The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 9 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
5:37-6:17
[5:37] And the Father that sent me, he hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.
[5:38] And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he sent, him ye believe not.
[5:39] Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me;
[5:40] and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life.
[5:41] I receive not glory from men.
[5:42] But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in yourselves.
[5:43] I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
[5:44] How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?
[5:45] Think not that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, on whom ye have set your hope.
[5:46] For if ye believed Moses, ye would believe me; for he wrote of me.
[5:47] But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
[6:1] After these things Jesus went away to the other side of the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias.
[6:2] And a great multitude followed him, because they beheld the signs which he did on them that were sick.
[6:3] And Jesus went up into the mountain, and there he sat with his disciples.
[6:4] Now the passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.
[6:5] Jesus therefore lifting up his eyes, and seeing that a great multitude cometh unto him, saith unto Philip, Whence are we to buy bread, that these may eat?
[6:6] And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do.
[6:7] Philip answered him, Two hundred shillings’ worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one may take a little.
[6:8] One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,
[6:9] There is a lad here, who hath five barley loaves, and two fishes: but what are these among so many?
[6:10] Jesus said, Make the people sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.
[6:11] Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, he distributed to them that were set down; likewise also of the fishes as much as they would.
[6:12] And when they were filled, he saith unto his disciples, Gather up the broken pieces which remain over, that nothing be lost.
[6:13] So they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves, which remained over unto them that had eaten.
[6:14] When therefore the people saw the sign which he did, they said, This is of a truth the prophet that cometh into the world.
[6:15] Jesus therefore perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again into the mountain himself alone.
[6:16] And when evening came, his disciples went down unto the sea;
[6:17] and they entered into a boat, and were going over the sea unto Capernaum. And it was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The Father is described through negation — not heard, not seen, not known — establishing a mode of divine reference that proceeds by what the divine is not perceived as rather than by positive predication.
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The core of the passage is the Father's radical concealment: 'Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form' (5:37), and the people's inability to receive the one sent in the Father's name — the Hidden Father who speaks only through the sent one is the organizing theme of 5:37-47.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The passage is structured around the significance of the Father sending the Son into the world — 'I am come in my Father's name' (5:43) — making the embodied descent of the divine into a specific person the occasion for both witness and rejection.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
The Father's word is central to the passage: 'ye have not his word abiding in you' (5:38), the Father 'bore witness' through sending the Son, and the scriptures 'bear witness of me' — the divine Word as mediating principle between the transcendent Father and the human community.
The phenomenon where spiritual messengers or healers are rejected by their own community due to familiarity or lack of awe.
The entire first section (5:37-47) is a paradigmatic instance of the prophet/messenger rejected by his own community: Jesus came in the Father's name and was not received, while the people give glory to one another and seek not the glory from the only God.
Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.
Jesus charges the audience with searching the scriptures for eternal life while refusing to come to the one the scriptures witness of, and with receiving glory from one another while seeking not the glory that comes from the only God — form without substance.
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The distinction between coming 'in my Father's name' versus another coming 'in his own name' (5:43) implies that the name carries ontological authority and legitimizes the messenger.