John 5:27

Hath given. — As above, gave. The “also” after judgment should be omitted. In these verses, as before, the two relations of Father — Son, Life — Judgment, are emphatic. Both Life and Judgment can belong to God only, but both are the Father’s gift to the Son.

The Son of man. — Render, a son of man. The term differs by the striking omission of articles from the usual term for the Messiah, and occurs again in Revelation 1:13; Revelation 14:14. It is here in contrast to the “Son of God” in John 5:25. The explanation is, once more, to be found in the thought of the Incarnation as an emptying Himself of the attributes which are the glories of the divine nature. It is not because He is Messiah (the Son of Man), but human (a son of man), that the Father gave Him the power to have life in Himself, and the authority to execute judgment. (See Note on John 5:26.) Still His humanity is not here dwelt upon as a qualification for the office of judge, because it is of the same nature as that of those He judges. This thought and the thoughts which flow from it (comp. Acts 17:31) are full of beauty and truth, but the side of truth prominent in this verse, and all those which follow John 5:17, is not His relation to man, but His relation to God. All are a sermon on the text, “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”