Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 5:27

John 5:27. And he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. The Son ‘maketh to live,' but He maketh to live ‘whom He will'(John 5:21), or (as we read in John 5:25), He giveth life to those who have heard His voice, and not to all. Where, then, He is not the Giver of life, He is necessarily the Judge. The one thought involves the other, both in John 5:21-22, and here. The Father who gave to the Son the possession of life gave Him judgment also. This we read in the 22 d verse, but the truth now wears a new form; for, although the word ‘gave' is repeated in John 5:27, it is in relation to a gift and a sphere altogether different from those of which the 26 th verse speaks. There the essential attributes of the Son are before us, including the prerogatives of the Word made flesh: here we read of a gift which belongs to time and not eternity, a gift which the Son receives ‘because He is a son of man.' The former verses that speak of giving life and of judging (John 5:21-22) may have an extent of application of which we know nothing; this verse relates to the judgment of men by One who is very man. Such is the force of the words ‘a son of man.' In every other passage of this Gospel it is ‘ the Son of man' of whom we read: here only, and in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14, is the definite article wanting. No expression brings out so strongly the possession of actual human nature, and for this purpose it is employed. God's will is to judge the world by ‘a man whom He ordained' (Acts 17:31); and the verse before us, though comprehending much more than the last judgment, seems, as may be inferred from the peculiarity of the expression ‘execute' or ‘perform judgment' (literally ‘do judgment'), and from the presence of this thought in the immediate context (John 5:28-29), to look especially towards the final scene. But the judgment is one that issues in condemnation, and it is the Father's will that ‘a son of man' shall pronounce the sentence, as one who has taken on Himself human nature in all its reality and completeness, in all its faculties, affections, and feelings. Because He has done so, He is fitted to be a Judge of men, and to draw from the consciences of the guilty an acknowledgment of the righteousness of their doom. As the Son of God having life in Himself, He gives life, and those who are united to Him by faith have possession of a life that is divine. But as a son of man He judges; as One who has been in the same position with those standing at His bar, as One who has fought the same battle and endured the same trials as they. Thus they behold in their Judge One who entirely knows them; His sentence finds an echo in their heart; and they are speechless. Thus it is that judgment becomes really judgment, and not merely he infliction of punishment by resistless power.

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Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary (4 vols)

John 5:27

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