Joh 12:50 | KingComments | STEP | As a final testimony, the Lord calls that believing in Him is not possible without believing in the Father. It is as it were a summary of His whole service in this Gospel in the midst of His people and the world. It is about His Sender. It is not possible to seek His honor and not the honor of God. Believing in Him means believing in Him Who sent Him. Believing in Him only for His signs is not a belief that gives eternal life. He who looks closely at Him, that is to say in faith, sees the Father Who sent Him. The Lord again places the greatest emphasis on His unity with His Father. Once again He points to Himself as Light that has come into the world to save people from darkness. This is what happens to everyone who believes in Him. Whoever hears His words but ignores them will not immediately be judged by Him. That is not the purpose for which He came to earth. He did not come to judge, but to save the world ( ). Will someone then be able to reject Him with impunity and pass by His word? No, such a person will certainly be judged at the last day. The standard by which he will be judged is the word the Lord has spoken. It will be clearly stated in the light that such a person has heard the word of the Lord, but consciously disregarded it. It is the word, the ‘logos’, that He has spoken, not the words. By pointing at the ‘logos’ as the means by which He judges, He points at Himself. He is the ‘logos’, a word that indicates that He is what He speaks. The ‘logos’, that is the Son Who has revealed Himself through His word, judges man. The severity of the rejection of Him as the ‘logos’ is that with the word of the Son also the word of the Father Who sent Him is rejected. The Son, in His speaking and acting, is perfectly subject to His Father. He is so one with the Father that rejecting Him means rejecting the Father. For the second time the Lord Jesus speaks here of a commandment that He has received from His Father. The first commandment the Father has given Him is to lay down His life and to take it again ( ). This second commandment concerns everything the Father has told Him to say and to speak. He knows what He speaks about and what the words of the Father mean. He knows those words perfectly. There is nothing hidden to Him in what the Father has told Him to speak. He fully subscribes to those words. He does not pass them on mechanically, but with complete agreement and corresponding sentiments. He knows that the commandment means eternal life for everyone who accepts it. That is why He has spoken everything in the way the Father has told Him in the personal conversation He has had with Him and has not chosen His own form of presentation. He has not gone beyond the words the Father has told Him. He has said exactly that and no more than that because only those words are perfectly attuned to the hearers.

‏ John 12:50

Final Testimony

As a final testimony, the Lord calls that believing in Him is not possible without believing in the Father. It is as it were a summary of His whole service in this Gospel in the midst of His people and the world. It is about His Sender. It is not possible to seek His honor and not the honor of God. Believing in Him means believing in Him Who sent Him. Believing in Him only for His signs is not a belief that gives eternal life. He who looks closely at Him, that is to say in faith, sees the Father Who sent Him. The Lord again places the greatest emphasis on His unity with His Father.

Once again He points to Himself as Light that has come into the world to save people from darkness. This is what happens to everyone who believes in Him. Whoever hears His words but ignores them will not immediately be judged by Him. That is not the purpose for which He came to earth. He did not come to judge, but to save the world (Jn 3:17). Will someone then be able to reject Him with impunity and pass by His word? No, such a person will certainly be judged at the last day.

The standard by which he will be judged is the word the Lord has spoken. It will be clearly stated in the light that such a person has heard the word of the Lord, but consciously disregarded it. It is the word, the ‘logos’, that He has spoken, not the words. By pointing at the ‘logos’ as the means by which He judges, He points at Himself. He is the ‘logos’, a word that indicates that He is what He speaks. The ‘logos’, that is the Son Who has revealed Himself through His word, judges man. The severity of the rejection of Him as the ‘logos’ is that with the word of the Son also the word of the Father Who sent Him is rejected. The Son, in His speaking and acting, is perfectly subject to His Father. He is so one with the Father that rejecting Him means rejecting the Father.

For the second time the Lord Jesus speaks here of a commandment that He has received from His Father. The first commandment the Father has given Him is to lay down His life and to take it again (Jn 10:17-18). This second commandment concerns everything the Father has told Him to say and to speak. He knows what He speaks about and what the words of the Father mean. He knows those words perfectly. There is nothing hidden to Him in what the Father has told Him to speak. He fully subscribes to those words. He does not pass them on mechanically, but with complete agreement and corresponding sentiments.

He knows that the commandment means eternal life for everyone who accepts it. That is why He has spoken everything in the way the Father has told Him in the personal conversation He has had with Him and has not chosen His own form of presentation. He has not gone beyond the words the Father has told Him. He has said exactly that and no more than that because only those words are perfectly attuned to the hearers.