John 16:28

16:28-33 Here is a plain declaration of Christ's coming from the Father, and his return to him. The Redeemer, in his entrance, was God manifest in the flesh, and in his departure was received up into glory. By this saying the disciples improved in knowledge. Also in faith; Now are we sure. Alas! they knew not their own weakness. The Divine nature did not desert the human nature, but supported it, and put comfort and value into Christ's sufferings. And while we have God's favourable presence, we are happy, and ought to be easy, though all the world forsake us. Peace in Christ is the only true peace, in him alone believers have it. Through him we have peace with God, and so in him we have peace in our own minds. We ought to be encouraged, because Christ has overcome the world before us. But while we think we stand, let us take heed lest we fall. We know not how we should act if brought into temptation; let us watch and pray without ceasing, that we may not be left to ourselves.

John 16:28 . ἐξῆλθον … πατέρα . “I came forth from the Father and am come into the world; again (reversing the process) I leave the world and go to the Father.” There is a sense in which any man can use these words, but it is a loose not an exact sense. The latter member of the sentence—“I leave the world and go to the Father”—gives us the interpretation of the former—“I came forth,” etc. For to say “I leave the world” is not the same as to say “I go to the Father”; this second expression describes a state of existence which is entered upon when existence in this world is done. And to say “I came forth from the Father” is not the same as to say “I am come into the world”: it describes a state of existence antecedent to that which began by coming into the world.

28. I came forth from the Father, &c.—that is, "And ye are right, for I have indeed so come forth,and shall soon return whence I came." This echo of the truth, alluded to in Joh 16:27, seems like thinking aloud, as if it were grateful to His own spirit on such a subject and at such an hour.

Though I be in the world, yet my original is not from the world; I am one with my Father, equal with him, God blessed forever. I came forth from him, as one sent in the fulness of time, to discharge the office of the Messias; the world, the place so called, was neither my original, nor yet is my home. I am presently leaving the world again, and going to my Father.

28 . I came forth from ] Our translators are again right in marking a difference but not quite right in their way of doing so (see on John 16:7 ). The Greek rendered ‘I came forth from’ here differs in the preposition used ( ek ) from that rendered ‘I came out from’ in John 16:27 ( para ). It would be better to transpose the translations. In John 16:27 it is the temporal mission of Christ from the Father that is meant (comp. John 17:8 ); in John 16:28 the Eternal Generation of the Son is also included (comp. John 8:42 ). The verse would almost form a creed. The Son, of one Substance with the Father, was born into the world, suffered, and returned to the Father.

(28) I came forth from the Father. —Comp. Note on John 16:19 . He repeats with emphasis that which in the last verse He stated as believed by them—“It is true. I did come forth from the Father, and came into the world. But what follows from this? Heaven, and not earth, is My home. I leave the world again and return to the Father.” They had accepted the truth of the Incarnation, but in this there was already implied the truth of the Ascension, and in the truth of the Ascension there was implied the gift of the Paraclete, and the spiritual return and constant presence of Christ in the Church ( John 16:7 and John 14:14-18 ).

John 16:28 . With ἐξῆλθον , solemnly, and with still more definite precision by means of ἐκ τοῦ πατρός , a fresh confirmation of these fundamental contents of faith is commenced, and the return to the Father is subjoined,—and with this a conclusion is made with the same thought,—now, however, by means of the intervening explanatory clauses, brought nearer to the understanding of the disciples—from which the whole discussion, John 16:16-17 , took its rise. A simple and grand summary of His entire personal life.

John ‘FROM’ AND ‘TO’John 16:28 . These majestic and strange words are the proper close of our Lord’s discourse, what follows being rather a reply to the disciples’ exclamation. There is nothing absolutely new in them, but what is new is the completeness and the brevity with which they cover the whole ground of His being, work, and glory. They fall into two halves, each consisting of two clauses; the former half describing our Lord’s descent , the latter His ascent . In each half the two clauses deal with the same fact, considered from the two opposite ends as it were-the point of departure and the point of arrival. ‘I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again I leave the world and go to the Father.’ But the first point of departure is the last point of arrival, and the end comes round to the beginning. Our Lord’s earthly life is, as it were, a jewel enclosed within the flashing gold of His eternal dwelling with God. So I think we shall best apprehend the scope, and appropriate to ourselves the blessing and power of these words, if we deal with the four points to which they call our attention-the dwelling with the Father; the voluntary coming to the earth; the voluntary departure from the earth; and, once more, the dwelling with the Father. We must grasp them all if we would know the whole Christ and all that He is able to do and to be to us and to the world. So, then, I deal simply with these four points. I. Note then, first, the dwelling with the Father.