Jesus tells some Greeks and Apostles that he is troubled because his time has come.
John 12:28 Father, glorify thy name.
John 12:28 Father, glorify your name!”
Father, recognize yours, this name.
We must recognize the Divine as our Father before he can recognize us as his children.
There is an odd construction in this verse that may change its meaning. Does it strike anyone, other than me, as strange that Jesus is commanding or requesting the Father to recognize or promote his own name? The word "glorify" has the sense of recognizing and promoting (see article here) a "name," which in Greek is how others label someone's reputation and authority (see this article). Does the Divine need to be told to promote himself?
There are two possible answers to this question. Both arise from the odd construction of "your name" in this verse. About ninety-five percent of the time, Jesus phrases possessives as "this name of yours," where it is preceded by the definite article and followed by the possessive pronoun. Here, however, Jesus phrases this as "recognize yours, this name." What name is Jesus referring to?
The first possibility is that it is the word Jesus starts the verse with "father." Jesus is asking the Divine to recognize or promote the ownership of his fatherhood.
The second possibility is that Jesus is asking the Father to recognize what is his: the Son. "This name" would refer to Jesus, the one acting in the name of the Divine. This answer seems the most likely because of what happened after, people hear the voice of the Divine (or thunder) saying "I have recognized and will recognize." The Biblical translations add "it" acts the verbs, but there is no objective pronoun, which can be understood in Greek. However,
- CW - Confusing Word -- The word translated as "glorify" is more like "recognize."
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "the/this" before "name" is not shown in the English translation.
- CW - Confusing Word -- The word translated as "glorify" is more like "recognize."
- MW - Missing Word -- The word "the/this" before "name" is not shown in the English translation.
Father, -- "Father" is the Greek noun that means "father" or any male ancestor so "forefathers." It is the word that Christ uses to address his own Father. It is in the form of addressing someone.
glorify -- (CW) The Greek term translated as "glorify" is a word that primarily means "to imagine" and "to expect." It also means "to honor" in a sense. However, the word that it comes closest to in English is "to recognize" since that word captures both the mental "expectation" and "praising" sense of the word. The verb form also has the sense of spreading someone's good reputation, so "publicized and "proclaimed" also work. More about this word in this article.
thy -- The word translated as "thy" is the genitive form of the singular, second-person pronoun, which is most commonly the possessive form. Usually, this pronoun follows the word that it modifies, but here it sit before "this name.
missing "the/this" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.
name. -- The Greek word translated as "name" is much more complicated than it might at first appear. It can simply mean a "name" as it does in English, but it doesn't mean the things themselves, but what people call it. For example, it can mean a "false name," or "a pretense" as we say "this is a marriage in name only." It can also mean representing another person's authority, as we say, "he is acting in the name of the boss." See this article for more.
Father, -- "Father" is the Greek noun that means "father" or any male ancestor so "forefathers." It is the word that Christ uses to address his own Father. It is in the form of addressing someone.
glorify -- (CW) The Greek term translated as "glorify" is a word that primarily means "to imagine" and "to expect." It also means "to honor" in a sense. However, the word that it comes closest to in English is "to recognize" since that word captures both the mental "expectation" and "praising" sense of the word. The noun form, usually translated biblically as "glory," has the sense of reputation, but Jesus always uses it as a shining reputation so "eminence." More about this word in this article.
your -- The word translated as "your" is the genitive form of the singular, second-person pronoun, which is most commonly the possessive form. Usually, this pronoun follows the word that it modifies, but here it sit before "this name.
missing "the/this" -- (MW) The untranslated word is the Greek definite article,"the," which usually precedes a noun and, without a noun, takes the meaning of "the one." The Greek article is much closer to our demonstrative pronouns ("this," "that," "these," "those"). See this article for more.
name. -- The Greek word translated as "name" is much more complicated than it might at first appear. It can simply mean a "name" as it does in English, but it doesn't mean the things themselves, but what people call it. For example, it can mean a "false name," or "a pretense" as we say "this is a marriage in name only." It can also mean representing another person's authority, as we say, "he is acting in the name of the boss." See this article for more.
πάτερ, [191 verses](noun sg masc voc) "The Father" is pater, which means "father," "grandfather," "author," "parent," and "forefathers."
δόξασόν [18 verses] (2nd sg aor imperat act) "Glorify" is doxazo, which primarily means "to think", "to expect", "to imagine," or "to suppose." Secondarily, it means "to magnify" or "to extol," which is where we get the "glorify" used most often in NT the translation.
σου” [144 verses](pron 2nd sg gen) "Thy" is sou is the genitive form of the second-person, singular pronoun that means "of you" and "your."
τὸ [821 verses](article sg masc acc) Untranslated is the Greek definite article, hos, ("the"). -
ὄνομα. [47 verses](noun sg neut acc) "Name" is onoma, which means "name." It means both the reputation of "fame," and "a name and nothing else," as opposed to a real person. Acting in someone's name means to act on their behalf, as their representative.