John 5:45
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Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Do not think I will accuse you to the Father--"My errand hither is not to collect evidence to condemn you at God's bar." one that accuseth you, even Moses, &c.--"Alas! that will be too well done by another, and him the object of all your religious boastings--Moses," here put for "the Law," the basis of the Old Testament Scriptures.
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 ↗5:45-46 Jesus’ fifth and final witness was Moses, the founding father of Judaism. John had already compared Jesus with Moses (1:17; see also 6:14-15). The Jewish leaders were ignoring Moses’ clear words about the Messiah (e.g., Deut 18:15).
Open source ↗Cross-references
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All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.