Devine Scripture

John 5:46

What does John 5:46 mean?

A plain-English look at John 5:46 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What John 5:46 means

“For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.” Jesus claims that Moses’ writings anticipate Him. The Law contains seeds and shadows that find fulfillment in Christ. Therefore, unbelief in Jesus reveals unbelief in Moses at a deeper level. True reception of Scripture leads to the Messiah. This is a Christ-centered hermeneutic: all God’s earlier revelation aimed toward the coming of the Son. Jesus here asserts continuity, not contradiction, between Himself and Moses. The implication is that the leaders’ claim to trust Moses is hollow, since it does not culminate in embracing the One to whom Moses pointed.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

If you had belief in Moses you would have belief in me; for his writings are about me.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

for if ye were believing Moses, ye would have been believing me, for he wrote concerning me;

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

For if you did believe Moses, you would perhaps believe me also: for he wrote of me.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

for if ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me.

Context

Following the statement that Moses accuses them (verse 45), Jesus explains why: Moses wrote about Him. This intensifies the charge that their rejection of Jesus is a rejection of the very Scriptures they esteem most. The final verse (47) will press the logic further: if they do not believe Moses’ writings, how will they believe Jesus’ words? The discourse thus closes by rooting Jesus’ identity and mission in the Old Testament, drawing together the themes of witness—works, Father, Scriptures—and exposing unbelief as a failure to grasp Scripture’s true intention, which is to lead to the Son for life.

v.45Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.

v.46This passage

v.47But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • Galatians 3:13

    Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

  • Deuteronomy 18:18

    I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

  • Galatians 3:10

    For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.

  • Genesis 3:15

    and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

  • Galatians 4:21

    Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?

  • Galatians 3:24

    So that the law is become our tutor to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

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