Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me.
- BSB Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me.
- NKJV Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.
- NASB Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came forth from God and am here; for I have not even come on My own, but He sent Me.
- NLT Jesus told them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he 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 reasons that if God were truly their Father they would love him, since he came from God. Love for Christ is the test of belonging to God.
Overview
Jesus offers a clear logic: those who belong to God recognize and love the Son God sent. He affirms again that he did not come on his own but was sent by the Father. Rejecting Christ therefore disproves any claim to know God, making love for Jesus the decisive evidence of true relationship with the Father.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- John 12:49For 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.
- 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 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.
- John 17:25O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
- John 15:23–24He that hateth me hateth my Father also.
- Mal 1:6A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
- John 1:14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
- 1 Jn 5:1–2Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him.
- 1 Jn 4:14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
- John 5:43I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
- 1 Cor 16:22If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.
- John 7:28–29Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.
- John 3:17For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
- John 5:23That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
- 1 Jn 4:9–10In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
- John 16:27–28For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
- Rev 22:1And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
- Gal 4:4But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
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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 8:42 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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