John 5:25
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Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
The hour cometh--in its whole fulness, at Pentecost. and now is--in its beginnings. the dead--the spiritually dead, as is clear from Joh 5:28. Here He rises from the calmer phrase "hearing his word" (Joh 5:24), to the grander expression, "hearing the voice of the Son of God," to signify that as it finds men in a dead condition, so it carries with it a resurrection-power. shall live--in the sense of Joh 5:24.
Open source ↗We have in the gospels a faithful record of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach, Act 1:1. These two are interwoven, because what he taught explained what he did, and what he did confirmed what he taught. Accordingly, we have in this chapter a miracle and a sermon. I. The miracle was the cure of an impotent man that had been diseased thirty-eight years, with the circumstances of that cure (v. 1-16). II. The sermon was Christ's vindication of himself before the sanhedrim, when he was prosecuted as a criminal for healing the man on the sabbath day, in which, 1. He asserts his authority as Messiah, and Mediator between God and man (Joh 5:17-29). 2. He proves it by the testimony of his Father, of John Baptist, of his miracles, and of the scriptures of the Old Testament, and condemns the Jews for their unbelief (v. 30-47).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
So it is said: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!
But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.
Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
When you were dead in your trespasses and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our trespasses,
“To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of the One who holds the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation for being alive, yet you are dead.
We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life.
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.