§12 The Father and the Son (John 5:19–29)

Jesus responds to the second charge brought against him by the authorities with a long discourse (vv. 19–47) introduced by the solemn formula, I tell you the truth (v. 19; cf. also vv. 24, 25). He begins by appearing to set limits to his authority as God’s unique son: The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing (v. 19). But Jesus is not backing down, for his words reiterate the claim of verse 17 that the works he performs are the very works of God (v. 19). His language is like that of a parable; he is like a son apprenticed to a human father, learning by example and imitation (v. 20). His authority is absolute, not in spite of the fact that he does nothing by himself, but because of it. His authority is a derived authority. In all that he does he is subject to his Father and totally dependent on his Father’s power and love.

In his response, Jesus begins speaking mysteriously of himself in the third person as the Son, in much the same way that he speaks of himself in all the Gospels as the Son of Man. Son and Son of Man are used almost interchangeably in verses 26–27. Some have argued that terms such as the Son and the Father represent the confessional language of the Gospel writer (as perhaps they do in 3:16–18, 35–36). But the kinship of Son with Son of Man and the firm testimony of John’s Gospel that Jesus was actually accused of claiming divine sonship (5:18; 10:33–36) make it more likely that language of this kind goes back to Jesus (cf. Matt. 11:27/Luke 10:22; also, the voice at Jesus’ baptism in the Synoptics and Jesus’ address to God in prayer as “Abba,” or “Father”).

Jesus’ authority as the Son comes to expression in his deeds or “works” (v. 20, RSV). The works of the Father carried out by the Son are two: the giving of life and the executing of judgment. Jesus refers to this twofold work in verses 21–23 and again in verses 26–27, each time introducing the pronouncement with the same words:

Just as the Father … even so the Son (v. 21).

As the Father … so … the Son (v. 26).

If a distinction can be made between these two cycles, it is that the emphasis of the first is on the Son’s actual performance of the works (e.g., the healing of the sick man at the pool), while the second cycle looks rather at the underlying authority by which the Son gives life and carries out the judgment of God.

Interlocked with the two cycles are three pronouncements clarifying the time frame of the works of the Son (vv. 24, 25, 28–29). A distinction between present and future works was already hinted at in verse 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, that you may marvel” (RSV). The tenses of the verbs suggest that the “greater works” are future. These are clearly set forth in verses 28–29: At the end of the age there will be a resurrection of all who have ever died, either to life with God, or to judgment (i.e., condemnation).

Even though this twofold resurrection was a common Jewish hope (at least among the Pharisees, Acts 23:6; 24:15), Jesus suggests that it will be a cause for amazement (vv. 20, 28) because God will accomplish these “greater works” through his Son, who is also Son of Man (v. 27). But if the God of creation is still at work in Jesus (v. 17), his power to bring consummation is already at work in Jesus (vv. 24, 25). In such miracles as the healing at Bethesda the long-expected resurrection to life comes to realization in advance. The “greater works” are yet future, but Jesus’ emphasis (indicated by the twice-repeated I tell you the truth in vv. 24–25) is on what is already happening in his ministry. Eternal life is available now. Those who hear Jesus’ message and believe in the Father who sent him will never face judgment or condemnation. They have already crossed over from death to life (v. 24; cf. 3:18). The next verse makes the same point in language more closely conformed to that of verses 28–29. A comparison can be made as follows:

Verse 25	Verses 28–29
a time is coming and has now come	a time is coming
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live	when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out

The differences in wording show that verses 28–29 refer to a literal, general resurrection at the end of the age, while verse 25 (like v. 24) refers to something that Jesus considered a present experience. In his ministry the sick were being healed, and those who were spiritually dead were coming alive at the message he was bringing from the Father.

If verses 28–29 represent conventional eschatology (i.e., theological teaching about the future and the end of this age), verses 24–25 represent what C. H. Dodd and others have called realized eschatology. What is supposed to happen at the end is already happening now—in a sense. It is not the Gospel writer’s purpose (any more than it was Jesus’ purpose) to deny the traditional future hope. The future events, after all, are the greater things that will amaze the hearers. The purpose is rather to use this future hope to help explain what Jesus has been doing and what he will be doing in the chapters that follow. He is giving life, both physically and spiritually, even now; he is also executing judgment, for as people accept or reject the message he proclaims, they are even now condemned or vindicated (see, e.g., 3:18–19; 5:30–47; 9:39–41).

The goal of Jesus’ twofold work is that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father (v. 23). Because Jesus’ work and the work of the Father are the same (cf. vv. 19–20), a person’s response to Jesus is by definition that person’s response to God as well. Jesus is God’s agent or representative, with power to act on the Father’s behalf. Later he will extend this principle to his disciples acting on his behalf (13:20; cf. Matt. 10:40; Luke 10:16). His intent that all may honor the Son is universal in scope, like John the Baptist’s intent “that all might believe through him” (1:7, RSV). But the appended warning, He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him (v. 23b), strikes a more negative note, anticipating both the outcome of Jesus’ public ministry in general (e.g., 8:42, 49; 12:37, 43, 48) and of this confrontation in particular (5:37–44).

Additional Notes §12

5:22 / The Father judges no one. It should be noticed that the parallel between life-giving and judgment in vv. 21–22 is not perfect. The Father raises the dead and so does the Son, but the Father does not judge, having delegated all judgment to the Son. This distinction, however, is perhaps more apparent than real. Elsewhere Jesus denies that he came to judge the world (3:17) or that he judges those who reject his message (12:47; cf. 8:15), but he makes these disclaimers simply to emphasize that his intent is a saving intent. They do not exclude the fact that judgment does proceed from his ministry (cf. 3:18–19; 8:16; 12:48). In a similar way the disclaimer here about the Father does not exclude the fact that the Father does judge (with and through the Son).

5:26 / To have life in himself. The same Greek construction is translated in 6:53 as “have life in you.” The idea that the Son “has life in himself” is understood within the framework of his dependence on the Father for his life. To “have life in oneself” apparently means to have God’s life as a secure possession that cannot be taken away. In itself, the phrase does not include the notion that one has the power to confer that life on others, but such translations as “source of life” (both GNB and Jerusalem Bible) can be defended on the basis of the context, especially the parallelism with v, 21.

5:27 / The Son of Man: Although the expression Son of Man in Greek lacks the definite article (the only place in the Gospels where this is so), it is still to be taken as a title. The absence of the article is normal in Greek when a predicate noun precedes the verb “to be” (as here) even if the noun is understood as definite. It is also true that “Son of Man” lacks the definite article in the LXX Greek translation of Dan. 7:13 (cf. Rev. 1:13; 14:14), but this is not a good parallel because the phrase there is a simile, not a title: i.e., “one like a son of man” or “what looked like a human being” (GNB).

5:28 / Do not amazed at this, i.e., do not be surprised at the present authority of the Son to give life and to judge, for he will carry out even greater resurrection and judgment at the last day (cf. v. 20).

5:29 / Those who have done good … those who have done evil: A final judgment on the basis of works (with the appropriate rewards and punishment) was an integral part of the Jewish expectation of the end. Jesus is represented here as endorsing that expectation, but in the context of John’s Gospel v. 28 should be understood in relation to 3:20–21: those who have done good are those who “come into the light,” while those who have done evil are those who refuse to come. In the immediate context, v. 24 makes this unmistakably clear.