John 5:30, commentary and pictures

Spoken in His defense after healing the impotent man at Bethesda when accused of breaking the Sabbath, Christ declared His complete oneness with the Father in authority and action. Of Himself He does nothing from His own initiative or apart from God, but only what He sees and hears from the Father, so His judging as He hears expresses that unbroken connection. His judgment is just because He carries out no separate will of His own, but seeks and follows the will of the Father who sent Him. Though equal with the Father and vested with authority over the heavenly host, when His divinity was clothed with humanity He depended wholly on the Father, doing nothing by independent human strength or by independent use of the power He had laid down. His perfect self-surrender and trust make His life the example for all, for there is no strength or efficiency in humanity alone, and men can overcome and do God's will only by relying on Christ with simple childlike trust as He trusted the Father.

Setting and Meaning

These words belong to the discourse Christ spoke after He healed the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda and was accused of breaking the Sabbath.

To say that of Himself He can do nothing means He does nothing independently or from His own initiative, but only what He sees and hears from the Father. His relation to God forbade Him to work independently of God or against God's will. As He hears He judges, so His authority and judgment are aligned with the One who sent Him. Those words express His connection with the Father as He answers His accusers.

His judgment is just because He seeks not His own will and carries out no separate will of His own, but seeks and follows the will of the Father who sent Him. He judges in accordance with what He hears from the Father, and therefore judges in harmony with Him. In this is revealed a mysterious connection of Jesus with the Father that no man can witness, because human knowledge cannot reach the courts of heaven.

With this testimony stand the Father's testimony and the works the Father gave Him to do, bearing witness that the Father sent Him. With them stands also John's witness as forerunner, declaring Him the Christ, the Redeemer of the world, and the Son of God, whose mission was to prepare the way for Him. John's witness is recalled not to establish His authority and not because He relies on human testimony, but so that hearers may recognize the truth and be saved. It is recalled so that opposers who had for a season accepted John as a prophet of God and rejoiced in his light, and who knew his report of the baptism of Jesus and the manifestations of God at that time, may be convinced of their blindness and inconsistency in opposing Him.

Christ's Dependence and Mission

Though equal with the Father and vested with authority over the heavenly host, He does not act independently but carries out the Father's will and purposes in union with Him, even in the anticipated creation of the earth and every living thing.

When His divinity was clothed with humanity He depended wholly on the Father and on divine power, doing nothing by His own strength or by independent human strength. He did not act by independent use of the almighty power He had laid down. Like a vine needing support to climb, He was guided and supported throughout life by God's Spirit and gave God the glory for His works. In the storm He rested in faith in the Father's love and care and trusted the Father's might, and the power of His command that stilled the storm and sea was God's power.

The Father has entrusted judgment to the Son, who understands human weakness and sin because He endured human affliction and temptation and victoriously resisted Satan, so His judgment is wise, just, and gracious. His words, works, and mission express and carry out the Father's purpose and reveal God's truth and character. He remained conscious of being sent and carried out the mission entrusted to Him by the Father, planning His words and actions to fulfill that purpose. His teachings drew people from every class to hear Him.

He came to do the will of the righteous Judge who sent Him, bearing the test on humanity's behalf while acknowledging He had no power in Himself.

Pattern for Believers

His perfect obedience and trust and complete self-surrender in seeking not His own will but the will of the One who sent Him make His life the example of yielding self to God. His words and actions were not guided by self-interest but by unreserved obedience, and that obedience is the fruit that appears when God's word is received into the heart and shapes the life. His humility was not a low estimate of His own character or abilities, but His humbling of Himself to fallen humanity in order to lift people to a higher life.

The same truth that governed Him binds every person inseparably to his heavenly Parent, for whatever position he occupies he is responsible to God who holds all destinies in His hands. God has appointed man to do His work and has given him faculties and means for it, and while faithful to that stewardship he may claim his Master's blessings and promises. But if when raised to sacred trust he becomes exalted in his own eyes, depends on his own wisdom and power, takes affairs into his own hands and separates himself from God, God will call him to account for unauthorized acts not done in unison with his Commander. His example of doing nothing from His own initiative and accepting the Father's plan as revealed day by day teaches people to depend on God for continual instruction, submit fully to His directions, and let their lives carry out God's will rather than their own ideas.

There is no strength or efficiency in humanity alone, and human knowledge gained from human teachers is not enough, so people can overcome and do God's will only by relying on Christ for all strength with simple childlike trust like His trust in the Father. A person becomes efficient for God's work only by becoming a partaker of the divine nature through dependence on God rather than acting independently. This calls for meekness and lowliness of heart and distrust of self, for God requires greater wisdom than man can gain alone. Man becomes able to serve only by putting self aside to make room for the working of the Holy Spirit in a life wholly sanctified to God's service in implicit obedience.

As love for Christ swallows up love of self, followers lift Him up rather than seek honor for themselves, sharing His self-emptying glory and complete dependence. That complete dependence is joined with the Father's giving the Spirit without measure. Only as they are emptied of self and bring every thought into obedience to Christ do they receive heaven's light, discern God's character, and accept Christ by faith, and to all who do this the Holy Spirit is given without measure.