English · KJV

John 12:25

“Greeks Seek Jesus; The Hour Has Come”John 12:20–36

King James Version
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
He that loveth G5368 his G846 life G5590 shall lose G622 it G846; and G2532 he that hateth G3404 his G846 life G5590 in G1722 this G5129 world G2889 shall keep G5442 it G846 unto G1519 life G2222 eternal G166.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
He that loveth his life loseth it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
He who loves his life will lose it. He who hates his life in this world will keep it to eternal life.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
He that loueth his life, shall lose it, and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keepe it vnto life eternall.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
he who is loving his life shall lose it, and he who is hating his life in this world--to life age-during shall keep it;

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
22 Greek words
  1. ὁhoThe [one]G3588T-NSMDefinite article Nominative Singular Masculine
  2. φιλῶνphilōnlovingG5368V-PAP-NSMVerb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
  3. τὴνtēntheG3588T-ASFDefinite article Accusative Singular Feminine
  4. ψυχὴνpsuchēnlifeG5590N-ASFNoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  5. αὐτοῦautouof himG846P-GSMPersonal pronoun Genitive Singular Masculine
  6. ἀπολλύειapollueilosesG622V-PAI-3SVerb Present Active Indicative 3rd Singular
  7. αὐτήνautēnitG846P-ASFPersonal pronoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  8. καὶkaiandG2532CONJConjunction
  9. ὁhothe [one]G3588T-NSMDefinite article Nominative Singular Masculine
  10. μισῶνmisōnhatingG3404V-PAP-NSMVerb Present Active Participle Nominative Singular Masculine
  11. τὴνtēntheG3588T-ASFDefinite article Accusative Singular Feminine
  12. ψυχὴνpsuchēnlifeG5590N-ASFNoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  13. αὐτοῦautouof himG846P-GSMPersonal pronoun Genitive Singular Masculine
  14. ἐνeninG1722PREPPreposition
  15. τῷtō[the]G3588T-DSMDefinite article Dative Singular Masculine
  16. κόσμῳkosmōworldG2889N-DSMNoun Dative Singular Masculine
  17. τούτῳtoutōthisG3778D-DSMDemonstrative pronoun Dative Singular Masculine
  18. εἰςeistoG1519PREPPreposition
  19. ζωὴνzōēnlifeG2222N-ASFNoun Accusative Singular Feminine
  20. αἰώνιονaiōnioneternalG166A-ASFAdjective Accusative Singular Feminine
  21. φυλάξειphulaxeiwill keepG5442V-FAI-3SVerb Future Active Indicative 3rd Singular
  22. αὐτήνautēnitG846P-ASFPersonal pronoun Accusative Singular Feminine
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

Translation
Details
See on the biblical-era maps
All John Sites (Jerusalem)
All John Sites (Jerusalem) View full PDF
Jesus Final Trip to Jerusalem in John
Jesus Final Trip to Jerusalem in John View full PDF
John 7:45-53, John 12:20-35
John 7:45-53, John 12:20-35 View full PDF

Map © Biblica Open Bible Maps · CC BY-SA 4.0

In the KJVVerse 26,606 of 31,102 · 85.5%

Study this verse

Written with AI assistance. Always check it against Scripture.

This verse

Whoever clings to his own life will lose it, and whoever loves it less than Christ in this world will keep it for eternal life.

“He that loveth his life shall lose it;”

To love (philéō) one’s psychḗ, one’s own natural life and self, so as to cling to it, ends in losing it.

“and he that hateth his life in this world”

To hate (miséō) here is to love less by comparison, giving Christ first place over life as this world counts it.

“shall keep it unto life eternal.”

That person guards his life for zōḗ aiṓnios, everlasting life with God, which begins now.

Passage studyJohn 12:20–36

The Hour Has Come for the Son of Man

Summary

Some Greeks who have come up to Jerusalem to worship at the Passover ask Philip, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” When their request reaches him, Jesus announces that the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. He explains with a grain of wheat, which bears much fruit only when it falls into the ground and dies, and he calls everyone who serves him to follow him on the same road, with the promise that the Father will honour them. His soul is troubled at what lies ahead, yet he prays, “Father, glorify thy name,” and a voice from heaven answers him. Jesus then says that his death will judge the world and cast out its prince, and that, lifted up from the earth, he will draw all men to himself. When the crowd asks who this Son of man is, he gives them a last call to believe in the light while they have it, and then he goes away and hides himself.

These verses close Jesus’ public teaching in John’s Gospel. They show us that the cross is the place of his glory, the defeat of the devil, and the door through which people of every nation come to God.

Greeks who wanted to see Jesus

The scene is Jerusalem at the Passover, a few days before the crucifixion. Jesus has raised Lazarus and been anointed at Bethany (John 12:1–11), and he has just ridden into the city to the acclaim of the crowds (John 12:12–19), while the chief priests and Pharisees plot to kill him and Lazarus too. Passover was one of the three yearly pilgrim feasts, and it filled Jerusalem with Jews and converts from across the Roman world.

Among the pilgrims “that came up to worship at the feast” were certain Greeks. The word Héllēn means a Greek, someone from Hellas, and by extension a Greek-speaking person, especially one who was a Gentile. In the New Testament it often stands for Gentiles who lived in the Greek language and culture that filled the Roman world. These men were most likely Gentiles who worshipped the God of Israel, either full converts to Judaism or “God-fearers” who went to the synagogue and kept some Jewish customs without fully converting. They had come up, anabaínō, from aná (“up”) and the base of básis, the ordinary verb for going up, used here of the pilgrims’ ascent to Jerusalem. They came to worship, proskynéō, a word that pictures bowing low in homage and reverence. So they were seekers who had already turned toward the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

They came to Philip, “which was of Bethsaida of Galilee,” and asked him, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” Bethsaida stood on the Sea of Galilee, in a region with a mixed Jewish and Gentile population and strong Greek influence, and that background may be why they chose him as their go-between. “Sir” is kýrios, a respectful title, here given to Philip. “Desired” is erōtáō, to ask or to request, so this was a polite request. “We would” is thélō, to will, wish or desire, and “see” is eídō, which properly means to see and is also used figuratively of perceiving and coming to know. They wanted to meet Jesus himself.

Philip told Andrew, and the two of them told Jesus. John gives no reason for Philip going to Andrew first. A request from Gentiles was unusual at a Jewish feast, and Philip may have been unsure how Jesus would receive it. Andrew is also the disciple who keeps bringing people to Jesus. He brought his brother Simon Peter (John 1:41), and he found the boy with the loaves and fishes (John 6:8–9).

Why their coming matters

These Greeks are the first sign of a harvest from every nation. God promised Abraham that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3), and Paul calls that promise the gospel preached beforehand to Abraham (Galatians 3:8). God said that his servant would be a light to the Gentiles, so that his salvation would reach the end of the earth (Isaiah 49:6), and Isaiah saw all nations streaming to the house of the LORD (Isaiah 2:2–4). Simeon called the infant Jesus a light for the Gentiles (Luke 2:32), John the Baptist named him the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), and Jesus spoke of other sheep, outside the fold of Israel, whom he must also bring (John 10:16).

What begins with these Greeks goes on after the resurrection. Jesus sends his disciples to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19–20) and to be his witnesses to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8), and the Spirit is poured out on all flesh (Acts 2:17). In Acts 10 Peter goes to the house of the Gentile Cornelius. There he learns that God shows no partiality and accepts the one in every nation who fears him and does what is right (Acts 10:34–35). Through the cross Christ broke down the wall between Jew and Gentile and reconciled both to God in one body (Ephesians 2:14–16), so that all are one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28), and the mystery once hidden is made known among the Gentiles: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

John leaves the Greeks at this point and records Jesus’ answer, which is about his death. Their request is what moves him to say that the hour has come, because his death is the way by which they, and the whole world, will come to him.

The hour has come

“The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” All through the Gospel, John has told us that Jesus’ hour had not yet come (John 2:4, John 7:6, John 7:30, John 8:20). Jesus lived by his Father’s timetable, and no plot of men could hurry it. Now, as Gentiles come seeking him, he says the hour is here.

The word hṓra is the ordinary word for an hour, which in the New Testament was a twelfth part of the day or of the night. John uses it for the appointed time of Jesus’ passion, death, resurrection and ascension, the moment God’s plan of redemption reaches its climax. “Is come” is érchomai, to come, and Jesus says that the hour has arrived.

To be glorified, doxázō, from dóxa (“glory”), is to be honoured, magnified, given glory. In John, Jesus is glorified through his cross and resurrection, and his death is where his love, his obedience and his oneness with the Father are most fully shown. After Judas goes out to betray him he says, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him” (John 13:31–32), and in his prayer before his arrest he asks the Father to glorify him (John 17:1–5). The risen Jesus asks the two on the road, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26). The prophets spoke beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow (1 Peter 1:11), and Jesus, “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2).

The people of that day thought of glory as power and victory, and many hoped for a Messiah who would conquer. Jesus calls himself the Son of man (ho huios tou anthrōpou), the title of the one in Daniel’s vision who comes with the clouds of heaven and receives everlasting dominion and glory (Daniel 7:13–14). The title speaks of his true humanity and of his authority from God, and Jesus shows that his road to that throne runs through suffering. Paul traces the same road: “he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Philippians 2:5–11). Hebrews says that Jesus was “crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man,” and that God made him perfect through sufferings in bringing many sons to glory (Hebrews 2:9–10).

The grain of wheat

Jesus explains his glory with a picture every farmer in his audience knew. “Verily, verily” is a doubled amḗn, a word of Hebrew origin meaning “surely” or “so be it”, and Jesus uses it to mark a saying as certain and weighty.

A “corn of wheat” is a single grain. Kept dry in the barn, it stays one grain for ever: “it abideth alone.” Sown in the field, it falls into the ground and dies, apothnḗskō, the ordinary verb “to die”. Its life as a seed ends, and from it comes a plant carrying many grains, “much fruit”. Karpós is fruit as it is picked, and used figuratively it is the natural result of what has been done. The harvest is the result of the seed’s death.

Jesus is that grain. If he had kept his life, he would have remained alone, the one sinless man. By dying he brings forth a multitude, all who will believe in him, from Israel and from the nations like the Greeks waiting outside. His resurrection showed that God accepted his death and that it had overcome sin and death. All this is said at Passover, when the city was full of lambs being sacrificed, and Jesus speaks of his own death as the sacrifice that gives life. Paul uses the same picture of a seed sown and dying for the resurrection of the body (1 Corinthians 15:36–38), and Jesus later tells his disciples that his Father is glorified when they bear much fruit (John 15:8).

The saying is first about Jesus, and in the next two verses he applies it to everyone who follows him.

Losing your life and keeping it

“He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.” To love here is philéō, the word for affection, fondness and personal attachment. To love your life in this sense is to cling to it and put your own comfort, safety and desires first. Such a person “shall lose it”, apóllymi, to perish or forfeit. The loss is the forfeit of the eternal life God offers.

“Hateth” is miséō, to hate or detest. Here it is a Semitic way of speaking that means to love less by comparison, to renounce: when your own life and Christ pull in different directions, Christ wins. “In this world”, en toútōi kósmōi, sets the limit. What is given up is life as this world counts it, which in that day included reputation, family honour and material well-being. That person “shall keep it”, phylássō, guard and preserve it, “unto life eternal”.

Two different Greek words lie behind “life” in this verse. The life a person loves or hates is psychḗ, which Strong’s gives as breath, spirit, the animal sentient principle: a person’s natural life and own self. The life eternal is zōḗ aiṓnios, where zōḗ is life in its fullest sense, the life God gives, and aiṓnios means everlasting. That life begins now in fellowship with God and goes on for ever, the life God gave his Son to bring (John 3:16).

The other Gospels record Jesus saying the same thing in other settings (Matthew 10:39, Matthew 16:25, Mark 8:35, Luke 9:24), and Luke joins it to the call to take up the cross daily (Luke 9:23). Paul describes believers as buried with Christ and raised with him to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4–11). Jesus lived this verse first. He laid down his own life, and his resurrection is the proof that a life given up to God is kept.

Does “hateth his life” mean hating yourself?

It means loving Christ so much that your own life comes second. “Hate” is the idiom of comparison, and Jesus is speaking about which comes first when the two conflict. It gives no warrant for despising yourself or doing yourself harm. Jesus valued human life and healed it everywhere he went, and he teaches here that true life is found in him.

Serving him and following him

“If any man serve me, let him follow me.” “If” is eán, which sets the condition. To serve is diakonéō, to wait on someone, menially or as a host, a friend or a teacher would, and it is also the word for serving as a deacon. It comes from the noun used later in the verse for “servant”, diákonos, which Strong’s derives probably from an old verb meaning to run on errands, and which gives us the English word “deacon”. This is humble, practical service. Jesus himself came to serve (Mark 10:45), he washed his disciples’ feet and told them to do as he had done (John 13:14–15), and he taught that the greatest among them must be as the one who serves (Luke 22:26).

To follow is akolouthéō, to be on the same road with someone, to go along with him, especially as a disciple. A rabbi’s disciples walked with him, learned his teaching, copied his way of life and served him. Spoken in this hour, “follow me” means following Jesus toward the cross he has just described.

“And where I am, there shall also my servant be.” The servant shares the master’s road and also his destiny. In this life Jesus is present with his people by the Spirit, so that they are never left orphans (John 14:16–18), and at the end he will come again and receive them to himself (John 14:3). He prays that they may be with him and see his glory (John 17:24), and he promises that the one who overcomes will sit with him on his throne (Revelation 3:21).

“If any man serve me, him will my Father honour.” To honour is timáō, to prize something, to set a value on it, and so to revere. God has always honoured those who honour him (1 Samuel 2:30). The honour here is the Father’s own approval, a share in the Son’s glory, given in full at the end, when the faithful servant hears “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21). Jesus walked this road before us. He served his Father to the death of the cross, and the Father raised him and exalted him to his right hand (Acts 2:33).

“Now is my soul troubled”

Here we see the heart of Jesus as the hour arrives. “Troubled” is tarássō, to stir or agitate, used of water that is churned up and muddied. It is a strong word for deep inner turmoil, and it shows us the full humanity of the Son of God as he faces suffering and death.

“And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour.” Jesus speaks his distress openly, and the natural cry of a man facing a terrible death comes to his lips. It looks ahead to his prayer in Gethsemane, “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42), and to what Hebrews says of his prayers with strong crying and tears, and of how he learned obedience by the things he suffered (Hebrews 5:7–9).

“But for this cause came I unto this hour.” “For this cause” is dia touto, where diá with this case means “because of” or “for the sake of”. This hour is the reason he came. He came down from heaven to do the will of the one who sent him (John 6:38), and the trouble in his soul gives way at once to that settled purpose. This is the obedience Paul calls being “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”

Why was he troubled when he knew the outcome?

Jesus is truly man as well as truly God, and the pain, the shame and the sin-bearing ahead were all real to his human soul, whatever he knew of the victory beyond them. He felt what any man would feel before such a death, and he chose obedience out of love for his Father and for us. His trouble shows how much our salvation cost, and it shows that he knows fear from the inside.

“Father, glorify thy name”

Jesus’ answer to his own question is a prayer: “Father, glorify thy name.” Patḗr is the plain word for father, and on Jesus’ lips it speaks of his unique relationship with God. He asks the Father to show his glory, his holiness, power, love and saving purpose, through what is about to happen. His own comfort drops out of view, and the Father’s honour is all he asks for.

“Then came there a voice from heaven.” Phōnḗ is a sound or a voice, and so an address. Ouranós is the sky and heaven, God’s dwelling. The Father speaks aloud: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” He had already glorified his name through Jesus’ life, his teaching and his signs, all of which pointed to the Father. He would glorify it again through the cross, where his love (John 3:16) and his justice meet, through the resurrection, by which Jesus was declared the Son of God with power (Romans 1:4), and through the ascension to his right hand (Acts 2:33). Jesus prays the same way again in John 17:1.

This is one of three times the Gospels record the Father’s voice from heaven during Jesus’ ministry. At his baptism it said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17), and at the transfiguration it added, “hear ye him” (Matthew 17:5). Jewish teachers spoke of a bat kol, “daughter of a voice”, a voice from heaven by which God made his will known after the prophets had fallen silent. The crowd here had something far greater, the Father himself speaking about his Son.

Thunder or an angel?

The people standing by “heard it”, akoúō, the ordinary verb to hear. Everyone heard a sound, and they made different things of it. Some said it had thundered, brontḗ, the word for thunder, and took it for a natural event. Others said, “An angel spake to him.” Ángelos means a messenger, especially an angel, and comes from a verb meaning to bring tidings, and angels were well known as God’s messengers. The second group knew that heaven had spoken, but neither group recognized the voice of the Father himself. When the risen Jesus met Saul, the men with Saul likewise “heard a voice, but saw no man” (Acts 9:7).

Their confusion shows how much we need the one who makes God known. God has now spoken to us fully in his Son, the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person (Hebrews 1:1–3), who is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18). He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

“For your sakes”

“Jesus answered and said,” with apokrínomai, to answer, in the common Hebrew-shaped phrase “answered and said”. “This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.” Here diá again means “for the sake of”. Jesus lived in unbroken fellowship with the Father, and he knew who he was. The voice was for the crowd, a public witness from God to his Son just as Jesus was speaking of his death, given so that they might believe. John wrote his whole Gospel with that aim, “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:30–31), and God bore witness in the same way to the word of his grace through the apostles (Acts 14:3).

The judgment of this world and its prince

“Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” “Now” is nŷn, the present moment, and Jesus says it twice. The cross is just days away, and he speaks of it as already arriving.

Judgment is krísis, a decision, a verdict, justice or condemnation. World is kósmos, whose first sense is an orderly arrangement or adornment, and which came to mean the world and the people in it. In John the word often means humanity organized against God. At the cross the world’s sin and rebellion are laid bare as it puts the Son of God to death, and God passes his verdict on it. The same cross is where God’s righteousness is shown and salvation is offered to all who believe, so the judgment brings condemnation to the world’s rebellion and redemption to those who come to Christ.

“The prince of this world” is Satan. Árchōn means a ruler, chief or magistrate, one first in rank or power. Jesus uses this title three times in John, here, in “the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me” (John 14:30), and in “the prince of this world is judged” (John 16:11). It describes the real but borrowed power Satan holds over a world alienated from God. The people hoped for a Messiah who would overthrow Rome, and Jesus names the true enemy and the true battle.

“Cast out” is ekbállō with éxō, “out”. Ekbállō means to throw out or drive out, its prefix giving the direction “out”. The force of the saying comes from what Jesus says will happen by his death. On the cross he spoiled principalities and powers and triumphed over them (Colossians 2:14–15). Through death he destroyed the one who had the power of death and freed those held by the fear of it (Hebrews 2:14–15). “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). Satan is still at work in the world, yet his hold over those who belong to Christ is broken, for God has delivered them from the power of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son (Colossians 1:13). Revelation looks ahead to his being bound (Revelation 20:1–3) and to his final end.

Lifted up to draw all men

“And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” Hypsóō means to raise high, to lift up or to exalt. Jesus used the same verb with Nicodemus, “as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up” (John 3:14–15), and with the crowd at the temple (John 8:28). It carries two meanings at once. He will be raised up on a cross, and that same lifting up is his exaltation. Gē is the earth, the land, the ground, the earth’s surface under the heavens, and “from the earth” pictures him raised above it on the cross.

The people knew crucifixion as Rome’s public and shameful way of putting men to death, and the law said that one hanged on a tree was accursed of God (Deuteronomy 21:22–23). Jesus turns that place of shame into his throne.

“Will draw” is helkýō, to drag or draw, a strong and effective pull. It is God’s own work, rooted in the Father’s drawing, for “no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44). It works by the love and truth shown at the cross, through the Spirit, without force. After Jesus was exalted he poured out the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:33), and thousands were drawn to him that day. “All” is pâs, all, every, the whole.

Does “all men” mean everyone will be saved?

“All men” means people of every nation and background, Greeks as well as Jews, exactly what the Greeks’ request has just pictured. Heaven sings of a people redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation (Revelation 5:9), a great multitude no man could number (Revelation 7:9–10). Christ’s death is enough for all, the invitation is open to all, and those who are drawn come to him in faith. The verse speaks of the reach of the cross and leaves no room for a salvation that bypasses faith in him.

“What death he should die”

John adds his own note: “This he said, signifying what death he should die.” Sēmaínō means to indicate or make known by a sign. Poîos asks “which” or “what sort of”, so John says Jesus was pointing to the kind of death he would die, a death in which he would be lifted up, which is crucifixion. “Death” is thánatos, and “die” is apothnḗskō, the same verb Jesus used of the grain of wheat. “Should” is méllō, to be about to. Jesus knew the manner of his death and spoke of it beforehand.

He was “wounded for our transgressions” (Isaiah 53:5). Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, was buried, and rose again the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3–4), and God showed his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

“Who is this Son of man?”

The crowd understood that Jesus was speaking of death, and it troubled them. “We have heard out of the law that Christ abideth for ever: and how sayest thou, The Son of man must be lifted up? who is this Son of man?”

“The law” is nómos, law in general and above all the law of Moses, used here for the Scriptures as a whole. “Abideth” is ménō, to stay, remain, continue. They had good reason to expect an abiding Christ. The Scriptures speak of a priest for ever (Psalm 110:4), of a kingdom and government with no end (Isaiah 9:7), and of the Son of man receiving an everlasting dominion (Daniel 7:13–14). “Must” is deî, it is necessary. Jesus had said that the Son of man must be lifted up, and they could not fit a necessary death to a Christ who lives for ever. “Son of man” joins huiós, a son, and ánthrōpos, a human being, and their last question shows that they knew the title but could not see how it belonged to a man who would die.

The same Scriptures also spoke of the servant of the LORD in Isaiah 53, despised and rejected, wounded and bruised for the sins of others (Isaiah 53:3–5). After the resurrection Jesus opened those Scriptures to his disciples and showed them that both strands meet in him (Luke 24:25–27). The Christ who was lifted up on the cross does abide for ever. He “ever liveth to make intercession” for those who come to God by him (Hebrews 7:25), and of him God says, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever” (Hebrews 1:8). His death was the way his everlasting reign was won.

Jesus answers their question about who he is by calling them to come to the light.

Walk while ye have the light

“Yet a little while is the light with you.” “A little while” is éti mikrós chrónos, “yet a little time”. Phōs is light, from a word meaning to shine or to make manifest, and here the light is Jesus himself. He has already said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12, John 9:5), and John’s prologue calls him the true light that gives light to every man (John 1:4–9). In Israel’s Scriptures light stood for God’s presence, truth and guidance, and his word is a lamp to the feet (Psalm 119:105). Isaiah promised that the people who walked in darkness would see a great light (Isaiah 9:2). That light was standing in front of them, and in a few days he would be crucified.

“Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you.” Peripatéō means to walk and, figuratively, to live and behave, so walking in the light means living by the truth Jesus gives. Darkness is skotía, and “come upon” is katalambánō, to seize or overtake. The picture is a traveller who delays until night falls on the road. “For he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.” “Knoweth” is eídō, the verb the Greeks used when they asked to see Jesus, and the one who refuses the light ends up unable to see his own way. Such a person is lost, without direction, and in the end separated from the God who is light. John later writes that God is light, and that walking in the light means fellowship with him and cleansing by the blood of Jesus (1 John 1:5–7), and Paul tells those who were once darkness to walk as children of light (Ephesians 5:8–14).

Believe in the light and become children of light

“While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” To believe, pisteúō, is to credit something as true and to trust and rely on a person. Here it is trust in Jesus himself. The purpose is that they may be “children of light”, literally “sons of light”, a Hebrew way of speaking in which the “children of” something are those who belong to it and bear its character. Believers belong to the light and are marked by it, in contrast with the “children of disobedience” (Ephesians 5:6). Paul writes, “now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8), and he says that God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). Through his promises we are made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4).

The urgency was real for that crowd, and the light has kept shining. After his death and resurrection Jesus sent the Spirit of truth to guide his people into all truth (John 16:13), and the gospel carries his light to every nation. In him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

“These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.” Krýptō means to hide, conceal or keep secret. With these words Jesus’ public appeals in John come to an end. John goes straight on to explain the unbelief of many who had seen his signs, from the words of Isaiah (John 12:37–41). The other Gospels record his lament over Jerusalem, which would not come to him (Matthew 23:37–39). From here John turns to Jesus’ private teaching of his disciples and to the cross itself.

The Christ the Greeks asked to see

The Greeks said, “Sir, we would see Jesus,” and the whole passage is Jesus’ answer. He shows himself as the grain of wheat that dies and bears much fruit, the Son of man glorified on a cross, the one lifted up to draw all men to himself. Every believer from among the nations is part of that harvest, drawn by the Father to the crucified and risen Son.

We also see who God is here. The Father answers his Son aloud, and he speaks for the sake of the people standing by. The Son is troubled in his soul and still says, “Father, glorify thy name,” so we have a Saviour who knows fear from the inside and chose obedience for us. The devil’s claim is broken at the cross, and the Father promises to honour everyone who serves his Son and follows him. Jesus’ words still stand for anyone who hears them: “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.”

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers John 12:20–26. He set out his notes in a four-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 7 verses
Passage under commentJohn 12:20–26
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details[1.] [2.] Fine details

Honour is here paid to Christ by certain Greeks that enquired or him with respect. We are not told what day of Christ's last week this was, probably not the same day he rode into Jerusalem (for that day was taken up in public work), but a day or two after.

I.We are told who they were that paid this honour to our Lord Jesus:

Certain Greeks among the people who came up to worship at the feast, John 12:20. Some think they were Jews of the dispersion, some of the twelve tribes that were scattered among the Gentiles, and were called Greeks, Hellenist Jews; but others think they were Gentiles, those whom they called proselytes of the gate, such as the eunuch and Cornelius. Pure natural religion met with the best assistance among the Jews, and therefore those among the Gentiles who were piously inclined joined with them in their solemn meetings, as far as was allowed them. There were devout worshippers of the true God even among those that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel. It was in the latter ages of the Jewish church that there was this flocking of the Gentiles to the temple at Jerusalem, - a happy presage of the taking down of the partition-wall between Jews and Gentiles. The forbidding of the priests to accept of any oblation or sacrifice from a Gentile (which was done by Eleazar the son of Ananias, the high priest), Josephus says, was one of those things that brought the Romans upon them, War 2.409-410. Though these Greeks, if uncircumcised, were not admitted to eat the passover, yet they came to worship at the feast. We must thankfully use the privileges we have, though there may be others from which we are shut out.

II.What was the honour they paid him:

they desired to be acquainted with him, John 12:21. Having come to worship at the feast, they desired to make the best use they could of their time, and therefore applied to Philip, desiring that he would put them in a way to get some personal converse with the Lord Jesus.

1.Having a desire to see Christ, they were industrious in the use of proper means. They did not conclude it impossible, because he was so much crowded, to get to speak with him, nor rest in bare wishes, but resolved to try what could be done. Note, Those that would have the knowledge of Christ must seek it.

2.They made their application to Philip, one of his disciples. Some think that they had acquaintance with him formerly, and that they lived near Bethsaida in Galilee of the Gentiles; and then it teaches us that we should improve our acquaintance with good people, for our increase in the knowledge of Christ. It is good to know those who know the Lord. But if these Greeks had been near Galilee it is probable that they would have attended Christ there, where he mostly resided; therefore I think that they applied to him only because they saw him a close follower of Christ, and he was the first they could get to speak with. It was an instance of the veneration they had for Christ that they made an interest with one of his disciples for an opportunity to converse with him, a sign that they looked upon him as some great one, though he appeared mean. Those that would see Jesus by faith now that he is in heaven must apply to his ministers, whom he had appointed for this purpose, to guide poor souls in their enquiries after him. Paul must send for Ananias, and Cornelius for Peter. The bringing of these Greeks to the knowledge of Christ by the means of Philip signified the agency of the apostles, and the use made of their ministry in the conversion of the Gentiles to the faith and the discipling of the nations.

3.Their address to Philip was in short this: Sir, we would see Jesus. They gave him a title of respect, as one worthy of honour, because he was in relation to Christ. Their business is, they would see Jesus; not only see his face, that they might be able to say, when they came home, they had seen one that was so much talked of (it is probable they had seen him when he appeared publicly); but they would have some free conversation with him, and be taught by him, for which it was no easy thing to find him at leisure, his hands were so full of public work. Now that they were come to worship at the feast, they would see Jesus. Note, In our attendance upon holy ordinances, and particularly the gospel passover, the great desire of our souls should be to see Jesus; to have our acquaintance with him increased, our dependence on him encouraged, our conformity to him carried on; to see him as ours, to keep up communion with him, and derive communications of grace from him: we miss of our end in coming if we do not see Jesus.

4.Here is the report which Philip made of this to his Master, John 12:22. He tells Andrew, who was of Bethsaida likewise, and was a senior fellow in the college of the apostles, contemporary with Peter, and consults him what was to be done, whether he thought the motion would be acceptable or no, because Christ had sometimes said that he was not sent but to the house of Israel. They agree that it must be made; but then he would have Andrew go along with him, remembering the favourable acceptance Christ had promised them, in case two of them should agree touching any thing they should ask, Matthew 18:19. Note, Christ's ministers should be helpful to one another and concur in helping souls to Christ: Two are better than one. It should seem that Andrew and Philip brought this message to Christ when he was teaching in public, for we read (John 12:29) of the people that stood by; but he was seldom alone.

III.Christ's acceptance of this honour paid him, signified by what he said to the people hereupon, John 12:23, etc., where he foretels both the honour which he himself should have in being followed (John 12:23, John 12:24) and the honour which those should have that followed him, John 12:25, John 12:26. This was intended for the direction and encouragement of these Greeks, and all others that desired acquaintance with him.

1.He foresees that plentiful harvest, in the conversion of the Gentiles, of which this was as it were the first-fruits, John 12:23. Christ said to the two disciples who spoke a good word for these Greeks, but doubted whether they should speed or no, The hour is come when the Son of Man shall be glorified, by the accession of the Gentiles to the church, and in order to that he must be rejected of the Jews. Observe,

(1.)The end designed hereby, and that is the glorifying of the Redeemer: "And is it so? Do the Gentiles begin to enquire after me? Does the morning-star appear to them? and that blessed day-spring, which knows its place and time too, does that begin to take hold of the ends of the earth? Then the hour is come for the glorifying of the Son of man." This was no surprise to Christ, but a paradox to those about him. Note, [1.] The calling, the effectual calling, of the Gentiles into the church of God greatly redounded to the glory of the Son of man. The multiplying of the redeemed was the magnifying of the Redeemer. [2.] there was a time, a set time, an hour, a certain hour, for the glorifying of the Son of man, which did come at last, when the days of his humiliation were numbered and finished, and he speaks of the approach of it with exultation and triumph: The hour is come.

(2.)The strange way in which this end was to be attained, and that was by the death of Christ, intimated in that similitude (John 12:24): "Verily, verily, I say unto you, you to whom I have spoken of my death and sufferings, except a corn of wheat fall not only to, but into, the ground, and die, and be buried and lost, it abideth alone, and you never see any more of it; but if it die according to the course of nature (otherwise it would be a miracle) it bringeth forth much fruit, God giving to every seed its own body." Christ is the corn of wheat, the most valuable and useful grain. Now here is,

[1.]The necessity of Christ's humiliation intimated. He would never have been the living quickening head and root of the church if he had not descended from heaven to this accursed earth and ascended from earth to the accursed tree, and so accomplished our redemption. He must pour out his soul unto death, else he cannot divide a portion with the great, Isaiah 53:12. He shall have a seed given him, but he must shed his blood to purchase them and purify, must win them and wear them. It was necessary likewise as a qualification for that glory which he was to have by the accession of multitudes to his church; for if he had not by his sufferings made satisfaction for sin, and so brought in an everlasting righteousness, he would not have been sufficiently provided for the entertainment of those that should come to him, and therefore must abide alone.

[2.]The advantage of Christ's humiliation illustrated. He fell to the ground in his incarnation, seemed to be buried alive in this earth, so much was his glory veiled; but this was not all: he died. This immortal seed submitted to the laws of mortality, he lay in the grave like seed under the clods; but as the seed comes up again green, and fresh, and flourishing, and with a great increase, so one dying Christ gathered to himself thousands of living Christians, and he became their root. The salvation of souls hitherto, and henceforward to the end of time, is all owing to the dying of this corn of wheat. Hereby the Father and the Son are glorified, the church is replenished, the mystical body is kept up, and will at length be completed; and, when time shall be no more, the Captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory by the virtue of his death, and being so made perfect by sufferings, shall be celebrated for ever with the admiring praises of saints and angels, Hebrews 2:10, Hebrews 2:13.

2.He foretels and promises an abundant recompence to those who should cordially embrace him and his gospel and interest, and should make it appear that they do so by their faithfulness in suffering for him or in serving him.

(1.)In suffering for him (John 12:25): He that loves his life better than Christ shall lose it; but he that hates his life in this world, and prefers the favour of God and an interest in Christ before it, shall keep it unto life eternal. This doctrine Christ much insisted on, it being the great design of his religion to wean us from this world, by setting before us another world.

[1.]See here the fatal consequences of an inordinate love of life; many a man hugs himself to death, and loses his life by over-loving it. He that so loves his animal life as to indulge his appetite, and make provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof, shall thereby shorten his days, shall lose the life he is so fond of, and another infinitely better. He that is so much in love with the life of the body, and the ornaments and delights of it, as, for fear of exposing it or them, to deny Christ, he shall lose it, that is, lose a real happiness in the other world, while he thinks to secure an imaginary one in this. Skin for skin a man may give for his life, and make a good bargain, but he that gives his soul, his God, his heaven, for it, buys life too dear, and is guilty of the folly of him who sold a birth-right for a mess of pottage.

[2.]See also the blessed recompence of a holy contempt of life. He that so hates the life of the body as to venture it for the preserving of the life of his soul shall find both, with unspeakable advantage, in eternal life. Note, First, It is required of the disciples of Christ that they hate their life in this world; a life in this world supposes a life in the other world, and this is hated when it is loved less than that. Our life in this world includes all the enjoyments of our present state, riches, honours, pleasures, and long life in the possession of them; these we must hate, that is, despise them as vain and insufficient to make us happy, dread the temptations that are in them, and cheerfully part with them whenever they come in competition with the service of Christ, Acts 20:24; Acts 21:13; Revelation 12:11. See here much of the power of godliness - that it conquers the strongest natural affections; and much of the mystery of godliness - that it is the greatest wisdom, and yet makes men hate their own lives. Secondly, Those who, in love to Christ, hate their own lives in this world, shall be abundantly recompensed in the resurrection of the just. He that hateth his life shall keep it; he puts it into the hands of one that will keep it to life eternal, and restore it with as great an improvement as the heavenly life can make of the earthly one.

(2.)In serving him (John 12:26): If any man profess to serve me, let him follow me, as a servant follows his master; and where I am, ekei kai ho diakonos ho emos estai - there let my servant be; so some read it, as part of the duty, there let him be, to attend upon me; we read it as part of the promise, there shall he be in happiness with me. And, lest this should seem a small matter, he adds, If any man serve me, him will my Father honour; and that is enough, more than enough. The Greeks desired to see Jesus (John 12:21), but Christ lets them know that it was not enough to see him, they must serve him. He did not come into the world, to be a show for us to gaze at, but a king to be ruled by. And he says this for the encouragement of those who enquired after him to become his servants. In taking servants it is usual to fix both the work and the wages; Christ does both here.

[1.]Here is the work which Christ expects from his servants; and it is very easy and reasonable, and such as becomes them.

First, Let them attend their Master's movements: If any man serve me, let him follow me. Christians must follow Christ, follow his methods and prescriptions, do the things that he says, follow his example and pattern, walk as he also walked, follow his conduct by his providence and Spirit. We must go whither he leads us, and in the way he leads us; must follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes before us. "If any man serve me, if he put himself into that relation to me, let him apply himself to the business of my service, and be always ready at my call." Or, "If any man do indeed serve me, let him make an open and public profession of his relation to me, by following me, as the servant owns his Master by following him in the streets."

Secondly, Let them attend their Master's repose: Where I am, there let my servant be, to wait upon me. Christ is where his church is, in the assemblies of his saints, where his ordinances are administered; and there let his servants be, to present themselves before him, and receive instructions from him. Or, "Where I am to be in heaven, whither I am now going, there let the thoughts and affections of my servants be, there let their conversation be, where Christ sitteth." Colossians 3:1, Colossians 3:2.

[2.]Here are the wages which Christ promises to his servants; and they are very rich and noble.

First, They shall be happy with him: Where I am, there shall also my servant be. To be with him, when he was here in poverty and disgrace, would seem but poor preferment, and therefore, doubtless, he means being with him in paradise, sitting with him at his table above, on his throne there; it is the happiness of heaven to be with Christ there, John 17:24. Christ speaks of heaven's happiness as if he were already in it: Where I am; because he was sure of it, and near to it, and it was still upon his heart, and in his eye. And the same joy and glory which he thought recompence enough for all his services and sufferings are proposed to his servants as the recompence of theirs. Those that follow him in the way shall be with him in the end.

Secondly, They shall be honoured by his Father; he will make them amends for all their pains and loss, by conferring an honour upon them, such as becomes a great God to give, but far beyond what such worthless worms of the earth could expect to receive. The rewarder is God himself, who takes the services done to the Lord Jesus as done to himself. The reward is honour, true lasting honour, the highest honour; it is the honour that comes from God. It is said (Proverbs 27:18), He that waits on his Master (humbly and diligently) shall be honoured. Those that wait on Christ God will put honour upon, such as will be taken notice of another day, though now under a veil. Those that serve Christ must humble themselves, and are commonly vilified by the world, in recompence of both which they shall be exalted in due time.

Thus far Christ's discourse has reference to those Greeks who desired to see him, encouraging them to serve him. What became of those Greeks we are not told, but are willing to hope that those who thus asked the way to heaven with their faces thitherward, found it, and walked in it.

Historical interpretation

Nine Centuries of Reception

19 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

19 quotes · AD 215–1107
Ante-NicenePost-NiceneEarly MedievalMedieval
20030040050060070080090010001100

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 215Clement of AlexandriaAnte-NiceneSourceThe Stromata Book 4
And, in fine, the Lord's discipline draws the soul away gladly from the body, even if it wrench itself away in its removal. "For he that loveth his life shall lose it, and he that loseth his life shall find it," if we only join that which is mortal of us with the immortality of God. It is the will of God that we should attain the knowledge of God, which is the communication of immortality.
d. AD 258CyprianAnte-NiceneSourceTreatise XI. Exhortation to Martyrdom, Addressed to Fortunatus.
That God is so angry against idolatry, that He has even enjoined those to be slain who persuade others to sacrifice and serve idols. In Deuteronomy: "But if thy brother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or thy wife which is in thy bosom, or thy friend which is the fellow of thine own soul, should ask thee secretly, saying, Let us go anti serve other gods, the gods of the nations, thou shalt not consent unto him, and thou shalt not hearken unto him, neither shall thine eye spare him, neither shalt thou conceal him, declaring thou shalt declare concerning him. Thine hand shall be upon him first of all to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people; and they shall stone him, and he shall die, because he hath sought to turn thee away from the Lord thy God." And again the Lord speaks, and says, that neither must a city be spared, even though the whole city should consent to idolatry: "Or if thou shalt hear in one of the cities which the Lord thy God shall give thee, to dwell there, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, slaying thou shalt kill all who are in the city with the slaughter of the sword, and bum the city with fire, and it shall be without habitation for ever. Moreover, it shall no more be rebuilt, that the Lord may be turned from the indignation of His anger. And He will show thee mercy, and He will pity thee, and will multiply thee, if thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt observe His precepts." Remembering which precept and its force, Mattathias slew him who had approached the altar to sacrifice. But if before the coming of Christ these precepts concerning the worship of God and the despising of idols were observed, how much more should they be regarded since Christ's advent; since He, when He came, not only exhorted us with words, but with deeds also, but after all wrongs and contumelies, suffered also, and was crucified, that He might teach us to suffer and to die by His example, that there might be no excuse for a man not to suffer for Him, since He suffered for us; and that since He suffered for the sins of others, much rather ought each to suffer for his own sins. And therefore in the Gospel He threatens, and says: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father which is in heaven; but whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." The Apostle Paul also says: "For if we die with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him; if we deny Him, He also will deny us." John too: "Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father; he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath both the Son and the Father." Whence the Lord exhorts and strengthens us to contempt of death, saying: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to kill soul and body in Gehenna." And again: "He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he who hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal."
d. AD 258CyprianAnte-NiceneSourceEpistle LV
Nor let any one of you, beloved brethren, be so terrified by the fear of future persecution, or the coming of the threatening Antichrist, as not to be found armed for all things by the evangelical exhortations and precepts, and by the heavenly warnings. Antichrist is coming, but above him comes Christ also. The enemy goeth about and rageth, but immediately the Lord follows to avenge our sufferings and our wounds. The adversary is enraged and threatens, but there is One who can deliver us from his hands. He is to be feared whose anger no one can escape, as He Himself forewarns, and says: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell." And again: "He that loveth his life, shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal." And in the Apocalypse He instructs and forewarns, saying, "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, mixed in the cup of His indignation, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torments shall ascend up for ever and ever; and they shall have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image."
d. AD 258CyprianAnte-NiceneSourceTreatise XII. Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews.
Of the benefits of martyrdom. In the Proverbs of Solomon: "The faithful martyr delivers his soul from evils." Also in the same place: "Then shall the righteous stand in great boldness against them who have afflicted them, and who took away their labours. When they see them, they shall be disturbed with a horrible fear; and they shall wonder at the suddenness of their unhoped-for salvation, saying among themselves, repenting and groaning with distress of spirit, These are they whom some time we had in derision, and in the likeness of a proverb; we fools counted their life madness, and their end without honour. How are they reckoned among the children of God, and their lot among the saints! Therefore we have wandered from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness has not shined upon us, and the sun has not risen upon us. We have been wearied in the way of iniquity and of perdition, and we have walked through difficult solitudes; but we have not known the way of the Lord. What hath pride profited us? or what hath the boasting of riches brought to us? All these things have passed away as a shadow." Of this same thing in the cxvth Psalm: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." Also in the cxxvth Psalm: "They who sow in tears shall reap in joy. Walking they walked, and wept as they cast their seeds; but coming they shall come in joy, raising up their laps." Of this same thing in the Gospel according to John: "He who loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall find it to life eternal." Also in the same place: "But when they shall deliver you up, take no thought what ye shall speak; for it is not ye who speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Also in the same place: "The hour shall come, that every one that killeth you shall think he doeth service to God l but they shall do this also because they have not known the Father nor me." Of this same matter, according to Matthew: "Blessed are they which shall suffer persecution for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Also in the same place: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to kill the soul and body in Gehenna." Also in the same place: "Whosoever shall confess me before men, him also will I confess before my Father which is in heaven; but he who shall deny me before men, him also will I deny before my Father which is in heaven. And he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." Of this same thing, according to Luke: "Blessed shall ye be when men shall hate you, and shall separate you (from their company), and shall drive you out, and shall speak evil of your name, as wicked, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice in that day, and exult; for, lo, your reward is great in heaven." Also in the same place: "Verily I say unto you, There is no man that leaveth house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, and does not receive seven times as much in this present time, but in the world to come life everlasting." Of this same thing in the Apocalypse: "And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar of God the souls of them that were slain on account of the word of God and His testimony. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And unto every one of them were given white robes; and it was said to them, that they should rest still for a short time, until the number of their fellow-servants, and of their brethren, should be fulfilled, and they who shall afterwards be slain, after their example." Also in the same place: "After these things I saw a great crowd, which no one among them could number, from every nation, and from every tribe, and from every people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb; and they were clothed with white robes, and palms were in their hands. And they said with a loud voice, Salvation to our God, that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. And one of the elders answered and said to me, What are these which are clothed with white robes? who are they, and whence have they come? And I said unto him, My lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they who have come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them. They shall neither hunger nor thirst ever; and neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor shall they suffer any heat: for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall protect them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life; and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes." Also in the same place: "He who shall overcome I will give him to eat of the tree of life, which as in the paradise of my God." Also in the same place: "Be thou faithful even unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." Also in the same place: "Blessed shall they be who shall watch, and shall keep their garments, lest they walk naked, and they see their shame." Of this same thing, Paul in the second Epistle to Timothy: "I am now offered up, and the time of my assumption is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. There now remains for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me in that day; and not only to me, but to all also who love His appearing." Of this same thing to the Romans: "We are the sons of God: but if sons and heirs of God, we are also joint-heirs with Christ; if we suffer together, that we may also be magnified together." Of this same thing in the cxviiith Psalm: "Blessed are they who are undefiled in the way, and walk in the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who search into His testimonies."
d. AD 325Lucius Caecilius Firmianus LactantiusPost-NiceneSourceThe Divine Institutes Book 7, Chapter VIII
But he who prefers to live well for eternity, will live badly for a time, and will be subjected to all troubles and labours as long as he shall be on earth, that he may have divine and heavenly consolation. And he who shall prefer to live well for a time, will live ill to eternity; for he will be condemned by the sentence of God to eternal punishment, because he has preferred earthly to heavenly goods. On this account, therefore, God seeks to be worshipped, and to be honoured by man as a Father, that he may have virtue and wisdom, which alone produce immortality. For because no other but Himself is able to confer that immortality, since He alone possesses it, He will grant to the piety of the man, with which he has honoured God, this reward, to be blessed to all eternity, and to be for ever in the presence of God and in the society of God.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on the Gospel of John 67
Sweet is the present life, and full of much pleasure, yet not to all, but to those who are riveted to it. Since, if any one look to heaven and see the beauteous things there, he will soon despise this life, and make no account of it. Just as the beauty of an object is admired while none more beautiful is seen, but when a better appears, the former is despised. If then we would choose to look to that beauty, and observe the splendor of the kingdom there, we should soon free ourselves from our present chains; for a kind of chain it is, this sympathy with present things.
d. AD 407John Chrysostomas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Hom. lxvi. 2) He illustrates His discourse by an example from nature. A grain of corn produces fruit, after it has died. How much more then must the Son of God? The Gentiles were to be called after the Jews had finally offended; i. e. after His crucifixion. Now then that the Gentiles of their own accord offered their faith, He saw that His crucifixion could not be far off. And to console the sorrow of His disciples, which He foresaw would arise, He tells them that to bear patiently not only His death, but their own too, is the only way to good: He that loveth his life shall lose it.

(Hom. lxvii. 1) He loveth his life in this world, who indulges its inordinate desires; he hateth it, who resists them. It is not, who doth not yield to, but, who hateth. For as we cannot bear to hear the voice or see the face of them whom we hate; so when the soul invites us to things contrary to God, we should turn her away from them with all our might.

(Hom. lxvii. 1) This present life is sweet to them who are given up to it. But he who looks heavenwards, and sees what good things are there, soon despises this life. When the better life appears, the worse is despised. This is Christ's meaning, when He says, If any man serve Me, let him follow Me, i. e. imitate Me, both in My death, and life. For he who serves, should follow him whom he serves.

(Hom. lxvii) So then death will be followed by resurrection. Where I am, He says; for Christ was in heaven before His resurrection. Thither let us ascend in heart and in mind.
If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour. This must be understood as an explanation of the preceding. There also shall My servant be. For what greater honour can an adopted son receive than to be where the Only Son is?

(Hom. lxvii) He says, My Father will honour him, not, I will honour him; because they had not yet proper notions of His nature, and thought Him inferior to the Father.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on the Gospel of John 67
How shall "he that loveth his life, lose it"? When he doeth its unseemly desires, when he gratifies it where he ought not. Wherefore one exhorteth us, saying, "Walk not in the desires of thy soul" (Ecclus. xviii. 30); for so wilt thou destroy it since it leadeth away from the path leading to virtue; just as, on the contrary, "he that hateth it in this world, shall save it." But what meaneth, "He that hateth it"? He who yields not to it when it commands what is pernicious. And He said not, "he that yieldeth not to it," but, "He that hateth it"; for as we cannot endure even to hear the voice of those we hate, nor to look upon them with pleasure, so from the soul also we must turn away with vehemence, when it commands things contrary to what is pleasing to God.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on the Gospel of John 67
"If any man serve Me, let him follow Me." Speaking of death, and requiring the following which is by works. For certainly he that serveth must follow him who is served. And observe at what time He said these things to them; not when they were persecuted, but when they were confident; when they thought they were in safety on account of the honor and attention of the many, when they might rouse themselves and hear, "Let him take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matt. xvi. 24); that is, "Be ever prepared against dangers, against death, against your departure hence." Then after He had spoken what was hard to bear, He putteth also the prize. And of what kind was this? The following Him, and being where He is; showing that Resurrection shall succeed death.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on the Gospel of John 67
"If any man serve Me, the Father shall love him." Why said He not, "I"? Because they did not as yet hold a right opinion concerning Him, but held a higher opinion of the Father. For how could they imagine anything great concerning Him, who did not even know that He was to rise again? Wherefore He said to the sons of Zebedee, "It is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared by my Father" (Mark x. 40), yet He it is that judgeth. But in this passage He also establisheth His genuine sonship. For as the servants of His own Son, so will the Father receive them.
d. AD 407John ChrysostomPost-NiceneSourceHomily on the Gospel of John 67
For since He was now about to say much to them concerning death, His own death, and saw that they were dejected and desponding, He spake very strongly, saying, "What say I? If ye bear not valiantly My death? Nay, if ye die not yourselves, ye will gain nothing."
d. AD 428Theodore of MopsuestiaPost-NiceneSourceCOMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 5.12.25
Therefore, he says, not only must you not be upset by my suffering or have doubts about my words that will be confirmed by the facts later on, but you must also be drawn to that suffering so that you might enjoy the same things I do by suffering the same things I do. The one who appears to be so concerned with his life here that he does not want to submit it to testing will lose it in the future world. The one who hates his life, and in this world exposes it to afflictions, gathers much more fruit for himself. Jesus does not express this idea as if he wants to reveal here something about life. Rather, he simply identifies love for life as something that is prevalent among us as we seek to defend, preserve and protect our body and life from any possible danger.
d. AD 430Augustine of Hippoas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274Post-NiceneSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
(Tr. li. 10) This may be understood in two ways: 1. If thou lovest it, lose it: if thou wouldest preserve thy life in Christ, fear not death for Christ. 2. Do not love thy life here, lest thou lose it hereafter. The latter seems to be the more evangelical (evangelicus) sense; for it follows, And he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal.

(Tr. li. 10) But think not for an instant, that by hating thy soul, is meant that thou mayest kill thyself. For wicked and perverse men have sometimes so mistaken it, and have burnt and strangled themselves, thrown themselves from precipices, and in other ways put an end to themselves. This did not Christ teach; nay, when the devil tempted Him to cast Himself down, He said, Get thee hence, Satanb. But when no other choice is given thee; when the persecutor threatens death, and thou must either disobey God's law, or depart out of this life, then hate thy life in this world, that thou mayest keep it unto life eternal.
d. AD 430Augustine of HippoPost-NiceneSourceSERMON 330.2-3
Only a human being would ask, “How can someone who loves himself deny himself?” God … says to such a person, “Let him deny himself, if he loves himself.” By loving himself, you see, he loses himself; by denying himself, he finds himself. “Whoever loves his soul,” he says, “let him lose it.” … It is a painful thing to lose what you love.…There is not anyone, after all, who does not love himself. But we have to look for the right sort of love and avoid the wrong sort. You see, anyone who loves himself by leaving God out of his life (and leaves God out of his life by loving himself), does not even remain in himself. He actually leaves his self. He goes away into exile from his own heart by taking no notice of what is inside and instead only loving what is outside.… For instance, let me ask you this: Are you money?… And yet, by loving money, you end up abandoning yourself. First you abandon and then later end up destroying yourself. Love of money, you see, has caused you to destroy yourself. You tell lies on account of money. … While looking for money, you have destroyed your soul.
Bring out the scales of truth … and put on one side money, on the other the soul.… But do not weigh it yourself. You want to cheat yourself.… Let God do the weighing—the one who does not know how to deceive or be deceived.… Watch him weighing them and then listen to him announce the result: “What does it profit someone if he gains the whole world but suffers the loss of his own soul?”.… You were willing to lose your soul in order to acquire the earth. This soul, however, outweighs heaven and earth combined. But you do this because by leaving God out of your life and loving yourself, you have also gone away from yourself. You end up valuing other things, which are outside you, more than yourself. Come back to yourself. But then turn upward when you have come back to yourself; do not stay in yourself. First come back to yourself from the things outside you, and then give yourself back to the one who made you, who looked for you when you were lost and found you when you were a runaway.
d. AD 430Augustine of HippoPost-NiceneSourceTractates on John 51
And now, by way of exhortation to follow in the path of His own passion, He adds, "He that loveth his life shall lose it," which may be understood in two ways: "He that loveth shall lose," that is, If thou lovest, be ready to lose; if thou wouldst possess life in Christ, be not afraid of death for Christ. Or otherwise, "He that loveth his life shall lose it." Do not love for fear of losing; love it not here, lest thou lose it in eternity. But what I have said last seems better to correspond with the meaning of the Gospel, for there follow the words, "And he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal." So that when it is said in the previous clause, "He that loveth," there is to be understood in this world, he it is that shall lose it. "But he that hateth," that is, in this world, is he that shall keep it unto life eternal. Surely a profound and strange declaration as to the measure of a man's love for his own life that leads to its destruction, and of his hatred to it that secures its preservation! If in a sinful way thou lovest it, then dost thou really hate it; if in a way accordant with what is good thou hast hated it, then hast thou really loved it. Happy they who have so hated their life while keeping it, that their love shall not cause them to lose it.

But beware of harboring the notion that thou mayest court self-destruction by any such understanding of thy duty to hate thy life in this world. For on such grounds it is that certain wrong-minded and perverted people, who, with regard to themselves, are murderers of a specially cruel and impious character, commit themselves to the flames, suffocate themselves in water, dash themselves against a precipice, and perish. This was no teaching of Christ's, who, on the other hand, met the devil's suggestion of a precipice with the answer, "Get thee behind me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." To Peter also He said, signifying by what death he should glorify God, "When thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst whither thou wouldest: but when thou shalt be old, another shall gird thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not;" where He made it sufficiently plain that it is not by himself but by another that one must be slain who follows in the footsteps of Christ. And so, when one's case has reached the crisis that this condition is placed before him, either that he must act contrary to the divine commandment or quit this life, and that a man is compelled to choose one or other of the two by the persecutor who is threatening him with death, in such circumstances let him prefer dying in the love of God to living under His anger, in such circumstances let him hate his life in this world that he may keep it unto life eternal.
d. AD 430Augustine of HippoPost-NiceneSourceSERMON 331.1
If you love [your soul], lose it. Sow it here, and you will reap it in heaven. If the farmer does not lose wheat in the seed, he does not love it in the harvest.… Do not love your soul so much that you lose it. People who are afraid to die seem to love their souls. If the martyrs had loved their souls like that, they would undoubtedly have lost them.… What good, after all, would it be to hold on to the soul on earth and lose it in heaven? And what does holding on to it amount to? Keeping it for how long? What you keep eventually vanishes from you. If you lose it, you find it in yourself.… The martyrs lost their souls at a great profit—losing straw, earning a crown. Earning a crown, I repeat, and keeping hold of life without end.
d. AD 444Cyril of AlexandriaPost-NiceneSourceCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 8
You not only ought not to be offended at the thought of My suffering, or to disbelieve the words I said, but it is even right that you should be prepared in anticipation of it; for he that thinks fit to be careful over his life here, and is not willing to expose it to dangers for My sake, loses it in the time to come. But he who exposes it to dangers in this present world is laying up in store for it great rewards. And he who despises his life in this world shall obtain in the world to come life incorruptible. And the Lord said these words, not as implying that the life [i. e. the soul] can suffer anything here, but meaning by "love of life" the disposition to hold it firmly, as shown by those who do not expose their body to dangers.
d. AD 542Caesarius of ArlesPost-NiceneSourceSERMON 173.4-5
Whatever you love is either the same as yourself, below you or above you. If what you love is beneath you, love it to comfort it, care for it and to use it but not to cling to it. For example, you love gold. Do not become attached to the gold, for how much better are you than gold? Gold, indeed, is a shining piece of earth, while you have been made in the image of God in order that you may be illumined by the Lord. Although gold is a creature of God, still God did not make it according to his own image, but you he did. Therefore, he put the gold beneath you. This kind of love should be despised. Those things are to be acquired for their usefulness, but we should not cling to them with the bond of love as if with glue. Do not make for yourself members over which, when they have begun to be cut away, you will grieve and be afflicted. What then? Rise from that love with which you love things that are lower than you, and begin to love your equals, that is, things that are what you are.… The Lord himself has told us in the Gospel and clearly showed us in what order we may have true love and charity. For he spoke in this way, “You shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart, and with your whole soul and with your whole strength. And your neighbor as yourself.” Therefore, first love God and then yourself. After these, love your neighbor as yourself.
d. AD 1107Theophylact of Ohridas quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274MedievalSourceCatena Aurea by Aquinas
It were harsh to say that a man should hate his soul; so He adds, in this world: i. e. for a particular time, not for ever. And we shall gain in the end by so doing: shall keep it unto life eternal.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

Continue studying John 12:25 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.

Read & Compare

Commentaries

Original Language & Research

Sermons, Hymns & Audio

TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.

Related study articles8