John 5:11

He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) He that made me whole.—The man bases the use of his power upon the will of Him who had given it. That has been the one divine voice he has heard, and it cannot be wrong for him to obey it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:10-16 Those eased of the punishment of sin, are in danger of returning to sin, when the terror and restraint are over, unless Divine grace dries up the fountain. The misery believers are made whole from, warns us to sin no more, having felt the smart of sin. This is the voice of every providence, Go, and sin no more. Christ saw it necessary to give this caution; for it is common for people, when sick, to promise much; when newly recovered, to perform only something; but after awhile to forget all. Christ spoke of the wrath to come, which is beyond compare worse than the many hours, nay, weeks and years of pain, some wicked men have to suffer in consequence of their unlawful indulgences. And if such afflictions are severe, how dreadful will be the everlasting punishment of the wicked!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He that made me whole - The man reasoned correctly. If Jesus had power to work so signal a miracle, he had a right to explain the law. If he had conferred so great a favor on him, he had a right to expect obedience; and we may learn that the mercy of God in pardoning our sins, or in bestowing any signal blessing, imposes the obligation to obey him. We should yield obedience to him according to what we Know to be his will, whatever may be the opinions of men, or whatever interpretation they may put on the law of God. our business is a simple, hearty, child-like obedience, let the men of the world say or think of us as they choose.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10-16. The Jews—that is, those in authority. (See on [1781]Joh 1:19.)

it is not lawful to carry thy bed—a glorious testimony to the cure, as instantaneous and complete, from the lips of the most prejudiced! (And what a contrast does it, as all our Lord's miracles, present to the bungling miracles of the Church of Rome!) In ordinary circumstances, the rulers had the law on their side (Ne 13:15; Jer 17:21). But when the man referred them to "Him that had made him whole" (Joh 5:11) as his authority, the argument was resistless. Yet they ingeniously parried the thrust, asking him, not who had "made him whole"—that would have condemned themselves and defeated their purpose—but who had bidden him "take up his bed and walk," in other words, who had dared to order a breach of the sabbath? It is time we were looking after Him—thus hoping to shake the man's faith in his Healer.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He makes them as good an answer as could well be imagined; the sum of which was, he believed that he that had thus healed him was a prophet, and so did what he did by a Divine authority, which it was lawful for him to obey, contrary to their traditions: though who this particular person was, or what his name was, were things as yet not known to him, (as we shall by and by read), yet he seemeth sensible that he was healed by a power more than human.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He answered them,.... That is, the impotent man, who was now made whole, replied to the Jews:

he that made me whole, the same said unto me, take up thy bed and walk; intimating, that he that had such divine power, as to make him whole, had power to dispense with the sabbath, and such an action on it; and that his word was warrant and authority sufficient, to support him in what he did; for he that had wrought this cure for him, he concluded must be from God; was at least a great prophet, and to be hearkened to and obeyed, in one thing as well as another.

Geneva Study Bible

He answered them, He that made me whole, the same said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 5:11. The man’s reply reveals a higher law than that of the Sabbath, the fundamental principle of all Christian obedience: Ὁ ποιήσας … περιπάτει. He that gives life is the proper authority for its use.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. He that made me whole] The man’s defiance of them in the first flush of his recovered health is very natural. He means, ‘if He could cure me of a sickness of 38 years He had authority to tell me to take up my bed.’ They will not mention the cure; he flings it in their face. There is a higher law than that of the Sabbath, and higher authority than theirs. Comp. the conduct of the blind man, chap. 9.

the same said unto me] Better, ‘He said to me,’ ‘He’ being emphatic: see on John 10:1.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 5:11. Εἶπεν, said) and indeed, as the fact showed, He had a right to say it. Jesus, along with healing, gave discernment to the man [agnitionem].

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - And he answered them, He that made me whole, that very same man (ἐκεῖνος,, "even he;" cf. for this use of the pronoun, John 1:18, 33; John 14:21, 26, etc.) said unto me, Take up thy bed, and walk. This was justification for him. The Prophet-like Healer must know what was right, and upon his shoulders the responsibility must rest. There was a rabbinic saying, which the cured man may or may not have heard, that conferred a dispensing power upon a prophet; but the marl could not have known with any certainty that such was Christ's official character. It is, moreover, clear that he did not know at this moment either the face, the voice, or the name. Meyer hears a ring of defiance in these words. The other hints we obtain touching the man's character do not sustain such an idea. John 5:11

Vincent's Word Studies

He that made - the same (ὁ ποιήσας - ἐκεῖνος)

The demonstrative pronoun points with emphasis to the subject of the preceding clause. A characteristic usage of John. See John 1:18, John 1:33; John 9:37; John 10:1; John 12:48, etc.