John 8:43

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

John 8:43 Meaning and Commentary

John 8:43

Why do ye not understand my speech?
&c.] Language, idiom, dialect, and form of speaking, in a figurative way; for they did not know what he meant by liberty, and bondage, and by having another father than Abraham, or by his own procession and coming forth from God:

[even] because ye cannot hear my word;
as they had no spiritual discerning and understanding of the doctrine of Christ, which showed them to be carnal, and natural men, and not regenerate ones, and the children of God; so they had an aversion to it, and could not bear to hear it.

John 8:43 In-Context

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.

45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

Footnotes

• [a] Or cannot hear