The Saints Gospel 35

The Son Gives Life

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After these things there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, having five porticoes. In these lay a multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, and those with withered limbs. And a certain man was there who had been in his illness for thirty-eight years. Jesus, seeing him lying there and knowing that he had already been that way a long time, said to him, “Do you want to become well?” The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no person to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am coming, someone else goes down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” And at once the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. Now it was a Sabbath on that day. So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is a Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up the mat.” But he answered them, “The One who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’”

So they asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” But the man who had been healed did not know who He was, for Jesus had slipped away, since there was a crowd in the place. After these things Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Behold, you have become well. Sin no more, so that something worse may not happen to you.” The man went away and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who made him well. And for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, because He did these things on a Sabbath. But He answered them, “My Father works until now, and I work.” For this reason, therefore, the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal to God.

So Jesus answered them, “Amen, amen, I tell you: the Son can do nothing from Himself unless He sees the Father doing it. For whatever He does, the Son also does these things in the same way. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He Himself does, and He will show Him works greater than these, so that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills. For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Amen, amen, I tell you: the one who hears My word and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Amen, amen, I tell 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.

“For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He also gave the Son to have life in Himself. And He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, because an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice and come out: those who did good things to a resurrection of life, but those who practiced base things to a resurrection of judgment. I can do nothing from Myself. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the One who sent Me.

“If I bear witness concerning Myself, My testimony is not true. There is Another who bears witness concerning Me, and I know that the testimony He bears concerning Me is true. You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth. But I do not receive testimony from a person; rather, I say these things so that you may be saved. He was the lamp that burned and shone, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light. But I have testimony greater than John’s: for the works the Father has given Me to complete, the very works I do, bear witness concerning Me that the Father has sent Me. And the Father who sent Me has Himself testified concerning Me. You have never heard His voice or seen His form, and you do not have His word remaining in you, because you do not believe the One He sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness concerning Me. Yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.

“I do not receive glory from people, but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within yourselves. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, receiving glory from one another, and not seeking the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, in whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote concerning Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”

← 34 The Bridegroom and the New Wine · The Saints Gospel: all scenes · 36 The Lord of the Sabbath →

Saints Translation · The Saints Gospel · a harmony of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts 1 · words of Christ in red · working draft awaiting specialist review.