For had you believed Moses, you would have believed me: for he wrote of me.
All Commentaries on John 5:46 Go To John 5
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
For if ye had believed Moses, perchance (Vulg.) ye would also have believed Me. Perchance; so the Vulgate often translates the Greek, άν: but it is here used in the sense of assuredly. It is an expression of confirmation, not of doubt. "Assuredly ye would have believed Me." Hence some copies omit the word perchance.
For he wrote of Me: both in Leviticus , and the whole Pentateuch; for all his ceremonies and narrations prefigured Me. Also he clearly and expressly wrote of Me ( Deuteronomy 18:15-18), saying, "The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him."
Again Moses wrote of Christ ( Genesis 49:10), when he speaks of the time at which Messiah was to come. "The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah, nor a leader from his thigh, until He that is to be sent shall come: and the same shall be the expectation of the nations" (Vulg.)
For already the sceptre had failed from Jacob, and had been transferred to Herod. Therefore it was the time of Messiah"s Advent.
