John 5

Notes

Ver. 17-23. As my Father, who instituted the Sabbath, continually performs his providential works on that as well as on other days, so I, who am his only begotten Son, partaking of the same nature and perfections, must be allowed to work along with him, as is meet.—My union with him, in nature, operation, and design, is such, that I can do nothing separately from him, but do always act in the same work, and in the same manner, and with the same divine power and authority as he does. And such is our union, will, and affection, that nothing of his counsels or operations is ever hid from me: yea, in co-operation with him, I will perform works still greater than the healing a lame man, that, if you will continue obstinate in your unbelief, ye may at least be astonished and confounded thereat. And as he at pleasure can restore the dead to life, so I, with equal power, can not only restore to natural life whoever I please, but bestow upon all who will receive me as their Saviour eternal life, and give them power to resist evil. For the Father hath not reserved for himself, nor doth he exercise immediately by himself, the management of the present concerns of providence, or the future judgment of the world, but has intrusted the same to his incarnate Son; that, instead of being offended at his deep humiliation, men might be induced, by his bearing and executing this high commission, to pay the same religious worship and obedience to him as they are obliged to pay to the Father himself: and whoever neglects to honour him in this manner, is held a neglecter of the honour of the Father, who has authorized and is represented by him.

Ver. 24-30. I, who am truth itself, solemnly assure you, that whosoever heartily receives my doctrine, relative to my person and office, and believes on my Father, who has constituted me Mediator, has a full title to, and the beginnings and earnests of, eternal life, and is completely translated from under the curse and condemnation of the law into a state of justification of life: and that the time is at hand when not only some, corporally dead, shall be restored to life by my word, but even they who are dead in trespasses and sins, will be regenerated and quickened to the obedience of faith, and live for ever: for as the Father has life essentially and necessarily in himself, and communicates life to every living creature, so he has constituted me, his essentially living Son, a quickening Spirit, full of life in myself as Mediator, and authorized me to communicate it to others. Nor need you think it strange that I say dead bodies and souls shall quickly be enlivened by my power; for, at the last day, the whole race of mankind shall by it be raised from the dead, and brought to my judgment-seat. The true saints, quickened by my Spirit dwelling in them, shall be adjudged to the full enjoyment of everlasting life; and they who died in their sins, raised by my power, shall receive a dreadful sentence of condemnation, to their utter and everlasting ruin.—But in all these things I neither do, nor can do, anything separately from my Father; for in all my administrations I proceed as one perfectly acquainted with his mind, and as his Messiah, instructed by him; and my whole management must necessarily be perfectly right, because I therein neither aim at nor pursue any private will of my own, different from, or opposite to, the will of my Father, but exactly discharge the commission which he hath given me in sending me into the world.

Ver. 31-39. But I do not rest the matter upon my own mere testimony, as if that alone were sufficient: I appeal to that solemn testimony which John bare concerning me, and which ye cannot object against, since ye acknowledged him an eminent prophet, submitted to his baptism, and, for a time, appeared extremely fond of his instructions, till he offended you by his sharp reproofs and his attestations of my Messiahship. I mention his testimony, not as if it could establish my divine or mediatorial character, but only that I may reason with you upon your own principles, and omit nothing which may tend to your conviction and salvation.—For the miraculous and gracious works which I have performed, or will perform by my own power, are so great and good, as plainly to manifest me the Son of God and the promised Messiah. And the Father himself, in a manner which none of your nation ever before heard or saw, has, by a voice from heaven, attested me as his 'beloved Son, in whom he is well pleased. But it is evident, by your continued rejection of me, that neither his immediate declaration, nor the words of his prophets, make any lasting impression on you.—As ye profess to read and study the books of the Old Testament, as containing the true doctrine of eternal life, and as a mean of securing your eternal happiness, I charge you still more earnestly and impartially to search them, and observe what they teach: for they, in their types, promises, and prophecies, and the Holy Ghost by them, concur to represent me as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world.

Ver. 40-47. But notwithstanding all this evidence, such is your pride, prejudice, carnality, and wilful obstinacy, that you will not apply to nor trust in me for pardon, peace, life, and salvation, in whom alone they are to be found. I neither need, have, nor seek human applause or external pomp and grandeur, but only aim at advancing the glory of God in the salvation of men. But I know that, notwithstanding all your high professions, ye are quite destitute of the love of God, and have the love of the world reigning in your heart. Hence, when I am come, authorized by Jehovah, and sufficiently attested to glorify him, to effect a spiritual salvation from sin and wrath, ye reject me, because I oppose your darling vices, and give you no ground to expect worldly riches, honour, power, or pleasures. But if any mere impostors should flatter you in your sins, and promise you temporal deliverances, wealth, and grandeur, ye will readily entertain and follow them, to your own destruction.—And, indeed, while your hearts are so full of carnal ambition of worldly honours and applause, and so regardless of the spiritual, substantial, and eternal honours which God alone bestows on his people, it is impossible that ye can believe on me, whose appearances are so mean and doctrines so self-denying. But though I charge home your faults upon you for your conviction, I came not to spy out, aggravate, or accuse you of your crimes to God, but to be a merciful Saviour and Advocate. Nor need I turn your accuser, when Moses, by whose law ye expect to be saved, by his writings sufficiently indicts and condemns you for your unbelief and other wickedness: and had ye believed his declarations, ye could not but have believed me, as all the types in his law, and the prophecies recorded by him, evidently point to and are fulfilled in me. But if ye will not be convinced by what he, for whom you profess so high a regard, hath said, it cannot be expected that ye will believe me, whom ye treat with contempt, and run down as an impostor.

Ver. 4. An angel. Some imagine 'a messenger from the Sanhedrim;' and many ascribe the sanative power of the water to natural mineral qualities. But a messenger from the Sanhedrim could have performed no miracle, and as the first stepping in after the troubling of the water was the person healed, the whole matter was a standing, but occasional, miracle, which God, for wise purposes, had been pleased to continue as a witness to an unworthy generation. C.

Ver. 14. Sin no more. Our Lord seems, in this admonition, to refer to some youthful sins of this old man, by which his disease had been induced; and as the man was evidently friendless, ver. 7, and most probably a stranger—so that our Lord could know nothing of his history—in this reference he gives him an evidence of supernatural knowledge as well as power.—Note, As 'the wages of sin is death,' so are diseases the earnest of the payment. That sometimes they are punishments is obvious to the senses, as in the case of intemperance; at other times they are admonitions to watch, pray, and be ready; at other times they are exercises of faith, producing more fruitfulness in the sufferers; and other times they are examples of patience, whereby God is glorified, his children and saints strengthened, and sinners induced to pray that they might 'die the death of the righteous.' C.

Ver. 18. Because he said that God was his Father, πατέρα ἴδιον, his own (personal) Father. The whole Jewish nation considered God their Father. They must, therefore, have understood our Lord in a very different and infinitely higher sense. C.

Ver. 19. The Son doeth nothing of himself. No person in the Godhead acts independently of the other. 'These things doth the Son;' not such things, but 'the same things'—acting in perfect union of nature and consent of will with the Father. C.

Ver. 23. This perfect equality, nay identity, of 'honour' between the Father and the Son not only proves the Godhead of the Son, but, from the strong declaration of our Lord, both positively and negatively expressed, may be gathered the heinousness of the infidelity that denies his Godhead, involving practical atheism, inasmuch as it makes the Father a liar in the testimony he has so abundantly and frequently given to his Son, 1 Jn. 5.10. C.

Ver. 25. It is evident, since 'the hour now is,' that 'the dead' to whom our Lord here refers are 'the dead in trespasses and sins,' Ep. 2.1, whom he 'quickens' into the life of faith by his Word and Spirit. C.

Ver. 26. Given. The Godhead of the Word, of the Son of God, is eternal, and therefore underived; but everything possessed by Jesus, as the Christ, is 'given' from the Father, whose 'Servant' he became by the incarnation, Phi. 2.6-11; Heb. 10.7-10; Ga. 4.4. C.

Ver. 37. Ye have neither heard his voice, &c. That the whole people of the Jews heard the 'voice' of God at Sinai—that they saw his 'shape,' rather the visible representation of his presence, in the Shekinah, is recorded by Moses—and also that many of them heard the voice of God at our Lord's baptism, is declared by Matthew.—May not the apparent contradiction, however, be fully removed by taking the word 'heard,' as it often is, to mean hearing, 'in attending, believing, and obeying.' See Ex. 6.12; De. 30.17; Is. 30.9; 55.3; Je. 11.10; Eze. 3.27; 33.31; Mat. 10.14; 18.17; Jn. 9.27; Lu. 18.21; 1 Co. 14.21; Ga. 4.21; Re. 1.3. The word 'seen' being likewise taken to signify, as it often does, to 'discern, discover, and acknowledge'—is a literal statement of fact;—for when the Jews 'saw' Jesus, they neither discerned, discovered, nor acknowledged any 'form, or comeliness, or beauty, that they should desire him,' Is. 44.9; 53.2; Je. 5.21; Mat. 13.13; Jn. 3.3; 12.40; Ro. 7.23; 11.8. C.

Reflections.—It is a great mercy that our world is not altogether filled with persons diseased, since sin hath introduced such a variety of evils. Marvellous, as well as numerous, were the types by which God prefigured his Messiah. And who, sensible of spiritual distempers, would not gladly wait at the pool of ordinances for relief! Jesus graciously prevents the most needy and miserable with his mercy: and his word powerfully convicts and enables to obedience. And yet much weakness and ignorance sometimes remain for a while. It is wonderful that his kindness should have occasioned to him such malicious hatred and envy. And marvellous is his wisdom, that this abuse of him should be the mean of a more clear manifestation of himself, as the Son of God and promised Messiah. How sufficient is he to save sinners who is both God and man; one with, and equal to, God; knowing, willing, and performing the same things as Jehovah his Father! Even in his mediatorial character he is the absolute Lord of life and death, who manages all providences, quickens the dead, examines all causes, and distributes eternal happiness according to men's deeds. Faithfully he executes his office, to the glory of God and the salvation of men. And worthy is he to be honoured and worshipped equally with the Father, that God may be glorified and worshipped in him. What ground is there for the most undoubting confidence in him who hath such attestation from prophets, from miracles, from God himself!—And it becomes us seriously to search the Scriptures, where every saving truth concerning him is to be found.—But, alas! fearful are the effects of ignorance, pride, and carnal ambition. No clear and earnest ministrations of truth can affect such as are under the power of these things.—Owning the authority of the Scriptures, they neither understand, believe, nor practise them. Pretending regard to Jesus, they will never receive him for salvation, and yet are ready to run after the vilest impostors.—It is the highest folly to lean to the broken law for happiness, when it so charges us with our sins: and greatly absurd to prefer men to Christ, and yet disregard even these our human favourites, when they instruct us concerning Christ.