John 5:22-23 For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
You’ll notice that these verses are part of Jesus’ explanation of an initial statement regarding why He healed the lame man on the Sabbath. That statement was in verse 19. “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’ Then Jesus followed with a series of supporting statements, all beginning with “for.”
First, we learn that Jesus is God’s appointed judge of all things. He’s the judge to whom we will all give an account. If you recall John 3:17, you might think this is a contradiction. John wrote, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.” The contradiction disappears when we remember that John 3:17 refers to Jesus’ first coming into the world. He came to save. However, when He returns, He comes to judge everyone. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.” Acts 17:31 refers to that day. “Because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” So the Father, Himself, doesn’t judge, but will judge through Jesus, His Son, whom He raised from the dead and gave life so He could judge the world at the end of the age.
Second, in these verses, Jesus aims at the hearts of His detractors. They don’t honor God. In an honor/shame culture of the middle eastern world, displaying honor was a big deal. It was a high value. Speaking of value, that is the meaning of the word honor, timao in the Greek, meaning to fix a value or to set a price to something. The reason the Father gave all judgment to His Son is so that He would be valued as the Father is valued. If we don’t honor Jesus, we don’t honor the Father. Or to put it in the positive, if we honor Jesus, we honor the Father.
Third, we draw from these verses that our relationship with the Father, God, is only as good as our relationship with Jesus, His Son. As we abide in the Son, we abide in the Father. As we love with Jesus, we are loving with the Father. Abiding in Jesus is how we show the value of Jesus. He is the Father’s appointed life-giver. As we look to Him and value Him as first place in all things, we honor God, the Father. We see this same reasoning in Paul’s letter to the Colossians when he wrote of Jesus,
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Jesus is to be valued, honored, as the first consideration in everything we do. How can we glorify God? By honoring His Son. How do we show Jesus’ value in our lives? We live with Him in His purpose, to glorify His Father by loving with Him. If we love Him and love with Him, the day will come when we will also exercise that love in judgment with Him. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world?” So let us prepare for that day by living united with Christ, thinking like He thinks, and loving with Him, for in doing so we honor our Father.
