“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
My Notes
What Does John 5:39 Mean?
Jesus confronts the religious leaders with an irony: you search the scriptures because you think in them you have eternal life. The Scriptures are the right place to look. But the Scriptures themselves testify of Jesus — and the searchers refuse to come to him.
"They are they which testify of me" — every Scripture points to Christ. The Law, the Prophets, the Psalms — all of them are testimonies about Jesus. The Scriptures are not an end in themselves. They are a witness that leads to a person.
"And ye will not come to me" — the diagnosis is devastating. They have the right book. They study it diligently. They believe it contains eternal life. And they refuse to come to the person the book is about.
The verse reveals the danger of biblical scholarship without personal encounter: you can know the Scriptures thoroughly and miss the person they point to entirely.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How can thorough Bible study miss the person the Bible is about?
- 2.What does 'they testify of me' mean for how you read every part of Scripture?
- 3.Where has your engagement with the Bible become academic rather than relational?
- 4.What would it look like to move from searching the Scriptures to coming to Jesus?
Devotional
Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life. The searching is right. The Scriptures are the right place to look. The problem is not the searching. It is stopping at the search.
They are they which testify of me. The Scriptures are not the destination. They are the testimony — the witness, the pointer, the arrow aimed at a person. Every page testifies about Jesus. Every law anticipates him. Every prophecy describes him. Every story foreshadows him.
And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. The Scriptures point to Jesus. And the scholars who study the Scriptures most carefully refuse to follow where the Scriptures point. They have the map. They will not make the journey.
That is the tragic possibility of biblical knowledge without personal encounter. You can memorize the text and miss the person. You can study the testimony and refuse the testifier. You can search the Scriptures — diligently, thoroughly, professionally — and never arrive at Jesus.
The Scriptures are not the life. Jesus is. The Scriptures testify of the life. If your Bible study does not lead you to the person — if the searching never produces the coming — you have the map but not the destination.
Are you searching the Scriptures and coming to Jesus? Or searching the Scriptures and stopping at the search?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Search the Scriptures,.... The writings of Moses, and the prophets, which were of divine inspiration and authority, and…
Search the scriptures - The word translated “search” here means to “search diligently” or “search anxiously.” It was…
Search the Scriptures - Ερευνατε τας γραφας. This should be translated, not in the imperative, but in the indicative…
In these verses our Lord Jesus proves and confirms the commission he had produced, and makes it out that he was sent of…
Search the Scriptures It will never be settled beyond dispute whether the verb here is imperativeor indicative. As far…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture