John 5:39

39. Search the Scriptures Whether the word search should be, as it is in our translation, imperative, or whether it should be in the indicative, is a matter on which commentators differ. We prefer the indicative. It is one of a series of indicatives, in the plural second person, both preceding and succeeding. It is given as a proof of the last preceding proposition. John 5:38 says the word abides not in you, since ye believe not Him whom the word declares. John 5:39, expanding and confirming the same thought, says, Ye do indeed search the Scriptures, because ye think therein is eternal life; and yet, though they contain me, ye will not come to me to obtain that same eternal life revealed by them as being in me.