Discovery BoxJohn 5:38-40 
Context5:38 nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent. 5:39 You study the scriptures thoroughly 1 because you think in them you possess eternal life, 2 and it is these same scriptures 3 that testify about me, 5:40 but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
1 tn Or “Study the scriptures thoroughly” (an imperative). For the meaning of the verb see G. Delling, TDNT 2:655-57.
2 sn In them you possess eternal life. Note the following examples from the rabbinic tractate Pirqe Avot (“The Sayings of the Fathers”): Pirqe Avot 2:8, “He who has acquired the words of the law has acquired for himself the life of the world to come”; Pirqe Avot 6:7, “Great is the law for it gives to those who practice it life in this world and in the world to come.”
3 tn The words “same scriptures” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the referent (“these”).
