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Jesus is the Son of God - John 5
Jesus is the Son of God - John 5
[Yes, for those who are long-time readers of my posts, I HAVE posted this basic article before! BUT, this chapter is one of the major chapters that help us understand WHO Jesus IS: the Son of God. A failure to understand what John says in this chapter has precipitated much debate concerning what it means for Jesus to be ‘the Son of God’. SO, I will repost this probably many times during my own lifetime. Hugh]
John closed his gospel: “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:30-31).
One of those signs was the healing of the lame man in chapter 5. Such signs were often accompanied by ‘explanation’ of what the sign was pointing TO. This sign pointed to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.
However, the Jews of that day understood this phrase to indicate that He was claiming to be equal with the Father (Jn. 5:18). Jesus could have easily corrected their ‘misunderstanding,’ but instead of such correcting, Jesus went on to give specific concepts that PROVE they were right in their understanding of the phrase but WRONG in their perception of who Jesus really was. He was NOT a liar and blasphemer but rather, He WAS (IS) the Son of God and thus equal to God.
What proof can He offer that He is equal with the Father?
· He can do WHATEVER the Father does (vs. 19).
· He can raise the physically dead (21).
· He is the judge of all men (22).
· He is to be honored EVEN AS the Father (23).
· He gives ETERNAL LIFE to those who trust Him (24-25).
· He has life within himself (26).
· He WILL raise and judge all men (28-29).
The Jews understood that all such testimony needed to be collaborated by two or three witnesses and not just accepted on the word of ONE man (cp. Deut. 19:15; Matt. 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; and Heb. 10:28). What witnesses could Jesus claim?
· Himself (31-32)
· John the Baptist (33 – reread John’s testimony in chapters 1 and 2!)
· The very miracles and signs such as this healing of the lame man, gave testimony to this truth (36)
· The Father gave witness to this truth (37)
· The scriptures that they read gave witness (39)
Even with such abundance of testimony, these people rejected Jesus and his claim! Why? NOT for lack of evidence, but because they were UNWILLING (vs. 40), they did NOT have the word abiding in their hearts (38), they did not truly love God (42), they sought glory from men rather than God (44), they, despite their claim, did NOT believe in the writings of Moses (46-47).
We now have the same claim to deal with, the same testimony to validate and confirm the claim, and the same decision to make. Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and thus equal with the Father?
Hugh DeLong
