Lesson for May 11, 2025

The Book of John

Lesson 14

Jesus Asserts His Deity

Chapter 5:19-21

Verses 19-21

^“Therefore, Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.’” 

What exactly was Jesus answering? The Greek word for answered is “apokrinomai,” meaning to give a discerning reply. Jesus discerned the thoughts and intents of the Pharisees in persecuting Him for breaking the Sabbath and for asserting His deity, as we saw in the previous verses. His reply to them is contained in the rest of the verses in John 5.

Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way. Truly, truly is an idiom, meaning what I’m about to say is absolute truth from God. The Son was Jesus’ way of asserting His deity and authority, as being from God. The Son referred to the Doctrine of the Hypostatic Union, Jesus Christ being the unique Person of the universe. He is the only Person to be both fully God and fully human. The term Hypostatic Union is a unique union derived from the Greek word hupostatis meaning essence. In the case of Christ, it is both divine and human essence in one Person, the God-Man. (Hebrews 1:3)

Christ was born of a virgin. Therefore, He was born without Adam’s original sin and without a sin nature. He is superior to man because He is God and He is a sinless human being. He was qualified to be a substitute for all of us and the only way to God. (John 14:6) Even though His two natures are united in one Person, they retain their separate identities. The attributes of one do not belong to the other. Deity remains deity and humanity remains humanity. 

Because of this unique union, Christ is the perfect mediator between God and people. Being sinless, He was the only One qualified to go to the Cross and pay the penalty for sin. Theologically, we say that Jesus is undiminished deity and true humanity in One Person forever. He is undiminished deity, in that He is as much God as the Father and the Holy Spirit, in essence, attributes, and character. He is true humanity, in that He possesses a body, a soul, and a spirit. (Acts 5:31; Hebrews 1:3, 4:15,10:5; I Peter 2:24; Matthew 26:38; Mark 2:8; Luke 23:46; I John 3:3)

The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing. We immediately know that this statement refers to the humanity of Christ, and not to His deity. As deity, Jesus was omnipotent (all-powerful) and could do anything. So, what does the statement mean within the context of the passage? The Greek word for sees is “blepo,” which means to see in your mind or to observe mentally. Therefore, it refers to what Jesus learned about God the Father from His study of Scripture. (Luke 2:40-52)

Let’s remember the Doctrine of Kenosis, which states that Jesus voluntarily restricted the use of His deity, while here on earth. (Philippians 2:5-8) This doctrine takes its name from the Greek word “kenoo,” which means to deprive oneself of a rightful function. This doctrine explains how Christ, the Creator of the universe, could leave Heaven and become a human being. II Corinthians 8:9 tells us that even though Christ was rich, for our sakes He became poor. This is kenosis.

We must remember that Jesus Christ is coequal and coeternal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. He voluntarily subordinated Himself to the Father’s plan of salvation. This means He also deprived Himself of the exercise of His divine attributes. At no time did Christ “empty Himself” of His deity. He was never less than God. He simply restricted the use of His divine attributes, voluntarily. (Colossians 2:9) 

Jesus was born as a human being and had to learn the Scriptures, the same way that we do, under the filling and guidance of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was the One Who empowered Him and sustained Him throughout His life on earth. As a human person, Christ suffered in the same way that we suffer but much greater, of course. The ultimate humiliation was that He suffered the divine judgment from God for our sins. (Matthew 24:36; John 8:56, 16:14; Philippians 2:8)

Christ glorified the Father by executing the Father’s plan, not by glorifying Himself. However, the limitation of kenosis ultimately glorified Christ because He was able to execute the plan perfectly, without sin. As a testimony to the fact that God was completely satisfied with His Son, Christ is “seated at the right hand of the Father.” Seating Jesus at the right hand of the Father is an analogy of God honoring and exalting Jesus above all others. A person of high rank who puts someone on his right hand is giving them equal honor and recognizing them as possessing equal dignity and authority. His impeccable life was our prototype, to demonstrate to us the fact that we too can execute God’s plan. (John 19:30; Philippians 2:5-8)

For whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in the same way.

Every time Jesus used a verb for the Father, He used the same verb for Himself, asserting His deity. He was not depending upon His deity to heal the man on the Sabbath, He was depending upon the power of the Holy Spirit. All the things that Jesus was doing, He was doing from His humanity. He set aside the independent use of His own attributes. He operated strictly as a human being, in obedience to the Father. In His deity, He was equal with the Father; in His humanity, He was obedient to the Father.

All the way through this chapter, we are going to see Christ’s obedience to God the Father’s will. God the Father’s provision for Christ’s spiritual life was Bible doctrine and the power of the Holy Spirit. These two provisions for Christ are also available to believers today.

For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.  All love is from God. The two Greek words that describe God’s love are “agape” and “philos.”  “Agape love” is impersonal love based on God’s integrity and virtue. Impersonal love is unconditional love for the human race before salvation. (John 3:16) “Philos love” is God’s personal love for believers, based on possessing God’s righteousness. (I John 4:9-10; II Corinthians 5:21)

Shows is the Greek word “deiknumi” meaning to teach. It means to teach something that already exists or to make it known. God the Father loves His Son, personally. Because the Father loves His Son, He taught the humanity of Jesus Bible doctrine from the Old Testament Scriptures. His deity always knew it, His humanity had to learn it. All things refers to the plan of God (He Himself is doing). And the Father was going to show the humanity of Christ greater works than He had already seen, like healing the man at Bethesda. The Father was going to show the humanity of Christ greater works so that He would be amazed at what could be done under the power of the Holy Spirit and the application of Bible doctrine.

For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. It was no accident that Jesus used resurrection to assert His deity. There were parts of the Sanhedrin who did not believe in resurrection, but the Pharisees, to whom He was speaking, did believe in resurrection. Jesus had already made Himself equal with God, by calling God His Father. Therefore, as God, Jesus could raise the dead, just as the Father could raise the dead. So, Jesus was making it clear to these religious leaders that He was the promised Messiah. He was equal with the Father in matters of resurrection.