For I have come to you in my Father’s name, and you have rejected me. Yet if others come in their own name, you gladly welcome them.
Parallel translations
- WEB I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- KJV I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
- BSB I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- NKJV I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive.
- NASB I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
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
Jesus came in the Father's name and they reject him, yet they would receive an impostor coming in his own name. They prefer self-promoters to the true Messiah.
Overview
Jesus contrasts his coming in the Father's name with the welcome they give to those who come on their own authority. Their rejection of the genuine Messiah while embracing pretenders exposes their spiritual condition. It is a sober warning against being deceived by self-exalting false leaders while refusing Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Matt 24:5For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
- John 10:25Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.
- John 17:4–6I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do.
- Heb 5:4–5Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was.
- John 6:38For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- John 8:28–29Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.
- John 12:28Father, glorify your name!” Then there came a voice out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
- Matt 24:24For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- Acts 5:36–37For before these days Theudas rose up, making himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to nothing.
- Acts 21:38Aren’t you then the Egyptian, who before these days stirred up to sedition and led out into the wilderness the four thousand men of the Assassins?”
- Ezek 23:21Thus you called to memory the lewdness of your youth, in the caressing of your nipples by the Egyptians because of your youthful breasts.
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 5:43 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.