Note 2 at Joh 5:18: When Jesus was asked what was the first and great commandment of the Law, He answered by saying, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" (Mt 22:37-39). He added, "There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mr 12:31). It is quite obvious in light of this that Jesus did not break the Law by healing on the Sabbath, but in actuality, He was fulfilling it by loving His neighbor as Himself. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath (Lu 6:9).

Note 3 at Joh 5:18: When the Jewish authorities heard Jesus call God "My Father" (Greek - "MOU PATER"), they immediately understood that Jesus claimed for Himself deity in the highest possible sense of that term. That claim was either blasphemy, to be punished by death, or else Jesus was who He claimed to be.

Jesus never associated Himself with His disciples by using the plural pronoun "our" Father. Rather, He always used the singular "my" Father, since His relationship was unique and eternal, whereas theirs was by grace and regeneration.

The purpose of the fourth Gospel is clearly stated--"that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name" (Joh 20:31). The object of John's Gospel was to show that Jesus is "the true God" (1Jo 5:20) who was "made flesh" (Joh 1:14).

We should ponder carefully our Lord's own conception of who He was. He said, "I am from above" (Joh 8:23); "before Abraham was, I Am" (Joh 8:58); "I and my Father are one" (Joh 10:30); "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Joh 14:9); and "I am not of the world" (Joh 17:16). He also declared His eternal preexistence and that He shared the Father's glory (Joh 6:62 and 17:5).

The names and titles given to Jesus in John's Gospel are profoundly impressive. He is called "God" (Joh 1:1); "Son" 18 times, 15 of them being spoken by Christ; "the Son of God" 9 times, 4 of them spoken by Christ; "the only begotten Son" 3 times, 2 of them spoken by Christ (Joh 1:18; 3:16, and 18); "the Son of man" 12 times, 10 of them spoken by Christ; "Jesus" about 240 times, which shows that He whom the writer called God was Jesus of Nazareth (Joh 1:45; 18:5, 7; and 19:19); "Jesus Christ" (Joh 1:17 and 17:3); "Christ" or "the Christ" or "Messias" 17 times; "King" 14 times; "Lord" 43 times, of which 2 were used by Himself; "Saviour" (Joh 4:42); "Rabbi" or "Rabboni" 5 times; "teacher" (Joh 3:2); "Lamb of God" (Joh 1:29 and 36); "shepherd" 5 times; "the light" 13 times, 9 of them by Christ Himself; "the Word" 4 times (Joh 1:1 and 14); "the way, the truth, the life" (Joh 14:6); "prophet" 5 times; "the bread" 5 times; "the door" (Joh 10:7 and 9); "the true vine" (Joh 15:1); "I am" (Joh 8:58); "the resurrection" (Joh 11:25); and "the bridegroom" (Joh 3:29).

Even if John had the intelligence to create these terms, it is simply inconceivable that any monotheistic Jew could ever bring himself to speak of any man in this way unless he was clearly presenting Jesus as being equal with God.