8:54a
If I glorify Myself: This clause refers to something that did not happen, a condition that was not fulfilled. Jesus did not in fact glorify himself. He did not give himself praise, honor, or glory. The Greek text emphasizes the word I to contrast with his Father glorifying him in 8:54b. Here are some other ways to translate this clause:
If I were to seek my own glory (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
If I praised myself
-or-
If it were me that honored myself
My glory means nothing: This clause indicates that praise that one gives to oneself has no meaning. It is unimportant or worthless. Because Jesus did not glorify himself, this clause refers to a situation that was not real. This would be the situation if Jesus praised himself—but he did not. Use an expression that refers to something that could be the case, but is not. For example:
my glory would be worth nothing (New Jerusalem Bible)
-or-
that honor would be worthless
-or-
it would mean nothing (Contemporary English Version)
8:54b
The One who glorifies Me is My Father: Jesus said that God his Father was the one who glorified him, who gave him honor. There is a contrast to the idea in 8:54a that Jesus gave himself honor. Here are other ways to translate this clause:
The one who honors me is my Father. (Good News Translation)
-or-
My Father is the one who gives me glory. (God’s Word)
8:54c
of whom you say ‘He is our God’: This phrase gives some further information about Jesus’ Father. He is the God of the Jews, (the God whom the Jewish people worship). There is a textual issue here:
(1) Some Greek manuscripts have the quotation in direct speech and say “our God.” For example:
the one of whom you say, ‘He is our God’ (New Jerusalem Bible)
(Berean Standard Bible, English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible, New Revised Standard Version, NET Bible Bible, New Living Translation (2004), Revised English Bible, New Jerusalem Bible)
(2) Some Greek manuscripts have the quotation in indirect speech and say “your God.” For example:
you say he is your God (New Century Version)
(King James Version, New International Version, Revised Standard Version, Contemporary English Version, God’s Word, Good News Translation, New Century Version)
It is recommended that you follow option (1). However, the meaning of the two options is the same. You should use whichever form of speech is most natural in your language here. For example:
about whom you people say, ‘He is our God’ (NET Bible Bible)
-or-
The one who honors me is my Father—the very one you say is your God. (Good News Translation)
He is our God: This clause indicates that Jesus’ Father, the one who gave Jesus glory, was the God of the Jews. And Jesus and the other Jews all believed that he was the only true God. Other peoples worshiped different gods, but the Jewish people only worshiped the one God.
In some languages it may be natural to supply a verb indicating in what sense Jesus’ Father was our God. For example:
He is the God whom we (excl.) worship/honor
-or-
He is the God to whom we (excl.) pray
General Comment on 8:54b–c
In some languages it may be natural to reorder 8:54b–c. For example:
My Father, 54c whom you say is your God, 54b is the one who praises me.
© 2020 by SIL International®
Made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License (CC BY-SA) creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0.
All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible.
BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.