"19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 The Father judges no one, but has given all judgement to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son, just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him. 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 judgement, but has passed from death to life.
25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgement, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgement."
John 5:19-29
One further comment on this passage seems called for, in order to relate our Lord's teaching here to that of the miracle of healing in 1-9. It is clear that 'hearing my
word' (24) and 'hear the voice of the Son of God' (25) take up the central fact in the miracle story, that of Christ speaking the word of power to the impotent man. The parallel between what happens in the spiritual realm and what happens in the physical is perfect and complete. Man in his sin is impotent, and helpless to help himself; he is dead in trespasses and sins, with nothing in him capable of responding to God. It is in this helpless state that the word of the gospel comes to him, and that word imparts life, and gives him the power to respond to the summons to rise into newness. The paradoxical nature of the language here is significant. How can the dead hear a voice? But this is the whole point. The miracle resides in the nature of the voice. For it is the voice of Him Who in the beginning made the world out of nothing, and it speaks a new creation into existence. And even the power to hear His voice is bestowed in the gift of grace, for salvation is all of God. This is the message that the miracle is meant to teach us, and that our Lord's 'sermon' on it in these verses confirms.