John 5:40 - Printer Friendly

ESV: yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

NIV: yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

NASB: and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

CSB: But you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

NLT: Yet you refuse to come to me to receive this life.

KJV: And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

NKJV: But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.

Those who are unwilling to accept certain ideas cannot be convinced, no matter how much evidence they are given. This is the key theme of verses 39 and 40. Jesus is pointing out that the religious leaders who criticize Him (John 5:18) are not suffering from a lack of knowledge. The evidence is there, especially in the Scriptures. Jesus has also pointed out the evidence of human testimony (John 5:33) and His own miracles (John 5:36). The Jewish authorities are not rejecting Jesus because they don't have enough evidence. They are rejecting the evidence because they will not believe in Jesus.

This, ultimately, is the reason why God draws a distinction between "knowing" and "trusting." The Israelites saw God perform amazing miracles in person and still disobeyed (Numbers 14:20–23; Nehemiah 9:16–17; Psalm 78:11–12). Thomas heard Jesus predict His own resurrection and still doubted what his friends told him (John 20:24–29). Judas was there to see all of Jesus' teachings and miracles and still rejected Him (Matthew 26:24–25).

The Pharisees knew more about the Scriptures than anyone, heard the witness of John the Baptist, and saw Jesus' miracles. And yet, they didn't put their trust in Him. God does not offer "proof" to most people because that proof is ultimately irrelevant. Those who claim they will only accept God when He has been "proven" to them won't really accept God, ever.

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—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 more or less avoiding 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 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 gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. 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”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.