John 7:28

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ¹  cried out, ²  “You both know me and know where I come from! ³  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁴  but the one who sent me ⁵  is true. You do not know him, ⁶ 

John 4:10

4:10 Jesus answered ⁷  her, “If you had known ⁸  the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water ⁹  to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹⁰ 

[7:28]  ¹ tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  ² tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  ⁵ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”

[4:10]  ⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to her.”

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Or “if you knew.”

[4:10]  ⁹ tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.