Jesus’ Confession as God in John 5:23

 Jesus’ Confession as God in John 5:23

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

John 5:23 declares, “That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him.” This statement by Jesus Christ is one of the most profound theological affirmations of His deity within the Johannine corpus. It constitutes a Christological confession of equality with God, revealing that the Son is not a mere representative of divine will but a full participant in divine identity and honor.

In Jewish monotheistic tradition, divine honor (tîphtâr Yahweh) was exclusively reserved for God. To attribute equal honor to any created being was considered blasphemy (cf. Isaiah 42:8: “My glory I will not give to another”). Therefore, when Jesus demands that “all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father,” He explicitly positions Himself as the rightful recipient of divine worship and glory. This is not a derived or secondary honor; rather, it is an intrinsic honor that flows from His divine essence. Jesus here is not appealing for comparative reverence but asserting ontological equality — the Son possesses the same divine nature as the Father, thus deserving identical veneration.

The Greek expression “kathōs timōsin ton patera” (“even as they honor the Father”) denotes an equivalence in manner and measure. Jesus is not simply saying that He should be respected as a prophet or exalted as a messianic figure. He is declaring that the same worship, reverence, and glory given to the eternal Father must be rendered to Him. This linguistic symmetry conveys the theological truth of homoousios — the consubstantiality of the Son with the Father, later defined by the Nicene Creed (325 A.D.). The early Church rightly perceived in this verse the foundation for Trinitarian theology: the Son is not a creature but co-eternal, co-equal, and co-glorious with the Father.

Furthermore, the context of John 5 reinforces this divine confession. Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath (John 5:1–9), provoking outrage among the Jewish leaders. When accused of violating the Sabbath, He replied, “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (John 5:17). The evangelist immediately notes that the Jews sought to kill Him because He “was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). Thus, verse 23 is the culmination of Jesus’ deliberate revelation of His divine identity — an identity that demands the same honor due to God alone.

In claiming equality in honor, Jesus implicitly claims equality in essence, authority, and power. The Father and the Son share in the same divine works (John 5:19–21), the same life-giving power (v. 26), and the same prerogative of judgment (v. 22). These are uniquely divine functions, not delegated to creatures. Therefore, the demand for equal honor is not arrogance but the rightful recognition of divine truth.

To deny the Son’s divine honor, Jesus warns, is to dishonor the Father Himself. The rejection of the Son is not a neutral act — it is a theological offense against the very God one claims to worship. Hence, Christ’s statement in John 5:23 carries both revelatory and judicial weight: it reveals who God truly is and judges all false forms of worship that refuse to glorify the Son alongside the Father.

In summary, John 5:23 stands as Jesus’ unmistakable confession of deity. It dismantles every notion of a merely human or created Christ and enthrones Him in the full majesty of divine worship. To honor the Son “as the Father” is to confess that Jesus is Theos — God manifest in the flesh (John 1:14). The early Church did not invent His divinity; it merely articulated what Jesus Himself declared — that He shares the same honor, glory, and essence with the Eternal Father.

References

• Holy Bible, John 5:17–23.

• Isaiah 42:8; Philippians 2:9–11; Revelation 5:12–13.

• Raymond E. Brown, The Gospel According to John, Vol. I (New York: Doubleday, 1966).

• F. F. Bruce, The Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983).

• Athanasius of Alexandria, Orations Against the Arians, III.

• Nicene Creed (325 A.D.).

Dr. Maxwell Shimba
Shimba Theological Institute
"That all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." — John 5:23