John 5:25 teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, and that his voice brings spiritual life to people who are spiritually dead. Those who hear and believe him are made alive now, not only at some later time. The verse is spoken by Jesus himself, in a dispute with Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem about his authority to heal on the Sabbath and to speak as God’s own Son.
Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live.
John 5:25 (WEB)
What John 5:25 Means
Jesus begins with “Most certainly, I tell you,” a formal way of saying “pay close attention, this is solemn and true.” He then says “the hour comes, and now is,” pointing to two moments at once: a future time when the dead will be raised, and the present moment in which his ministry is already producing that life. The phrase “the dead” refers to people who are spiritually cut off from God, not only to those in graves. To “hear” in this sense means to listen with trust and obey, not merely to notice a sound.
The verse promises that those who hear will live, and it places that life in the present tense of Jesus’s own ministry. It does not promise that every listener will automatically respond, and it does not describe a mechanical result. It describes what happens when a person truly responds to the voice of the Son of God. It also does not describe physical resurrection here; that is the subject of the verse that follows in verse 28.
The Context of John 5:25
John’s Gospel was written by the apostle John, traditionally identified as the disciple Jesus loved, and it was probably completed toward the end of the first century. Its aim, stated near the end of the book, is that readers would believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and have life in his name. The audience is both Jewish and Gentile, and John repeatedly presents Jesus in a running debate with the religious authorities over identity, authority and the meaning of Israel’s Scriptures.
Verses 22 to 24 set up the verse directly. Jesus says the Father has committed all judgment to the Son, so that people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Verse 24 gives the principle that anyone who hears Jesus’s word and believes the one who sent him already has eternal life and has passed from death to life. Verse 25 applies that principle in a broader way, and verses 26 to 28 explain why: the Father has life in himself and has given that same life to the Son. Read this way, verse 25 is not a stray statement about the afterlife but the center of a careful argument about who Jesus is.
Key Phrases in John 5:25
John 5:24
“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
(WEB)
This verse comes just before John 5:25 and states the principle behind it: whoever hears Jesus’s word and believes the Father who sent him already has eternal life. Reading it first helps you see that the hearing in verse 25 is the same trusting response.
John 11:25-26
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26 Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
(WEB)
Here Jesus tells Martha that he is the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believes in him will live even after dying. The passage shows the same connection between Jesus’s personal authority and the promise of life that John 5:25 describes.
A Short Prayer From John 5:25
Lord Jesus, Son of God, I confess that I often live as though I can hear your voice someday, when things calm down or when I feel ready. Today I want to listen now. Speak to the places in me that feel dead or numb, and bring your life into them. Where I have been afraid or distracted, quiet me so that I can hear what you are saying to me.
Thank you that your voice is not weak or distant, but carries the life of the Father. Help me to trust your word more than my feelings, and to respond with real obedience when I hear you. Make me alive in you today, and let the life you give show itself in how I speak, work and love. Amen.
