The Lord said, “Search the scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me”; and when in reply to that the people said in effect, “We have the scripture, so we don’t need you at all,” he answered, “If you believed the scriptures, you would believe me.” Here we have the two witnesses, the scripture and the Lord in person, side by side, testifying of each other. The fact that the Jews had the holy writings did not, as they supposed, make the presence of a living prophet among them superfluous; and the presence of a prophet did not, as the scholars supposed, make the written word superfluous. As a remarkable illustration of this, what did Christ do when he first appeared to the assembled Apostles as the resurrected Lord? There he was, the Son of God in his own person, a glorified and resurrected being who could have told them all things by his own authority; but instead of that, we are told, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27 [Luke 14:3]). Is it surprising, then, that when the Lord and other glorious beings appeared to men in these latter days they again cited the ancient prophets at length? One could not ask for a more powerful recommendation for the sacredness of the holy writings than the Lord’s use of them after his resurrection; nor on the other hand, could one have a more convincing demonstration that the scriptures cannot stand alone, for it was only after Christ had expounded their meaning to them in person that the disciples’ “eyes were opened, and they knew him. . . . And they said . . . Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:31 [Luke 14:4]—32.) Even to the Apostles the scriptures did not convey their full message until they were “opened” to them by their heavenly teacher.
The Healing at the Pool of Bethesda
A man who has waited thirty-eight years is told to stand up and carry his bed, on a Sabbath. The healing takes four verses; the argument it starts takes forty-three, and ends with Jesus saying that the scriptures they search are a witness against them.
Note. The Joseph Smith Translation revises the miracle lightly and rewrites the discourse. Its sharpest change is at verse 31, where “my witness is not true” becomes “yet my witness IS true.”
? How to read this edition
The reading is the Joseph Smith Translation, in the text of the Covenant Christian Edition, carried beside each Gospel and set against the King James baseline. Headers give both numbering systems: the CCE chapter and verse, and the traditional KJV reference.
1After this, there was a feast of the Jews. And Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool which is called, in the Hebrew tongue, Bethesda, having five porches. 3In these porches lay a great many impotent folks, of blind, lame, withered — waiting for the moving of the water; 4for an angel went down at a certain season into the pool and troubled the water. Whoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in was made whole of whatever disease he had.
5And a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. 6And Jesus saw him lying down and knew that he had been now a long time in that case afflicted. And he said unto him, Do you desire to be made whole? 7The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steps down before me. 8Jesus said unto him, Rise, take up your bed, and walk. 9And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked. And it was on the Sabbath day. 10The Jews therefore said unto him who was cured, It is the Sabbath day; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed. 11He answered them, He who made me whole said unto me, Take up your bed and walk. 12Then asked answered they him, saying, What man is he who said unto you, Take up your bed and walk? 13And he that was healed knew not who it was, for Jesus had conveyed himself away, a multitude being in the place. 14Afterward, Jesus finds him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, you are made whole. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto you. 15The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him whole.
16And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the Sabbath day. 17But Jesus answered them, My Father works hitherto, and I work. 18Therefore, the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
19Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Truly, truly I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever things he does, the Son likewise does these also, 20for the Father loves the Son and shows him all things that he himself does. And he will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21For, as the Father raises up the dead and quickens them, even so the Son quickens whom he desires; 22for the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son, 23that all should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who honors not the Son honors not the Father who has sent him. 24Truly, truly I say unto you, He who hears my word and believes on him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death into life.
25Truly, truly I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they who hear shall live. 26For, as the Father has life in himself, so has he given to the Son to have life in himself, 27and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of Man. 28Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in their graves shall hear his voice 29and shall come forth — they who have done good, in the resurrection of life the just, and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of damnation. the unjust; and shall all be judged of the Son of Man. For as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just. 30For I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me.
31Therefore, if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. yet my witness is true, 32for I am not alone: there is another who bears witness of me, and I know that the testimony which he gives of me is true. 33You sent unto John, and he bore witness also unto the truth. 34But I receive not testimony from man: but And he received not his testimony of man, but of God. And you yourselves say that he is a prophet, therefore, you ought to receive his testimony. These things I say that you might be saved. 35He was a burning and shining light, and you were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. 36But I have a greater witness than the testimony of John, for the works which the Father has given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father himself who sent me has borne witness of me. And truly I testify unto you that you have neither never heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape 38And for you have not his word abiding in you, for and him whom he has sent, him you believe not.
39Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life. And they are they which testify of me. 40And you will not come to me that you might have life, lest you should honor me. 41I receive not honor from men. 42But I know you, that you have not the love of God in you.
43I have come in my Father’s name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive. 44How can you believe, who receive seek honor one of another and seek not the honor which comes from God only? 45Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that Moses who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust; 46for had you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. 47But if you believe not his writings, how shall you believe my words?
As the Father Hath Life in Himself
The Vision Came While They Were Translating Verse 29
D&C 76:11–21 (CCE T&C 69:3–4) · February 16, 1832 · scriptures.info ↗Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were translating this chapter when they reached verse 29, the verse the Joseph Smith Translation changes to “the resurrection of the just” and “the resurrection of the unjust.” The vision of the degrees of glory followed, and its opening tells how it began, quoting the verse in its revised wording. The bracketed “John 5:5” is the edition’s own reference: the verse stands in the fifth paragraph of its John 5.
We, Joseph Smith Jr. and Sidney Rigdon, being in the spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and by the power of the spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlarged, so as to see and understand the things of God, even those things which were from the beginning, before the world was, which were ordained through his Only Begotten Son, who was in the bosom of the Father even from the beginning, of whom we bear record. And the record which we bear is the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the Heavenly vision. For while we were doing the work, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chapter of John [John 5:5], which was given unto us as follows, speaking of the resurrection of the dead, concerning those who shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and shall come forth: they who have done good, in the resurrection of the just, and they who have done evil, in the resurrection of the unjust.
Now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the spirit. And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about and we beheld the glory of the Son on the right hand of the Father and received of his fullness, and saw the holy angels and they who are sanctified before his throne worshiping God and the Lamb, who worship him for ever and ever.
I Can of My Own Self Do Nothing
This is not an exposition of the chapter. The Lectures on Faith, given to the elders’ school in Kirtland in the winter of 1834–35 and printed in 1835 as the first part of the Doctrine and Covenants, quote verse 30 as proof that the Father and the Son possess the same mind. That is the verse’s own subject, the Son who does only what the Father does, and it is shown for that reason.
Lectures on Faith, Lecture Fifth, questions 13–14, in Doctrine and Covenants (Kirtland, 1835), p. 57 · canonized in the CCE as Teachings and Commandments 110 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in Teachings and Commandments 110, Lecture 5:19.
Q. Do the Father and the Son possess the same mind? A. They do. John 5:30. I [Christ] can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who sent me. John 6:38. For I [Christ] came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. John 10:30. I [Christ] and my Father are one. Q. What is this mind? A. The Holy Spirit. …
God the Father Took Life unto Himself as Jesus Did
Joseph Smith read verse 26 as a statement about the Father’s own history, not only the Son’s endowment. He first put it this way at the opening of a school of instruction in Nauvoo, three years before the King Follett sermon made it famous.
Discourse, 5 January 1841, Nauvoo (Old Homestead) · Extracts from William Clayton’s Private Book; Words of Joseph Smith, 60 · Joseph Smith Papers ↗That which is without body or parts is nothing. There is no other God in heaven but that God who has flesh and bones. John 5— 26, “As the father hath life in himself, even so hath he given the son to have life in himself.” God the father took life unto himself precisely as Jesus did.
So Hath the Son Power in Himself
At the temple stand in June 1843 Joseph Smith read verse 26 with the Son’s power to lay down his life and take it again (John 10:18), and with verse 19, and drew from them that the Father and the Son each have a body of their own. The reading is the History’s; Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards both took the sermon down, and switch to Scribal accounts to read their notes.
Discourse, 11 June 1843 (Sunday morning), Temple Stand, Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. D-1, p. 1575 (History of the Church 5:425–426; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 312) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗If any man attempts to refute what I am about to say, after I have made it plain, let him be accursed. As the Father hath power in himself, so hath the son power in himself, to lay down his life and take it again, so he has a body of his own, the Son doeth what he hath seen the Father do, then the father hath some day laid down his life and taken it again, so he has a body of his own, each one will be in his own body and yet the Sectarian world believe the body of the son, is stuffed into his Father’s.
What Did Jesus Do? The Same Thing I See the Father Do
The King Follett Discourse, preached at general conference two months before his death, turns on two verses in this chapter: “the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do” (v19) and verse 26, which Joseph quoted, as nearly every report of him has it, with “power” where the verse says “life”: “as the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power.” The reading is the History’s. Four of his hearers took notes; switch to Scribal accounts to read them side by side.
Discourse, 7 April 1844 (the King Follett Discourse), Nauvoo · History, 1838–1856, vol. E-1, pp. 1970–1971 (History of the Church 6:304–306; Words of Joseph Smith, 340–362) · Joseph Smith Papers ↗Also recorded in the Joseph Smith Papers’ guide to the four accounts; the version published in the Times and Seasons, August 15, 1844.
… In order to understand the subject of the dead, for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary we should understand the character and being of God, and how he came to be so; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity; I will refute that idea, and will take away and do away the vail, so that you may see. These are incomprehensible ideas to some; but they are simple— it is the first principle of the Gospel, to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us— yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible. …
… What did Jesus say? (Mark it Elder [Sidney] Rigdon;) the scriptures inform us that Jesus said, ‘as the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the son power’, to do what? Why what the Father did; the answer is obvious, in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. Do you believe it? if you do not believe it, you do not believe the bible; the scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom, and all the combined powers of earth and hell together to refute it. …
… What did Jesus do? Why I do the things I saw my Father do, when worlds came rolling into existence. My Father worked out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same, and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father, so that he may obtain kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt Him in glory. He will then take a higher exaltation, and I will take his place, and thereby become exalted myself. So that Jesus treads in the tracks of his Father, and inherits what God did before; and God is thus glorified and exalted in the salvation and exaltation of all his children; it is plain beyond disputation, and you thus learn some of the first principles of the Gospel, about which so much hath been said.
Search the Scriptures: The Two Witnesses
Verse 39 has been read for centuries as though the written word were sufficient by itself. Nibley reads it the other way: the scripture and the living Lord stand side by side in this chapter, each testifying of the other, and Jesus’ argument is that having the one does not excuse refusing the other.
We have seen that the heroes of Israel identified themselves as emissaries of the Most High by bearing his rod before the eyes of those to whom they were sent, Jew or Gentile. In this connection the rod is also interchangeable with the scroll, for in the Middle Ages every Jew was required by Jewish law to carry a scroll of the law with him at all times as his identification and passport.121 The connection between staff and book is here not far to seek—the staff is a mark and token, symbolizing that by which the Jew is known to the world; the scroll is a step closer to home—it is almost the thing itself. The scripture, says Clement of Alexandria in an eloquent discourse on the subject, is the rod by which God teaches his people.122 The double function of the rod, said Gregory of Nyssen, is that of consolation and direction, which are the offices of the scripture for all believers.123 If the rod is the symbolic means by which Judah is identified and set apart from the rest of the world (and the use of such a symbol was regarded by the early Christians as a thing of great significance and secrecy), what is the means by which Judah is actually thus distinguished, that is, what is the real equivalent of the rod? It is the Bible, of course. In figurative language the Jews will recognize the Messiah by examining the rod: “Search the scriptures,”
Whose Voice They Never Heard
Barker hears verses 37–39 as an argument about which God the Hebrew scriptures were describing. “His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen” is, she argues, a pointed allusion to Deuteronomy’s claim that nothing was seen when the commandments were given, and the scriptures the Jews search bear witness not to the Father but to the Son, the LORD who had been seen.
John’s Jesus engaged the Jews on this very point of the second divinity when he was in Jerusalem for an unnamed feast. He distinguished between the Father and himself, and said that the Hebrew Scriptures referred not to the Father but to him. ‘[The Father’s] voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen’- an ironical allusion to the claim of Deuteronomy that the LORD was not seen when the commandments were given. ‘You search the scriptures... and it is they that bear witness to me’ (John 5.37 [John 5:6], 39). Similarly, Jesus said to the Jews in the temple: ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day; he saw it and was glad’ (John 8.56 [John 6:16]); and they replied: ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’. The first Christians understood the story in the same way as Jesus did: when the LORD appeared to Abraham at Mamre, this had been a pre-incarnation appearance of Jesus. Sozomenes, in fifth century Palestine, wrote this in his Church History: ‘It is recorded that [at Mamre] the Son of God appeared to Abraham with two angels... He who for the salvation of mankind was born of a Virgin, there manifested himself to a godly man.’ (History 2.4). This was why Constantine built a great basilica at Mamre. John himself explained that Isaiah had seen the pre-incarnate Jesus in his vision of the LORD enthroned in the temple amidst the seraphim: ‘Isaiah said this because he saw his glory and spoke of him’ (John 12.38-41 [John 8:4]). Isaiah said he had had seen the King, the LORD of Hosts’ (Isa.6.5 [Isa. 2:2]); John said he had seen the One who became incarnate in Jesus. John the Baptist too said he was preparing the way of the LORD, a quotation from Isaiah 40.3 [Isa. 14:1] which says the way of Yahweh. Jesus and his followers believed that he was the Son of God Most High, Yahweh, the LORD, a distinction that was lost after the work of the Deuteronomists. The early church proclaimed ‘Jesus is LORD’, and they meant ‘Jesus is Yahweh’.
In the Book of Revelation, the kingdom of the LORD and his Anointed One is established on earth as the Lady appears again in the temple to give birth to her son. This is the moment of judgement, and heavenly voices proclaim that the servants of the LORD are rewarded and the destroyers of the earth are destroyed (Rev.11.17-18 [Rev. 3:19]). This is also the moment when the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in her wings (Mal.4.2 [Mal. 1:10]).
Theodotus, the second century teacher whose work survives only as quotations in Clement of Alexandria, was condemned by later generations as a Gnostic. He taught about Jesus’ role in restoring the unity, just as John’s Jesus did in his final prayer after the last supper. This is what Theodotus said: They say that our angels were put forth as a unity and are One in that they came out from the One. Now since we existed in separation, Jesus was baptised that the undivided should be divided until he should unite us with them in the Fullness, that we, the many, having become one, might be mingled with the One which was divided for our sakes.11 And this is what John’s Jesus said: [I pray] that they may all be one, ; even as Thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17.21 [John 9:21]). Restoring the unity was a sign of divinity. But John’s Jesus also brought judgement: ‘[The Father] has given all judgement to the Son’ (John 5.22 [John 5:4]).
Theodotus is not telling us anything different from what Paul said in his message to the Ephesians.
For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Eph.1.9-10 [Eph. 1:2]). So too in his letter to the Colossians, Paul said that Christ holds all things together (Col.1.17 [Col. 1:4]). The secret of the kingdom was the secret of unity, restoring all things to their unity with God, and so Paul saw the future as the Son of God bringing all things into the kingdom – he called it subduing all things, the judgement – ‘that God may be all in all’ (1 Cor.15.28 [1 Cor. 1:63]).
Barker’s reading turns on the Joseph Smith Translation’s own emphasis at verse 37 (where the JST strengthens the line to “And truly I testify unto you that you have NEVER heard his voice at any time”), though she is reading the Greek, not the JST.