Yohanes 5:37-40

5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people ¹  have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, ²  5:38 nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. 5:39 You study the scriptures thoroughly ³  because you think in them you possess eternal life, ⁴  and it is these same scriptures ⁵  that testify about me, 5:40 but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

[5:37]  ¹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to clarify that the following verbs (“heard,” “seen,” “have residing,” “do not believe”) are second person plural.

[5:37]  ² sn You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time. Compare Deut 4:12. Also see Deut 5:24 ff., where the Israelites begged to hear the voice no longer – their request (ironically) has by this time been granted. How ironic this would be if the feast is Pentecost, where by the 1st century a.d. the giving of the law at Sinai was being celebrated.

[5:39]  ³ tn Or “Study the scriptures thoroughly” (an imperative). For the meaning of the verb see G. Delling, TDNT 2:655-57.

[5:39]  ⁴ sn In them you possess eternal life. Note the following examples from the rabbinic tractate Pirqe Avot (“The Sayings of the Fathers”): Pirqe Avot 2:8, “He who has acquired the words of the law has acquired for himself the life of the world to come”; Pirqe Avot 6:7, “Great is the law for it gives to those who practice it life in this world and in the world to come.”

[5:39]  ⁵ tn The words “same scriptures” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the referent (“these”).