“leads to” (NIV) = “is” (KJV) = esti (Greek) is third person singular of the verb “to be”. This is properly translated in KJV and not in the NIV (in the opinion of many scholars). The Father’s command does not “lead” to eternal life, nor does keeping it bring eternal life. The commandment is life eternal. It is His love acting upon us for our salvation. Temple notes, “His commandment is not a stark precept given by supreme authority; it is direction given by almighty love . . . it is the impact of His holy love upon our consciences and wills.”

Notice that “Jesus is not a figure of independent greatness; he is the Word of God, or he is nothing at all” (Barrett).

The Father has committed Himself fully in the Son. Whatever the Son speaks is only what the Father has told Him to say (3:35, 4:34). This was prophesied in (Deut 18:18-19).

John 3:35  The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands.

John 4:34  “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.

Deuteronomy 18:18-19  I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.  If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.

Some of the things that the Father has placed into the hands of His Son are:

• the Spirit (3:34),
• the work He accomplished (17:4),
• the works He did (5:36, 14:31),
• His message (12:49, 17:8),
• His authority (17:2),
• His name (17:11),
• His glory (17:22-24),
• His disciples (6:37-39, 10:29, 17:6, 12, 24, 18:9),
• the cup He must drink (18:11),
• all judgment (5:22),
• life in himself (5:26),
• and power over all flesh (17:2).

“say” and “speak” (KJV) are translated as “what to say and how to say it” in the NIV. The words refer to content and manner of delivery. Note that the command of the Father to Jesus was not only “what” to say, but “how” to say it. What we have to say to people is important, because we have the good news of salvation, but it is equally important that we say it the right way. Many a Christian has turned unbelievers away from the possibility of believing the truth because they attacked them with the message instead of loving them with it. How do we know exactly how to witness to others? The same way Jesus did — by asking the Father and then doing what He says.

“rejects” = The Greek word is atheteo which means to reject or despise. This is a very strong word and Barclay translates it as, “He who completely disregards me as of no account.” (Luke 10:16)

Luke 10:16  “He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The judgment for the one who has rejected Christ will be that the word of salvation came to him and he completely disregarded it.

His primary purpose is to save the world (3:16-17) and not to judge it (8:15).  However, Jesus does judge the world (9:39) by bringing salvation and making men chose to accept it or reject it (3:18-19).

John 3:16-17  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 8:15  You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no-one.

John 9:39  Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

John 3:18-19  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Jesus insists that just hearing His words is not enough; one must also obey them (Mat 7:24,26, Luke 11:28).

Matthew 7:24  “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

Matthew 7:26  But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

Luke 11:28  He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

“have come” is in the perfect tense meaning a past coming and a remaining. The purpose of His coming was to deliver men from the darkness in which they were. He came to save.

Jesus came into the world to fulfil several roles, many of which He designated throughout the book of John by His “I am” statements. He said “I am the Bread of Life” (John 6:35); “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12) and here in this passage; and “I am the Door of the sheep” (John 10:7); “I am the Good Shepherd” (John 10:11); “I am the Resurrection and the Life” (John 11:25); “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6); and “I am the True Vine” (John 15:1). He is all of those things to those who receive Him.

1. He is our bread of life — He is the sustainer of all that we need for our existence. Man doesn’t live on physical bread alone; instead real life depends upon all of the words that God speaks, and Jesus not only “has” the words of God, which He passes along to us — He IS the Word of God.
2. He is our light — without Him we could not “see” into the spiritual realm, but Jesus shines His brightness into our darkness and opens our spiritual eyes to be able to discern truth.
3. He is our door — there is no other way into heaven and the presence of God but through His Son Whom He sent for that express purpose. Jesus is the only way we can enter into eternal life with God.
4. He is our Good Shepherd — He alone is the One who protects us, feeds us and tends to our every need.
5. He is our resurrection and our life — He gives us a brand new life and then sustains that life and helps us to grow in it.
6. He is our way, our truth, and our life — which is basically a restating of the previous statements. He is the only access into eternal life; He alone is truth; and He is the One who gives and feeds our new life.
7. He is our true vine — and we are the branches. We are fully dependent upon Jesus for everything. Without Him we are cut branches which may as well be thrown into the fire and burned since they cannot live on their own.

Jesus is our all-in-all. There is nothing we need that He doesn’t give us in abundance. He loves us and takes better care of us than we would our own child. We can throw ourselves completely into His arms in full assurance that He will keep us safe, well fed, and happy.

“sees” = theoreo = to behold, perceive, or consider. He who steadily considers the Son does so also with the Father (#1:18, 13:20, 14:9).

John 1:18  No-one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

John 13:20  I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

John 14:9  Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

These are the last words of Christ to the public and they are His last appeal to believe. John places them here to summarize everything that has gone before, but they were probably said immediately before verse (12:36).

John 12:36  Put your trust in the light while you have it, so that you may become sons of light.” When he had finished speaking, Jesus left and hid himself from them.

“cried out” = Jesus spoke these words loudly, probably because of their importance. This is a nice contrast to those leaders who believed in Him but were too frightened to speak of their beliefs in public.

Jesus and the Father are so close that to believe in One is to believe in the Other.

Perhaps these men believed with their heads instead of with their hearts (Romans 10:10)?

Romans 10:10  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Barclay is very hard on them. He says that “Secret discipleship is a contradiction in terms for, ‘either the secrecy kills the discipleship, or the discipleship kills the secrecy.’” What do you think he means by this? He goes on to say that they feared they would lose so much by confessing Christ and that they had their values very mixed up. “So they lived a lie because they were not big enough to stand up for the truth.”

How often have we not stood up for Jesus because we were more concerned over what other people thought of us than we were of what God thought of us? (John 5:44) In actuality, this is just a form of idolatry (Romans 1:25). Barclay notes that the opinions of men last for only a short time while the opinion of God lasts for all eternity. “It is always better to be right for eternity than to be right for a time.”

John 5:44  How can you believe if you accept praise from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from the only God?

Romans 1:25  They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is for ever praised. Amen.

Once the Pharisees sneeringly asked the officers (7:48): “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?” And now “many even among the leaders believed in him.” Apparently Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were among many other believers who were leaders.

The fear of the leaders that they would be thrown out of the synagogue was real (John 9:22).

John 9:22  His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

Morris speaks of the complexity of Christ’s glory thus, “It points at once to the supreme greatness of Christ and the cross as the supreme illustration of His greatness. Here it included the thought of His rejection, for that, too, is part of His real glory. He being what He is stooped to a position where men might and did reject Him.”

Isaiah “saw” it. This may be speaking of a “seeing” by faith (8:56,  Heb 11:13) or when Isaiah actually saw the glory of Yahweh (Isaiah 6:1-3). It is very possibly the latter (1:14).

John 8:56  Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

Hebrews 11:13  All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.

Isaiah 6:1-3  In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.  And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

John 1:14  The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Isaiah was told this prophecy by God so that he would tell us (Isaiah 6:8-10). Isaiah always passed onto us what God told him to say (Isaiah 21:10). Are you willing to be used by God in this way?

Isaiah 6:8-10  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”  He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’  Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

Isaiah 21:10  O my people, crushed on the threshing-floor, I tell you what I have heard from the LORD Almighty, from the God of Israel.