Albert Barnes Commentary John 5:18

"For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only brake the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God." — John 5:18 (ASV)

The more to kill him. Jesus's answer was greatly suited to irritate them. He did not deny what he had done, but he added to it what he well knew would highly offend them. That he should claim the right of dispensing with the law, and affirm that, regarding its observance, he was in the same condition as God, was particularly suited to enrage them, and he no doubt knew that it might endanger his life. We may learn from his answer:

1. That we are not to hold back truth because it may endanger us.
2. That we are not to hold back truth because it will irritate and enrage sinners. The fault is not in the truth, but in the sinner.
3. That when any portion of truth enrages hypocrites, they will be enraged the more they hear it.

Had broken the sabbath. They supposed he had broken it.

Making himself equal with God. This shows that, in the view of the Jews, the name Son of God, or calling God his Father, implied equality with God.

The Jews were the best interpreters of their own language. Since Jesus did not deny the correctness of their interpretations, it follows that he meant to be understood in this way .

The interpretation of the Jews was a very natural and just one. He not only said that God was his Father, but he also said that he had the same right to work on the Sabbath that God had, and that by the same authority and in the same manner, he could dispense with the obligation of the day.

They now had two grounds for seeking to kill him—one for making himself equal with God, which they considered blasphemy, and the other for violating the Sabbath. For each of these, the law pronounced death (Numbers 15:35; Leviticus 24:11–14).