John 5:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In another place He says, “I will raise him up at the last day” (Jn 6:39). Again, showing that He acts without borrowing power from another, He says, “I am the resurrection and the life” (Jn 11:25).

But lest you say that He only raises the dead and gives life to whom He wills, while He does not do everything else in this way, He anticipates and refutes every such objection.

He said, “For whatever the Father does, these things the Son likewise does.” By this He expressed that He does everything that the Father does, and in the same way as the Father.

Whether one understands here the resurrection of the dead, or the fashioning of bodies, or the forgiveness of sins, or anything else, He accomplishes everything as His Father does.

But those who neglect their own salvation heed none of this.

Such is the evil of passion for primacy over others. This produced heresies. This strengthened the impiety of the Greeks.

God was pleased that His invisible attributes be known from the creation of this world (Rom 1:20). But they abandoned this and did not wish to go by the path of this teaching.

They laid out another path for themselves, and therefore departed from the true one.

Likewise the Jews did not believe because, seeking glory from one another, they did not seek the glory that comes from God.

But we, beloved, must flee this sickness with all strength and all zeal. Even if we possessed countless perfections, the contagion of vainglory could destroy them all.

Therefore, if we desire praise, let us seek praise from God.

Praise from men, whatever it may be, disappears as soon as it appears. Even if it does not disappear, it brings us no benefit, and often arises from corrupt judgment.

What is important in human glory, which is enjoyed by dancing youths at public games, by immoral women, by extortioners, and by robbers?

But the one glorified by God is glorified not with such people, but with the saints, that is, with the prophets and apostles, who showed in themselves an angelic life.

If we desire a crowd of people to surround us, with their eyes turned toward us, let us examine what this is, and we will find that it has no value.

In a word, if you love to be in company, attract to yourself the assembly of angels. Be terrible to demons.

Then you will care nothing for human rumor. You will trample every brilliance as mud and dust.

Then you will see clearly that nothing makes the soul so inglorious as love of glory.

Indeed, it is impossible, utterly impossible, for one who loves glory not to live a life subject to passions.

On the contrary, he who suppresses love of glory within himself cannot fail also to suppress many other passions. Whoever conquers this passion overcomes envy, love of money, and the other grievous sicknesses.

But how, they say, shall we overcome this passion?

We shall overcome it if we keep in mind another glory, the heavenly glory, of which the earthly tries to deprive us.

That glory will glorify us even here, will accompany us in the future life, and will free us from every slavery of the flesh.

Now we serve the flesh so miserably, having wholly given ourselves over to the earth and its affairs.

Whether we go to the marketplace, enter some house, travel on the road, or go to the harbor, an inn, a guesthouse, a ship, an island, royal palaces, courts, or civic councils, everywhere you will see concern for temporal and worldly affairs.

All people, each one of them, care only for these things: those departing and arriving, those setting out on a journey and those remaining at home, those sailing and those cultivating the earth, those in the fields and those in the cities.

What hope of salvation will we have if, living on God’s earth, we do not care for divine things?

We have been commanded to be strangers here, yet we are rather strangers to heaven and inhabitants of these places.

What could be worse than such insensibility?

Hearing every day about judgment and the Kingdom, we imitate the contemporaries of Noah and the inhabitants of Sodom, and wait to be instructed by the same experiences.

Yet everything about them was written so that whoever does not believe in the future may receive clear proofs about future things from past events.

Therefore, reflecting on all this, on what is past and what is future, let us rest at least a little from this heavy slavery and care somewhat for our soul.

Then we may attain both present and future blessings, by the grace and love for mankind of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Where now will the word of the Christ-fighters rush? Or what will they say to these words of the Son? How does the Father raise the dead? Does He borrow life from another, or is He Himself life by nature? I think they will certainly agree concerning Him that He is Life, and thus can give life to those for whom He becomes participable. Therefore, since the Son also gives life to the dead in the same way, He is undoubtedly Life from Life by nature. He who is so indistinguishable from the Father, how can He be created, if the Father is not such? But of course the Father is not created. For He always was and is Life. Therefore the Son is not a creation. He is ever-living and existing, as is the Father.

See here not only the power of the Son, but also His will. The Son gives life to whom He wills, and the Father gives life to whom He wills. The Son gives life to the same ones as the Father. Therefore the authority of the Father and the Son is one, and Their will is one.

Certainly these are greater works. To raise the dead is a far greater deed than to restore strength to the paralytic. These are greater works. But when was the Father going to show them to the Son? Did the Son not know them? Did He who was saying this not know how to raise the dead? Did He through whom all things were made still not know how to raise the dead? Did He who caused us, who formerly did not exist, to live, still not know how we shall rise?

What, then, did He mean to say? He descends to us and, having spoken shortly before as God, begins to speak as man. Yet He, while being God, is man, for God became man. He became what He was not, without losing what He was. Man, therefore, was added to God, but not so that He became man and ceased to be God.

Let us now listen as to a brother to Him whom we have heard as Creator. As Creator, because "the Word was in the beginning" (Jn 1:1). As brother, because He was born of the Virgin Mary. As Creator, He was before Abraham, before Adam, before earth, before heaven, before every bodily and spiritual thing. As brother, He was of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Judah, and of the Virgin of Israel.

If, then, we know Him who speaks with us both as God and as man, let us understand the words of God and man. Sometimes He speaks to us of what pertains to His majesty, and sometimes of what pertains to His humility. For He, being exalted, humbled Himself in order to make us, who were lowly, exalted.

What then did He say? "The Father will show Me works greater than these, so that you may marvel." He was going to show them to us, not to Himself. The Father was going to show this to us, and therefore He said, "so that you may marvel." He explained what He meant when He said, "The Father will show Me." Why did He not say, "The Father will show you," but "will show the Son"?

Because we too are members of the Son. What we learn, we learn as His members. He Himself, in a certain way, acquires knowledge in His members. How does He acquire knowledge in us? In the same way that He suffers in us. How shall we prove that He suffers in us? From the word spoken from heaven: "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?" (Acts 9:4).

Is He not the One who will sit upon the throne of His glory as Judge at the end of the ages? Holding the righteous on His right and the unrighteous on His left, He will say, "Come, blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom. For I was hungry, and you gave Me food" (cf. Mt 25:34-35). And when they answer Him, "Lord, when did we see Thee hungry?" He will say to them, "When you gave to one of My least ones, then you gave to Me" (cf. Mt 25:37-41).

Let Him who said, "When you gave to one of My least ones, then you gave to Me," now be asked by us: "Lord, when dost Thou learn, although Thou teachest all?" And immediately He answers in our faith: "When one of My least ones learns, then I learn."

Let us therefore rejoice and give thanks to God, because we have become not only Christians, but Christ Himself. Do you understand, brethren, do you perceive the grace of God upon us? Marvel and rejoice: we have become Christ. For if He is the Head, then we are the members. The whole man is He and we.

The Apostle Paul says the same: "That we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine" (Eph 4:14). And before this he said: "Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (cf. Eph 4:13).

The fullness of Christ is the Head and the members. What does "the Head and the members" mean? Christ and the Church. We would be showing pride if we ascribed this to ourselves, had not the One who spoke this through the Apostle deemed it worthy to promise it to us: "You are the body of Christ and members" (cf. 1 Cor 12:27).

Therefore, when the Father shows the members of Christ, He shows Christ. A great wonder occurs, yet it is true: what Christ did not know is shown to Christ, and it is shown to Christ through Christ. It is a wondrous and great thing, but Scripture speaks in precisely this way. Shall we argue with the divine sayings and refuse to understand the meaning? Shall we not thank the Giver for His gift?

What does what I said mean: "it is shown to Christ through Christ"? It means that it is shown to the members through the Head. See this from your own example. Suppose you want to take something with your eyes closed. The hand does not know where to go. Yet your hand is your member, because it is not separated from your body. Open your eyes, and the hand now sees where to move. When the head shows, the member follows where the head shows.

If, then, something of this sort could happen in you, so that your body showed something to your body, and through your body something was shown to your body, do not be surprised that it was said that something was shown to Christ through Christ. The Head shows so that the members may see. The Head teaches so that the members may learn. But the Head and the body are one man.

He did not wish to separate Himself, but deigned to join Himself to us. He was far from us, very far. What is as far apart as Creator and creation? What is as far apart as God and man? What is as far apart as righteousness and unrighteousness? What is as far apart as eternity and corruption?

See how far from us was the Word who was in the beginning, God with God, through whom all things were made. How, then, did He come so near as to become the same as we are, and we to be in Him? "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14).

What, then, was He going to show us, which He showed to His disciples who saw Him in the flesh? "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills." Does the Father raise some and the Son others? Certainly all things were made through Him.

What shall we say, my brethren? Christ raised Lazarus. What dead man did the Father raise, so that Christ might see how to raise Lazarus? Or when Christ raised Lazarus, did the Father not raise him? Did the Son do this alone without the Father? Read this passage, and see that there He calls upon the Father so that Lazarus may rise (cf. Jn 11:41-44). As man He calls upon the Father. As God He raises together with the Father.

Therefore Lazarus, who rose, was raised by both the Father and the Son, in the gift and grace of the Holy Spirit. The Trinity accomplished this wondrous deed. Thus let us not understand the words, "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills," as though some rose and lived through the Father, and others through the Son.

Rather, the same ones whom the Father raises and gives life, the Son raises and gives life. For "all things were made through Him, and without Him was nothing made" (cf. Jn 1:3). And to show that He has authority, though given by the Father, yet equal with Him, He says, "so also the Son gives life to whom He wills."

He said this to show where His will is, and so that no one might say, "The Father raises the dead through the Son, yet the Father raises as possessing power and authority, while the Son, obeying another's authority. Does something as a servant, like an angel." He showed His authority when He said, "so also the Son gives life to whom He wills." For He does not will something different from the Father. As Their essence is one, so also Their will is one.

Who are the dead whom the Father and the Son raise? Are they really those whom we mentioned: Lazarus, or the son of a certain widow (cf. Lk 7:14-15), or the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue (cf. Mk 5:41-42; Lk 8:54-55)? We know that they were raised by Christ the Lord. He wished to impress something else upon us: the resurrection of the dead which we all seek. It is not the resurrection which some received so that the rest might believe. Lazarus rose to die again, but we shall rise to triumph forever.

Does the Father or the Son accomplish this resurrection? Certainly the Father in the Son. Therefore, the Son and the Father in the Son. On what basis shall we prove that He is speaking of this resurrection? When He said, "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills," He continued so that we might not think of that resurrection of the dead which He performed for a miracle, and not for eternal life. He says, "For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father" (Jn 5:22-23).

Then He returns to this resurrection of souls: "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills," but spiritually. The Father gives life, and the Son gives life. The Father gives life to whom He wills, and the Son to whom He wills. But the Father gives life to the same ones as the Son, for all things were made through Him. "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills."

In Him one cannot suppose the error of ignorance, as in the other messengers of God, nor obscurity, nor incompleteness of knowledge. For the Father so loves the Son that He does not hide His actions from Him, but shows them to His Son. Therefore whatever the Father does, the Son also does, and can do without censure. But the Lord's hearers had no capacity to understand these ineffable relations of the Son to the Father. These relations did not cease even when the Son was on earth and not in the bosom of the Father. Therefore the Lord turns to what is closer to their understanding. They all expected that the kingdom of the Messiah would be revealed by resurrection and judgment. They attributed this not to the Messiah Himself, but to God. Wishing to show that the Son truly does the same things as the Father, the Lord dwells on these works of God. At the same time, they proved that He is the true Messiah. "You all think that the resurrection of the dead and judgment are the work of the Father. But He has also given the Son power to give life to whom He wills. And the Father has entrusted all judgment to the Son." "In this the will of the Father is clearly revealed: that all should honor the Son as they honor the Father. Otherwise, the one who will not honor Him is subject to the Son's judgment. This applies also to the present judges of My words and actions. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

Verse 22 grounds the reason why the Son gives life not to all, but only "to whom He wills." It is because He gives life only to those who, according to His judgment, are worthy of it. Judgment here is understood not in the sense of condemnation, but of judging, adjudication, and sentence. Further, in verse 23, the purpose is stated for which God the Father has given all things into the hands of the Son. He wills that divine worship of Him be rendered only in the Son and through the Son; verse 24. Previously Jesus Christ spoke of Himself as of another person, calling Himself the Son of God. Here He speaks of Himself personally, and thereby applies all the preceding words to Himself. At the same time, He states here the condition on man's part by which man may be given life by Christ. It is attentive hearing of the word of Jesus Christ, accompanied by faith in Him and in God, who sent Him into the world for the salvation of men. Eternal life is holy life, pleasing to God. It begins here with gracious regeneration, and continues and develops without end in eternity. Judgment here is understood in the sense of condemnation.

Therefore the words "shows Him all things" do not diminish the Son's authority in the least. They only prove that the Son knows everything the Father does. Nothing among the Father's works can be hidden from Him. Nothing can remain, as it were, unshown to Him. "And He will show Him greater works than these, so that you may marvel"; Jn 5:20. Jesus had already performed many great works and many miracles. Yet the resurrection of the dead and Jesus' own Resurrection still lay ahead. These were works that would compel even them, the Pharisees stubborn in unbelief, to marvel. They will see how Jesus raises the dead, and how by His word He gives life and spiritually renews those who are spiritually dead. If the Son gives life and raises in the same way as the Father, then of course They possess one authority. "In the words, 'so also the Son gives life to whom He wills,' the expression 'to whom He wills' indicates rather clearly that the discourse is properly about spiritual regeneration, or resurrection, by the power and authority of the Son. For the final universal resurrection will be the resurrection of all, not only of those whom the Son wills to raise"; Bishop Michael, Explanatory Gospel, 3, 5. The expression "the Son gives life to whom He wills" may give occasion for the following question. If the Son spiritually regenerates not all, but only those whom He wills, what guilt belongs to those whom the Son did not will to regenerate and enliven? Why will they be deprived of eternal life? But this question again arises from tearing individual expressions from the whole discourse. It comes from the desire to explain them without regard to its general meaning. Jesus wished to enliven, spiritually regenerate, and give life through His teaching to all, not only to the chosen. The whole Gospel history proves this. To those whom Jesus did not have time to address personally with the call to regeneration, He sent His Apostles. "Go into all the world," He said. "Go, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you"; Mk 16:15; Mt 28:19-20. Therefore it must be acknowledged that Jesus used the expression "to whom He wills" only to show the equality of His authority with the Father's authority. It is a new proof of the truth of the thought that forms the content of the whole discourse.

Some features in this discourse can be referred only to the first resurrection and judgment, and others to the second. Yet both events are very closely similar in their inner character, as type and fulfillment. Therefore the features by which they are depicted here are so similar that they enter into one another. It is difficult to mark them all off precisely. For this reason, among the ancient Fathers and interpreters, their explanation is not identical in every detail. This, however, does not harm the general truth of the interpretation. The general truth disclosed by Christ here remains intact and beyond all doubt in both cases. According to the biblical view, sinful life and life outside true religion, in general life estranged from God, is presented as death. Turning to God and to the true religion is presented as a man's resurrection; cf. Lk 15:24; Rom 6:13; Eph 5:14; Isa 26:19. In Ezekiel's prophetic vision of the field strewn with dead bones, which at God's command were clothed with flesh and came to life, this view is applied in a certain respect to the whole Jewish people. They were, as it were, raised from death; Ezek 37. This is moral or spiritual resurrection, which serves as an image of the future universal resurrection of the dead. In exactly the same way, moral judgment over the believer and unbeliever takes place already in this life; see the note on chapter 3 and following. It serves as an image of Christ's future universal judgment. Christ speaks here of this twofold resurrection and judgment, and He speaks of them almost as one. Hence the difficulty in understanding and explaining this discourse. "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life": the raising and enlivening of the dead, as a work depending on the will of God the Father, is also presented in the Old Testament; Deut 32:39; 1 Sam 2:6; Tob 13:2; Wis 16:13. The juxtaposition of "raises" and "gives life" points to a twofold concept: resurrection proper and moral enlivening. "So also the Son gives life to whom He wills." This expression, "to whom He wills," indicates rather clearly that the discourse is properly about moral enlivening, or resurrection, by the power and authority of the Son. For the final universal resurrection will be the resurrection of all, not only of those whom the Son wills to raise. Yet during His life the Lord also raised bodily those whom He willed: the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, and Lazarus. The spiritual and moral enlivening, or raising, of the Jewish people to new life was accomplished by the Lord through His teaching. This teaching was confirmed by miracles and by all His actions. Their final aim was to turn the whole people, and then the whole world, to faith in Him as the Messiah, the Redeemer of the world. Here "the words 'as the Father raises' show equality of power, while the words 'whom He wills' show equality of authority"; Chrysostom.

The discourse concerns not teaching, but the Savior's miracle-working power, verse 17. Moreover, during His earthly life the Savior showed examples of physical resurrection in certain persons; Mk 5:41; Lk 7:14; Jn 11:43. This is precisely what He designates by the words, "and now is." From this addition it is evident that verse 21 does not speak of the future resurrection. Rather, the Lord ascribes life-giving power to Himself without referring its actions to a definite time. The other divine prerogative of the Son consists in His right to judge the human race. The right of judgment over the universe can belong to God alone; Gen 18:15. But the Father does not judge by Himself for the same reason that He Himself did not take upon Himself the work of saving men, but entrusted it to the Son. The Son, having taken this work upon Himself, thereby also received the right to judge all men in their faithfulness or unfaithfulness to eternal righteousness. The Apostles and the Savior Himself ascribed this judgment to the Son of God, but to no human being; Mt 25:31; 2 Cor 5:10. They said not only to Jews, but also to Gentiles, that there will be a time of judgment over the universe; Acts 17:31; Rom 14:10; 2 Cor 5:10. The depictions of this judgment found in the words of the Savior and the Apostles show that this judgment does not mean judgment over the Jewish people alone, which occurred in its time. It means judgment over the whole universe. Those who wish to understand this judgment as judgment over the conscience, produced by the teaching imparted by the heavenly Teacher, forget something. Such a judgment can also be ascribed to the Apostles, whereas what the Judge of the universe says about Himself cannot be referred to the Apostles.

In other words, God in the flesh, revealing the invisible God on earth, does the works of the Father. He is one with Him in essence, thought, and action. The difference is that we cannot see or contemplate with the mind God the Father and His works. But "God the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14).

"Administering the divine economy of the salvation of men, which He showed by appearing to us in the flesh, He speaks to you according to the bodily dispensation. He calls Himself sent (Jn 5:36), and says that He cannot do anything of Himself. Yet let this not give you occasion to diminish the authority of the Only-begotten. Condescension to your weakness must not become a diminution of the dignity of the Strong One," says Basil the Great in his Homily on Faith.

"The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it." Concerning this passage, Gregory the Theologian, answering the objections of heretics, says: "To this we answer that the words can and cannot are not spoken in one uniform way, but have many different meanings."

"All that the Father has belongs to the Son, just as what belongs to the Son belongs to the Father. Nothing, therefore, is proper to Them separately, because all things are common. Even Their very being is common and equal in honor, although being is communicated to the Son from the Father." The thought is that the being communicated by the Father to the Son cannot be separated from the being of the Father, for the Son manifests the Father from eternity.

For this reason it is said, "I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me. The words that I speak I do not speak of Myself. The Father who dwells in Me, He does the works" (Jn 14:10).

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, concerning the nineteenth verse of this chapter that we are studying, says: "And again He says, 'My Father works until now, and I work'" (Jn 5:17). There is no contradiction here in what is done, for "all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine" (Jn 17:10), says the Lord. This may clearly be known from both the Old and the New Testament, with reference to Gen 1:26, Ps 32:9, and Job 9:8.

He further says: "King Jesus, approaching the healing, girded Himself with the towel of humanity and healed the sick. The perfect Teacher of infants Himself became an infant with infants, in order to make the senseless wise."

Saint John Chrysostom says on this passage: "The words, 'He can do nothing of Himself,' mean that He does nothing foreign to the Father. These words express that it is impossible and not proper for Him to do anything contrary to the Father. For 'whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does likewise.'"

"For," says Saint Gregory the Theologian, "the will of the Father and the Son is common. As the Godhead is one, so also the willing is one." The Lord speaks all the words of the fifth chapter to those fanatical Jews who had surrounded Him (see Jn 5:17). Knowing that the very works He does inflame their malice, the Lord exposes them, indicating that "the Father loves the Son and shows Him all that He Himself does."

In other words, the Lord reveals to them the malice of their hearts. The people, in simplicity of soul, glorified the Lord for the miracles they had seen (Lk 5:26; 7:16; 19:37; Mk 2:12; Mt 15:31). But these hardened Pharisees could not discern God in His miracles. Then the Lord, grieving over the hardness of their hearts, clearly reveals to them what they should have understood for themselves. God performs miracles "that the Father may be glorified in the Son" (Jn 14:13).

Then the Lord adds: "And greater works than these will He show Him, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills." Here too we should understand, as the holy Fathers teach, that the Lord speaks according to His humanity, clothed in human flesh. Through this flesh, in Gregory the Theologian's expression, God speaks as through a veil.

The Father shows wondrous works to the Son not according to the Son's Godhead, but according to the humanity He assumed. These works, already so wondrous when the Lord spoke to the Jews, would appear to them still more wondrous and majestic. Among them would be the resurrection of the dead. The Lord's discourse was very likely before the raising of Jairus's daughter and the young man in Nain, and all the more before the raising of Lazarus.

No one, even from among the embittered Jews, could deny that only God could give life to the dead. This sign the Lord promises to show, so that they might believe Him and have eternal life. The Lord's healings were also an act of creation, and the paralytic rightly said to the Jews, "He who made me whole."

All the more is rebirth to life from completed death an act of creation. It is a command to nature to turn back and restore what had fallen into decay. "The bones will live" according to the word of the Lord. "They will be covered with sinews, flesh will grow upon them, skin will cover them, spirit will enter them, and they will live and confess that He is the Lord" (Ezek 37:3-14).

But in the prophecy of Ezekiel that we have cited, there is another promise, fulfilled in the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He raised and co-exalted with Himself the whole man. For it is said in Ezekiel: "These bones are the whole house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: Behold, I will open your graves and bring you, My people, out of your graves. And I will put My Spirit within you, and you shall live" (Ezek 37:11-14).

Our Lord brings His people, that is, the believers, out of the graves by His glorious Resurrection. He places His Holy Spirit in the people, and we live. But this was revealed only later to the disciples and to all Christians. The Jews, however, "though He had done so many signs before them, did not believe in Him" (Jn 12:37).