Jesus Says He is God

A study of John 5:15–18

“The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”
‭‭John‬ ‭5‬:‭15-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Definitions of the original language in the context of this passage:

-Were Persecuting: “ἐδίωκον”, “ediōkon”; verb, imperfect, active, indicative, third person, plural — pursue, persecute; in any way whatever to harass, trouble one.

-Jews: “Ἰουδαῖοι”, “Ioudaioi”; adjective, nominative, plural, masculine — Jewish as respects birth, race, religion; a Jew; in John 5:10,18: Those who (not only at Jerusalem, but also in Galilee, cf. John 6:41, 52) opposed his (John’s) divine Master (Jesus) and his Master’s cause — especially the rulers, priests, members of the Sanhedrin, Pharisees — he does not hesitate to style οἱ Ἰουδαῖοι, since the hatred of these leaders exhibits the hatred of the whole nation toward Jesus.

-Jesus: “Ἰησοῦς”, “Iēsous”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine — Jesus = “Yahweh is salvation”; the Son of God, the Savior of mankind, God incarnate.

-The Sabbath: “Σάββατόν”, “Sabbaton”; noun, nominative, singular, neuter — the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work.

-Father: “πατήρ”, “Patēr”; noun, nominative, singular, masculine — father; God is called the Father; the Father of Jesus Christ, as one whom God has united to himself in the closest bond of love and intimacy, made acquainted with his purposes, appointed to explain and carry out among men the plan of salvation, and (as appears from the teaching of John) made to share also in his own divine nature;

-(I am) Working: “ἐργάζομαι”, “ergazomai”; verb, present, either middle or passive, indicative, first person, singular — to work, labor, do work; opposite to inactivity or idleness.

-Equal: “ἴσον”, “ison”; adjective, accusative, singular, masculine — equal in quantity or quality.

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

A short time after Jesus miraculously and instantaneously healed a man who had been an invalid for 38 years, He found him in the temple and told the man to “sin no more” so that nothing worse would happen to him. Then, the man told the Jewish leaders it was Jesus who had healed him on the Sabbath and told him to pick up his bedroll and walk. And this is why the Jewish leaders were persecuting Jesus, because He had healed a man on the Sabbath and told the man to pick up his bedroll; a task that violated the man made traditions that had been added to the requirements for not working on the Sabbath. However, in response to the accusations of the Jewish leaders, Jesus said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” The Jewish leaders understood that by saying that Jesus was making Himself equal with God, and for this reason they wanted to kill Him even more.

Implication (what does this mean to us):

In the verses previous to this passage, Jesus miraculously healed a man who had been disabled for 38 years. But He healed the man on the Sabbath, and told the man to stand up, pick up his bedroll and walk. At this point a crowd began to form and Jesus slipped away before the man could learn His name. Shortly after this, the Jewish leaders confronted the man and told him it was unlawful to carry his bedroll on the Sabbath. He immediately told them the man who healed him had said to pick up his bedroll and walk, but he did not know Jesus’ name. Later, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” This was a loving warning from Jesus that habitual, unrepentant sin leads to a fate far worse than any temporary physical infirmity in this world.

This story then resumes in verse 15 of John chapter 5. After learning the name of Jesus, the man went and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who had miraculously healed him and told him to pick up his bed and walk. These Jewish leaders were not concerned with meeting the man who had performed this miracle though. They wanted to know who had told this man, who had been disabled for 38 years, that it was ok to carry his mat around on the Sabbath. Over the years the Jewish religious leaders had taken God’s command for the people of Israel to rest from their usual labor one day a week, and added many extra restrictions. In doing this they had changed what was supposed to be a restful blessing into a religious chore. The intention of the Sabbath was to give the people rest, but the Rabbis added laws that said it was unlawful to carry anything around on the Sabbath, even a sewing needle. So, even though carrying a bedroll had nothing to do with the man’s occupation or usual labor, and therefore was not a violation of the Sabbath as God defined it, the Jewish leaders were upset and offended because their man made tradition had been violated. This prideful, offended spirit of theirs blinded them to the miracle standing before them.

We do not know for sure if the man told the Jews (the religious leaders) Jesus’ name out of naivete; perhaps he thought they too would want to meet the powerful man of God who had healed him. Or maybe he told them because he knew they were angry about the supposed Sabbath violation and he wanted to deflect their anger away from himself. It is unclear what his motives were, and commentators disagree on how to interpret this. It seems to me like “dullness rather than treachery,” as D.A. Carson puts it, but whatever the case, the Jews now knew who had both miraculously healed a man who had been disabled for 38 years and told him to get up, carry his mat, and walk on the Sabbath. But as we will see, they only cared about the violation of their man made traditions, and nothing for the miraculous work of God that had just been done in their midst.

And as verse 16 puts it, “And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.” It is not entirely clear what is meant by “these things”. Evidently Jesus had done many other things of this nature on the Sabbath, but John the gospel writer did not feel it necessary to record every single instance. He simply provides us with specific examples that are representative of the larger body of work accomplished by Jesus. This means the Jewish leaders had many more examples of the teaching and miracles of Jesus to draw on, but even in the face of all this, they revealed their motivations were selfish and prideful. They had no interest in God and the work He was doing. It was for the work of proclaiming the truth and making sick people well that the Jews persecuted Jesus.

In response to these accusations of violating God’s law, the Lord of the Sabbath Himself (Jesus) said, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” There is a lot of profound truth to unpack in this statement. Before addressing the fact that Jesus equated Himself with God by saying this, He also said that God is working. Work is an attribute of God. As Philo, a Hellenistic Jewish theologian/philosopher and contemporary of Jesus from Alexandria, said, “God never stops working, for as it is the property of fire to burn and of snow to be cold so of God to work.” (Philo, cited in Dods). This was a strange concept in the ancient world. The Jews did have a concept of God working and that as the God who sustained the universe, He must be working in some capacity on the Sabbath. But they also believed that even though God is continually working, He cannot be charged with violating the Sabbath, because apart from God the entire universe would collapse. But this idea was foreign to much of the ancient world, and it is not unreasonable to assume some of the Greco-Roman concept of God had penetrated Jewish society. The Greco-Roman belief about work is that work was not an honorable thing to do. Work was for slaves and peasants. To say God is always working was just as revolutionary as saying God is love.

Jesus’ legal defense against the accusations levied at Him was not that their interpretation of Sabbath law was incorrect, although He would have been right in saying so. But rather, Jesus’ legal defense is that, “My Father is continuously working to uphold and sustain the universe, and so am I.” His justification for what He had done and commanded the man to do on the Sabbath was to equate Himself with God the Father. So, while the working attribute of God would have shocked many an ancient person, the equivocation of Jesus to God is by far the most profound point of Jesus’ argument. Jesus’ words were not a statement of God as “our” Father, but as “my” Father. When Jesus described God as “My Father,” He made a unique connection between Himself in God.

There are many people who say Jesus never claimed to be God, but this is one instance of many where Jesus does claim to be God, and the people He made the claim to are recorded as understanding He was claiming to be God. As we see in verse 18, “This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.” One of the great theologians and writers of the early church, Augustine, in reference to this passage said, “Behold, the Jews understand what the Arians do not understand.” The Arians were a group that denied the deity of Jesus. Nowadays, groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the deity of Jesus. Mormons deny the fullness of His deity, claiming He is a lesser god, born of God the Father and having a created origin. And there are many other such heresies all over the world. But the reality is, whatever you may believe about the deity of Jesus, He did clearly claim to be God, He did not correct people when they called Him God, and the people He spoke to understood that was what He was saying; this is repeatedly mentioned as the main reason why the Jewish leaders wanted to kill Him (John 8:58, 10:30–33, 14:9, 20:8; Matthew 14:33, 28:18).

So, it is one thing for someone to say they do not believe Jesus is God, but it is an entirely different thing to say He never claimed to be God. He did claim to be God. And if He claimed to be God, He cannot simply be thought of as a wise and kind teacher. If He claimed to be God and the only way to eternal salvation (and He clearly did), then we are left with only three possible conclusions as to His identity:

1. He was a lunatic.

2. He was intentionally deceptive and therefore evil.

3. He is God.

There are no other options. So, it is up to us to examine the evidence of His life and teaching to determine which of these 3 options is most likely true. What we have here in John’s gospel and the other 3 gospel accounts are records of eyewitness testimonies on the life of Jesus. And these eye witness accounts, from multiple sources, all confirm and support each other. This is because they are reliable eyewitness accounts. And from studying them, by the grace and enabling of the Holy Spirit, I believe the only logical conclusion to arrive at is: option 3. Jesus is God. He is who He says He is. But it is not simply a matter of evidence. There is a spiritual component to belief vs. unbelief. The Jewish leaders at this time had an even greater opportunity to both witness His works themselves and speak to the eyewitnesses. But even upon being confronted with the undeniable evidence, they tried all the more to kill Him. They did not want God, they wanted to build and shore up their own little kingdom down here in the dirt. They wanted to be their own gods.

Examining the evidence and presenting it to others for their consideration is important, but we must always remember the words of Paul from Romans 1 in regards to the fallen state of mankind, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

This means we all possess some basic, rudimentary understanding of God because the existence of an uncreated Creator is the only logical conclusion for the origin of the universe. There must be a first mover. Life cannot come from non-life. But even this basic knowledge is suppressed by mankind, because by and large we want to be our own gods. If we acknowledge a Creator, then we have to start asking what our relationship is to Him, and also what that means for how we are to live. But in our fallen sinful state, we do not want that. So, it is no surprise that upon being confronted with an even greater revelation of God in the Lord Jesus Christ, these Jewish leaders suppressed that knowledge of the truth and sought to kill Him.

This is what we are up against both in our own sinful natures, and out in the world as we faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus. We do need to faithfully, clearly and graciously communicate the truth of the Gospel, and also respectfully defend the rationality, reliability and reasonableness of Christianity, but we must also understand that intellectual knowledge is not enough on its own. For a person who is dead in their sins, as we all are before coming to Jesus, to be resurrected to new life in Christ requires a miracle of resurrection to take place. When Jesus extends the offer of salvation to us, we are given the dignity of choosing whether or not to accept it, but the fact remains God is the first mover. He must grant us repentance and grant us the ability to even make the decision in the first place (2 Timothy 2:24–26). So, for us this means that as we faithfully share the gospel with others, we must earnestly pray that God would open their hearts and minds to understand and believe. We are simply the messengers, and we must be faithful messengers, but it is only by the power of God that a person who is dead in their sin can be raised to new life in Jesus. Again, we are simply the messengers. Jesus Christ is the Savior. And a person’s response to His free offer of salvation is between them and Him.

But the overriding theme we should gather from this passage is that Jesus is God, and this is one instance of many where Jesus claimed to be Yahweh, the one true God. He did not claim to be another god in addition to Yahweh. Jesus claimed to be Yahweh Himself. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit exists as one Being composed of three perfectly unified Persons who are equal in Deity, but who perform different roles. Jesus is God the Son. And He and the Father are One. Just as He and the Holy Spirit are One. The Son is not the Father nor the Spirit, but all three are One, and all three are Yahweh, the one true God.

“Serve Yahweh with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry and you perish on the way, for his anger burns quickly. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭2‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭LEB

Application (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

This passage should cause us to think about the presence of legalism in our lives. Obedience to God’s law is important, and we obey by the power of His Spirit in us and because of our love for Him. But zeal for God must not be allowed to turn into legalism where we start adding to His law, and create burdens to lay on our brothers and sisters that God never intended them or us to carry. The Pharisees took the good law and blessing of Sabbath, and turned it into a rod to beat the people with. Are any of us doing this to either ourselves or others in our interpretation and application of God’s good and righteous law? We must always remember, love and obedience are inseparable in God’s Kingdom (Matthew 22:37–40).

This passage should also cause us to consider yet another one of Christ’s claims to be God incarnate. We may not understand His language in this passage to mean that at first glance, but from the context of John’s gospel, and the more immediate context of the response of the Jewish leaders, it is clear this is yet another claim to deity by claiming to be equal with God the Father. Jesus cannot simply have been only a good, moral teacher because He claimed to be God incarnate come down from heaven to offer the gift of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. He is either God, a lunatic, or a lying sociopath. For my part, I think the evidence shows He is undoubtedly Yahweh, the very same God of the Old Testament incarnate as both fully Man and fully God. Jesus Christ is Lord of all.‬‬

Self Reflection:

Do I desire to obey Jesus and see others experience the joy of obedience out of a sincere love for Him and them? Is there any presence of legalism in my heart that I need the love of Jesus to uproot and drive out?

Have I ever heard someone say that Jesus never said He was God? How does this passage prove that is not true?

If Jesus claimed to be God Himself, what are the only logical conclusions we can consider in regards to His identity? What does such a claim to deity rule out? (Can someone be a good and moral teacher if they falsely claim to be God?)