John 8:22

22 The Judeans said, "Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, `Where I am going, you cannot come'?"

John 8:22 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:22

Then said the Jews, will he kill himself?
&c.] Which was not only a wicked, but a foolish consequence, drawn from his words: for it by no means followed, because he was going away, and whither they could not come, that therefore he must destroy himself; this seems to be what they would have been glad he would have done, and suggested the thought that he might do it, in which they imitated Satan, ( Matthew 4:6 ) , under whose influence they now apparently were, and hoped that he would, which would at once extricate them out of their difficulties on his account:

because he sayeth, whither I go ye cannot come:
this is no reason at all; for had Christ's meaning been, as they blasphemously intimate, they might have destroyed themselves too, and have gone after him.

John 8:22 In-Context

20 He said these things when he was teaching in the Temple treasury room; yet no one arrested him, because his time had not yet come.
21 Again he told them, "I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin -- where I am going, you cannot come."
22 The Judeans said, "Is he going to commit suicide? Is that what he means when he says, `Where I am going, you cannot come'?"
23 Yeshua said to them, "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.
24 This is why I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not trust that I AM [who I say I am], you will die in your sins."
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.