Two Different Lives - One Living God
First, it is obvious there is a type of life the Son had which the Father has never experienced:
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) [ESV]
The Father has never experienced life in the flesh. He has never been hungry or tempted to sin or experienced any of the physical aspects of life in the flesh. Nor has the Father ever physically shown Himself to man as the Son has. The life the Son had and has is unique: it is one-of-a-kind, μονογενὴς. He also had life before becoming flesh (1:1) and, despite experiencing a physical death (18:32), He is alive in the flesh (1:18), which has a material sense (eg. Luke 24:39).
Here are some implications of what we have been told:
- Language will not adequately express the life of the Son. For example, the OP states, it is possible to say He was not immortal as He experienced death. Yet His body not decay: it did not see corruption. Likewise, He was put to death in the body but made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18). He has a spiritual body (1 Corinthians 15:44), which, nevertheless, has a fleshly reality capable of transcending the physical world: His life is unique.
- It is specious to draw conclusions by picking out individual verses from passages which are describing that which is unique. For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself can be construed, as the OP notes, to say Jesus is receiving life from the Father. Yet the word "gave" is δίδωμι which also means "grant" or "deliver." The Father "granting" life to the Son is one way to express that which is God becoming that which is flesh. Likewise "delivering" follows the context which all life is in now in the hand of the Son. Nor can this "transfer" be seen to the Son was separate and distinct from life before He became flesh. It may mean that which was once shared equally has now been placed in the hand of (or returned to) just one.
This Gospel also explains how it is wrong to conclude one life is "superior" to the other (as might be claimed). That is, in terms of "superiority" the Son was "less" than the Father. Since if that line of reasoning is continued, then the Father having divested Himself of that which was His, has made the Son "superior." The Gospel insists there is mutual equality which of necessity means one is different from the other while still being equal. This illustrates the fundamental obstacle the Jewish people who did not accept Christ could not overcome:
One eschatological theme leads to another. Just as it is a fundamental Jewish belief that in the last days God will raise the dead, so also is it that at that time all men shall be judged. But God has handed over the office of judgement to the Son.1
This is the stumbling block of Jewish unbelief: their "Father" is insufficient to obtain eternal life. The passage, 5:19-47 is an extensive restatement of John 1:1. The Son is different and yet the Son is equal to the Father, as the Word was equal to God. The difference is this is the current reality and will remain so until after the final judgement of eternal life.
The two lives are different yet only if they are (or will be) reunited as equal will a belief that only the Son now has what the OT says belongs to God will result in being raised from the dead to eternal life with the One Living God.
I am...
The Fourth Gospel makes extensive use of "I am." There are "seven" with predicates:
The Seven "I am's" of Jesus:
I am the Bread of life (6:35, 41, 48, 51)
I am the Light of the world (8:12)
I am the Door (10:7, 9)
I am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14)
I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6)
I am the Vine (15:1, 5)
Each is a claim which, based on the Old Testament belongs to God, and it may be said with absolute certainty these are claims made by the Son, not the Father.
Only the Son may claim to be "I am...." where the "I am..." is based on a life which also has an earthly existence. The life of the Son and that of the Father should not be conflated into one as if there is no practical significance to an earthly existence. The final "I am" demonstrates lives which are different and yet are individually necessary to be equal:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. (John 15:1)
The True Vine still requires a Vinedresser; yet the Vinedresser cannot exist as such unless there is a True Vine for Him. This means, without the Son as the True Vine, the Father has no claim to be the Vinedresser. The two are one only when there are two; neither is superior to the other since without the other neither exists as the True Vine or the Vinedresser.
I Am
In addition to "I am...", the absolute "I Am" is found nine times in the Gospel (4:26; 6:20; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19, 18:5, 6, 8). These nine may be counted as seven:
...it is striking that his series of seven absolute "I am" sayings corresponds even numerically to its Old Testament source. The Septuagint has egō eimi in three instances (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 41:4; 43:10) and the double egō eimi egō eimi in four (Isa. 43:25; 45:18; 46:4; 51:12), making seven in all. The MT Hebrew has the simple ’ănî hū' seven times (Deut. 32:39; Isa. 41:4; 43:10, 13; 46:4; 48:12; 52:6) and the emphatic form ’ānōḵî ’ānōḵî hū' twice (Isa. 43:25; 51:12), making a total count of either seven or nine, just as John's series could be counted either as seven or (since the last saying is repeated twice: 18:5, 6, 8), nine.2
Once this pattern has been revealed, it becomes apparent the Son employed the same pattern for His "I am..." statements:
The Nine "I am's" of Jesus:
I am the Bread of life (6:35, 41, 48)
+ I am the Living Bread (6:51)
I am the Light of the world (8:12)
I am the Door for the sheep (10:7, 9)
I am the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14)
I am the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (14:6)
+ I am the True Vine (15:1)
I am the Vine (15:5)
I believe the message is unmistakable. Just as He was I am before coming to earth, He is I am while on the earth.
He "is" in John 4-5
The meaning of Jesus' use of the absolute "I am" may be debated, but the number of uses is without dispute. Clearly the Gospel has been written with the OT "I am's" in view and may be compared as such. For example, the first "I Am" is in Deuteronomy:
“‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand. (Deuteronomy 32:39)
רְאוּ עַתָּה כִּי אֲנִי אֲנִי הוּא וְאֵין אֱלֹהִים עִמָּדִי אֲנִי אָמִית וַאֲחַיֶּה מָחַצְתִּי וַאֲנִי אֶרְפָּא וְאֵין מִיָּדִי מַצִּֽיל
The first one was spoken to a Samaritan, who only accepts the first five books as the Word of God. Not only does the Gospel use all the "I am's" the same number of times they occur in the Hebrew Scripture, Jesus pronounced them in an order which corresponds to their occurrence in history, their placement in Scripture, and follow what Samaritans and other Jewish people accepted as authoritative:
Samaritan woman: 4:26
Deuteronomy 32:39
All other Jewish people: 6:20, 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19, 18:5, 6, 8
Isaiah 41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12; 51:12; 52:6
After recording "I Am" to the Samaritan woman, the Gospel writer then places a healing which prevents death (4:46-54) as the second sign. Then records a healing from a 38-year infirmity (5:5-9), the same period of time the Israelites had to wait before entering the Promised Land after the bad report for the spies (cf. Deuteronomy 2:14). Then Jesus says He is the only one who will "make alive" at the final judgement, and ends by calling upon Moses:
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5)
This first "I Am" in Scripture is not a simple "I Am" as it begins with a repetition of "I" ’ănî ’ănî hū' implying one ’ănî is Father and one Son. They are "One" and yet One will separate, come to earth in human form, offer Himself as a sacrifice for the world He created, empty Himself of every drop of human blood, be buried, and rise again from the dead. This is His "I am" story which is distinct from anything His Father has done.
The first I Am concludes with the teaching in Chapter 5 after demonstrating He is the One who heals and is the One who will make alive. He is in their presence as the Living I Am. He concludes with the claim to be the One who will give eternal life. Thus Moses' "I, I Am" is shown to be true by healing and making alive and those hearing Jesus should know His claim about final judgment will be also shown to be true because He is and equal to The Father.
Notes:
1. C.K. Barrett, The Gospel According to St. John, SPCK, 1963, pp. 216-217
2. Richard Bauckham, The Testimony of the Beloved Disciple, Baker Academic, 2007, p. 247