do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
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John 10:36-38 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture can’t be broken), do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’ If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
Parallel Translations
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do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God?’
If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me.
But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”
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saye ye then to him whom the father hath sainctified and sent into the worlde thou blasphemest because I sayd I am the sonne of God?
If I do not the workes of my father beleve me not.
But if I do though ye beleve not me yet beleve the workes that ye maye knowe and beleve that the father is in me and I in him.
Show all 3 translations
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Say ye of him, whome the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the worlde, Thou blasphemest, because I said, I am the Sonne of God?
If I doe not the workes of my Father, beleeue me not.
But if I doe, then though ye beleeue not mee, yet beleeue the workes, that ye may knowe and beleeue, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Cross-references (55)
- John 10:30 (v38) I and the Father are one.”
- John 14:20 (v38) In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
- John 10:25 (vv37–38) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you don’t believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name, these testify about me.
- John 3:17 (v36) For God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
- John 14:9-11 (v38) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and do you not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How do…
Show all 54 cross-references
- Jeremiah 1:5 (v36) “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
- John 3:2 (v38) The same came to him by night, and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that…
- John 5:17-18 (v36) But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, so I am working, too.” For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill…
- John 17:21-23 (v38) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- Acts 2:22 (v38) “Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved by God to you by mighty works and wonders and signs which God did by…
- John 15:24 (v37) If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now they have seen and also hated both me and…
- John 5:36 (v38) But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I…
- John 6:27 (v36) Don’t work for the food which perishes, but for the food which remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the…
- John 10:30-33 (v36) I and the Father are one.” Therefore Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my…
- John 17:11 (v38) I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have…
- John 20:28 (v36) Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
- John 20:31 (v36) but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
- Acts 4:8-12 (v38) Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “You rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we are examined today concerning…
- Psalms 2:2 (v36) The kings of the earth take a stand, and the rulers take counsel together, against Yahweh, and against his Anointed, saying,
- Psalms 2:6-12 (v36) “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.” I will tell of the decree: Yahweh said to me, “You are my son. Today I have become your…
- Isaiah 61:1-3 (v36) The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me, because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken…
- Matthew 27:43 (v36) He trusts in God. Let God deliver him now, if he wants him; for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ”
- Luke 1:35 (v36) The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one…
- John 3:34 (v36) For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
- John 5:30 (v36) I 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…
- John 6:38 (v36) For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- John 6:57 (v36) As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he will also live because of me.
- John 6:69 (v36) We have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
- John 9:35-37 (v36) Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of God?” He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that…
- John 17:4-5 (v36) I glorified you on the earth. I have accomplished the work which you have given me to do. Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with…
- John 17:8 (v36) for 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. They have…
- John 17:18 (v36) As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.
- John 17:21 (v36) that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that…
- John 19:7 (v36) The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
- Romans 1:4 (v36) who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our…
- Romans 9:5 (v36) of whom are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God, blessed forever. Amen.
- Isaiah 11:2-5 (v36) Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of…
- Isaiah 42:1 (v36) “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.
- Isaiah 42:3 (v36) He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a dimly burning wick. He will faithfully bring justice.
- Isaiah 49:1-3 (v36) Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: Yahweh has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned…
- Isaiah 49:6-8 (v36) Indeed, he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of…
- Isaiah 55:4 (v36) Behold, I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the peoples.
- Matthew 11:20-24 (v37) Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin!…
- Matthew 26:63-66 (v36) But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the…
- Matthew 27:54 (v36) Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared…
- John 5:31 (v37) “If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.
- John 5:36-37 (v36) But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I…
- John 8:42 (v36) 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…
- John 10:32 (v37) Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from my Father. For which of those works do you stone me?”
- John 12:37-40 (v37) But though he had done so many signs before them, yet they didn’t believe in him, that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled,…
- John 14:10 (v37) Don’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…
- Romans 8:3 (v36) For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for…
- Galatians 4:4 (v36) But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,
- 1 John 4:9-14 (v36) By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is…
54 distinct cross-references across this passage (55 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (16 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36. Whom the Father hath sanctified. There is a…
36. Whom the Father hath sanctified. There is a sanctification that is common to all believers. But here Christ claims for himself something far more excellent, namely, that he alone was separated from all others, that the power of the Spirit and the majesty of God might be displayed in him; as he formerly said, that him hath God the Father sealed, (John 6:27.) But this refers strictly to the person of Christ, so far as he is manifested in the flesh. Accordingly, these two things are joined, that he has been sanctified and sent into the world. But we must also understand for what reason and on what condition he was sent It was to bring salvation from God, and to prove and exhibit himself, in every possible way, to be the Son of God.
Do you say that I blaspheme? The Arians anciently tortured this passage to prove that Christ is not God by nature, but that he possesses a kind of borrowed Divinity. But this error is easily refuted, for Christ does not now argue what he is in himself, but what we ought to acknowledge him to be, from his miracles in human flesh. For we can never comprehend his eternal Divinity, unless we embrace him as a Redeemer, so far as the Father hath exhibited him to us. Besides, we ought to remember what I have formerly suggested, that Christ does not, in this passage, explain fully and distinctly what he is, as he would have done among his disciples; but that he rather dwells on refuting the slander of his enemies.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath…
36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?
Ver. 36. Hath sanctified and sent] Sanctified, that is, anointed, and that in both his natures, as whole Christ. For his anointing imported, 1. His consecration or ordination to the office of a Mediator, and so the Godhead also was anointed. 2. Qualification or effusion of fulness of graces; as the holy oil was compounded of divers spices, so the manhood, and that without measure, as far as a finite nature was capable of.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv36–38 Suppose I were no more than a mere man,…
Suppose I were no more than a mere man, yet being sanctified, that is, set apart of God for the special work of man’s redemption, and sent of God into the world with commission both to reveal and to do his will, yet dare you say that I blaspheme,
because I said, I am the Son of God? In the place {viz. Psa 82:6} where God said of magistrates, Ye are gods, he also added, all of you are children of the Most High; you have therefore no reason to rage at me, though I did say I was the Son of God; being one whom the Father hath in his eternal counsels set apart for this great and special work, and actually by his providence sent into the world for the finishing and despatching of it. But we must take heed that we do not understand our Saviour here, as if he in another sense assumed to him the title of the Son of God; it was enough for him at present to assert, that the title well enough belonged to him, if he indeed had been no more than the Son of man, as they said.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v37 Here we have a second argument, by which our…
Here we have a second argument, by which our Saviour proves, that it was no blasphemy to call himself God; but that he was God in very deed; namely, an argument taken from his works: If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not; and the argument runs thus; If (says Christ) I do those miraculous works, which no power less than a divine power can effect, then you ought by these works to be led to believe and acknowledge, that I am truly and really God: but the works which I do are the effect and product of an omnipotent power, therefore you ought to believe, that I am one in essence with the Father, there being a mutual in-existence of one person in the other, so that he Father is in me, and I in him; and thus I and the Father are one.
Learn hence, That Christ never required of his disciples and followers an implicit faith, or a blind obedience; but as he submitted his doctrine to the trial of reason, so he submitted his miracles to the examination and judgment of sense: therefore he says, If I do not the works of my Father, that is, divine works, believe me not to be a divine person.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv36–38 If I do not the works of my Father,....…
If I do not the works of my Father,.... Not only what the Father had given him to finish, and which he wrought by him as man, but such as were as great as the Father had done, and were equal to them; and which could not be done by any, but by the Father, or by one that is equal with him:
believe me not: Christ appeals to his miracles as proofs of his deity, sonship, and Messiahship, and desires no other credit than what they demand; see Mat 11:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv36, 38 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified,…
Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world - This sanctification (whereby he is essentially the Holy One of God) is mentioned as prior to his mission, and together with it implies, Christ was God in the highest sense, infinitely superior to that wherein those Judges were so called.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv37–38 Verse 37. If I do not the works, &c.]…
Verse 37. If I do not the works, &c.] I desire you to believe only on the evidence of my works: if I do not do such works as God only can perform, then believe me not.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v37 Joh 10:37-39. If I do not the works of…
Joh 10:37-39. If I do not the works of my Father, &c. — When I claim the character of the Son of God, I do not expect to be credited merely on my own affirmation: if I do not such glorious works as could not be performed by any but a divine agent, believe me not: but if I do — If it be apparent that I do such works, though you believe not me, and are regardless of my own testimony in the case, yet, at least, believe the works; and let their evidence remove the prejudices you have entertained; that ye may know, &c., that the Father is in me, and I in him — Namely, by such a union as abundantly justifies the expression which seems to give you such peculiar offence. In other words, Though ye do not believe what I say concerning my personal dignity, on my own authority, you ought to believe it on account of my miracles, which are plainly of such a kind, that it is impossible for any deceiver to perform them; they are the works of God himself, and therefore you ought to consider them as such. Therefore they sought again to take him — For this defence was so far from pacifying them, that they were rather the more enraged at him through it. But he escaped out of their hand — Withdrew himself, as he had done before, in an extraordinary manner. See Joh 8:59; Luk 4:30.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v37 though ye believe not me, believe the works--There was…
though ye believe not me, believe the works--There was in Christ's words, independently of any miracles, a self-evidencing truth, majesty and grace, which those who had any spiritual susceptibility were unable to resist (Joh 7:46; Joh 8:30). But, for those who wanted this, "the works" were a mighty help. When these failed, the case was desperate indeed.
that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him--thus reiterating His claim to essential oneness with the Father, which He had only seemed to soften down, that He might calm their rage and get their ear again for a moment.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36. Father hath sanctified—Hath set apart, has devoted to…
36. Father hath sanctified—Hath set apart, has devoted to a holy use. It is the visible man, who by the incarnation is thus set apart and sent into the world, that is touched by the argument thus far. Jesus applies thus his argument to his humanity in order to meet their phrase being a man. A man may be included in the divine name and dignity.
Son of God—For Son of God he may be in a higher sense than magistrates are gods.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–38 36. Say ye] ‘Ye’ with great emphasis, ‘Do ye,…
36. Say ye] ‘Ye’ with great emphasis, ‘Do ye, in opposition to the Scripture, say?’
of him, whom the Father hath sanctified] Omit ‘hath;’ both verbs are aorists. This also is emphatic, in opposition to ‘them unto whom the word of God came.’ Men on whom God’s word has conferred a fragment of delegated authority may be called ‘gods’ (Elohim) without scruple; He, Whom the Father Himself sanctified and sent, may not be called Son of God (no article before ‘Son’) without blasphemy! By ‘sanctified’ is meant something analogous to the consecration of Jeremiah before his birth for the work of a Prophet. (Jer_1:5). When the Son was sent into the world He was consecrated for the work of the Messiah, and endowed with the fulness of grace and truth (see on Joh_1:14), the fulness of power (Joh_3:35), the fulness of life (Joh_5:26). In virtue of this Divine sanctification He becomes ‘the Holy One of God’ (Joh_6:69; Luk_4:34). See on Joh_17:17; Joh_17:19, the only other passages in S. John’s writings where the word occurs.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv36–38 (36) Whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into…
(36) Whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world.—Better, Whom the Father sanctified, and sent into the world. The tense refers to the time of His consecration to His Messianic work, and to the Incarnation, which was the commencement of it.
Because I said, I am the Son of God.—He had not said this in express words, but, as we have seen, it is directly implied in Joh_10:29-30, and the Jews had so understood what He said (Joh_10:33).
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So far, then, the argument is simply a technical one, such as formed the staple of those customary in Rabbinic schools, and based on the letter of the Scriptures. The law (Psalm) applied the term “Elohim” (gods) to men representing God; no word of that Scripture could fail to hold good; how much more, therefore (a minori ad majus), could the term Son of God be applied to Him who was not a man consecrated to any earthly office, but consecrated by God, and sent into the world to represent God to man. (Comp. Note on Joh_1:18.) Their charge of blasphemy is, on their own principles, without the shadow of foundation. But in these words there is a deeper meaning than this technical one. When we speak of “men representing God,” we are already in thought foreshadowing the central truth of the Incarnation. Priests who offered sacrifices for sins, and kings who ruled God’s people, and prophets who told forth God’s will, were consecrated to their holy office because there was the divine in them which could truly be called “god.” Every holy life was in its degree a type of the Incarnate life of the Son of God. But He was the ideally true Priest sacrificing Himself for the world, the ideally true Prophet declaring God’s will in its fulness, the ideally true King ruling in righteousness. Every holy life was as a ray of the divine glory manifest in human flesh, but all these rays were centred in the nimbus of glory which rested as a crown on the head of Jesus Christ.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv36–38 If it be so, Say ye of him whom…
If it be so, Say ye of him whom the Father sanctified (or, consecrated), and sent into the world. The order of these words requires us to conceive of this consecration as occurring previously to the incarnation of the eternal Son. Before his birth into the world he entered into relations with the Father to undertake a work of indescribable importance. He was destined, or designated, or appointed, and then sent to do this sublime deed of redemption. Unlike those to whom the eternal Loges came, conferring thereby honorific titles, and calling them to occasional and alas! His discharged duties, he was the eternal Word himself, and he was moreover (as those old judges (lid) "to die like men," to lay down that life in order that he might take it again; consequently, he asks, with sublime self-consciousness, "Say ye of him, thus consecrated, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am Son of God?" It is remarkable that Christ should, instead of repeating the phrase, "I and the Father are oneone as we have seen, in power and purpose and attribute imply that in that former saying he had but told them he was "Son of God," in a sense to which the old Hebrew kings, notwithstanding their theocratic symbolism and mysterious names of honor, could not aspire. This is clearly a bold utterance of the Messianic dignity. (cf. Joh_1:49 Joh_5:19, Joh_5:20) The fact that he continually treated the two ideas of Father and Son as correlative (Joh_8:19; of. Joh_9:35-37 Joh_14:7-13, etc.) makes the one assertion an equivalent of the other. This is a much greater claim than that yielded to the judges of old, and it is a new revelation of the Father and of the Son. Moreover, he showed them that there were many anticipations, foreshadowings of the incarnation of God in their own Scripture. We have an argument from the less to the greater, but one which, while it technically freed him from the charges of blasphemy, revealed the age-long preparation that had been made for the union between the Infinite and finite, between the Creator and creature, between the Father and his child, which was effected in himself. Some may have supposed that in the leveling up of the theocratic adumbrations of the Incarnation, he was virtually relinquishing the uniqueness of his own; but the following words, and the interpretation put on them by his hearers, answer such a charge.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v36 kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield "Mat 4:8").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v37 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus finishes responding to the Jews.
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Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
believe me
Here the word "believe" means to accept or trust what Jesus said is true.
believe in the works
Here "believe in" is to acknowledge that the works Jesus does are from the Father.
the Father is in me and that I am in the Father
These are idioms that express the close personal relationship between God and Jesus. AT: "My Father and I are completely joined together as one" (See: Idiom)
went away out of their hand
The word "hand" is a metonym that represents the custody or possession of the Jewish leaders. AT: "got away from them again" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
works
God the Father
believe
know
understand
seize
hand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v38 10:38 Jesus’ miraculous works should help true believers know…
10:38 Jesus’ miraculous works should help true believers know and understand that the full reality of God dwells in Jesus.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.