Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
His teaching did not originate with Himself but came from the Father who sent Him as the source of His authority and message. Anyone who is willing to do God's will can know whether teaching is from God, because that willingness opens heart and mind to distinguish one who speaks for God from one who speaks for himself for his own glory. This discernment does not come by natural ability, learning, or argument but by a teachable heart that surrenders sin, obeys the light already given, and keeps God's commandments expressed in His Word. His teaching agrees fully with the Scriptures and the law given at Sinai, restoring old truths rather than introducing new ones, so all religious teaching must be judged by the Bible.
Origin and Setting
My doctrine is not Mine but His that sent Me declares that Jesus' teaching did not originate with Himself but came from the Father, God who sent Him. The Father is the source of all strength and wisdom from whom that teaching flows. He is likewise the source of Jesus' authority and message as a teacher of truth. The saying belongs to Jesus' answer when the rulers confronted Him, questioned His authority to teach, and sought to redirect attention toward their own authority.
He spoke it in the temple about the midst of the feast to Jews who marveled how He knew letters having never learned. They knew He had not studied under the scribes and teachers or in their schools, and that He had lived in obscurity and under unfavorable circumstances for gaining knowledge, and they did not believe He was the Son of God. He answered their unspoken wondering about how He obtained His wisdom with reasoning from Scripture that was clear and powerful. That reasoning astonished those who sought to accuse Him.
Discerning Divine Truth
Whether a teaching is from God is known by willingness to do God's will, for that willingness opens the mind and heart to honest inquiry and diligent search and study of truth. The one who sincerely yields in obedience is enabled to discern whether a teacher speaks for God or speaks for himself for personal or selfish glory. The teaching is not from the speaker himself but from the Father who sent him, the source of all strength and wisdom, and this is the evidence of authority as a teacher of truth.
Recognition of that divine origin does not depend merely on intellectual ability, natural talent, acquired learning, learned testimonies, eloquent speeches, or deep arguments. No natural talent or learned knowledge can take the place of knowing God's will, and knowledge and other advantages do not help when the heart is closed to truth. A person need not be a logician to know for himself whether the gospel is divine or human, true or false, but must be teachable, hungering for the bread of life and opening the heart to the impressions of the Spirit.
Truth must be received in the heart through grace, with willing surrender of sin and of habits opposed to its principles. There must be obedience to the light already given and readiness to obey truth as soon as it is seen. The teachable person who welcomes the light and lives by it receives more light and comes to understand the gospel as God's plan of salvation, while those unwilling to seek and obey fail to understand, as the Pharisees failed to understand because they would not seek and obey.
God's will by which doctrine is tested is expressed in His Word and in the Ten Commandments, so doing God's will by obeying them and keeping His commandments is the way to know the doctrine. Obedience to His law brings recognition that true doctrine is from God, who is its source. God's kingdom is controlled by laws that must be obeyed, and as obedience to a father's laws brings order and happiness to a family, so obedience to God's mandates brings order and true discernment.
That obedience is eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and dwelling in Him and Him in them. It manifests return love for the love shown at Calvary, proves harmony with the Redeemer, and requires cultivated faith in God and His Word. The bread of life profits the soul only when received as a message from God into willing and obedient hearts.
Scripture Harmony and Witness
His teaching came from the Father who sent Him and stood in perfect harmony with the Old Testament Scriptures and the law given at Sinai. He was not introducing a new doctrine but restoring old truths by freeing them from human error and placing them in their true setting. His teaching and example of kindness, mercy, and love reveal God's will and character. The principles of God's government are in harmony with His teaching to love enemies.
Religious teachings must be tested and judged by Scripture rather than accepted on human authority. Scripture teaches the fundamental doctrines of faith with authority and clarity. The teachings of church fathers are to be accepted only when they agree with the Bible. Humanly enacted doctrines that oppose God's commands and word have no authority and cannot be imposed as necessary for salvation.
His example teaches those who speak sacred truths to bear the message of God's Word with certainty as what they know. Truth must be a living power in the heart of the one who communicates it. As He was in the midst teaching, so He is in the midst speaking through His servants presenting clear, precious truth as it is in Jesus. Then the gospel trumpet gives no uncertain sound and the seed is sown while the Holy Spirit makes the impression, for one may plant and another water but God gives the increase, so dependence rests not merely on what the minister says but on what the Lord does in impressing the hearers. The verse warns against imperiling the cause of God and personal influence by perverted ideas and calls for following God and heeding His counsel so that He will work with the believer.
His teaching did not originate with Himself but came from the Father who sent Him as the source of His authority and message. Anyone who is willing to do God's will can know whether teaching is from God, because that willingness opens heart and mind to distinguish one who speaks for God from one who speaks for himself for his own glory. This discernment does not come by natural ability, learning, or argument but by a teachable heart that surrenders sin, obeys the light already given, and keeps God's commandments expressed in His Word. His teaching agrees fully with the Scriptures and the law given at Sinai, restoring old truths rather than introducing new ones, so all religious teaching must be judged by the Bible.
Origin and Setting
My doctrine is not Mine but His that sent Me declares that Jesus' teaching did not originate with Himself but came from the Father, God who sent Him. The Father is the source of all strength and wisdom from whom that teaching flows. He is likewise the source of Jesus' authority and message as a teacher of truth. The saying belongs to Jesus' answer when the rulers confronted Him, questioned His authority to teach, and sought to redirect attention toward their own authority.
He spoke it in the temple about the midst of the feast to Jews who marveled how He knew letters having never learned. They knew He had not studied under the scribes and teachers or in their schools, and that He had lived in obscurity and under unfavorable circumstances for gaining knowledge, and they did not believe He was the Son of God. He answered their unspoken wondering about how He obtained His wisdom with reasoning from Scripture that was clear and powerful. That reasoning astonished those who sought to accuse Him.
Discerning Divine Truth
Whether a teaching is from God is known by willingness to do God's will, for that willingness opens the mind and heart to honest inquiry and diligent search and study of truth. The one who sincerely yields in obedience is enabled to discern whether a teacher speaks for God or speaks for himself for personal or selfish glory. The teaching is not from the speaker himself but from the Father who sent him, the source of all strength and wisdom, and this is the evidence of authority as a teacher of truth.
Recognition of that divine origin does not depend merely on intellectual ability, natural talent, acquired learning, learned testimonies, eloquent speeches, or deep arguments. No natural talent or learned knowledge can take the place of knowing God's will, and knowledge and other advantages do not help when the heart is closed to truth. A person need not be a logician to know for himself whether the gospel is divine or human, true or false, but must be teachable, hungering for the bread of life and opening the heart to the impressions of the Spirit.
Truth must be received in the heart through grace, with willing surrender of sin and of habits opposed to its principles. There must be obedience to the light already given and readiness to obey truth as soon as it is seen. The teachable person who welcomes the light and lives by it receives more light and comes to understand the gospel as God's plan of salvation, while those unwilling to seek and obey fail to understand, as the Pharisees failed to understand because they would not seek and obey.
God's will by which doctrine is tested is expressed in His Word and in the Ten Commandments, so doing God's will by obeying them and keeping His commandments is the way to know the doctrine. Obedience to His law brings recognition that true doctrine is from God, who is its source. God's kingdom is controlled by laws that must be obeyed, and as obedience to a father's laws brings order and happiness to a family, so obedience to God's mandates brings order and true discernment.
That obedience is eating His flesh and drinking His blood, and dwelling in Him and Him in them. It manifests return love for the love shown at Calvary, proves harmony with the Redeemer, and requires cultivated faith in God and His Word. The bread of life profits the soul only when received as a message from God into willing and obedient hearts.
Scripture Harmony and Witness
His teaching came from the Father who sent Him and stood in perfect harmony with the Old Testament Scriptures and the law given at Sinai. He was not introducing a new doctrine but restoring old truths by freeing them from human error and placing them in their true setting. His teaching and example of kindness, mercy, and love reveal God's will and character. The principles of God's government are in harmony with His teaching to love enemies.
Religious teachings must be tested and judged by Scripture rather than accepted on human authority. Scripture teaches the fundamental doctrines of faith with authority and clarity. The teachings of church fathers are to be accepted only when they agree with the Bible. Humanly enacted doctrines that oppose God's commands and word have no authority and cannot be imposed as necessary for salvation.
His example teaches those who speak sacred truths to bear the message of God's Word with certainty as what they know. Truth must be a living power in the heart of the one who communicates it. As He was in the midst teaching, so He is in the midst speaking through His servants presenting clear, precious truth as it is in Jesus. Then the gospel trumpet gives no uncertain sound and the seed is sown while the Holy Spirit makes the impression, for one may plant and another water but God gives the increase, so dependence rests not merely on what the minister says but on what the Lord does in impressing the hearers. The verse warns against imperiling the cause of God and personal influence by perverted ideas and calls for following God and heeding His counsel so that He will work with the believer.