Episode 38 - Honor God by honoring the Son

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Episode 38 - John 5:19-24

John 5:19   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. 20 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. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 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. 24 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.

The rest of chapter five is Jesus speaking to these Jewish leaders who want to kill him because they believe he broke the Sabbath and committed blasphemy by calling God his own father. I’m going to break this up into three episodes to call attention to details given by Jesus and how they are related to each other.

As you scan through the rest of chapter five, you’ll notice that there are three times Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you . . . “ That is a marker that we should take notice of what he is about to say because it's important. The first begins with “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing . . . “(v19) The second begins with, “whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life . . . “ (v24) The third occurrence begins with, “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.” (v25) We are going to look at these first two in this episode.

Jesus’ words “the Son can do nothing of his own accord,” may seem to create a problem when we consider the fact that the author has already clearly expressed and shown that Jesus is God. If that’s true, how can He as the Son of God and full deity “not” be able to do something on his “own accord?” God should be able to do anything on His own accord, right? The answer lies in the context that follows. He “ONLY” (my emphasis) does what he sees the Father doing. What follows then is this picture of a loving Father that shows His Son exactly what He himself does. This helps us have an idea of one aspect of our Triune God. The word Trinity in reference to God did not exist at the time of Jesus' time on earth. Yet, the human authors of our Christian Scriptures are sharing truths about Jesus to help us understand this mysterious nature of God. God is One; yet three in person; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. What this shows us is the perfect will that exists between the Father and the Son. The statement that “the Son can do nothing of his own accord” is not lack of ability. It speaks of the Son’s complete dependence of will and harmony with the Father. 

Verse 21 reveals that just as the Father gives life to the dead, the Son has that authority as well. But, what He does will be in complete, perfect accordance with the will of the Father. 

Verse 22 and following reveal that the Father has given the Son responsibility and authority to judge for the purpose that people will honor the Son. This tells us that the Father’s will is for us not to think of Jesus as one who is secondary or slightly less important than the Father. The Father specifically wants us to honor His Son. In verse 23, Jesus tells them, “Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him (the Son).” This is a strong and harsh statement to Jesus’ antagonists who claim that they are honoring God because they are rejecting Jesus. My interpretation of what Jesus is telling them is, I am not coming on my own behalf. I have been sent by the Father and I am only doing what He wants me to do. If you do not recognize that and believe me, then you are not honoring the Father.

This brings us to the second “Truly, truly, I say to you . . . “ statement. Jesus has just said in verse 22 “the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” This should evoke in our minds the question, “what judgment would he give and on what basis?” Here is the answer in verse 24. Jesus says, “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.” Jesus’ word will be in perfect harmony with the Father’s word since the Son does nothing on his own accord. That is why hearing Jesus’ word and believing him who sent Jesus are intrinsically tied together. Jesus IS the Father’s Word, the Father’s message to mankind. Anyone who has heard and believed in Jesus has already escaped the judgment of death. We’ll learn more about this in coming episodes. But, the important thing here is that once someone has believed the Father about Jesus, they have gained eternal life. This recalls John 3:18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”