=45-47. Do not think that I will be your accuser before the Father.= The imagery is borrowed from the course of judicial proceedings. In the last judgment Christ will be judge (ver. 37), not public prosecutor.--=There is one that accuseth you.= Observe the present tense, _who is accusing you_. The law is a perpetual accusation against the sinner (Rom. 2:15; 3:19, 20), from whose indictments there is no escape except in the pardon offered by the grace of God through Jesus Christ. For prophetic and specific accusations of the Jewish nation in the Mosaic writings, see Deut. 31:21, 26.--=Even Moses.= The law-giver is put for the law.--=In whom ye have put your hopes.= (εἰς ὃν) For the meaning of _in whom_ (εἰς ὅν), see 2 Cor. 1:10. _In_ (εἰς) signifies the end toward which any action tends; with verbs indicating a mental action, the object of that action. The hopes of the Jews looked toward Moses, _i. e._, toward an exact obedience of the letter of the law given by Moses, not toward a spiritual communion with the Father whose children they were called to be. For a portrayal, autobiographically, of this legal and self-righteous hope, see Phil. 3:4-6.--=Had ye believed Moses.= Not believed _in_ or _on_ him; the child of God believes the prophets, he believes _in_ or _on_ Christ only. If the Jews had really believed Moses, even as a teacher, they would have believed _on_ Christ; for Moses testified of Christ.--=For he wrote of me.= An incidental testimony to the Mosaic authorship of the books usually attributed by the Jews to Moses, viz., the first five books of the O. T.; also an indication of the prophetic and typical character of the ceremonial law. Moses was a prophet because the entire O. T. ceremonial and service--temple sacrifices, ablutions, etc.--were prophecies, fulfilled in and by Christ. Thus Christ himself incidentally confirms that view of the O. T. ceremonial which underlies and is most fully expounded by the Epistle to the Hebrews.--=But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?= “The meaning is, Men give greater weight to what is written and published, the letter of a book, than to mere word of mouth; and ye in particular give greater honor to Moses than to Me: if then ye believe not what _he_ has written, which comes down to you hallowed by the reverence of ages, how can you believe the words which are uttered by _Me_, to whom ye are hostile? This however is not all; Moses leads to Christ; is one of the witnesses by which the Father hath testified of Him; ‘if then ye have rejected the _means_, how shall ye reach the _end_?’ If your unbelief has stopped the path, how shall ye arrive at Him to whom it leads?”--(_Alford._) CHAPTER VI. Ch. 6:1-15. FEEDING OF THE FIVE THOUSAND.--THE GRACE, THE BOUNTY, THE POWER, AND THE METHOD OF CHRIST ILLUSTRATED.