16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
Jewish authorities wondered how Jesus knew so much, having not gone to a rabbinic school. Jesus here explained how He knew what He knew in His humanity.
16 Jesus answered them and said,
The explanation of how Jesus knew so much in His humanity was that He knew what He knew by direct revelation.
“My doctrine [teaching] is not Mine,
Jesus’ teaching did not originate in Himself. He was not self-taught. He did not learn from the long chain of ideas from the rabbis. What He knew came from another source altogether. He stepped foot on earth as a representative of the Father and operated under His authority.
but His who sent Me.
Jesus learned from the Father directly. He did not need training from any human institution. He was no self-styled manipulator of Scripture that people might disregard as credible. He was a man commissioned by the Father to give truth that could not be known other than by revelation.
Jesus’ learning did not come from human beings but from the Father Himself. He had a unique knowledge that could not come from rabbinic schools.
PRINCIPLE:
To reject the teaching of Jesus is to deny the teaching of the Father.
APPLICATION:
Jesus did not teach His personal opinion. He taught only on the authority of the Father. The ultimate origin of what He believed came via revelation from the only person who had possession of ultimate reality. He did not argue merely from human reason with any kind of ultimacy.
True truth is self-authenticating. Revelation of this truth must come from an infinite and eternal Being. Revelation of God can only come from God Himself.
