John 12:49

For 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(49) For I have not spoken of myself.—Comp. John 5:30; John 7:16-17; John 7:28-29; John 8:26; John 8:28; John 8:38. The word “for” connects this by way of reason with the condemnatory power of His word.

The Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment.—Comp. Note on John 10:18. The reference is to the commission of His Messianic life.

What I should say, and what I should speak.—It is clear that our Lord intends a distinction here between “saying” and “speaking.” We have had the same distinction in John 8:43. That which He should say was the matter of the revelation which He made; that which He should speak was rather the method in which He made it. He claims for all the authority and commission of the Father. Every truth uttered by Him, and every work and word by which it was uttered, was ordained by the Father’s will. He was Himself the Word of God. Every tone and accent in which that Word spoke was divine.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:44-50 Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of myself - John 7:16-18.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

44-50. Jesus cried—in a loud tone, and with peculiar solemnity. (Compare Joh 7:37).

and said, He that believeth on me, &c.—This seems to be a supplementary record of some weighty proclamations, for which there had been found no natural place before, and introduced here as a sort of summary and winding up of His whole testimony.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I do not speak what I say to you as mere man, or any thing but what is my Father’s will, and mine only as one with him, and as sent by him; I have said nothing but what my Father hath willed me to reveal to the world as his will.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I have not spoken of myself,.... As man, or as separate from his Father; his doctrine was not human, but divine, and therefore a rejection of it cannot escape notice at the future judgment:

but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment what I should say, and what I should speak; Christ, as man, had his mission, and commission, and his instructions from his Father to preach the Gospel unto men; he was anointed for it by the Holy Ghost; he was enjoined the preaching of it by his Father, and the several doctrines he published were delivered him by him; see John 8:28.

Geneva Study Bible

For 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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 12:49-50. Comp. John 7:16, John 5:30.

ὅτι] gives the reason for the expression in John 12:47-48 : for how plainly divine is this my word!

ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ] αὐτοκέλευστος, Nonnus.

αὐτός] ipse.

ἐντολ. ἔδ.] He has given (laid upon) me a charge, what I should say, and what I should speak. The former designates the doctrine according to its contents, the latter the publication of it through the delivery which makes it known. Comp. on John 8:43; Romans 3:19. For similar accumulations of the verbs of speaking in Greek writers, see Dissen, ad Dem. de Cor. p. 187; Lobeck, Paral. p. 61.

ἡ ἐντολὴ αὐτοῦ] namely the commission which has just previously been more minutely designated. This is, because it is in truth the outflow and channel of the divine redemptive will, eternal life (according to its temporal development and eternal consummation); it is this, however (comp. John 6:33, John 17:17; comp. John 11:25, John 14:6), not as the mere means, but as, in its fulfilment, the efficient power of life in virtue of the grace and truth which are received by believers out of the fulness of Jesus, John 1:14; John 1:16.

οὖν] Since that ἐντολή is of so great efficacy, how could I speak that which I speak otherwise than as the Father has said it to me (at my appointment)? Observe the correlation of ἐγώ and ὁ πατήρ, as well as the measured simple solemnity of the close of this address.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 12:49 This word will judge him, “because” though spoken here on earth it is divine “I have not spoken at my own instance nor out of my own resources”; ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ, not as in John 5:30, John 7:16-18, ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ, but indicating somewhat more strictly the origin of the utterances. He did not create His teaching, ἀλλʼ ὁ πέμψας … λαλήσω, “but the Father who sent me Himself gave me commandment what I should say and what I should speak”. The former designates the doctrine according to its contents, the latter the varying manner of its delivery. Meyer and Westcott.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

49. For] Or, Because: it introduces the reason why one who rejects Christ’s word will be judged by His word;—because that word is manifestly Divine and proceeds from the Father.

of myself] Literally, out of Myself (ek) without commission from the Father. Comp. from Myself (apo) John 5:30, John 7:16; John 7:28, John 8:28.

he gave me] Himself (and none other) hath given Me. See on John 10:18.

say … speak] ‘Say’ probably refers to the doctrine, ‘speak’ to the form in which it is expressed. See on John 8:43.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 12:49. Ὅτι, because [for]) This is the reason why the word shall judge the unbeliever; for it is the word of the Father: ch. John 14:24, “The word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, which sent Me.”—αὐτός) Himself.—τὶ εἴπω καὶ τὶ λαλήσω) λαλῶ is said of a speech copious, and with but one side (one-sided, μονοπλεύρῳ): ἔπω, of a speech brief, and relating to both sides [reciprocal; ‘mutuo’], ch. John 16:17, etc. [εἶπον—πρὸς ἀλλήλους, etc., οὐκ οἴδαμεν τί λαλεῖ;—εἶπεν—αὐτοῖς]. They differ as דבר and אמר among the Hebrews.[328]

[328] Tittmann, Syn. New Testament, says λαλεῖν, is the mere enunciation of words, independently of any reason why they are uttered, the use of human voice and language; εἰπεῖν relates only to the words as spoken successively; λέγειν refers to the sentiment and connection of the words.—E. and T.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 49, 50. - There is much emphasis to be laid upon the ὅτι, which implies that our Lord would give a sacred reason for the tremendous power with which his λόγος would be invested. The λόγος, the ῤήμα, is not simply his; it did not proceed from himself only, from his humanity, or even his Divine Sonship alone, but from the Father which sent me. He stood and spake always as the Voice of the Eternal One, from whom he came, with saving powers. He has given me commandment what I should say, and what I should speak. The two words εϊπω and λαλήσω (dicam and loquar, Vulgate), though Hengstenberg says it is frivolous to distinguish, are supposed by Meyer, Westcott, and Godet, to discriminate matter and form, as Godet says, "What I should say, and how I should say it." My words and their manner and opportunity and tone are all of them the outcome of the Father's ἐντολὴ. It certainly is incredible that John could have put these words into the lips of Jesus. They are no mere summary. They are set down with awful sincerity as having burned themselves into his memory. But the Lord added, "I may be rejected and my words spurned, and yet they may go on as apparitors of judgment, but however that may be, and I know (οϊδα) that his commandment, his commission to me, is life eternal - is so now" (cf. John 3:36; John 17:3; 1 John 5:12, 13). "The Law is ordained unto life," said Paul, and "the goodness of God leadeth us unto repentance." The depth of this sublime experience goes down and back into the eternal counsels. The things which therefore I speak (am speaking even at this moment), even as the Father has said unto me, so I speak. "In rejecting me and my words, men reject and insult the Father. His word they dare to renounce, as solemn and unalterable as the word spoken on Sinai. They not only reject me, but they count themselves unworthy of eternal life. They not only spurn Law, but love." Thus, at the conclusion of the public ministry, the evangelist sets forth, in a few burning words, the theme of the prologue, so far as it is realized in the offer of a full revelation of the Logos to the world in human flesh. This Logos found adequate utterance through the human life and lips of Jesus. "The Father has been so amply revealed that the non-believer and rejecter, who hears and does not keep my sayings, is disbelieving and rejecting Hill." These potent words, and this wonderful conclusion of the entire record of the public ministry of Jesus, is the appropriate summary of teachings which were now brought to a dose. Without any exact parallels, they breathe the spirit of the whole teaching, they supply the basis of the prologue. It is, however, dear that the style is different from the prologue, and from the reflection of the evangelist in previous verses. Just as the whole Gospel is a series of recollections which form from their own intrinsic glory and truth a sacred inimitable whole, so this spicilegium is a brief evangelium in evangelio - a gathering up of the whole in the narrow compass of a few precious lines. Though "the hour" has come, it waits. The comparison between this method of the evangelist and that of the apocalyptist is very impressive.



John 12:49

Vincent's Word Studies

Of myself (ἐξ ἐμαυτοῦ)

Out of myself. This formula occurs only here. The usual expression is ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ. Ἁπό, from, as distinguished from ἐκ, out of, marks rather the point of departure, while ἐκ, including this idea, emphasizes the point of departure as the living and impelling source of that which issues forth. In John 7:17, we read, "whether it be out of God (ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ), or whether I speak from myself (ἀπ' ἐμαυτοῦ)."

Gave (ἔδωκεν)

The best texts read δέδεκεν, the perfect tense, hath given, the result of the gift still abiding. So Rev.

Say - speak (εἴπω - λαλήσω)

The former relating to the substance, and the latter to the form of Jesus' utterances.