John 5:19-23

¹⁹Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all he does. Yes, to your amazement He will show Him even greater things than these. ²¹For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He is pleased to give it. ²²Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent Him.

Through the rest of this chapter, we see Jesus elaborating on His statement in v17. He is taking the first of several opportunities to teach necessary truths about Himself. Having offended the Pharisees by claiming to work as God works, He describes just how He relates to the Father. Beginning with, “I tell you the truth” (“Truly, truly,” or “Verily, verily”), He’s calling His audience to the closest of attention. And this a bold move, considering how infuriating His claims must have been to the Jews. Instead of backing down at their offense, He enrages them further, effectively saying, “You’re persecuting Me for what I’ve done by healing this man on the Sabbath day? You haven’t seen anything yet! You don’t know anything about Me, so let Me tell you who I am. You want something to get angry about?” And Jesus goes on to make new claims that far exceed the simple statement that first angered the Jews:

V19 – Jesus never acts independently of the Father; v20 – Jesus possesses intimate knowledge of the Father’s ways; v21 – Jesus is able to give sinners new life; v22 – Jesus is going to judge mankind; and v23 – All this will be for the purpose that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Forget about this healing on the Sabbath day – it’s merely incidental. On that glorious day when the Father is glorified and honored, the Son will be receiving that glory and honor in the same way. Jesus is practically demanding worship from these Jews – and rightly so. It’s offensive to them.

When Jesus says, “The Son can do nothing by Himself,” liberal theologians point out that the Son is inferior to the Father; but Jesus’ point is that the Son’s will is united to the Father’s inseparably, such that while the Son is in the flesh, He will certainly and undoubtedly finish the Father’s work He has been given to complete. This work to lose none that the Father gives Him is a great testimony to the eternal covenant of redemption. His intention was to refute the Jews who were endeavoring to contrast Him with God. He therefore affirms that He does nothing by human power, because He has for His guide and director God who dwells in Him. When Jesus says, “The Father shows the Son all He does,” Calvin offers a paraphrase. It is as if Jesus said, “As the Father has given to Me His heart, so He hath poured out His power on Me, that the Divine glory may shine in My works, and – what is more – that men may seek nothing Divine but what they find in Me.” And when Jesus says, “The Father will show Him even greater things than these,” He is pointing out that the healing of the crippled man would pale in comparison to His great work of restoring true life (sinless glory) to all of creation. Of course, we know that most were hardened to the glory of Christ. So when He said, “To your amazement,” He was not prophesying of their awe before Him later in His ministry; rather, He was speaking of the splendor of the demonstration He would give regarding His Sonship to the Father.

Finally, note v21. Jesus declares Himself to be the Author of life, containing within itself not only righteousness, but all the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and every part of our salvation. He raises the dead, and that is wonderful, but it’s not enough. He also gives life. Jesus will later say in John 10:10, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Jesus does not speak of this life as bestowed indiscriminately on all; rather He gives life to whom He is pleased to give it, to whom He will, that is, the elect.

A simple summary would be what Jesus will later say, “I and the Father are One” (John 10:30). But notice the way Jesus explains that here. He is saying that He has been watching the Father and is only doing what He has seen the Father do. He’s imitating His Daddy. My son does that, and it’s a great feeling. “I wanna be just like You, cause he wants to be just like me.” And the Father has a great feeling seeing His Son do what He does. The Father and Son are so essentially united, that Jesus is unable to do anything but what the Father wills and does. The Son, having seen and been with the Father, knows God’s will, and does it perfectly. The Father loves the Son and gives Him the work of redemption to do. In this work, the Son is accomplishing the will of the Father by doing the same things the Father does, namely as v21 declares, raising the dead and giving life to His chosen ones.

The Father and Son have perfect unity, yet diversity of offices. The Father makes known His will to the Son, and the Son is authorized to carry out judgment, including the final judgment of mankind. In this realm, along with the Son’s authority to give life to whom He will (v21), it is clear that the Father has given the Son absolute authority and power over all mankind, to condemn those who do not believe in Him and to give life to those who do. Ultimately, this authority will bring the glorification of the Son, as we worship God the Father through the Son, who “is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being” (Hebrews 1:3). Thus, if one honors the Son, he honors the Father also; but if he does not honor the Son, neither does he honor the Father (1 John 2:22-23). We must not try to conceive the Father apart from the Son.