Limitless Word
“Yet it isn’t I who will accuse you before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, in whom you put your hopes.
John 5:45 · New Living Translation
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.
  • BSB Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have put your hope.
  • 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.

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 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
  • Rom 3:19–20Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.
  • 2 Cor 3:7–11But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:
  • Rom 2:12For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without the law. As many as have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
  • Rom 10:5–10For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.”
  • John 9:28–29They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
  • Rom 2:17–29Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, and glory in God,
  • John 7:19Didn’t Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill me?”
  • Matt 19:7–8They asked him, “Why then did Moses command us to give her a bill of divorce, and divorce her?”
  • John 8:5–6Now in our law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What then do you say about her?”
  • Rom 7:9–14I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
  • John 8:9They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Jesus was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

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.