Therefore because of this, the Jews were seeking the more to kill Him, because not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but also He was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal to God.
John 5:18
The Common Trinitarian Claims
Trinitarians often quote this passage to show that Jesus was making himself equal with God, which means consubstantial with God or ranking as God, which would have been blasphemy unless he is God. Sometimes, Trinitarians will also point to the fact that he was “breaking the Sabbath,” and if Jesus were a man, a Jew under the law, he couldn’t break the Sabbath and be sinless. Therefore, he must be God because God breaks the Sabbath all the time and is not under the law of the Sabbath. They will often make a vague reference to God “holding the universe together on the Sabbath,” which I can only imagine comes from their misunderstanding of what Colossians 1:17 is referring to. They will also take the phrase, “calling God his own Father” to mean that Jesus was claiming to be God’s son in a way that means he is God too. The fact that the Jews were “seeking to kill him” over this emphasizes that Jesus was perceived to have committed some form of blasphemy. The Trinitarian narrative is that Jesus was assumed to have been only a man by them, and if Jesus did these things: calling God his own Father, breaking the Sabbath, and making himself equal with God, then they would have had the right to stone him for blasphemy, as this human would be violating the law.
Trinitarians will also make claims for perichoresis here or shared energies. In Trinitarian doctrine, there are beliefs that divine actions by one person of the godhead are shared by all persons. In creation, for example, there is not the Father creating the sky, the Son creating the earth, and the Spirit creating the waters. You have all three in one act of creation, each person performing the same action. In John 5:17, Jesus says: “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” Verse 18 begins with, “therefore,” or, “because of this.” Trinitarians will say that Jesus is claiming to be one with the Father in the divine energies, and if the Father is working, then the Son is also working because they are one God. Verse 19, in Jesus’ response, he says: “Whatever he (Jesus) sees the Father doing, he does likewise.” They take this to mean that Jesus was overlapping with the Father in his divine actions.
Context
Clearly, there’s much to unpack in this scripture, and Trinitarians make various arguments regarding it. The context of this section of scripture is about the healing of a man on the Sabbath. Jesus healed him and told him to “pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:1-8). The man does this exactly, and the Jews were telling him that he was breaking the Sabbath by picking up his mat (John 5:9-10). It is necessary to understand how the Jews viewed the Sabbath. The mosaic law forbids “work on the Sabbath,” but the Jews questioned what precisely this meant. The scribal laws (mitzvah) were written as an explanation of what the Jews thought were the expressions of the law. In other words, they took it upon themselves to write lists of what they considered to be “work,” and this included moving a lamp, walking with ink to write with in your pocket weighing you down, or even picking up a mat. This man did not break the Sabbath, the man broke their traditional laws. This becomes important in what they accuse Jesus of in verse 18. The man tells these Jews that he was told to pick up his mat by the one who healed him, and later, having run into Jesus in the temple, he tells the Jews that Jesus is the man who made him well (John 5:11-15). It is because of this action, Jesus making the man well, that the Jews began persecuting Jesus (John 5:16). Jesus’ response to them is: “My Father is working until now, and so I am working.” (John 5:17)
Breaking the Sabbath?
Was Jesus breaking the Sabbath or not? No. Trinitarians argue that Jesus is allowed to break the Sabbath if he’s God. Further, they take the words of the Jews who accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath as a factual statement that he truly broke the Sabbath. If the Jews are correct in their discernment on what constitutes as breaking the Sabbath or not, then the logic would follow that they were also correct in telling the man who picked up his mat that he was breaking the Sabbath. This man was not God. Did Jesus tell this man to break the Sabbath law? Obviously not. If this man were breaking the Sabbath, does that prove him to be God also? Clearly, the Jewish interpretation of the law isn’t correct. What they considered to be breaking of the law, and what is actually breaking of the law, are two different things. Neither Jesus nor this man broke the Sabbath.
Is it a sin to heal someone on the Sabbath? This exact question is asked of Jesus in Matthew 12:10. “Is it lawful to heal someone on the Sabbath?” Jesus’ reply to them is that even they would save a lamb on the Sabbath, a man is worth more than a lamb, therefore, saving a man isn’t considered a violation of the Sabbath even according to their scribal laws. There’s much more taking place here in this passage. Jesus is showing them what the law of love is. Love is the law and the foundation of the law (Romans 13:10), and Jesus heals out of love. However, the answer to the question of whether healing on the Sabbath is answered. No, it is not a violation of the Sabbath. It would be a violation of a greater law, the law of the Spirit, to not do what is good and loving even on the Sabbath.
How could a competent Trinitarian insist that Jesus truly was breaking the Sabbath when Jesus made it very clear that this is not a violation of the Sabbath? Trinitarians like to say that John 5:18 “is not about what the Jews were accusing Jesus of, but a paraphrastic statement by John narrating what Jesus did.” They wish to say that Jesus was breaking the Sabbath, Jesus was calling God his own Father, and Jesus was making himself equal to God. Clearly, this argument is incorrect if healing on the Sabbath is not a violation of the Sabbath according to Jesus’ own words.
“My Father Is Working, So I Am Working
Why does Jesus respond to their accusation in verse 17 by saying: “My Father is working until now, so I am working?” Is it because of a shared energy and Jesus being God, so he participates in all divine actions? No. John 14:11 tells us that it is the Father in Jesus doing the works. Acts 2:22 says that these signs and miracles of Jesus’ ministry were what God did in him. Even in John 10:37-38, Jesus insists that if you think these works come from himself, don’t believe him. Only believe the works if you believe they are the Father’s works. Jesus’ response isn’t to say that these works are his works because he’s God. He’s saying that he is how the Father does his works. The Father is at work in him. Should this really be such a mystery for any mature Christian? Ephesians 2:10 says that we are created in Christ for good works that God does in us. Luke 12:11-12 tells us not to worry about what we will say because it will be the Father’s Spirit in us, teaching us what to say. Jesus is the example of how this works. Jesus isn’t working miracles from himself. God is at work in him.
The Son Can Do NOTHING From Himself
This is why he follows up with the same statement in John 5:19: “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son is able to do nothing of Himself, if not anything He may see the Father doing; for whatever He does, these things also the Son does likewise.” Some translations will twist this passage. They will say, “the Son can do nothing from his own accord” (ESV) or, “the Son can do nothing by himself” (HCSB). Instead of Jesus declaring that he can’t do anything from of himself, as the Greek literally says, they make it sound as if Jesus is merely saying he can’t act in separation from the Father, because they are divinely united. This is how many commentaries will interpret this statement, even if they don’t translate it improperly.
The simple fact or the matter is, if Jesus is fully God, with a fully divine nature, he could never say that he “does nothing from himself.” If he is God, if he is fully divine, then everything comes from himself. Whether it’s in union with the Father and Spirit, everything comes from him. Even if Trinitarians wish to say that Jesus is speaking these words “in his human nature,” this won’t work. “Himself,” he himself, is still God in their Christology. Jesus is one person, and this one person who is fully human and fully divine is the same person who caused all things. The one thing Jesus could never say if he were God is that he can’t do anything from himself. Yet, he says it twice in this passage. John 5:19 and 30. “I am able to do nothing of myself. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just because I do not seek My will, but the will of the One having sent Me.” Jesus is telling us that he only speaks what the Father tells him, as he says this in John 6:60, 12:49, 14:10, and 24 as well. This is the common theme of Jesus’ ministry. The Father teaches Jesus what to say, how to speak, and Jesus does not speak his own words or do his own works. The very point is that he is not God. To further express this, note again in Matthew 12 when Jesus casts out demons. Jesus says very clearly that it is the Spirit in him that casts out the demons. God’s Spirit in Jesus is how God performs these works. Jesus says the same to us. “The greater of these works will you do” (John 14:12). When? When you receive “the Spirit of Truth” (John 14:16-17). Jesus says that the apostles “know him (the Holy Spirit), for He abides with you.” Notice that all of these references come from John 14. Jesus says that you see the Father by looking at the works he does by his Spirit in Jesus, and Jesus will send that same Spirit to us, and we will do these works as well. Jesus doesn’t work from himself or speak from himself, but the Father is at work in him (John 14:5-24).
Jesus’ Responses To The Jewish Accusations
How can a Trinitarian imagine that Jesus’ claims here have anything to do with claiming to be God himself? Just reading through John 5, Jesus’ responses to them show multiple times that he is not God.
John 5:27: “And He (God) gave Him (Jesus) authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.” If Jesus is God, does he need to be given authority over his own creation? Does Jesus say that he has been given authority “because he is God?” No, but the opposite. “Because he is the son of man.” He’s given this authority because he is a human being.
John 5:31: “If I bear witness concerning Myself, My testimony is not true.” In the OT (particularly, Isaiah), God swears by himself because there’s no one higher to swear by. His decrees are true because he states them. He needs no second witness because he is God. Yet, Jesus says that if he testifies concerning himself, his testimony isn’t true. How could God say this? How could God fail to give adequate testimony by his own word, which spoke the universe into being?
John 5:36: “For the works that the Father has given Me that I should complete them, the same works which I do, bear witness concerning Me that the Father has sent Me.” Notice that Jesus does not say that these works testify that he is God (not that his self testimony would be true anyway, verse 31), but rather, that he is sent by God. If the Pharisees are accusing Jesus of doing things that only God can do, and if he isn’t God, then he is blaspheming, why would Jesus not give them evidence that he is God? Instead, he appeals to having been sent by the Father.
John 5:43-44: “I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another should come in his own name, you will receive him. How are you able to believe, receiving glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God?” Jesus comes in his Father’s name, not his own. If Jesus is God, then he could very easily have come in his own name. Trinitarians claim that Jesus has the name Yahweh, or “I AM,” bears this name, and yet Jesus places no importance in coming in his own name? His power comes from being in the Father’s name. He contrasts this to someone who could come in his own name. He calls the Father “the only God,” though Trinitarians will not see this as a Unitarian statement, for they think that Jesus is also the only God. But Jesus is contrasting someone who comes in his own name, from someone who comes from the only God. He’s making a distinction, not an inclusion.
Jesus is making many statements in response to the Jews accusing him of being equal with God, which disproves the claim. Jesus is not arguing to be equal with God. He denies coming in his own name, doing his own work, and even testifying to himself. If Jesus says he does not testify to himself, then how can the Jews be right in accusing him of testifying that he’s equal with God? As is always the case in the passages between Jesus and the accusing Jews, Trinitarians will side with the Jews who are against Jesus and ignore the response of Jesus entirely.
Calling God His Own Father
The Jews make the claim that Jesus was calling God his own Father. This is one of the few things the Jews said which was true. Their error was in claiming that this statement made him equal with God. First, the Jews themselves call themselves the children of God, even in this gospel (John 8:41). So if calling God your own Father makes you equal with God, then they too are guilty. As John the Baptist rightly points out, God could raise up children from Abraham from stones if he wishes. Calling God your Father is not a sin, and it is hypocritical of the Jews to accuse Jesus of sinning by doing so.
Trinitarians claim that Jesus must have been calling God his Father in some special way, surpassing that of how the Jews used it. There is actually nothing in this context that indicates this to be true. However, it isn’t entirely wrong. In Mark 14:36, in Jesus’ final moments before his capture and trail, Jesus says, “Abba, Father.” This Aramaic phrase “Abba” is usually untranslated in our English Bibles for a number of reasons. But simply put, it’s a phrase that a small child uses for his parent, the best English equivalent is “daddy.” Many translations do not wish to translate this word because it seems to not fully encompass the compassion of the Aramaic word, but also because it seems almost insulting to reduce God to such a familiar term. But this is precisely the point. This is why Jesus uses it. We can assume that this may be a phrase the Jews heard Jesus use, and this is what they are referencing when they say “he is calling God his own Father,” by this they mean, “he is calling God his personal daddy,” even though this phrase is not explicitly used in John’s gospel. Yet, giving the benefit of the doubt, would this phrase make Jesus out to be “equal with God?” Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 uses this same phrase concerning us. “But you have received the Spirit of sonship by which we cry out ‘Abba, Father.'” If calling God our own “Abba, Father” makes us equal with God, then why do we do it? Why does Paul encourage us to do so? Why do we share in the Lord’s prayer with Jesus and say, “Our Father?”
Trinitarians like to imagine that everyone is a child of God based purely on some sort of metaphor. Jesus is a special child of God because he is God’s son by nature. Ontologically. They read this presupposition into this passage and infer that Jesus called himself an ontological son of God. This is complete speculation and a question begging epithet. This can never be used to prove the Trinitarian argument, for it assumes this to be the case in order for the argument to stand. Further, we are children of God just as Jesus is. For more information on sonship vs. adoption and this subject in detail, see my post on John 1:18, Part 2, Monogenés.
Seeking All The More To Kill Him
If Jesus was not breaking the Sabbath, called God his Father in no blasphemous way, and explicitly denies being equal to God by denying he does anything from himself, then why were the Jews “seeking all the more to kill him?” Notice that they were seeking “even more” to kill Jesus. In other words, they already wished Jesus to be dead. What had Jesus done up until this point that made them want to kill him? What blasphemy had Jesus committed that made this icing on the cake? The Jews were seeking to kill Jesus out of jealousy, not out of righteous anger as the Trinitarians pretend. For a complete evaluation of the nature of the Jews and the Pharisees and the real reasons why they wanted Jesus killed, see my post here.
Denying Equality With God
It will not do to use the attitudes of Jesus’ accusers and opponents as proof of what Jesus was. The scriptures constantly tell us that they cannot understand Jesus’ words because the truth is not in them. Even in John 5:38, he says this (see also John 8:43-45). Rather than listening to the testimony of the Jews, we should hear the words of the Father, which Jesus speaks, in making our conclusion on whether or not Jesus was truly making himself equal to God. Jesus does not testify to be “equal to God,” but rather, he testifies that “the Father is greater than I” (John 14:28).
Recap and Conclusion
“Therefore because of this…”
Because Jesus was working miracles of healing on the Sabbath.
“The Jews were seeking the more to kill Him…”
The Jews were already seeking to kill Jesus, though Jesus had committed no wrong. They wished to kill him out of envy.
“Because not only was He breaking the Sabbath…”
Jesus explains that he is not breaking the Sabbath by doing what is good on the Sabbath because love is the whole of the law. It is their scribal laws and traditions that he was breaking, which are not the standard of the law of God, but the laws of men.
“But also He was calling God His own Father…”
Something the Jews themselves did (John 8:41), and they had no problem with Jesus’ quotation of Psalm 82 in regards to them in John 10:34-36, “I have said you are gods, sons of the most high.” Calling God your Father is not a sin. Jesus calling God his Father in a special sense or superior sense by calling him “Abba, Father,” also is not a sin, for we make the same confession. It is about being born again by the Spirit of God when he becomes your spiritual Father.
“Making Himself equal to God.”
Jesus does not make himself equal to God. Jesus declares that the Father is greater than he is (John 14:28). Jesus did not grasp at equality with God, but rather, he humbled himself even to death on a cross, and it is the lamb who was slain that became exalted. Jesus says in this passage that he does not testify to himself, so the charge that Jesus is testifying that he is equal with God would necessarily invalidate itself according to Jesus’ own words.
Jesus comes in the name of the Father, and the Father places his Spirit upon Jesus to do his own works through Jesus (John 14:11, Acts 2:22). Jesus responds by saying he can do “nothing from of himself” (John 5:19, 30). This is a contradiction to the false claim of the Jews that Jesus was making himself equal with God. Jesus can only do what the Father shows him and teaches him because these works come from the Father himself. Being God’s son does not make him God. We are children of God and granted sonship. The shared power of God doing works through Jesus is not a divine right which indicates Jesus being God or perichoresis, God does his work in all Christians who are born of his Spirit (Ephesians 2:10). The Jews were children of the devil, liars, and they could not understand the words of Jesus. Jesus is the Son of God, he spoke the truth, and declared God is greater than all (John 10:29) and that he was not breaking the Sabbath by doing good works, because it is the Father in him who does the works. They do not come from himself. From himself, he can do nothing. If Jesus were God, he could not utter such a statement.