Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 7:16
Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
16. My doctrine is not mine ] ‘The teaching which I give does not originate with Me; that is the reason why I have no need to learn in the schools. He Who sent Me communicates it to Me.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
16 36. The remark made on the Jews’ question in Joh 7:15 applies also to their questions and comments throughout this dialogue. They are too exactly in keeping with what we know of the Jews in our Lord’s day to be the invention of a Greek more than a century later. They “are all exactly what we should expect from the popular mode of interpreting and applying the Messianic prophecies.” S. p. 146.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My doctrine – My teaching, or what I teach. This is the proper meaning of the word doctrine. It is what is taught us, and, as applied to religion, it is what is taught us by God in the Holy Scriptures.
Is not wine – It is not originated by me. Though I have not learned in your schools, yet you are not to infer that the doctrine which I teach is devised or invented by me. I teach nothing that is contrary to the will of God, and which he has not appointed me to teach.
His that sent me – Gods. It is such as he approves, and such as he has commissioned me to teach. The doctrine is divine in its origin and in its nature.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. My doctrine is not mine] Our blessed Lord, in the character of Messiah, might as well say, My doctrine is not mine, as an ambassador might say, I speak not my own words, but his who sent me: and he speaks these words to draw the attention of the Jews from the teaching of man to the teaching of God; and to show them that he was the promised Messiah, the very person on whom, according to the prophet, (Isa 11:2,) the Spirit of Jehovah-the Spirit of wisdom, counsel, understanding, might, and knowledge, should rest.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My doctrine is not mine, considering me as the Son of man; not taught, or to be taught, me by men; not learned out of books, or by the precepts of men; not invented by me; but it is mine as it is the doctrine of the Father that sent me, and I and my Father both are one, and agree in one, 1Jo 5:7,8; and being so, there was no such need that Christ should be learned, in their sense, viz. at the feet of their doctors, and in their schools. But enthusiasts vainly argue from hence, that there is no need of human learning for him who is to be a preacher of the gospel; for Christ was not mere man, but one in whom the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. No such thing will follow from the prophesying of Amos, who was a herdsman, or the apostles, who were fishermen; much less from the preaching of Christ. We must distinguish betwixt an extraordinary and an ordinary calling. And though it be truth, that the ministers of the gospel preach doctrine which is not theirs, but his that sent them; yet it doth not follow, that they must come by the knowledge of this doctrine in the same manner that Christ did, who was in the bosom of the Father, and knew his will, and came from him to communicate it to the world; nor yet in the same manner that the prophets and the apostles came to the knowledge of it, as by Christs vocal instruction. So also by the influence of the Holy Spirit upon them in the days of Pentecost, which abode upon them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16-18. doctrine . . . not mine,c.that is, from Myself unauthorized I am here by commission.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Jesus answered them and said,…. Having heard them express their surprise, and state their objection:
my doctrine is not mine: it was his, as he was God; as such, he was the author of it, it was from him, by the revelation of him; and it was of him, or he was the subject of it, as Mediator; it respected his person as God-man, his offices, as prophet, priest, and King, and his grace, righteousness; and salvation; and it was his, as preached by him as man; it came by him, and first began to be spoken by him; and was so spoken by him, as it never was before, or since: but it was not human; it was not acquired by him, as man; he did not learn it of man; he needed no human teachings; he increased in wisdom without them, from his infancy: they said right, in saying he had never learned; the spirit of wisdom and knowledge rested on high, and the treasures of them were hid in him; nor was it a device or invention of his, as man; it was not from himself as such, but it was from heaven, from his Father: wherefore he adds,
but his that sent me; thereby intimating, that it was of God, and was communicated to him by his Father; from whom he received it, and from whom he had a commission to preach it; so that his doctrine was that wisdom which comes from above, and is pure and peaceable, divine and heavenly, and ought to be received by men.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Mine (). Possessive pronoun, “not mine in origin.” Jesus denies that he is self-taught, though not a schoolman.
But his that sent me ( ). Genitive case of the articular participle (first aorist active of ). His teaching is not self-originated nor is it the product of the schools (see the Talmud in contrast with the New Testament). Jesus often in John uses this idiom of “the one who sent me” of the Father (John 4:34; John 5:23; John 5:24; John 5:30; John 5:37; John 6:38-40; John 6:44; John 7:16; John 7:18; John 7:28, etc.). The bold claim is here made by Jesus that his teaching is superior in character and source to that of the rabbis.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Doctrine [] . Better, teaching, as Rev. Doctrine has acquired a conventional sense which might mislead.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Jesus answered them, and said,” (apekrithe oun autois lesous kai eipen) “Then Jesus responded to them, to their baffled inquiries, and said,” knowing their perplexed, marveling, and murmuring, as He knows what is in man, Joh 2:24-25.
2) “My doctrine is not mine,” (he eme didache ouk estin eme) ”My doctrine is not (does not exist as) mine,” that is, did not originate from me, as yours do from you and/or from a human teacher, from an earthly school, Joh 8:28; Joh 12:49. His teaching was of direct, Divine origin.
3) “But his that sent me.” (ala tou pempsantos me) “But the doctrine of him who sent me,” whose thoughts are as much above human thoughts as the heavens are above the earth, Isa 55:8-9; He was ”that prophet” to whom they were directed, by the Lord and Moses, to heed in all things that He said, Deu 18:15-19; Act 3:22-23; Joh 12:49.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
16. My doctrine is not mine. Christ shows that this circumstance, which was an offense to the Jews, was rather a ladder by which they ought to have risen higher to perceive the glory of God; as if he had said, “When you see a teacher not trained in the school of men, know that I have been taught by God.” For the reason why the Heavenly Father determined that his Son should go out of a mechanic’s workshop, rather than from the schools of the scribes, was, that the origin of the Gospel might be more manifest, that none might think that it had been fabricated on the earth, or imagine that any human being was the author of it. Thus also Christ chose ignorant and uneducated men to be his apostles, and permitted them to remain three years in gross ignorance, that, having instructed them in a single instant, he might bring them forward as new men, and even as angels who had just come down from heaven.
But that of him who sent me. Meanwhile, Christ shows whence we ought to derive the authority of spiritual doctrine, from God alone. And when he asserts that the doctrine of his Father is not his, he looks to the capacity of the hearers, who had no higher opinion of him than that he was a man. By way of concession, therefore, he allows himself to be reckoned different from his Father, but so as to bring forward nothing but what the Father had enjoined. The amount of what is stated is, that what he teaches in the name of his Father is not a doctrine of men, and did not proceed from men, so as to be capable of being despised with impunity. We see by what method he procures authority for his doctrine. It is by referring it to God as its Author. We see also on what ground, and for what reason, he demands that he shall be heard. It is, because the Father sent him to teach. Both of these things ought to be possessed by every man who takes upon himself the office of a teacher, and wishes that he should be believed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.The answer carries them once more to the words uttered by Him. (Comp. Joh. 5:19; Joh. 5:30.) Then he had again and again referred to the Father who sent Him (Joh. 7:24; Joh. 7:36-38), and claimed as His own work the doing of the Fathers will (Joh. 7:30). In the Capernaum synagogue, in the hearing of some of these Jews, He had declared that all who were taught of God, and heard and learned the lesson, would come to Him (Joh. 6:45). There is, then, no ground for their present wonder. The teaching which is His in relation to them, is not His of original source. He claims to be in His humanity as a messenger, carrying the message of Him that sent Him. He is the Word by whom the mind of God is spoken.
Doctrine represents a word which is frequently used in the Gospels, of our Lord, but only here and in the next verse by Him. It has acquired a definite and concrete meaning not found in the original, which is better rendered by teaching (comp., e.g., Mar. 4:2).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
16. My doctrine The words teaching and doctrine mean the same thing.
His that sent me It is God’s own teaching through my lips.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Jesus therefore answered them and said, “My teaching is not mine, but His that sent me. If any man really wants to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself”.’
Jesus answered their amazement and explained the source of His teaching. ‘My teaching is not mine, but His Who sent me. If any man’s will is to do His will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority’. He wanted them to know that it was God who had taught Him, with the result was that His teaching was such that those who really wanted to know and do God’s will would recognise it for what it was. If they were really of God therefore they would recognise that what He spoke was of God. He stressed that He did not speak on His own authority, but on God’s, and that His teaching was such that, to those who judged fairly, it revealed God’s truth. So if they wanted to understand Him and know the truth let them set their hearts right towards God, and then they would genuinely know the truth of what He was saying.
Knowing that the Scribes and Pharisees would never enunciate teaching without quoting the authority of earlier teachers, and that this was what the crowds would expected, Jesus therefore quoted His authority. It was God Who was His authority.
It is significant that while in John’s Gospel Jesus constantly spoke in such a way as to point to His teaching as evidence of His Sonship, comparatively little of that teaching has until now been given to us in the Gospel (apart from in chapter 5). It is quite clear therefore that John is expecting his readers to have read or heard that teaching elsewhere. He assumes a wide knowledge of it. And while it was, of course, true that there was the oral tradition, those who had known Jesus had almost all died out. Thus it can be assumed that the writer was depending on the other Gospels (which he would know about) and the tradition in the churches, as having given the details of Jesus’ teaching necessary to back up His claims. But in view of the fact that there is no evidence in the Gospel of words borrowed from the other Gospels it is doubtful whether he had copies of those Gospels available to him
‘Whether I speak of myself’. Whether the source of His ideas came just from His own head, or whether they came from God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 7:16-17. Jesus answered, &c. “The doctrine which I teach you, is not the product of human wisdom; I have neither been taught it by masters, nor have I acquired it by study; but it is the doctrine of God.” He told them likewise, that they could be at no loss to know whence he or any teacher derived his doctrine, provided they laid aside their prejudices, and were resolved to do the will of God, how contrary soever it might prove to their own inclinations: If any man be determined, or is desirous to do his will, , he shall know, &c. Good men can easily judge of any teacher, whether he and his doctrine come from God, not only because the divine wisdom and goodness are interested to secure such from capital errors, but because they themselves have no predominant evil inclinations to prejudice them against the truth when it appears, and because they can discern how far any doctrine is conformable to the principles of holiness, which they profe
This important passage seems an express declaration, that every upright man to whom the gospel is proposed, will see and own the evidence of its divine authority; which indeed might reasonably have been concluded from the awful judgment denounced on those who presume to reject it.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 7:16 . Jesus at once solves for them the riddle. “The contradictory relation: that of learning in the case of one who had been uninstructed, would be found in my teaching only if it were mine ,” etc.
and . are used in different senses: “the teaching which I give ,” and “it is not my possession , but God’s; ” how far, see Joh 7:17 , comp. Joh 5:19 ; Joh 5:30 .
. ] a carefully-chosen designation, because the Sender has communicated to His messenger, and continually communicates what He is to say in His name. [261]
] here also not: non tam quam , but simply excluding human individuality. Comp. Joh 8:28 , Joh 14:24 .
[261] Bengel (in Wchter in the Beitr. z. Beng. Schrifterklr . 1865, p. 125). “If we may speak after the manner of men, the heavenly Father gives him a collegium privatissimum , and that upon no author .” This relation, however, does not justify such onesided exaggerations as those of Delitzsch, Jesus u. Hillel , 1866.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
Ver. 16. My doctrine is not mine ] As if he had said, this should not be scandalum, sed scala; not a stumblingblock, but a ladder to lift you up to see the Divine handiwork, and to make you say, as Eze 3:12 ; “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place:” since I have my learning from above, and am (as Nicodemus acknowledged) “a teacher sent from God.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
16. ] Here only does our Lord call His teaching , as being now among the , the Rabbis, in the temple. It is often so called by the Evangelists, see reff.
The words may bear two meanings: either, ‘ the sense of Scripture which I teach is not my own, but that in which it was originally penned as a revelation from God; ’ or, My teaching (generally) is not mine, but that of Him who sent me . The latter is preferable, as agreeing better with what follows, and because the former assumes that He was expounding Scripture, which, though probable, is not asserted.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 7:16 . But though not received from them, it was a derived teaching. He is not self-taught. . The teaching which I give has not its source in my knowledge but in Him that sent me. “Der Autodidakt in Wahrheit ein Theodidakt ist,” Holtzmann. The truest self-renunciation is the highest claim. That this claim was true He proceeds to show (1) from the conviction of every one who desired to do God’s will, Joh 7:17 ; and (2) from His own character, Joh 7:18 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
answered . . . and said. See note on Deu 1:41 and App-122. The 1611 edition of the A. Y. omitted “and said”.
My doctrine, &c. The first of seven declarations that the Lord spoke only the Father’s words (See Joh 8:28, Joh 8:47; Joh 12:49; Joh 14:10, Joh 14:24; Joh 17:8).
doctrine = teaching.
sent. See note on Joh 5:23.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
16.] Here only does our Lord call His teaching , as being now among the , the Rabbis, in the temple. It is often so called by the Evangelists, see reff.
The words may bear two meanings:-either, the sense of Scripture which I teach is not my own, but that in which it was originally penned as a revelation from God; or, My teaching (generally) is not mine, but that of Him who sent me. The latter is preferable, as agreeing better with what follows, and because the former assumes that He was expounding Scripture, which, though probable, is not asserted.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 7:16. , is not Mine) not acquired by any labour on My part in learning.- , who sent Me) For this reason, saith He, that I should learn after the manner of men: The Father hath taught Me: ch. Joh 8:28, As My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 7:16
Joh 7:16
Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me-The teaching of Jesus was not from himself. It did not originate with him. It was not derived from studying and learning of men. It was bestowed upon him by God who sent him. Jesus again brings out that he brought no theory or system or will of his own, but he came to do the will of his Father who sent him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
My: Joh 3:11, Joh 3:31, Joh 8:28, Joh 12:49, Joh 12:50, Joh 14:10, Joh 14:24, Joh 17:8, Joh 17:14, Rev 1:1
but: Joh 5:23, Joh 5:24, Joh 5:30, Joh 6:38-40, Joh 6:44
Reciprocal: 1Sa 10:12 – who is their Pro 4:2 – good Isa 29:12 – I am not Isa 59:21 – my words Mat 13:54 – they were Mar 4:2 – in his Joh 3:34 – he Joh 8:26 – and I Joh 16:13 – for Joh 17:7 – they 1Ti 4:6 – good doctrine 2Jo 1:9 – the doctrine
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
This verse answers the questions of the preceding one. Jesus was teaching the doctrine of his Father, and did not need the instruction coming from man.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 7:16. Jesus therefore answered them, and said. My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. It was the practice of Jewish Rabbis to proclaim from whom they received their teaching, and to quote the sayings of the wise men who preceded them. What they proclaimed of themselves the teaching of Jesus proclaims of itself to all worthy listeners. His teaching, though He had never learned it in the sense in which they use the term, is yet not His own; neither in its substance nor in its authority must they count it His. As His works were those which the Father gave Him to accomplish (chap. Joh 5:36), so His words were the expression of the truth which He has heard from God (Joh 8:40), and the Father hath given Him commandment what He shall say (Joh 12:49). Hence His words are Gods words, and the teaching comes with the authority of God. Such teaching is self-evidential, where man really wishes to hear the voice of God: for
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 16, 17. Jesus answered them and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me; 17 if any one wills to do his will, he shall know of the teaching whether it comes from God or whether I speak of myself.
Jesus enters for form’s sake into the thought of His hearers: in order to teach, it is surely necessary to have been the disciple of some one. But He shows that He satisfies this demand also: I have not passed through the teachings of your Rabbis; but I nevertheless come forth from a school, and from a good school. He who gave me my mission, at the same time instructed me as to my message, for I do not derive what I say from my own resources. I limit myself to laying hold of and giving forth with docility His thought.
But how prove this assertion as to the origin of His teaching? Every man, even the most ignorant, is in a condition to do it. For the condition of this proof is a purely moral one. To aspire after doing what is good with earnestness is sufficient. The teaching of Jesus Christ, in its highest import, is in fact only a divine method of sanctification; whoever consequently seeks with earnestness to do the will of God, that is to say, to sanctify himself, will soon prove the efficaciousness of this method, and will infallibly render homage to the divine origin of the Gospel. Several interpreters, especially among the Fathers (Augustine) and the reformers (Luther), have understood by the will of God the commandment as to faith in Jesus Christ: He who is willing to obey God by believing in me, will not be slow in convincing himself by his own experience that he is right in acting thus.
The sense given by Lampe approaches this; he refers the will of God to the precepts of Christian morality: He who is willing to practise what I command will soon convince himself of the divine character of what I teach. Reuss, in like manner: Jesus declares (Joh 7:17) that, in order to comprehend His discourses, one must begin by putting them in practice. The earnest practice of the Gospel law must lead in fact to faith in the Christian dogma. But, true as all these ideas may be in themselves, it is evident that Jesus can here use the words will of God only in a sense understood and admitted by His hearers, and that this term consequently in this context designates the contents of the divine revelation granted to the Israelites through the law and the prophets. The meaning of this saying amounts, therefore, to that of Joh 5:46 : If you earnestly believed Moses, you would believe in me, or to that of Joh 3:21 : He who practices the truth, comes to the light. Powerless to realize the ideal which flees before it in proportion as it believes itself to be drawing near to it, the sincere soul feels itself forced to seek rest at first, and then strength, in the presence of the divine Saviour who offers Himself to it in the Gospel.
Faith is, therefore, not the result of a logical operation; it is formed in the soul as the conclusion of a moral experience: the man believes because his heart finds in Jesus the only effectual means of satisfying the most legitimate of all its wants, that of holiness. , wills, indicates simply aspiration, effort; the realization itself remains impossible, and this it is precisely which impels the soul to faith. The intrinsic and communicative holiness of the Gospel answers exactly to the need of sanctification which impels the soul. See the normal experience of this fact in St. Paul: Rom 7:24; Rom 8:2. Suavis harmonia(between and ), says Bengel. There is a special feature in the teaching of Jesus which will not fail to strike him who is in the way of making the trial indicated in Joh 7:17. This feature will reveal to him in the most decisive way the divine origin of the teaching of Jesus:
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 16
My doctrine; my teaching, my instruction.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
7:16 {5} Jesus answered them, and said, {e} My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
(5) Therefore there are few to whom the gospel appeals, because the giving of serious attention to godliness is very rare.
(e) See above in Joh 5:22 ; and he speaks this in accordance with the opinion of the Jews, as if he said, “My doctrine is not mine, that is, it is not the doctrine of myself, whom you consider to be just a mere man and therefore treat me lightly, but it is his that sent me.”
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus responded by explaining that His knowledge had come from the One who had sent Him, namely, God the Father (cf. Joh 5:19-30). It had not come from Himself. He meant that His was not knowledge that He had dreamed up or arrived at through independent study. Jewish rabbis normally cited other rabbis as the sources of their information. Jesus avoided giving the impression that He was an inventive upstart, but He also implied that His teaching was not simply the continuation of rabbinic tradition. His teaching did not come from the rabbis or from self-study but directly from God.
"It is characteristic of many of the outstanding men of the Bible that they are convinced that they must do what they are doing, and say what they are saying, because they have received a divine commission." [Note: Tasker, p. 104.]