Joh 5:19, 14:28 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 19. The Son can do nothing of himself ] Because of his inseparable union with the Father: nor can the Father do any thing of himself , because of his infinite unity with the Son. What things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son ] God does nothing but what Christ does. What God does is the work of God, and proper to no creature-Jesus does whatsoever God does, and therefore is no created being. The Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do: now, any intelligent creature may do what God cannot do: he may err -he may sin . If Jesus can do nothing but what God does, then he is no creature-he can neither sin nor err , nor act imperfectly . The conclusion from our Lord's argument is: If I have broken the Sabbath, so has God also; for I can do nothing but what I see him doing. He is ever governing and preserving ; I am ever employed in saving .

‏ John 5:19

Verse 19. The Son can do nothing of himself] Because of his inseparable union with the Father: nor can the Father do any thing of himself, because of his infinite unity with the Son.

What things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son] God does nothing but what Christ does. What God does is the work of God, and proper to no creature-Jesus does whatsoever God does, and therefore is no created being. The Son can do nothing but what he sees the Father do: now, any intelligent creature may do what God cannot do: he may err-he may sin. If Jesus can do nothing but what God does, then he is no creature-he can neither sin nor err, nor act imperfectly. The conclusion from our Lord's argument is: If I have broken the Sabbath, so has God also; for I can do nothing but what I see him doing. He is ever governing and preserving; I am ever employed in saving.

‏ John 14:28

Verse 28. I go away] To the Father by my death:

And come again unto you.] By my resurrection.

Ye would rejoice] Because, as the Messiah, I am going to receive a kingdom, and power, and glory, for ever. Therefore as my friends ye should rejoice in my elevation, though for a while it may put you to the pain of being separated from me: besides, I am going that I may send you the Holy Spirit, which shall fill you with the fulness of God: on your own account, therefore, ye should have rejoiced and not mourned.

My Father is greater than I.] In Joh 14:24, Christ tells his disciples that the Father had sent him: i.e. in his quality of Messiah, he was sent by the Father to instruct, and to save mankind. Now, as the sender is greater than the sent, Joh 13:16, so in this sense is the Father greater than the Son; and in this sense was the passage understood by Origen, Jerome, Novatian, and Vigilius, who read the text thus: The Father, οπεμψας, who sent me, is greater than I. It certainly requires very little argument, and no sophistry, to reconcile this saying with the most orthodox notion of the Godhead of Christ; as he is repeatedly speaking of his Divine and of his human nature. Of the former he says, I and the Father are one, Joh 10:30; and of the latter he states, with the same truth, The Father is greater than I.