What Does John 12:28 Mean?
Father, clothe your name in weight. Then a voice came from heaven, saying, I have clothed it, and I will clothe it in weight again.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.THE KEY
The Father’s name is glorified as his already-present nature comes into view with its full weight, and then comes into view again.
THE MEANING
The Father’s nature is already being made recognizable, and it is being made recognizable again in what unfolds now. The voice holds completion and continuation together: the same weight is disclosed, then disclosed anew.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the idea that praise supplies God with worth. The request concerns the recognition of a nature already full of weight, not adding value the Father lacks.
THE ROOT
δοξάζω
doxazō
GROWS FROM
δοξ (dox), the Greek word family of δόξα and δοξάζω
Weight, honor, and recognized worth made visible
“clothe your name in weight, clothed it, clothe it in weight” in this verse is doxazō. English “glorify” can sound like adding praise, while this word family points to the weight of what is recognized. The Father has already been glorified, and will be glorified again: that weight is disclosed, then disclosed anew.
ALSO GROWS
doxa: Weight, honor, recognized worth
δόξα
This is the weight made recognizable when the Father’s name is glorified.
doxazō: To glorify, honor, make weight recognizable
δοξάζω
The same word appears in the request and in the voice’s answer, joining what is already revealed to what is revealed again.
ὄνομα
onoma
GROWS FROM
ὀνομ (onom), the Greek word family of ὄνομα
Name: the nature and identity by which someone is known
“Name” here reaches beyond a spoken label to the Father’s nature as it becomes known. The request is for that nature to come into view with weight, and the voice answers that its revealing continues.
ALSO GROWS
onoma: Name, identity
ὄνομα
“Thy name” points to the Father’s nature as known.
onomazō: To name, call by name
ὀνομάζω
Naming makes an identity known; here the Father’s nature becomes recognizable through what is revealed.
THE PATTERN
The Father’s nature becomes recognizable as weight, and that recognition is disclosed again.
Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but clothe your nature in weight, for your faithful love and for the sake of your truth.I am the LORD, and this is my name. My weight I will not give to another, nor my praise to hewn images.I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.THE THREAD
I have made your nature visible to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have guarded your word.Jesus describes the manifestation of the Father’s name as something already done among people. That opens “glorify thy name” further: the Father’s nature comes into view through what is revealed.
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