Passage To Study:

John 5:24-30

[24] “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. [25] “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. [26] “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, [27] “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. [28] “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice [29] “and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation. [30] “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.

What are the facts of the passage?:

  • The passage builds on the concepts introduced in the previous section.

  • Jesus tells us of two certainties:

  • If one hears His words and believes in Him who sent [Christ] they have everlasting life, shall not come into judgment and has passed from death to life.

  • The day is coming when Christ will judge all men without exception with the result that some will live and some will be condemned.

  • The Father has life in Himself - and has granted the Son to have life in Himself.

  • He has further granted the Son authority to execute judgment.

  • Christ will execute judgment that results in the final disposition of all men.

  • Christ's judgment is not arbitrary. It is rooted in objective truth and not in opinion. It is rooted in the Father's will; and so is a righteous judgment.

What do those facts mean?:

The first note I want to make regards whether or not verse 24 should be understood to say that such an individual receives eternal life or already has eternal life and is, by the believing, demonstrating the presence already of eternal life. The second idea seems to fit well with the rest of the verse. It would seem to support the idea that is present in the rest of the Scripture that the exercise of faith follows the act of God that regenerates. This seems to say that the act of believing is an evidence or a result of having eternal life, not the cause of receiving eternal life. That seems to be the order in view here.

Verse 25 should be understood to refer to general Resurrection and not either resurrection of the just or the unjust separately.

Verse 26 speaks of the Father as having life "in Himself". This is fairly easy to understand. The Father is not dependent on any other being for His existence. He is independently of anything else. All else is in a derived way. They exist because God, in some fashion, upholds and continues them.

What it difficult to understand is the second part of the verse. The Father has granted the same quality to the Son. It would seem to be logical to understand that the Son would, being God Himself, have that quality as a part of His essence.  Yet, it seems that we need to think about this at least to some greater degree.

The larger issue in the passage is that of authority. It could be that Christ is couching this aspect of  His essential nature in terms of the delegated authority of God. The problem with this is that I can't think of a single reason or purpose for this to be said in this way. This doesn't mean that it isn't the case; but that I simply can't demonstrate that it is the case. 

I must confess that the delegated authority idea does make sense of the context of the rest of the passage as well. God has granted Jesus authority and that authority rests entirely in Him. If is truly His; not merely loaned or vested so that the authority exercised is still the Father's but rather is really Christ's. With you and I, what authority we exercise on God's behalf we exercise as His representative. In regard to judgment, this is not the case with Christ. The Father has granted to Him the same "life in Himself'' quality and that makes Christ uniquely qualified to judge. This is borne out by the next verses.

How do those facts apply to my life?:

This idea is new to me. I had always thought in terms of human delegation rather than in terms of granted or imparted authority. I will need to think about this for a while.

What should I do in response?:

Think it through!

 

Day
22

 

 
Hearing And Believing

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