John 5:18 says “ On this account, indeed, the Jews began seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath but he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.” John 5:18 says that the Jews wanted to kill Jesus because “he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.” Who was saying that Jesus was making himself equal to God? Not Jesus. He clears this up in the very next verse (19) by stating: “The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing.” So Jesus did not claim that he was almighty God or equal to Him. He was showing the Jews that they were mistaken, that he was not God, but that he was the Son of God, and as God’s spokesman, he could not act on his own initiative. Can we imagine the almighty God of the universe saying that he could do nothing of his own initiative? So the Jews made a charge, and Jesus refuted it. We see then, from the testimony of God in his own inspired Word, from the testimony of Jesus, and from the testimony of the disciples of Jesus, the overwhelming evidence clearly shows that almighty God and Jesus Christ are two separate personalities, Father and Son

It's sometimes hard to interpret a verse not being intimately familiar with the context. Here, in John 5, we are given the reaction of those who knew the context better than anyone - the Jews themselves who were there! And what was their interpretation? That Jesus was implying he was equal to God. This is only reinforced when you correlate John 5 with a similar situation in chapter 8:57-59 "You are not yet fifty years old," the Jews said to him, "and you have seen Abraham!" "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I AM!" At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

1) Talking about the Christian Bible, "John 5:18" means: - Gospel according to John - chapter 5 - verse 18 2) Here the text: "18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." "John 5:18 (New International Version)" http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%205:18&version=31 3) Conclusion: many established religions can react with extreme violence if criticized. Particularly if you are trying to convert their followers to your own religion.

Jesus wasn't honoring the tradition of the Sabbath that the Jews held highly. They didn't like him for that, and also because he said God is his father.

For this reason the Jews tried all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath but he also called God his own father, making himself equal to God. (John 5:18) Some Jews (including the Pharisees) took the Bible literally and said that absolutely no work should be done on the Sabbath. However Jesus, who never committed a sin, kept the true meaning of the Commandment but did not take the Bible literally and did certain things on the Sabbath like forgiving people their sins and curing them of sickness. Jesus also expanded the theology of God's relationship with humans to a new and hard to accept level. We are not just creations of God, we are God's children, and we can call God, Father. As Jesus taught us to pray, "Our Father, ..." The Pharisees and Temple leaders could not accept these revolutionary ideas. With love in Christ.

John 5:18 "This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because .........called God his Father, making himself equal to God." It was the unbelieving Jews who reasoned that Jesus was attempting to make himself equal with God by claiming Gos as his Father. Jesus never claimed equality with God. He straightforwardly answered the Jews: "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing." (John 5:19)