Verse Archives John 5:5-9a And a certain man was there, who had been thirty eight years in his sickness. When Jesus saw this one lying there and knew that he had already been a long time in that condition, He said to him, Do you want to get well? The sick man answered Him, Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me. Jesus said to him, Rise, take up your mat and walk. And immediately the man became well, and he took up his mat and walked. Note: There was a means for healing in the religion of law keeping, but it did not profit the impotent man, because he had no strength to fulfill the law's requirements. The law keeping in religion depends on man's effort, man's doing, man's make-up. Since man is impotent, the law keeping in religion becomes ineffective. The holy city, the holy temple, the feast, the Sabbath, the angels, Moses, and the Scriptures are all good things of this religion, but they could do nothing for this impotent man. In the eyes of the Lord he was a dead person (v. 25), in need not only of healing but also of enlivening. With the Lord's enlivening there is no requirement. The impotent man heard His voice and was enlivened (v. 25) - Verse and Note taken from The Recovery Version New Testament