Or, Why the Son Never Works Alone
Scripture: John 5:16-30
Date: March 25, 2012
Speaker: Sean Higgins
This is a fantastic passage. It begins the longest monologue by Jesus so far in John’s Gospel and it is also the most explicit explanation of the relationship between God the Father and God the Son. It is a story found in none of the other Gospels and it is a passage set-up by Jesus’ healing of the lame man in John 5:1-15.
Jesus returned to Jerusalem for an unnamed feast (verse 1) and went to Bethesda where many “blind, lame, and paralyzed” people gathered in hopes of healing from a pool (verses 3 and 7). Jesus focused on a man who had been an invalid for 38 years (verse 5). Even though the paralyzed man presents a sad picture, he also presents an unsympathetic picture; he had no one to help him and he seems bitter about it. Yet Jesus told him to “Get up, take up your bed, and walk” (verse 8) which he did immediately and which immediately provoked the opposition of the religious leaders.
The apostle John waited until halfway through the story to tell us that “It was the Sabbath” (verse 9b). The man wasn’t breaking any Old Testament laws, but Jesus’ instruction to pick up his bed violated the Jewish additions to the law about what constituted “work” on the Sabbath. Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, what day He was doing it on, and how the people would respond.
We saw last week that the Jews went after the healed man and he blamed his healer. When the healed man found out that his healer was Jesus, he informed the Jews and they turned all their opposition toward Jesus.
Verses 16-18 form their own unit, their own paragraph. The subject shifts from the Jews’ harassment of the healed man to their assault on Jesus. There are two reasons that the Jews were upset and both reasons are introduced by the parallel statements, “This was why” in verse 16 and “this was why” in verse 18.
Violating the Sabbath work laws is the main concern of verses 9b-15 but now the accusations fall clearly on Jesus.
And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” (John 5:16–17 ESV)
There are at least a couple interesting things about verse 16. First, the tense of the verb were persecuting is imperfect which suggests that this was a repeated action by the Jews. Second, John says that Jesus was doing these things, a plural, as in, at least from the Jews’ perspective, Jesus was regularly doing these sorts of things on the Sabbath. Perhaps John selected this particular healing as a representative story. It’s amazing that the mercy of Jesus was taken as a felony and the angry persecution from the Jews was taken by themselves as godly.
To the Jews Jesus answered with His defense. He said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working”. Jesus had provoked the opposition and now He uses His platform to add to the offense.
Jesus doesn’t confront their human traditions and additions to God’s law. He doesn’t correct their misunderstanding of work on the Sabbath. He doesn’t say that the Sabbath laws were temporary. Instead, He talks about the Father working (on the Sabbath) until now. On one hand, we know from the creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and the explanation behind Sabbath law that God worked six days and then rested on the seventh. On the other hand, God also did not stop working though He did stop creating. His sovereignty still holds everything in the universe together. His omnipotence keeps the earth spinning and gravity holding and hearts beating. God both stopped and didn’t stop.
The problem was not Jesus saying that God works on the Sabbath; the Jews agreed that it was good for God. The problem is how that justifies what Jesus did. By calling God My Father and claiming to do the same working, Jesus was calling Himself God. Jesus asserted that His work didn’t violate the law because it was divine work.
Unlike numerous other times, the Jews had no problem understanding what Jesus said.
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18 ESV)
The imperfect tense is used again to describe the Jews’ cyclical behavior. But now, instead of persecuting, they were seeking to kill Jesus. He was blaspheming. He was making himself equal with God. The Jews didn’t always track with Jesus but they had no misunderstanding here. For them, there really was no greater sin. It was the sin suggested by the serpent in Eden (you will “be like God” Genesis 3:5) and it was the first commandment prohibited in the 10 (Exodus 20:3).1
This would have been a perfect time for Jesus to back off, to clarify His meaning if He meant to say that He was not God. When others want to kill you for something you’ve said, you should make sure you know what they think you said. Instead, Jesus’ claim to deity gets more clear and the rest of chapter five expounds the truth.
I think this section can be marked off by a few things. First, there is no more dialogue; only Jesus speaks. Second, verse 19 and verse 30 make the same basic point. In verse 19 the Son can do nothing on his own and in verse 30 Jesus says, I can do nothing on My own. The switch to the first person transitions to the first person found in verses 31-47 but verse 30 bookends the subject started in verse 19. Third, judgment is a key theme (see verses 22, 24, 27, and 29) whereas the key theme in verses 31-47 is testimony as Jesus presents four witnesses. Fourth, three times Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you” (verses 19, 24, 25) and not again after verse 30. That’s why I say there are three truths about Jesus’ authority.
The first “Truly” is marked by a statement with four subsequent explanations.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. (John 5:19a ESV)
Jesus presses that not able is the Son to do [of himself] nothing. Jesus made Himself equal with God but not independent from God. The Son never works alone, so to speak. The Son only [does] what he sees the Father doing.
Jesus explains:
For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19b ESV)
Later, when Jesus says that those who have seen Him have seen the Father (John 14:9), this is why. He does what the Father does only and perfectly. To act on His own would have been a denial of His Sonship. By following the Father without exception He reveals the Father without error.
This is part of the reason why imitation is so powerful: because it is Trinitarian. When earthly sons do what their earthly fathers do, that follows the divine pattern. In our case, however, sons don’t see perfect fathers and they often follow our missteps. Yet this is reality: sons will do what we do and not just what we say because of God. We don’t get to choose if our kids will imitate us, but we do have opportunity to choose what our kids will see. The Father and Son relationship sets the model for how all father/son relationships work.
It works this way, where the Son copies the Father, because that’s what the Father wants.
For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. (John 5:20 ESV)
Fatherly behavior is open behavior. Fatherly behavior models itself intentionally and the exposure is motivated by love. He shows and will show; He reveals Himself. Love spills out in “continuous disclosure of all he does to the Son” (Carson, 251).
Again, as application, fathers who are absent, closed off, and hidden from their sons are ungodly, that is, they are un-god-like fathers. Failure to show our kids what we’re doing is selfish and often covers laziness or hypocrisy. If we love our kids, our sons, we will be in the habit of showing them what we’re doing. Sons learn to be fatherly by watching fathers.
In Jesus’ case, greater works than healing invalids will be demonstrated. Now we’re coming to see what God “does” that the Son “sees” and does. God the Father and then God the Son do life-giving. The greater works are raising the spiritually dead, raising the bodily dead, and the last judgment of both.
For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:21 ESV)
Here is the primary example of the truth in verses 19-20. In the OT, God alone had prerogative and power to raise the dead (see for example, 2 Kings 5:7). This is now work that the Son carries on. He learns from His Dad, He apprentices with His Father and takes over the family business. God is in the life-giving business, Father and Son. Jesus doesn’t just give life because His Father tells Him to, He gives life to whom he will.
A fourth “for” begins verse 22 even though the word isn’t in the ESV.
[For] the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (John 5:22–24 ESV)
While these verses on judgment may initially seem to digress, they actually explain verse 21. The Father-Son life-giving belongs with Father-Son honoring. A failure to honor the Son equals a failure to honor the Father and that deserves judgment. Father and Son are equally God, equally life-giving, and to be equally honored. Also note that it isn’t “whoever dishonors the Son” but rather “whoever does not honor the Son,” a disregard that is eternally deadly.
This may also seem on the surface to contradict John 3:17 which says that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world.” But this isn’t a discrepancy at all. The Son wasn’t sent to condemn the world; the world was already condemned. That the Father has given authority and power to judge does not mean that the Father sent the Son to judge, at least not in the coming of His Incarnation.
God is life-giving. That is His work, Father and Son and even on the Sabbath. And as Jesus told Nicodemus, those who live are those who believe.
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. (John 5:24 ESV)
When God gives life it can’t be separated from His Son or from His Word. To live, one must hear and believe. Believers are the only ones who live. They have passed from death to life, from the domain of spiritual death to spiritual, eternal life. Jesus is the Word and speaks the Word of the Father. As He reveals the Father and as men believe, they are delivered.
The third truth of Jesus’ response deals with Jesus’ present and future authority.
At present (verses 25-27):
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:25–27 ESV)
An hour is coming, and is now here. With the arrival of the Son, the life-giving work has begun. The dead are the spiritually dead.
The reason why this works the way it does, the reason why God’s work is to give life is because He is life. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. There is no life apart from God. The Father and the Son share in this so much that John already wrote, “In Him (the Word) was life and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). The Son doesn’t work on His own but He does have life on His own, “of Himself,” not because He is separate from the Father but because He shares the Father’s nature.
In the future (verses 28-30):
Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and 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 do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 5:28–30 ESV)
An hour is coming but in verse 28 there is no “and is now here.” These dead are the physically dead, dead bodies, corpses. All who die, both believers and unbelievers, will be raised and given bodies to handle eternity, either in never-ending life or in never-ending judgment.
The division is based on works, those who have done good and those who have done evil. However, Jesus isn’t saying that salvation is based on works. Passing from death to life depends only on believing. But believing or not believing always becomes visible in one’s behavior.
Verse 30 begins the transition from the Father’s delegation to the Son’s acceptance of His mission. There are eight first person references (nine in Greek). Jesus is the only Judge and His judgment is just, righteous because He hears the evidence and He is one with His righteous Father (see Psalm 7:11).
As those who have passed from death to life:
We ought to live by imitating the Father. Would they know our Father by our behavior? How great would it be if we never did anything “of ourselves” but if we always did exactly what the Father does? That means we need to see what the Father is doing more and more. Where do we see that? He shows us, too, in His Word. We also see the Father’s work in the Son because the Son does only what He sees the Father doing.
We ought to live by honoring the Son. No one honors God who does not honor Jesus. Are we clear on the exclusivity of Jesus as Savior and Lord? In our witness we must declare Trinitarian exclusivity; any God without Jesus as the eternal Son is no true God.
We ought to live in light of our coming resurrection. What evidence are we giving the Judge?
May we live lives that honor the life-giving Father through His life-giving Son.
Four men “make themselves like God” in Scripture and all four were severely judged: Pharaoh (Ezekiel 29:3), Joash (2 Chronicles 24:24), Hiram (Ezekiel 28:2), and Nebuchadnezzar (Isaiah 14:14)(Carson, 249). ↩