Bible Strands
John 10:18
No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the Jews who have just rejected him (v. 19), in the middle of a shepherd-and-sheep discourse where he has just stated that the Father loves him because he lays down his life to take it up again (v. 17).
The words — The hinge is the contrast between αἴρει (airei, "takes away") and τίθημι (tithēmi, "lays down"): the former implies an external agent seizing, the latter a deliberate act of placement.
The thread — The same voluntary-giving-and-restoring pattern appears in John 2:19 (destroy this temple, I will raise it up), Titus 2:14 (gave Himself), and Hebrews 2:9 (suffered death, crowned with glory).
Why it lands — The verse removes death from the category of something done to Jesus and places it in the category of something he does by choice, which forces the reader to reckon with a death that is not a defeat.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Cross-references
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Hebrews 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because He suffered death, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.
- John 2:19 Jesus answered, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again.”
- John 10:17 The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again.
- John 14:31 But I do exactly what the Father has commanded Me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up! Let us go on from here.
- Isaiah 53:10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
- John 6:38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- Hebrews 5:6 And in another passage God says: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
- John 15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love.
- Philippians 2:6 Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,