I Have Overcome the World

²⁵ “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. ^(A)The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father.

¹² “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

^28 (A)I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now ^(B)I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”

²⁹ His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not ^(C)using figurative speech!

⁶ This figure of speech Jesus ^(A)used with them, but they ^(B)did not understand what he was saying to them.

^13 (A)And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

Prophecy and Parables

^34 (A)All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. ³⁵ This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:^[a]

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰ Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And he answered them, ^(A)“To you it has been given to know ^(B)the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

² But we have renounced ^(A)disgraceful, underhanded ways. We refuse to practice^[a] cunning or ^(B)to tamper with God's word, but ^(C)by the open statement of the truth ^(D)we would commend ourselves to everyone's conscience in the sight of God.