Jesus' Equality with God
Exposition of John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 13 viewsJesus defends His contention that He is equal to God the father, as seen in John 5:18.
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Introduction
Introduction
A.W. Pink highlights seven ways that Jesus’ deity is established:
In service (vv 16-18)
In will (v 19)
In intelligence (v 20)
In sovereign rights (v 21)
In divine honors (vv 22-23)
In imparting life (vv 24-26)
In judicial power and authority (vv 27-30)
I ended up using this list (with modification)
1. United Activity
1. United Activity
For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
The pagan religions of their day often blurred the lines between deity and humanity. In fact it was even common for leaders at that time to consider themselves on the level of deity. We see this even in the book of Acts when a certain King Herod was struck down by God for refusing to give glory to God.
On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them.
The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”
And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
It is important to note that Jesus is NOT equal to God as simply another god. We’re not talking about a separate God, but rather one God and three persons. That’s what we refer to when we talk about the Trinity.
Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.
“For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
Absolute Sovereignty
Absolute Sovereignty
The greater works are explained in verse 21.
“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
Only God can raise the dead. Even Abraham knew this when he was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac. Hebrews tells us that Abraham did this knowing God could raise him.
Some have thought that Elijah was an exception or that Jesus was simply doing what prophets like Elijah did. However, there is a key difference.
Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
So she said to Elijah, “What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!”
He said to her, “Give me your son.” Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.
He called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?”
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the Lord and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child’s life return to him.”
The Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived.
Elijah was dependent upon the LORD to perform the work. It was not Elijah’s to perform. He was merely the agent. Here, Jesus is more than just the agent. He’s the one who is actually giving life!
Look again at that second half of verse 21.
“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
This is NOT saying that the Father gives life and uses the Son as an agent. No. This is saying that the Son gives life to WHOM HE WISHES!!
And it’s not just life either.
Divine Honor
Divine Honor
“For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son,
All judgment has been given to the Son.
The Jews understood that judgment ultimately belongs to God alone.
“Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?”
And additionally:
but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.
Now saying that all judgment has been given to Jesus seems to run counter to John 3:17, which reads:
“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.
How do we explain this? Well, first of all, Jesus’ primary purpose in coming was not the judge but to save. He accomplished that in His first coming.
However, we also understand that those who are not saved get what?
“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
Salvation does not remove judgment and in the case of Jesus, we see that God the Father has also granted all judgment to Jesus!
But for what purpose? Look at verse 23.
so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
This is another astounding claim! The purpose is that Jesus would receive EQUAL honor as God the Father!
The Apostle Paul expounds on this in Philippians when he states:
who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
And then in verses 9-11, he says:
For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
And earlier, back in the first chapter of John, we saw this:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Not only that but looking again at John 5:23, look at the second half of that verse.
so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
Jesus and God the Father are a packaged combination, this explains what John said back in 1:18:
No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
You see, the Jewish leaders in those days wanted to say that they believed God but not Jesus.
We have people today who verbally affirm God the Father but deny God the Son as being equal (e.g., Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Iglesia ni Christo).
But Jesus makes it crystal clear that if you deny one, you deny both. It’s actually IMPOSSIBLE to say that you support God the Father but deny Christ.
That’s why later, Jesus would tell Philip.
Jesus said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
So, they are distinct persons and yet they are perfectly united in their will and purpose.
Life-Giving Authority
Life-Giving Authority
But Jesus takes this further and ties this to salvation.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Notice who it is that receives eternal life. It is those who “hears My word” AND “believes Him who sent Me.”
Now, what do we mean by hear?
Clearly that is not just those who literally hear Him, but actually DOES what He says. This is in reference to people who respond to the gospel.
And responding to the gospel is communicating your faith in both the WORD of Jesus also believing in God the Father who sent Him.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
Explain the “already” and “not yet.”
“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;
This is not saying that they have life in the sense of being alive, but that they give life.
All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
Was there a point in time when God “gave” that life to the Son? Remember, the Son has always existed. That is clear in John 1:1 and Phil 2.6. This is one of those eternal mysteries we’ll never fully unravel.
and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.
This repeats what we saw earlier in verse 22. But what about that last part that says “because He is the Son of Man.”
Explain the anarthrous nature of how it appears in the Greek and how we can know for sure that it is not just talking about “any” son of man.
Perfect Judgment
Perfect Judgment
“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.
“I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.