John 3:13
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No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
no man hath ascended, &c.--There is something paradoxical in this language--"No one has gone up but He that came down, even He who is at once both up and down." Doubtless it was intended to startle and constrain His auditor to think that there must be mysterious elements in His Person. The old Socinians, to subvert the doctrine of the pre-existence of Christ, seized upon this passage as teaching that the man Jesus was secretly caught up to heaven to receive His instructions, and then "came down from heaven" to deliver them. But the sense manifestly is this: "The perfect knowledge of God is not obtained by any man's going up from earth to heaven to receive it--no man hath so ascended--but He whose proper habitation, in His essential and eternal nature, is heaven, hath, by taking human flesh, descended as the Son of man to disclose the Father, whom He knows by immediate gaze alike in the flesh as before He assumed it, being essentially and unchangeably 'in the bosom of the Father'" (Joh 1:18).
Open source ↗In this chapter we have, I. Christ's discourse with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, concerning the great mysteries of the gospel, in which he here privately instructs him (v. 1-21). II. John Baptist's discourse with his disciples concerning Christ, upon occasion of his coming into the neighbourhood where John was (Joh 3:22-36), in which he fairly and faithfully resigns all his honour and interest to him.
Open source ↗3:13 There is great distance between this world and heaven (see 1:51; 3:31; 6:38, 42). Jesus bridged that distance, validating his divine status by defeating death and returning to heaven (16:5-11).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
Other passages the community most often connects to this one. Tap to read.
Who has ascended to heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in His hands? Who has bound up the waters in His cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name, and what is the name of His Son— surely you know!
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.
The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven.
Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before?
But the righteousness that is by faith says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down)
The One who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks as one from the earth. The One who comes from heaven is above all.
not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father.