Matthew 10:20

20 for it is not you who speak, 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 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.
19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time;
20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
21 Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death;
22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.