What Does John 16:28 Mean in the King James?
I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The same Father is both the source Jesus comes from and the destination toward which he releases the world.
THE MEANING
You hear Jesus name a movement that holds its beginning and end in the Father: he comes from the Father into the world, then leaves the world and goes to the Father. The world is neither the source nor the final destination of this movement.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that departure means disconnection dissolves here: the verse gives the departure a direction, to the Father.
THE ROOT
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
GROWS FROM
ἀφίημι
aphiēmi
To let go, send away, leave, or forgive.
The verb rendered “leave” also carries the sense of letting go and forgiving. Its range makes the departure more than a change of location: the world is released as the speaker goes toward the Father.
ALSO GROWS
aphesis: Release, remission, or forgiveness.
ἄφεσις
This noun carries the verb’s letting-go sense into the language of release and forgiveness.
aphienai: To let go, leave, or release.
ἀφιέναι
This infinitive preserves the act of release expressed by “leave” in the verse.
πατέρα
patera
GROWS FROM
πατήρ
patēr
Father; one who stands in a paternal relation.
The Father word belongs to a family of terms for lineage and paternal relation. The same Father is named as origin and destination, so the movement closes in relationship rather than merely in space.
ALSO GROWS
patria: Family, lineage, or kindred.
πατριά
Its sense of lineage echoes the Father as the source from whom the speaker comes.
patrikos: Paternal or ancestral.
πατρικός
This branch keeps the word’s connection to fatherhood and belonging in view.
THE PATTERN
Jesus’ movement is named as a passage from God into the world and onward to God.
Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God;And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.THE THREAD
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.The verb ἀφίημι (aphiēmi, to leave or release) is also used for “forgive” in this prayer. The shared word places departure alongside letting go: here debts are released, while John names the world as what is left.
This reading is from Selah Verse.
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