John 14 7

John 14:7 kjv

If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

John 14:7 nkjv

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him."

John 14:7 niv

If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

John 14:7 esv

If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

John 14:7 nlt

If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!"

John 14 verses

John 14 7 Meaning

John 14:7 profoundly teaches that Jesus Christ is the full and ultimate revelation of God the Father. To truly know Jesus in a relational, personal way is to know the Father, and to see Jesus in His life, character, and works is to have seen the Father's nature and attributes manifested in human form. This verse marks a pivotal realization for the disciples, moving them from a potential, missed understanding ("if you had known Me") to a present, declared reality ("from now on you know Him and have seen Him"), emphasizing that their continuous experience with Jesus had, in fact, been an ongoing encounter with God Himself.

John 14 7 Context

John 14:7 is nestled within Jesus' comforting discourse to His disciples during His final hours with them before His crucifixion. The chapter opens with Jesus assuring them about His departure and promise to return, stating He is going to prepare a place for them. Thomas, still struggling to comprehend, questions Jesus' assertion of knowing "the way" (Jn 14:5), expressing that they don't even know where He is going, let alone how to follow. This prompts Jesus' foundational declaration in John 14:6, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Verse 7 logically follows as a clarification and consequence of this absolute truth. The disciples, despite their close relationship with Jesus, had not yet fully grasped His divine identity and inseparable unity with the Father. Jesus is challenging their limited understanding and asserting that their years with Him were, in fact, an direct interaction with God's very being. The historical context reflects the disciples' continued struggle to reconcile Jesus' messianic claims with their preconceived notions and to fully grasp His divinity before the profound enlightenment brought by the Holy Spirit.

John 14 7 Word analysis

• If you had known Me (Greek: εἰ ἐγνώκειτέ με - ei egnōkeite me):

  • "known" (ἐγνώκειτέ - egnōkeite): This is in the Greek perfect tense, which signifies a past action with continuing results or a settled state. It suggests a knowledge that should have been enduring and deeply embedded, a knowledge cultivated over their time with Jesus. It's not just intellectual data but intimate, relational acquaintance. Jesus is gently highlighting their prior spiritual oversight or incomplete apprehension, suggesting a failure to truly internalize who He was.
  • Significance: It implies a deeper recognition they were still lacking. Despite being with Him, seeing His miracles, and hearing His teachings, the profound implication of His identity—that He was the embodied revelation of God—had not fully sunk in for all of them.

• you would have known My Father also (Greek: καὶ τὸν Πατέρα μου ἂν ᾔδειτε - kai ton Patera mou an ēdeite):

  • "known" (ᾔδειτε - ēdeite): Also related to knowledge, this imperfect tense emphasizes a continued, ongoing process of knowing the Father that would have flowed directly from a deeper knowledge of Jesus.
  • Significance: This firmly links the knowledge of the Son to the knowledge of the Father. There is no access to God apart from a saving and personal knowledge of Jesus. To truly perceive Jesus is to perceive the Father’s character, will, and heart.

• and from now on (Greek: ἀπ' ἄρτι - ap' arti):

  • "from now on": This phrase marks a pivotal turning point, indicating a decisive moment of new understanding or revelation. It signals a shift from a missed opportunity to a present reality. While some interpret it as referring to Pentecost and the Spirit's enlightenment, others see it as an immediate spiritual truth that should dawn upon them from this very discourse.
  • Significance: It is a declaration of present realization. Jesus is assuring them that what they had been doing (knowing/seeing Him) now needs to be re-framed and truly understood as knowing and seeing God.

• you know Him (Greek: γινώσκετε αὐτόν - ginōskete auton):

  • "know" (γινώσκετε - ginōskete): This is in the Greek present tense, active voice. It indicates an ongoing, active process of knowing, a continuous acquaintance.
  • Significance: Reinforces that the process of knowing the Father is not a one-time event but a continuous relationship, now clearly identified as being found through their ongoing experience with Jesus.

• and have seen Him (Greek: καὶ ἑωράκατε αὐτόν - kai heōrakate auton):

  • "seen" (ἑωράκατε - heōrakate): This is also in the Greek perfect tense. It denotes a completed past action (the physical observation of Jesus) with lasting, continuing results (the present reality of having truly "seen" God's nature through Him).
  • Significance: It underscores that their physical interaction with Jesus, witnessing His miracles, His character, His teachings, His compassion, His purity, and His power, was indeed seeing the invisible God manifested in flesh. It wasn't seeing God in His absolute essence (which is impossible for human eyes, Exo 33:20), but seeing God's glory, character, and power revealed perfectly through the Son.

• Words-group by words-group analysis:

  • "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also": This phrase highlights the profound interconnectedness and non-negotiable link between understanding Jesus' true identity and comprehending God the Father. It directly counters any belief that one can genuinely know God while rejecting or misunderstanding His Son. It emphasizes that Christ is the exclusive mediator of true divine knowledge.
  • "and from now on you know Him and have seen Him": This phrase signifies a powerful declaration of immediate spiritual insight and retrospective clarity. Jesus is challenging His disciples' perception, essentially saying, "The very person you have been living with, walking with, and listening to for years is the revelation of God. Your experiences with Me have been experiences with the Father." This declaration implies a deeper spiritual apprehension that is now possible, laying the groundwork for the post-Pentecost understanding that would truly solidify their grasp of His divinity.

John 14 7 Bonus section

The understanding presented in John 14:7 was revolutionary, directly confronting contemporary Jewish notions that God was utterly transcendent and largely unrevealed, often perceived only through intermediaries like the Law or angels. Jesus' assertion that He was the means by which the Father was known and seen was a direct challenge to these beliefs, affirming His unparalleled authority and divine essence. Later Gnostic beliefs that proposed a distant, unknown ultimate deity would also find this verse a profound contradiction, as it asserts God's immanence and knowability through Christ. This verse also lays foundational support for the Trinitarian doctrine, emphasizing the unity yet distinct Persons of the Father and the Son, where true communion with one naturally leads to communion with the other.

John 14 7 Commentary

John 14:7 succinctly expresses a cornerstone of Christian theology: Jesus Christ is the visible revelation of the invisible God. The verse is both a gentle rebuke and a profound declaration to the disciples. Initially, Jesus points to their spiritual blindness—they were so focused on Him in a limited, human way that they failed to grasp the divine nature manifesting through Him. If they had fully grasped who He was, they would have simultaneously grasped who the Father is, because the Father and Son are perfectly unified in essence and purpose.

The crucial shift comes with "from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Jesus affirms that despite their previous incomplete understanding, their journey with Him has been a direct encounter with God. Every act of grace, every miracle, every teaching, every demonstration of compassion, every moment of glory displayed by Jesus was, in fact, the character and power of the Father being revealed. This is not about literally seeing God the Father in physical form, but experiencing His attributes and His presence fully expressed through the incarnate Son.

This verse therefore solidifies that authentic knowledge of God is inextricably linked to knowing Jesus. One cannot claim to know God while rejecting Jesus Christ, for Jesus Himself is the ultimate and perfect manifestation of God's nature to humanity. He bridges the infinite gap between humanity and the Holy God, making the unknowable knowable, and the unseeable comprehensible through His Person.