I speak of the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from 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.”
- KJV I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye 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.”
- 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 5:19Jesus therefore answered them, “Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
- John 8:44You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its father.
- 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 8:41You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God.”
- 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.
- 1 Jn 3:8–10He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the devil.
- John 8:26I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”
- 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 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 3:32What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his witness.
- 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.
- Matt 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who 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
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.