John 7:29

²⁸Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him,²⁹but I know Him, because I am from Him and He sent Me.”

Summary

In this verse, Jesus affirms his divine origin and relationship with God the Father. He declares that he knows God because he is from God and has been sent by Him. This statement reveals Jesus' unique identity as the Son of God and the fulfillment of God's plan for salvation. It underscores the intimate connection between Jesus and the Father, emphasizing the authority and mission entrusted to him by God.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

But I know him: for I am from him - Instead of εἰμὶ, I am, some editions, the Syriac Hieros. read εἷμι, I came, according to the Attics. Nonnus confirms this reading by paraphrasing the word by εληλυθα, I came. As the difference between the two words lies only in the accents, and as these are not found in ancient MSS., it is uncertain which way the word was understood by them: nor is the matter of much moment; both words amount nearly to the same meaning and εἷμι, I came, seems too refined.

John Gill Bible Commentary

Then they sought to take him,.... By force, and carry him before the sanhedrim, in order to be tried and condemned as a blasphemer, being enraged to hear him claim a descent from God, whom they took to be a mere man, the son of Joseph the carpenter: but no man laid hands on him; though they had a good will to it, they had no power to do it, being restrained by the, secret providence of God from it, and awed by the majesty of Christ, which showed itself in his looks and words; and perhaps also they might be afraid of the people, lest they should rise in his favour; and so every man being fearful of being the first that should seize him, no man did: however, so it was ordered by divine providence, that he should not be apprehended at, this time, because his hour was not yet come; to suffer and die, to depart out of this world, and go to the Father: there was a precise time fixed for this in the council and covenant of God, by mutual compact, called "due time"; as his coming into the world is called "the fulness of time"; nor could he die before that time, and therefore no man was suffered to lay hands on him, whatever good will he had to it. And there is a time for every man's death, nor can any man die before that time, or live beyond it; see Ecc 3:2; and this is the sense of the ancient Jews; for they say (h), "a man before his years, or his time, does not die;'' that is, before he comes to the years appointed for him: and they ask (i), "who is there that goes before his time? i.e. dies before his time?'' And it is said (k) of a certain person who was in his house, and , "his time was come"; and he died without sickness: though it must be owned some of them were otherwise minded, and say (l), that death, by the hand of heaven, or God, shortens a man's years; and that there are some reasons for which righteous men depart out of this world before their time is come; and particularly of Enoch they say, God took him before his time was come (m). (h) T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 114. 2. & Sanhedrin, fol. 29. 1. & Bava Metzia, fol. 85. 1. (i) T. Bab. Chagiga, fol. 4. 2. (k) Zohar in Exod. fol. 71. 4. (l) Piske Tosephot. Sabbat, art. 113. (m) Zohar in Exod. fol. 4. 4.