Limitless Word
so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
John 5:23 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
  • KJV That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
  • BSB so 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.
  • NKJV that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
  • NLT so that everyone will honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son is certainly not honoring the Father who sent him.

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

All are to honor the Son just as they honor the Father; to dishonor the Son is to dishonor the Father. Christ is worthy of the same honor as God.

Overview

Jesus declares that the Father's purpose is that the Son receive equal honor with himself. Therefore honoring God necessarily means honoring Christ; rejecting the Son is rejecting the Father. This decisively rules out any worship of God that bypasses Jesus, establishing his deity and the necessity of faith in him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 40

  • 1 Jn 2:23Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.
  • Luke 10:16Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”
  • 2 Jn 1:9Whoever transgresses and doesn’t remain in the teaching of Christ, doesn’t have God. He who remains in the teaching, the same has both the Father and the Son.
  • Matt 11:27All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
  • John 15:23–24He who hates me, hates my Father also.
  • Jer 17:5–7Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
  • Luke 12:8–9“I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God;
  • 1 Th 3:11–13Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way to you;
  • Eph 6:24Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love. Amen.
  • Heb 1:6When he again brings in the firstborn into the world he says, “Let all the angels of God worship him.”
  • Titus 3:4–6But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared,
  • 2 Pet 3:18But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
  • 2 Th 2:16–17Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
  • Rom 8:9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
  • John 16:14He will glorify me, for he will take from what is mine, and will declare it to you.
  • Rom 14:7–9For none of us lives to himself, and none dies to himself.
  • Rom 6:22But now, being made free from sin, and having become servants of God, you have your fruit of sanctification, and the result of eternal life.
  • 1 Cor 10:31Whether therefore you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
  • Isa 43:10–11“You are my witnesses,” says Yahweh, “With my servant whom I have chosen; that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he. Before me there was no God formed, neither will there be after me.
  • Matt 22:37–38Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
  • Ps 146:3–5Don’t put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.
  • 1 Cor 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
  • Matt 12:21In his name, the nations will hope.”
  • Rev 5:8–14Now when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
  • Isa 45:21Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior; There is no one besides me.
  • 2 Cor 5:19namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.
  • 2 Cor 13:14The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s love, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
  • 2 Cor 1:9Yes, we ourselves have had the sentence of death within ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead,
  • 2 Tim 1:12For this cause I also suffer these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed to him against that day.
  • Zech 9:9Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
  • 1 Cor 1:3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Matt 10:37He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
  • Ps 2:12Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
  • John 14:1“Don’t let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.
  • Eph 1:12–13to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ:
  • Rom 1:7to all who are in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
  • Rom 15:12Again, Isaiah says, “There will be the root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope.”
  • Isa 42:8“I am Yahweh. That is my name. I will not give my glory to another, nor my praise to engraved images.
  • Matt 28:19Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
  • Isa 44:6This is what Yahweh, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Yahweh of Armies, says: “I am the first, and I am the last; and besides me there is no God.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on John 5:23YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 5:23 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.