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NASB | John 5:24 ¶ "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 5:24 ¶ "I assure you and most solemnly say to you, the person who hears My word [the one who heeds My message], and believes and trusts in Him who sent Me, has (possesses now) eternal life [that is, eternal life actually begins--the believer is transformed], and does not come into judgment and condemnation, but has passed [over] from death into life. |
Bible Question:
I am a bible study lead and have been posed a difficult question, or at least I think it to be difficult. Please help: In John 5:24, Jesus states that those who hear his word and believe in God (who sent him) have eternal life and do not come into judgment, but pass out of death into life. In John 5:28-29, Jesus states that those in their graves will hear his voice, those that have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will be condemned. John 5:24 agrees well with John 3:16, but John 5:28-29 implies works will be judged (done good vs. done evil). Since John 5:24 states that those who are saved bypass judgment, to whom were versus 5:28-29 directed and for what purpose? This reads as if there are two avenues to eternal life - being saved and by deeds. Clearly, deeds is a risky path since it is a grave mistake for man to believe that he can deem what is good and evil, but I was looking for others opinions of this text. Thank You in advance. |
Bible Answer: This whole event (John 5:1-29) took place in Jerusalem in front of many types of people. Some of those people were Jews. Because of the Old Covenant, the Jews based everything on works directly. Jesus had just finished healing a man when he goes into a discussion on His equality with God and finally His discussion about two resurrections. While the Bible clearly teaches that we are not saved by works (see Ephesians 2:8-9), verses 28-29 of John 5 are not a contridiction or another avenue to heaven. If we look on to Ephesians 2:10, we see that we are saved for a purpose. And according to verse 10, that is for "good works." So basically, John 5:28-29 talks of one of the differences between the saved and the unsaved (i.e. good works). James 2:18 says "show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works." Hope this helps, Jay |