All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
In this verse, Jesus is speaking to his disciples during his public ministry in Galilee. He makes a stunning claim: that God the Father has handed over all authority to him, and that no one truly knows God except through Jesus — and no one fully knows Jesus except the Father. In the Jewish world of the first century, "knowing" someone wasn't just intellectual — it implied deep, intimate relationship. Jesus is saying that access to God isn't earned through religious achievement or theological mastery, but that he himself is the door. It's one of the most direct statements Jesus ever made about his unique relationship with God.
Father, I don't always know how to find you, and I can't fully grasp who you are. Thank you that Jesus is the way to knowing you — not my effort or certainty. Reveal yourself to me today through him, not because I've earned it, but because he chooses to. Amen.
There's something quietly stunning buried in this verse: the idea that the eternal God — the one who spoke galaxies into existence — chose to be known. Not observed from a safe distance. Not feared as an abstract force. Known, the way you know someone you've spent years with. But then comes that word "chooses," and it can make you shift uncomfortably. What if I'm not one of the people he chooses to reveal the Father to? Here's what's worth sitting with: you're reading this. Something in you is leaning toward this right now. Jesus says that he — not your church attendance record, not your theological precision, not whether you've resolved your doubts — is the door to knowing God. That's either the most audacious claim ever made, or it's the most generous invitation you'll ever receive. You don't have to have everything figured out first. You just have to come to him.
What do you think Jesus means when he says "no one knows the Father except the Son" — does that statement feel exclusive to you, or inviting, or both?
Where in your own life have you tried to earn access to God through effort, behavior, or self-improvement? How has that approach worked out for you?
Jesus claims a mutual, intimate knowledge with God that no one else shares. How does that challenge or deepen your understanding of who Jesus actually is?
If Jesus is the one who reveals the Father to people, how does that change the way you approach someone in your life who is searching for God or skeptical about faith?
What would it look like practically this week to come to God through Jesus rather than through your own performance, understanding, or spiritual track record?
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.
John 3:35
And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Matthew 28:18
And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness.
1 John 5:19
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
1 John 2:23
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:9
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
John 14:6
And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.
1 John 5:20
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
John 14:9
All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Son except the Father; and no one fully knows and accurately understands the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son [deliberately] wills to reveal Him.
AMP
All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
ESV
'All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal [Him].
NASB
“All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
NIV
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
NKJV
“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
NLT
Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
MSG