Because of this, the Jews tried all the harder to kill Him. Not only was He breaking the Sabbath, but He was even calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
- KJV Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
- NKJV Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
- NASB For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
- NLT So the Jewish leaders tried all the harder to find a way to kill him. For he not only broke the Sabbath, he called God his Father, thereby making himself equal with God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The leaders sought all the more to kill Jesus, for he called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. They rightly grasped his claim to deity.
Overview
John clarifies that the leaders understood Jesus to be claiming equality with God, and they judged this blasphemy. Their reaction confirms that Jesus' words were a genuine assertion of his divine identity. The Gospel presents this claim as true: Jesus is the Son, equal with the Father, worthy of the worship his opponents refused.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- John 10:30I and the Father are one.”
- John 10:33“We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, declare Yourself to be God.”
- John 19:7“We have a law,” answered the Jews, “and according to that law He must die, because He declared Himself to be the Son of God.”
- John 8:58“Truly, truly, I tell you,” Jesus declared, “before Abraham was born, I am!”
- John 14:23Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
- John 5:23so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
- John 7:1After this, Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews there were trying to kill Him.
- Rev 22:1Then the angel showed me a river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
- Phil 2:6Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
- John 8:54Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. The One who glorifies Me is My Father, of whom you say ‘He is our God.’
- John 7:19Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps it. Why are you trying to kill Me?”
- John 14:9Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
- John 5:16Now because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews began to persecute Him.
- Zech 13:7Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
- Rev 22:3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be within the city, and His servants will worship Him.
- John 7:22–23But because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath (not that it is from Moses, but from the patriarchs.)
- Matt 12:5Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and yet are innocent?
- Rev 21:22–23But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 5:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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