John 5:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Because He had said that the whole universe would give account to Him, and that all would rise at His voice, He spoke of something new and extraordinary.

Even now many do not believe it, even among those who seem to believe, not to mention the Jews of that time.

Therefore hear how He explains it, again condescending to the weakness of His hearers. "I can do nothing of Myself," He says. "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."

He had already given no small proof of the resurrection when He healed the paralytic. For this reason He did not speak of the resurrection before accomplishing the healing, an act not very far from resurrection.

He also hinted at judgment then, when, after healing the body, He said, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, lest something worse happen to you" (Jn 5:14).

Here He foretells both the resurrection of Lazarus and that of the whole universe. He foretells two resurrections: that of Lazarus, soon to take place, and the universal one, which would come later after a long time.

He confirms the first by the healing of the paralytic and by the nearness of the event, when He says, "The hour is coming, and now is."

He persuades them of the truth of the latter by the resurrection of Lazarus. Through what had already happened, He sets before their eyes what had not yet happened.

Clearly He did this in every case. He joined two or three prophecies together, and by the fulfillment of one He gave certainty concerning the others, which were still future.

Yet after saying and doing such great things, He is still not content. Since His hearers were still very weak, He crushes their stubbornness by the words that follow.

He says, "I can do nothing of Myself. 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."

These words could seem strange and discordant with the prophets, who said that God is the Judge of the whole earth, that is, of mankind.

David proclaims this everywhere, saying, "The Lord judges the peoples with righteousness" (Ps 95:10). Again, "God is a righteous Judge, strong and longsuffering" (Ps 7:12). So also all the other prophets, and Moses.

But Christ had said, "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." This could trouble a Jewish hearer at that time and again suggest the thought that He was opposed to God.

Therefore He greatly condescends here in His speech concerning Himself, as far as the weakness of the Jews required, in order to root out this destructive opinion completely.

He says, "I can do nothing of Myself." That is, you will see nothing strange in My works, nothing opposed to God, and you will hear nothing of the kind in My words.

You will see and hear nothing that the Father does not will.

Earlier, when He said, "because He is the Son of Man," He showed that they considered Him a mere man. So here too He adds similar words.

Above He said, "We speak what We know and bear witness to what We have seen" (Jn 3:11). John the Evangelist also says, "What He has seen and heard, to this He bears witness, and no one receives His testimony" (Jn 5:32).

In both places He means exact knowledge, not merely hearing and seeing. So here also, when He speaks of hearing, He indicates only that He cannot will anything other than what the Father wills.

Yet He did not say this so plainly, because they would not have endured hearing it directly. How then did He say it? Very humbly, and in human fashion: "As I hear, I judge."

Here He is not speaking of being taught. He did not say, "As I am taught," but, "As I hear." He does not speak this way as though He needed to hear.

He not only has no need to learn; He has no need even to hear. Rather, by this He expresses one mind with the Father and identity of judgment.

Thus His words mean this: I judge as the Father Himself would judge. Then He adds, "And My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of the Father who sent Me."

What are You saying? Do You then have a will different from the Father's will?

Elsewhere You said, "as We are one" (Jn 17:22). Again, speaking of unity of will and one mind, You said, "that they may be one in Us" (Jn 17:21), that is, by faith in Us.

Do you see how what seems most lowly hides a lofty meaning within itself? By this He means the following: the Father's will is not one thing and Mine another.

As one soul has one act of willing, so it is with Me and the Father.

Do not be surprised that He speaks of such union with the Father. Paul uses the same example concerning the Spirit, when he says, "Who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?"

"So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:11).

He says only this: I do not have a will other and separate from the Father. What the Father wills, I also will, and what I will, He also wills.

As no one can contradict the Father when He judges, so no one can contradict Me. Judgment is pronounced by both with one and the same mind.

Do not be surprised that He speaks of this in a human manner. The Jews still considered Him a mere man.

Therefore, in such cases, one must attend not only to His words, but also keep in mind the notions of His hearers. One must receive His words as adapted to their notions. Otherwise many absurd consequences may follow.

Look, He says, "I do not seek My own will." Therefore, one might think, He has a will different from the Father's, and much more imperfect.

Not only imperfect, but not as beneficent. For if it were saving and in agreement with the Father's will, why do You not seek it?

Men could rightly say this, because they have many desires contrary to God's will. But why do You say this, being in all things equal to the Father?

Such words, one may say, do not befit even a perfect man who has crucified himself. If Paul so united his will with God's will that he said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me" (Gal 2:20), what then?

How could the Master of all say, "I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me," as though they were different?

What, then, do His words mean? He speaks in human fashion and adapts Himself to the notions of His hearers.

As in the preceding discourse He used expressions sometimes befitting God and sometimes human, so He does the same here and speaks as man: "My judgment is righteous."

And from where is this evident? "Because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me."

Among men, one who is free from self-love cannot be accused of unrighteous judgment. So also you cannot accuse Me now of this.

If someone wants to act according to his own will, others may rightly suspect him of violating justice for this reason. But one who does not have his own will in view, what reason could he have to judge unjustly?

Reason in the same way concerning Me. If I said that I was not sent by the Father, and did not ascribe the glory of My works to Him, perhaps some of you might rightly suspect Me.

You might think that I desire only to glorify Myself and that I do not speak the truth. But if I attribute My works and assign them to Another, why and with what motive would you cast suspicion on My words?

Do you see where He leads the discourse? Do you see how He proves the righteousness of His judgment by what anyone else would say in his own defense?

Do you see how clear what I often said becomes? What did I say? That the extreme humility in His words most strongly persuades sound-minded people not to lower the meaning of His sayings to their first appearance.

Rather, in understanding them, they ascend to the height of the thoughts contained in them. Thus this humility in words gradually and easily raises upward those who crawl below.

Keeping all this in mind, I urge you, let us not neglect His sayings. Let us carefully examine everything, and everywhere attend to the reason for what is said.

Let us not think that our ignorance and simplicity can serve as a sufficient excuse for us. Christ commanded us to be not only simple, but also wise.

Therefore let us take care to join prudence to simplicity, both in doctrine and in the works of life. Let us judge ourselves here, "that we may not be condemned with the world" (1 Cor 11:32).

Toward our servants let us be such as we desire our Lord to be toward us. "Forgive us," we say, "our debts, as we forgive our debtors" (Mt 6:12).

I know that a soul which has been offended does not easily bear offenses. But if we consider that by forgiving an offense we do good not so much to the offender as to ourselves, we will easily cast out the poison of anger.

The man who did not forgive his debtor a hundred denarii did not wrong his fellow servant. Rather, he made himself debtor for the ten thousand talents that had earlier been forgiven him.

Thus, when we do not forgive others, we do not forgive ourselves. Let us not only say to God, "Remember not our sins." Let each also say to himself, "Let us not remember the sins of our brethren against us."

You yourself are the first judge of your deeds, and only afterward does God judge them. You write for yourself the law of forgiveness and punishment, and you pronounce sentence on yourself for one or the other.

Thus it depends on you whether God will remember your sins or not. Therefore Paul commands us to forgive "if anyone has a complaint against another" (Col 3:13).

And not simply to forgive, but so that no trace of anger remains. Christ not only did not set our sins before our eyes. He did not even recall that we had sinned.

He did not say, "You sinned in this and that." Rather, He forgave and destroyed the handwriting, not imputing transgressions to us, as Paul explained (Col 2:14).

Let us do the same. Let us blot everything from our memory. If anything good was done by the one who offended us, let this alone be remembered.

But if he did something offensive and hostile, let us leave it and erase it from memory, so that no trace remains.

If he has done us no good at all, then the reward is greater and the praise is greater if we forgive.

Some erase their sins by vigils, by lying on the ground, and by countless ascetical labors. You can destroy all your sins by a far easier way: by not remembering wrongs.

Why then do you raise the sword against yourself, like the frenzied and deranged, and deprive yourself of the life to come, when you ought to attain it by every means?

If the present life is so desirable, what shall we say of that life where there is neither sickness, nor sorrow, nor sighing?

There one need no longer fear death, nor dread the loss of the good things found there.

Blessed, thrice-blessed, and many times blessed are those counted worthy of this blessed lot. By contrast, miserable, utterly miserable, and immeasurably miserable are those who deprive themselves of blessedness.

But someone will say, what can obtain such a life for us? Listen to how the Judge Himself spoke about this with a certain young man.

When the young man asked, "What good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?" (Mt 19:16), Christ reminded him of the commandments of the Law and dwelt on love for one's neighbor.

Perhaps now someone among the hearers, like that rich man, will say, "We also have kept all this. We have not stolen, murdered, or committed adultery."

But you cannot yet say that you have loved your neighbor as one ought to love. For example, you have envied someone, or spoken evil, or failed to help one who was wronged, or failed to share your property.

Therefore you have not loved your neighbor. But Christ commanded not only this, but also something else. What was it?

"Sell," He says, "your possessions and give to the poor, and follow Me" (Mt 19:21). By following, He means imitation of Him in deeds.

What do we learn from this? First, that it is impossible for one who lacks all this to attain the advantages of the future lot.

These words, "I cannot do anything of Myself," and others like them, as was said above, indicate the equality of the Son with the Father. I can do nothing new or alien to the Father, for I have neither will nor power different from the Father's. "As I hear" from the Father, "so I judge," that is, as the Father Himself judges, so do I. He says this, as we have often said, in order to show the absence of difference in deeds, words, and judgments alike. Some, seeing Him as man, might be scandalized by how He, as visible man, can execute righteous judgment. For David says, "Every man is a lie" (Ps 115:2).

Consider these words again with the utmost care, and receive the meaning of the contemplation with reflection. The Jews did not know the deep mystery of the divine economy in the flesh. They did not know God the Word, who dwelt in the temple born of the Virgin.

With false zeal, and "not according to knowledge" (Rom 10:2), as Paul says, they often burned with savage behavior and untamable fury. Thus they even attempted to stone Him because, "being a man, He made Himself God" (Jn 10:33). Or again, because "He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God" (Jn 5:18).

Since they were so senseless and could not endure His divine words, they thought and spoke of Him basely. Therefore the Savior, though in the divine economy He condescends to their infancy, nevertheless used a mixed manner of speech. He did not wholly refuse words proper to Him as God. Nor did He altogether avoid human expressions.

When He said something worthy of divine omnipotence, He at once chastened the ignorant mind of His hearers by adding something human. Conversely, when for the sake of the divine economy He said something human, He did not allow them to see only humiliation in Him. Often He revealed Himself as true God by nature, through superhuman power and words.

You can find this very skillful manner of speech also now, in the words just cited by us. What did He say before this? "For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills" (Jn 5:21). Then again, "the hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice" (Jn 5:28). And besides this, "they will come forth" to judgment and to receive recompense according to what they have done.

But He who says that He can give life to whom He wills, and in the same way as the Father, should He not be understood as ascribing to Himself power proper to God? He who plainly declares that He will be Judge of all, should He not rightly terrify those who think that He is only a mere man?

For since they were Hebrews and had been brought up on the Holy Scriptures, it was natural that they should not be wholly ignorant that God will be Judge of the universe. Among them it was often sung: "Arise, O God, judge the earth" (Ps 81:8). And again: "For God is Judge" (Ps 74:8).

Therefore, since He knew that the senseless Jewish people was indignant at this, He turns them aside from their usual anger by speaking in a more human way. "I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge."

As far as one may say from the first impression, He mocks the mind of the Jews. The outward form of the speech suggests a certain weakness and an authority not wholly free. Yet in reality it is not so, if the Son, being in all things equal to the Father, has by nature the same authority and power over all.

When He says that He can do nothing of Himself, and that He judges as He hears, He presents Himself as of one mind and equal power with God the Father. For the Father Himself, by Himself and alone, apart from the Son, cannot be conceived as acting in any existing thing, since He has Him as His power and might. For this reason "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made" (Jn 1:3).

Likewise the Son, on His part, accomplishes nothing by Himself apart from the Father's co-presence with Him. Therefore He also says: "I do nothing of Myself" (Jn 8:28), but "the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works" (Jn 14:10).

We certainly must not suppose that the Son receives power from the Father because of some weakness of His own. Nor should we suppose that authority over all things is given to Him from without. If so, He would no longer be God by nature, since He would possess the beauty of the Godhead by communication from outside.

Nor would the Father Himself possess the boundless excellence of His own good things, if He had in the Word such an image of His nature as needed power and authority from another. For the Giver of this power and authority would have to be conceived according to image and archetype. Thus our discourse would proceed to an endless question and turn into a deep sea of blasphemy.

But the Son is from the essence of the Father. Therefore He possesses by nature all the properties of Him who begot Him. Because of the identity of nature, He rises essentially to one Godhead with Him. As He Himself is in the Father, so He also has the Father in Himself.

For this reason He often, with indisputable truth, ascribes to the Father the power of His own works. He does not place Himself outside that power, but refers all things to the activity of the one Godhead. And the Godhead is one in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

That the Son is not inferior to the Father in power or in activity, but is like Him in all things and equal in power, we have proved by other arguments. This was in the interpretation of the words: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it; for whatever He does, the Son also does likewise" (Jn 5:19).

Yet I think it right and just that the most desirable occupation with divine dogmas should rise above all sloth. Therefore let us again imitate sailors. Let us gather the whole content of the argument, as if drawing together the ship's tackle.

Then one may see that the Son does not diminish His nature when He says that He can do nothing of Himself. Rather, He exposes the madness of the Jews, and plainly shows that they trample even the Law of Moses itself. For to the saying, "I can do nothing of Myself," He immediately adds the words, "As I hear, I judge." These free the Son from every accusation that He cannot accomplish anything by His own power.

On the contrary, He clearly reveals Himself as agreeing in all things with the Father, and as following one will with Him who begot Him. For if He received power from the Father after somehow growing weak, because He did not possess it sufficiently of Himself, should He not rather have said this: "I can do nothing of Myself, but I receive power from the Father"?

But now He does not say this. On the contrary, to "I can do nothing of Myself" He adds, "I judge as I hear." It is now evident that He used this "I cannot" not because His activity is weak in anything. He used it because it is impossible for Him to transgress the Father's will in anything.

If one Godhead is understood in the Father and the Son, then without doubt the will also is one and the same. The divine nature, whether in the Father, in the Son, or in the Holy Spirit, must never be thought to rise against itself. Whatever is pleasing to the Father is the will of the whole Godhead.

Therefore the Son presents Himself indisputably as one who wills together with the Father, and desires with Him, in every decision pleasing to Him. He does this when He explains that it is impossible for Him to do anything not in accord with the Father's good pleasure. The expression "of Myself" points us to this.

If He said that He could not commit sin, everyone would rightly see that He was not being accused of weakness. Rather, He would be explaining the wondrous and God-befitting property of His nature. For He would be indicating that He is unchangeable and immutable.

So also, when He acknowledges the impossibility of doing anything of Himself, we ought rather to marvel at the contemplation of the immutable Fruit of the immutable Nature. We should not untimely see in this "I cannot" a sign of weakness.

Let this again be said by us according to our strength and purpose. Let the lover of learning seek better explanations.

Yet we shall not delay to interpret this saying in another way as well. We shall draw the discourse a little away from the bounds of the Godhead and the prerogatives of the Only-begotten. Since the Son truly was and was called man, we shall apply the meaning of the former contemplations to the divine economy in the flesh. At the same time, we shall set what follows in close and fitting connection with what preceded.

He plainly testified that "all who are in the tombs will hear His voice" and that "they will come forth" to judgment (Jn 5:28). But as soon as He came to speak of His judgment over the universe, He proclaimed that He would be a righteous Judge. He would not be so only at the time when the dead are brought to life. He affirms that even now He judges the deeds of this life rightly and truly.

Now hear what this judgment is, and about whom the discourse is. He was born for our sake of a Woman (Gal 4:4). For, as Paul says, "He does not take hold of angels," but "the seed of Abraham." Therefore "He had to be made like His brethren in all things" (Heb 2:16-17).

Since He became man and appeared in the form of a servant (Phil 2:7), He was also under the Law (Gal 4:4). Yet as God and Lord He is the Lawgiver. Therefore He speaks now as being under the Law, and again as being above the Law. He has unquestionable authority for both.

Here also He speaks with the Jews as one who observes the Law and as man. He does not permit Himself to transgress the commandments appointed from above. Nor does He dare, by His own will, to do anything that does not agree with the divine Law. Therefore He says: "I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge."

Thus He testifies concerning Himself that He can do nothing of Himself, plainly meaning nothing forbidden by the Law. He judges deeds as He hears, that is, according to the ordinance of the Law. By this He exposes the self-will of the Jews and lays bare the unbridled character of their manners.

This is what the beautifully composed saying means: "I can do nothing of Myself." It is as though He said: You transgress the commandments given to you without restraint. At last you have reached the senseless audacity of doing everything of yourselves. You strive to make judgments about every matter that do not follow the divine ordinances. For you teach "as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mt 15:9), and you have established your own will as law.

How this is proved, or how He shows Himself judging rightly and them judging unrighteously, must also be stated. He healed the paralytic on the Sabbath. He showed mercy to a man who had long remained in sickness. Clearly, He made a right and good "judgment" concerning him.

For even on the Sabbath it was fitting to show mercy to the man lying there. It was not fitting to stop mercy out of reverence for the Sabbath, while giving oneself to empty scrupulosity. As the Father is shown to be working, certainly through the Son, in the divine economy of creatures even on the Sabbath, so also is He.

For He did not judge that, because of the Sabbath, one who needed mercy should be deprived of it on the Sabbath. He knew "the Son of Man" to be "Lord of the Sabbath" (Mk 2:28), and that "man was not made for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath for man" (Mk 2:27).

Such is the right and good judgment of the Savior. He did not allow the Sabbath to prevent the manifestation of His love for mankind toward the sick man. What He had to do as God, He did even on the Sabbath. For the divine nature is the fountain of goodness.

But what of the judgment of the Jews? They were offended at this because of the Sabbath. For this reason they burned with murderous rage against Him who had done no wrong. Does not their judgment prove contrary to the divine laws, in which it is written: "You shall not slay the innocent and righteous" (Ex 23:7)? Did it not arise rather from their cruelty, and not from the divine Scriptures?

Therefore listen to Jesus as He speaks with a certain force to those who were angry at His benefits. They resisted His righteous judgment, following only their own thoughts. They directly established their own opinion as law, even when it contradicted the Law.

"I can do nothing of Myself." This means: I do all things according to the Law ordained through Moses. I do not allow Myself to do anything of Myself. "As I hear, I judge." What does the Law desire? "You shall not show partiality in judgment, for the judgment is God's" (Deut 1:17).

The Son says, “I do not seek My own will,” yet we wish to act according to our own will. See how He Who is equal to the Father lowers Himself.

Let us therefore do the will of the Father, of Christ, and of the Holy Spirit. For the Trinity has one will, one power, and one majesty.

“I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous.” For we might have objected to Him.

“You will judge, and the Father will not judge, because He has given all judgment to the Son. Therefore You will judge not in accordance with the Father.”

He therefore added, “I can do nothing of Myself. 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.”

"I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge." Above, concerning action, Jesus Christ said: "The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it" (Jn 5:19). So here, concerning judgment, He says: "I can do nothing of Myself. As I hear, I judge." That is, I do not judge of Myself, but as I hear from the Father, or as the Father judges. This indicates equality and perfect likeness with the Father. The word "hear" must be understood as "see" was understood above. It is used with wise purpose and must be understood in a manner befitting God, since God, having need of nothing, has no need of hearing.

Having thus refuted the blasphemous accusation of the Jews, that He unjustly claimed divine rights for Himself, the Lord was pleased to disclose more fully what had been said briefly about the resurrection and judgment entrusted to Him.

This was the same way He had earlier defended His divine authority to forgive sins.

"I spoke of the resurrection. Both its beginning and its universal revelation depend on Me. It begins with My preaching, with My word.

Whoever hears it and receives it with faith in Him who sent Me is raised by this very word to spiritual life. This life is eternal, and is not cut off even by the limits of temporal life.

But the Son also has power to restore life to man's dead flesh. This resurrection already lies in seed within the spiritual resurrection.

Jesus Christ notices in His hearers a sense of wonder at His speech. In it He speaks of Himself as one in essence and life with God the Father, and as the Judge of the world.

But by describing the future resurrection and judgment, He confirms what He has said. The time is coming when the dead, at the word of the almighty Son of God, will come forth from the tombs and rise.

Then the Son of Man will execute judgment over the world. This judgment will determine the lot of every person. By its verdict some will go into eternal torment, and others into eternal life.

This judgment of Mine will be righteous. It is not My judgment only, but also the judgment of God the Father, with whom I am one in essence. Without His will I do nothing.

Therefore, whoever the Son of God appoints to eternal torments or to eternal life, this will be decisively just, as the sentence of God Himself.

"I can do nothing," and so forth: this is an assurance of the righteousness of the judgment which the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is to execute. It is expressed in a general proposition already stated earlier in Jn 5:19; see the note on that verse. "These words and others like them, as was said above, indicate the equality of the Son with the Father. I can do nothing new or alien to the Father, for I have neither will nor power different from the Father's" (Theophylact). "As I hear": from the Father, who, by virtue of His union with the Son and love for Him, reveals Himself to Him in the most perfect way (Jn 5:20; cf. Jn 3:32 and note).

These great and most wondrous works are the resurrection of the dead and judgment: "As the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He will.

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. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him."

Since the Son shares one dominion and one essence with the Father, the same divine worship belongs to the Son as to God the Father Himself.

The resurrection of the dead and the final judgment will be accomplished at the end of the world, when the eternal Kingdom of Christ is revealed.

Verse 30. At the beginning of His defensive discourse, in verse 19, the Savior said that the complaints about His works and about His violation of the Sabbath were vain, and He proved this. Now He defends His teaching. What does He say in defense? "I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me," He says. In other words, the highest renunciation of one's own will, the exact fulfillment of the heavenly will, and sinlessness in desires and deeds, all of which can be seen even outwardly, are the sure justification of His teaching. If He allowed no sin at all, then He could not allow Himself any lie or deception. Let rationalists look more closely at this conclusion, which the Savior set forth more than once (Jn 8:26, 28, 30, 46).

"The Lord speaks humbly and in human fashion," notes St. John Chrysostom. Above we saw the teaching of the Fathers of the universal Church. They reminded us that the Lord sometimes spoke of Himself according to His Godhead, and sometimes according to His humanity.

Here also, standing before the crowd of Jews in human form, He wishes to draw these erring souls to Himself, the God-man. Therefore He persistently shows them that the man speaking with them speaks words belonging to God.

He also shows that the judgment foretold and wrought by Him is God's judgment. His human will is subject to the divine will, which is the will of the Father and the Son together.