Exposition of John, Chapter 5 · Verse 14 – Verse 16
Verſe 24. Verily, verily I ſay unto you, He that heareth my word, and beleeveth on him that ſent me, hath everlaſting life, and ſhall not come into condemnation: but is paſſed from death unto life.
The fourth inſtance of Chriſts Godhead and equality with the Father, is held out in ſeveral particulars, relating to mans ſalvation: Namely, that the Doctrine of the Goſpel is his Word; that it requireth abſolute faith and cloſing with God through him; and that he gives perſeverance and eternal life to ſuch as beleeve in the Father through him, according to the Word. Whence learn, 1. It is the great and undeniable evidence of mens giving due honour unto Jeſus Chriſt the Sonne of God, when his Word is acknowledged and received as becometh; and when by making uſe thereof, we do promove our own eternal happineſſe; So much may be gathered from the dependance from this verſe on the former, he is then honoured, when his Word is heard. For, in this work the glory of his God-head ſhineth brightly, and his love to his people is ſuch, as to account himſelf eſpecially honoured in that which promoveth their happineſſe. 2. Chriſt would have men very ſerious in the matter of eſteeming his Word, and of their own ſalvation, and would have them taking him up as very ſerious about it, and very real in what he ſaith concerning their well-being; Therefore doth he begin with an aſſeveration, Verily, verily, I ſay unto you, to ſhew that the way of ſinners ſalvation was no ſmall matter in his minde, and that he was worthy to be credited concerning it, and to invite them to ſeriouſneſſe. 3. The Doctrine of the Scripture is Chriſts voice, who as God equal with the Father, is the preſcriber of mens duty, and of the way of their ſalvation; an authorizer of a rule of faith and manners to binde the conſcience, and who is Mediatour, is the purchaſer of the good newes of the Goſpel for loſt ſinners; for, ſaith he, it is my word, not as a Meſſenger carrying it onelyonly, as Paul ſaith of himſelf, that the Goſpel was his, Rom. 2.16. Nor yet onelyonly as the Purchaſer of good tydings, (though both theſe be true,) but as principal Author, with the Father of that Doctrine, and particularly of the Goſpel, whether publiſhed by himſelf, or by his Ambaſſadours, Luke 10.16. 4. Chriſts Doctrine is to be reverently attended and hearkened unto, and abſolute obedience is due to what he ſaith, without exception; And for this end, he is to be heard in every meſſage, who is God over all, and who ſpeaketh from heaven, and who in his voice of the Goſpel, hath not that dreadful ſound, which accompanied the Law, Heb. 12.19, &c. attending it; for, it is their duty, that they hear my word, ſaith he, hearing importing obedience thereunto, and attention as previous to that, and all this, becauſe it is his word. See Deut. 18.15. 5. The Doctrine of Chriſt, and eſpecially of the Goſpel, is then rightly heard, when we bring faith, and not our reaſon and corrupt ſenſe, to judge of it, and when it puts a ſinner out of himſelf, to flee by faith to a refuge; for, ſo is added, he that heareth my word, and beleeveth. Chriſts doctrine may be a ſtumbling block, and fooliſhneſſe, if we bring not faith, 1 Cor. 1.18, 23. and whatever change the Goſpel work on men, yet it works not ſavingly, till it drive men out of themſelves, to live by faith. 6. Faith, whereby the Doctrine of Chriſt is embraced to ſalvation, is not our own, but Gods gift, and wrought by means of hearing the Word: for, ſo much is imported in the order; he that heareth and beleeveth, ſee Rom. 10.17. 7. Saving faith, begotten by the Word, doth lay hold on God through Chriſt the Mediatour, and reſteth on God as the proper object; for, he beleeveth on him that ſent me, where Chriſt doth not ſeclude himſelfe from being the object of faith, as God, (which elſewhere he ſo clearly aſſerteth, John 1.12. and 3.16. and 14.1.) more then he denieth the Father to be the Author of his Doctrine, when he calleth it, my word. But he ſpeaks thus, partly, with reference to the Jewes conception, who thought that he and his Doctrine had nothing to do with God; therefore he ſheweth that as he was one with the Father, ſo his Doctrine tended to, and was a means of begetting faith in him; and partly, to ſhew the order of ſaving faith, that as it dare not fixe on God immediately, but in, and by the Mediatour, ſo it cannot reſt till ultimately it reſt on God in Chriſt his Son, equal, and the ſame eſſentially with him. See Acts 20.21. 2 Cor. 3.4. 1 Pet. 1.21. 8. Albeit all men by nature be lying dead in ſinnes and treſpaſſes, and be liable to bodily death and mortality, even albeit they come to Chriſt; Yet ſuch as by hearing the Word, are drawn to beleeve on God through him, get ſpiritual life, and not onelyonly ſhall they have, but they already have eternal life, by Covenant-right, in the bud and earneſt of it, Epheſ. 1, 13, 14. 1 John 5.11. and in their Head Chriſt, Epheſ. 2.5.6. for, of ſuch Chriſt ſaith, he hath everlaſting life, as John 3.16. and he is paſſed from death unto life, or, tranſlated from under the ſtate and ſentence of death, by a ſentence of life paſſed in his favours in juſtification, and put in a living condition, by ſanctification: And this is the reaſon why the beleever hath everlaſting life. See the like forme of ſpeech, 1 John 3.14. 9. The beleever in Chriſt hath eternal life on ſo ſure termes, that he is out of perill of periſhing, and is gifted with perſeverance, till full fruition come; for, he hath everlaſting life, and ſhall not come into condemnation, but is paſſed from death unto life. 10, The ſentence paſſed in the beleevers conſcience, according to the Word, ſhall ſtand firme, and be ratified by God, in his judging of men; for, he that hath everlaſting life, by beleeving, ſhall not come into condemnation, &c. importeth this alſo. See 1 John 3.21. 11. Albeit Chriſt, being God over all bleſſed for ever, doth not ſtand in need of man, nor any of his creatures; Yet ſuch is his alſufficiencie and bounty, as he delights to give proofs of his Godhead in ſaving his people, and making them happy; Therefore doth he bring this proof to confirme his aſſertion, from his being able and willing to ſave them who beleeve in God through him.
Verſe 25. Verily, verily, I ſay unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead ſhall hear the voice of the …onne of God, and they that hear, ſhall live.
The fifth inſtance of his Godhead and equality with the Father, doth amplifie the former in ver. 24. for, whereas there he proved his Godhead by being the Author of eternal life to beleevers; here he promiſeth to give faith to his own, by cauſing them to hear his voice who are of themſelves dead, and making them, by hearing and beleeving, to live a life of grace here, till it be perfected in glory. Doctrine 1. However Chriſt may propound the Doctrine of eternal life conditionally, to the viſible Church, yet the promiſes are abſolute in his intention toward the Elect, and he is the undertaker for performing all the conditions, which he requireth of them, when they are humble and flee to him; So much is held out, in that Chriſt undertakes to give faith, and cauſe the dead to hear, which was required as a condition in the former verſe. 2. We have much need to be oft ſtirred up to be grave and ſerious in ſtudying Chriſts glory, and about the matters of our ſalvation, and to be ſtirred up to give credit to what he ſaith and undertaketh for loſt ſinners; Therefore doth Chriſt again inculcate this Doctrine with Verily, verily, I ſay unto you. 3. The great manifeſtation of the power of Chriſts Word and Spirit, was reſerved for the dayes of the Goſpel; for Chriſt ſaith, the houre (or acceptable ſeaſon, to be well improven, and therefore meaſured by an hour) is coming, after my reſurrection, and pouring out of the Spirit, and now is, in ſome meaſure by my Miniſtry and Johns, when the dead ſhall hear, &c. Not that he gave not proof of this before his incarnation, but it was now to be in greater meaſure, and with greater efficacy. 4. Whatever remainders of the image of God, and what ever excellencie natural men may have; yet they are ſpiritually dead till Chriſt come unto them, being deſtitute of ſpiritual life, and of the favour and peace of God, being dead by a ſentence of the Law paſt againſt them, and being under this, inſenſible, and unable to help themſelves; for, here they are called the dead. 5. Such is the power of the Goſpel, as being the voice of the Son of God, that not onelyonly will it ſpeak to them who have eares, but it will raiſe dead ſouls to life by converſion, and give them an eare to hear, and make them to beleeve; for, the dead ſhall hear the voice of the Sonne of God. 6. Such as are regenerate and raiſed from the dead, by the Word of the Goſpel, and who do cloſe with it, and Chriſt in it, by faith; their begotten life ſhall be cheriſhed and entertained & carried on, by enjoyment of begun conformity & communion with Chriſt, till it be perfected with glory; for, they that heare (or being regenerate, are made ſo to hear, as to beleeve) ſhall live.
Verſe 26. For as the Father hath life in himſelfe, ſo hath he given to the Son to have life in himſelfe.
What Chriſt hath ſaid in the two former verſes, is here confirmed; that he can give everlaſting life to beleevers, and quicken thoſe who are ſpiritually dead, becauſe Chriſt, as God, hath a fountaine of life, equal with the Father, communicate to him from the Father by eternal generation. And this is a ſixth inſtance and proofe of his equality with the Father. Whence learn. 1. The power and efficacy of the Goſpel for quickening and keeping in the life of beleevers, will never be rightly ſeen nor beleeved, till we ſee that inexhauſtible fulneſſe that is in Chriſt for that effect, who hath all fulneſſe of life in himſelfe, as God, to be forthcoming to his own, as a cauſe of life in them; and when that is ſeen, difficulties will eaſily be removed; Therefore, doth he prove the truth of the former doctrine, by this reaſon, they ſhall live, becauſe he hath life in himſelfe equally with the Father. 2. No leſſe is able to beget, and keep in and cheriſh life in the elect, and to revive it when it is decaying and ready to dye, then that infinite and independent fountaine of life, which is Gods own prerogative; So much alſo doth this dependance teach; No leſſe can aſſure that the dead ſhall hear, and that the quickened ſhall perſevere in life, then ſuch a fountaine employed for that end. So many invincible impediments are there in the way of our quickening, and ſo many blaſting ſtormes doth our life meet with, 3. It is the propertie of God to be a living God; that independent inexpreſſible life is his own eſſence and nature, and he is the fountaine of all life in the creatures; for, it is Gods prerogative, and a proofe of Chriſts equality with him, that he hath life in himſelfe. 4. This property of life is common to each perſon of the bleſſed Trinity, to the Father and to the Sonne; Yet the Father is firſt in order in having of it, and doth communicate it to the Sonne; for of both it is ſaid, he hath life in himſelfe, and that the Father hath given it to the Sonne, which is to be underſtood of his communicating it, in communicating his nature with him, by eternal generation; And as for the humane nature, this is only gifted to it in this reſpect, that by the grace of the perſonal union, the humane nature is aſſumed into the unity of perſon with him, who hath this life by eternal generation. 5. The Fathers communicating of life to the Sonne, argues no inequality nor inferiority in the Sonne, but he hath the ſame life, infinitely, independently and equally with the Father; for as the Father hath it, ſo hath the Sonne; and he hath it in himſelfe, as the Father hath. Such a fountaine and ſtore-houſe have beleevers to truſt to.