John 8:43Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"Why do you not understand My speech?" Since they always asked in perplexity, "What does He mean, 'Where I go you cannot come'?" (Jn 8:22), He answers them.

You do not understand My speech because you do not contain the word of God within yourselves. This happens to you because your thoughts crawl along the earth, while My words are far higher.

What, then, if they truly could not understand? Here the word "cannot" means "do not want to," because you have accustomed yourselves to crawl below and to think of nothing great.

Why can you not? Because you wish to do the desires of your father, and you strive and are zealous for this. Do you see that the word "cannot" means unwillingness?

Why do you not know My speech? Why do you not perceive and understand what I say? Without doubt, for no other reason than because you cannot hear My word, that is, because you do not wish to hear it. “Cannot” is used in place of “do not wish.” As long as envy and a murderous design live in you, how can you listen to what I say?

What we have already said many times we shall repeat again for the reader's profit, for there is no harm in frequently pointing out what is useful.

I mean the custom of Christ the Savior not to wait for words spoken by the tongues of those who did not believe Him, but to look within their hearts and give answers to thoughts still arising in their depths.

A man, not knowing another's thoughts, must necessarily wait for the spoken word. God is not so.

When the Lord said to the Jews that He had not come of Himself, as was customary among those who came to prophesy by their own will and not by the divine Spirit, but was sent from God, they again began to think.

But why could they not hear, if not because they did not wish to be corrected through faith? They could not understand because they could not hear. But why could they not hear, if not because they refused to change themselves for the better through faith? And why? “You are of your father the devil” (Jn 8:44).

“Why do you not understand My speech?” Why do you not understand what I say? Then He also indicates the cause of this lack of understanding. “Because you cannot hear My word.” Here “cannot” means “do not wish.” You do not wish to understand My word, that is, My exalted teaching, because of the lowliness of your soul. It is turned downward and understands nothing lofty. They had dared to call God their Father, though they were unworthy even of kinship with Abraham. Therefore Jesus Christ reproves them still more plainly as incurable, in keeping with their shamelessness. He restrains the pride and arrogance of ambitious men.

No, said the Lord. It cannot be said that your father is God. If you were His children, you would love Me. You would understand My language, or at least you would willingly listen to My words, because I proceed from that same Father.

But this is not in you. Since you resist the truth, and not only unintentionally but intentionally, this state of your spirit exposes you as children of the adversary of truth, the devil, who does not stand in the truth.

Your murderous designs against Me serve as new proof that you come from him, for he was a murderer from the beginning.

Thus it is one of two things: either I do not speak the truth, but who will convict Me of falsehood? Or you are not from God. Otherwise we would understand one another.

Now the Jews see that Jesus Christ is speaking of spiritual sonship, and they object to Him: "We were not born of fornication from Abraham or Sarah, a sin history does not know of them. Therefore we are not Gentiles, who do not belong to the assembly of God's offspring (Deut. 23:2). We have one spiritual Father, God."

To this Jesus Christ answers that, if they were children of God, they would love Him. For He proceeds from God according to His very essence, and He appeared in the world as One sent by God (42-43).

"For why does My speech, λαλια, the way I speak, seem strange and unintelligible to you? Because you cannot even hear, cannot receive My word, λόγος, that of which I speak. You are obedient children of the devil.

Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded and came from God. But you do not wish to understand Me. You cannot even hear My word. Why?

"Because your father is the devil, and you wish to fulfill the desires, that is, the will, of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning of the creation of the human race.

"He manifested his hatred and malice toward mankind by deceiving the first people. He did this because he did not stand in God's truth, and even now there is no truth in him.

"He speaks only falsehood, for he is a liar and the father of lies. And you fear the truth. You seek to kill Me because I speak the truth."

On the devil, see the interpretation of Mt 4:1. On the right to call God Father, see Mt 6:9.

Then He declared to them that through their sins they had become incapable of understanding His exalted teaching. In vain they relied for salvation on their descent from Abraham, whom they nevertheless rejected by their opposition to Christ. If they had been true sons of Abraham, they would have acted according to his covenant. They would by no means have shown enmity toward Him who was the fulfillment of the great promise to the father of believers. Abraham, their father, would not have acted so. As the father of believers, he “rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

"Why do you not understand," and so on? From all His teaching it is clear that He is the divine Messenger. Yet His words to the Jews constantly arouse disputes and contradictions from their side, which plainly shows that they do not understand His sayings.

Why? The Lord indicates the cause in this: there is in their soul no organ for the knowledge of spiritual things, "because you cannot hear My word."

Speech is distinguished here from word as form from content, and as the whole from its essence. My speech, Christ says, is incomprehensible to you because its essence, My word, is inaccessible to your understanding.

You have become unable to enter into the meaning of My words. Your spiritual ear, the organ for hearing Him, has been closed.

The Lord points out to the Jews the chief reason why they do not understand His speech and do not grasp His word. It is the absence of love in hearts grown coarse and hardened in their selfishness.

Love, even amid many transgressions, covers a multitude of sins. See Lk 7:47: "Therefore I say to you, her many sins are forgiven, for she loved much." For God is love (Jas 5:20; 1 Jn 4:8).

The Only-begotten Word, consubstantial with the Father, Who came from God, is love. "He who does not love his brother is not of God" (1 Jn 3:10).

Therefore the Lord shows the Jews that they would love Him, the Lord Jesus, if they were spiritual children of God: "For I proceeded from God and came."