For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.
Parallel translations
- WEB For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
- KJV For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
- BSB For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wishes.
- NKJV For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.
- NLT For just as the Father gives life to those he raises from the dead, so the Son gives life to anyone he wants.
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
Just as the Father raises and gives life to the dead, so the Son gives life to whom he wills. Jesus claims divine, life-giving power.
Overview
Raising the dead is a prerogative of God alone, yet Jesus claims to share it fully. The Son gives life sovereignly, 'to whom he desires,' a clear assertion of deity and saving authority. This points to both the spiritual life Christ grants now and the bodily resurrection he will accomplish.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 8:11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
- Deut 32:39“See now that I myself am he. There is no god with me. I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand.
- John 11:25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies.
- Luke 7:14–15He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”
- Acts 26:8Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?
- John 11:43–44When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
- John 17:2even as you gave him authority over all flesh, he will give eternal life to all whom you have given him.
- Luke 8:54–55But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, “Child, arise!”
- 2 Kgs 5:7When the king of Israel had read the letter, he tore his clothes, and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me.”
- 2 Kgs 4:32–35When Elisha had come into the house, behold, the child was dead, and lying on his bed.
- 1 Kgs 17:21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
- Rom 4:17–19As it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations.” This is in the presence of him whom he believed: God, who gives life to the dead, and calls the things that are not, as though they were.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:21 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.