John 5:39

5:39 You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,

John 5:46

5:46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.

tn Or “Study the scriptures thoroughly” (an imperative). For the meaning of the verb see G. Delling, TDNT 2:655-57.

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.”

tn The words “same scriptures” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the referent (“these”).

tn Grk “For if.”