John 7:17
“If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from God, or if I am speaking from myself.”
What does John 7:17 mean?
Jesus is saying something surprisingly practical here: the willingness to obey God actually opens your mind to understand spiritual truth. It's not primarily an intellectual problem, but a heart one. If you're genuinely ready to follow what God asks of you, you'll develop a spiritual intuition about whether Jesus' teaching rings true or is just his own invention. This cuts against the idea that we have to figure everything out perfectly before we commit to anything. Jesus suggests the opposite: some knowledge comes through the posture of surrender. When you're not fighting against what God might ask of you, you become sensitive to what's real and what's false. It's an invitation to those who feel lost or uncertain, because it means your honest willingness to follow matters more than having all your doubts resolved first.