John 5

Chapter 4 of the Gospel of John ends with the healing of a nobleman's son at Cana in Galilee. In chapter 5 the setting shifts back to Jerusalem. Here the Jews' hostility toward Jesus, sparked by the question of the Sabbath, comes fully into the open.

Outline

• Verses 1–9: Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. At the Pool of Bethesda by the Sheep Gate, he says to a man who had been ill for thirty-eight years, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," and the man is healed at once. That day was the Sabbath.
• Verses 10–16: The Jews object that the man carried his bed on the Sabbath. Jesus meets the man again in the temple and tells him, "Sin no more." When the man reports that it was Jesus who had healed him, the Jews persecute Jesus.
• Verses 17–18: Jesus says, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." The Jews seek to kill him because he makes himself equal with God.
• Verses 19–30: Jesus says that the Son does the works of the Father, for the Father has given the Son authority over life and judgment.
• Verses 31–40: Jesus cites the witnesses on his behalf: the testimony of John, the works he performs, the Father, and the Scriptures.
• Verses 41–47: Jesus rebukes those who seek honor from men and declares that Moses wrote of him.

Key Verses

• John 5:24: "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, … but is passed from death unto life." This is a classic verse affirming that the believer already possesses eternal life.
• John 5:18: Jesus was "making himself equal with God." This verse is frequently cited in discussions of Christology.
• John 5:39: "They are they which testify of me." This verse is cited as a basis for a Christ-centered reading of the Old Testament.

Characters and Places

• Jesus: Heals the sick man and delivers the discourse.
• The man ill for thirty-eight years: He is not named. He pleads that he has no one to put him into the pool.
• The Jews: The group that persecutes Jesus over the Sabbath question.
• John: Jesus calls him "a burning and a shining light."
• Moses: Mentioned as one who wrote of Jesus.
• Jerusalem: The city to which Jesus goes up for the feast.
• The Sheep Gate: One of the gates of Jerusalem, also mentioned in Nehemiah 3:1.
• The temple: Where Jesus meets the healed man again.

Interpretive Notes

• The feast in verse 1: The text does not identify which feast is meant. Various views have been proposed, including Passover and Purim.
• Verses 3b–4: The passage about an angel troubling the water is known to be absent from many of the older manuscripts. The Korean Revised Version sets this portion off in brackets.
• The place of this healing: This healing is commonly counted among the seven signs of John's Gospel.
• Sin and sickness in verse 14: Verse 14 raises the question of the relationship between sin and sickness, and so it is often read alongside John 9:1–3 for comparison.
• The timing in verses 24–29: Verses 24–25 say that life and judgment have already begun: "the hour is coming, and now is." Verses 28–29 speak of a future resurrection and judgment. Interpreters have long discussed how to hold these two aspects together.
• "Done good" in verse 29: Denominations and interpretive traditions differ in emphasis on how "they that have done good" in verse 29 relates to faith.

In the Korean Church

The question in verse 6, "Wilt thou be made whole?", and the story of the man ill for thirty-eight years are frequently used as sermon texts on healing and restoration. Verse 24 is often cited in explaining the assurance of salvation.