Sermon Tone Analysis

“The Most Startling Statement Ever”-Part II

 

Introduction:

John 5:19 is probably one of the single greatest verses in the entire NT that shows us the equality of the Father with the Son and thus show the Deity of the Son.

In that statement, Jesus makes it perfectly clear that He does whatever He sees the Father doing, bringing a real indictment upon His accusers.

For if Christ does everything that the Father does and since they say that Christ is wrong for doing what he does, understand that they are also condemning the Father by their accusation against the Son.

I want to make a statement to you that if you will apply the truth of this statement consistently it will change the philosophy of your theology.

Listen to me please; there is never disunity in the Trinity.

Sounds simply, but it is very profound.

Simple, because we all agree with that statement; yet profound because we are not always so consistent in applying it theologically.

But, understand, there is never a time when the Father has one intention and the Son another and the Holy Spirit yet another.

They speak with one voice and act with one hand.

This is a truth that we must get our minds around.

This is the truth that Augustine said:

“He knows that “in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.”109[1]

St. Augustine called this quest the understanding of the Trinity of the Unity, and the Unity of the Trinity.

We need to understand this unity, notice the following passages in comparison:

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."

(Genesis 1:1, KJV)

"All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made."

(John 1:3, KJV)

"Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee."

(Nehemiah 9:6, KJV)

"And he is before all things, and by him all things consist."

(Colossians 1:17, KJV)

"Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it."

(Acts 2:24, KJV)

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days /I/ will raise it up."

(John 2:19, KJV)(emphasis added)

"For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly."

(Proverbs 2:6-7, KJV)

"For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist."

(Luke 21:15, KJV)

"Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?

saith the LORD.

Do not I fill heaven and earth?

saith the LORD."

(Jeremiah 23:24, KJV)

"Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all."

(Ephesians 1:23, KJV)

"It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.

Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." (John 6:45, KJV)

"For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."

(Galatians 1:12, KJV)

So as you can see there is a massive unity that exists among the Trinity and it is this unity that Christ is further explaining.

We have already seen that He says that they are equal in person and in work, but now He goes deeper and rattles the cages of His accusers.

Notice with me, please.

I.

Equal in Power and Sovereignty (vs.

21)

Jesus used two words in this verse that are the same in the Greek.

It is the English word “quicken” or “make alive”.

It is the Greek word “ζωοποιέω”.

Now, Jesus Christ makes it abundantly clear here that the same power that the Father has he also has.

Now, do not get caught up in the fact that Jesus uses that phrase, “raises the dead” and then uses the phrase, “and gives them life” all referring to the work of the Father.

I do not want you to get caught up in that because we must understand that one cannot be done without the other.

The old Lutheran Greek scholar Lenski said, “The raising and the Quickening are two sides of /one/ work, the one negative, the other positive; for where death is removed, life is assuredly bestowed.[2]

Now, the dilemma for the interpreter is whether Jesus Christ is here referring to physical life or is He referring to spiritual life.

Now, understand that both verbs have the same direct object “the dead” (/them/ being a pronoun referring back to /the dead/) so you cannot divide the direct object to refer one to physical and the other to spiritual life, they have to both refer to the same one.

Now, if they were referring to both, physical and spiritual life,  in the text then the natural flow of the Greek would be an inclusion of two direct objects, but since there is only one, this must be a reference to only one kind of life.

The second dilemma that we encounter is whether the life that Jesus is referring to is in fact physical life or is it spiritual life.

Now, listen to me carefully, you must understand this, this is not just some intellectual pursuit here, we must understand what kind of life that Jesus is referring to here.

Let me give you my conclusion and then I will tell you why I believe that this conclusion fits into the context of the passage.

I believe that the life that Jesus Christ is referring to is spiritual life.

Let me explain why.

There are basically two reasons how I reach that conclusion.

First of all it is the context of the passage.

And I am primarily referring to verse 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."

(John 5:24, KJV)

It goes without saying then that this verse is definitely and without question is reference to spiritual life.

My old seminary professor use to say that “a text without a context is a pretext”.

So context demands of us that we see that this is a reference to spiritual life.

Second of all is the usage of the Greek verbs.

“Raises” is used once and “gives life” is used twice and are all in the Present Tense, indicating a continuous action.

Now, understand, would it be logically and theologically responsible for us to say that either Jesus Christ or the Father is continually raising people, physically from the dead?

I don’t believe so!

I have never seen a person raised from physically life and I am sure that neither have you.

However, someone might pop up and say, “Well that may be true, but you have to place the words that Jesus is saying in the context of their place in history.

Jesus did raise people from the dead”.

True!

However, was the continual practice of his ministry?

Do the Scriptures record for us a savior that was continually in the process raising people, physically from the dead?

No! In fact, if you look in the Gospel, very few people did Jesus Christ actually raise from physical death.

However, it is true that the Father and Jesus Christ continually raise people to spiritual life.

So I trust you see that the context and the grammar show a raising to spiritual life.

Jesus first explains the work of the Father and then he says “in this way also” or “in the exact same way” the same work that the Father performs the Son performs.

Understand that the massive statement that Christ is making here is that He is able to do the same works that the Father is able to do.

What a statement for a person to make at all, let alone in the face of those people already seeking His death.

Why?

Because He came to make Himself known to His people and to those who were not His people He came to make them responsible.

So Jesus is attributing to Himself the same work that the Father performs.

However, he does not stop there.

He further attributes to Himself the same sovereignty that the Father has.

“Whom He will”.

Understand that even though this phrase does not appear with the description of the Father, the connecting phrase “in the same way” or “even so” attributes both works in the same way to both person.

Understand the words of the Savior, Just as the Father is all sovereign, so the Son is all sovereign.

Wow, that is a startling statement to make.

That not only d you say that you can perform the same power as the Father, but that you have the same authority or sovereignty as the Father.

Allow me to wrap this verse up for you.

Jesus Christ and the Father give spiritual life to whoever they will.