John 5:1-24

The Third Sign: Healing the Sick

1 After this, a Jewish festival took place, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 By the Sheep Gate in Jerusalem there is a pool, called Bethesda^[a] in Hebrew, which has five colonnades.^[b]

3 Within these lay a multitude of the sick-blind, lame, and paralyzed [-waiting for the moving of the water,

4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who got in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had].^[c]

5 One man was there who had been sick for 38 years.

6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had already been there a long time, He said to him, "Do you want to get well?"

7 "Sir," the sick man answered, "I don't have a man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, someone goes down ahead of me."

8 "Get up," Jesus told him, "pick up your bedroll and walk!"

9 Instantly the man got well, picked up his bedroll, and started to walk. Now that day was the Sabbath,

10 so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "This is the Sabbath! It's illegal for you to pick up your bedroll."

11 He replied, "The man who made me well told me, 'Pick up your bedroll and walk.' "

12 "Who is this man who told you, 'Pick up [your bedroll] and walk?' " they asked.

13 But the man who was cured did not know who it was, because Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.^[d]

14 After this, Jesus found him in the temple complex and said to him, "See, you are well. Do not sin any more, so that something worse doesn't happen to you."

15 The man went and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

Honoring the Father and the Son

16 Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus^[e] because He was doing these things on the Sabbath.

17 But Jesus responded to them, "My Father is still working, and I am working also."

18 This is why the Jews began trying 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 Then Jesus replied, "I assure you: The Son is not able to do anything on His own, but only what He sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ^[f] does, the Son also does these things in the same way.

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He is doing, and He will show Him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.

21 And just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to anyone He wants to.

22 The Father, in fact, judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,

23 so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Life and Judgment

24 "I assure you: Anyone who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.

John 5:1-24 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Other mss read Bethzatha; other mss read Bethsaida
• [b]. Rows of columns supporting a roof
• [c]. Other mss omit bracketed text
• [d]. Lit slipped away, there being a crowd in that place
• [e]. Other mss add and trying to kill Him
• [f]. Lit whatever that One