NO HIERARCHY
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Opening Prayer
Father, please use your Word to impact my walk with you in ways that make me a testimony to those around me, in ways that draw them to faith in you.
Read JOHN 5:16–30
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Authority of the Son
16 So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders began to persecute him. 17 In his defense Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working.” 18 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.
19 Jesus gave them this answer: “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. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 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.
24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. 25 Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. 30 By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead.’1 How difficult do you find this?
The Jewish leaders accused Jesus of ‘making himself equal with God’ (v. 18). They viewed this as rebellion, but the equality Jesus claimed was not one that attempts or even needs to prove itself better, faster, or stronger! Hierarchies rank people in order of importance or power, and people usually seek upward mobility within a hierarchy to gain more power, honor, or glory. This human model of hierarchy, however, does not explain how the Trinity operates and relates. Although he was sent by the Father, the Son does not rank lower than the Father. Between Father and Son (and Spirit), there is no power struggle. Their equality simply is—and does not have to be fought for or defended.
The legal term ‘jointly and severally’ (meaning, both together and separately) denotes that each person in a partnership shares rights and responsibilities equally. Father and Son operate ‘jointly and severally’ in the work they engage in (v. 19) and the authority they exercise (vv. 21, 22, 26, 27), within a relationship rooted in a love that is untainted by rivalry (v. 20). The Son always acts in accordance with the Father’s will and his will is also in perfect accord with the Father’s. The Son does not simply exercise delegated authority, but enjoys true power-sharing. Neither acts independently—for one to act is for both to act (v. 19). The Son’s dependence (v. 19) is never demeaning, just as the Father’s sending is never authoritarian. Within the Godhead, there is no ‘greater’— there is only loving, honoring, and glorifying one another, while working together in perfect harmony.
Apply
What do you learn from the Trinity about living in community?
Closing prayer
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as you are one and glorify one another, I ask that the church would know true unity and that Jesus will be glorified in us. As we share in your love, enable us to love one another in ways that help the world know who he is and believe.
1 Phil 2:3, The Message
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