5:17-23.  Here the Son, though acting under the Father’s commission, claims equality with the Father; for without this he could neither share all the Father’s counsels, nor do all the Father’s works, nor receive from the Father authority to judge all men—­an office which plainly implies omniscience—­nor be entitled to the same honor as the Father.  The point to be especially noticed in the present connection is the originality of the way in which our Lord here asserts his divine nature.  We cannot for a moment suppose that such a way would have occurred to one who was writing from his own invention.  The only possible explanation of the existence of such a passage in the gospel of John, (and the same is true of many other passages,) is that it is a true record of what actually took place in our Lord’s history.

Again:  our Lord represents himself as the source of light and life to all mankind.  To the Jews he said:  “I am the light of the world:  he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  John 8:12.  In comparison with what he here claims for himself, the outward work of opening men’s bodily eyes dwindles into nothing.  That was only the seal of his divine mission.  But in these and other like words, he does, as it were, draw aside the veil of his humanity, and give us a glimpse of the glory of the Godhead that dwells within.  So too he says, “I am the living bread which came down from heaven:  if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”  John 6:51.  The resurrection of Lazarus, stupendous as that miracle was, does not fill us with such awe and amazement as the mighty words which he uttered to Martha:  “I am the resurrection and the life:  he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:  and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die,” John 11:25, 26; for in these words he represents himself as being to the whole human family the author of all life, natural, spiritual, and eternal.  He connects the particular act of giving life which he is about to perform with the final resurrection, “when all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”  John 5:28, 29.  These utterances, so calm, so lofty, so original, do not sound like the inventions of man.  They wear a heavenly costume.  When we read them, we feel that the only explanation of their existence in the gospel narrative is the fact that they were actually uttered by our Lord.