Jn. 5:18. And the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.
But they, incited by envy, sought to kill Him not only because He called God His own Father, making Himself equal with God. By calling Himself the Son, He necessarily made Himself equal in honor with God. For every son is of one and the same nature as his father.
Where is Arius in all this? Truly, he is blind in broad daylight. Calling Christ the Son of the Father, he did not accept His consubstantiality with the Father, but regarded the Son of the uncreated Father as a creature. He should have learned at least from the Jews, who persecuted the Lord because He called Himself the Son of God, and from this it necessarily followed that He was equal to God. If the dignity of the Son were not important and He did not make Himself equal to God through it, then why would they have persecuted Him?
Jn. 5:19. To this Jesus said: Truly, truly, I say to you: the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless He sees the Father doing it; for whatever He does, the Son does likewise.
The Son cannot do anything of Himself, because He has nothing foreign or different from the Father, but is like the Father in all things, and does not have a different essence so as to have a different power, and consequently a different activity, but since He has the same Essence, He also has the same Power. Therefore the Son also does the same things and cannot do anything other than what the Father does, for He does not have a different power, lesser or greater than the Father's, but the Father and the Son have one Essence, one power, one activity. "So," you will say, "but does the Father become like a teacher of the Son, showing Him how He must act? For the Son does nothing unless He sees the Father doing it."
So I ask Arius and Eunomius, who say this: "How does the Father teach the Son, by wisdom or not?" Without doubt, by wisdom. And who is the Wisdom of God? Is it not the Son? Yes, without doubt. Therefore, the Son teaches Himself. What folly on your part! You entrust the Son to the Father as if He were some child to be instructed. But I, in agreement with the wisdom of God, affirm that if the Father knows anything, He knows it not without the Son, for His Wisdom is He; if the Father can do anything, He can do it not without the Son, for His Power is He. That this is true, listen: "What the Father does, the Son does likewise." If the Father has authority and power, so does the Son; therefore, the Son is not less than the Father.
Jn. 5:20. For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
If it is said in a lowly manner "shows Him all things" and "will show Him greater things than these," one should not marvel at this; for He is speaking with people who are crying out against Him and consumed with envy. If He had not everywhere combined the lowly with the lofty, what would they not have done, when they rise up even while He speaks in a lowly manner for the most part?
What does this mean: "will show greater things than these"? Having strengthened the paralytic, He intends to raise the dead; therefore He also says: "If you marvel that I healed the paralytic, you will see greater things than this." That He used the humble expression "will show" intentionally, in order to soften their foolishness, listen to what follows next.
Jn. 5:21. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom He wills.
Then He says: "As the Father raises the dead, so the Son also gives life to whom He wills." Thus, the Son raises "as the Father." By this He shows the indifference of power, and by the words "whom He wills" — the equality of authority. The Arians set all this against the glory of the Son, but we, the Orthodox, understand it in favor of it.
Jn. 5:22. For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgment to the Son,
Christ, having performed many signs, proved that He is able to bestow blessings. But since He did not persuade or draw them to a worthy veneration of Himself, He says that the Father has given all judgment to the Son, so that the fear of judgment might incline them to render Him honor. For we humans, especially the most foolish among us, are usually taught what is needful more by fear than by kindness.
The words "The Father has given judgment to the Son" should be understood to mean that He begat Him as Judge, just as you hear that He gave Him life, and you understand that He begat Him as Living. Since the Father is the cause of the Son's being, it is said that everything the Son has, He received from the Father, as having it from Him by nature. Thus, He also has judgment from the Father in the same way as the Father Himself has it.
Jn. 5:23. That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
So that we, hearing that the Father is the cause of the Son, would not begin to understand that He produced Him as He did the creatures, and thereby introduce a diminishment of honor, for this reason He says that between the Father and the Son there is no difference. For he who has the power to punish and reward as he wishes has power equal to the Father; therefore He must also be honored just as the Father: "that," He says, "all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."
Since the Arians think to honor the Son as a creature, it turns out that they honor the Father as a creature as well. For they either do not honor Him at all, and therefore must be ranked with the Jews, or, if they honor Him as a creature, and He must be honored as the Father is, then they are decisively convicted of honoring the Father as a creature as well.
And otherwise, judging by the addition, how do those who do not honor the Son honor the Father? For He adds: "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father either," that is, who does not honor Him in the same way as the Father. If anyone says that He is a creature, the most excellent of all creatures, and thinks that such honor is falsely and vainly attributed to Him (as the Son), that person decidedly dishonors the Father who sent Him.
Jn. 5:24. Truly, truly, I say to you: he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.
He said "the One who sent" so that they would not become hardened, as we said above. For He, as has been said, wonderfully combines His teaching: sometimes He gives lofty testimony about Himself, as was fitting, and sometimes humble testimony, because of the raging of the hostile Jews.
For if, after His resurrection from the dead, after His ascension into heaven, after the manifestation of His power through the apostles, Arius and Eunomius rose up against His glory and reduced Him to a creature, then what would the Jews of His own time, seeing Him walking in the flesh, eating and drinking with tax collectors and harlots as one of many, not have done if He had spoken only lofty things about Himself and had not also added what was lowly? Therefore He also adds: "He who hears My words and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life."
Thus, by the fact that those who hear His words will believe in God, He calms their minds. For He did not say "whoever believes in Me," but "in Him who sent Me." Whoever believes in Him does not come to judgment, that is, to torment, but lives with eternal life, not subject to spiritual and eternal death, although he will not escape bodily and temporal death.
Jn. 5:25. Truly, truly, I say to you: the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live.
Above He said that whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, and He proclaimed something lofty about Himself. Lest His words be taken for pomposity and empty arrogance, He presents confirmation from deeds as well.
He says: "the hour is coming." Then, lest they think of a distant time, He says: "and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son," that is, of Me, now living among you. He says this concerning the dead whom He was going to raise, namely: the son of the widow, the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue, and Lazarus.