John 5:39
“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Jesus says that all the Scriptures point to Him, and that searching them rightly leads us to the One they are about.
Context
Jesus is speaking to leaders who have challenged Him in Jerusalem. They study the Scriptures intently, yet Jesus tells them their searching has missed its true aim, because the Scriptures themselves bear witness to Him standing before them.
What Does John 5:39 Mean?
Jesus speaks to people who loved the Scriptures and pored over every line, hoping to find life in them. He honors that searching, and then He shows them what it was always for. The Scriptures 'testify of me,' He says. They are like a witness in a courtroom, pointing past themselves to a person. These devoted students had the words by heart and yet were standing in front of the very One the words described, without seeing Him. The aim of all that study was to lead them home to Jesus.
This gives the whole of Scripture a center and a heart. From beginning to end it is leaning toward Christ, telling us who He is and preparing us to recognize Him. We can read every page, and the reading is meant to bring us all the way to Him, past mere information about Him. When we open the Scriptures looking for Jesus, we are reading them the way He says they were meant to be read, and we find that the living Word meets us in the written one.
In the Original Language
martureo (μαρτυρέω), 'testify' -- to bear witness, to give evidence as a witness does, the Scriptures pointing beyond themselves to Christ.
Application
From beginning to end, Scripture is leaning toward Christ and testifying of Him. When we open it looking for Jesus, we are reading it the way He says it was meant to be read. The living Word meets us in the written one, and the reading brings us home to Him.