John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
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Jesus is speaking to Jews, His own people, that seek to kill Him.
He has just healed a man on the sabbath, which angers them. But even worse, calling God His father, He has made himself equal with God!
Some combination of pride, envy, and zeolous commitment to meaningless (and unbiblical) tradition were fueling their charges of blasphemy.
Jesus himself speaks of their motives here and in other places throughout the gospels.
Whatever their motives, their anger had no basis. They were wrong.
Jesus challenges them, not to simply trust Him, but to search the scriptures. To confirm, based on Old Testament prophecy, His identity as the Messiah.
He ought to be trusted, because the scriptures, in numerous and specific ways, speak of Him.
There would be no eternal life for these Jews or for anyone else, without Him – the Son of God, come to be the perfect, sinless sacrifice for our sin.
John 5:39 “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”