Paul Kretzmann Commentary - John 5:21 - 5:27

Online Resource Library

Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | Download

Paul Kretzmann Commentary - John 5:21 - 5:27


(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)

This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

The greater miracles:

v. 21. For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

v. 22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son,

v. 23. that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him.

v. 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

v. 25. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live.

v. 26. For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;

v. 27. and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

Since the miracle and the words of Jesus had not yet convinced the Jews, He here points forward to two miracles which would put His claim to the Sonship of God beyond question. The Jews believed in the power of God to give life and to raise the dead, Deu_32:39; 1Sa_2:6; Isa_26:19. This work of the Father, to raise the dead and restore them to life, is the work of His independent will. And the same is true of the Son. He has absolute power over life and death; as the Author of life He has power to give life and being at will. His will is just as omnipotent as that of the Father. And the same holds true of another divine work. Since all sins are, in the last analysis, directed against God, it is He that judges and condemns; that is His function, His special work. But now He is not exercising the works of this power, but has given this authority, together with its execution, into the hands of the Son. He has thus openly affirmed the full equality, the unquestioned deity of the Son. The allotting of men to their eternal destinies is altogether in the hands of the Son. The statement is sweeping, it refers to all men, and without appeal. Truly, if such an unquestioned divine prerogative is given to the Son, then there can be no doubt as to His deity and as to the divine honor which is due Him. There is no difference between the honor given to the Father and that due to the Son. In honoring the Son, men honor the Father; in refusing to honor the Son, they incidentally take away the honor from the Father. For divine honor and glory belong to the Son.

With great solemnity and a double asseveration the Lord tries to drive home this truth. It is His purpose to give eternal life. That is the purpose and will of God with regard to all men in the world. And the conditions for the receiving of this gift are very simple. They are merely that a person hear His Word, the glorious, sweet message of the Gospel, and then believe in the Father, that sent Him into the world. It is not a question of obtaining eternal life at some later date, but of possessing it right now. The same thought is also expressed from the negative side, namely, that such a person does not come under condemnation. See Rom_8:11-34. By accepting the Word of the Gospel, the believer goes from spiritual death, which would have resulted in eternal death, into life, into the full possession of the life which Jesus brought out of the grave. He has entered into the blessed, intimate communion with God, into the fullness of the glorious life which this union implies. This thought the Lord brings out with equally solemn emphasis. The time which the Triune God had selected had come with the incarnation of Jesus; the great hour of Jesus for calling the spiritually dead back into life had struck. Many a member of the Jewish nation, many a person that was a true Israelite, even if not a descendant of Abraham, was hearing and obeying the voice of the Son of God, as He was proclaiming it with His own mouth. And by such hearing, by the accepting of the Gospel, all such persons were getting the gift of life as their safe possession. The Father has life in Himself; in the same manner, in the same degree, the Son has life in Himself. Christ, even according to His human nature, has received life as His absolute possession. The Son can give life, for He Himself is the Possessor of life, He is Life and the Fountainhead of life. That is one of the mysteries of the Trinity. And the final proof for the Son's divine power and majesty is His authority to exercise and execute judgment. This authority is His in His capacity as Jesus Christ the man, as the God-man, as the Word of God Incarnate. Those who will not accept the life which He proclaims and offers in the Gospel, will come under the judgment of condemnation by their own fault. Jesus Christ, the Judge, will be obliged to pronounce the judgment of condemnation upon them. And all of this proves beyond all question that Jesus is true God, with unabridged and full divine powers.