John 5:18 is a stock verse used by trinitarians to prove Jesus is God. But is that what it really says?
John 5:18,
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal [isos] with God.
First of all, if God wanted to make Jesus God, then why didn't he just say, "...making himself God" instead of, "making himself
equal with God?" Seems like this would have been an excellent opportunity for God to have settled the trinity question once and for all. I for one would absolutely believe Jesus were God had He omitted the words "equal with," but we must assume He included them for a good reason. The word
equal is the Greek word
isos from which we get our word isosceles triangle. An isosceles triangle is so called because it has 2 equal length sides. Now to make these two sides somehow the same side is not using language in any meaningful way. It has two separate sides that are simply of equal length. It by implication makes the two sides unique and separate, e.g. side 1 and side 2.
This word
isos is used in Matthew chapter 20 where Jesus spoke the parable about the property owner paying helpers who worked a few hours the same as those who labored all day. The latter of course protested it as unfair, feeling they should have received more. As part of their plea to the land owner they said,
Matt 20:12,
Saying, These last have wrought [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal [isos] unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Could this be construed as saying that the ones who worked all day were the same ones who came later in the day? Of course not! Two separate people here. Why should the same usage of
isos in John 5:18 be any different?
There is another usage of
isos I will point out in the Book of Revelations.
Rev 21:16,
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
Does this say the length and breath are in fact one thing and not two? No! Length is the length and width is the width; again, two distinctly different things. Making them
equal [isos] simply means the two have the same length.
One more for the record.
In Mark 14 the Pharisees were trying to get a few people to give false testimony against Jesus so they could do what they did to him on the cross. They had a problem getting multiple "witnesses" to come up with the same story.
Mark 14:59,
But neither so did their witness agree [isos] together.
So, had they agreed together, would that have then made them one person? I think the trinity struck out here also.
It would be a good study to find out exactly what John 5:18 meant when it said Jesus was
equal [isos] to God. As always, any biblical research is best done by using the Bible itself and not tradition as a source of truth.
By the way, it should be noted that Jesus himself didn't claim to be God in John 5:18.
John 5:18,
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal [isos] with God.
He claimed, and rightfully so, to be God's son. Never said, "I am God" anywhere in the scriptures.