“For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21).
Jesus raised several people from the dead, Lazarus being the most well known (John 11). God raised Jesus from the dead (Acts 3:15) and many of the saints were raised from the dead at the time of Jesus’ resurrection (Mt 27:52).
But Jesus is not only speaking of life in our physical bodies. He is speaking of eternal life. We do not bring ourselves into eternal life. We did not earn it. We were as spiritually dead as those were physically dead. The dead cannot raise themselves. Neither could we raise ourselves spiritually.
Jesus gives us spiritual life of his own free will.
