John 5:21 - William Button

John 5:23 - [Fuller writes] “It is the Father’s will that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father” (p. 43). To adopt Mr. F.’s own words in answer to a quotation from Mr. Brine; “Perhaps it would puzzle a common reader to discern any declaration of the necessity of faith” (p. 43), and much more to discern the duty of faith in this passage. It must be very evident to every one who reads it in connection with the preceding verses, that our Lord is there asserting and proving his equality with the Father, and that nothing more is intended than that the same divine reverence, adoration and honour, should be given to him as to the Father. And the honour here referred to is the honour due to him in the character of a judge, and not of a saviour, for they are closely connected with v. 22, “For the Father judgeth no man (i.e., without the Son) but hath commited all judgment to the Son, that all men should honour the Son even as they honour the Father:” that is, in that capacity: yes, and all men shall be obliged to honour him too, by bowing their knees before him at the last day in judgment. Now for Mr. F. to say “this passage not only proves Christ’s equality with the Father, but the obligations of mankind to believe in him” (p.43) appears to me “a most unwarrantable force put upon it.”