Discovery BoxJohn 5:39 
Context5:39 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,
John 5:46-47
Context5:46 If 4 you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 5:47 But if you do not believe what Moses 5 wrote, how will you believe my words?”
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”).
4 tn Grk “For if.”
5 tn Grk “that one” (“he”); the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
