John 5:47
“But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?””
What does John 5:47 mean?
Jesus is pointing out a hard truth about how we listen and learn. He's saying that if someone won't trust what Moses wrote in the scriptures, they won't be able to trust what Jesus himself is saying to them either, because the same barrier stands in the way. It's less about blaming someone and more about recognizing that our willingness to believe is connected to our openness to God's word as a whole. When we close ourselves off to scripture, we close ourselves off to hearing from God in any form, including through Jesus. The underlying message is gentle but honest: belief isn't isolated from one moment to the next, but flows from a posture of trust we bring to what God says.