John 5:18

His Father. Literally, “His own Father.” To speak of God as “Father” was not entirely foreign to Jewish usage. Occasionally in intertestamental Jewish literature (see pp. 84-86) God is called the Father of the Jews (see Jubilees 1:24, 25, 28; Tobit 13:4). A few times in prayers He is called “my Father” (see Ecclesiasticus 23:1, 4; Wisdom 14:3). It was not for such an expression that the Jews now accused Jesus of blasphemy. Undoubtedly realizing that they had no reply to His defense for healing on the Sabbath (see on John 5:17), they turned to challenge His claim to equality with God, which they recognized as implicit in His declaration: “My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.” John makes clear the distinction in the minds of the Jews between speaking of God as one’s Father and Jesus’ implied claim that God was His own Father in a special sense.

Equal with God. See Phil. 2:6; see on John 1:1. The recognition here that the Father-Son relationship between God and Christ is one of equality is highly significant. The argument has sometimes been advanced that Jesus was the Son of God only in the same sense that all men are sons of God, that is, by virtue of creation and spiritual fathership. It has been pointed out that the term “son of God” frequently was used in the Graeco-Roman world as a title for emperors, indicating that they were demigods, but not necessarily that they possessed complete deity. Nevertheless John’s record shows that the Jews clearly understood Jesus’ words to be a declaration of equality with the Most High.