John 5:45

45 “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.

John 5:45 Meaning and Commentary

John 5:45

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father
To God the Father, as the Ethiopic version reads. The Syriac and Persic versions read by way of interrogation, "do ye think that I will?" &c. Christ is no accuser of men; no, not of the worst of men; see ( John 8:10 John 8:11 ) ; he came not into the world to bring charges against men and condemn them, but to save them; to be an accuser is not agreeable to his characters of a Surety, a Saviour, an Advocate, and Judge: there were enough to accuse these persons of; as their perverseness and stubbornness, in not coming to Christ for life; their want of love to God; their rejection of him, though he came in his Father's name; their reception of another, that should come in his own name; their taking honour one of another, and not seeking the true spiritual and eternal honour, which God gives; but though he hints these things to them, he would not have them think that he accused them of them to the Father: the Jews have a notion, that when the Messiah comes, there will be accusations lodged against their doctors and wise men ^F20.

``R. Zeira says, that R. Jeremiah bar Aba said, that in the generation in which the son of David shall come, there will be (Mymkx ydymltb ayrwgwjq) , "accusations against the disciples of the wise men".''

And one of their writers ^F21 thus interprets, ( Daniel 12:1 ) :

``and at that time "shall Michael stand up"; he shall be as silent as a dumb man, when he shall see the holy blessed God contending with him, and saying, how shall I destroy a nation so great as this, for the sake of Israel? "and there shall be a time of trouble" in the family above, and there shall be "accusations" against the disciples of the wise men.''

However, there was no need for Christ to accuse them; for as it follows,

there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust;
by whom is meant, not Moses personally; for when on earth, he was a mediator between God and the people of Israel, and an intercessor for them; and since he has been in heaven, as the dead know not any thing, he knew nothing of their affairs; and when he was on the mount with Christ, his discourse with him turned upon another subject: but either the writings of Moses, as in ( Luke 16:29 Luke 16:31 ) ( 24:27 ) ; or the doctrine of Moses, as ( 1 Corinthians 10:2 ) ( John 9:28 ) ; or rather the law of Moses, ( Matthew 22:24 ) ( Mark 7:10 ) ( Acts 6:11 ) ( 21:21 ) . And in this the Jews trusted; they rested in it, and made their boast of it; and expected eternal life and salvation on account of their having it, and through their hearing it read every sabbath day, and by their obedience to it: and now sin being a transgression of the law, this same law brings charges against them, and accuses them of the breach of the several precepts of it, and pronounces them guilty before God; it curses and passes a sentence of condemnation on them, and according to it, will they perish eternally, without an interest in Christ; for their own righteousness by the law of works, will be of no avail to them; the law in which they trust for life, will rise up in judgment, and be a swift witness against them: so the Jews sometimes speak of the law, as witnessing against the people of Israel ^F23.

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 112. 2.
F21 Jarchi in Dan xii. 1. Vid. Abkath Rocel, par. 2. p. 265.
F23 Prefat. Echa Rabbati, fol. 40. 1.

John 5:45 In-Context

43 For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them.

44 No wonder you can’t believe! For you gladly honor each other, but you don’t care about the honor that comes from the one who alone is God.

45 “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.

46 If you really believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

47 But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”