Answer
Speaking to a group of unbelieving Jews, Jesus says, “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19). In other words, Jesus always acts in accordance with the nature and will of God.
The context of Jesus’ statement that He can do nothing of His own accord was a healing He performed on the Sabbath (John 5:1–9). The man who was healed had been lame, but now he was carrying his mat through the streets. The Jewish leaders confronted the man and said, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat” (verse 10). The Mosaic Law, however, did not prohibit someone from carrying his bedroll on the Sabbath (see Exodus 20:8–11).
In response, the man said, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk’” (John 5:11). So, the Jews asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” (verse 12). The man had been healed, but he could not identify the one who healed him (verse 13).
Later, Jesus found the man in the temple and said, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). Jesus’ command that the man “stop sinning” implies that, in this case, the man’s condition was a consequence of personal sin.
If the man said anything to Jesus, John did not record it. But we know that the man reported Jesus to the authorities (John 5:15). Upon learning that it was Jesus who had healed the man, the Jews began to persecute Jesus, “because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath” (verse 16). It is shameful that the Jewish authorities cared more about upholding human tradition than showing genuine love and compassion for others.
In response to their persecution, Jesus said, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working” (John 5:17). The expression my Father signifies a close and intimate relationship (cf. John 20:17), a relationship the unbelieving Jews lacked (see John 8:42–47). The religious authorities rightly interpreted Jesus’ words as a claim to deity: “For this reason they tried all the more to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God” (John 5:18). The title Son of God, then, is a divine title.
In John 5:19, Jesus explains how He is the Son of God. Divinity does not mean that He acts independently of the Father. To the contrary, it means that “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise” (ESV).
Although Jesus can rightly claim divine titles and rights for Himself, He is always obedient to the Father’s will. This is the mark of true sonship: “Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (Hebrews 5:8–9, ESV).
Jesus’ nature was one with the Father’s. The unity that exists between God the Father and God the Son is such that the Son’s will corresponds exactly with the Father’s will. Everything Jesus does, He does in the manner of the Father, exercising the same power and the same authority. The fact that “the Son can do nothing by Himself” shows Him to be equal with the Father in every way.
