So that all will honor the Son in the same way as they honor the Father is connected by most translations with the idea of judgement in verse 22. This connection is legitimate, if it is realized that the full right to judge includes both the power to give life and to condemn. That is, the honor due the Son results not only from his right to condemn men to death but also from his right to raise them to life, as stated in verse 21. Hence, Moffatt does not go too far in making explicit the idea of a judgement which determines life or death as the basis for the honor due to the Son.

The purpose of the clause introduced by so that may be considered rather far removed from the specific action of the Father toward his Son in giving him the right to judge, and it may be useful to introduce verse 23 by a reference to this action. It can be done by saying, “My Father has done this so that all people will honor me in the same way that they honor my Father.”

Does not honor certainly has the meaning of “refuses to honor” (see Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, New American Bible). This verse again states a truth that is at the heart of the gospel. That is, that one cannot really know the Father except by means of the revelation that he has given through the Son, and to reject the Son is to reject the Father.

Honor may be expressed in a number of ways. One may speak of an attitude, for example, “to show respect to” or “to have valuable thoughts about.” But honor may also be expressed in terms of verbal activities, for example, “to praise” or “to raise up the name of someone.” Honor may also be described in terms of body motion or position, for example, “to bow down low before” or “to touch the ground before” or “to kneel in front of.”

It is true that to translate the Son as “me” and the Father as “my Father” (for example, “If anyone does not honor me, he does not honor my Father who sent me”) may give the impression, especially in the English form, of being an egotistical or self-centered statement on the part of Jesus. To avoid such an impression, some translators insist on rendering literally “the Father” and “the Son.” The results, however, are misleading in those languages which require the indication of kinship relations, especially if there is the added complication of avoidance of third person reference to the first person. Such translations are not only misleading but also awkward and ungrammatical. Accordingly, despite some connotative overtones which may seem unfortunate, it is essential to make these changes of pronominal reference, if sense is to be made of this passage in languages in which kinship terms must be possessed or in which third person reference to third person relations is impossible.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on the Gospel of John. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .