John 8:21Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

For their benefit He threatens His departure from them and says plainly, "I go away." He does this to compel them more strongly to consider that the Redeemer who came to them must not be left useless for them. He urges them to hasten to faith and makes them more ready for obedience.

Yet after crying out, "I go away," and threatening His departure from the whole people, He providently adds the harm that will come to them from this. "You will die," He says, "in your sins."

The very nature of the matter reveals the truth of this saying to us. Those who have not received Him who came to us from heaven for the justification of all by faith must surely die in their sins. Those who have not admitted to themselves Him who can cleanse will keep upon themselves the abiding defilement of their impiety.

Can anyone doubt where death must send the human soul that is unredeemed and still burdened with the weight of sin? Hades, I think, will receive such a one. He will dwell in long darkness and inhabit fire and flame.

He will justly be numbered with those of whom it is said somewhere by the voice of the prophet: "Their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be a spectacle to all flesh" (Is 66:24).

Christ called them in many ways to a swift end of their customary unbelief, so that they might escape the experience of this. He did not simply say that He would go away and depart. He also thought it necessary to add the calamity to which they would be subjected because of this. "You will die," He says, "in your sins."

Since He also inserted in the middle, "and you will seek Me," while we do not yet see the Jews seeking Him, we must regard His words as true and turn to this reasoning. Though now, while they are in bodies and still tossed by the play of fleshly passions, they do not seek the Redeemer because of their extreme insensibility, yet when the wretched ones fall into Hades and find themselves in places of punishment, then amid their very troubles they will seek Him, even unwillingly.

For it is said, "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mt 8:12). Everyone justly found there bewails his neglect of the good. He says, as it were, in the words of Proverbs: "I did not listen to the words of him who instructed me and taught me" (Prov 5:13).

So also Paul says, "Let us fear lest, while the promise of entering His rest remains, any of you should seem to have come short of it" (Heb 4:1). For "one must run so as to obtain" (1 Cor 9:24). We must not trouble by disobedience Him who draws us out of harsh slavery. Rather, we must receive and seize grace as with outstretched hands.

"Where I go, you cannot come."

He says not only that they will die in their sins. He also clearly declares that they will remain outside the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven and will not ascend to the dwellings above.

Indeed, how could those who did not receive Him who came from above follow Him in His ascent into heaven? Thus the punishment of unbelievers is not a simple harm, but a double one.

Those who fall into bodily sickness must endure and bear dreadful torments and sufferings. In addition, they are deprived of the blessings of health. In exactly the same way, I think, those who find themselves in Hades and bear there the recompense proportionate to their sins suffer the calamity of punishment and are deprived of the sweet hope of the saints.

For this reason our Lord Jesus Christ says not only that they will die in their sins, but also that they will not ascend to the dwellings above. Binding them, as it were, with a double cord, He strives to draw them out of their inherent folly. In every way He saves what is lost, binds what is torn, and sets right what is broken.

Such is the property of the Good Shepherd, who even readily lays down His soul for the salvation of the sheep. To His disciples He gave the promise: "I go and prepare a place for you, and I will come again and take you to Myself" (Jn 14:2-3). He shows that heaven itself will be accessible to the saints. He teaches that the dwellings above are prepared for those who love Him.

By contrast, to those who resolved not to believe in Him, He rightly and necessarily says, "Where I go, you cannot come." Can one who has not loved purification through faith ever follow the all-holy Christ? Or how can one who is still defiled and has not washed away the uncleanness of his passions be with the man-loving Master?

"What communion has light with darkness?" (2 Cor 6:14), according to Paul’s word. Rather, those who wish to say to the all-holy God, "My soul has cleaved after You" (Ps 62:9), must, I think, be holy.

This meaning, I think, fully accords with the saying now being interpreted. But if this passage must be examined more precisely and completely, and something else must again be added to what has been said, we shall not delay to do so.

"Where I go, you cannot come." As true God, I am removed from nothing. I fill all things and am present in all things. Yet I dwell especially in heaven, and with particular delight I abide among the holy spirits.

But since I am also the man-loving Creator of all, I could not permit My creatures to perish. Since I saw that man was moving toward complete destruction and was falling under death because of sin, it was fitting at last to stretch out a helping hand to the one who lay fallen. It was fitting in every way to help the defeated and fallen.

How else could what was lost be saved? The physician had to come to the sick. Life had to appear to the dying. Light had to dwell with those in darkness.

But for you, as men by nature, it was inaccessible to fly up to heaven and live there with the Savior. Therefore I Myself came to you. I often heard the cries of the saints: "Lord, bow Your heavens and come down" (Ps 143:5).

And now I have come down, He says, bowing the heavens. Otherwise it would have been impossible for you to hope to come there. While I still allow this common dwelling with you, strive more earnestly to receive life. While He who has power and authority to show mercy is present among you, be cleansed through faith. For I will go away, or rather ascend again there where "you cannot come."

But if, at an untimely and belated moment, you seek the Giver of salvation, you will not find Him. It is easy to see what must follow from this. You will surely die in sins. Burdened by your transgressions, and sorrowful, you will finally descend into the prison of death. There you will bear punishment for such prolonged unbelief.

Thus the Savior, being good and exceedingly man-loving, urges the Jews toward salvation through fear of the misfortunes to come, even against their will.

Therefore the Lord foretold this to them and said, in foreknowledge of the sentence, that they would die in their sin. Finally He added, “Where I go, you cannot come.” He said this to the disciples in another place (cf. Jn 13:33), but He did not say to them, “you will die in your sin.” What then did He say? The same as to these: “Where I go, you cannot come.” He did not take away hope, but foretold its delayed fulfillment. For when the Lord said this to the disciples, they could not yet come where He was going. But afterward they were to come. These others, however, would never come, to whom He said in foreknowledge, “you will die in your sin.” The reading of the Holy Gospel that preceded today’s ended thus: “the Lord spoke, teaching at the treasury” (cf. Jn 8:20). He taught what He wished, and what you heard. “And no one seized Him, because His hour had not yet come” (Jn 8:20). We discussed here on the Lord’s day what He Himself granted us to discuss. We told you, beloved, why it is said, “His hour had not yet come.” This was so that no one, in impiety, would dare suppose that Christ was under some power of fatal necessity. For the hour had not yet come in which He was to accept death according to His own plan and in accordance with what had been foretold concerning Him. He would die not as one compelled, but as one ready. Then He spoke to the Jews about the Passion itself, which was not in the power of necessity, but in His own power, saying, “I go away” (cf. Jn 8:21). For Christ the Lord, death was a departure to that place from which He had come and from which He had never withdrawn. “I,” He said, “go away, and you will seek Me” (cf. Jn 8:21). They would seek not because of grief at losing Him, but because of hatred. Indeed, after He withdrew from human sight, both those who hated Him and those who loved Him began to seek Him. The former desired to persecute Him, the latter desired to have Him near. The Lord Himself says in the psalm through the prophet, “Refuge has failed me; there is no one who seeks my life” (cf. Ps 141:4). And again He says elsewhere in the psalm, “Let all who seek my soul’s destruction be ashamed and confounded” (Ps 39:15). He accused those who would not seek Him, and He condemned those who would seek Him. For it is evil not to seek the life of Christ as the disciples sought it. It is also evil to seek the life of Christ as the Jews sought it. The former sought to possess it. The latter sought to destroy it. And since these Jews sought with an evil mind and a perverse heart, what did He add? “You will seek Me,” and, lest you think that you will seek Me for good, “you will die in your sin.” To seek Christ in an evil way means to die in one’s sin. It means to hate Him through whom alone salvation can be obtained. While those whose hope abides in God must not repay evil for evil (1 Pet 3:9), these Jews repaid evil for good. And so the Lord foretold this to them and pronounced beforehand the sentence upon them, that they would die in their sin. Finally He added, “Where I go, you cannot come.” He said the same elsewhere to the disciples (cf. Jn 7:34). Nevertheless, He did not say to them, “You will die in your sin.” What did He say? The same as to these Jews: “Where I go, you cannot come.” He did not deprive them of hope, but foretold a delay. For when the Lord said this to the disciples, they could not yet come where He was going. But afterward they would follow. These others, however, would never be able, for He foretold to them, “You will die in your sin.”

In both cases Jesus Christ expresses one and the same thought. Here, however, the threat is stated more strongly: His enemies will perish. “I am going away, and you will seek Me,” that is, the Messiah in general, asking Him to come to help in the calamities that will overtake you after My departure to the Father.

“But you will die in the sin of unbelief in Me, and therefore you cannot be where I am going.” The words “you will die in your sin” could not have been unclear to anyone. Through them, the words expressing the opposite in relation to Jesus Christ, “where I am going,” should also have been understood.

It was evident to everyone, at least, that here a contrast is being made between Sheol and Abraham’s bosom. This threat greatly offended the Jews. In their mocking interpretation of Jesus’ words, they send Him to Sheol, while claiming Abraham’s bosom as inalienably their own.

“If He was speaking of the latter, then of course we not only can go there, but will go. But if He is thinking of passing to the other world as a suicide, then of course we cannot be where He will be, as a suicide.”

Jesus Christ meets this mockery with a calm unfolding and explanation of what He had said. By their origin, “you are from below,” and by their moral life, “you are of this world.” They are people of this world, people of sin, who therefore cannot know Him who has heavenly origin and being. But since salvation is possible only through Christ, if they do not believe in Him, they will die in their sins.

This sin will bring them to death, to a terrible death amid calamities and sufferings, from which they will have no savior and deliverer. Then it will bring them to eternal death outside the Kingdom of Christ.

“Where I am going,” and so forth. Cf. the note to Jn 7:34. I am going away, and you too will depart, that is, die. But between us there will be such an abyss that you will not follow Me.

“He shows that He will truly rise in glory and sit at the right hand of God, while they will die in their sins” (Theophylact).

“You will seek Me.” Earlier His love had pointed to the sorrowful future of the Jews, who did not wish to acknowledge the Messiah in Jesus (Jn 7:33). Now again it points to the same future, in order to bring these poor people to awareness of themselves. Now a new and fearful feature is indicated in this future: “You will die in your sin.” “In sin” does not mean the same as “for sin.” Rather, sin will become such a master that death will find them under its power. This is the same as the condition of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:9). Under long submission to sin, freedom grows weaker and weaker, and at last turns into willing service to sin. They will seek the Messiah, but not the Messiah of the prophets. They will seek a false Messiah. With a thirst for earthly happiness and a thirst for gold, without the Savior of the soul, they will pass into a sorrowful eternity. The lot of the hardened Jew is the lot of every hardened sinner (Ezek 3:19; 18:26; 33:9, 18). “Then the Jews said, ‘Will He kill Himself, since He says, Where I go, you cannot come?’” Earlier, at the same words of Jesus, they had said, “Does He intend to go to the dispersion among the Greeks?” (Jn 7:35). Now, with the mockery of proud malice, they speak almost abusively. Suicide was considered by the Jews a grave crime, which brings the guilty one down into the depths of Hades. Josephus says of suicides, de bello iud. 1, 3. 8. 5, “their souls are received by the darkest Hades.” Thus the Jews, instead of gratefully valuing His careful love for them, say, “If He wishes to kill Himself and descend into Gehenna, then of course we shall not follow Him.” “He said to them, ‘You are from below (εκ τ. κατω), I am from above (εκ τ. ανω); you are of this world, I am not of this world.’” The lower realm and lower limits are the earth (Jn 3:31), or otherwise the vain and passing world. The higher realm is heaven, both by contrast with the lower and by usage (Jn 3:13, 31; Col 3:1, 2; Phil 3:14; Gal 4:26). The thoughts and life of the Jews belong to the earth. They live for it. Here is their heart, and here is all their love. They judge everything by the calculations of earthly life, turning even spiritual things into the circle of an earthly marketplace. This is precisely what is now so praised: the utilitarian system. Does the Lord praise it? “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins,” He says. Here is the consequence of a life ordered according to the utilitarian system: “You will die in your sins.” It cannot be otherwise. Man was created for God, not for himself. He was created for heaven, not for earth, for eternal blessedness, not for temporal and deceptive blessedness. Christ the Lord came from heaven to earth in order to restore in man his normal life, damaged by sin: life for God and eternity. If all this is cast aside with proud contempt by utilitarian people, there is no hope of salvation. Those who live for the earth neither understand nor receive heavenly teaching. The Jews misunderstood the words of Christ Jesus because their soul and mind had long received a distorted direction toward the earth alone. “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Whom does the Savior wish them to see in Him when He says, “I am He”? This is clear from the content of His discourse. According to all that He said to the Jews, He is the One who saves from sin and sinful death, the promised Messiah, the Son of God. Jesus impresses upon the Jews the very thought that the Apostle later preached: “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

But while the Lord was with them, Jerusalem did not know the time of its visitation (Lk 19:44). As is evident from their every word, the Jews became more and more confirmed in their intention to kill the Lord. They wished to kill Him publicly, with the pronouncement of a judicial sentence, so that by executing Him as a criminal they might, as they thought, destroy the influence of His sacred words.

In their words in verse 22, one hears fear that the Lord Jesus might escape their sacrilegious hands by suicide. In all likelihood they had already begun secret negotiations with Judas Iscariot, whom the Lord had already earlier indicated as the betrayer (Jn 6:70-71). In their madness they dared to suppose that the Lord Jesus would escape their hands by suicide, which would not have satisfied their malice.

Perhaps in their words, and in their understanding of the Lord’s words, there is still another hint connected with the madness of their self-confident pride. Josephus indicates in De Bello Iud. 3, cap. XXV, that suicide was considered among the Jews the greatest crime. From Jewish tradition it is known that they believed suicides were cast into Gehenna.

Therefore it is quite possible that, in their naive and mad pride, the Jews heard the Lord’s words, “Where I am going, you cannot come,” and reasoned that He was hinting at suicide. For they, highly virtuous men, of course could not end up in Gehenna.

Topheth, or the valley of the sons of Hinnom, was known as the place of bloody sacrifices to Molech (4 Kgs 23:10; Is 30:33; Jer 19:2, 6). See especially the last prophecy concerning the fate of Jerusalem. But the name Topheth and the name Gehenna, from Hinnom, later became names for Hades, or the place of sufferings after death.