Historic SDA View on John 5:26

A brief chronicle compilation from SDA periodicals on this verse:“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;” (Bold emphasis supplied)
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Life through Christ
D. M. Canright
Review and Herald – December 27, 1864

“Which in his times he shall shew, Who’ is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. vi, 15, 16. Here we learn that God is the only one who has immortality in, and of himself—it originates with him, and belongs to none else, either, by right or inheritance. Again: “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” v, 26. Here we learn that the Father gives the same to the Son.


The Scripture Doctrine of a Future Life.–No. 2.
BY ELDER D. M. CANRIGHT.
Signs of the Times – January 23, 1879

…The greatest boon which the Creator can possibly bestow upon any creature is the gift of life. But there is only one being in all the universe to whom the Father has granted to have life in himself, and that is the Son of God. Thus We read: “For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26.


NATURE AND DESTINY OF MAN.—NO. 5.
BY ELD. R. F. COTTRELL
Review and Herald – January 11, 1881

God alone has life and immortality in himself. All life depends on him He is the giver. He has made the Son one with himself in this. Jesus says, “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26…


The Sabbath School – LESSON FOR THE PACIFIC COAST-OCT. 11
Signs of the Times – September 18, 1884

The apostle goes on to say that Christ will show who is “the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality.” The reference here can be to no other than to God himself. Nothing, then, can be plainer than this statement that God alone has immortality. That is, he has “life in himself” (John 5:26). Immortality is an attribute of God, just the same as infallibility, omniscience, omnipotence. Christ, as the Son of God, possesses the same attributes, and is therefore equal with God and worthy to be called God.


THE SIN-OFFERING
H. V. R. McKAY
Gospel Sickle – September 1886

In John 5:26, Jesus tells whence he has his life: “For as the Father hath life in himself ; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” And in Chap. 10:17, he says: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life [the life that he had received of his Father], that I might take it again.”


Inherent Immortality
MRS. E. H. ADAMS
Signs of the Times – September 2, 1886

Has any being in the universe “life in himself”? Just two. “The Father hath life in himself,” and “hath given to the Son to have life in himself.”


Immortality
E. J. Waggoner
The Present Truth – April 19, 1888

But to the main point of the statement. It is that God only hath immortality. So long as the Bible remains, this text will be a standing rebuke to those who claim immortality as theirs by right. That is an attribute of God alone. “But,” says one, “is not Christ immortal? and do we not read of the angels that they cannot die?” Yes; and we turn to John 5:26 and read Christ’s words: “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” Christ, then, being the only begotten Son of God, partakes of his attributes, and has life in himself. That is, he is able to impart life to others.


The Divinity of Christ
E. J. Waggoner
Signs of the Times – April 22, 1889

If any should object to this most natural conclusion, on the ground that the one here speaking calls himself “I AM THAT I AM,” the self-existent One —Jehovah—we have only to remind him that the Father hath given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26), that Christ asserted the same thing of himself when he said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:5, 6); for which supposed blasphemy the Jews attempted to stone him…


Christ and His Work
R. A. Underwood
Review and Herald – August 6, 1889

“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. Whatever construction may be placed upon the first two texts quoted, the last one shows clearly that the Son of God received his life, and all his mighty creative power as a gift from the Father.

The apostle Paul contrasts Christ with the angels, as follows: “Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.” Heb. 1:4. The inheritance of Christ from God the Father was such as no other being in the universe received. God the Father delegated to the “beginning of the creation,” “the first-born of every creature,” his own name, and his own almighty, creative, life-giving power. We are in ignorance of when this was done. We only know that it was in the eternity of the past; before the worlds and all that in them is, were created….


THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST. – HIS PRE-EXISTENCE, AND EQUALITY WITH THE FATHER.
E. J. Waggoner
Bible Echo(BEST) – October 1, 1889

The fact that Jesus is spoken of as the only begotten Son of God should be sufficient to establish a belief in his divinity. As Son of God, he must partake of the nature of God. “As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26. Life and immortality are imparted to the faithful followers of God, but Christ alone shares with the Father the power to impart life. He has “life in himself,” that is, he is able to perpetuate his own existence.


THOUGHTS ON IMMORTALITY.
BY T. H. STARBUCK.
Review and Herald – December 1, 1891 p.739*

…First, God is revealed as one “who only hath immortality.” 1 Tim. 6:16. (See also 1:17.) This cannot mean that God is now the only being who is immortal; but that he is the source of all immortality—the primal cause of all life. He has life in himself, which means self-existence, or absolute immortality. A being having life in himself can create and impart life to other beings, and ordain laws for the perpetuation, of that life. This is omnipotent power, and there was a time when God alone exercised it; but omnipotence implies ability to bestow like power upon others. The Bible teaches that God has bestowed His own attributes upon His only begotten Son. As “the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” J
ohn 5:26. Jesus said, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Matt. 28:18. ” In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Col. 2:9. To have life (the source of life) in one’s self is to have it in that independent sense in which its continuance does not depend upon the will or power of any other being. God the Father, and Christ the Son, have immortality in this absolute sense. The perpetuation of life in them is not dependent upon the operation of law, as we understand the term. The idea of self-existence forbids law. They hold the power of existence within themselves.


DUTIES OF SABBATH-SCHOOL TEACHERS.-NO. 1.
J. O. Corliss
Review and Herald – October 25, 1892

With God is the fountain of life. Ps. 36:9. But as the Father has life in himself, so he gave unto the Son of God to have life in himself. John 5:26. His life, then, is just as enduring as that of the Father. So he came down to earth to give life to the world (John 6:33) which had been forfeited by disconnecting from Him who is the fountain of life…


DIVINE IMMORTALITY.—NO. I. THE LIFE OF GOD.
G. B. Starr
Bible Echo and Signs of the Times – May 1, 1893

…In reaching out to repair the ruin wrought by sin, the living Father placed the counsel of peace between Himself and his divine Son. And “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son.” Christ came to earth as the delegate of Heaven. “For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.” He came as the “Prince of Life,” and, as we listen to his holy words, we hear Him declare: “The living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father.” John 6:57.

To this the prophets bear witness. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4. “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26…Thus the divine Son takes his place by the living Father in the unquestioned possession of a life that must endure through all the eternal years of the life of God.


Answered by Uriah Smith
Review and Herald – December 22, 1896 p.813*

…He was not a created being, but “proceeded forth and came from God.” John 8:42. He is the only begotten Son of the Father. John 1:14, 18. By nature, then, he is co-equal with God. From the beginning of his existence he must have been as essentially, immortal as God; and yet it all came from God. So Christ says that, “As the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” John 5:26.

No others have immortality, except as God and Christ bestow it upon them.


THE DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By W. A. Alway
Signs of the Times – September 9, 1897

God associated with Himself the person of His Son. Of the Son it is declared: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting… When he appointed the foundations of the earth; then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.” Prov. 8:22-30. And Christ declared, “I and my Father are one.” John 10:30. “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.” Chapter 5:26. And of him Paul says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature; for by him were all things created, …and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” Col. 1:15-17.

Thus to the Son of God was imparted inherent self-existent power, the power of an endless life, which exalted Him above every name as Creator and upholder of the universe, and gave Him the rightful supremacy over all.


THE NATURE OF MAN. – THE IMAGE AND LIKENESS OF GOD.
BY W. HOWARD JAMES, M.B.,B.S
Australian Signs of the Times – February 1, 1904

Only the Father and the Son have life in themselves—”For as the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26.


Mrs. S. N. Haskell
“Immortality”
Bible Training School – September 1905

Are we immortal? is a question often asked. The Bible says that only one being naturally possesses immortality. “In His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see.” 1 Tim 6:15,16. The only one possessing immortality is the Father, the one whose person no man hath seen. The Father hath given this same life to the Son. “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26. From this last text we find there are two beings that have life in themselves…


The Unspeakable Gift—No. 5.
By R. Hare.
Signs of the Times Australian – October 2, 1905

To the Son alone has Jehovah given the right to have “life in Himself.”


WHO HAS IMMORTALITY?
Bible Training School – January 1909

The Bible plainly states in 1 Tim. 6:15, 16, that the invisible God, the Father “only hath immortality.” This immortal life is given by God, the Father to the Son; “for as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26.

There is only one way by which mortal man can obtain this immortality; for, “this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.” 1 John 5:11, 12. Outside of Christ there is no eternal life for mortal man; but the one that abides in Christ hath life, and when “Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory,” clothed with immortality forever. Col. 3:4 ; 1 Cor. 15:51-53.


The Great Day of the Lord.
Unsigned article – Editor: W. T. Bartlett
Present Truth – June 3, 1909

Some have thought that the devil cannot be destroyed because he is immortal. His life came from God, the Creator, and surely God can take it away when He chooses. The Father hath life in Himself, and hath given His Son the same life, so that He also hath life in Himself. John v. 26. But He has not given Satan life in himself so that he can exist eternally, as a menace to God’s government and a tempter and an accuser of God’s people.


God the Creator
H. C. GOODRICH
The Caribben Watchman – March 1910 p.4*

…Christ was born, “The only begotten of the Father, full of grace and tru
th.” John I: 14. He is before all things. Col. I:17. John says “In Him was life.” John. 1:4. And Jesus says of Himself, “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to’ the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. Therefore it is as plain as words can make it, that with God the Father the beginning of life, the source of all is existence and power. It is also just as plain that the Father associated His Son with Him in the kingdom that was to be established, and made Him equal to Himself in that kingdom… it was Jesus the Son of God who was with God in the beginning, and that all things were made by Him. …John. I:1-3.

This makes it absolutely certain, as certain as that God’s word is true, that God sent His Son, whom He Himself calls God, and gave Him the power of life in Himself to bring into existence all the worlds and everything that has life; and this power God uses to prove that He is the true God….


Dishonouring the Lifegiver
Unsigned article – Editor: W. T. Bartlett
Present Truth – January 28, 1915

…He tells us that to Him alone has the Father granted this right: “For as the Father hath life in Himself, even so gave He to the Son also to have life in Himself.” John v. 26, R V. If God and Christ alone are possessed of immortality in themselves, what of man? The answer is that man was never made immortal in himself.


Is Man Independently Immortal?
By J. W. Westphal
Oriental Watchman – November 1916

He is the source of life, the upholder of all things. The Godhead includes Christ. He has all the attributes of His Father. “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. Should the heavens fall, and the universe, with every living thing, cease, it could not affect God or Christ. They were before them all, they made them all, They have upheld them all, and the destruction of them all could not cause a riffle in the selfexistent, eternal, wholly independent life of God… Separate from God and Christ, there is no continued life, no immortality.


LIFE THROUGH CHRIST
Bible Training School – January 1917

…1 Tim. 6:15, 16. Here we learn that God is the only one that has immortality in, and of Himself; it originates with Him, and belongs to none else, either by right or inheritance. Again: “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. Here we learn that the Father gives the same to the Son.


Life Only In Christ
L. J. Burgess
Oriental Watchman – April 1918

None have life in themselves. Not so, however, with Christ, for of Him we read, “As the Father (God) hath life in Himself ; so hath He given to the Son (Christ) to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. And not only has Christ life in Himself, but He has been made the giver of life to all living creatures. Whether we are aware of it or not, it is as true of our temporal as of our future existence, that we are indebted to Christ for our life. “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life.” 1 John 5:12.


How can we become Immortal?
George W. Rine
Signs of the Times – March 30, 1926

In chapter I, verse 17, of I Timothy, the Holy Spirit applies the epithets “eternal” and “immortal” to God; but not once in the whole sweep of the Scriptures are those descriptive terms applied to man. In truth, in 1 Timothy 6:16 we are expressly told that God only hath immortality. God inhabits eternity, declares Isaiah; hence, all His attributes are timeless, eternal. He is life, He is immortality. Therefore if I ever possess immortality, I must receive it from God through Christ, who is the fountain of life. Of course, Jesus is the express image of the Father, so that He could say, in a very real sense, “I and My Father are one.” John 10:30. Now they are one in respect to life, or immortality. Here we are not left to inference. Jesus Himself testifies as follows: As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. Ah. we have a Saviour to whom eternal life—immortality— is original, native, inherent! How fittingly, then, does the Holy Spirit, through Peter, refer to Jesus as “the Prince of life”! That is, Jesus, in God, is the Lord of life— the Author of life, as the margin expresses it. (Acts 3:15.)


IMMORTALITY IS ASSURED
J. A. Stevens
Signs of the Times – July 15, 1929

Immortality is a fact, but it is an inherent characteristic of God alone, which He has shared with His Son, Jesus the Christ. An ascription of the apostle declares, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for-ever and ever. Amen.” 1 Timothy 1:17. And in the same epistle he says: “I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:13-16. It was Christ Himself who said: “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man.” John 5:26, 27.”


Christ Gives Life
John K. Jones
Signs of the Times – April 14, 1936

Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14. “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. Christ was one with the Father before creation, because He was the divine Word, by whom all things were made. John 1:1-3. It is stated beautifully in the book of Colossians, chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, in these words: “By Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”

“In Him [Christ] was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4. When the worlds were created, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was the one who created them and who brought life into existence. Hebrews 1:1, 2. Being the Lord God and having eternal life in Himself, He had the power to create man, to give him life, and to sustain it as long as He saw man would use this life to the glory of God.


Lesson 4 for October 24, 1936 p.14*
Deity and Pre-exis
tence of Christ

8. What is the source of the Son’s life? John 5:26.
NOTE.–It is plain that the Son possesses the same kind of life as the Father —called here “life in Himself.”
9. What kind of life does the Son possess? 1 John 5:11, 20.


Life Only Through Christ
Sermon Broadcast Over KSL by H. H. HICKS
Signs of the Times – July 13, 1943

The apostle Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:16 that God “only hath immortality.” We also read that He has bestowed this marvelous gift upon His Son: “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26.


Jesus of Nazareth and the Power of God
J. L. Shuler
Review and Herald – November 2, 1944

In other words, Jesus had the power of an inherent life. He said: “As the Father hath life in Himself [underived, inherent]; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26. This is another infallible proof that Jesus of Nazareth possessed the power of God and that He is God the Son.


The Gospel of Health
M. A. HOLLISTER
Signs of the Times Australian – October 14, 1946

…I wish to confine what I have to say to the view that our physical life as well as our future life is derived, as the Scripture teaches. “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself” that “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear,” then shall we also appear with Him in glory, if we are worthy. In Jesus is life, original, unborrowed, underived. In us is a streamlet from the Fountain of life…


Half Hours with the Bible – God the Son
by ALMA E. McKIBBIN
Signs of the Times – January 16, 1945/ The Oriental Watchman March 1954 p.5*

1. HIS NATURE – John 3:16. The Son is the Only-Begotten of God. John 5:26. He has life in Himself. Proverbs 8:22-30. He is eternal. Micah 5:2 (margin). He existed in the days of eternity.

…The Son has “life in Himself.” So also has the Father. But it is said of the life of the Son that it was given to Him by the Father. Micah 5:2 (margin) reads, “from the days of eternity.” The Son has an eternal existence. Proverbs 8:22-30 shows that He existed before any of the created works of God.


The Deity of Christ (1947)
C. S. Longacre

…Of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, it is said in the Scriptures, “He is the only Begotten of the Father.” The Son of God was not created like other creatures are brought into existence. He is not a created but a Begotten Being, enjoying all the attributes of His Father. Christ Himself explains His own relationship to the Father as follows: “As the Father had life in Himself,” unborrowed, underived, original, independent, and immortal, “so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself. John 5:26…

God “only hath immortality.” He alone is the only selfexistent God. But He gave His Son when He was Begotten the same life he had in Himself… Christ had unconditional immortality bestowed upon Him when He was Begotten of the Father. Angels had conditional immortality bestowed upon them when they were created by Christ in the beginning…Christ acknowledges that all He possesses of wisdom, of power, of authority, and of life itself, all was given to Him from the Father. His exaltation was from the Father…

…What kind of life did the Father have in Himself? In God “is life original, unborrowed, underived,” “immortal,” “independent.” “He is the source of life.” Christ says, “As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given” – the same life, original, unborrowed, underived life to the Son. It was “given” to Him by His Father. Christ was made the source of life just as the Father was the source of life. Christ had the same life the Father had in Himself in His own right. He did not have to derive or borrow it, it was now original with Christ just as it was with the Father. Christ’s life was independent of the Father, hence not dependent, derived, or borrowed. He could bestow and give life and create just as the Father could, but the Father gave this life to His Son… the fact remains that the Son of God proceeded from the Father, that He was in the bosom of the Father, that His life, “underived, unborrowed” and “given” to Him by the Father, that the Father “ordained” His Son “should be equal with Himself;” that the Father “invested” His Son “with authority,” and that the Son does “nothing of Himself alone.”…

…What kind of life does the Father have in Himself? He “only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see, “says Paul. The Father hath “self-existent” “life original, unborrowed, underived.” This same kind of “life, original, unborrowed, underived” the Father “gave” to His Son. The Son of God Himself says that His Father gave to His “Son to have life in Himself,” the same identical life the Father had in Himself. In this way, the Father “made” His Son “equal” with Himself. Both the life and the equality of God were given to Christ by the Father when the Father begat His Son. God gave His Son the same kind of immortality as He had in himself and made Him the source of life so His Son did no longer have to depend upon His Father nor had He any longer to go to the Father and borrow it from Him. The Son could now impart life and create life as well as worlds, and people them. But we must never forget while Christ the Son of God had this independent life and creative power in Himself, yet all things were created by God through His Son because God gave Him to have life in Himself. The Father and the Son are one, but not one personality. Christ prayed that we might be one with Him as He and the Father were One. Sister White says that this “unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality of either. They are one in purpose, in mind, in character, but not in person. It is thus that God and Christ are one.” Testimonies Vol. 8. p. 269.


Bible Answers
Dallas Youngs
Signs of the Times Canadian – June 1954

It is true that Christ has power to Forgive sins. He affirmed that fact when He was upon earth. “The Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins.” Luke 5:24. Christ has this power because it was given Him of His Father. It is resident in the fact that Christ is God (divine) the same as is God the Father. He belongs to the divine family because He is the only begotten Son of God. God gave His Son all the powers and prerogatives of deity. “For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” John 5:26.


Related Article:
An Analysis of Glyn Parfitt’s Reply to the Non-Trinitarian View of John 5:26

Life, Original, Unborrowed, Underived

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