For
this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
John 5:18-23
John 5 [14.] Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
John 5 [15.] The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires. For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
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. 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. For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself. He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
Meaning:
After healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus defended himself by saying, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too” (John 5:17). The leaders understood exactly what he meant, and these verses record both their fury and Jesus’ reply. It is one of the fullest statements in the Gospels of the relationship between the Father and the Son.
- “Making himself equal with God”
Jews often spoke of God as the Father of Israel, but Jesus called God “my Father” in a unique and personal way, and he claimed the right to work on the Sabbath just as God does. God’s creative work had rested on the seventh day, yet he never stopped sustaining the world, giving life and judging. By putting his own work alongside the Father’s, Jesus claimed a status no mere man could claim. His opponents drew the right conclusion, though they judged it wrongly. Later they would say, “you, being a man, make yourself God” (John 10:33). John had declared from the start, “the Word was God” (John 1:1), and Paul writes that Christ, “existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped” (Philippians 2:6).
- “The Son can do nothing of himself”
Jesus does not deny their charge; he explains it. He is not a rival god acting independently; he acts in perfect unity with the Father. In a family workshop a son learned his father’s trade by watching and copying him. So the Son does “what he sees the Father doing,” and “whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.” This is not weakness but perfect oneness: “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
- “The Father has affection for the Son”
The Father hides nothing from the Son but “shows him all things.” The “greater works” to come will go beyond healing a lame man: raising the dead and judging the world.
- “Even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires”
In the Old Testament, giving life is God’s own work: “I kill and I make alive” (Deuteronomy 32:39). Jesus claims to do the same, by his own will. He raised a widow’s son at Nain (Luke 7:14) and Jairus’ daughter (Mark 5:41), and he would raise Lazarus, declaring, “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). He also gives spiritual life now to all who believe (John 5:24-25).
- “He has given all judgment to the Son”
Judging the world was also God’s work. Yet the Father has entrusted it to the Son. Paul preached that God “has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained” (Acts 17:31).
- “That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father”
This is the purpose: the Son is to receive the same honour as the Father. To refuse honour to Jesus is to dishonour God who sent him, as John writes: “Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father” (1 John 2:23).
The Significance of John 5:18-23
- Knowing God through Jesus
We cannot honour God while ignoring his Son. Jesus said, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
- Life and judgment in his hands
Jesus holds the power of life and judgment. We can trust him for life and must take his words seriously.
Cross-References:
John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The divine Son.
John 10:30: “I and the Father are one.” The unity of Father and Son.
Deuteronomy 32:39: “I kill and I make alive.” Giving life belongs to God.
Philippians 2:6: “Existing in the form of God, didn’t consider equality with God a thing to be grasped.” Christ’s equality with God.
Conclusion: In John 5:18-23 the leaders seek to kill Jesus because he calls God his own Father and makes himself equal with God. Jesus answers that the Son does nothing on his own but does whatever the Father does, that he gives life to whom he wills, and that the Father has given him all judgment so that all may honour the Son as they honour the Father. The passage reveals Jesus’ unique unity with the Father and calls everyone to honour him as Lord.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible