7:18a
He who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory: This clause refers to people who teach their own ideas or on their own authority. Their teaching does not come from God and God did not send them. Jesus said that people who did that sought their own glory.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
Those who teach their own ideas are trying to get honor for themselves. (New Century Version)
-or-
Those who speak on their own authority are trying to gain glory for themselves. (Good News Translation)
This clause refers to anyone and everyone who speaks their own words and ideas. Those people’s motives are selfish because they want other people to praise them. So, the examples above use a plural subject, “Those who.” In some languages it may be natural to translate it in the singular, as in the Berean Standard Bible.
seeks his own glory: This phrase means “want others to praise them.” These people say what they do so that others will admire and praise them. In some languages it may be natural to translate glory as a verb. For example:
want others to praise/honor them
-or-
want to be praised/honored
7:18b
but: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as but here indicates a contrast between the people described in 7:18a and the one described here. In some languages it may be natural to start a new sentence here.
He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is a man of truth: This clause refers to true teachers in general. But Jesus also implied that he was an example of that kind of teacher. He himself was a man who wanted glory for the one who sent him. In some languages a literal translation may imply that Jesus was speaking only of others, not himself. If this is true in your language, it may be necessary to explicitly say that Jesus was referring to himself. For example:
I want to honor the one who sent me. That is why I tell the truth…. (Contemporary English Version)
seeks the glory of the One who sent Him: The expression seeks the glory of means to try to bring praise or honor to someone. In this context, Jesus wanted to honor God. It would be good to emphasize the contrast with 7:18a by using the same expression that you used there. See the note and translation examples there.
the One who sent Him: This expression refers to God, who sent Jesus. In some languages it is more natural to make this explicit. For example:
God who sent me
is a man of truth: The word truth here describes someone who tells the truth. Jesus implied that he could be trusted because he spoke what is true. Here are other ways to translate this phrase:
is honest (Good News Translation)
-or-
speak the truth (New Century Version)
7:18c
in Him there is no falsehood: This clause is another way of saying that he is completely true or genuine. Repeating this idea is a way to emphasize that there is absolutely nothing untrue in him.
Here are other ways to translate this clause:
he does not deceive at all
-or-
he does not tell lies
General Comment on 7:18b–c
The clause “in Him there is no falsehood” is the negative of the positive statement in 7:18b, “is a man of truth.” The negative and positive statements are parallel; they mean the same thing and repeating the idea emphasizes it.
Here are some other ways to translate these parallel statements:
but a person who seeks to honor the one who sent him speaks truth, not lies (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him (New International Version)
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