Thank you, oh God our Father, for the gift of your salvation, that in the life, death, and resurrection of your son you have united us once again with you. Where once we were dead, you have made us alive. Where once we were lost, you have found us. Where once we we under judgment, now we are given all the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Thank you that we have in him a high priest who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens—a high priest who offered himself as the sacrifice once and for all and who sits at your right hand, never dying and always interceding for us. Thank you!

Thank you for the gift of your indwelling Spirit, who opens our eyes to understand the truth of your word, who sanctifies us and makes us holy as you are holy. In him we are indwelt by very God of very God, joined with Christ our brother, sealed for the day of salvation. Thank you!

Thank you for this community of saints whom you have drawn together—people from every walk of life, from this nation and others, from every kind of broken background. We look forward eagerly to the day when we stand around your throne with men and women from every people on the earth, praising you, and we are grateful for the taste of that unity you have given us here and now. Thank you!

Thank you for life and light and all the good things you have given us. May we honor you in our giving, in our response to the preaching of your word, and in our partaking of the Lord’s supper together—a foretaste of that day when we all take of the feast around your throne. Amen.

The following paper was prepared for Dr. Steven McKinion’s Hermeneutics class, with the constraint that it be between 600 and 625 words.¹

John 5

The meaning of the text

Everything Jesus did emphasized that he was one with the Father. John demonstrates this in three distinct arcs throughout the chapter. First, to the Jews’ criticism of his healing on the Sabbath, Jesus simply answered, "My Father is working until now, and I am working" (verse 17). Second, Jesus elaborates on the claim established at the end of the first section (vv. 19–31). He draws this out so far as to emphasize that attributes that only belong to God are his as well: the power to raise the dead and the authority to judge them. Third, Jesus claims the Father’s validation of his ministry through both miracles and Scripture (vv. 32–47). Read on, intrepid explorer →