I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.
Parallel translations
- WEB I say the things which I have seen with my Father; and you also do the things which you have seen with your father.”
- BSB I speak of what I have seen in the presence of the Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
- NKJV I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.”
- NASB I speak of the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
- NLT I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”
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 speaks what he has seen with the Father, while his opponents act on what they have learned from their father. Two opposing sources of identity are set against each other.
Overview
Jesus contrasts the origin of his words, the Father, with the source of his hearers' deeds. The implication, made explicit later, is that their true father is not God or Abraham but the devil. This sharpens the question of spiritual paternity and prepares for Jesus' direct charge in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- John 5:19Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
- John 8:44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.
- 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 8:41Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.
- John 12:49–50For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
- 1 Jn 3:8–10He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
- John 8:26I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
- John 14:24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
- John 14:10Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
- John 3:32And what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth; and no man receiveth his testimony.
- 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.
- Matt 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
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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 8:38 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
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