1Some ancient authorities omitand kneeling down to him.
2Or,sternly.
3Gr.word.
4Gr.he.
5Or,the city.
1Gr.Child.
2Many ancient authorities readseeing.
3Or,authority.
4Or,at home.
5Many ancient authorities readbring him unto him.
6Gr.that he should heal. Many ancient authorities readthatheshould heal them.
7Or,Why.
aNote the parenthetic explanation of the writers in the middle of the saying of Jesus. It is proof that each of the Gospels had the same written source here or rather, as we know otherwise, that Matthew and Luke had Mark before them.
Capernaum
Capernaum
1Gr.reclined:and so always.
2Or,Teacher.
3Gr.strong.
4That is,collectors or renters of Roman taxes:and so elsewhere.
5Some ancient authorities readand the Pharisees.
6Or, How is itthat he eateth ... sinners?
7Some ancient authorities omitand drinketh.
8Or,the Pharisees and the scribes among them.
aHos. 6:6.
1Some ancient authorities omitoft.
2That is,skins used as bottles.
3Many ancient authorities readbetter.
aIt was probably the presence of the disciples of Christ at Matthew's feast on one of the Jewish fast days that occasioned the complaint of John's disciples and the Pharisees. It is sad to see disciples of John aligned with the Pharisees against Jesus.
bNote the use of the term parable in Luke. There are three parables (the sons of the bride-chamber, the new patch on an old garment, the new wine in old wine-skins) here together. A few isolated ones have already occurred as inJohn 2:19.
In sections 49 to 51 we see the Pharisees attacking Jesus both in Jerusalem and in Galilee with great hostility and with the purpose of killing him because of violation of the Pharisaic regulations about the Sabbath. Jesus defends himself and his disciples by various arguments and personal claims.
John 5:1-47
John 5:1-47
1After these things there was1a feastaof the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.b
2Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheepgatea pool, which is called in Hebrew2Bethesda, having five porches.3In these lay a multitude of them that were sick, blind, halt, withered3.5And a certain man was there, which had been thirty and eight years in his infirmity.6When Jesus saw him lying, and knew that he had been now a long timein that case,he saith unto him, Wouldst thou be made whole?7The sick man answered him,4Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.8Jesus saith unto him, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.9And straightway the man was made whole, and took up his bed and walked.
Now it was the sabbath on that day.10So the Jews said unto him that was cured, It is the sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed [see Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14].11But he answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.12They asked him, Who is the man that said unto thee, Take upthy bed,and walk?13But he that was healed wist not who it was: for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place.14Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee.15The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole.16And for this cause did the Jews persecute Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath.17But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work.18For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
19Jesus therefore answered and said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.20For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that ye may marvel.21For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son also quickeneth whom he will.22For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgement unto the Son;23that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which sent him.24Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgement, but hath passed out of death into life.25Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.26For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself:27and he gave him authority to execute judgement, because he is5the Son of man.28Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice,29and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have6done ill, unto the resurrection of judgement.
30I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgement is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.31If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.32It is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.33Ye have sent unto John, and he hath borne witness unto the truth.34But the witness which I receive is not from man: howbeit I say these things, that ye may be saved.35He was the lamp that burneth and shineth: and ye were willing to rejoice for a season in his light.36But the witness which I have is greater thanthat ofJohn: for the works which the Father hath given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.37And the Father which sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.38And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not.397Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;40and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.41I receive not glory from men.42But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves.43I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.44How can ye believe, which receive glory one of another, and the glory thatcomethfrom8the only God ye seek not?45Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you,evenMoses, on whom ye have set your hope.46For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.47But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?c
1Many ancient authorities readthe feast.
2Some ancient authorities readBethsaida,othersBethzatha.
3Many ancient authorities insert, wholly or in part,waiting for the moving of the water: 4 for an angel of the Lord went down at certain seasons into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole, with whatsoever disease he was holden.
4Or,Lord.
5Or,a son of man.
6Or,practised.
7Or,Search the scriptures.
8Some ancient authorities readthe only one.
aThis feast of John 5:1 wasmost probablya Passover (see note at end of volume,note 7). If so, we should know that our Lord's public ministry lasted three years and a fraction, and that the great ministry in Galilee lasted some 18 to 20 months. Otherwise, we should know of only two years and a fraction for the former, and 6 to 8 months for the latter; as John gives three passovers beyond question (John 2:13;6:4;12:1), and our Lord's ministry began some time before the first of these. If the feast of 5:1 was not a passover, it is quite impossible to determine what other feast it was. While one would be glad to settle these questions, if it were possible, yet it really does not matter as regards understanding our Lord'srecordedhistory and teachings during the great ministry in Galilee, the only point of difference being that if this feast was a Passover (or if there is an unmentioned Passover) we should conceive of the three journeys about Galilee as occupying a longer time, and including more extensiveunrecordedlabors in preaching and healing.
bIt is to be noted that John's Gospel gives the Jerusalem Ministry of Jesus almost entirely except Galilee inch. 2, Samaria and Galilee inch. 4, Galilee inch. 6and again inch. 21. It seems clear that John wrote with full knowledge of the Synoptic Gospels and supplements them at certain points. Both Luke and John were thus critics of the Gospel records.
cObserve that here more than a year before the crucifixion, and probably two years (i.e.if the feast of 5:1 was a passover or if an unnamed passover is granted), the hostility of the Jewsat Jerusalem(comp.John 4:1) has reached the point of a desire to kill him, as a sabbath breaker and a blasphemer (5:16-18). So we shall find him staying away from Jerusalem at the passover ofJohn 6:4, and until the Tabernacles six months before the crucifixion (John 7:1-10). Meantime, the hostility will go on increasing in other parts of the country (Mark 3:6, etc.).—Notice also that in this discourse at Jerusalem our Lord repeatedly declares himself in a high sense the Son of God, and the appointed judge of mankind (ver. 27), and says that Moses wrote concerning him (ver. 46). All this indicated that he was the Messiah, but he did not here expressly assert it as he did in Samaria (John 4:26). That would have precipitated the collision, for to claim to be the Messiah would in the view of the Jewish rulers involvepoliticalconsequences. Comp.John 11:48.
Probably in Galilee on the Way Back from Jerusalema
Probably in Galilee on the Way Back from Jerusalema
1Some ancient authorities readthey did eat.
2Gr.a greater thing.
3Gr.began to maketheirway plucking.
4Some ancient authorities readin the days of Abiathar the high priest.
5Many ancient authorities insertsecond-first.
aBecause inMark 3:7Jesus withdraws to the Sea of Galilee.
bNote the five arguments made by Jesus in defence of the conduct of the disciples on the Sabbath (the historical appeal in the conduct of David, the appeal to the law about the temple service, the voice of prophecy, the purpose of God in the Sabbath, and the lordship of the Messiah over the Sabbath). Jesus had already (John 5:17) argued that he was equal to the Father and hence had the right to do certain things (acts of mercy) on the Sabbath.
In Galilee
In Galilee
1Gr.Arise into the midst.
2Or,foolishness.
aOn three other later occasions controversies arise with the Pharisees concerning Sabbath observance (John 9:1-34;Luke 13:10-21;14:1-24). In John7:20-24Jesus refers to the miracle inJohn 5and adds another argument (circumcision on the Sabbath) for his conduct on the Sabbath.
bHere at some point near the sea of Galilee, there is already a plot to kill him, as some had wished to do in Jerusalem (comp. on§ 49).