Life in Himself – John 5:25-29

Wikipedia notes:  “The resurrection of the dead is a standard eschatological belief in the Abrahamic religions. As a religious concept, it is used in two distinct respects: a belief in the resurrection of individual souls that is current and ongoing (Christian idealism, realized eschatology), or else a belief in a singular resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. Some believe the soul is the actual vehicle by which people are resurrected.”  In reference to the ‘some’ Christians who believe the soul is the vehicle of resurrection, the article links to one on Gregory of Nyssa, and quotes him.  But Gregory’s quote actually supports, not resurrection of the soul but of the body, one’s own body, which is the historic meaning of resurrection in the church.  As Gregory says, “the soul [will] be near each by its power of recognition, and will persistently cling to the familiar atoms,” by which he means the original atoms of the body which the soul inhabited.  This is the resurrection Jesus was referring to.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.  For even as the Father has life in Himself, so also the Son has been granted to have life in himself.  And authority has been given to him to make judgment, because he is the Son of Man.  Don’t marvel at this, that an hour is coming when everyone who is in the tomb will hear his voice, those who have done good leaving their tomb for a resurrection to life, while those who have done evil to a resurrection to condemnation.”  (John 5:25-29)

Jesus has just talked about the Father handing judgment to him and so he now expands on that.  The “hour” that comes is what is termed in the Old Testament scriptures as “the Day of Yahweh,” and is the time of God’s final judgment on all mankind right before He takes up rule on the earth.  Jesus is identifying himself as the agent of that judgment whose authoritative voice speaks and all the dead must obey.  In one sense that day of judgment is still future, but in another it is present now in the person of Jesus.  Jesus says he has this authority because he is the Son of Man, a designation in a vision given to Daniel in which one like a son of man is given a kingdom from the Ancient of Days and whose kingdom destroys all man-made kingdoms and lasts forever, with all people bowing down to him (Daniel 7).

Jesus’ picture of this time is of a dual resurrection of the dead, a resurrection of the those who have done good (believers) that leads to life in the kingdom, and a resurrection of the evil (unbelievers) that leads to further condemnation.  This latter resurrection is pictured in Revelation 20 as happening before a great white throne on which Jesus sits and judges the unbelieving dead out of the books of their deeds and out of the book of life where their names would have needed to be written in order for them to be saved.  “Resurrection” in this case means reviving to life, and in the case of believers will include their bodies made new, incorruptible bodies, something that will not happen for unbelievers.  Will unbelievers be given a body at all?  It seems so, though no description of this body is given as it is for the believer (Philippians 3:21).  Every human is forever linked to his or her body.

There must be a judgment like this some day for everything to be made right.  If there were no judgment there would be no reason to do good or bad, no justice for all the innumerable evils that have been perpetrated against people, and no basis for a separation between the godly and the wicked for all eternity.

Discussion Questions

1. Would you rather live with a perfectly intact body until you die, or a perfectly intact mind?
2. What do you think Jesus means when he says it has been granted him to have life in himself?
3. Does being “granted” life in himself suggest he is less than equal to God?
4. Would God, or could God, assign the task of judging the world to someone who is created and thus not infinite in his wisdom?  Could you be satisfied that this person’s judgment was correct?
5. What do you think about unbelievers being given their bodies back when they face eternal judgment?
6. Whom do you long to see given a resurrection to life but you are not certain they are saved?