“Why do ye not understand my speech?”
The full verse · John 8:43 · KJV
do ? even ye .
Asked by
Jesus: the Son of God and promised Messiah, who said He "proceeded forth and came from God" and was sent by Him (John 8:42)
The Scene
The argument in the temple has turned to fatherhood: the Jews claim, "we have one Father, even God," and Jesus replies, "If God were your Father, ye would love me" (John 8:41-42).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJesus had spoken plainly about truth, freedom, and His Father, yet they kept hearing it as talk about birth and descent (John 8:33, 39, 41). His question asks them to look at why. Barnes paraphrases it this way: "My meaning is clear, if you were disposed to understand me." Gill says they had "no spiritual discerning" of Christ's doctrine and "an aversion to it." The question is not a request for information. It is a diagnosis Jesus is about to give.
The Response
What Scripture recordsJesus answered His own question in the same breath: "even because ye cannot hear my word" (John 8:43). He traced the cause deeper: "Ye are of your father the devil" (John 8:44), and "because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not" (John 8:45). He summed it up: "He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God" (John 8:47). Their reply was an insult: "Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" (John 8:48).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsJesus uses two different Greek words here. "Speech" is lalia, and "word" is logos. Thayer's lexicon says lalia in John 8:43 means speech that shows where the speaker comes from, "hence of the speech by which Christ may be recognized as having come from heaven." The same word describes Peter's Galilean accent: "thy speech bewrayeth thee" (Matthew 26:73; compare Mark 14:70).
Barnes explains that "hear" here is to be understood "in the sense of bear or tolerate," as in John 6:60, where many disciples said, "This is an hard saying; who can hear it?" The ESV likewise reads, "you cannot bear to hear my word."
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows that understanding God's word is not only a matter of the mind. It is a matter of the heart. The problem was not that Jesus was unclear, but that His hearers could not bear what He said. Barnes draws the lesson: "A disposition to believe God is one of the best helps for understanding the Bible."
Jesus still keeps speaking. Right after this exchange He offers a promise to anyone: "If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death" (John 8:51). Earlier in John, Jesus had said the same kind of thing from the other side: "If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7:17), a passage Barnes points to at John 8:32.
Look Closer
According to Jesus, why did they not understand His speech?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, is there a part of Your word I find hard to bear, and will You give me a heart that is willing to hear it?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- When a passage of Scripture unsettles you, what is your first reaction: to listen, to argue, or to move on?
- Share a time when a hard word from Scripture became clear only after you were willing to obey it.
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
When Scripture seems unclear, it is worth asking two questions: "What does this mean?" and "Am I willing to hear it?" Sometimes the second question unlocks the first. Jesus' way in is the same as in John 8:31: continue in His word.
This doesn't mean every hard passage is a sign of a hard heart. Some parts of Scripture are simply hard, and honest questions are welcome. Jesus spoke these words to people who were seeking to kill Him (John 8:40), not to sincere seekers who were struggling to understand.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?”
“Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?”
“Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?”
“Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? And the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?”