John 6:51

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread ¹  that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

John 14:10

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ²  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ³  but the Father residing in me performs ⁴  his miraculous deeds. ⁵ 

John 7:28

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ⁶  cried out, ⁷  “You both know me and know where I come from! ⁸  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁹  but the one who sent me ¹⁰  is true. You do not know him, ¹¹ 

[6:51]  ¹ tn Grk “And the bread.”

[14:10]  ² tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egw en tw patri kai Jo pathr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteuei") expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menwn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.

[14:10]  ³ tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ⁴ tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ⁵ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[7:28]  ³ tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  ⁵ sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.

[7:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  ⁷ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ⁸ tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”