John 5:29 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

NIV: and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

NASB: and will come out: those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the bad deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

CSB: and come out—those who have done good things, to the resurrection of life, but those who have done wicked things, to the resurrection of condemnation.

NLT: and they will rise again. Those who have done good will rise to experience eternal life, and those who have continued in evil will rise to experience judgment.

KJV: And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

NKJV: and come forth— those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

Passages such as Romans 14:10–12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 speak of a resurrection involving a judgment for eternal rewards. This is sometimes referred to as the "judgment seat of Christ," or the "Bema Seat." The good things we do don't determine our salvation. However, they do affect the eternal rewards of those who are saved. Those who are resurrected into life will experience this first judgment.

According to Revelation 20:11–15, those who have rejected God—which means those who have rejected Jesus Christ—will be raised from death and judged. This judgment will result in eternal separation from God, in the lake of fire. Once again, the works described are symptoms of spiritual death, not something we must avoid to earn salvation. This resurrection to judgment for sin, is sometimes called the "great white throne judgment" or the "white throne judgment."

Jesus uses the description of this eventual resurrection to connect common Jewish belief to His own ministry. Most Jewish people of this time believed in an eventual resurrection of all people to some type of judgment. Some did not, such as the Sadducees (Acts 23:8). In prior verses, Jesus has claimed all the powers and attributes of God (John 5:19–23). This included both power over life and death, as well as the right to judge. This fits with the Hebrew sense of a future resurrection, leading Jesus to tell His listeners not to "marvel" at what He was saying.

John 5:16–29 begins Jesus' response to local religious leaders. After healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus is attacked for violating traditions related to the Mosaic law and for claiming to be equal to God. In this passage, Jesus claims many of the attributes of God the Father. Among these are the power, judgment, love, and honor of God. Jesus also states that those who reject His message dishonor God and only those who believe Him will have eternal life. In the next passage, Jesus will support these claims by referring to various forms of evidence, all of which prove His ministry to be true.

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.

Chapters 1 through 4 showed Jesus avoiding major publicity. Here, in chapter 5, He will begin to openly challenge the local religious leaders. This chapter is Jesus' first major answer to His critics in this gospel. The fact that Jesus is willing to heal on the Sabbath sets up a theme of His upcoming disagreements with the Pharisees. Jesus also provides an important perspective on the relationship between evidence and faith, which He will expand on in later chapters. This chapter also establishes a key point made by Jesus' critics: His claims to be God.

The disciple John wrote the gospel of John decades after the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls "signs"— to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.