1. Like our Savior we should seek out objects who need our help. There are the needy all around us. We cannot excuse ourselves because we do not see them. We should hunt them up.
2. Christ is the great Healer. He can heal us of the diseases that paralyze our souls. In order that he may heal us we must (1) Listen to him; (2) Believe in his words; (3) Obey him. Whatever he bids us do must be done.
3. Sin is pregnant with evil. Our calamities are almost all born of our own sins. Those who live debauched lives destroy their bodies. Most of those who live in constant bodily affliction can trace the origin of the trouble to their own acts. Sin will curse in this life and curse in the life to come. Jesus will save from the eternal curse of their sins all who come to him.
4. A law may be kept in the letter and yet violated in the spirit. Outward forms alone cannot serve God. A bondage to frivolous forms cannot enable us to keep the Lord's day right. There must be the free spirit that seeks in all things to glorify God and bless man.
5. As Christ followed in the footsteps of the Father, so we must follow Christ. "It is lawful to do good" on the Lord's day. Works of mercy and love are pleasing in the sight of God. We may relieve suffering, journey to worship, or bear burdens that will free us from cares that keep us from divine worship. It is better to ride on the street cars in order to attend church, than to break the Savior's law by staying away.
6. Why did Jesus choose the Sabbath day to walk in the porches of Bethesda? He chose that day, and he selected that man, and he laid on him the command he did, for the very purpose of bringing himself front to front with the Jewish rulers. To this miracle we are indebted for one of the most wonderful discourses of the Savior.
7. According to rabbinical authorities it was forbidden to travel more than two thousand cubits on the Sabbath, to kill the most offensive kinds of vermin, to write two letters of the alphabet, to use a wooden leg or a crutch, to carry a purse, or for a woman to carry a seal-ring or a smelling-bottle, to wear a high head-dress or a false tooth. Among other restraints laid upon animals, the fat-tailed sheep was not allowed to use the little truck on which the tail was borne to save the animal from suffering. These are a portion of thirty-nine prohibitions of the same kind.--Canon Cook.
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19. Then answered Jesus. To their charge that he was guilty of blasphemy in making himself equal with God. In his answer he abates nothing from the high claims he has just made, but he meets their thoughts and purposes by a justification. The Son can do nothing of himself. He asserts his Sonship, but shows that the power of the Son comes from the Father. Perfect Sonship involves perfect identity of will and action, and hence, "Whatsoever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son." (Joh 5:20)
20. He will show him greater works than these. The miracle of healing that has just occurred shall be followed by greater works which, on account of the love of the Father, the Son will be permitted to do. (Joh 5:21)
21. So the Son quickeneth whom he will. The Father is the fountain of life, and can restore life to the dead. The Son possesses the same power and will show it forth. (Joh 5:22)
22. Hath committed all judgment to the Son. In the 20th, 21st and 22d verses are given three proofs of the exaltation of the Son, all introduced by "for." The Son is loved of the Father, shall quicken the dead, and shall judge the world. (Joh 5:23)
23. He that honoreth not the Son, honoreth not the Father. Because the Son speaks the words, does the works, and is the manifestation of the Father. (Joh 5:24)
24. Hath everlasting life. The conditions of eternal life are (1) knowledge of the revelation of the Son; (2) a belief of it such as to cause its acceptance.
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25. The dead shall hear the voice . . . and live. Primarily the reference is to those spiritually dead. They shall hear and the Son will give them eternal life. It was already true that these heard his words and were made alive. It shall also be true of those in the graves at the resurrection (verse 28). The power of Christ to give life was shown in Jerusalem a little later in the case of Lazarus. (Joh 5:26) (Joh 5:27)
26, 27. Son of man. These verses affirm that God has not only given to the Son to have life in himself, or to be a fountain of life, but has also made him, the judge of mankind, because he is the Son of man, a judge who can share the nature of those called to judgment. (Joh 5:28)
28. Marvel not at this. What marvel that the Son should give spiritual life to those dead in sins and sit as Judge, when even those in their graves shall come forth at his command? He who had power to rescue Lazarus from the grave, surely has the power to give life to the soul and to confer immortality. (Joh 5:29)
29. And shall come forth. At the general resurrection all shall come forth from the tomb; those who have wrought good to life eternal; the evil doers to damnation. It is clear from this passage that there is a judgment beyond the grave. (Joh 5:30)
30. As I hear, I judge. The judgment of the Son is based on a perfect knowledge of the will of the Father. It is the Father's will that moves him, his own will being merged in the will of the Father. (Joh 5:31)
31. If I bear witness of myself. I is the emphatic word and is equivalent to "I only." He' cites other witnesses that these Jews ought to heed. (Joh 5:32)
32. There is another that beareth witness of me. I believe the reference is to the Father, referred to again in verse 37. I think that verse 34 shows that he does not mean John.
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33, 34, 35. Ye sent unto John and he bare witness. See Chap. 1:19. John had borne positive testimony and the Jews, in great part, believed him to be a prophet of God. Jesus did not receive human testimony, but referred them to John's witness that "they might be saved." (Joh 5:36)
36. I have greater witness. His works. Christ's life and deeds were a proof that the Jews could not answer. See Chap. 3:2. (Joh 5:37)
37. And the Father himself . . . hath borne witness. God hath borne witness in the prophecies that were so wonderfully fulfilled in Christ, he also bore witness in the power he gave to Christ, and he bore witness by his voice at his baptism, and after this date, at the transfiguration, though these Jews had neither seen nor heard. (Joh 5:38)
38. Ye have not his word abiding in you. The proof of it was that they did not believe the one whom God had sent, though the word bore continual witness to him. (Joh 5:39)
39. Search the Scriptures. Or rather, "ye search the Scriptures" for eternal life. Yet those Scriptures were full of the testimony of Christ. Of him had all the prophets borne witness. He of whom the Scriptures spoke was the Life, yet they refused to come to him that they (Joh 5:40)
40. Might have life. They turned away from the life that was in their own Scriptures. The word search implies painstaking, exhaustive examination. (Joh 5:41)
41. I receive not honor from men. This seems to connect itself with a thought which he detected in their hearts that he had rebuked them from disappointment. (Joh 5:42) (Joh 5:43)
42, 43. I know you. He read their hearts. The love of God. Love of God is
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44. How can ye believe? They sought human glory and elevation, and hence could not be of the contrite and lowly spirit needful for belief. (Joh 5:45)
45. Do you think that I will accuse you? Moses will be their accuser. They had failed to keep the spirit of the law, or to accept his testimony. (Joh 5:46) (Joh 5:47)
46, 47. Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me. Moses recorded various prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ, and all the types, shadows and symbols pointed to him. Had they believed Moses they ought to have accepted Christ. The reader should note the reverence with which Christ always alludes to the writings of Moses. The fault that he charges upon the Jews is not that they reverence Moses too highly, but that they disregard his sayings. There is not the slightest intimation that he regarded the Pentateuch aught else but the genuine composition of Moses. Those critics of our times, who profess a profound reverence for the authority of Christ, but insist that the books assigned to Moses are frauds of a later age than his time, should learn a lesson from the example of Christ.