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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 5:27 - 5:27
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
27. ἐξουσίαν ἔδωκεν. Gave Him authority (Joh 1:12, Joh 10:18), when He sent Him into the world. Aorists mark what was done once for all.
ὅτι υἱὸς ἀνθρ. ἐστίν. Because He is a son of man, i.e. not because He is the Messiah, but because He is a human being. Neither ‘son’ nor ‘man’ has the article. Where ‘the Son of Man,’ i.e. the Messiah, is meant, both words have the article: comp. Joh 1:51, Joh 3:13-14, Joh 6:27; Joh 6:53; Joh 6:62, Joh 8:28, &c. Because the Son emptied Himself of His glory and became a man, therefore the Father endowed Him with these two powers; to have life in Himself, and to execute judgment.
Before passing on to the last section of this half of the discourse we may remark that “the relation of the Son to the Father is seldom alluded to in the Synoptic Gospels. But a single verse in which it is, seems to contain the essence of the Johannean theology, Mat 11:27 : ‘All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.’ This passage is one of the best authenticated in the Synoptic Gospels. It is found in exact parallelism both in S. Matthew and S. Luke.… And yet once grant the authenticity of this passage, and there is nothing in the Johannean Christology that it does not cover.” Sanday. The theory, therefore, that this discourse is the composition of the Evangelist, who puts forward his own theology as the teaching of Christ, has no basis. If the passage in S. Matthew and S. Luke represents the teaching of Christ, what reason have we for doubting that this discourse does so? To invent the substance of it was beyond the reach even of S. John; how far the precise wording is his we cannot tell. This section (21–27) bears strong impress of his style.