The Authority of the Son

After Jesus’ shocking display of power by healing the lifelong lame man, and after His even more shocking order that the man pick up and carry his bed, although it was the Sabbath day, the Jews were eager to chastise the man and to condemn the actions of Jesus. John doesn’t give us any words they spoke to Jesus about this, but they didn’t have to speak. He knew exactly what was in their minds, and He confronted them with truth much more compelling than the physical healing, or even the issue of Sabbath-breaking. The whole incident provided Him opportunity to present to the Jews His credentials as the unique Son of God. This was profound doctrine, far beyond their nit-picking legalistic religion.

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. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. John 5:19

“Truly, truly” always indicates a point of doctrine. Divine truth, from the ultimate source. It means “listen up. I have something important to teach you.” They were mentally and vocally questioning His power to heal and His authority to overrule the Sabbath prohibition. The answer: “I, the Son, didn’t do this alone, but with the clear instruction and support of My Father.” They knew Who His Father was.

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. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 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 5:20-23

Jesus is describing a close, personal family relationship with the Father of creation and salvation. His statement shows that the Father and Son work together as collaborators/partners in their work of keeping the universe in order and providing salvation for mankind. God the Father (spirit only), is the source of all eternal truth and the designer of all creation. God the Son (spirit and body), is the executor of every work the Father has planned and designed. The Jews were marveling at the one specific work they had just seen. There would be far greater works, in their own lifetimes and in future history, as the Son would demonstrate His equality with the Father in acts of mercy, teachings of grace, atonement for sin, and in bodily resurrection from the dead.

The Father raises the spiritually dead by giving eternal life to all who believe in His Son. The Son has this same power. He IS the atonement. He IS the propitiation. Therefore, He, like His Father, gives life to those who were formerly dead in their sins. The final judgment, however, belongs to the Son. As the unbelievers are gathered before Him at the great white throne, He will demonstrate to them that their human good can never measure up to His own perfect righteousness, which they have rejected. The Father will not judge them, because He judged their sins in His Son. This leaves them to face the One who paid for their sins on the cross.

People who say they believe in God but cannot accept the work of Christ for their salvation do not really believe in God. The Father and Son are one. If the Father is not honored, the Son is also not honored (“I believe in the love Jesus taught, but cannot accept that Old Testament God”) – this dishonors the Jesus they claim to love. If the Son is rejected, the Father’s plan is rejected. Jesus is God, God is Jesus. If you reject the one, the other is dishonored. The unbeliever cannot win.

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

“Truly, truly,” Point of doctrine, again: whoever (anybody) hears Jesus and believes the Father sent Him has (right now and forever) eternal life. There will be no judgment for them. They have passed – once for all time and eternity - from spiritual death to God’s life. God’s plan is grace. God’s policy is grace. God’s salvation is received by grace. The one who believes in Jesus’ finished work has a new and permanent position: IN CHRIST forever.

“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. John 5:25

Point of doctrine: there is a an appointed time, which has now arrived; those who are spiritually dead will hear (akouo – give audience to, understand) the Son of God, and this hearing will lead to eternal life.

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 5:26-27

God the Father and God the Son share the same eternal life, as well as 9 other characteristics of divine essence. One of those is perfect Justice (judgment). The Son will be the final executor of God’s Justice, because He has the unique qualification of being the Perfect Man.

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. John 5:28-29

The Jews have been receiving a lesson from God the Son about spiritual truths that far surpass His power to heal physically. This is a lesson in soteriology (salvation) and eschatology (last things). If they found this Sabbath day healing incomprehensible, there are far greater things coming soon, and are even now in process.

There will be a physical resurrection of those who have died. At His voice, they will come out of their tombs. Those who have done (literally) The Good (received the perfect righteousness of God by faith in Jesus Christ) will be in the resurrection of the righteous (I Corinthians 15:22, I Thessalonians 4:13-18). The unbelievers – those who have done (literally) The Evil (rejected the perfect atonement of Jesus Christ in favor of their own human good. They died without Christ) will be in the resurrection of the unrighteous (Revelation 20:4-6, 11-14). Life for the believers, judgment for the unbelievers. That’s the division; those are the eternal consequences of individual volition (free will) in the human race.

All are born condemned, as the result of Adam’s original sin. Salvation is free to all, but not all will receive it, because it requires faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and some will not believe.

“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 5:30

Jesus was here in physical body to do the work the Father had planned and authorized Him to do. This was all decreed in eternity past. Jesus’ one purpose in life was to fulfill the plan of the Father. The Jews’ criticism of the Son was pointless, because He was following His Father’s plan, and nothing would interfere with that.

In these paragraphs, Jesus has given The Jews an introduction to the doctrine of the oneness of the persons of God.  We call it the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one in essence. Each person of the Trinity - Father, Son, Holy Spirit – has exactly the same essence: Sovereignty, Righteousness, Justice, Love, Eternal Life, Omniscience, Omnipresence, Omnipotence, Veracity, Immutability. Each manifests these characteristics in different forms. God the Father, the planner of all creation and history, is spirit and eternally invisible. God the Holy Spirit, a partner in creation, restoration and regeneration, is also spirit and cannot be seen, but can be experienced, convincing of sin, awakening the human spirit to faith in Christ, and nurturing the believer in growth to spiritual maturity. God the Son is the bodily person of God – seen, felt, heard – born into the human race as the Perfect Man and Perfect God in one person forever. We call that the Hypostatic Union – the unique person of the universe.

This unique person was standing before them, teaching The Jews the plan and purpose of God, now being fulfilled in this one Man. He has only just begun. There is more of this discourse in the following paragraphs, showing just Who and What He is, and proving His authority as Eternal God.

Jesus was speaking to people so blinded by religion they had no concept of grace or of the personalities of God. As He began His public ministry, Jesus kept His message simple, to accommodate the ignorance of His audience. We, too, must present simple, basic truths until we have the attention of those who want to know more. Hitting them with advanced doctrinal vocabulary is overwhelming to them and obscures the truth we represent.

Jesus' claim of equality with God was the final outrage to The Jews. From this point on, they earnestly plotted to destroy Him.