John 8:42

42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn't come on My own, but He sent Me.

John 8:42 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:42

Jesus said unto them, if God were your Father
By adoption; and this was discovered by the grace of regeneration; or in other words, if they had been born of God,

ye would love me;
for in regeneration love to Christ is always implanted: it is a fruit of the Spirit, which always comes along with the superabounding grace of God in conversion; whoever are begotten again, according to abundant mercy, love an unseen Jesus; and where there is no love to Christ, there can be no regeneration: such persons are not born again; nor is God their Father, at least manifestatively:

for I proceeded forth; and came from God;
the former of these phrases is observed by many learned men to be used by the Septuagint, of a proper natural birth, as in ( Genesis 15:4 ) ( 35:11 ) ; and here designs the eternal generation of Christ, as the Son of God, being the only begotten of the Father, and the Son of the Father in truth and love; and the other is to be understood of his mission from him, as Mediator:

neither came I of myself;
or did not take the office to himself, without being called unto it, and invested with it, by his Father:

but he sent me;
not by force, or against the will of Christ, or by change of place, but by assumption of nature; he sent him at the time agreed upon, in human nature, to obtain eternal redemption for his people: and upon both these accounts Christ is to be loved by all regenerate persons, or who have God for their Father; both on account of his being the Son of God, of the same nature and essence with him, see ( 1 John 5:1 ) ; and on account of his mission into this world, as Mediator, since he was sent, and came to be the Saviour of lost sinners.

John 8:42 In-Context

40 But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this!

41 You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father-God."

42 Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn't come on My own, but He sent Me.

43 Why don't you understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to My word.

44 You are of your father the Devil, and you want to carry out your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of liars.