All things have been delivered to me by my Father is shifted to an active formation by Good News Translation: “My Father has given me all things.” Few commentators offer any real help regarding the interpretation and translation of All things. For many languages a clear antecedent will be obligatory; otherwise All things will be understood as “all material goods,” which is erroneous. Two routes of interpretation are possible: (1) The meaning may be the full authority (see 28.18) which the Father has given Jesus: “My Father has given me all power” (Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1st edition). (2) Or All things may mean “full knowledge (of God),” an interpretation which is supported by two observations: (a) The Greek verb delivered most naturally suits the contexts where a revelation is involved, and (b) the entire second half of the verse implies that a revelation is what is intended. TOB’s footnote also argues for the communication of a revelation, specifically of a revelation concerning the Kingdom of God and its secrets. However, the context would suggest that the content of the revelation is God himself. Accordingly, one may translate “God the Father has given me full knowledge of himself,” in which “full” is the equivalent of “all.”

With this interpretation, other ways to render the sentence are “God the Father has made me know everything about him,” “I know now everything about God my Father. He himself gave me that,” or “… He himself made me to understand.”

It is significant that Jesus affirms no one knows the Son except the Father before stating no one knows the Father except the Son. This fits in well with the situation where the truth of who Jesus is remains hidden even to John the Baptist (verses 2-3) and to the people of his hometown (verses 20-24). A similar thought is expressed in 16.17.

Knows: in biblical thought the idea of knowing supersedes mere knowledge, for it includes thorough, intimate knowledge that puts people in a special relationship to each other. In Amos 3.2, for example, the verb “know” is used of God’s election of Israel as his people: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Jesus is here affirming that he and the Father stand in a unique and intimate relationship with one another: only the Father knows who Jesus really is, and only Jesus possesses true understanding of the Father.

Thus knows in this context means “knows who he really is.” A possible rendering can then be “No one knows who the Son really is except God the Father, and no one knows God’s true nature except the Son and whomever he chooses to reveal God to.” The sentence can be expressed with a positive construction instead of a negative: “Only God the Father knows who the Son really is, and only the Son and those he chooses to reveal it to, know the true nature of God.”

There will be languages where the Son will pose a problem, since the question will be raised “the son of whom?” Then translators must use “the Son of God.” But if possible the title the Son should be retained.

Similarly the Father should be retained, but it may be necessary to say “God the Father.”

Any one to whom may be better expressed as a plural in many languages: “those to whom” (Good News Translation).

In Greek chooses to reveal is without an object, but most languages will require either him or “the Father.”

Reveal is the rendering of most English translations; in this context it refers to revelation of the kind of knowledge the Father and the Son have of each other. Barclay translates “make … known.” The same verb appears in 10.26, where it is translated “be uncovered” by Good News Translation. Both in the Septuagint and in the New Testament, this is the normal verb for the revelation of divine secrets. Reveal can often be something like “make known.” However, quite often languages require that the knowledge being revealed be more specific, so translators have to say “show the true nature of God” or “reveal what God is really like.”

The idea of chooses should not be left out. The verse says there are people “to whom the Son chooses to reveal God’s nature.” Some even make the last phrase a separate sentence: “… and only the Son knows God’s true nature. Also there are people the Son chooses that he reveals God to.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .