CONTEXT
One day during Jesus’ ministry travels He left Galilee to attend one of the feasts of the Jews in Jerusalem. He arrived at Jerusalem on the Sabbath near the Sheep gate of the city wall. Outside the gate, there was a pool called Bethesda which was surrounded by “five roofed colonnades.”[1]
A number of disabled individuals were laying around in these colonnades and when Jesus passed by, He noticed one of these men and knew this man had been suffering from his disability for thirty-eight years. Jesus stopped and asked the man “Do you want to be healed?” The disabled man responded “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going, another steps down before me.” Jesus responded, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” The disabled man got up immediately, healed of his infirmity, and did as Jesus had directed.
Jesus went elsewhere after the healing but later saw the healed man and said to him “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” The man left and told the Jews of his healing. The Jews sought to kill Jesus because He was breaking the Sabbath by healing the man and worse, he was claiming to be equal to God.
The Jews confronted Jesus and He told them that He had the authority from God the Father to do what the Father does (vv. 19, 29), including raising the dead (v. 21). Jesus also told them that God the Father had given Him the authority to judge all (v. 22) so that both the Son and the Father would be glorified and He added that whoever didn’t honor the Son did not honor the Father (v. 23).
EXPOSTION OF JOHN 5:24
Now we look at John 5:24 in some detail. Verse 24 states Truly, truly, I say to you whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
Jesus continued on speaking to the Jews with the phrase “Truly, truly, I say to you.”In the King James version, the first two words “Truly, truly” are translated “Verily, verily.” This phrase is an English translation of the Greek word amēn, which is translated from the Hebrew word āˈmēn. Ordinarily, this word is used at the end of a statement to indicate so be it and is thus affirming what is stated. But Jesus, in John 5:24, uses it at the beginning of his statement to indicate that He had first-hand knowledge and authority of the truth of the statement. So, Jesus is saying, I assure you that I have personal knowledge and authority of the truth of what I am telling you.
The next phrase in verse 24 reads “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me. Jesus describes the Christian as first of all one who actively listens and learns from the word of God as a student from his teacher. Secondly, the believer must believe that God sent Jesus Christ to us manifesting His glory in Christ as His Father and as our Father. We must believe that God sent Jesus to guide us just as the bright light surrounding the glory of God guided the Israelites in the Old Testament (cf. Ex. 13:21). As the apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthian church concerning the light of the gospel, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
Jesus closes the first sentence of verse 24 with the words “has eternal life” This phrase refers to what was in store for believers on Judgment Day by alluding to Daniel 12:2 which says “who… shall awake… to everlasting life.” This is a prophecy of the general resurrection at the final judgment on the last day (Matt. 25:46). “Eternal life” is the believers’ inheritance (Rom. 8:14-17); Eph. 1:11-14), glorification and life for eternity with God in the new heaven and new earth, which God granted believers by His grace through their faith in Jesus Christ. An inheritance that became a present certainty when it was promised and guaranteed by God spiritually in the current age when a person believes and is justified. The verdict of justification when they believed through faith in Christ is finally realized on the last day as glorification and eternal life in the new heaven and new earth at the consummation of their salvation by Christ on the last day.
Jesus states in His last sentence recorded in verse 24 “He does not come into judgment but has passed from death to life.” Believers receive a full pardon through the grace of the gospel that fully discharges them from the curse of the law. Though they continue in sinfulness, the believer is not under eternal condemnation nor under present condemnation because of their sins as a result of their position in Christ (Rom. 8:1). The believer “is invested in a present happiness in spiritual life and entitled to a future happiness in eternal life.”[2]
Importantly, we should note that the original Greek word μεταβέβηκεν (transl. metabebēken) is not in the future tense but the past tense, has passed. Although the consummation of our salvation is still in the future on the last day at the second coming of Christ, it is nevertheless proper to speak of believers’ passing from death to life as past tense. As John Calvin wrote regarding this matter:
[T]he incorruptible seed of life (1 Peter 1:23) resides in the children of God, and they already sit in the heavenly glory with Christ by hope, (Colossians 3:3) and they have the kingdom of God already established within them, (Luke 17:21). For though their life be hidden, they do not on that account cease to possess it by faith; and though they are besieged on every side, by faith, they do not cease to be calm on this account, that they know that they are in perfect safety through the protection of Christ. Yet let us remember that believers are now in life in such a manner that they always carry about with them the cause of death; but the Spirit, who dwells in us, is life, which will at length destroy the remains of death; for it is a true saying of Paul, that death is the last enemy that shall be destroyed, (1 Corinthians 15:26).[3]
CONCLCUSION
Jesus, in verse 24, assures us of the truth of what He says based on first-hand knowledge and authority of the truth of the statement. So, Jesus is saying, I assure you that I have personal knowledge and authority of the truth of what I am telling you.
He guarantees believers that if they become students of the gospel of Christ contained in the word of God and believe the Christ and the Father, that they will have eternal life.
“Eternal life” is the believers’ inheritance, glorification and life for eternity with God in the new heaven and new earth, which God graciously granted to believers by counting them as righteous through their faith in Jesus Christ. An inheritance that became a present certainty when it was promised and guaranteed by God spiritually in the current age when a person believes and is justified. The verdict of justification when a person becomes a believer is finally realized on the last day when Christ withholds His eternal condemning wrath from the believing elect. The believers’ inheritance consists of eternal life in the new heaven and new earth at the consummation of their salvation by Christ on the last day when Christ withholds His eternal condemning wrath from the believing elect as promised and they are then ushered into heaven.
The last sentence of verse 24 teaches that when we believe through faith, God justifies (i.e., legally considers sinless) us. This is God’s present legal act of pardoning believers from the sentence of eternal death grounded on Christ’s merited righteousness and paid for by the redemptive death of Christ on the cross. Thus God issued a verdict of innocent, in spite of our actual sins, so that we were legally counted as righteous. Although the consummation of our salvation is still in the future on the last day at the second coming of Christ, it is nevertheless proper to speak of believers’ passing from death to life as past tense.
On the last day, the righteous verdict believers received from God in their lives on earth, which makes all believers in this age members of the spiritual kingdom of God, will be realized. This reality of our salvation occurs when our salvation is actually consummated by Jesus on the last day. This makes it possible for the believing elect to receive their inheritance of glorification and eternal life with God in the new heaven and new earth as citizens in the eternal kingdom of God.
[1] the colonnade or portico consisted of rows of columns covered by a roof.
[2] Matthew Henry, Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible, New Modern Edition, vol. 5, Matthew to John (Hendrickson, 1991), 750.
[3] John Calvin, John Calvin’s Complete Commentaries: The Gospel of John, Trans. William Pringle, Kindle (1847-1850).
