John 5:16-22
The Pharisees were strict interpreters of the law, but what they said was forbidden on the Sabbath Jesus disregarded. When Jesus was challenged about healing on the Sabbath Day, He said, …The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath… (Mark 2:27).
5:16 – For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus… The Jews continued to be hostile to Jesus because He performed mighty acts of healing on the Sabbath. It could be Jesus deliberately did it to expose the hypocrisy of the Jews. There was no law against doing good on the Sabbath. The Bible also says For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8).
5:17 – … My father is still working, so I am working, too. Jesus is followingGod’s example. God never gets tired. He doesn’t need a day of rest (ReadIsaiah 40:28). Because Jesus works continuously, He must be God.
5:18 – … the Jews sought … to kill him, … (He) also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. The same things that apply to God must also apply to Him.
5:19 – … the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. It suggests the Son (Jesus) is the only One who can do what the Father does. Therefore, He is as great as the Father.
5:20 – … he will show him greater works than these… the greater works are the raising of the dead. Through Elijah God healed the widow’s son (Read I Kings 17:17-24).
5:21 – For as the Father raises the dead and (He) gives them life … the Son also gives life to whom he desires. “(Jesus) does not claim simply to be an instrument in God’s hand for restoring the dead to life… He asserts that authority has been given him to raise the dead … (and to give) life of the age to come (F. F. Bruce).
5:22 – …the Father has given all judgment to the Son. Jesus has the authority to execute the final judgment.
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