Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses the crowd at Capernaum, mid-discourse on the bread of life, bracketed by two statements about the Father's will for those given to Him (vv. 37, 39).
The words — καταβέβηκα (katabebēka) is perfect tense: "I have come down," a completed descent whose effects persist in the present. The perfect marks the action as a settled fact, not a one-time event.
The thread — The same subordination of Jesus's will to the Father's appears in John 5:30 ("I do not seek My own will") and John 4:34 ("My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me").
Why it lands — The verse removes any possibility that Jesus operates on His own agenda; He is entirely the Father's agent. A reader who expects a self-interested savior finds instead one whose identity is defined wholly by the will of another.
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
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
Cross-references
- John 5:30 I can do nothing by Myself; I judge only as I hear. And My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
- John 4:34 Jesus explained, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work.
- John 3:31 The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.
- Philippians 2:7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness.
- Psalms 40:7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come—it is written about me in the scroll:
- 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 6:33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
- John 3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
- Matthew 26:39 Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.”
- Hebrews 10:7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, it is written about Me in the scroll: I have come to do Your will, O God.’”