JOHN 5:19-47 UNITY

The unity of the material in this chapter is obvious since it consists of a miracle performed on the Sabbath and Jesus’ reply concerning the subsequent controversy. Borchert helpfully notes that 5:30 serves as a transition verse connecting Jesus’ third-person references to himself (in vv. 19-29) as a judge, with his first-person speech in vv. 31-47 in which he acts as his own defense counsel presenting witnesses on his own behalf. An alternative way of looking at this ordering to his speech is to say that Jesus first referred to himself in the opening cycle in an indirect manner as the “Son” (exactly 7 times), followed by clarifying it as Son of God (v. 25) and then Son of Man (v. 27). Then in the second, and parallel, cycle of his speech, he came right out and identified himself as the person to whom he had been referring.

A more detailed manner of picturing Jesus' speech in this chapter is shown below:

    A. The Son can do nothing on his own (19)

        B. Great works will astonish you (20-21)

            C. Honor the Son as the Father who sent him (22-23)

                D. Hear my word and believe him who sent me to have eternal life (24)

                    E. The Last Judgment (25-29)

    A'. I can do nothing on my own (30)

        B'. Testimony of John and the works (31-36)

            C'. The Father who sent me testifies (37-38)

                D'. You think you have eternal life but refuse to get life from me (39-44)

                    E'. Moses will accuse you on that day (45-47)

As is usual in John's rendering of Christ's teachings, there are a number of key words which appear more than once. These include “eternal life” in verses 24 and 39; “life/live” (10x); references to the Father sending Jesus to earth in vv. 23, 24, 36, and 37 (interesting because #4 in the Bible is symbolic of the earth); 12x occurrences of “Father,” “testify/testimony” appearing 10x, all in the second cycle above; three references to the coming “hour” (vv. 25, 28, 35 – the first two serving as brackets for Section E above); and two statements teaching that “life” comes only from the Son in vv. 21 and 40.

In addition, “honor” in the first cycle appears to be replaced by “glory” in the second one, 4x and 3x, respectively, for a total of the symbolic number for perfection or completion, seven. More duplication includeS “astonished” (2x), “works” (3x), “judge/judgment” (5x), and “believe” (8x).