly believed him, he would soon have led you to faith in Me.
Jn. 5:36. But I have a greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, these very works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me.
"John," He says, "bore witness about Me — John, whom you consider more trustworthy than all others." But since some slanderers might be found who would say, "What is that to us? John was favorable to You, and therefore gave a very good testimony," He says, "You sent to John and questioned him, undoubtedly considering him truthful."
But I have also another testimony, greater than John's. The works which the Father has given Me, that is, has laid upon Me to accomplish, bear witness of Me. By "works" He means the miracles, for example, the healing of the paralytic and others. Since they accused Him for performing these on the Sabbath, and said that He is not from God because He does not keep the Sabbath, He declares to them that He does what is commanded Him by the Father, and is all the more from God in that He accomplishes the works laid upon Him by God. "The works," He says, "which the Father has given Me to accomplish." But if the Father gave them, then you, by opposing such works, are opposing God.
Jn. 5:37. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me.
"And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me." Where then did the Father testify concerning Him? Some say at the baptism, when He said: "This is My beloved Son" (Matt. 3:17). But I think it is better to understand that God testified concerning Him in all of Scripture, in the Law and the Prophets.
Jn. 5:37. And you have never heard His voice, nor seen His face;
Jn. 5:38. And you do not have His word abiding in you, because you do not believe the One whom He sent.
"You," He says, "have not heard His voice, that is, the Father's, nor have you seen His face, and He is utterly unknown to you, because you do not have His word abiding in you, that is, you do not know the Scriptures that bear witness about Me, although you think that you know them and boast that the words of God have been entrusted to you. That you do not know the Scriptures is clear from the fact that you do not believe in the One whom He sent. And just as you have not heard the voice of God, for God does not have a perceptible voice, nor have you seen His face, for He has no form or shape, so also you do not have His word in you, that is, the Scriptures that bear witness about Me."
Jn. 5:39. Search the Scriptures, for you think that in them you have eternal life; and they are the ones which testify of Me.
He told them that the word of God does not abide in them, that is, the Scriptures that testify of Me. And teaching how they can have the word of God in themselves, He says: "Search the Scriptures, for you think through them to have life." Notice, He did not say "you have," but "you think." He said "you think," declaring that they truly received no benefit from them (the Scriptures), since they expected salvation from reading alone, without applying faith.
Jn. 5:40. But you are not willing to come to Me, that you may have life.
They (the Scriptures) bear witness of Me, but you are unwilling to come to Me that you may have life. From this we learn that they were evil by choice. For He did not say "you cannot come," but "you are unwilling to come."
Let the Manicheans hear that evil does not consist in nature, but in free choice.
Jn. 5:41. I do not receive glory from men,
When He reminded them of the testimony of John, the testimony of the Father, and the testimony of His works, solely out of desire for their salvation, and meanwhile many could think that He was saying this out of love for glory, He therefore says: "I do not receive glory from men, that is, I have no need of glory, and My Nature is not such as to need glory from men."
Jn. 5:42. But I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
You persecute Me under the pretext that you love God. But this is not so, no. For I know about you that you do not have the love of God in yourselves, even though you put forward everywhere that you persecute Me out of love for God. The Jews, indeed, did not have the love of God, because they persecuted self-existent Love — the Son of God. Indeed, they did not have His word abiding in them either, for they rejected the Word and God.
Jn. 5:43. I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; but if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
"I," He says, "have come in the name of My Father." Everywhere He glorifies the Father and says that He was sent by Him and that He can do nothing of Himself, and in general expresses many humble things, wishing to cut off every pretext for not accepting Him. But another will come, that is, the antichrist, who will claim that he alone is God.
If you, then, do not receive Me, Who came in the name of the Father, that is, Who says that He was sent by the Father, you will receive him. This will happen to you because he will promise you worldly glory, which you seek, desiring to receive glory from one another and rejecting the glory that is from God alone. But I promise you nothing attractive in this life; rather, in My words you see much that is difficult.
Jn. 5:44. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and do not seek the glory that is from the Only God?
"That is why," He says, "you do not believe Me, because you do not hope to receive from Me any worldly pleasure." And in another sense: "You do not believe Me because you love glory from one another." For the rulers and teachers, desiring themselves only to be in glory among the people, do not accept Me, lest their glory be diminished. And the people, seeking favor from the rulers, do not wish to turn to Me, lest on account of Me they lose honor with the rulers.
Jn. 5:45. Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father: there is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you have placed your hope.
Since they constantly appealed to Moses, the Lord says that he will accuse you, because he wrote about Me. Where did he write about Him? In many places. Thus the saying "The Lord will raise up a Prophet for you" referred to Christ, and many other things, partly in words, partly in signs and symbols. For example, the miracle of the bush (Exod. 3:2). Here the fire signified the Divinity, and the thornbush signified the sinful nature, which the fire of Divinity assumed and yet preserved unburnt, illuminating it with light and endowing it with His radiance, but not taking on its defects.
This saying of Moses contributed very greatly to faith in Christ. "If," he says, "a prophet arises who works miracles and leads away from God, do not believe him: he is the antichrist. But if a Prophet arises who works miracles and leads to God and the Father, especially not leading away from Him, believe Him." (Deut. 13:1–3) Thus, Christ, who came in the name of the Father, who worked miracles and did not lead them (the Jews) away from piety, was the very One about whom Moses prophesied.
Jn. 5:46. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed Me, because he wrote about Me.
Jn. 5:47. If you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?
If you do not believe the writings of Moses, how will you believe My words? "He," He says, "wrote, and the Bible is always before your eyes, so that even if you had forgotten, you can easily recall it, and yet you do not believe what is written — how then will you believe My unwritten words?"
Why then do You say this, Lord, when You know that they will not believe? "Although," He says, "I know that they will not listen, nevertheless I speak, so that they may not afterward claim, 'We would have believed, if You had told us.'"
And in another sense: His ungrateful contemporaries did not believe; but it would have been unjust to deprive of the benefit of Christ's words those who would come to believe in the course of time.