The Authority Of The Son
THE AUTHORITY OF THE SON
JOHN 5:19-29
It is because Jesus has divine authority that we do well to honor him as God and to trust and obey his word.
The real issues have now been revealed. They concern the relationship of Jesus to the Father and his consequent right to exercise the divine prerogatives of giving life and judging. This is a struggle which cannot reach the point of decision until life comes through his death (John 12:23-26) and until judgment comes upon the unbelieving world and its ruler through the sentence passed upon him (John 12:27-33).
5:19-24. Jesus speaks of his authority in the first instance as far as his incarnate nature is concerned. In this it is derivative, and in a sense imitative. But it comes from the close relationship of love which exists between Father and Son. There is in a way little to marvel about in the healing of a cripple. They could begin to marvel when they saw the Son raising the dead and giving them life, for that was the work of God alone (cf. 2 Kings 5:7). God the Father who is judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25; Psalm 94:2) in fact delegates his judicial office to the Son. With these prerogatives there logically follows a title to divine honor, a denial of which shows failure to honor the Father. To hear the Son’s word and to believe the Father gives life on an eternal plane, bypassing the terrors of judgment.
Some men, like the Jews, have rejected outright those tremendous claims. After all, no prophet, not even Moses, had assumed such prerogatives. Most men have given them token acceptance. But if they are true, then Christ’s claim on our love and our allegiance must be taken seriously—God himself is knocking at the door of our lives and claiming them. Note the conditions of acceptance (5:24) and compare them with 1:12.
5:25-29. Having stated the general principle, Jesus now shows that these will be given concrete expression in the future and even in the present. Those who believe receive spiritual life now, those who are physically dead will come into the fullness of the resurrection. How easily Christians forget the amazing extent of their salvation!
Notes 5:19: “whatever he does”—the Son is associated with all the work of the Father (cf. 1:3). 5:20: “greater works”—specifically the raising of Lazarus (chapter 11); and the resurrection (chapter 20). 5:25: “the hour is coming, and now is”—a characteristic phrase of Jesus in the Gospel (cf. 4:23; 16:32). It shows the way in which divine and human time-scales overlap in the ministry of Jesus. 5:27: the Son of Man, as a human figure with divine origin, was particularly well qualified to act as judge (cf. Daniel 7:9-14).