John 5:39Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It could be expected that they would not believe His words about the Father's voice, imagining what took place on Mount Sinai. Therefore Christ first corrected their thoughts on this matter. He showed that all this had been done by condescension. Then He sends them to the testimony of the Scriptures.

Let us also, in contest and struggle with heretics, draw our support from the Scriptures. "All Scripture," says the Apostle, "is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:16-17).

It is not that he has one thing and lacks another. Such a man is not yet perfect. For tell me, what benefit is there if someone prays diligently, but does not give alms generously? Or if he gives alms generously, but is greedy and oppresses others?

Or if he gives only to be seen by men and for praise from the spectator? Or if, though he gives alms with complete zeal and to please God, he is exalted by this very thing and thinks highly of himself? Or if he humbles himself and keeps fasts, but is a lover of money and acquisition?

If he is attached to the earth, he brings into his soul the mother of all evils. For the root of all evils is the love of money. Let us fear it. Let us flee this sin. The love of money has thrown the whole universe into turmoil.

It has brought everything into disorder. It removes us from the most blessed service of Christ. "You cannot," it is said, "serve God and mammon" (Mt 6:24), because mammon demands the complete opposite of Christ.

Christ says: Give to those in need. Mammon says: Take away from those in need. Christ says: Forgive those who plot against you and wrong you. Mammon, on the contrary, says: Plot against people who have not wronged you at all.

Christ says: Be loving and meek. Mammon, on the contrary, says: Be cruel and inhuman. Count the tears of the poor as nothing. In this way, on the day of judgment, it will make the Judge fearful for us.

Then all our deeds will stand before our eyes. Those whom we have wronged and stripped bare will deprive us of every defense. Lazarus was not wronged by the rich man, but only did not receive help from him. Yet he became his strict accuser and did not allow the rich man to receive any leniency (Lk 16:20-25).

Tell me, then, what defense will those have who not only fail to give alms from their own possessions, but also seize what belongs to others and ruin the houses of orphans? Those who did not feed the hungry Christ brought so great a fire upon their heads.

What comfort will be received by those who steal what belongs to others, conduct countless lawsuits, and unjustly appropriate estates from everyone? Therefore let us tear this passion out of ourselves. We shall tear it out if we think of those before us who acted unjustly toward others, practiced greed, and died.

Do not others use their wealth and labors, while they themselves are subject to punishment, torments, and unbearable suffering? Is this not the height of madness? They toil and worry, so that in life they are worn out by labors, and after death they endure unbearable punishments and torments.

Yet they ought to enjoy prosperity even here, since nothing brings as much pleasure as almsgiving with a pure conscience. And after departing to the other life, they ought there to be delivered from every evil and attain countless good things.

As vice even here, before Gehenna, usually torments those devoted to it, so virtue even here, before the Kingdom, gives enjoyment to those who struggle in it. It sweetens their life with pleasant hopes and continual delight.

Therefore, in order that we may receive this delight both here and in the life to come, let us turn to good works. Thus we shall also be deemed worthy of the future crowns. May we all be granted them by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom and with whom be glory to the Father, with the Holy Spirit, now and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Great care, beloved, must be given to spiritual works. Let us not think that it is enough for salvation to occupy ourselves with them in some careless way. In earthly affairs, no one can attain anything great if he performs them negligently and casually.

How much more is this so in spiritual matters, since they require the greatest diligence. Therefore Christ, when He sent the Jews to the Scriptures, did not send them for mere reading, but for exact and thoughtful examination.

He did not say, "Read the Scriptures," but "Search the Scriptures," because what was said about Him in the Scriptures required much attention. It was spoken in veiled form for the benefit of the people of that time.

Therefore He now commands them to delve into the Scriptures with diligence, so that they may find what is hidden in their depth. What is said about Christ is not said superficially and is not placed in plain sight. Rather, like a certain treasure, it is set in great depth.

Whoever searches for what is placed in the depths, but does not seek with zeal and labor, will never find what he seeks. Therefore, after saying, "Search the Scriptures," Christ added: "For you think that in them you have eternal life."

He did not say, "You have," but "You think you have." He shows that those who hope to be saved by reading alone, without faith, cannot obtain any great or important fruit. It is as though He says: Do you not respect the Scriptures? Do you not honor them as fountains of life? Upon them I also now take My stand, because they bear witness of Me.

Great is the power of divine Scripture, and great is the wealth of thoughts hidden in its words. Therefore we must attend to it diligently and examine it much, so that we may receive abundant benefit from it.

This is why Christ commanded, "Search the Scriptures." He did not want us to occupy ourselves with mere reading, but, by searching the depth of Scripture, to grasp its true meaning.

Such is the character of Scripture. In its few words one can often find a great multitude of thoughts. Since it is divine teaching and not human, one can see that it is wholly opposite to human wisdom.

I will explain how this is so. There, I mean in human wisdom, the whole effort of men is directed to the arrangement of words. Here it is entirely the opposite. Holy Scripture does not aim at beauty of words or their skillful composition.

It has divine grace in itself, which gives radiance and beauty to its words. Again, there, in human writings, amid extended and indescribable empty talk, one can scarcely meet with any thought. But here, in Holy Scripture, as you already know, even a brief saying has often been enough for us to compose a whole instruction.

But instead He accuses them of not wishing to come to Him, though through searching they are being led to this, saying: 'and you do not wish to come to Me.' Therefore, accepting the more fruitful sense, one corresponding to the preceding words, let us read it not as a command, but rather as an acknowledgment and indication.

The meaning of the saying will be as follows. He saw that they were constantly turning to the writings of Moses, and from there ignorantly gathering occasions for contradiction. They neither sought nor accepted anything else that could bring them to faith.

Therefore He again necessarily reveals to them the barrenness and uselessness of the labor of such inquiry. He clearly convicts them of not striving to use so great and beneficial a matter in the proper way.

For tell me, what benefit is there, He says, in your searching the divine Scriptures, thinking through them to enter into eternal life? Yet when you find them 'testifying of Me' and naming Me eternal life, 'you do not wish to come to Me, that you may have life.'

Thus, He says, from the very place whence you ought to receive salvation, you bring the greatest harm upon your souls, not understanding it. You sharpen yourselves from the sayings of Moses only for contradiction.

Yet you bring into your mind nothing by which you could acquire eternal life. That the Law and the holy Prophets say much about Life by nature, that is, about the Only-begotten, is known, I think, to all lovers of knowledge.

'Search the Scriptures,' Christ cried to the Jewish people. He said very clearly that no one can attain eternal life otherwise than by digging into the letters of the Law as though into a treasure.

There he must seek the pearl hidden in it, that is, Christ, 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge,' according to the word of blessed Paul (Col 2:3).

Solomon also spoke in one place of such honorable and most wondrous wisdom and understanding: 'If you seek it as silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God' (Prov 2:4-5).

Nothing can be compared with this for those who praise a pure life, who have resolved to accomplish only what is better and most excellent in all things, and who fill their mind with divine light.

For one must unceasingly delight in what is said concerning God. One must set Holy Scripture before oneself like a lamp, according to the holy Psalmist, who cries out and says: 'Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path' (Ps 118:105).

Therefore, since it is clear and evident that diligent search for the mystery of Christ grants eternal life and serves us as a path to every good courage, let us again apply labor useful above all to ourselves.

Let us strive to gather those passages in which the mystery of Christ is clearly indicated to us, and to set forth the meaning of each. Perhaps our words, containing subtle contemplations, will someday serve the prudent as a good occasion for contemplation of the truth.

They may also serve as a kind of step, raising them to a better and higher knowledge. Therefore we shall first profitably set forth what occurred historically, giving it the corresponding explanation.

As though transforming the narrative from type and shadow, we shall make it clear. Our discourse will incline toward the mystery of Christ and have Him as its goal, if it is true that 'the end of the Law' and the Prophets is 'Christ' (Rom 10:4; cf. Mt 5:17).

If somewhere, amid such great subtlety and obscurity of contemplation, we should fall short of what is most fitting, let the readers be indulgent toward us.

One must also know this. Having composed seventeen books On Worship and Service in Spirit and Truth, and having gathered in them a great multitude of contemplations, we deliberately omitted there and left unexamined the chapters placed in the present work.

Yet perhaps it was sometimes necessary to mention something from them. Therefore let us begin with what in the book of Genesis deserves a more skilled explanation.

Then, having followed all five books of Moses in order, we shall carefully examine besides them what is useful for our proposed purpose from the other Scriptures.

And since such lamps are rational, they shine and burn by the spirit. Even if they burn out and are extinguished, they still give off a smell. Literally, they emit a stench, the smell of a decaying body. Here the smell serves as testimony to the presence of the spirit in a dead man.

For the servants of God remain good lamps by the oil of His mercy, not by themselves. Truly, the grace of God sent down from above is that very oil in the lamps.

"I labored more abundantly than all of them," says one of the lamps. And lest he seem to speak by his own power, he added: "Yet not I, but the grace of God" (1 Cor 15:10).

Therefore every testimony before the coming of the Lord is a lamp. Peter says of it: "We have the prophetic word made more sure; and you do well to attend to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts" (2 Pet 1:19).

Thus the prophets are lamps, and all prophecy is one great lamp.

What then of the apostles? Are they not lamps? Certainly they are lamps. For He alone is not a lamp. He is neither kindled nor extinguished, because "as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself" (Jn 5:26).

Therefore the apostles are lamps. They give thanks because they have been kindled by the light of Truth, burn with the Spirit of love, and are filled with the oil of God's grace.

If they were not lamps, the Lord would not have said to them: "You are the light of the world" (Mt 5:14). After saying, "You are the light of the world," He shows that they must not think they are the Light of whom it was said: "There was the true Light, which enlightens every man coming into this world" (Jn 1:9).

Since you think that through the Scriptures you have eternal life, yet do not have it for the reason just stated, search them more deeply. Then you may find it and possess it.

"And they are those that testify of Me." They testify of Me on behalf of the Father, since He invisibly inspired those who wrote them. The conjunction "and" is superfluous here, which is a common Hebrew feature.

For when the law came, that is, the teaching of the divine Scriptures, then the evil that a man formerly did in ignorance revived. Not knowing that it was evil, he then learned from the Scriptures that it was evil. It became clear that sin was in him, though it had not been recognized as sin. Yet it had alienated and separated him from the good, and by this had deadened him.

Therefore we must carefully examine and test the thoughts that come into our mind. We must set against them the testimonies of the divine Scriptures and the teaching of the spiritual and holy fathers.

If we find that they agree with Holy Scripture, then we should undertake the struggle to hold them as much as we can and put them into practice. But if those thoughts do not agree with the word of truth, let us hasten to drive them away from ourselves with anger and hostility, as it is written: "Be angry, and do not sin" (Eph 4:26).

We must by no means retain passionate thoughts that enter us. Rather, we must immediately repel them like a stream of infectious air and the sting of death. From this it is clear how necessary it is for us to search the divine Scriptures with all diligence and attention.

Christ the Lord, making known what great benefit comes from this, said: "Search the Scriptures." Search, and hold with all exactness and faith what is said in them. In this way you will know the will of God truly and be able to distinguish good from evil without error. Then you will not believe every spirit or be carried about in a whirlwind of harmful thoughts.

Believe me, my brethren, there is no other easier way to salvation than to follow the divine commandments of Christ.

Yet we also need many tears, great fear, much patience, and unceasing prayer. Then the power of even one word of the Master may be revealed to us. Then we may know the great mysteries hidden in small sayings, and surrender our souls to death even for the least commandment of Christ.

The word of God is a two-edged sword, which cuts off and separates from the soul every lust and every fleshly impulse. At the same time it is a fiery flame, kindling zeal in the soul. It makes us despise all the sorrows of this present life. It makes us meet every temptation that comes upon us with joy and gladness. Even death itself, so fearful to other men, we receive as desirable, as life and the source of life.

For our Lord commands us to search the Scriptures so that we may truly know the path that leads to salvation. Then, walking this path through the fulfillment of Christ's commandments, and not turning back, we may surely attain the salvation of our souls, which is Jesus Christ.

At the hour of His birth, the angel announced this to the shepherds: "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David" (Lk 2:10-11).

It is like a guide, showing us the right path that leads to God, our Creator, the source of all good things. It is like a spiritual mirror, showing our soul its vices, so that, having recognized them, we may cleanse them by repentance.

Finally, it is like a fragrant pharmacy, containing various remedies for the infirmities of the soul.

"Search" may be imperative, as in Chrysostom, Augustine, Theophylact, and Euthymius Zigabenus. Or it may be indicative, "you search," as in Cyril of Alexandria and many modern interpreters. The latter accords better with the context of the discourse: "and you do not want," in verse 40.

"You think that through them," and so forth. This does not mean that they vainly think they have eternal life through them. It means only that, although they rightly think they attain eternal life through them, in fact they do not attain it. They do not believe in Him of whom they testify. Compare Theophylact and Chrysostom.

Therefore their hope of having eternal life through the Scriptures is right. Yet it was not realized in them or for them.

"Through them," more precisely, "in them," to have eternal life. In them is contained the indication and unfolding of the means by which eternal life is attained. This is moral self-perfection, which leads to eternal life in union with God, or to the Kingdom of the Messiah, in which there is eternal life, as opposed to eternal death outside it.

"They testify of Me." In them are contained prophecies concerning His coming, His person, His Kingdom, and all the blessings of His Kingdom.

Masel, under the influence of a preconceived idea, assigned to ερευναν the meaning "to break apart, to distort." But such a reproachful meaning of the word does not agree at all with its use in Scripture: 1 Pet 1:11; Rom 8:27; 1 Cor 2:10; Jn 7:52. Nor is it found among the Greeks.

Ερευναν means to search, to enter into the interior, into the foundation of a subject. Ερευτατε τ. γραφ. means: enter into the inner meaning, into the spirit of the Scriptures, and do not stop at the surface or at the letter.

"For you think that in them you have eternal life, and they are those that testify of Me." The Talmud, tract Pirke Aboth, says: "Whoever acquires for himself a saying of Scripture acquires for himself eternal life."

One modern Christian writer observed: "The Jewish opinion that they have eternal life in Scripture was as harmful as it was useful for the duty of examining the Scriptures, and it pleases ignorant men and frivolous deists."

There is some truth here. Yet one must add that the Jewish opinion is still to be preferred to contempt for the word of God, the irreplaceable guide of earthly life.

As a falsehood against conscience and reason, the opinion of the Jews could not be approved by the Savior. But He does not reject it in its better aspect.

Search the Scripture, He says, since you yourselves think that with Scripture and in Scripture you have eternal life. In this you are partly right. The unquestionable truth is that the Scriptures speak of the Messiah and therefore testify of Me.

For this reason you act against your own conscience and against your conviction about Scripture when you do not want to come to Me for your salvation. Such is the meaning of the Savior's words.

In another place, coming to Jesus is replaced by the word believing: Jn 6:35, 37, 41; 7:37. Thus the Savior justifies His teaching by His own moral character in verse 30, by the conscience of the Jews who turned to the Forerunner in verses 31-35, by His miracles in verses 32 and 36-38, and finally by Holy Scripture in verses 39-40.

In this philosophy one can clearly discern traces of the influence of both the Babylonians and the Persians. See the Kabbalah. In order to introduce certain thoughts into the biblical text, Jewish Kabbalists even read the words of Scripture as anagrams.

This is apart from allegorical interpretation on the broadest scale. See Franck, La Kabbale, p. 70. On the other hand, Greek and Roman influence introduced among the Sadducees especially the views of philosophical schools wholly foreign to the spirit of the Old Testament books.

The upper class, especially protected by the Romans, belonged to these adherents of teachings alien to Israel. Yet they strictly observed the rites of Judaism, lest they lose influence over the crowd.

By means of a strict ritual life, they also kept that crowd in obedience. Thus among the learned Jews there were no people who studied the word of God in the simplicity of an honest soul seeking truth and righteousness.

Some were partly infected by idolatrous and superstitious religious teachings. Others were infected by the indifferentism and even atheism of the Greek philosophers.

It is no wonder that they did not understand or grasp the true meaning of the Messianic prophecies. They sought in the Bible what they wanted, not what was in it.

If they had been able to study their sacred books with a pure heart, good will, and an undamaged mind, they would not have rejected Him who came into the world to save it.

He came not in glory and majesty, but in humiliation, suffering, and sorrows, 'to take upon Himself our infirmities and bear our sicknesses' (Isa 53:4).

'You do not wish,' says the Lord, 'to come to Me.' 'I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.' The Lord directly accuses the Jews of evil will and of the absence of love for God.

He sees these hearts that seek only earthly goods, and in which there was neither love for God nor love for neighbor. He sees these distorted minds, which set their own thoughts and dreams in place of the wisdom of God.

They thought to obtain salvation through petty ritual fulfillment of the Law. He tells them directly that the very Scriptures on the basis of which they think they will receive eternal life are their accusers.

For those Scriptures spoke of Him, the Son of God, who came into the world to save sinners. If they had recognized themselves as sinners and without understanding, the Lord would have saved them and enlightened them.

But they considered themselves righteous and knowledgeable, though they had neither desire for good nor the love of God. Therefore the Lord left them: 'Behold, your house is left to you desolate' (Mt 23:38).

'If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, We see. Therefore your sin remains' (Jn 9:41).

In verse 41 there is still another indication: 'I do not receive glory from men,' says the Lord. In these words there seems to be a further hint that the scribes and Pharisees were especially embittered against the Lord because He did not seek their favor.

Not only did He refuse to rely on them in order to influence the people, but He also exposed the blackness of their hearts and the corruption of their minds. This class had clearly forgotten God and the moral meaning of man. For them, human glory stood above all else.