19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. 22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: 23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him. (John 5:19-23 KJV)
Jesus Is Equal with God
In these verses, Christ was still in a conversation defending his action of healing someone on the Sabbath at the Pool of Bethesda, as he was under the accusation of breaking the Sabbath.
First, He begins by saying the Son follows the Father (John 5:19): He declared, “The Son can do nothing by himself, but only what he sees the Father doing.” This reveals that, as the Mediator, Jesus is perfectly obedient to his Father’s will. Just as God cannot lie, so Christ cannot act independently from the Father. He is completely committed to doing his Father’s will. Moreover, Jesus observes the Father’s counsel. Only the Son sees what the Father does and is fully aware of his purposes.
All that Christ did as Mediator was the precise reflection of the Father’s plan, formed in eternity. It was Christ’s faithfulness, like Moses’s, to do all according to the pattern shown him. This is stated in the present tense—“what he sees the Father do”—because, even while on earth, he was in heaven (John 3:13), in the Father’s bosom (John 1:18). What the Father did in counsel was always before the Son’s eyes. David spoke of this when he said, “I have set the Lord always before me” (Psalm 16:8).
Yet this submission to the Father does not suggest inferiority. On the contrary, Christ is equal with the Father in power. “Whatever the Father does, the Son also does in the same way.” He does the same things (tauta), not merely similar things. He does them in the same way (homoios)—with equal authority, wisdom, and power. The Son enacts laws, overrules nature, knows hearts—just like the Father. The Mediator’s power is divine.
Second, we see that the Father communicates with the Son. This occurs because the Father loves the Son and has publicly declared, “This is my beloved Son.” Though Christ was despised by men (Isaiah 49:7), he was upheld by the love of his Father.
This communication happens through what the Father reveals to him: “He shows him all things that he does.” Just as God governs creation, so the Son governs the church, reflecting that divine order. Furthermore, the Father would show the Son even greater works so that people would marvel—works such as raising the dead and rising himself. Healing diseases, though miraculous, is not beyond nature’s limits, but raising the dead is. Also, Christ would soon replace the whole ceremonial law with new ordinances—far greater than telling a man to carry his bed. These future works, though mocked at the time, would leave people astonished (Luke 7:16). Many marvel at Christ’s miracles but do not believe in him.
Christ emphasizes his equality with the Father by pointing to specific acts that only God can do—namely, raising the dead and giving life and judging the world (John 5:21-30). These are repeated and emphasized because they are closely linked and together prove his claim to equality with God.
Concerning Christ’s power to raise the dead and give life, firstly, we see that he has the authority to do so: He says, “As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21). Raising the dead is a divine prerogative, seen in passages like Deuteronomy 32:30 and 1 Samuel 2:6. Though prophets like Elijah and Elisha were instruments of resurrection, they did so only through God’s power. The act itself is purely divine and was ridiculed by the Greeks (Acts 17:32). Yet Christ exercises this power freely and sovereignly, just like the prince in Daniel 5:19, who gave or withheld life at will. This fits Christ perfectly.
Secondly, Christ not only has the authority but also the ability to give life. As John 5:26 declares, he has life in himself, just like the Father. God is self-existent (Exodus 3:14), and so is the Son, who is the source of all spiritual life. What God is to the world, Christ is to the church (1 Corinthians 8:6; Colossians 1:19). The kingdom of grace is in Christ’s hands, just as the kingdom of providence is in the Father’s. He even raised himself from the dead (John 10:18).