John 5:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

From the words He added: "and now is." If He were announcing only a future time, His teaching might have been suspect to the Jews. But He supplies proof of it. Even during My sojourn with you, He says, this will be fulfilled. If He could not do this, He would not have promised it for such a time. Otherwise, the promise would have exposed Him to still greater ridicule.

Yet at the same time He also indicates what could frighten His hearers in no small measure. He plainly declares that the dead will rise and that creation will come to judgment. Thus, through the expectation of someday standing before Him and giving an account for everything, they might become somewhat slower in their bold persecution of Him. They might also receive more readily His word of teaching and explanation. In this consists and is concentrated the purpose of the saying. But we must still give a word-by-word explanation. The general interpretation seems to be that a time will someday come in which the dead will hear the voice of the One who raises them. Nevertheless, some think that it has already come "even now." They refer this either to Lazarus, who was to hear the Savior's voice, or by the dead they understand those not yet called through faith to eternal life. These were to enter it by receiving the Savior's teaching. This manner of interpretation certainly has the appearance of probability, but it is not entirely precise. Therefore, considering again the meaning of these words, let us apply to them a somewhat more fitting understanding. In this way we shall interpret the passage more distinctly.

A certain resurrection of these dead persons had indeed taken place before the resurrection of the dead. But here He says, "He has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life" (Jn 5:24).

Into what life? Into eternal life. Therefore this is not like the body of Lazarus. He too passed from the death of the tomb into the life of men, but not into eternal life.

He passed in order to die again afterward. But those dead who will rise at the end of the world will pass into eternal life.

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the heavenly Teacher, the Word of the Father and the Truth, wished to show us a certain resurrection of the dead unto eternal life before the resurrection of the dead unto eternal life at the end of the world.

Therefore He said, "The hour is coming." Filled with faith in the resurrection of the flesh, you were undoubtedly thinking of the hour of the end of the world, of the day of Judgment.

But so that, when reading this passage, you would not think of that hour and that day, He added, "and now is."

Thus, when He says, "The hour is coming," He is not speaking of that final hour. Then, with the proclamation, with the voice of the Archangel and the trumpet of God, the Lord Himself will descend from heaven.

Then the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who remain alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air. So we shall always be with the Lord (1 Thess 4:16-17).

That hour will still come, but it has not yet come. Look, however, at what this hour is: "The hour is coming, and now is."

What happens in this hour? What, if not the resurrection of the dead? And what kind of resurrection is this? That those who rise may live forever. This will also be true in the last hour.

How, then, do we understand these two resurrections? Will the one who rises now not rise then, so that the resurrection of some takes place now and that of others later? No, this is not so.

We have risen in this resurrection if we have believed rightly. We who have already risen also await another resurrection at the end.

Even now we have risen to eternal life, if we persevere in faith itself. Then we shall rise to eternal life, when we become equal to the Angels (cf. Lk 20:36).

Let Him Himself distinguish these two resurrections. Let Him Himself reveal what we have dared to discuss: how there is a resurrection before the resurrection, not of some now and others later, but of the same persons.

Nor is it such as the resurrection of Lazarus, but a resurrection unto eternal life. He will show this plainly.

Hear the Teacher who illumines us, like our sun descending into our hearts. The eyes of the flesh cannot see Him, but the eyes of the heart long to be opened to meet Him.

Let us hear Him: "Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead," behold, He speaks of resurrection, "when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."

Why did He add, "those who hear will live"? Could they have heard if they had not come to life? It would have been enough to say, "Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God."

From this we would already understand that they had come to life, since, if they had not come to life, they could not have heard. No, He says, they do not hear because they are alive. Rather, by hearing, they will live.

"They will hear, and those who hear will live." What, then, does "when they hear" mean, except "when they obey"?

As for hearing with the ears, not all who hear will live. Many hear and do not believe. Hearing and not believing, they do not obey. Not obeying, they do not have life.

Thus "those who hear" here means nothing other than "those who obey." Those who obey will live. Let them be confident. Let them be at peace. They will live.

Christ is preached to us, the Word of God, the Son of God, through whom all things were made. For our salvation He was plainly born according to the flesh from the Virgin, having assumed flesh.

He was an Infant according to the flesh, a Youth according to the flesh, the One who suffered according to the flesh, received death according to the flesh, rose according to the flesh, and ascended according to the flesh.

He promised the resurrection of the flesh and the resurrection of the mind: the mind before the flesh, and the flesh after the mind.

Whoever hears and submits will live. Whoever hears and does not submit, that is, hears and pays no attention, hears and does not believe, will not live.

Why will he not live? Because he does not hear. What does "does not hear" mean? He does not submit. Therefore, "those who hear will live."

The Lord Himself now shows this and continues: "Truly, truly, I say to you." Since He had said, "has passed from death into life" (Jn 5:24), He did not want us to think suddenly that this would happen in the future resurrection.

He wished to show how the one who believes passes, and what it means to pass from death to life: from unbelief to faith, from injustice to righteousness, from pride to humility, from hatred to love.

He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is." What could be more evident? What He said is already sufficiently clear, for what Christ urges us toward is already taking place.

"The hour is coming." What hour? "And now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."

We have already spoken of these dead. What do we think, my brethren? Are there no dead in this assembly that hears me?

Those who believe and act according to the true faith are alive and have not died. But those who either do not believe, or believe like the demons, trembling (cf. Jas 2:19), and living wickedly, should rather be counted among the dead.

They confess the Son of God, but do not have love. Yet this hour is not yet completed. The hour of which the Lord spoke will not be one of the twelve hours of a single day.

From the time when He spoke this until the present, and even to the end of the age, one and the same hour continues. John spoke of it in his Epistle: "Children, it is the last hour" (cf. 1 Jn 2:18).

Thus it is now taking place. Let the living be alive. Let the dead become alive. Let the one who lies dead hear the voice of the Son of God. Let him rise and live.

The Lord cried out at the tomb of Lazarus, and he who had been dead four days rose. He who had begun to decay came out into the air.

He had been laid in a tomb, and a stone lay upon it. The voice of the Savior removed the heavy stone (Jn 11:1-45). But your heart is so heavy that the divine voice has not yet opened it.

Rise in your heart. Come out of your tomb. For you lay dead, as in a tomb, within your heart. You were pressed down, as by a stone, by the burden of an evil way of life.

Rise and come out. What does "rise and come out" mean? Believe and confess. For he who has believed has risen. He who has confessed has come out.

Why have we said that he who confessed has come out? Because before he is revealed, the dead man is hidden. When he is revealed, he comes out from darkness into light.

And because he had to be revealed, what was said to the ministers? The same thing that was said after the words addressed to the corpse of Lazarus: "Loose him, and let him go" (Jn 11:44).

How so? It was said to the ministering apostles, "Whatever you loose from bonds on earth shall be loosed in heaven" (Mt 18:18).

"The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (cf. Jn 5:25).

By what will they live? By life. By what life? By Christ. How do we prove that they live by life in Christ?

"I am the way," He says, "and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). Do you want to go? "I am the way." Do you not want to be deceived? "I am the truth." Do you not want to die? "I am the life."

Your Savior says this to you: "Go nowhere except to Me. Go by no other way except through Me."

The hour has come, and it is still fully underway, and it has not at all passed. Men who were dead rise. They pass to life. They live by the voice of the Son of God.

Through Him they live, persevering in His faith. For the Son has life, and has it so that through it those who believe may live.

And how does He have it? As the Father has it. Hear the Son saying, "For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself" (Jn 5:26).

"Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour has come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live."

He did not say here, "They will believe in Him who sent Me and therefore live." Rather, He said, "Having heard the voice of the Son of God, those who hear, that is, those who obey the Son of God, will live."

Therefore they will live from the Father when they believe in the Father, and they will live from the Son when they hear the voice of the Son of God.

Why will they live both from the Father and from the Son? Because "as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself" (Jn 5:26).

And behold, the time will come when, at the voice of the Son of God, all the dead will rise from their graves. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself." "I have also spoken of judgment. Yes. When all rise from the dead, both good and evil, then the Son will leave the good, who received His word with faith, and will turn His judgment against the evil. Verse 24 says that they do not come into judgment. Again, the Son does not seize for Himself from the Father either the right of judgment or its execution. He has it according to His will. The Father gave Him authority to execute judgment because He is the Son of Man. He is that very Son of Man whom Daniel saw receiving from the Ancient of Days dominion, honor, and kingdom (Dan 7:13). And the Son will execute this judgment not according to His own arbitrariness, but according to righteousness, in harmony with the judgment of the Father. I have already said that He can do nothing of Himself and does not seek His own will, but the will of the Father who sent Him." There was no need to ask who this Son was. The Lord said that all this had been entrusted to Him: "I can do nothing... I do not seek My own will" (v. 30).

Through this He is the source of life for others and gives life to whom He wills. As the Father gave the Son to be the source of life for the world, so He also gave Him authority of judgment, "because He is the Son of Man." For He is the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world. As He is to accomplish the redemption of the world, so He also has authority to judge the world.

This epoch will certainly end in the universal resurrection and judgment. Consequently, by the close inner connection of events, this time has not only been approaching, but has already come. "They will hear the voice of the Son of God": the spiritually dead will hear, and already do hear, the Lord's preaching about His redemption of the world. Those who hear, that is, who believe this preaching, will live, or will rise spiritually to new life. At the universal resurrection the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God in the sense of the divine command in general. By it all the dead will be made alive, or will rise; cf. 1 Thess 4:16.

There they are anticipated by the spiritual and moral resurrection of believers into new life, which lays the foundation for future eternal blessed life. They are also anticipated by the spiritual and moral judgment of which the Lord had spoken before, in His conversation with Nicodemus (Jn 3:18-19). Both this resurrection and this judgment are inseparably bound to the salvation of men, for which Jesus Christ came to earth: "Amen, amen, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment. But has passed from death into life." He passes without being condemned for unbelief, so that at the last judgment the righteous pass without condemnation from temporal death to eternal life. The time of spiritual resurrection began with the coming of Christ the Savior into the world, and it will be completed by the future universal resurrection. Both resurrections have one foundation in Christ and are joined in His thought by an inseparable bond. "Amen, amen, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear the voice of the Son of God, and will come forth: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment." Such will be the universal resurrection of the dead. That the judgment also will be righteous, Jesus Christ again confirms by pointing to His equality with the Father: "I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me." According to the interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, this means: "I judge as the Father Himself would judge. I have no will other than, or separate from, the Father. What the Father wills, I also will; and what I will, He also wills."

Some, including Chrysostom, join the words "Do not marvel at this" with the words "because He is the Son of Man." But the words of the Evangelist do not permit such a connection, for then the word τουτου, "this," would be superfluous. The object of amazement, as the ancients also understood it, including Origen, Nonnus, and Augustine, is the resurrecting power of the Son of Man. Carried away by the force of Jesus' words, the Pharisees and scribes forgot their indignation against Jesus and stood amazed at the unheard-of teaching. The Lord says, "Do not marvel at what has been said. I repeat that the hour will come when the dead will rise by the action of the Son of God, each to the lot prepared on earth." Authority has been given to the Son of Man, but the Son of God will restore all the dead to life by the power of the Godhead. The Son of God and Son of Man will carry out judgment over the universe. Having prepared all means for the salvation of the human race, having reconciled divine righteousness by His death, and having sent abundant grace to men, He has the right to judge the universe in its faithfulness or betrayal toward the heavenly Father; Mt 25:35, 41.

The preaching of the Lord was that great moment when "the dead heard the voice of the Son of God, and having heard, came to life." This gracious voice kindled on earth the fire of faith that the Lord came "to cast upon the earth," wishing that it were already kindled; Lk 12:49. This fire began to burn during the Lord's earthly life. But it blazed up with a great flame and light in the earthly world, as also in the world beyond the grave, when the Lord, having accomplished the great sacrifice of redemption, "went and preached to the spirits in prison"; 1 Pet 3:19. The Resurrection of the Lord illumined the whole world with joy. It kindled in the souls of the disciples such a flame of faith and love that, having been deemed worthy to receive the Holy Spirit; Jn 20:22, they were counted worthy to hear the Lord's command: "Go, make disciples of all nations"; Mt 28:19. "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature"; Mk 16:15. This is what is depicted in verse 25: "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live." Man came to life with the coming to earth of the Son of God. His voice, handed on through the mouths of the Apostles and Evangelists, has called, calls, and will call forever to the dead, that they may live and rise.