The next significant red letter passage is found in John 5:19-47. Now, according to most of the published studies dealing with the chronological order of Jesus’ ministry, this takes place early in the second year when Jesus returns to Jerusalem for His second Passover. So, maybe it would be helpful to list the significant recorded events that took place from the time Jesus leaves Samaria and His successful time of ministry in Sychar to the time the passage in John 5 takes place (we don’t cover these as the accounts contain few, if any, red letters).
Jesus arrives in Galilee (John 4:43-45). He heals the nobleman’s son (John 4:46-54). He experiences His first rejection at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-30), both mentioned in the last lesson. He meets four fishermen (brothers Simon and Andrew, James and John), who leave their fishing business and become His disciples (Luke 5:1-11). Jesus heals the man with an unclean spirit (Mark 1:23-28). There was a day of miracles in Capernaum, including the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Luke 4:38-41).
Jesus then tours Galilee with His disciples, heals a leper (Mark 1:40-45), then the paralytic man (Mark 2:1-12). Jesus calls Matthew to be His disciple (Matthew 9:9-13). The other significant event in my estimation is found in Matthew 9:14-17 (also in Mark 2:18-22 and Luke 5:33-39), where the disciples of John the Baptist question Jesus regarding fasting. You can read the article “The Parables of Jesus, Part 2, New Cloth and New Wine” on the website that describes the full context and meaning of Jesus’ answer to their question.
This brings us to John 5 and the circumstances that lead to the passage above. Now Jesus has gone back to Jerusalem for Passover (verse 1). In the verses that follow He heals the impotent (paralyzed) man (verses 2-9), and the Jews became incensed at the fact the man was carrying his bed on the Sabbath (verse 10). And when they found out it was Jesus Who had healed the man and told him to “pick up his bed and walk” (verses 11-15), they began to pursue Jesus (some versions add “and sought to kill Him” at this point, but this was only added to later manuscripts) “because He had done these things on the Sabbath” (verse 16).
They become even more enraged when Jesus tells them “My Father has worked even to this very day, and I, too, must be at His work” (verse 17) So the Jews became even more determined to kill Him; not only for violating the Sabbath, but because He was saying God was His Father, making Himself equal with God (verse 18).
What follows to the end of the chapter is Jesus’ discourse on eternal life and His relationship with the Father. “So Jesus answered them, saying, I assure you, the Son is able to do nothing on His own; but He can only do what He sees the Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son does as well. The Father loves the Son and shows Him everything He does. And to your astonishment He will let Him see even greater things than these.” (Verses 19-20)
Let’s break this down. Here Jesus claims equality with the Father in the things that He does, His works. Then, so the Jews can have something to really get stirred up about, He claims equality with the Father in several more things. In verse 21 Jesus claims equality with the Father in resurrection power. “Just as the Father raises up the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whomever He pleases.” Then in verse 22 He claims equality with the Father in judgment. “And the Father judges no one, because He has given all judgment to the Son.” He follows this in verse 23 claiming equality with the Father in honor. “So all men may give honor (reverence) to the Son just like they honor the Father. The truth is that anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father Who sent Him.” Here, “honor” is from time, a word that always implies a valuing or preciousness, someone worthy of esteem. In this statement Jesus establishes Himself as an equal member of the Trinity (something He knew would cause even more heated opposition from the Jews).
Next, in verses 24-25, He claims equality with the Father in giving eternal life. “I assure you, I’m telling you the truth, the one who listens to My message and trusts in Him Who sent Me has eternal life. He will not come into judgment, but has already passed over from death into life. Believe Me, I’m telling you the truth, the time is coming, in fact is here now when the dead shall hear voice of the Son of God and those who hear it will live.” “Death” above is thanatos, in this context, spiritual death or separation from God in time. The point is that trusting in His message allows one to pass from separation from God into a relationship with Him that extends throughout all eternity.
Then in verse 26 He claims equality with the Father in self-existent life (a good explanation of this is found in John 10:17-18). “For even as the Father has life in Himself, He has given to the Son the power to have life in Himself and be self-existent.” The fact that Jesus possessed total control over His life is obvious, no one could take His life. He claims equality with the Father in verses 27-29 in having authority over death and the destiny of all men. “And He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. Do not be surprised at this, for the time is coming when all those in the tombs will heat His voice, and they will come out - those who have done good will be raised to a new life, and those who have done evil will be raised to meet their sentence.”
Lastly in verse 30, He claims to be in total union with the Father in the decisions He makes. “I can do nothing of My own accord, but only as I an taught. Even as I hear, I decide. And My decision is right, because I do not seek My own will, but only the will of the Father Who sent Me.”
Do you see what is happening here? In verses 17-18 the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because He claimed to be equal to the Father. So, in verses 19-30 He gives them eight more examples of how He is equal with the Father. Jesus is deliberately and purposefully angering these Jews by telling them what they don’t want to hear. But He’s not finished. Now Jesus is going to give them four examples of how they should know that He is Who He claims to be.
The first example in verses 31-35 is the witness of John the Baptist. “If I testify in My own behalf, My testimony cannot be valid. There is Another Who testifies concerning Me, and I know His testimony is valid. You inquired of John and he told you the truth. But I do not rely on mere human witness, I only mention this so you may be saved. John was a lamp that shined to show you the way, and you were willing for a time to delight yourselves in his light.” Basically, His argument here is that they believed John to be a prophet (verse 35), so why didn’t they believe what John said about Him? (See John 1:15, 19, 27, 29 and 32).
For the second example in verse 36 Jesus points to the miracles He performs and points out the fact that He could not do those things unless the Father had sent Him. “But I have a witness greater than what John said about Me; the works the Father has given Me to finish, the very works I am doing now, are undeniable proof that the Father has sent Me.” Remember, this whole thing started (incredibly) because Jesus had healed a paralytic man!
In the third example in verses 37-38 Jesus tells them the Father Himself had borne witness to Who He was. “And the Father Who sent Me has testified openly about Me. Yet none of you apparently have ever heard His voice or seen His face.” This could be a reference to what happened during Jesus’ baptism by John as recorded in Matthew 3:17 when a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in Whom I delight.” But Jesus tells them they had never heard the Father’s voice (so we can assume none of them were there at the time) or seen His shape (see the article “The Shape of God”).
The fourth example in verses 39-42 is the Scriptures. “You search the Scriptures, because you suppose you have eternal life through them. Yet, these very Scriptures testify about me! If they knew the Scriptures, they would know Jesus was the Son of God. This could be known by comparing what the Scriptures predicted concerning Messiah and how Jesus’ life and ministry was conforming to that. Of course many of those predictions had not yet been fulfilled, but some had. On the other hand, as we saw in Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, even the religious leaders were woefully ignorant of the Old Testament.
Next is verses 43-44. “I have come in My Father’s name, yet you will not accept Me; but when someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him and give your approval. How can you possibly believe the truth, when you are so eager to receive praise and honor from one another, yet do not seek the praise and honor that comes from Him alone Who is God?” Here, “name” is onoma, and represents not simply what a person is called, but refers to his authority, character and purpose (in other words, who he is and what he does because of who he is).
Then Jesus sums it all up in verses 45-47 by using their hero, Moses. “Don’t even think of the possibility that I will accuse you before the Father (I know that’s what you’re thinking). There is one who will accuse you and his name is Moses, the very one in whom you have put your trust. For if you really believed what Moses said, you would believe on Me, because He wrote about Me. But since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you ever trust what I have to say? He tells them Moses will accuse them on judgment day, because they refused to believe what he wrote about the coming of Messiah (look at Deuteronomy 18:15-22 for an example).
This is another example of Jesus going the extra mile to prove His point. The Jews rejected Him and refused to acknowledge the validity of Who He was, what He said and what He did. The principle of the Old Testament law to establish anything as true or valid required the testimony of two witnesses. But in this passage Jesus offers the testimony of John the Baptist, the miracles He performed publicly in the Father’s name, the Father’s testimony, the Scriptures and Moses. And yet in their hardness of heart they will continue to oppose Him at every turn.