What does John 5:38 mean?
Jesus has been explaining three forms of evidence to support His claims, in accordance with Jewish law (Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6). The first two of these were human testimony from John the Baptist (John 5:33) and direct observations from His own miracles (John 5:36). Seeing miracles is more influential than hearing human testimony. However, to the Jewish religious leaders, nothing should have been as effective as the evidence of God's written Word (John 5:37). And yet, these men are rejecting Jesus. According to the prior verse, they have not heard the voice of God (John 5:38), so they don't recognize the One God sent as His living message (John 1:18).Scripture explains part of how that is possible. It's a simple thought that human beings often try to ignore: those who refuse to believe will not believe, evidence or not. This applies to any concept, but especially to personal issues such as faith. Jesus will point this out in a later discussion: a person cannot understand the gospel unless they are first obedient enough to hear from God (John 7:17). James, one of the earliest-written books of the New Testament, makes it clear that "knowing" is different from "trusting" (James 2:19), and so mere "knowledge" is different from saving faith (James 2:14).
This, as Jesus will prove, is the core problem facing people such as the Pharisees. They are more interested in their own traditions (Matthew 15:6), power (John 11:48), and prestige (John 9:34) than the truth. So, even though they've been given all the evidence they need (John 9:41), they do not—they will not—believe (John 5:40). As upcoming verses will note, this is not a matter of knowledge, it is a question of will.
John 5:30–47 continues Jesus' response to His critics in Jerusalem. After healing a crippled man on the Sabbath and claiming to be equal with God, Jesus now speaks about evidence. Rather than simply saying, "have faith,'' or ''believe Me because I said so,'' He offers reasons why He should be believed. These include human testimony, the miracles He is performing, and the words of Scripture. Jesus also makes the point that those who reject the prior words of God—the Old Testament Scriptures—aren't going to believe in Christ, no matter what.
Jesus again returns to Jerusalem, as required for the various feast days. While there, He heals a man who had been crippled for nearly forty years. Since this occurred on the Sabbath, local religious leaders are angry. In fact, they are more upset with Jesus for working on the Sabbath than amazed at His miracle. In response, Jesus offers an important perspective on evidence. Jesus refers to human testimony, scriptural testimony, and miracles as reasons to believe His declarations. Christ also lays claim to many of the attributes of God, making a clear claim to divinity.
