John 5:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.

NIV: For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

NASB: 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 be amazed.

CSB: For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.

NLT: For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing. In fact, the Father will show him how to do even greater works than healing this man. Then you will truly be astonished.

KJV: For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

NKJV: For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.

In verse 19, Jesus began His defense of claiming to be equal with God. In that verse, Jesus specifically claimed to be equal to God in works. Local religious leaders are angry at Jesus for violating their traditions (John 5:16). Jesus, however, has shown that because He only does what the Father tells Him to do, His actions are not sin. They may contradict the custom of the Pharisees, but not the will of God.

Here, Jesus claims to have equivalent love to God the Father. This is meant to be understood in the same context as Jesus' claim in verse 19, regarding works. The relationship between Jesus, the Son, and God, the Father, is one of perfect harmony. The problem facing the Pharisees and Sadducees was spiritual blindness (Matthew 23:17). This blindness created a wall of separation between them and God; their actions did not reflect the actual will of the Father. Jesus, on the other hand, is in a state of perfect love and communion with God. As a result, His actions are identical to the will of God.

Even more, Jesus says, the Father has even greater deeds in store. The purpose of these is to prove that Jesus is exactly who He claims to be: the Son of God (John 20:30–31). In particular, Jesus will foreshadow both the resurrection of Lazarus (John 11) and His own conquest over death.

Jesus has claimed equality with God in works (John 5:19), and now love. In upcoming verses, He will claim to be equal to God in both judgment (John 5:22) and honor (John 5:23).

John 5:16–29 begins Jesus' response to local religious leaders. After healing a man on the Sabbath, Jesus is attacked for violating traditions related to the Mosaic law and for claiming to be equal to God. In this passage, Jesus claims many of the attributes of God the Father. Among these are the power, judgment, love, and honor of God. Jesus also states that those who reject His message dishonor God and only those who believe Him will have eternal life. In the next passage, Jesus will support these claims by referring to various forms of evidence, all of which prove His ministry to be true.

Jesus again returns to Jerusalem, as required for the various feast days. While there, He heals a man who had been crippled for nearly forty years. Since this occurred on the Sabbath, local religious leaders are angry—more upset with Jesus for working on the Sabbath than amazed at His miracle. In response, Jesus offers an important perspective on evidence. Jesus refers to human testimony, scriptural testimony, and miracles as reasons to believe His declarations. Christ also lays claim to many of the attributes of God, making a clear claim to divinity.

Chapters 1 through 4 showed Jesus more or less avoiding publicity. Here, in chapter 5, He will begin to openly challenge the local religious leaders. This chapter is Jesus' first major answer to His critics in this Gospel. The fact that Jesus is willing to heal on the Sabbath sets up a theme of His upcoming disagreements with the Pharisees. Jesus also provides important perspective on the relationship between evidence and faith, which He will expand on in later chapters. This chapter also establishes a key point made by Jesus' critics: His claims to be God.

The gospel of John was written by the disciple John, decades later than the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. The author assumes that a reader is already familiar with the content of these other works. So, John presents a different perspective, with a greater emphasis on meaning. John uses seven miracles—which he calls “signs”—in order to prove that Jesus is, in fact, God incarnate. Some of the most well-known verses in all of the Bible are found here. None is more famous than the one-sentence summary of the gospel found in John 3:16.