John 8:22

22 dicebant ergo Iudaei numquid interficiet semet ipsum quia dicit quo ego vado vos non potestis venire

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 haec verba locutus est in gazofilacio docens in templo et nemo adprehendit eum quia necdum venerat hora eius
21 dixit ergo iterum eis Iesus ego vado et quaeretis me et in peccato vestro moriemini quo ego vado vos non potestis venire
22 dicebant ergo Iudaei numquid interficiet semet ipsum quia dicit quo ego vado vos non potestis venire
23 et dicebat eis vos de deorsum estis ego de supernis sum vos de mundo hoc estis ego non sum de hoc mundo
24 dixi ergo vobis quia moriemini in peccatis vestris si enim non credideritis quia ego sum moriemini in peccato vestro
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.