I can of my own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father who has sent me.
All Commentaries on John 5:30 Go To John 5
John Chrysostom
AD 407
That is, nothing that is a departure from, or that is unlike to, what the Father wishes, shall you see done by Me, but as I hear, I judge. He is only showing that it was impossible He should ever wish any thing but what the Father wished. I judge, His meaningis, as if it were My Father that judged.
He shows that the Father’s will is not a different one from His own, but one and the same, as a ground ofdefense. Nor marvel if being hitherto thought no more than a mere man, He defends Himself in a somewhat human way, and shows his judgment to be just on the same ground which anyother person would have taken; viz. that one who has his own ends in view, may incur suspicion of injustice, but that one who has not cannot.
