Bible Strands
John 20:21
Again Jesus said to them, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent Me, so also I am sending you.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus speaks to the assembled disciples in the upper room on the first day of the week, immediately after showing them his hands and side (v. 20) and immediately before breathing on them (v. 22).
The words — οὖν (oun, "therefore") makes the commission a direct consequence of the disciples having seen his wounds; πάλιν (palin, "again") marks a deliberate repetition of the greeting from verse 19, signaling that the peace is the standing condition of the sending, not a one-time benediction.
The thread — The same send-sending pattern appears in John 17:18 ("As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world"), and the authority behind the commission is stated in Matthew 28:18.
Why it lands — The verse ties the disciple's mission to a prior act of seeing: they are sent because they have seen the crucified-and-resurrected Lord. It offers no alternative; the seeing produces the sending as a matter of course.
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
Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.
Cross-references
- John 17:18 As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world.
- Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
- John 13:20 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”
- John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
- Mark 16:15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
- Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Luke 24:47 and in His name repentance and forgiveness of sins will be proclaimed to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.
- Matthew 10:16 Behold, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves; therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.
- Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
- 2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard me say among many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be qualified to teach others as well.