John 5:40 means that eternal life is found in coming to Jesus personally, not merely in studying the Scriptures that point to him. Jesus says the people in front of him refuse to come to him so that they might have life. The words are a sharp rebuke, spoken by Jesus to the religious leaders of Jerusalem who were examining the Old Testament closely yet rejecting the one it described.
Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
John 5:40 (WEB)
What John 5:40 Means
The verse begins with “Yet you will not,” which signals refusal, not inability. Jesus is not saying these people lacked the capacity to respond. He is saying they were choosing to stay where they were. The contrast with the previous verse is deliberate: they search the Scriptures, but they will not take the step the Scriptures were pointing toward.
“Come to me” is the central action. In John’s Gospel, coming to Jesus means trusting him, receiving him, and entrusting oneself to him. It is more than admiring his teaching or agreeing with his miracles. The phrase “that you may have life” names the goal. Life here is not mainly a long lifespan but the eternal life John describes throughout his book, a relationship with God that begins now and continues forever.
The verse does not promise that any person who reads the Bible will automatically gain life, nor does it say that studying Scripture is worthless. It warns that Scripture can become a substitute for the person it reveals. Jesus is naming a danger he sees in his listeners: knowing the text well while missing the One the text is about.
The Context of John 5:40
John’s Gospel was written to lead readers to belief in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God, and to show them the life that comes through that belief (John 20:31). Chapter 5 follows the healing of a man at the pool of Bethesda on the Sabbath, which provoked a conflict with the Jewish leaders. Jesus responds by claiming a unique relationship with the Father, and verses 37 to 39 describe the witness God has given to him, including the Scriptures.
Just before verse 40, Jesus tells his opponents that God’s word does not live in them because they do not believe the one God sent. Just after, he says he does not seek human glory and knows they lack God’s love in themselves. Read in that sequence, verse 40 is the center of a argument about where life truly comes from, and it shows that the problem is not a shortage of religious knowledge but a refusal to come to the source of it.
Key Phrases in John 5:40
John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.
(WEB)
In this verse Jesus says that he is the bread of life and that whoever comes to him will never hunger. It expands the idea of coming to Jesus from John 5:40 and links coming with the satisfying of the deepest needs of the soul.
John 20:31
But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
(WEB)
This verse explains the purpose of John’s Gospel, that readers would believe and have life in Jesus’ name. It shows that the life Jesus offers is the goal the whole book was written to bring about.
A Short Prayer From John 5:40
Lord Jesus, you know how easily I can study your word and still keep my heart at a distance from you. Forgive me for the times I have treated Scripture as a subject to master rather than a path that leads to you. Draw me closer today, and help me come to you with trust, not only with questions. Give me the life you promise, and let it shape how I read, pray, and live. I ask this in your name. Amen.
