What does John 5:14 mean? (2024)

FAQs

What does John 5:14 mean? ›

This statement clearly indicates that this man had sinned and continued to sin as a lifestyle. Jesus indicated that this man's sin brought on his paralysis. Continued sin may bring on a much worse condition. Evidently this sickness was connected to his sinful life. lest a worse thing come upon you.”

Clarke's Commentary

Verse John 5:14. Jesus findeth him in the temple — The man being conscious that it was through the mercy of God that he was restored, (though he did not as yet know distinctly who Christ was,) went to the temple to return thanks to God for his cure.

Here, however, Jesus' words seem to connect the man's prior condition to sin. It may have been that the man's disability was the result of personal choices. At the same time, Jesus may simply be reminding the man that there are worse things than being crippled, including the eternal penalties of sin (Luke 12:4–5).

The man at the pool also believed that he was in competition with others for healing—that only those who entered the water first after it was troubled could be restored to health. The belief that only a few can be healed can try to fool us as well.

Jesus wanted him to please God and be a blessing to others. So Jesus commanded him: “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” God created us to get up and walk, not to lie down in disappointment. Spiritually speaking, many people are lying down, paralyzed by their sins. God sent Jesus to save us from our sins.

Those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ can be absolutely sure that they are saved. Despite our failures and sins, God is forgiving. And, through Christ, we have the power to overcome the world's temptations to sin.

Jesus claims equality with God in works (John 5:19), in love (John 5:20), in judgment (John 5:22), and in honor (John 5:23). He also points out that eternal life comes only to those who believe in Him (John 5:23–24).

When John says in 1 John 3:6 that, “no one who abides in him keeps on sinning,” he means that no one who practices sin abides in God. So if we habitually, continually, constantly, joyfully and frequently practice any sin, we are not children of God.

How can God forgive us, even when we have committed the worst kinds of sin? The reason is simply because God loves us, despite our sin, and sent His Son into the world to make our salvation possible.

What is the spiritual meaning of the pool of Bethesda? ›

The pool is believed to have been used throughout history for ritualistic baths as well as a place where invalids waited to step into the pool for healing. The Bethesda Pool where Jesus healed the paralytic man believed to have been a mikveh, or ritual bath, in the time of Christ.

The man could not stand or walk because his legs did not work properly. He was sad because he had been unable to walk for thirty-eight years. Every time the water bubbled up the man tried to get to it and touch it but he could not. He was also sad because he had no friends to carry him to the pool.

Tradition had it that when the waters of the pool moved, or were troubled by an angel (verse 4), the first person immersed in the water would be completely healed.

The New Testament names only two archangels or angels, Michael and Gabriel (Luke 1:9–26; Jude 1:9; Revelation 12:7), but Raphael, because of his association with healing, became identified with the unnamed angel of John 5:1–4 who periodically stirred the pool of Bethesda "[a]nd he that went down first into the pond ...

He is merely seeking just another ἄνθρωπον to carry and put him in the pool so that he might be made well. The lame man perceives his predicament as one of lacking someone who could carry him to the pool when the water was stirred.

'” symbolizes that we have the power over those things which once we were dependent on. The paralyzed man had been dependent on his mat until God called him to action. The LORD will make you the head, not the tail…..you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.

It means that God won't change His mind about what he has called you to do. If God has called you, that calling is still there, whether or not you have obeyed. And if God gave you a gift, that gift is still there! Whatever God has called you to do, He has also gifted you to do it.

To humble oneself is to acknowledge God as Lord and to obey as servant. In order to do so, then, the Son had to take “the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7). “We, as creatures, must obey our Creator, and he, as our brother, did the same.”

Sober-mindedness, according to Peter, means living with a single-minded focus. What is that focus? “Being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It means this; sober-mindedness is living with eternity in view.