John 5:38-47 NLT
38and you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me -- the one he sent to you.39"You search the Scriptures because you believe they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me!40Yet you refuse to come to me so that I can give you this eternal life.41"Your approval or disapproval means nothing to me,42because I know you don't have God's love within you.43For I have come to you representing my Father, and you refuse to welcome me, even though you readily accept others who represent only themselves.44No wonder you can't believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don't care about the honor that comes from God alone.45"Yet it is not I who will accuse you of this before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, on whom you set your hopes.46But if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me because he wrote about me.47And since you don't believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"
(commentary by Marion Adams from www.easyenglishinfo/bible-commentary)
Verses 39-40 The *Jewish leaders knew the *scriptures well. They studied them frequently. *Christians call these *scriptures ‘the *Old Testament’. In them, there are many *prophecies about the *Messiah. The *Jewish leaders knew these *prophecies well. But they did not recognise the *Messiah when he came. They cared more about the rules and the customs of their religion. And people, not God, had made many of these rules and customs.
This can happen still today. We must remember that we follow a person, the *Lord Jesus *Christ, not a set of rules. We must remember that only Jesus can give us *eternal life. We cannot earn it for ourselves.
Verses 41-44 Jesus did not worry about people’s opinions of him. The only opinion that mattered to him was God’s opinion. We can learn from this. If God approves of us, we must not worry about other people’s opinions of us. And we must never do anything just to please people, if God does not approve of it.
The *scribes and the *Pharisees wanted everyone to think that they were important. They wore special clothes. When they gave money to poor people, they wanted everyone to see. When they prayed, they wanted other people to notice them. When they fasted, they wanted everyone to know. (‘To fast’ means to choose not to eat for a time.) They did all these things for the wrong reasons. They wanted people to think that they were very holy. They wanted people to praise them for their goodness. But they were not holy or good. They did not do these things because they loved God. That is the only right reason to do them.
Verses 45-47 Moses had written these *scriptures that the *Jewish leaders studied so carefully. They believed that they were studying God’s words. They obeyed the *Law that God had given to Moses. But Moses had recorded *prophecies about the *Messiah as well as the *Law. For example, God had told Moses, ‘I will give my message to that *Prophet. And he will tell people *exactly what I have said. This message comes from me. So I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him’ (Deuteronomy 18:18-19). Moses recorded other *prophecies, too (Genesis 3:15; Numbers 21:9; 24:17). But the *Jewish leaders did not believe Moses’ words. They *rejected the *Prophet that Moses had written about. That *Prophet was Jesus, the *Messiah. So Jesus said that Moses himself would accuse them of this.
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