For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- BSB For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- NKJV For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- NASB For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- NLT For I have come down from heaven to do the will of God who sent me, not to do my own will.
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 down from heaven to do not His own will but the Father's. His perfect submission secures the salvation of those given to Him.
Overview
Jesus affirms His heavenly origin and His complete obedience to the Father's plan. His mission is not self-directed but wholly aligned with the Father's saving purpose. This obedience, fulfilled at the cross, is the ground of the believer's security expressed in the surrounding verses.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 5:30I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
- John 4:34Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
- Phil 2:7–8But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
- John 3:31He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.
- Ps 40:7–8Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
- Isa 53:10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
- John 6:33For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
- John 3:13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
- Matt 26:39–42And he went a little farther, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
- Heb 10:7–9Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.
- Heb 5:8Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
- Rom 15:3For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.
- Matt 20:28Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
- Eph 4:9(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
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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 6:38 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.