“My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Jesus therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
- KJV Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
- NKJV Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
- NASB So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not My own, but His who sent Me.
- NLT So Jesus told them, “My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me.
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 says His teaching is not His own but comes from the Father who sent Him. He claims a divine origin for His message, not human invention.
Overview
This answers the crowd's astonishment in the previous verse by grounding Jesus' authority in the Father, not in rabbinic training. As the sent Son, Jesus faithfully delivers the Father's word, and to reject His teaching is to reject God. This unity of message between Father and Son runs throughout John and assures believers that in hearing Christ they hear God Himself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- John 14:10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you, I do not speak on My own. Instead, it is the Father dwelling in Me, performing His works.
- John 14:24Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.
- John 12:49–50I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it.
- John 5:30I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 17:8For I have given them the words You gave Me, and they have received them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me.
- John 5:23–24so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.
- John 6:38–40For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 3:11Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, and yet you people do not accept our testimony.
- John 17:14I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
- John 8:28So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on My own, but speak exactly what the Father has taught Me.
- John 6:44“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
- John 3:31The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.
- Rev 1:1This is the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants what must soon come to pass. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:16 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.