2025 Bible Study Group

[GodfatherPartTwo]

John 4

40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41And many more believed because of His word; 42and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is truly the Savior of the world.”

The Samaritans and the woman place their faith in Christ. This idea of no teacher but God is a distinct promise of the New Covenant. John will employ it again in John 6 and 1 John. Jeremiah said that within the New Covenant, no man will tell his neighbor to know God because all will know God because God Himself will write His Law on their hearts and minds. That is to say, God is the one who converts the hearts and minds of men. Do not boast about how many people you have "led to Christ." All such boasting is vainglory and does nothing other than puff up men's pride. Either they believe in you or they believe in God. But be content that God may use you to further His kingdom and what we should say is "We have only done what was required of us" and not think higher of ourselves than we ought. Likewise, do not give the glory to men, so they aren't tempted to pride, but thank God.

48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”

Jesus says the word and the son of the man who came to Him was healed. Read His Word and see all the signs that God has already given. What more does He need to do to show men that He alone is worthy of their faith? And we would not even exist if it were not for His Word, so treat His Word as all-sufficient.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

John 5

16 And for this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.” 18 For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.

Jesus heals a lame man. When the Jews confront Jesus over doing this on the Sabbath, Jesus pointedly says that He is working, as opposed to resting which is what the Sabbath Law requires. There are a few ways to understand this:
Option 1: Jesus is truly breaking the Fourth Commandment and is therefore a sinner. This is ruled out immediately, though it is how the Pharisaical Jews would've understood it.
Option 2: Jesus is the Lord of the Law and is free to "set aside" the Law. I am not fond of this answer because it still emphasizes a discontinuity between the Law and the King.
Option 3: The Sabbath Law is not a prohibition against good works, but a prohibition against evil works, and thus, Christ is not breaking the Law by doing good works on the Sabbath. This is what I believe to be the best and most Biblically consistent understanding of not just this passage, but the Sabbath in general. Against these things, there is no law.

Jesus calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God is how the Jews understood lineage. The son becomes the father. The son is like the father. The Son of God is divine just like His Father is divine.

25 Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

The dead refers to non-believers. They will hear the Son of God and will come alive through faith.

39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me

The Scriptures refer to the Old Testament. The Jews believed that if they could fulfill all that the Law requires, they would have eternal life. They were correct. But they were wrong to believe that anyone could fulfill what the Law requires, so the only way for us to have eternal life is through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, the Law will not grant eternal life to us because we are transgressors, which underscores all the more our need of Jesus.

45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?

The necessity of faith in Christ is not a new doctrine. We saw it in Genesis, which Moses authored. If the Jews really believed Moses as they claimed then they would've understood this. But Jesus' chief referent is in Deuteronomy 18:15: Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers; you shall listen to him.

Note the phrase: you shall listen to Him. At the Transfiguration, the Father told the Apostles: This is My Son, My Chosen One, listen to Him!