Why did the Jews accuse Jesus of making himself equal to God when He said "My Father"?

[tonychanyt]

John 5:

17 Jesus answered them [the Jews], “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

What were those Jews thinking? How could calling God "my Father" mean that Jesus implied equality with God?

The Jews did not object to the wording "My Father". It had precedents in the Hebrew Scripture, 2 Samuel 7:

13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son.

Psalm 89:

26 He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.'

The Jews objected to the way Jesus applied the phrase "my Father" in a unique sense that God was literally His Father as a spiritual reality, not a metaphor, that He was literally the Son of God. The following was how Jesus defined the Son in the immediate context, John 5:21-23:

1. 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.
2. Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son
3. that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
4. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

So, the Jews accused Jesus of making himself equal to God when He said "My Father" in John 5:17. And rightly so.

In the wider context, 5 chapters later, Jesus claimed in John 10:

30 "I and the Father are one.”
31 The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

The Jews rightly accused Jesus of implying that he was God.

 

[Blade]

Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

 

[Doug Brents]

John 5:

What were those Jews thinking? How could calling God "my Father" mean that Jesus implied equality with God?

The Jews did not object to the wording "My Father". It had precedents in the Hebrew Scripture, 2 Samuel 7:


Psalm 89:

The Jews objected to the way Jesus applied the phrase "my Father" in a unique sense that God was literally His Father as a spiritual reality, not a metaphor, that He was literally the Son of God. The following was how Jesus defined the Son in the immediate context, John 5:21-23:

1. 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.
2. Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son
3. that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father.
4. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

So, the Jews accused Jesus of making himself equal to God when He said "My Father" in John 5:17. And rightly so.

In the wider context, 5 chapters later, Jesus claimed in John 10:


The Jews rightly accused Jesus of implying that he was God.

What is your question or intent with this post?

 

[tonychanyt]

What is your question or intent with this post?

Why did the Jews accuse Jesus of making himself equal to God when He said "My Father"?

 

[Doug Brents]

Why did the Jews accuse Jesus of making himself equal to God when He said "My Father"?

You explained that fairly well. They accused Him of claiming to be equal with God because He was claiming to be equal with God.