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A , a a ~ ~ 14. Mera ταῦτα εὑρίσκει αὐτὸν 6 ᾿Ιησοῦς ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ,
«δε ὑγιὴς Ὑέγονας' µηκέτι ἁμάρτανε, ἵνα μὴ χεῖρόν τί σοι
yévntar. 15. ᾿Απῆλθεν ὁ Li. 40. ὅτι “Ingods | ἐστιν 6 * k ver. 15; Vii. 13, αὐτὸν ἀποκτεῖναι,ὶ n ii. IO. O Vil. 23; Χ. 5 , 3» 35. Mt. ἐργάζομαι. ν. Ig.
1 The clause eat... posed to have been derived from ver. 18. this clause be read.
Though the healed man had failed to keep hold of Jesus, Jesus does not lose hold of him, but εὑρίσκει αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ, “finds him,” as if He had been looking out for him, cf. i. 44, 46, “in the temple,’’ where he may have gone to give God thanks. Jesus says to him δε ὑγιὴς γέγονας . . . Ὑένηται. µηκέτι ἀμάρτανε, present imperative, “‘ continue no longer in sin”. yxetpov. There is then some worse consequence of sin than thirty-eight years’ misery and useless- ness. Apparently Jesus feared that health of body might only lead the man to further sin. His physical weakness was seemingly the result of sin, cf. Mark ii. 5-10. Jesus is not satisfied with giving him physical health. Oscar Holtzmann observes that we have here the two lead- ing Pauline ideas, that the Saviour frees from many O.T. precepts, and yet that His emancipation is a call to strive against sin (¥ohan., p. 60).—Ver. 15. ἀπῆλθεν 6 ἄνθρωπος. “ The man went off and reported to the Jews that the person who healed him was Jesus. He had asked His name, and perhaps did not consider that in proclaiming it he was endangering his benefactor.—Ver. 16. The consequence however was that “‘ the Jews persecuted Jesus,” ἐδίωκον, not in the technical sense ; but, as the imperfect also suggests, they began from this point to meditate hostile action; cf. Mark iii. 6. καὶ ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν ἀποκ- τεῖναι, on the ground that He was a Sabbath-breaker, and therefore worthy of death; ὅτι ταῦτα ἐποίει ἐν σαββάτῳ. The plural and the imperfect show that the cure of the impotent man was not the only case they had in view. Their allies in the provinces had made them acquainted with similar cases. It would almost seem as if He was in the habit of
@ a ὅτι ταῦτα ἐποίει ἐν σαββάτῳ.
ἄνθρωπος, καὶ ἀνήγγειλε τοῖς ουδαίοις, 4 . ἃ 3 ~
ποιήσας αὐτὸν ὑγιῆ.
16. Καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἐδίωκον τὸν ᾿Ιησοῦν ot ᾽Ιουδαῖοι, καὶ ἐζήτουν
17. ὁ δὲ Ιησοῦς
, a ἀπεκρίνατο αὐτοῖς, ““O πατήρ µου ” ἕως ἄρτι ἐργάζεται, κἀγὼ 18. Ata τοῦτο οὖν μᾶλλον ἐζήτουν αὐτὸν οἱ ᾿Ιουδαῖοι ἀποκτεῖναι, ὅτι οὐ µόνον "ἔλυε τὸ σάββατον, ἀλλὰ καὶ πατέρα
αποκτειναι is found in A, but not in S$BCDL, and is sup-
But µαλλον in ver. 18 is pointless unless
thus signalising the Sabbath.—Ver. 17. In some informal way these accusations were brought to the ears of Jesus, and His defence was: ‘O πατήρ pov... ἐργάζομαι. ‘My Father until now works, and I work”; as if the work of the Father had not come to an end on the seventh day, but coritinued until the present hour. Nay, as ifthe characteristic of the Father were just this, that He works. Philo perceived the same truth ; παύεται οὐδέποτε ποιῶν ὁ Beds ἀλλ' ὥσπερ ἴδιον τὸ καίειν πυρὸς καὶ χίονος τὸ ψύχειν, οὕτω καὶ Θεοῦ τὸ ποιεῖν. God never stops working, for as it is the property of fire to burn and of snow to be cold so of God to work (De allegor., ii. See Schoettgen in Joc.). Jesus means them to apprehend that there is no Sabbath, such as they suppose, with God, and that this healing of the im- potent was God’s work. The Father does not rest from doing good on the Sabbath day, and I as the Father’s hand also do good on the Sabbath. Incharging Him with breaking the Sabbath (ver. 18), it was God they charged with breaking it. But this exasperated them the more “ be- cause He not only was annulling (ἔλνε, ‘laws, as having binding force, are likened to bonds, hence λύειν is to annul, subvert, deprive of authority,’ Thayer) the Sab- bath, but also said that God was His own Father, making Himself equal to God”. The Jews found in 6 πατήρ pov (ver. 17) and the implication in kayo ἐργάζομαι a claim to some peculiar and exclusive (ἴδιον) sonship on the part of Jesus; that He claimed to be Son of God not in the sense in which other men are, but in a sense which involved equality with God. Starting from this, Jesus took occasion to untold His relation to the Father so far as it concerned men to know it.