John 16:25

I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses his disciples during the Farewell Discourse, announcing the end of his earthly ministry and the imminent shift to the Father. He declares a temporal boundary for his current teaching method and a future moment of direct revelation.

The words — παροιμίαις (paroimiais) refers to the figurative or proverbial mode Jesus has employed. He contrasts this with an impending ὥρα (hōra), or defined period, when he will speak plainly about the Father.

The thread — This movement from indirect teaching to direct disclosure echoes John 16:12 and parallels the crowd-to-disciples instructional shift in Matthew 13:34 and Mark 4:13.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to abandon reliance on symbolic teaching and prepare for unmediated understanding of God. It demands immediate posture adjustment toward direct prayer and clear doctrinal expectation.

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

These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

Cross-references

John 16:12 I still have much to tell you, but you cannot yet bear to hear it.
Matthew 13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable.
Mark 4:13 Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?
John 10:6 Jesus spoke to them using this illustration, but they did not understand what He was telling them.
John 16:28 I came from the Father and entered the world. In turn, I will leave the world and go to the Father.”
Psalms 49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:
Psalms 78:2 I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
Matthew 13:10 Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”
2 Corinthians 3:12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.
Proverbs 1:6 by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.