John 5:46

For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

How strange that those leaders, thinking so strongly that they had eternal life through Moses, were actually unbelievers of the writings of the great lawgiver. Such is the deceptiveness of sin, that persons who truly imagine themselves to be believers are in fact no such thing! It is possible that Christ had in mind here the great prophecies of Genesis 3:15 and Deuteronomy 18:15-19; but there were many prophecies in "Moses," a word signifying the entire Pentateuch, regarding Christ. As Hovey said: "This is a perfectly clear testimony on the part of Christ to a Messianic element in the Pentateuch, as well as to the Mosaic authorship of the same."[16]

The significance of the testimony of Christ here is great. God is the author of the Old Testament, no less than of the New Testament; and there is no way by which a true believer in Christ can avoid full acceptance of God's word as revealed in the Old Testament. It is true now, as it was then, that if men will not believe Moses, they will not believe Christ either.

CONCERNING THIS DISCOURSE

Jesus' words here addressed to his enemies are among the most profound and instructive in holy writ. There is a perfection of detail, a perfect fitting together of diverse and complicated elements, a subtle and far-reaching connection with all that came afterward in John, a relevance to the situation wherein the words were spoken, and such an amazing applicability of every word to the problem confronted, and such an overpowering logic and unity of the whole passage, that any notion of such a passage's having been produced by an impostor is absolutely untenable.

Philip Schaff said of this passage:

This discourse is truly wonderful for depth and simplicity and boldness. As uttered by the holy Son, it must have astounded "the Jews," holding them spellbound with awe. It is so characteristic, grand, pointed, and telling, that the idea of an invention is preposterous.[17]

Likewise, Godet wrote:

The principal theme is exactly pertinent to the occasion. The secondary ideas subordinate themselves logically to this theme. Not a detail is inconsistent with the whole; and the application is solemn and impressive, as it ought to be, in such a situation. It stamps the whole discourse with the seal of reality.[18]

After such a presentation of the truth to Jesus' enemies, one may only marvel that hardened men could have continued in their rejection of the Holy Saviour and have gone forward with their plans to murder him (John 5:18).

In this chapter, there is a subtle but magnificent progression toward the climax of raising Lazarus from the dead. It is revealed herein that Christ had in mind to do "greater things" than healing the invalid (John 5:30), a clear prediction of raising the dead. Jesus declared the fact of his having life in himself, spoke of himself as the source and authority of the spiritual resurrection, and flatly announced himself as the causative force of the final resurrection of all the dead. And, in all of this magnificent progression beginning with the healing of the invalid, and then moving steadily and logically from that event: (1) to the promise of "greater works," (2) to the promise that his foes would marvel at it, (3) to the teaching of a great spiritual resurrection, (4) and to the announcement of himself as having authority and power over the final resurrection and judgment of the last day - in all of these things, there is a dramatic and constant movement toward the tomb of Lazarus and the event af Jesus' raising him from the dead, and of which event this chapter is a necessary prelude.

Allegations to the effect that there is no progression in John are grounded in a lack of perception.

[16] Ibid., p. 144.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Ibid.