What Does John 16:25 Mean?
I have spoken these things to you in sayings. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in sayings, but in full voice I will bring you word of the Father.
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
These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.THE KEY
The movement is from veiled sayings to open speech that makes the Father known.
THE MEANING
You may hear truth first through images and sayings that leave something veiled. This verse holds out a movement toward open speech that makes the Father known directly. What is unclear now is not the final word.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that the Father must remain hidden behind riddles and can never be made plainly known.
THE ROOT
παρρησίᾳ
parrēsia
GROWS FROM
παρρησ-
parrēs-
Openness or frankness of speech.
“in full voice” in this verse is parrēsia. The word carries the sense of speaking freely and openly. The contrast is not simply between difficult and easy language, but between veiled speech and speech that leaves the Father plainly disclosed.
ALSO GROWS
parrēsiazomai: To speak openly or boldly.
παρρησιάζομαι
This verb shows that the word family describes the act of speaking without concealment.
parrēsia: Openness or frankness of speech.
παρρησία
This noun names the open speech toward which the verse says the conversation is moving.
ἀπαγγελῶ
apangelō
GROWS FROM
ἀγγελ-
aggel-
To announce, report, or make a message known.
“bring you word of the Father” in this verse is apangelō. The verb translated “shew” also carries the sense of announcing or reporting. The Father’s disclosure is presented as a message made known in open speech, not only as something visually shown.
ALSO GROWS
angelos: Messenger.
ἄγγελος
This related word names one who carries a message, echoing the announcing sense of the verb.
angelia: Message or report.
ἀγγελία
This noun makes explicit the message-bearing sense within the word family.
THE PATTERN
What is veiled in speech can be opened into direct disclosure.
With him I will speak mouth to mouth, in sight and not in hidden sayings, and he will gaze upon the shape of the LORD. Why then were you not in awe to speak against my servant Moses?But without a parable he did not speak to them. Privately, to his own disciples, he untied all things.Holding then such hope, we speak with wide-open mouths.THE THREAD
His disciples said to him, Look, now you speak in full voice, and you speak no saying.The disciples repeat the very contrast of this verse: plainly spoken words in place of a proverb. The Greek uses παρρησίᾳ (parrēsia), the same word for open speech, so the promised shift is now audible to them.
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