In John 5:22–23, Jesus says this,
For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him (John 5:22–23).
These verses spring to mind some natural questions. What does it mean to honor Jesus the Son of God? How do we do that? And what is the result when we do? Well, Jesus’ next words offer us some insight. In short, we honor Jesus by (1) Listening, (2) Believing, and (3) Doing good. And, the result of honoring Jesus in this way is life. We will consider the first two ways of honoring Jesus in this post and the third in a subsequent post. So, let’s follow Jesus’ teaching here to uncover this.
Right after Jesus makes known and essentially invites his followers to participate in God’s revealed will that all should honor the Son, Jesus says this,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24).
We should not read this as disconnected from the train of thought right before it. Jesus answers the unspoken question that his words about honoring the Son naturally bring to mind. First, to honor the Son one must listen to him. The Greek word ἀκούω (ah-KOO-oh) rendered in the ESV as hear can also be rendered to listen or to understand. These latter two are preferrable given the close association of this word to believing. The idea here is not that we are mindlessly hearing Jesus’ words in the same way we may hear the background music or the podcast we having playing while we give our attention to a higher priority. No. Jesus’ words are not just filler or background noise. Rather the idea here is that Jesus’ words are the priority. We turn off the faucets of other words and voices that stream from social media, the surrounding cultural milieu, the wisdom of this age and we give our full attention to Jesus’ words—we listen and understand what Jesus says. That’s how we honor the Son.
Second, to honor the Son we must believe God who sent him. Jesus makes clear that what he speaks about himself is the message from the Father (5:19). So when one doesn’t believe Jesus then they don’t believe the Father. Thus, our honoring the Son stops short if all we do is listen to him, understand him, and then decide we don’t believe him. The two are inseparable. A response of unbelief undoes any potential honor because it rejects his identity as the Son of God, the rightful king of men, and the savior of men. The response of unbelief essentially says, “Jesus, I listened to you. I understood you. But you’re not the Son of God. Therefore, you’re not king over me. I am my own king. I am my own authority. And you’re not my savior. I don’t need saving, and if I did, I can save myself.” Perhaps some illustrations can help us wrap our heads around the magnitude and insanity of such a response.
For the first illustration, imagine a kingdom, say the land of Gondor under the rule of the righteous King Aragorn. Now imagine a subject of that kingdom entering into the throne room of Minas Tirith, the White City, walking up to King Aragorn on the throne, snatching the crown off his head, putting it on his own, and demanding that King Aragorn get off the throne so he, the subject, can sit on it as king. Second, imagine a person who has fallen into a pit, and they are badly injured. In fact, they’re dying and will die unless someone intervenes to save them. Now imagine someone does come along and explains that they are there to save this poor soul. But instead of receiving the salvation, the injured man rejects it.
Both of these illustrations give us a taste of what it is like to listen to Jesus and then not believe him. To not believe Jesus is to utterly dishonor him because of who he is. But to listen to him and believe him is to surrender to and receive him for who he is, the Son of God, the rightful king of men, and the savior. That is how we honor the Son.
What is the result of honoring Jesus in this way? He tells us in verse 24,
Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life (John 5:24).
Whoever listens and believes has eternal life. Life is the reward for honoring the Son. Jesus holds out the invitation of eternal life to us and says all we must do is honor him, the Son, which is nothing less than listening to him and believing his words about who he is. Thus, to listen and believe is to surrendering to and receive him for who he is, the Son of God, the king and savior of men. When we give honor to the Son, we get life from the Son.
