John 5:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

NIV: For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.

NASB: For just as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

CSB: For just as the Father has life in himself, so also he has granted to the Son to have life in himself.

NLT: The Father has life in himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to his Son.

KJV: For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

NKJV: For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself,

This verse summarizes the general point Jesus has been making in this passage. When criticized for violating human Sabbath traditions and claiming to be God, Jesus replies with even more specific claims. He is identical to God in works (John 5:19), love (John 5:20), life-and-death power (John 5:21), judgment (John 5:22), and honor (John 5:23). This also means Jesus is the exclusive way to come to God (John 3:36; 14:6). Those who reject Jesus are rejecting God.

Here, Jesus once again emphasizes the role He plays in eternal life. According to John 1:4, Jesus is the embodiment of both life and light. Light is a Hebrew symbol of truth, goodness, and knowledge. Life, in this case, not only means the continuation of existence, and energy, but also the power and nature of God. Jesus is part of God and is God, so He has the same life and power as God the Father.

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.

Accessed 5/2/2024 7:58:03 AM