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.
the Jews.
John 7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
broken.
John 7:22,23 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man…
Matthew 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
God was.
John 5:23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
John 8:54,58 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: …
John 10:30,33 I and my Father are one…
Not only was He breaking the Sabbath,
Jesus' actions on the Sabbath, such as healing the sick, were seen as violations of the traditional Jewish Sabbath laws. The Sabbath was a day of rest, instituted by God in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:8-11), and was strictly observed by the Jewish people. However, Jesus challenged the prevailing interpretations by emphasizing the spirit of the law over the letter, teaching that acts of mercy and necessity were lawful on the Sabbath (Mark 2:27-28). This reinterpretation was radical and controversial, leading to accusations of law-breaking.
but He was even calling God His own Father,
By referring to God as His own Father, Jesus was making a profound theological statement about His unique relationship with God. In Jewish culture, calling God "Father" was not uncommon, but the personal and intimate way Jesus did so implied a special status and authority. This claim was understood by the Jewish leaders as a direct challenge to their monotheistic beliefs, as it suggested a unique divine sonship that went beyond the traditional understanding of God as the Father of Israel (Deuteronomy 32:6).
making Himself equal with God.
This phrase underscores the central issue of the Jewish leaders' opposition to Jesus: His claim to divinity. By equating Himself with God, Jesus was asserting His divine nature and authority, which was considered blasphemous by the Jewish authorities. This claim is consistent with other New Testament passages that affirm the deity of Christ (John 1:1, Colossians 2:9). The assertion of equality with God is a cornerstone of Christian doctrine, emphasizing the belief in the Trinity and the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ. This claim also fulfills Old Testament prophecies about the coming Messiah, who would be both divine and human (Isaiah 9:6).
John has just recorded Jesus healing the lame man at Bethesda on the Sabbath and then declaring, “My Father is still working, and I also am working” (John 5:17). That statement links Jesus’ action directly to the ongoing work of God the Father. “Because of this” signals the chain reaction:
• The miracle and the claim together form a single witness to Jesus’ identity (cf. John 10:37–38).
• The phrase shows cause and effect—Jesus’ revelation of Himself provokes a decisive response (John 3:19–20).
Opposition to Jesus had already begun (John 5:16), but it now intensifies to the point of plotting murder.
• Similar resolve appears in Mark 3:6 and Matthew 12:14 after other Sabbath healings.
• John later notes the same murderous intent in John 7:1; 8:59; 11:53.
• The hostility fulfills prophetic expectation (Psalm 2:1–3; Isaiah 53:3).
From the perspective of the religious leaders, Jesus violated their Sabbath regulations by telling the healed man to carry his mat (John 5:10–12).
• Jesus elsewhere teaches that “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27–28), affirming His authority over the day He created (Genesis 2:2–3; Colossians 1:16).
• He never breaks God’s Law (Matthew 5:17) but confronts human additions to it (Isaiah 29:13).
Jesus’ words go beyond the typical Jewish confession of God as Father of the nation; He speaks of a unique, personal relationship.
• “The Word became flesh… the One and Only Son from the Father” (John 1:14).
• “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son” (Matthew 11:27).
• Believers are later invited into this intimacy (Romans 8:15), but Jesus possesses it inherently.
The leaders rightly understand the implication: Jesus claims deity.
• Later they react the same way: “You, a mere man, make Yourself God” (John 10:33).
• Paul affirms that Christ, “existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself” (Philippians 2:6–7).
• Colossians 2:9 declares, “In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells bodily.”
• The charge of blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16) shows why they seek His death; yet the Gospel presents His claim as absolute truth (John 20:28).
John 5:18 captures the turning point where Jesus’ miracle and proclamation reveal His divine identity, triggering lethal opposition. His authority over the Sabbath, His unique Sonship, and His equality with the Father stand at the heart of the Gospel’s testimony: the eternal God has come in the flesh, and human hearts must choose either rejection or worship.
(18) For "had broken," read did He break, and for "His Father," His own Father. They recognise as beyond doubt what He means by the term "My Father," and the attribute of ceaseless energy. It was a claim which none other had ever made, that God was in a peculiar sense His own Father. They feel it is a claim to divinity, a "making Himself equal with God."The more to kill him.--This implies what is included in the persecution of John 5:16. (Comp. Matthew 12:14; Mark 3:6; Luke 6:7-11.)
Verse 18. - On this account (the διὰ τοῦτο is still further defined by the ὅτι) therefore the Jews were seeking the more (μᾶλλον, i.e. more than they had sought before he made use of this sublime expression) to slay him, because not only in their opinion, though very falsely, he was violating (i.e. dissolving the authority of) the sabbath. Jesus was actually placing the sabbatic law where it has remained ever since, giving it sanctions, beauty, and hold on conscience it had never known before. He was abrogating the petty restrictions and abolishing the unspiritual somnolence by which it had been characterized and misunderstood. But there was another and more staggering charge which they were not at that moment able to condone. They sought the more to slay him because he was calling God his own (ἴδον) Father, making himself equal to, on a level with, God. He did use the phrase, "my Father," with a marked emphasis. He did not say, "our Father, or your Father;" he assumed a unique relation to the Father. The inmost centre of the Divine consciousness in him thrilled through the human. Though he did not wear now the "form of God," but the "form of the Servant," yet the Servant knew that he was Son and Lord of all. The Divine Personality which had always wrought out the eternal counsels of the Father's will was working now on identical and parallel lines in the human sphere. There were senses in which the Lord Jesus was the own and only begotten Son of God. This was a hard saying. This placing of himself on a level with God was the blasphemy which the Jews resented. Jesus knew what he said, and saw the impression his words produced, and took no steps to correct it. Two classes of result naturally followed. Some said, "He blasphemeth," "He hath a devil," and the high priest subsequently, in reply to a similar utterance of the Lord, rent his clothes; but other some felt concerning him that the relation between him and the Father was, so far as they knew, absolutely unique. The author of this Gospel exclaimed, "He who 'was with God and was God' has been manifested in the flesh, and we saw his glory, the glory of the Only Begotten of the Father."