So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not My own, but His 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.
- BSB “My teaching is not My own,” Jesus replied. “It comes from Him who sent Me.
- NKJV Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, 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 14:10Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works.
- John 14:24He who doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word which you hear isn’t mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
- John 12:49–50For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
- John 5:30I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don’t seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
- John 17:8for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you, and they have believed that you sent me.
- John 5:23–24that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn’t honor the Son doesn’t honor the Father who sent him.
- John 6:38–40For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- John 3:11Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and testify of that which we have seen, and you don’t receive our witness.
- John 17:14I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
- John 8:28Jesus 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 6:44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
- John 3:31He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.
- Rev 1:1This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by 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.