For as the Father raises up the dead, and gives them life; even so the Son gives life to whom he will.
All Commentaries on John 5:21 Go To John 5
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
For as the Father . giveth life, so also the Son giveth life to whom he will; where these words, to give life to whom he will, show the power of the Son and of the Father to be equal. (Witham)
Our Saviour here mentions the greater works he spoke of in the preceding verse; for it is much more wonderful that the dead should rise, than that the sick should recover their health. We are not to understand these words, as if they meant some were raised to life by the Father, and others by the Son; but that the Father raises those whom the Son raises. And lest any one should understand this, that the Father makes use of the Son as his minister, through whose means he raises the dead, he immediately adds (St. Augustine, Tract. xxi. in Joan.)
We see the lovers of this temporal and perishable life, labour to the utmost of their power, I will not say to avoid death, but merely to prolong their frail existence. If, therefore, men labour with so much solicitude, if they strain every nerve to prolong their lives but for a few years; how foolish and blind to their interest must those be, who live in such a manner as to be deprived of the light of eternal day! (St. Augustine, De verb. Dni. Serm. 64.)
