Matthew 10:20

20 It will not really be you speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

Matthew 10:20 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 10:20

For it is not ye that speak
Not but that they were to speak the words, and did; but then both the things they spoke, and the very words in which they spoke them, were not of themselves, but were suggested and dictated by the Spirit of God; for as "the preparation of the heart" in them, so "the answer of the tongue" by them, were both "from the Lord": the Spirit, he was the efficient cause, they were only instruments; for not they of themselves spoke; or not so much they,

but the Spirit of your father, which speaketh in you,
or "by you": what they should say was not to be dictated by their own spirit or natural understanding, nor by an angel, but by the Spirit of God; called the "Spirit of" their "father", because he proceeds from him, is of the same nature with him, and is the reason of his being given to them: and this character of him might serve to strengthen their faith in the expectation of him, and in the assistance promised, and to be had by him; since he was the spirit of him, who stood in the relation of a father to them, and bore a paternal affection for them.

Matthew 10:20 In-Context

18 Because of me you will be taken to stand before governors and kings, and you will tell them and the non-Jewish people about me.
19 When you are arrested, don't worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given the things to say.
20 It will not really be you speaking but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 "Brothers will give their own brothers to be killed, and fathers will give their own children to be killed. Children will fight against their own parents and have them put to death.
22 All people will hate you because you follow me, but those people who keep their faith until the end will be saved.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.