Jesus’ Equality with God

September 23, 2025

In John chapter five, Jesus healed a lame man who was lying by the pool of Bethesda.  This man had been ill for 38 years and Jesus healed him by simply telling him to get up, pick up his pallet and walk. (John 5:8) While one might expect that this great miracle and blessing bestowed on this man would induce great rejoicing in those who heard of it, quite the opposite occurred. Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath day, and because of that, the Jewish leaders persecuted Him.  They even sought to kill Him.  Why?  Because Jesus said these words: “… ‘My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.’” (John 5:17 NASB95)

Why did this statement so enrage the Jews?  The next verse explains: “…because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.” (John 5:18 NASB95) They were not wrong.  Jesus was indeed claiming equality with God, and in His teaching in the following verses, He reinforced this claim very clearly in multiple ways.  But how is Jesus’ claim to be working on the Sabbath a claim of equality with God?

The creation account in Genesis tells us that on the seventh day (the Sabbath) God rested from His work which He had done (Genesis 2:2-3).  God made the Sabbath for man as a day of rest, but does God work on the Sabbath?  He certainly does.  People are born and people die on the Sabbath.  The sun shines, the rain falls, and the crops grow on the Sabbath day.  People can be healed from disease on the Sabbath.  We could multiply examples.  Aren’t all of these things the work of God?  In fact, if God stopped working on the Sabbath day, the entire universe and everything in it would cease to exist!

So, when Jesus said that He works on the Sabbath just as God does, He was clearly claiming to be more than a mere human.  Man was to rest on the Sabbath, as commanded.  But just as God has the divine prerogative to continue His work on the Sabbath, Jesus, too has that divine prerogative!  Thus, He made Himself equal to God!

What is the takeaway for us?  If Jesus is God (and He is!) we had better listen very carefully to His word!  Because Jesus is God, He also has the right and the ability to judge, to raise the dead and to give eternal life to whomever He wishes (see John 5:19-29).  Jesus said to the Jews of that day, and His words remain true today, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24 NASB95).  Are you listening to the words of Jesus and believing in Him?  Jesus is God the Son!  Let us listen to His almighty voice!

—Scott Colvin

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Posted by Scott Colvin

Does God Truly Want All to be Saved? 

April 3, 2023

Is it the case that God chose some individuals, before time began, to be saved? Did God choose others, before they were born, before they had an opportunity to choose or reject Christ, to be eternally lost? If so, is it therefore the case that Jesus died only for the elect and not for the whole world? These are doctrines that are taught by many well-meaning people in Christendom. But do these doctrines line up with scripture? 

Hear the words of Jesus: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17 NAS95) Did Jesus die only for the elect, or for the whole world? Is His offer of salvation only for some, or for anyone who will believe? 

Jesus says in John chapter 5, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgement, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24 NAS95) Again, is Jesus offering eternal life to all? Is He offering life to anyone who will hear and believe? Or is He only offering life to those individuals who were already chosen for salvation before time began? If that is the case, how can Jesus say they have passed out of death into life, if they already had life? 

What about the following scriptures? Paul writes to Timothy that God, our Savior, “…desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” (1 Timothy 2:4 NAS95) Or consider what Peter wrote, that the Lord is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NAS95) What is God’s desire? It is for all people to be saved! He does not wish for any to perish, but for all to repent! Is this really God’s desire? If so, how could we conclude that He was pleased to condemn the majority of mankind to the fires of hell before they had a choice to accept or reject Jesus? Are we to believe that God truly desires for all to repent, but created most people with the complete inability to do so? Do these ideas line up with the plain statements of the word of God? 

I am so thankful that God does indeed desire all people to be saved. He gives all people the opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel. This is the plain testimony of scripture. Praise God for sending His Son to rescue from eternal condemnation any and all who will hear and believe! 

—Scott Colvin 

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Posted by Russell Holden