John 5:20

John 5:20. For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth. The relation of the Son's acts to those of the Father has been connected with the figure of ‘seeing:' the converse is here presented, as ‘showing.' The Father ‘showeth' what Himself doeth; the Son ‘seeth.' The principle of the relation between the Father and the Son, out of which this communion springs, is ‘love,' an eternal and continuous and infinite love, the source of an eternal and continuous and perfect communion. The same English words have occurred before, in chap. John 3:35; but the original expression is not the same. We shall have occasion in several passages to notice the two Greek words in question, which, as a rule, must be rendered by the same English word, ‘love.' Starting from the use of the words between man and man, we may say that the one (Φίλίω) denotes rather the tender emotional affection, that the other (άγαπάω) is never dissociated from intellectual preference, esteem, choice. The one term is not necessarily stronger than the other. The latter may be more exalted, as implying the result of intelligence and knowledge; the former may be more expressive, as implying a closer bond and a warmer feeling. The first word is most in place when the two who are united by love stand more nearly on the same level, the second is commonly used when there is disparity. The former occurs thirteen times only in this Gospel; once of the Father's love towards the Son (here), and once of His consequent love to those who love the Son (John 16:27); three times of the love of Jesus towards His disciples, and six times of their love to Him; the other two passages are John 12:25 (‘he that loveth his life') and John 15:19 (‘the world would love its own'). It does not occur in John's Epistles, and twice only in the Apocalypse (Revelation 3:19; Revelation 22:15). On the other hand, the latter word occurs no fewer than thirty-seven times in John's Gospel and thirty times in his Epistles. In the Gospel it is used seven times of the love between the Father and the Son; once of the love of God to the world (John 3:16), and three times of the Father's love to those who are Christ's; eleven times of the love of Jesus towards His own nine times of their love towards Him, and four times of the mutual love of the disciples. In the remaining passages (John 3:19 and John 12:43) it denotes preference or choice. The fitness of the employment of the two words is very clear in almost all these instances. The first class is that with which we are now concerned, both words being used to denote the love existing between the Father and the Son. The particular passages will be noticed as they occur, but the verse before us and John 3:35 are sufficient to show clearly the general principle ruling this whole class. Here, as the context brings into relief the essential relation between the Son and the Father, that word is chosen which most befits the unity of their Being. In John 3:35, again, the context fixes our attention on Him whom God hath ‘sent:' not the essence but the work of the Son is the leading thought, not the Word ‘in the beginning with God, but the Only-begotten Son given that the world might be saved: the other word, therefore, is there used.

And he will shew him greater works than these. The word ‘showeth' in the first part of the verse includes all time: here the future tense is used, not as pointing to a change in the relation of the Son to the Father, as if the ‘showing' and the ‘seeing' would in the future grow in completeness and intensity, but only because the eternal purpose of the Father for mankind is fulfilled in time, and because the Saviour is looking at successive stages of His work, as developed in human history. The ‘greater works' must not be understood to mean simply greater acts, more wonderful miracles, all that we commonly understand by the miracles of Jesus being rather comprehended under the word ‘these.' Further, our Lord does not say ‘greater works than this ‘miracle, but greater works than ‘these:' and lastly, to compare one of the Saviour's miraculous deeds with another, to divide them into greater and less, is altogether foreign to the spirit of the Gospels. The key to the meaning of the ‘greater works' is given by the following verses; they include the raising of the dead, the giving of life, the judgment.

That ye may marvel. The design of these greater works, of this higher and more complete manifestation of Jesus, is ‘that ye may marvel.' ‘Ye,' as throughout this discourse, is an address to those who opposed Him, who ‘would not come' to Him, who refused to believe His words. The meaning of ‘marvel,' therefore, does not differ from that which we observed in chap. John 3:7: it is not the wonder of admiration and faith, but the marvelling of astonishment and awe.