John 5:17–23, 36–42, 46–47

Bible Studies for Life
Professor of Philosophy, Howard College of Arts and Sciences, Samford University

Like Father, Like Son
John 5:17–23, 36–42, 46–47
The Gospel of John teaches that Jesus came as a revelation of the heavenly Father. Throughout the text, Christ as the unique Son bears constant witness to His Father, announcing such an intimacy with God that the two are one in the sense of a relational unity. Jesus insists that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father (10:38), that to see Him is to see the Father (14:9) and that no one may go to the Father except through the Son (14:6). This week’s lesson emphasizes this “paternal” continuity between God and Jesus, for in Chapter 5, Jesus uses the term “Father” 15 times between verses 17 and 47.

The Father and the Son Cannot Be Separated (17–23)
The religious rulers in Jerusalem plot to kill Jesus not only because He performs miracles on the Sabbath but also because He boldly announces a relational unity between Himself and the divine Father. The ultraconservative protectors of the orthodox faith are scandalized that Jesus so liberally shares that He exists in equality with God. Jesus asserts His equality with the Father in connection with a genuine humility whereby He subordinates Himself in obedience to the Father. Jesus acknowledges that He can do nothing on His own, only what He sees the Father do and that He watches the Father in order to imitate God’s actions. Yet His humility does not inhibit Him from declaring that those who do not honor the Son do not honor the Father.

The Son Does the Father’s Work (36–38)
Last week’s lesson raised the important topic of Jesus’ origin, that recurring question “From where does Christ come?” That topic reappears in this passage when Jesus states that He testifies of God as a witness superior to John the Baptist. Jesus’ testimony finds expression in His miraculous works, and those works validate the reality that He comes from God, that the Father has, indeed, sent Him as a witness of the Father. Furthermore Jesus asserts that the Father who sent Him into the world as a witness is also a witness, specifically that the Father testifies on behalf of the Son. The Father’s testimony comes as an internal word that abides in all of those who believe in the Son. In other words, one cannot accept the truth of the Father’s witness to the Son without first having faith that the Son bears witness to the Father.

God’s Word is About His Son (39–42, 46–47)
The ultraconservative religious authorities fail to experience the implanted Word of the Father because they insist on putting their faith in the Scriptures and on contending that salvation comes through the literal language of the text. Jesus warns that the Scriptures are instruments of revelation, the means through which human beings may encounter another testimony of Christ. Jesus affirms that the Bible does not redeem anyone; on the contrary, it points individuals to God’s salvation made operative in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

One might make the case that in the Gospel of John, sin has actually been reinterpreted as centered not in Scripture but in Christ. The scribes and Pharisees, who pride themselves on being disciples of Moses, consider sin to be disobedience to the law, for example, breaking the Ten Commandments as interpreted by rabbinic traditions — as in Christ’s profaning the Sabbath by doing the work of healing. Jesus, on the other hand, seems to identify sin with disbelief. The sinner, the one who falls into judgment, is actually the one who does not believe that Jesus is the Christ of God, who refuses to accept the Father’s and the Scripture’s testimonies that redemption comes only through the Son, who has been sent into the world by the Father in order to save it. Ironically Jesus chides the religious authorities for not recognizing such a definition of sin. He professes that if they were genuine disciples of Moses and honestly believed his writings, they would believe in Jesus as the Savior, since Moses wrote of Christ. In a fascinating reversal, Jesus declares that since they do not believe His words about the Father, they do not truly believe Moses either.