John 5:47 Meaning: Believing Moses Points to Christ

Two words stand in contrast here. The 'writings' of Moses are gramma in Greek. It means something written down, a document. For the Jewish leaders, gramma meant the sacred Scriptures, especially the books of Moses, which they treated as the highest authority. Jesus uses their own reverence for the written Word to press them. The 'words' Jesus speaks are rhema, which means a spoken saying or declaration. The point is not that writings are better than spoken words. The emphasis falls on whose words they are: his writings (Moses) versus my words (Jesus). The verb for believing appears twice. In Greek the first is present tense: you do not believe Moses’ writings. The second is future: will you believe my words? The present tense suggests a continuous refusal. The future tense asks what will happen when the spoken word of Christ confronts them directly. The logic of the question is built on what they already claim to accept. If the foundation (Moses) has not really been trusted, the building (Christ) has no chance.

Christian readers have understood this verse in different ways that all point to the same truth. John Calvin noted that Jesus accommodates His argument to the high view the Jews held of Moses, not because Moses is greater, but because they would listen to what they already trusted. The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges points out that the contrast is between Moses and Christ, not between writings and words. The emphasis is on 'his' versus 'My.' Matthew Henry sees the argument as unanswerable: if they reject the testimony of the man they claim to follow, they have no ground to receive the One he wrote about. Lange observes that Moses is easier for beginners and that through him people come to Christ. Across these traditions, the shared conviction is that the Old Testament serves as a preparation that points to Jesus, and rejecting its clear testimony is a refusal to follow where it leads.

A common misreading is that Jesus is saying Moses is more trustworthy than He is, or that the Old Testament matters more than the New. In fact, Jesus is not lowering His own authority. He is using the leaders’ own commitment against them. They profess to believe Moses, but Moses wrote about the Messiah. If they truly believed Moses, they would recognize Jesus. The problem is not with Moses or Scripture; it is with their hardened hearts. The verse shows how closely the Old and New Testaments are tied together. One leads to the other.

This week, try this simple practice. Before you read any passage from the Old Testament, pause and ask: 'Where does this point to Jesus?' Not every verse will show Him directly, but the whole story leads to Him. The Jewish leaders had the Scriptures but missed the Saviour. They treated the writings as an end in themselves. You and I can do the same thing, treating the Bible as a rulebook or a collection of moral stories, while missing the Person it reveals. Let the words of Moses and the prophets do what they were meant to do: lead you to trust the Word made flesh.