a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — nominative singular masculine, a title
hath
ἔχειechei
G2192
to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
life
ζωὴνzōēn
G2222
life (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular feminine
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
himself
ἑαυτῷ,he'autō
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
so
οὕτωςhoutōs
G3779
in this way (referring to what precedes or follows) · adverb
hath he given
ἔδωκενedōken
G1325
to give (used in a very wide application · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
to the Son
υἱῷhuiō
G5207
a "son" (sometimes of animals) · noun — dative singular masculine
to have
ἔχεινechein
G2192
to hold (used in very various applications · verb — present active infinitive
life
ζωὴνzōēn
G2222
life (literally or figuratively) · noun — accusative singular feminine
in
ἐνen
G1722
"in · preposition
himself
ἑαυτῷ,he'autō
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
John 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
John 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
Exodus 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 17:2-3 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
1 Corinthians 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1 Timothy 1:17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Psalms 36:9 For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 5:17-30
We have here Christ's discourse upon occasion of his being accused as a sabbath-breaker, and it seems to be his vindication of himself before the sanhedrim, when he was arraigned before them: whether on the same day, or two or three days after, does not appear; probably the same day. Observe,
I. The doctrine laid down, by which he justified what he did on the sabbath day (Joh 5:17): He answered them. This supposes that he had something laid to his charge: or what they suggested one to another, when they sought to slay him (Joh 5:16), he knew, and gave this reply to, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. At other times, in answer to the like charge, he had pleaded the example of David's eat…
given to the Son, &c.--Does this refer to the essential life of the Son before all time (Joh 1:4) (as most of the Fathers, and OLSHAUSEN, STIER, ALFORD, &c., among the moderns), or to the purpose of God that this essential life should reside in the Person of the Incarnate Son, and be manifested thus to the world? [CALVIN, LUCKE, LUTHARDT, &c.] The question is as difficult as the subject is high. But as all that Christ says of His essential relation to the Father is intended to explain and exalt His mediatorial functions, so the one seems in our Lord's own mind and language mainly the starting-point of the other.
Adam Clarke on John 5:26
Hath he given to the Son to have life, etc. - Here our Lord speaks of himself in his character of Messiah, or envoy of God.
John Gill on John 5:26
For as the Father hath life in himself,.... Is the living God, the fountain of life, and is the author of life to all living creatures; or rather has eternal life in his mind, his heart, his counsel, and his covenant, and in his hands, for all his chosen ones, which seems to he the peculiar sense here:
so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; he hath not only made the purpose of it in him, and given the promise of it to him; but even eternal life itself, he has put into his hands, and secured it in him for them, 1 John 5:11, to give it to as many as he has given him: and he does give it to all his sheep, so that not one of them shall perish; which shows that he and his Father ar…
The Church Fathers
The Father, he says, gave him his same ability to raise [from the dead] and conferred on him the same power to judge. And, as far as saying these things about the man [Jesus], he is correct because in his union with the Word he received omnipotence like the Father has.
"For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself." Seest thou that this declareth a perfect likeness save in one point, which is the One being a Father, and the Other a Son? for the expression "hath given," merely introduceth this distinction, but declareth that all the rest is equal and exactly alike. Whence it is clear that the Son doeth all things with as much authority and power as the Father, and that He is not empowered from some other source, for He "hath life" so as the Father hath.
He bore witness that life, to the fullest extent, is his gift from the living God. Now if the living Son was born from the living Father, that birth took place without a new nature coming into existence. Nothing new comes into existence when the living is begotten by the living, for life was not sought out from the nonexistent in order to receive birth. And life, which receives its birth from life, must—because of that unity of nature and because of the mysterious event of that perfect and ineffable birth—live always in [Christ], who lives and has the life of the living in himself.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Life — Generally of physical life (Gen. 2:7; Luke 16:25, etc.); also used figuratively (1) for immortality (Heb. 7:16); (2) conduct or manner of life (Rom. 6:4); (3) spiritual life or salvation (John 3:16,…
Mediator — One who intervenes between two persons who are at variance, with a view to reconcile them. This word is not found in the Old Testament; but the idea it expresses is found in Job 9:33, in the word…
Power · .Giving spiritual life — .Giving spiritual life
Power Of Christ, The · Exhibited in: Giving spiritual life — Exhibited in: Giving spiritual life
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 5:25-29
25. Verily, verily, I say to you, That the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. 26. For as the Father hath life in himself, so also hath he given to the Son to have life in himself. 27. And he hath given him power to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. [102] 28. Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh when all who are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29. And they who have done good shall go forth to the resurrection of life; and they who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
25. Verily, verily When the Evangelist represents the Son of God as swearing so frequently in ref…
