John 5:1-42

The Healing at the Pool

1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals.

2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^[a] and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades.

3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed.^[b]

5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”

7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”

9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

10 and so the Jewish leaders said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.”

11 But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ”

12 So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?”

13 The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

14 Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

15 The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had made him well.

The Authority of the Son

16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him.

17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.”

18 For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,

23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.

25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.

26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice

29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.

Testimonies About Jesus

31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true.

32 There is another who testifies in my favor, and I know that his testimony about me is true.

33 “You have sent to John and he has testified to the truth.

34 Not that I accept human testimony; but I mention it that you may be saved.

35 John was a lamp that burned and gave light, and you chose for a time to enjoy his light.

36 “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to finish—the very works that I am doing—testify that the Father has sent me.

37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

38 nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent.

39 You study^[c] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me,

40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

41 “I do not accept glory from human beings,

42 but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts.

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John 5:1-42 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO 1 JOHN 5

In this chapter the apostle treats of the nature of faith and love; of Christ the object of both, and of the witness that is bore to him; of the necessity of believing the testimony concerning him; of the confidence of prayer being heard, and concerning whom it should be made; of the happiness of regenerate persons, and of their duty to keep themselves from idols. Faith in Christ is the evidence of regeneration, and where that is, there will be love to the author of regeneration, and to them that are regenerated; and love to them is known by love to God, and keeping his commandments; and keeping the commandments of God, and which are not grievous, is a proof of love to God, 1Jo 5:1-3; and whereas every regenerate man overcomes the world, it is by his faith, the evidence of his regeneration, that this victory is obtained; nor can any other man be pointed out that overcomes the world, but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God, 1Jo 5:4,5; and Christ, the Son of God, the object of this victorious faith, is described by his coming by water and blood, of which the spirit is witness, who is a true one; and six witnesses of the truth of this and his divine sonship are produced, three in heaven, the Father, Word, and Spirit, who are the one God, and three on earth, the Spirit, water, and blood, who agree in their testimony, 1Jo 5:6-8; wherefore this testimony concerning the Son of God ought to be received, since it is the testimony of God, which is greater than that of men; besides, he that believes in Christ has a witness of this in himself, and honours God, whereas he that believes not makes God a liar, not giving credit to his record concerning his Son; the sum of which is, that God has made a grant of eternal life to some persons, which is in his Son, which those that believe in the Son of God have, but those that do not believe in him have it not: all which show the necessity of receiving the above testimony; and the ends proposed in writing these things were, to believe in Christ, and that it might be known they had eternal life in him, 1Jo 5:9-13, and from faith in Christ the apostle passes to confidence in prayer, as a particular effect and fruit of it: as, that whatever is asked according to the will of God is heard; and that such who are satisfied of this, that they are heard, may be assured that they have the petitions they desire to have, 1Jo 5:14,15, and whereas it is one branch of prayer to pray for others as well as for ourselves, the apostle directs who we should pray for; for the brethren in general, and in particular for such who have sinned, but not unto death, and life shall be given to such: but as for those who have sinned unto death, he does not say prayer should be made for them, for though all unrighteousness in general is sin, yet there is a particular sin which is unto death, and is not to be prayed for, 1Jo 5:16,17; but happy are those who are born of God, for they do not sin this sin; and through the use of the armour of God, and the power of divine grace, they keep themselves from the evil one, and he cannot come at them, to draw them into this sin; also they know that they are of God, and are distinguished from the world, which lies in wickedness; yea, they know that the Son of God is come in the flesh, and hath given them an understanding of the true God, by which they know that they are in him, and in his Son Jesus Christ, who is with him, and the divine Spirit, the one true God, and the author and giver of eternal life, 1Jo 5:18-20; and the chapter, and with it the epistle, is concluded with an exhortation to these regenerate ones, as they had kept themselves from Satan, that they would also keep themselves from idols of all sorts, 1Jo 5:21.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

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Cross References 51

1. Nehemiah 3:1; Nehemiah 12:39
2. Jn 19:13,17,20; John 20:16; Acts 21:40; Acts 22:2; Acts 26:14
3. Matthew 9:5,6; Mark 2:11; Luke 5:24
4. Matthew 12:1-14; John 9:14
5. ver 16
6. Nehemiah 13:15-22; Jeremiah 17:21; S Matthew 12:2
7. Mark 2:5; John 8:11
8. S John 1:19
9. Luke 2:49
10. John 9:4; John 14:10
11. S Matthew 12:14; John 7:1
12. John 10:30,33; John 19:7
13. ver 30; S John 14:24; John 8:28
14. John 3:35
15. John 14:12
16. Romans 4:17; Romans 8:11; 2 Corinthians 1:9; Hebrews 11:19
17. John 11:25
18. ver 27; Genesis 18:25; Judges 11:27; John 9:39; S Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31
19. Luke 10:16; S 1 John 2:23
20. S Matthew 10:40; S John 3:15; S John 3:17
21. S Matthew 25:46
22. John 3:18
23. 1 John 3:14
24. John 4:23; John 16:32
25. John 8:43,47
26. Deuteronomy 30:20; Job 10:12; Job 33:4; Psalms 36:9; S John 1:4
27. S ver 22; Acts 10:42; Acts 17:31
28. John 4:21; John 16:2
29. Daniel 12:2; S Matthew 25:46
30. ver 19
31. Isaiah 28:6; John 8:16
32. S Matthew 26:39; John 4:34; John 6:38
33. John 8:14
34. ver 37; John 8:18
35. S John 1:7
36. 1 John 5:9
37. Acts 16:30,31; Ephesians 2:8; Titus 3:5
38. Daniel 12:3; 2 Peter 1:19
39. 1 John 5:9
40. John 14:11; John 15:24
41. S John 3:17; John 10:25
42. John 8:18
43. Deuteronomy 4:12; 1 Timothy 1:17; S John 1:18
44. 1 John 1:10; 1 John 2:14
45. Isaiah 26:10
46. S John 3:17
47. Romans 2:17,18
48. S Matthew 25:46
49. S Luke 24:27,44; Acts 13:27
50. John 6:44
51. ver 44

Footnotes 3

[a]. Some manuscripts "Bethzatha" ; other manuscripts "Bethsaida"
[b]. Some manuscripts include here, wholly or in part, "paralyzed—and they waited for the moving of the waters." 4"From time to time an angel of the Lord would come down and stir up the waters. The first one into the pool after each such disturbance would be cured of whatever disease they had."
[c]. Or 39"Study"