John 14:10

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ¹  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ²  but the Father residing in me performs ³  his miraculous deeds. ⁴ 

John 18:20

18:20 Jesus replied, ⁵  “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues ⁶  and in the temple courts, ⁷  where all the Jewish people ⁸  assemble together. I ⁹  have said nothing in secret.

[14:10]  ¹ tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egw en tw patri kai Jo pathr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteuei") expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menwn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.

[14:10]  ² tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ³ tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ⁴ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[18:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[18:20]  ⁶ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[18:20]  ⁷ tn Grk “in the temple.”

[18:20]  ⁸ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people generally, for whom the synagogues and the temple courts in Jerusalem were important public gathering places. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish religious leaders” in v. 12.

[18:20]  ⁹ tn Grk “And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.