Who Are the Dead Who Hear? (John 5:25)

Truly, truly, I tell you, the hour is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
— John 5:25 (MSB)

Can someone who died without believing in Jesus still hear Him and believe?

I used to think so. I was part of the New Apostolic Church. This past Sunday, 1 November 2026, Chief Apostle Helge Mutschler held the service for the departed in Tuttlingen, and this verse was the Bible text. The report of the service says the departed could hear the voice of Jesus Christ, and that "change for the better is possible in the hereafter too".

I understand why that is comforting. But it is not what Jesus is saying.

John 5:25 is about living people who are spiritually dead. They hear Jesus and come alive, now. It does not offer a second chance after the grave. I now believe death is the last opportunity to believe on Jesus.

The passage itself shows it, in three ways. Read it whole here: John 5:16-30.

1. The Verse Before It Is About the Living

Jesus had just healed the invalid on the Sabbath,^[1] and by calling God His own Father (v17) He claimed equality with God. So He builds a case that He is God: "whatever the Father does, the Son also does" (v19). The Father raises the dead (v21),^[2] and "has assigned all judgment to the Son" (v22).

Then He says who is saved from that judgment:

Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
— John 5:24 (MSB)

Every indication here points to physically living people. They hear His word. They believe. They have already crossed from death to life. Verse 25 comes next.

2. The Hour "Has Now Come"

The dead of verse 25 hear in an hour that "has now come." They are the spiritually dead. Peter, Andrew and the others had heard His voice and come alive.

3. The Graves Come Later, and No One There Is Invited to Believe

Only after this does Jesus speak of the physically dead, and He marks the change:

Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
— John 5:28 (MSB)

This hour is only "coming," not "now." Those in the graves come out "those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment" (v29). Nothing here invites them to believe. They are judged by what they have done.

Matthew Henry Saw the Same Two Hours

Writing three hundred years ago, he put it simply: "The time was come when the dead should hear his voice, as the Son of God, and live. Our Lord first refers to his raising those who were dead in sin, to newness of life, by the power of the Spirit, and then to his raising the dead in their graves."^[3]

Don't Take My Word for It

You may be thinking: the Bible is right, the Chief Apostle is right, and if I can't see how, the fault is mine.

So don't take my word. I'm no apostle. But the Chief Apostle didn't only tell us about the departed: he opened the Bible and read this verse. The catechism says, "Holy Scripture is the foundation for the doctrine of the New Apostolic Church." So read what he pointed to. Six verses, one minute. When is the hour in verse 25? Who hears in verse 28? Is anyone in verse 29 asked to believe?

You don't need training for this. When Paul taught in Berea, the people "examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true," and Luke calls them noble for it. An apostle was checked, and that was good. Even Peter was corrected by the truth of the gospel, and the catechism says the Chief Apostle holds Peter's office.

So one question, and only you can answer it: if the Bible says one thing and an apostle another, which do you follow? If it's the apostle, then the Bible isn't your authority.

Where I Stand

No one can stand when the Lord appears.^[4] But those who have truly repented and believe in Him will be saved at that judgment.^[5]

My earlier post on Hebrews 9:27 stands as my look at that verse. The other texts the New Apostolic Church points to (1 Peter 3:19, 1 Peter 4:6 and 1 Corinthians 15:29) will each get their own post.^[6]

John 5:25 offers life, now, to anyone who hears His voice today.

The hour has come, and it is still here.