What is the context?
Jesus continues by saying that His judgment is just because He seeks the will of the One who sent Him. He then turns to the testimony supporting His mission: John’s witness, the works the Father gives Him, the Father’s own testimony and the Scriptures.
His opponents have searched the Scriptures expecting life, yet refuse to come to the One to whom those Scriptures point. He also challenges their willingness to receive approval from one another while failing to seek God’s approval.
The chapter closes with Moses. They place their hope in him, but Jesus says that Moses wrote about Him. Their response to Jesus exposes a failure to receive what they claim to honor in Moses’ writings.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Christian readers commonly understand this as Jesus pointing to converging testimony about His identity, with Scripture study meant to lead people to receive Him. Calvin and Wesley both emphasize that refusing Christ misses the purpose of those writings. (Calvin on John 5:39–40; Wesley on John 5:39–40)
Wesley reads verse 39 as an instruction to search the Scriptures. The BSB presents it as a statement that His hearers already pore over them. Either way, the surrounding rebuke concerns their refusal to come to the One the Scriptures reveal; it does not make careful reading itself the problem. (Wesley on John 5:39; John 5:39–40 BSB)
Where does this fit in God's plan?
Moses promises a prophet through whom God will speak and whom the people must hear. In Acts, Peter directly applies that promise to Jesus and calls his hearers to turn back to God. This gives a specific New Testament connection between Moses’ writings and the mission of Christ. (Deuteronomy 18:15–19; Acts 3:18–23)
Peter also places that mission within God’s promise to Abraham that all families of the earth will be blessed, describing the blessing as God’s Servant turning people from wickedness. The goal of the testimony is therefore life with God and a changed direction, extending beyond the first hearers. (Acts 3:24–26)
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.