John 5:26-43

²⁶Just as the Father has life-giving power in himself, so has he given the Son the same life-giving power in himself.

²⁷The Father also granted the authority for judgment to him, for he is the Son of man.

²⁸Don't be surprised at this, for the time is coming when all those in the grave will hear his voice

²⁹and will rise again: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

³⁰I can do nothing by myself. I judge based on what I'm told, and my decision is right, for I'm not doing my own will but the will of the one who sent me.

³¹If I were to make claims about myself, such claims wouldn't be valid;

³²but someone else gives evidence about me, and I know what he says about me is true.

³³You asked John about me, and he told the truth,

³⁴but I don't need any human endorsement. I'm explaining this to you so you can be saved.

³⁵John was like a brightly-burning light, and you were willing to enjoy his light for a while.

³⁶But the evidence I'm giving is greater than John's. For I am doing the work that the Father gave me to do,

³⁷and this is the proof that the Father sent me. The Father who sent me, he himself speaks on my behalf. You've never heard his voice, and you've never seen what he looks like,

³⁸and you don't accept what he says, because you don't trust in the one he sent.

³⁹You search the Scriptures because you think that through them you'll gain eternal life. But the evidence they give is in support of me!

⁴⁰And yet you don't want to come to me so that you might live.

⁴¹I'm not looking for human approval

⁴²—I know you, and that you don't have God's love in you.

⁴³For I've come to represent my Father, and you won't accept me; but if someone comes representing themselves, then you accept them!