I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
Parallel Translations
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I have come in my Father’s name, and you don’t receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
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I am come in my fathers name and ye receave me not. Yf another shall come in his awne name him will ye receave.
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I am come in my Fathers Name, and ye receiue me not: if another shall come in his owne name, him will ye receiue.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to John 5:43 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 24:5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
- John 10:25 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 17:4-6 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 the glory which I had with you before the world existed. I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word.
- Hebrews 5:4-5 Nobody takes this honor on himself, but he is called by God, just like Aaron was. So also Christ didn’t glorify himself to be made a high priest, but it was he who said to him, “You are my Son. Today I have become your father.”
- John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.
- John 8:28-29 Jesus therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things. He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
- Matthew 24:24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
- John 12:28 Father, glorify your name!” Then a voice came out of the sky, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.”
- John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
- Acts 5:36-37 For before these days Theudas rose up, making himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves. He was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the enrollment, and drew away some people after him. He also perished, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 43. I have come in my Father’s name The…
43. I have come in my Father’s name The false prophets do indeed boast of this title, as the Pope, in the present day, boasts with open mouth that he is Christ’s Deputy or Vicar; and under this very disguise has Satan deceived wretched men from the beginning. But Christ here means the reality, and not a hypocritical pretense; for when he testifies that he has come in his Father’s name, he means not only that the Father has sent him, but that he faithfully executes the commission which he has received. By this mark he distinguishes the lawful teachers of the Church from spurious and pretended teachers. This passage, therefore, teaches that we ought boldly to reject all who exalt themselves, and, in their own name, claim authority over souls; for he who is desirous to be reckoned a servant of God ought to have nothing separate from God. Now, if the whole doctrine of the Pope be examined, even the blind will see that he has come in his own name.
If another come in his own name, him you will receive. That the Jews do not love God, and have no reverence for him, Christ proves by this argument, that they will eagerly receive the false prophets, while they refuse to obey God; for he takes for granted, that it is a sign of a wicked and ungodly mind, when men disregard truth and willingly assent to falsehoods. If it be objected that this is generally done rather through ignorance than through malice, the answer is easy. No man is exposed to the impostures of Satan, except so far as, through some wicked disposition, he prefers falsehood to truth. For how comes it that we are deaf when God speaks, and that Satan finds us ready and active, but because we are averse to righteousness, and of our own accord desire iniquity? Though it ought to be observed that here Christ speaks chiefly of those whom God peculiarly enlightened, as he bestowed on the Jews this privilege, that, having been instructed in his Law, they might keep the right way of salvation. It is certain that such persons lend an ear to false teachers for no other reason than because they wish to be deceived. Accordingly, Moses says that, when false prophets arise, this is intended to prove and try the people if they love the Lord their God, (Deuteronomy 13:3.) In many persons, no doubt, there appears to be an innocent and guileless simplicity, but their eyes are undoubtedly blinded by the hypocrisy which lurks within their minds. For it is certain that God never shuts the door to those who knock, (Matthew 7:8,) never disappoints those who sincerely pray to him, (Isaiah 45:19.) Justly, therefore, does Paul ascribe it to the vengeance of God, when the power of deceiving is given to Satan,
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that they who have rejected the truth, and taken pleasure in unrighteousness, may believe a lie, and says that they perish who did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved, (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 12.)
In this manner is discovered the hypocrisy of many who, devoted to the impostures and wicked superstitions of the Pope, burn with envenomed rage against the Gospel; for if they had hearts disposed to the fear of God, that fear would likewise produce obedience.
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 43 I am come in my Father’s name, and…
43 I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
Ver. 43. Him will ye receive] As they did Barchochab; and that Pseudo-Moses (the devil he was) that deceived so many of them in Crete, A.D. 434, persuading them to cast themselves after him into the sea, which should part, and make them way into their own country again, whereby many of them perished.
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 I am come clothed with an authority from my…
I am come clothed with an authority from my Father, sent by him for this very purpose, to reveal his will to men for their salvation; I speak, I do nothing but by the authority of my Father which sent me; nor do I aim at my own glory, but the glory of him that sent me: yet you give no credit to my words, nor embrace me, as him whom God hath sent for the Saviour of man.
If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive; through the corruption of your hearts, and the just judgment of God, giving you up to strong delusions to believe lies, 2Th 2:11. If any seducers come, without any authority from God, never sent of him, nor speaking his words, nor seeking his glory, or your good, you will readily enough receive them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain How can ye believe, which receive honour one of…
How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another?.... As the Scribes and Pharisees did, who were ambitious of honour and respect from one another, as well as from the common people; doing all they did to be seen of men, and to gain applause among them: choosing the uppermost rooms at feasts, and chief places in the synagogues, and delighting in the pompous title of Rabbi, Rabbi; and were in expectation of the temporal kingdom of the Messiah, when they hoped to be advanced to places of great honour and profit; and all this was an hinderance to them from believing in Christ, who appeared in such an abject form, and made so mean a figure; whose doctrine was so unsuitable to their carnal minds, and whose followers were so poor and contemptible; and besides it was made a law among them, that those who professed him to be the Messiah, should be cast out of the synagogue: hence many who were convinced that he was the Messiah, durst not confess him, lest they should lose their honour and respect among men, which they preferred to the praise of God:
and seek not the honour that cometh from God only; or "from the only God", as the Vulgate Latin; or "from the one God", as the Syriac, Arabic, and Persic versions render it: the honour that comes from him is, that of being born of him; of being a son or daughter of his, having that new name, which is better than that of sons and daughters of the greatest princes on earth; of being made all glorious within, and clothed with gold of Ophir, with raiment of needlework, with the robe of righteousness, and garments of salvation; of being translated into the spiritual kingdom of Christ, and made kings and priests unto God by him; of being set on the same throne with Christ, having on a crown of life and righteousness, and enjoying a kingdom and glory; being heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; which honour all the saints have, or shall have, and which these men cared not for.
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 If another shall come - Any false Christ.
If another shall come - Any false Christ.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 43. I am come in my Father's name]…
Verse 43. I am come in my Father's name] With all his influence and authority. Among the rabbins, it was essential to a teacher's credit that he should be able to support his doctrine by the authority of some eminent persons who had gone before. Hence the form, Coming in the name of another.
If another shall come in his own name] Having no Divine influence, and no other authority than his own, him ye will receive. That this was notoriously the case may appear from Josephus, Antiq. b. xviii. c. 14; Ac 5:36-37; Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. b. iv. c. 6. It is by the just judgment of God, that those who will not believe the truth of God shall be so given up as to believe the most absurd of lies. For an account of these false Christs, See Clarke on Mt 24:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I am come in my Father’s name - By…
I am come in my Father’s name - By the authority of God; or giving proof that I am sent by him.
If another shall come in his own name - A false teacher setting up himself, and not even pretending to have a divine commission. The Jews were much accustomed to receive and follow particular teachers. In the time of Christ they were greatly divided between the schools of Hillel and Shammai, two famous teachers.
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Ye will receive - You will follow, or obey him as a teacher.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain if another shall come, &c.--How strikingly has this been…
if another shall come, &c.--How strikingly has this been verified in the history of the Jews! "From the time of the true Christ to our time, sixty-four false Christs have been reckoned by whom they have been deceived" [BENGEL].
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 43. In my Father’s name—The truly sent of God.
43. In my Father’s name—The truly sent of God.
In… own name—Though pretendedly sent of God. No less than sixty-four false Messiahs have risen to deceive and destroy that deluded race.
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 43. and ye receive me not] The tragic tone…
43. and ye receive me not] The tragic tone as in Joh_5:39-40, ‘I come with the highest credentials, as My Father’s representative (comp. Joh_8:42), and ye reject Me.’
come in his own name] As a false Messiah or as Antichrist. Sixty-four pretended Messiahs have been counted. Comp. Mat_24:24.
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 (43) I am come in my Father’s name.—So far…
(43) I am come in my Father’s name.—So far from self-assertion or honour-seeking, He came in the name of, as representing, the Father, guided only by His will, doing only His work (Joh_4:34). Had they loved the Father, they must have received and reverenced His Son (Joh_8:42; Mat_21:37 et seq.). The absence of love is at the root of the rejection. The true Israelite became the true Christian (Joh_1:47), but these were not true members of the Old Covenant, and could not therefore pass into the New.
If another shall come in his own name.—Comp. the direct prophecy of false Christs and prophets in Mat_24:24, and see Note there. The word “come” in this clause links the meaning with that of the “come” in the previous clause, and is to be understood of a false Messianic claim in opposition to the true. Sixty-four false Christs have been enumerated as appearing after the true Christ, and these words are often taken as a prophecy of one of the most famous of these, as Bar-Kochba. Not a few of the Fathers have understood the words of Antichrist. Perhaps the only definite reference is to the mental condition of the Jews. They would receive any other who came in his own authority, and seeking his own glory. There would be no higher principle to which everything must yield. The seeker of power would fulfil their carnal interpretation of Messianic hopes. He would flatter and honour them, and therefore they would receive him.
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 I have come in the name (i.e. in the…
I have come in the name (i.e. in the power, with the credentials, with the encompassing revelation) of my Father, and ye receive me not. Your idea of the Father"s glory is so profoundly different from the reality, that you do not recognize it when it is offered you and shining over you. Christ did not profess to have come in his own name. He was not a mere evolution of humanity, or of Israel, or of the house of David. He was the Only Begotten of the Father, born from above, sent down from heaven. The language of the world was, "This is not Divine;" "It is too gentle, too gracious, too sympathetic for God!" The religious world listened eagerly for some echo of the trumpet peals of Sinai. It desired a king greater than Solomon, a prophet more terrible than Elijah. When he came with the real glory robes of the love of God, and with the majesty of the Name of the Lord, there was widespread disappointment and cruel rejection of his commission. Should another come in his own (proper, peculiar) name, that is, with no testimony from heaven, seeking "honour (doxa , glory) from men," creating a sovereignty by enlisting the voices of men, compromising with evil, making no warfare against the power of the world, allowing the legitimacy of the throne of the prince of this world; should he come in his own name, alas! him (that one) ye will receive. The eagerness on the part of the Jews to find the Messiah has led them to accept in some sort no fewer than sixty-four false Christs (Schudt, "Judische Merkwurdigkeit," 6:27-30; Bengel and Meyer). Nor must the Christian Church take the flattering unction that it is free from this charge. The teacher that can utilize to the widest extent the fashionable worldliness, and can mingle the pungent human condiment with the princely food of the King"s banqueting house, is he who at the present hour meets with the loudest response and the readiest reception. There is solemn warning here for statesman and author, artist and preacher.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I am come in My Fathers name, and ye…
Joh_5:43
I am come in My Fathers name, and ye receive Me not.
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Whence learn
I. Albeit Christ be God over all, equal with the Father, and Lord over His own house, and so acts in His own name, yet IT PLEASED HIM TO CONDESCEND as Mediator, not only to purchase life to them that come to Him, but to COME into the world CLOTHED WITH A COMMISSION FROM THE FATHER to make offer of this purchased life, that by His condescendence He might commend His love to His people, and teach them humility, and not to run on a calling unsent, and that we might look on Him as approved of the Father, and that such as come to Him the Father will accept them, for saith He, I am come in My Fathers name (see Php_2:3; Php_2:6-7, etc.; Mat_3:17; Heb_5:4-5).
II. CHRIST thus coming IS TO BE RECEIVED, His doctrine to be heard, Himself to be acknowledged for such in His person, offices, commission, and benefits, as He declareth Himself to be; to be rested on and embraced, to be employed and submitted to as such, for so is imported in that they should receive Him.
III. Albeit Christ be the great Ambassador of the Father, not a servant, but the Son (Mat_21:37). And albeit He was singular in His admiration of His office, mad all tending to the good of sinners, YET SUCH IS THE PERVERSENESS OF THE WORLD AS NOT TO MAKE HIM WELCOME; for it is the peculiar privilege of the elect to be drawn to Him, and others, they neither see His excellency, nor feel their need of Him; therefore saith He, I am come in My Fathers name, and ye receive Me not.
IV. SUCH AS REJECT CHRIST ARE DESTITUTE OF THE LOVE OF GOD, nor have they any evidence of respect to Him, since Christ is the clearest image of the Father, and cometh in His name, and the Father will not be acknowledged but in add through Him. Therefore by this doth He prove that challenge (Joh_5:42).
V. WHEN CHRIST MANIFESTS HIMSELF to the world, IT IS USUAL WITH SATAN TO HOUND OUT SEDUCERS AND FALSE TEACHERS, to study to bear him down, to seduce souls, and by their courses to make the way of truth odious; for so is imported that another shall come, pretending either to be the Christ, or to hold Him out to others (see Mat_24:5; Mat_24:24; Act_5:36-37).
VI. ALBEIT FALSE TEACHERS PRETEND TO COME IN GOD AND CHRISTS NAME (Mat_24:5), YET THEY DO BUT COME IN THEIR OWN, as having no commission when they run, as malting themselves, their reputation and advantage, their chief aim in their undertaking, and as speaking the imaginations of their own heart and brain, without any warrant from God; for another shall come in His own name.
VII. SUCH AS EMBRACE NOT CHRIST MAY TAKE WORSE IN HIS ROOM, and will easily receive and embrace false teachers and seducers. Mens nature is propense to evil courses, and is readiest to be affected with what is wrong. And seducers are more ready to serve mens humours than faithful ministers may be, and withal it is Gods just judgment on the world to give them up to such, since they will not receive the love of the truth (2Th_2:10-12). Therefore saith He, If another come in his own name, him ye will receive. This is the heinous sin of men, to affront Christ, to respect Satan in his messengers, before God in His Son, as to prefer lies to truth. And it is their dreadful punishment to be given up to such delusions, because they will not see the light, or do receive it only as it may serve their turn, or weary of the light, and walk not answerable to it. And men should be ashamed of their errors, as being their plague, and a proclamation that they have not received the love of the truth. (G. Hutcheson.)
He who despises the Dove (Joh_1:42) falls a prey to the frogs Rev_16:13). (R. Berser, D. D.)
There is light for those loving light, and darkness for those loving darkness. (Pascal.)
Robert Owen rejected Christianity, and died a believer in spirit-rapping. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 in my Father's name
in my Father's name
Here the word "name" is a metonym that symbolizes God's power and authority. AT: "I have come with my Father's authority" (See: Metonymy)
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Father
This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)
receive
welcome as a friend
If another should come in his own name
The word "name" is a metonym that represents authority. AT: "If another should come in his own authority" (See: Metonymy)
How can you believe, you who accept praise ... God?
This remark appears in the form of a question in order to add emphasis. AT: "There is no way you can believe because you accept praise ... God!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
believe
This means to trust in Jesus.
translationWords
God the Father
receive
believe
praise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.