Equal with God (John 5:18)

2022-09-06

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God. (John 5:18)

One important thing to remember is that Jesus is God, but He is not God the Father. The distinction between the Father and the Son must always be considered; they are both one God, but they are not the same person. A couple considerations from this verse:

1. The title “Son of God” shows Jesus’ deity. Jesus truly is God. If He weren’t, He could never be the Savior; His sacrifice would be no different from a bull or a goat. “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4)
2. “Equal” does not mean “same.” Jesus being equal with the Father does not mean they are the same. In algebra, if you have two variables, x and y, and x is equal to 4 and y is equal to 4, we can say they are equal, but they are not the same. They are still two different variables but have the same value.
3. Not everyone can accept that Jesus is God. Many people considered Jesus to be a blasphemer because of His claim to be the Son of God.