ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

John 5.19

Book: John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Verse

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ASV:

"19. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner." (John 5:19, ASV)

WEB:

"19. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise." (John 5:19, WEB)

KJV:

"19. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise." (John 5:19, KJV)

YLT:

"19. Jesus therefore responded and said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything of himself, if he may not see the Father doing anything; for whatever things He may do, these also the Son in like manner doth;" (John 5:19, YLT)

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV:

"17. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh even until now, and I work. 18. For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19. Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner. 20. For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth: and greater works than these will he show him, that ye may marvel. 21. For as the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will." (John 5:17-21, ASV)

WEB:

"17. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” 18. For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 19. Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise. 20. For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel. 21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires." (John 5:17-21, WEB)

KJV:

"17. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. 18. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. 19. Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. 20. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. 21. For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will." (John 5:17-21, KJV)

YLT:

"17. And Jesus answered them, 'My Father till now doth work, and I work;' 18. because of this, then, were the Jews seeking the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the sabbath, but he also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God. 19. Jesus therefore responded and said to them, 'Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son is not able to do anything of himself, if he may not see the Father doing anything; for whatever things He may do, these also the Son in like manner doth; 20. for the Father doth love the Son, and doth shew to him all things that He himself doth; and greater works than these He will shew him, that ye may wonder. 21. 'For, as the Father doth raise the dead, and doth make alive, so also the Son doth make alive whom he willeth;" (John 5:17-21, YLT)

Setting

  • Speaker: Jesus, in His sustained Christological-defense discourse after the v. 18 murder-plot trigger
  • Audience: Jewish leaders who had escalated to murder-intent over the v. 17 divine-equality claim
  • Location: Jerusalem, temple precincts or near the pool of Bethesda; c. AD 28
  • Time period: events c. AD 28 at a feast of the Jews (likely Passover); composed c. AD 85-95
  • Narrative context: the first verse of Jesus's sustained Christological cascade following the v. 18 trigger. The leaders interpreted Jesus's v. 17 claim as "making himself equal with God." Verse 19 is Jesus's response, and instead of retracting the equality-claim, He develops it: the Son's working is not independent of the Father (which would suggest two-gods polytheism) but is perfectly mirrored upon the Father's working. The "can do nothing of himself" (negative) is the unity claim; the "what things soever the Father doeth, these the Son also doeth" (positive) is the equality claim.

Theological reading

John 5:19 is one of the most theologically subtle verses in the Christological cluster. Read superficially it sounds subordinationist, the Son is limited and dependent on the Father. Read in context (in the middle of Jesus's response to the divine-equality charge of v. 18), it is exactly the opposite: the Son's "doing nothing of himself" strengthens the divine-equality claim by establishing the perfect-cooperative-perichoretic unity between Father and Son. The verse must be read with vv. 17-23 as a whole.

The two-clause structure: negative + positive equality

  • Negative ("the Son can do nothing of himself"): the Son is not a second-God-running-independent operations. He has no agenda or work apart from the Father. This forecloses (a) polytheistic two-gods readings, (b) Marcionite-style "Jesus came to overthrow the OT God," and (c) any claim that the incarnate Son is a rogue agent.
  • Positive ("what the Father doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner"): the Son does whatever the Father does, in the same manner (Greek homoiōs). The vocabulary is parallel-identity, not subordinate-imitation. Anything the Father does (the unique divine works of v. 17), the Son does, equally and identically.

The combined force: the Son is fully equal to the Father (positive) because He is perfectly united with Him in nature, will, and operation (negative). Subordinationism reads the negative without the positive; correct exegesis reads them together.

Patristic reading

Athanasius (Discourses Against the Arians II-III, c. AD 358) deploys John 5:19 against the Arian reading head-on: the verse does not establish the Son's inferiority but His eternal generation, the Son does what He sees the Father doing because the Son's being and operation are eternally derived-from-and-united-with the Father's. The Nicene homoousios doctrine is the metaphysical articulation of what 5:19 narratively claims.

Augustine (Tractates on the Gospel of John 20-22): the verse reveals the eternal relational structure of the Trinity, the Father is the eternal source, the Son is the eternally-generated Word, and their work in time is the temporal projection of the eternal relation. The Son's "seeing the Father doing" is the eternal contemplative-cooperative communion.

Cyril of Alexandria (Commentary on John 2): the verse is the Christological foundation for the operatio ad extra indivisa est doctrine, "the external operations of the Trinity are indivisible." Whatever the Trinity does ad extra, all three Persons do, because the divine nature is one.

Reformed and contemporary readings

John Calvin (Commentary on John ad loc.): not a subordinationist concession but a unity-strengthening claim, "It only means that he does nothing of which the Father is not the author." Unity-of-will between Father and Son is the doctrine; subordination of the eternal Son is not.

Karl Barth (Church Dogmatics IV/1, 1953): foundational for the Trinitarian doctrine that all God's works are jointly works of all three Persons, the so-called "appropriations" (Father with creation, Son with redemption, Spirit with sanctification) being relative emphases within actions essentially trinitarian.

Apologetic deployment

The verse is the principal Trinitarian-response text to the JW / Arian / Muslim challenge: "if Jesus is God, why does He say He can do nothing of Himself? Doesn't that prove He's subordinate?"

Response:

  1. The "nothing of himself" is unity-of-will, not subordination-of-being
  2. The companion "whatsoever the Father doeth, these the Son also doeth" establishes equality-of-action
  3. The two together yield: equal-in-being, united-in-will, distinct-in-Person (Trinitarian) OR equal-in-being, united-in-will, distinct-in-manifestation (Oneness)
  4. Either way, the verse confirms equal-divinity rather than refuting it

Oneness Pentecostal reading

In the Oneness framework, John 5:19 displays the one God's intra-incarnational unity: the Son-manifestation does exactly what the Father-source does because the Son IS the Father's manifestation in flesh. The "can do nothing of himself" is the one God's self-consistency expressed in the Son-mode. See Trinity vs Oneness vs Modalism vs Arianism.

Canonical-theological connections

  • John 5:17, the Father-Son cooperative-working trigger (rich hub)
  • John 5:30, "I can of mine own self do nothing", companion verse (rich hub)
  • John 8:28, "I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things"
  • John 14:10, "the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works"
  • Hebrews 1:3, "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person"
  • Colossians 1:15, "the image of the invisible God"
  • Philippians 2:5-8, the kenosis hymn (the Son's voluntary submission within divine equality)

Key words

See also

Quoted in