John 7:16-17

7:16 So Jesus replied, ¹  “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. ²  7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ³  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ⁴ 

John 14:7-10

14:7 If you have known me, you will know my Father too. ⁵  And from now on you do know him and have seen him.”

14:8 Philip said, ⁶  “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.” ⁷  14:9 Jesus replied, ⁸  “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known ⁹  me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ¹⁰  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ¹¹  but the Father residing in me performs ¹²  his miraculous deeds. ¹³ 

John 14:20

14:20 You will know at that time ¹⁴  that I am in my Father and you are in me and I am in you.

John 16:27-30

16:27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ¹⁵  16:28 I came from the Father and entered into the world, but in turn, ¹⁶  I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” ¹⁷ 

16:29 His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly ¹⁸  and not in obscure figures of speech! ¹⁹  16:30 Now we know that you know everything ²⁰  and do not need anyone ²¹  to ask you anything. ²²  Because of this ²³  we believe that you have come from God.”

[7:16]  ¹ tn Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:16]  ² tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:17]  ³ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ⁴ tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[14:7]  ⁵ tc There is a difficult textual problem here: The statement reads either “If you have known (ἐγνώκατε, egnwkate) me, you will know (γνώσεσθε, gnwsesqe) my Father” or “If you had really known (ἐγνώκειτε, egnwkeite) me, you would have known (ἐγνώκειτε ἄν or ἂν ἤδειτε [egnwkeite an or an hdeite]) my Father.” The division of the external evidence is difficult, but can be laid out as follows: The mss that have the perfect ἐγνώκατε in the protasis (Ì⁶⁶ [א D* W] 579 pc it) also have, for the most part, the future indicative γνώσεσθε in the apodosis (Ì⁶⁶ א D W [579] pc sa bo), rendering Jesus’ statement as a first-class condition. The mss that have the pluperfect ἐγνώκειτε in the protasis (A B C D¹ L Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï) also have, for the most part, a pluperfect in the apodosis (either ἂν ἤδειτε in B C* [L] Q Ψ 1 33 565 al, or ἐγνώκειτε ἄν in A C³ Θ Ë¹³ Ï), rendering Jesus’ statement a contrary-to-fact second-class condition. The external evidence slightly favors the first-class condition, since there is an Alexandrian-Western alliance supported by Ì⁶⁶. As well, the fact that the readings with a second-class condition utilize two different verbs with ἄν in different positions suggests that these readings are secondary. However, it could be argued that the second-class conditions are harder readings in that they speak negatively of the apostles (so K. Aland in TCGNT 207); in this case, the ἐγνώκειτε…ἐγνώκειτε ἄν reading should be given preference. Although a decision is difficult, the first-class condition is to be slightly preferred. In this case Jesus promises the disciples that, assuming they have known him, they will know the Father. Contextually this fits better with the following phrase (v. 7b) which asserts that “from the present time you know him and have seen him” (cf. John 1:18).

[14:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:8]  ⁷ tn Or “and that is enough for us.”

[14:9]  ⁸ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:9]  ⁹ tn Or “recognized.”

[14:10]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ¹² tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ¹³ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[14:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “will know in that day.”

[16:27]  ¹⁵ tc A number of early mss (א¹ B C* D L pc co) read πατρός (patros, “Father”) here instead of θεοῦ (qeou, “God”; found in Ì⁵ א*^,2 A C³ W Θ Ψ 33 Ë^1,13 Ï). Although externally πατρός has relatively strong support, it is evidently an assimilation to “I came from the Father” at the beginning of v. 28, or more generally to the consistent mention of God as Father throughout this chapter (πατήρ [pathr, “Father”] occurs eleven times in this chapter, while θεός [qeos, “God”] occurs only two other times [16:2, 30]).

[16:28]  ¹⁶ tn Or “into the world; again.” Here πάλιν (palin) functions as a marker of contrast, with the implication of a sequence.

[16:28]  ¹⁷ sn The statement I am leaving the world and going to the Father is a summary of the entire Gospel of John. It summarizes the earthly career of the Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, on his mission from the Father to be the Savior of the world, beginning with his entry into the world as he came forth from God and concluding with his departure from the world as he returned to the Father.

[16:29]  ¹⁸ tn Or “openly.”

[16:29]  ¹⁹ tn Or “not in parables.” or “not in metaphors.”

[16:30]  ²⁰ tn Grk “all things.”

[16:30]  ²¹ tn Grk “and have no need of anyone.”

[16:30]  ²² tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:30]  ²³ tn Or “By this.”