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John 5:46
For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

John 7:52
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.

Deuteronomy 11:18-20
Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes…

ye think.

Deuteronomy 32:47
For itis not a vain thing for you; because itis your life: and through this thing ye shall prolongyour days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.

Psalm 16:11
Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presenceis fulness of joy; at thy right handthere are pleasures for evermore.

Psalm 21:4
He asked life of thee,and thou gavestit him,even length of days for ever and ever.

they which.

John 5:32,36
There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true…

John 1:45
Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.

Deuteronomy 18:15,18
The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; …

See on

Luke 24:27,44
And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself…

because you presume that by them you possess eternal life.
The presumption here is that the mere study and knowledge of the Scriptures could grant eternal life. This reflects a common belief among the Jewish leaders that adherence to the Law and the traditions could secure one's standing before God. However, Jesus challenges this notion by suggesting that the Scriptures themselves are not the source of life, but rather point to something greater. This echoes the theme found inDeuteronomy 30:15-20, where life is found in choosing to love and obey God, not merely in the letter of the law.

These are the very words that testify about Me,
Jesus asserts that the Scriptures testify about Him, indicating that He is the fulfillment of the prophecies and promises contained within them. This is a profound claim, as it positions Jesus as the central figure of the biblical narrative. Passages such asIsaiah 53,Psalm 22, andMicah 5:2 are often cited as prophetic references to the Messiah, which Jesus fulfills. The testimony of the Scriptures about Jesus is a recurring theme in the New Testament, as seen inLuke 24:27, where Jesus explains to the disciples on the road to Emmaus how the Scriptures point to Him.

• Jesus is addressing religious leaders who devoted countless hours to studying the Law and the Prophets (Deuteronomy 6:6-9;Ezra 7:10).

• Their diligence was real; they copied scrolls by hand, debated fine points of interpretation, and memorized large portions (Matthew 23:23).

• Careful study is commendable. Scripture is God-breathed and worthy of deep attention (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The problem is not the study itself, but what is missing from it.

• Even today, it is possible to attend every Bible study, fill notebooks with insights, and still miss the heart of what God is saying. The warning remains timely (James 1:22-25).

• The leaders assumed that mastery of biblical information and rigorous rule-keeping guaranteed life with God (Romans 2:17-20).

• Eternal life, however, is not earned through knowledge or performance; it is received by faith (Galatians 2:16;Titus 3:5).

• Jesus later defines eternal life as a relationship: “This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent” (John 17:3).

• Like the Pharisee inLuke 18:9-14, they trusted in their religious résumé. Jesus exposes the emptiness of that confidence and redirects it toward Himself.

• From Genesis to Malachi, Scripture points forward to Christ:

– The promised offspring who would crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15).

– The Passover Lamb whose blood brings deliverance (Exodus 12;1 Corinthians 5:7).

– The suffering Servant who bears our sins (Isaiah 53;Acts 8:32-35).

– The righteous King ofPsalm 2 andPsalm 110 (Hebrews 1:5-13).

• Jesus makes the same claim after the resurrection: “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself” (Luke 24:27).

• The point is clear: Scripture is a living witness that calls us to a living Savior (Acts 10:43;John 20:31).

• Studying the Bible without coming to Christ is like reading a menu but never tasting the meal.

John 5:39 is both an affirmation of Scripture’s value and a caution against missing its central figure. Diligent study is good, but eternal life is found only by embracing the One to whom every page points—Jesus Christ.

We find, then, this order of thought. (1) God has in the Old Testament witnessed of Me, but ye, with unreceptive hearts, have never heard a voice nor seen a shape of God (John 5:37). (2) Ye have not His word dwelling in you, or it would have witnessed of Me (John 5:38). (3) Instead of receiving the Scriptures as a living power within you, ye search and explain the letter of them from without (John 5:39). (4)Ye think they contain eternal life, and hence your reverence for them (John 5:39). (5) They really are witnesses of Me, and yet you; seeking in them eternal life, are not willing to come to Me that ye may have this life. . . .

(d)The witness of the Scriptures.Verse 39. -Ye search the Scriptures. A large number of commentators, from Chrysostom and Augustine to Luther, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, M'Clellan, Luthardt, and Ewald, with the Authorized Version, regard this as an imperative command. This is grammatical, and corresponds to the language ofIsaiah 34:16; but with Cyril, Bengel, De Wette, Meyer, Godet, Lange, Westcott, Plummer, Watkins, we think the whole context demands the indicative. The second clause, "because in them," etc., follows far more obviously upon an assertion than upon a precept. The "ye will not" that follows is far more in harmony with the indicative than with the supposed command. The Lord says, "You have a third great testimony to my claim, and yet you are not prepared to accept it."Ye search the Scriptures. The verbἐρεῦναν is used (John 7:52;1 Peter 1:11;Romans 8:27;1 Corinthians 2:10) for minute, prolonged search. The kind of investigation which the rabbis spent upon the text and letter of the Holy Scriptures is a proverb, and led to the allegorical mystical meanings of the Genesisaras and other Hebrew literature. "Ye search the Scriptures" rather than the living Word, rather than the Divine meaning and message from the living God which they do contain. This is one term out of many which the Lord employed for the sacred literature which was the great heritage of the Hebrew people. Elsewhere he called it "the Law," "the Law and prophets," "Moses and the prophets," "your Law," "the wisdom of God." He admits their study, prolonged and eager, of the sacred writings, and he justifies the ground and motive of such search, viz.:because ye think in them ye have eternal life; or,ye shall have, orshall find, eternal life. Some powerful critics, like Meyer, urge that our Lord agrees so far with the Jews, that he sympathizes with their search, and that censure or ironical language would be inconsistent with the Saviour's reverence for the Scriptures. But the expression is very unusual on that hypothesis, "Ye think [or, 'imagine'] ye have in them," rather than "ye have through them." Surely our Lord is here condemning the superstitious idea that, in the mere possession of the letter, they were possessors of the eternal life; that, apart from the indwelling Word, apart from the heart of the message itself, some magical advantage was springing. Hillel, whoso view of Scripture may be expressed in a saying ('Aboth,' 2:8), "He who has gotten to himself words of the Law hath gotten to himself the life of the world to come," here differs utterly from the Lord, who, on the doctrine of Holy Scripture, takes ground similar to that which he had taken with reference to the temple and the sabbath. It is not the bare possession of the Scriptures, nor the prolonged examination of its mere letter, that is the condition of eternal life. "Search" which is originated and stimulated by a vague idea of the life-giving force of the letter, is illusive. We maythink that in them we have eternal life, but our Lord would undeceive us. Moreover, from the depths of his own consciousness and knowledge of his own mission, he adds:And they are they which testify concerning me. This is one of the keynotes of New Testament teaching, viz. Christ's idea of the Old Testament, that it was a sketch or portraiture drawn in successive ages and on various material of himself - that it was an outline of great principles which he was about,not to rub out, but to fill in, not "to destroy, but to fulfil." The histories, the experiences, the ceremonial, the dynasties; the offices, the songs and prayers, the predictive and typical sorrows there depicted, were all prelibations and unconscious prophecies of himself. "They testify concerning me," and, together with my works and with my forerunner and, more than all, with my Father's own voice speaking and my Father's own face shining through all, they complete the manifold testimony to the fact that I have come to do his will, to work with him, to deliver, to restore, to give life, and to execute judgment also, when my hour is come. If this be so, then strange, inconsistent, and tragic is the ultimate issue -

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