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Selected Verse: John 5:17 - Darby
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Joh 5:17 |
Darby |
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto and I work. |
| |
King James |
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| My Father worketh hitherto and I work--The "I" is emphatic; "The creative and conservative activity of My Father has known no sabbath-cessation from the beginning until now, and that is the law of My working." |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
My Father - God.
Worketh hitherto - Worketh "until now," or until this time. God has not ceased to work on the Sabbath. He makes the sun to rise; He rolls the stars; He causes the grass, the tree, the flower to grow. He has not suspended His operations on the Sabbath, and the obligation to "rest" on the Sabbath does not extend to Him. He created the world in six days, and ceased the work of creation; but He has not ceased to govern it, and to carry forward, by His providence, His great plans on the Sabbath.
And I work - "As God does good on that day; as he is not bound by the law which requires his creatures to rest on that day, so "I" do the same. The law on that subject may be dispensed with, also, in my case, for the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath." In this reply it is implied that he was equal with God from two circumstances:
1. Because he called God his Father, Joh 5:18.
2. Because he claimed the same exemption from law which God did, asserting that the law of the Sabbath did not bind him or his Father, thus showing that he had a right to impose and repeal laws in the same manner as God. He that has a right to do this must be God. |
| Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886] |
Worketh
The discussion turned on work on the Sabbath. The Father's work in maintaining and redeeming the world has continued from the creation until the present moment (ἕως ἄρτι): until now, not interrupted by the Sabbath.
And I work (κἀγὼ ἐργάζομαι)
Or, I also work. The two clauses are coordinated. The relation, as Meyer observes, is not that of imitation, or example, but of equality of will and procedure. Jesus does not violate the divine ideal of the Sabbath by His holy activity on that day. "Man's true rest is not a rest from human, earthly labor, but a rest for divine, heavenly labor. Thus the merely negative, traditional observance of the Sabbath is placed in sharp contrast with the positive, final fulfillment of spiritual service, for which it was a preparation" (Westcott). |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| My Father worketh until now, and I work - From the creation till now he hath been working without intermission. I do likewise. This is the proposition which is explained Joh 5:19-30, confirmed and vindicated in Joh 5:31 and following verses. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
| My Father worked hitherto, and I work - Or, As my Father worketh until now, etc., καθως being understood. God created the world in six days: on the seventh he rested from all creating acts, and set it apart to be an everlasting memorial of his work. But, though he rested from creating, he never ceased from preserving and governing that which he had formed: in this respect he can keep no sabbaths; for nothing can continue to exist, or answer the end proposed by the Divine wisdom and goodness, without the continual energy of God. So I work - I am constantly employed in the same way, governing and supporting all things, comforting the wretched, and saving the lost; and to me, in this respect, there is no sabbath. |
18 For this therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he had not only violated the sabbath, but also said that God was his own Father, making himself equal with God.
31 If I bear witness concerning myself, my witness is not true.
19 Jesus therefore answered and said to them, Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself save whatever he sees the Father doing: for whatever things he does, these things also the Son does in like manner.
20 For the Father loves the Son and shews him all things which he himself does; and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may wonder.
21 For even as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, thus the Son also quickens whom he will:
22 for neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judgment to the Son;
23 that all may honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He who honours not the Son, honours not the Father who has sent him.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that he that hears my word, and believes him that has sent me, has life eternal, and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life.
25 Verily, verily, I say unto you, that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that have heard shall live.
26 For even as the Father has life in himself, so he has given to the Son also to have life in himself,
27 and has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is Son of man.
28 Wonder not at this, for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs shall hear his voice,
29 and shall go forth; those that have practised good, to resurrection of life, and those that have done evil, to resurrection of judgment.
30 I cannot do anything of myself; as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me.