As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Parallel translations
- WEB As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
- BSB As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.
- NKJV As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
- NASB Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world.
- NLT Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
As the Father sent Jesus into the world, Jesus sends his disciples into the world. Believers are commissioned to continue his mission.
Overview
This verse grounds Christian mission in the sending of the Son. Just as Jesus came on the Father's errand, so he sends his disciples to bear witness to the truth. It anticipates the Great Commission and the apostolic ministry, and reminds the church that its task in the world flows directly from, and is patterned after, Christ's own sending by the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- John 20:21Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
- 2 Cor 5:20Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.
- John 17:3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
- Matt 10:5These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not:
- Eph 3:7Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
- John 4:38I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
- Matt 23:34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
- Isa 61:1–3The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
- John 17:8For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
- John 17:21That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
- John 17:23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
- John 17:25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 17:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.