For even as the Father raises the dead and quickens [them], thus the Son also quickens whom he will
Jesus had just healed a man on the Sabbath, and the religious leaders wanted Him dead for making Himself equal with God. His answer does not soften the claim. He points to a work that belongs to God alone: giving life.
That healing was real, but greater works were still to come. One writer names them, and says who they touch.
John 5:21-23. The Lord goes on to show what the greater works are: the work of resurrection, the work of giving life, and the work of judgment. These greater works will affect all men, believers and unbelievers. Believers will be raised and given life. Unbelievers and opponents, like the Jews the Lord was speaking to, will come under His strange work of judgment.
The older word for this is "quicken," and it carries no idea of improving something already alive.
God then must act. But how must He act? Will reformation, education or instruction meet our case? By no means: there can be nothing until He quickens, for quickening simply means the giving of life. The word translated "quicken" in the New Testament joins the noun "life" to the verb "to make" — to make alive.
The verse names two acts: raising the dead, and giving them life. They are not the same.
Quickening is giving life — a life that lives to God. In a spiritual sense the believer receives that life now. He was spiritually dead to God; now he is alive to God and knows it (Colossians 2:13). Quickening covers more than the believer's soul. It reaches the mortal body too. When Christ comes, He will free the body from death completely, and it will put on immortality (Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15:53). Unbelievers will be raised from the dead. Scripture does not say they receive life.
The Son does not just copy the Father's action. He acts by His own right, and He kept that right when He became a man.
As Son, though He is here as a man, He keeps His sovereign rights over people. The Father gives life; so does the Son. This action is Divine by its very nature. It belongs to God alone... He makes His own Divine claim on the creature; He gives life to whom He will... He does not give up His sovereign rights as God by becoming flesh.
What does that leave people with?
The Jews had just tried to kill Him, because He made Himself equal with God. He let them know that they could only receive life, spiritual life, from Him, and only as He was willing to give it. He gives life to whom He will. So men are completely at His mercy for receiving life. He gives life. Those in whom He works this way cannot have had spiritual life before. They were dead. As creatures who had failed in their responsibility, they were dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5).
Sovereignty is one side of the picture. Dependence is the other.
His divine nature and Godhead shine throughout, but He receives everything — He is sent — and has taken the place of one who receives and obeys... He acts with the same divine power as the Father, yet the Father shows Him all, and He does nothing of Himself.
Sovereignty here is no excuse to sit still. This life reaches a person along a set path.
This is the sad truth: men busy with all the activities of the world are here "the dead." The answer is not a stricter morality or a holier religion. They may gain one or the other or both, and still have no life. Teaching cannot give life any more than practice can. Life flows from the Son of God, Who gives life to whom He will. Yet it comes by faith, and so through the word which the Spirit applies with living power.
Giving life is one half of the Son's glory. Judgment is the other, and everyone falls under one or the other.
So the Son's glory is upheld in two ways. Like the Father, He gives life... then by judgment, for the Father judges no one, but has handed all judgment to the Son, so that all may honour Him. Those who receive life honour Him with all their heart, and gladly. Judgment will force those who do not believe to honour Him, against their will.
- Dead — the problem is not weakness but spiritual death. Reform, education and religion cannot reach it.
- Life — "quicken" means to make alive. It is the Father's own work, and the Son does it too.
- Will — He gives life to whom He wills. He keeps His divine rights, yet takes the place of a Son who is sent and obeys.
- Word — the life comes by faith, through His word heard and believed.
- Honour — those given life honour Him gladly. Judgment will force those who refuse Him to honour Him.
for neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son;
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who honours not the Son, honours not the Father who has sent him.
Jesus had just healed a man on the Sabbath and called God His own Father, and the leaders wanted to kill Him for it. He does not soften the claim. He explains why the Father has given Him all judgment: so that the Son receives the very honour that belongs to God.
The verse opens with "that" — it gives the reason for the words just before it. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son. One writer traces this back to the Son becoming a man. As a man, people could despise Him.
Two things are spoken of in this chapter (v. 21, 22) which show the glory of the Son. He gives life and He judges... But He has become a man, so men may dishonour Him in person, reject Him, and despise Him. That is why the Father judges no one and has given all judgment to the Son. The purpose is that all should honour Him, even those who have rejected Him. They are to honour the Son just as they honour the Father whom they acknowledge as God. If they refuse Him when He acts in grace, they will have to honour Him when He acts in judgment.
Behind the arrangement is the Father's own concern. The Son humbled Himself so far that He could say He does nothing of Himself. The Father will not let that humbling become a reason to value Him less.
Read, dear reader, the Lord's words to the Jews in John 5. There the secret comes out. Though the Son has humbled Himself, and though He says He can "do nothing of Himself," the Father will make sure it never dishonours Him or lowers Him in any way. By this most careful and jealous decree the Father guards the rights of the Son — His full divine rights.
The verse sets a measure for this honour, and the measure is the honour given to the Father Himself. The writer below quotes an older translation, which reads "even as they honour the Father" where the ESV reads "just as."
Nothing said here weakens our prayer and praise to our God and Father. What a blessed privilege! The writer himself knows that many of his own prayers go that way. But God has decreed "that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." "Even as" is a forceful phrase — in every way — in all things! Let us obey the Word!
Everyone in the verse ends up honouring the Son. The difference lies in whether that happens now, willingly, or later, under judgment.
If men refuse, like the Jews, to honour the Son as equal with the Father, they will still have to honour Him. They will meet Him as the Judge. To refuse Him as the Son is to miss the blessing: to meet Him as the Judge will seal their doom. But the Father will have His Son honoured either as the Son or as the Judge. The decree stands: "all men" shall honour the Son. Souls made alive, in the power of that new life, delight to acknowledge Him as the Son. Judgment will force the wicked to acknowledge Him as the Son.
The second half of the verse closes a door. No one can honour God while setting the Son aside.
Some may claim to honour the Father while refusing the Son. But the claim is false. To dishonour the Son is to dishonour the Father, who sent the Son as His own exact representation.
If the Son deserves the same honour as the Father, we may pray to Him directly.
When I say that God is the only One we should pray to, I do not for a moment mean that we must not pray to the Lord Jesus. He is God, equally with the Father, and equal honour belongs to Him (John 5:23). We find Stephen praying to the Lord Jesus to receive his spirit. Paul, too, prayed to Him about his thorn in the flesh.
- Cause — Because the Son became a man, people could despise Him. So the Father gave Him all judgment, securing His glory.
- Decree — The honour is not left to human taste. The Father Himself decrees it, watching over the full divine rights of the Son.
- Measure — "Even as" sets the level: the same honour given to the Father, in every way, in all things.
- Reach — It covers everyone. Believers give it gladly now; those who refuse will be compelled to give it before the Judge.
- Result — Honour withheld from the Son is not honour redirected to the Father; it is honour lost. To claim the Father while refusing the Son is a false claim.