John 5:25-26 25Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so also he has given the Son to have life in himself.
The next truly, truly declaration offers clarification to the previous verses and adds new revalation about those who have already died and never heard the good news of Jesus. These verses are not easy to understand and have some mystery to them. There is a certain tension between what we experience now (“realized eschatology”) and what we will experience at the final resurrection at the end of time.
The difficult part of the verse is to identify who are thedead. Are these those who had died aready and were awaiting judgment? Were they the spiritual dead during Jesus’ ministry? Hour can represent a point of something happening. Jesus could be referring to the coming resurrection of those who have believed in him. However, the time of resurrection did not need to wait for the end of the age but had come in the person of Jesus. Those who were dead spiritually could experience new birth and a fresh start and begin eternal life right then in Jesus’ ministry. The key phrase in verse 25 is at the end: hearing the voice of the Son of God will bring life. Hearing assumes believing since it is not enough to hear Jesus’ voice, as many Jewish leaders did, but also accepting the truth of what Jesus said, which many of the leaders did not.
Verse 26 explains how the voice of the Son has power to bring life. The Father gave the Son the power to give life. In the beginning, the Father spoke the Word, and through that Word, life was created. That same creative power is at work to create new life in the deadness of sin, rebellion, and desperation. John already stated in the Prologue that the Word has life in himself (1:4). The connection between Father, Son, and life is impossible to imagine, but we can at least start by putting it in simple sequence: The Father works through the Son to create, sustain, and renew life. The way this is experienced is through the voice of Jesus, the Son of God.
Jesus invited all who heard his voice to believe in the truth it proclaimed. This voice has echoed throughout the ages in the Gospel of John and invites the reader today to accept its truth and bring new life to those who believe. He is the only source of eternal life because only he perfectly represents God.
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