For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself,
In Jerusalem the Lord has healed a man at the pool, and He is answering the charge that He made Himself equal with God. Verse 26 explains how a dead soul can hear His voice and live — and it raises a question: how can One who is God receive anything?
The verse opens with "For." Commentators read it as the ground of the promise just made in verse 25: the dead hear the voice of the Son of God and live.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (v. 25). For the Son had come, and as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself. Being man, He receives everything from the Father. He is careful to honour Him alone, as that is man's only right place.
The gift is not life as such, given to someone who lacked it. Writers point instead to the power that goes with the phrase "in Himself" — the capacity to pass life on.
In taking the place of Son on earth He accepts everything as a gift from the Father, even "to have life in Himself." Life was in Him as the Word (John 1:4). But here the Father gives it to Him as the Son on earth to have life in Himself. This does not mean that the Father gave the Son life as such. He gave Him the power to communicate that life to others.
Not everyone limits the giving to the time when the Son became man. Others press the sentence itself — "as… so." They ask when either Father or Son began to have life in Himself.
It is impossible to apply this to the Incarnation... The statement here is not "The Father has given to Him to have life in Himself because He is the Son of Man." The life given is as between the Father and the Son. The Son, as the Son, derives everything from the Father... When did the Father begin to have life in Himself? Was this ever true of the Father apart from the Son? This proves that the relationship of Father and Son is eternal. Who could introduce a point of time into verse 26? The Son is eternal with the Father, existing with Him in life and being.
The wording separates the Son from everyone else who has life.
Take a leaf in your hand. It has life in it, but not life in itself; it has life in the tree. If it had life in itself you could detach it from the tree and it would go on living independently of the tree. But the moment you detach it, that moment it withers and dies. Its life is in the tree and depends on its connection with the tree.
Life lodged in Christ rather than in us is not a limitation. It is the reason the believer's life cannot be spoiled.
Suppose life could have been detached from the Son of God, so that it was in us only and not in the Son. Then it might be damaged or decay. But because it is in the Son, it stays holy and imperishable. So we have it, and we know we have it on His word. Every good work, every right affection, all true service and acceptable worship flow from eternal life in the power of the Spirit.
The passage does not stop at life-giving. Kelly grounds each of the Son's two works in what He is.
Read faithfully, the whole context allows and maintains that there are two dealings set against one another: life-giving and judging. This contrast is kept up in every case. The Son has life because He is God; the Son judges because He is man. He is the only person in the Godhead who became man, and He gave up none of His rights as God. God has appointed Him judge of the living and the dead.
- Source. The Father has life in Himself. Life-giving power belongs to Him first, and the verse starts there.
- Gift. The Son received not existence but the power to hand life on. As Man He took even this from the Father, and never claimed it apart from Him.
- Dispute. Commentators differ. Does the giving belong to the Son's life on earth, or to the eternal relation of Father and Son?
- Vessel. We have life, but never "in ourselves." Like a leaf in a tree, we hold it by staying joined to Christ. That is why it cannot decay.
- Verdict. The same Person gives life because He is God and judges because He is man. Hearing His voice now decides which of the two you meet.
and has given him authority to execute judgment [also], because he is Son of man.
Jesus has been speaking about the life He gives. Now He gives the reason judgment is in His hands too: He is the Son of Man. Why does becoming a man give Him the right to judge? And what does that mean for the people who met Him in His lowliness?
The Lord carries two titles here, and each has its own work.
It is as Son of man that the Lord Jesus will sit on the throne. No doubt He will show His Divine knowledge when He judges. But, as He says plainly, the Father has given Him authority to execute judgment because He is Son of man. As Son of God He gives life; as Son of man He will judge. How solemn! Had He been only Son of God, who would have dared to despise Him? The light of His glory would have destroyed every proud enemy in front of Him at once.
His humanity is what gave men the opening to insult Him. That same humanity is what they will face.
He commits all judgment to the Son. He will judge in the very nature in which men treated Him as nothing. He will judge not only as God, though He is God, but as Man — the Man once utterly despised and rejected. Though He was the Son, He was willing to share in flesh and blood, and so become Son of man. Man will be judged in front of the Man he hated enough to kill. Man will stand and tremble before the exalted Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 22 gives judgment to the Son. Verse 27 adds the reason: He is Son of Man. Men refused both titles, and God will see Him honoured in both.
Men reject Christ as the Son of God, and seek to kill Him as the Son of Man. God intends that those who have rejected Him will honour Him both as Son of God and as Son of Man. Since they have rejected Him, this can only happen in judgment. So He exercises judgment both as Son of God and as Son of Man (verses 22, 27).
Some have used His humanity as a reason to deny that He is God. The Father has answered that.
Men have used the Son's Manhood as an excuse to deny His deity. But the Father has made very sure that men will realise who the Son is. If men refuse to bow before the Son in the day of God's grace, they will have to bow before Him in the day of judgment.
The Gospels usually say "the Son of man". Here the Greek leaves out the word "the".
In Matthew, Mark and Luke He is always called "the Son of man". But in John 5:27 (as in Rev. 1:13 and Rev. 14:14) He is called "Son of man" without the article. As Westcott says, this stresses His true humanity, and His work as Judge belongs to that humanity rather than to His personality.
This authority has a scene attached to it: the raising of the dead at the end.
He has bought their bodies as well as their souls. Now the hour has come when all who are still in their graves must hear His voice and come out to the resurrection of judgment, and be judged by the spotless purity of the great white throne. Christ, not God, sits on that throne. God is "the Judge of all" (Heb. 12:23), yet He "has given all judgment to the Son," and that "because He is the Son of Man." (John 5:22, 27.) It is God's judgment, because Christ, the perfect man, carries out God's righteousness perfectly.
The vision that opens Revelation is read as the same Person in that character: "The Lord Jesus presented Himself to John as 'like to the Son of Man'… all of them hinge on this first great vision of the Son of Man in His judicial glory."
The order matters. He took the place of judgment before He takes the seat of judgment.
He was lifted up as the representative of men. He bore the judgment that lay on them, so that He might be the Redeemer before He takes the throne as Judge. He was lifted up on the cross, and just as certainly He will fill that throne.
There is still a way out, and it is open now:
Eternal life comes through hearing Christ's Word now and believing the One who sent His Son in love. Otherwise nothing is left but a resurrection of judgment, which will vindicate His injured name.
- The Man. As Son of God He gives life; as Son of Man He judges — the whole verse turns on the title He wore in rejection.
- The reason. Men used His manhood as their excuse to despise Him. The Father made that same manhood His right to judge them.
- The wording. Here the title drops the word "the". That stresses His true humanity.
- The throne. He will use that authority at the great white throne. It is God's judgment, carried out by the perfect Man.
- The order. He was lifted up as Redeemer before He sits as Judge. Hear His word now and you have life; refuse it, and judgment waits at the end.