Author: Jeff Englund

John 5: 30a

” By myself I can do nothing…”

Sometimes the mysteries of God are revealed in as few as six words. “By myself I can do nothing…”, is such a phrase. Here are the words of a man who has moments before said he only does what he sees his father doing. In fact, he has already said, “… the Son can do nothing by himself…” (v19) so he is repeating himself here. Normally Jesus repeats himself because what he is saying is important and something we should pay attention to.

It is a remarkable thing to do: to claim to be the Son of God, to claim you are able to give life to whom you are pleased to give it and to claim that people who believe in you will have eternal life, and then… then to point out that, “By myself I can do nothing…”  Continue reading “Nothing”

John 5: 26-29

” For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. 

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out —those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.”

Jesus continues his defense before the Jewish leaders. Here he sums up his arguments so far. Leaving aside the issue of working on the Sabbath, Jesus restates that the Son has life in himself just like the Father has life in himself. Continue reading “Works”

John 5: 26

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

This verse stands out to me for a couple of reasons. One is that the Greek word for “life,” is “Zoe,” which happens to be my granddaughter’s name. It is a very appropriate name for her as she is full of life in every sense of the word.

The other reason this stands out to me is the concept of the Father having “life in himself.” What does that mean?  Continue reading “Life”

John 5: 25

” Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.”

This saying of Jesus’ is interesting because it seems to answer the question, “What about all of those people who lived and died before Jesus was born? How do they get to heaven?  Continue reading “The Voice of God”

John 5: 24

” Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

If you are following along in your Bible as we do this study, I strongly recommend underlining this verse and then putting at least five stars next to it in the margin. What an amazing statement!  Continue reading “The Other Side”

John 5: 23

” …that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.”

Today Jesus continues the thought we started yesterday: “… the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son…”  In today’s verse, Jesus gives us the reason God has entrusted him with all judgment. It is God’s intention that the Son should be honored just as the Father is.  Continue reading “To Honor Jesus”

John 5: 22

” Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son…” 

In this verse, Jesus is defending himself against the persecution of the Jewish leaders. Verse 18 says Jesus ticked them off by making himself equal with God. Apparently making himself equal with God wasn’t enough. Jesus had to go and take his case one step farther.

The power of God is found not only in his ability to create and sustain creation but also in the threat of judgment.  Continue reading “Thinking About Jesus”

John 5: 21

“For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so, the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.”

This verse makes my head spin! “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life…” is quite a statement to make. In Jesus’ day, there were an important group of Jewish leaders called the Sadducees. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead either because they believed that God could not or would not do such a thing. They had access to all of the same scriptures that the Pharisees and others had, but they chose to believe differently. In this one simple statement, Jesus puts aside any doubt on the matter. The Father raises the dead and gives them life. (Jesus will go on to demonstrate this truth more than once!) Then Jesus equates himself to God again by saying he, too, gives life to whom he is pleased to give it.

This second statement is even more powerful. Jesus offers to give life to the living. Here it helps to look back to Genesis 3 and re-examine the difference between being physically dead and spiritually dead. Adam brought us to a state of spiritual death by eating from the forbidden tree. Jesus offers to give us life again, the life that Adam gave up when he was in the Garden of Eden.  Continue reading “Game Changer”

John 5: 19-20

 “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 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.’”

Having insulted the Jewish leaders by healing a man on the Sabbath and then adding insult to injury by causing him to carry his mat on the Sabbath, Jesus is openly persecuted by the Jewish leaders. John doesn’t quote them verbatim, rather he quotes Jesus saying God always works implying that God works on the Sabbath, too. The persecution of Jesus must have taken the form of angry words from the Jewish leaders. Jesus begins his response to them with today’s passage.  Continue reading “Copy Cat”

John 5: 18

 “For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

Remember way back at the beginning of chapter 4 where Jesus leaves Judea and goes back to Galilee? John doesn’t say it, but he hints that the reason Jesus left Judea was because of the Pharisees. Now we learn that “Jewish leaders” are trying “all the more” to kill Jesus which suggests that the idea of killing Jesus wasn’t new to them.  Continue reading “Man Made”