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Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.
John 5:45 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB “Don’t think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
  • KJV Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.
  • NKJV Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust.
  • NASB Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.
  • NLT “Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Jesus will not accuse them; Moses, in whom they hoped, accuses them. The law they trusted condemns their unbelief.

Overview

Ironically, the very Moses on whom the leaders rested their hope stands as their accuser. The law itself testifies against those who reject the one it foreshadowed. This warns that misplaced confidence in religious heritage cannot save apart from faith in Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 12

  • Gal 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
  • Rom 3:19–20Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
  • 2 Cor 3:7–11Now if the ministry of death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at the face of Moses because of its fleeting glory,
  • Rom 2:12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.
  • Rom 10:5–10For concerning the righteousness that is by the law, Moses writes: “The man who does these things will live by them.”
  • John 9:28–29Then they heaped insults on him and said, “You are His disciple; we are disciples of Moses.
  • Rom 2:17–29Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;
  • John 7:19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
  • Matt 19:7–8“Why then,” they asked, “did Moses order a man to give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
  • John 8:5–6In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”
  • Rom 7:9–14Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.
  • John 8:9When they heard this, they began to go away one by one, beginning with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman standing there.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 5:45YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 5:45 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.