Jesus therefore answered them and said, My doctrine is not mine, but [that] of him that has sent me.
The crowd at the feast could not see how an untrained man could teach like this. Jesus answers by pointing past Himself to the One who sent Him, and that raises a second question: how can an ordinary listener tell true teaching from false?
Their astonishment was about His credentials. Jesus had never trained under the recognised teachers of His day, and one writer names the famous teaching schools of the time.
C. E. StuartHis teaching caused them to marvel. Astonished at His teaching, they were forced to admit, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" True, He had not graduated in any school of rabbinic learning. True, too, that He had never sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Yet He could teach, and did teach, as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Did they wonder at His ability to teach? He would clear that matter up... He was not founding a new school, as men would call it, like some philosopher or some rabbinic professor. Yet His teaching was indeed new. The Jews had schools of learning, such as those of Hillel and of Shammai. The Lord's teaching was essentially different.
The denial cuts in two directions. His teaching did not come from human teachers. Nor did He claim it as something He thought up alone.
William KellyThey did not know Him; they did not rise above human sources. Jesus was quick and careful to vindicate His Father. People take pride in what they learn from other people. He would not allow His teaching to be His own in the sense of independence. Nor would He allow that it came from human teaching, which they themselves admitted was out of the question. It was not of man, but of Him who sent Him.
This verse is not an isolated remark. The same note sounds through the whole of John's Gospel.
Edward DennettThe Gospel of John presents Christ to us as the eternal Son. Yet it is remarkable that we see Him everywhere, and constantly, taking the place of the Servant. In keeping with this position, we find Him stating three things. First, He did not come of Himself; the Father sent Him. Second, He did not speak His own words. Third, He did not do His own works... In a word, He came, as He tells us, not to do His own will, but the will of Him who sent Him.
Being the sent One also decided what He came to say.
W. T. P. WolstonHe had come as the sent One of God. He came to bring out the thoughts of God and the heart of God, and to unfold the nature of God, the purpose, the counsels, and the love of God. God's glory was His motive and object. Self-seeking was unknown to Jesus.
One writer reads verses 16 to 18 as a single unit.
Hamilton SmithSo we have a test for the teaching (verse 16); for the hearer (verse 17); and for the speaker (verse 18). In the case of the Lord the teaching was perfect and the Teacher was perfect; the failure was with the hearers.
The hearer is tested too, and the test is not intelligence.
Hamilton SmithIf, then, the teaching of the Lord is heaven-sent, the hearer needs the right condition of soul to receive it. Readiness to practise the Father's will prepares the soul to recognise what is of God. If we want to know we must be prepared to do. Nothing so effectively blinds us to the truth as the working of our wills.
This verse also touches a danger every servant of God faces: enjoying applause.
C. H. MackintoshThe Lord's servants should carefully guard against this terrible evil. See how the blessed Master always withdrew from human applause and human excitement. When men wondered at His teaching, He said, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me."... We always find Him hiding Himself, blessed for ever be His precious, matchless Name! Oh, to drink more deeply of His spirit, and walk in His footsteps! To be well content to be a nothing and a nobody, so that Christ may be magnified!
- Sent, not self-made. Jesus never claimed the message as His own invention. He named the Father as its source, and John's Gospel repeats this in His coming, His words, and His works.
- Source decides worth. The first test of any teaching is where it comes from — human schooling, private invention, or God. His was not from man's schools, nor from independence, but from the One who sent Him.
- Content follows source. The Father sent Him, so His teaching unfolded the nature, purpose, counsels and love of God. It never promoted Himself.
- Willingness unlocks it. The hearer's test is not learning but readiness to do God's will; our own will, not our ignorance, is what blinds us most.
- Hidden servant, magnified Christ. The same rule holds for everyone who speaks for God. Seek the glory of the Sender, step back from applause, and be content to be nobody so people see Christ.
If any one desire to practise his will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is of God, or [that] I speak from myself.
The crowd at the feast is amazed: how can a man who never trained in their schools teach like this? Jesus answers by pointing away from Himself to the One who sent Him. Then He hands them a test anyone can apply — not a test of learning, but of the will.
Their wonder was about credentials. Jesus moves the question off that ground, and opens the door to every hearer.
C. E. StuartHe was not founding a new school, as men would call it, like some philosopher or some teacher in the rabbis' schools. Yet His teaching was indeed new. The Jews had schools of learning, like those of Hillel and Shammai. The Lord's teaching was completely different. Where did it come from? He would tell them, and tell them too how each one, learned or unlearned, could arrive at a true judgment about it.
Everything turns on the small word "will." Jesus does not ask for a life already obedient. He asks for a heart set on obeying.
The Christian's FriendNotice, He says, "If any man wills to do," not, "If he has done." If your eye is single, your whole body will be full of light; God will show what His will is. If it is not single, what good is it (speaking with reverence) to know His will? There is no intention of doing it. Where the heart is right in the sight of God, He gives the ability to know His will… Often we do not get light, because we are not ready to walk in the light once we know it.
This shows why debate rarely settles anything. What blocks a person is not a gap in his logic. It is the state of his heart — the single eye, an undivided aim.
J. N. DarbyThe moral state of the soul — the single eye — is how we receive the teaching that comes from the Father and understand it clearly. The conscience is open. The heart is quite ready to receive the truth. Many things in the teaching may go beyond what such a soul knows. But the teaching answers to its needs. It carries the stamp of truth and of holiness. It suits God. There is no self-seeking… Reasoning is not what convinces the mind. Reasoning never convinces the will. But where the desire is there, God adapts Himself in His teaching to the needs and to the heart of man.
Most people want to inspect the truth first and decide later whether to obey it. Christ reverses that order.
Hamilton SmithMoreover, true teaching puts a test on the hearer. If the Lord's teaching is heaven-sent, then it needs the right state of soul in the one who receives it. Readiness to practise the Father's will prepares the soul to recognise what is of God. If we want to know we must be prepared to do. Nothing blinds us to the truth like our own will at work. How simple the truth would be to us, and how clear our path, if we had no other desire than to do His will.
"He will know" is a guarantee, not a hope. It rests on the character of the God who gives it. So when the answer does not come, the fault lies on our side.
William KellyAnyone with a single eye would soon see its reality. Faith alone gives a single eye. Others speculate and go wrong. God guides and teaches the one who desires to practise His will, as Christ gives the positive assurance that he shall know concerning the teaching, whether it is of God or whether He speaks from Himself. How comforting, and how surely proved true! The Son was making known the Father, and God is faithful in this as in every other way. Where we do not know, we must suspect ourselves, not blame God. If we really wanted to do His will, we would soon learn it.
The same promise steadies anyone facing rival teachers who all sound confident and learned.
F. W. GrantThe effect on a truly reverent soul will be to make him see that God will not allow to be settled by mere human authority what must be found out in the presence of God alone, and from His word. Good men may, sadly, let themselves be drawn aside from truth in many ways; but still the word stands — for "Scripture cannot be broken" — "If any man will do (wills to do) His will, he SHALL KNOW of the teaching, whether it be of God."
- Willing, not a record — The condition is a will bent toward obedience, not obedience already achieved.
- Willing opens the eye — Where the heart is right before God, He gives the ability to know His will. The single eye is what receives His teaching.
- Willing reaches everyone — Learned or not, anyone can test whether the teaching is from God. The test is moral, not academic.
- Willing comes before knowing — If we want to know, we must be ready to do. Nothing blinds us like our own will at work.
- Willing ends in certainty — God guides the one who means to do His will. That assurance holds even when human authorities disagree.