John 8:21

Christ here gives fair warning to the careless unbelieving Jews to consider what would be the consequence of their infidelity, that they might prevent it before it was too late; for he spoke words of terror as well as words of grace. Observe here,

I. The wrath threatened (Joh 8:21): Jesus said again unto them that which might be likely to do them good. He continued to teach, in kindness to those few who received his doctrine, though there were many that resisted it, which is an example to ministers to go on with their work, notwithstanding opposition, because a remnant shall be saved. Here Christ changes his voice; he had piped to them in the offers of his grace, and they had not danced; now he mourns to them in the denunciations of his wrath, to try if they would lament. He said, I go my way, and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go you cannot come. Every word is terrible, and bespeaks spiritual judgments, which are the sorest of all judgments; worse than war, pestilence, and captivity, which the Old Testament prophets denounced. Four things are here threatened against the Jews.

1. Christ's departure from them: I go my way, that is, "It shall not be long before I go; you need not take so much pains to drive me from you, I shall go of myself." They said to him, Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of thy ways; and he takes them at their word; but woe to those from whom Christ departs. Ichabod, the glory is gone, our defence is departed, when Christ goes. Christ frequently warned them of his departure before he left them: he bade often farewell, as one loth to depart, and willing to be invited, and that would have them stir up themselves to take hold on him.

2. Their enmity to the true Messiah, and their fruitless and infatuated enquiries after another Messiah when he was gone away, which were both their sin and their punishment: You shall seek me, which intimates either, (1.) Their enmity to the true Christ: "You shall seek to ruin my interest, by persecuting my doctrine and followers, with a fruitless design to root them out." This was a continual vexation and torment to themselves, made them incurably ill-natured, and brought wrath upon them (God's and their own) to the uttermost. Or, (2.) Their enquiries after false Christs: "You shall continue your expectations of the Messiah, and be the self-perplexing seekers of a Christ to come, when he is already come;" like the Sodomites, who, being struck with blindness, wearied themselves to find the door. See Rom 9:31, Rom 9:32.

3. Their final impenitency: You shall die in your sins. Here is an error in all our English Bibles, even the old bishops' translation, and that of Geneva (the Rhemists only excepted), for all the Greek copies have it in the singular number, en tē hamartia humōn - in your sin, so all the Latin versions; and Calvin has a note upon the difference between this and Joh 8:24, where it is plural, tais hamartiais, that here it is meant especially of the sin of unbelief, in hoc peccato vestro - in this sin of yours. Note, Those that live in unbelief are for ever undone if they die in unbelief. Or, it may be understood in general, You shall die in your iniquity, as Eze 3:19, and Eze 33:9. Many that have long lived in sin are, through grace, saved by a timely repentance from dying in sin; but for those who go out of this world of probation into that of retribution under the guilt of sin unpardoned, and the power of sin unbroken, there remaineth no relief: salvation itself cannot save them, Job 20:11; Eze 32:27.

4. Their eternal separation from Christ and all happiness in him: Whither I go you cannot come. When Christ left the world, he went to a state of perfect happiness; he went to paradise. Thither he took the penitent thief with him, that did not die in his sins; but the impenitent not only shall not come to him, but they cannot; it is morally impossible, for heaven would not be heaven to those that die unsanctified and unmeet for it. You cannot come, because you have no right to enter into that Jerusalem, Rev 22:14. Whither I go you cannot come, to fetch me thence, so Dr. Whitby; and the same is the comfort of all good Christians, that, when they get to heaven, they will be out of the reach of their enemies' malice.

II. The jest they made of this threatening. Instead of trembling at this word, they bantered it, and turned it into ridicule (Joh 8:22): Will he kill himself? See here, 1. What slight thoughts they had of Christ's threatenings; they could make themselves and one another merry with them, as those that mocked the messengers of the Lord, and turned the burden of the word of the Lord into a by-word, and precept upon precept, line upon line, into a merry song, Isa 28:13. But be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong. 2. What ill thoughts they had of Christ's meaning, as if he had an inhuman design upon his own life, to avoid the indignities done him, like Saul. This is indeed (say they) to go whither we cannot follow him, for we will never kill ourselves. Thus they make him not only such a one as themselves, but worse; yet in the calamities brought by the Romans upon the Jews many of them in discontent and despair did kill themselves. They had put a much more favourable construction upon this word of his (Joh 7:34, Joh 7:35): Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles? But see how indulged malice grows more and more malicious.

III. The confirmation of what he had said.

1. He had said, Whither I go you cannot come, and here he gives the reason for this (Joh 8:23): You are from beneath, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. You are ek tōn katō - of those things which are beneath; noting, not so much their rise from beneath as their affection to these lower things: "You are in with these things, as those that belong to them; how can you come where I go, when your spirit and disposition are so directly contrary to mine?" See here, (1.) What the spirit of the Lord Jesus was - not of this world, but from above. He was perfectly dead to the wealth of the world, the ease of the body, and the praise of men, and was wholly taken up with divine and heavenly things; and none shall be with him but those who are born from above and have their conversation in heaven. (2.) How contrary to this their spirit was: "You are from beneath, and of this world." The Pharisees were of a carnal worldly spirit; and what communion could Christ have with them?

2. He had said, You shall die in your sins, and here he stand to it: "Therefore I said, You shall die in your sins, because you are from beneath;" and he gives this further reason for it, If you believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins, Joh 8:24. See here, (1.) What we are required to believe: that I am he, hoti egō eimi - that I am, which is one of God's names, Exo 3:14. It was the Son of God that there said, Ehejeh asher Ehejeh - I will be what I will be; for the deliverance of Israel was but a figure of good things to come, but now he saith, "I am he; he that should come, he that you expect the Messias to be, that you would have me to be to you. I am more than the bare name of the Messiah; I do not only call myself so, but I am he." True faith does not amuse the soul with an empty sound of words, but affects it with the doctrine of Christ's mediation, as a real thing that has real effects. (2.) How necessary it is that we believe this. If we have not this faith, we shall die in our sins; for the matter is so settled that without this faith, [1.] We cannot be saved from the power of sin while we live, and therefore shall certainly continue in it to the last. Nothing but the doctrine of Christ's grace will be an argument powerful enough, and none but the Spirit of Christ's grace will be an agent powerful enough, to turn us from sin to God; and that Spirit is given, and that doctrine given, to be effectual to those only who believe in Christ: so that, if Satan be not by faith dispossessed, he has a lease of the soul for its life; if Christ do not cure us, our case is desperate, and we shall die in our sins. [2.] Without faith we cannot be saved from the punishment of sin when we die, for the wrath of God remains upon them that believe not, Mar 16:16. Unbelief is the damning sin; it is a sin against the remedy. Now this implies the great gospel promise: If we believe that Christ is he, and receive him accordingly, we shall not die in our sins. The law saith absolutely to all, as Christ said (Joh 8:21), You shall die in your sins, for we are all guilty before God; but the gospel is a defeasance of the obligation upon condition of believing. The curse of the law is vacated and annulled to all that submit to the grace of the gospel. Believers die in Christ, in his love, in his arms, and so are saved from dying in their sins.

IV. Here is a further discourse concerning himself, occasioned by his requiring faith in himself as the condition of salvation, Joh 8:25-29. Observe,

1. The question which the Jews put to him (Joh 8:25): Who art thou? This they asked tauntingly, and not with any desire to be instructed. he had said, You must believe that I am he. By his not saying expressly who he was, he plainly intimated that in his person he was such a one as could not be described by any, and in his office such a one as was expected by all that looked for redemption in Israel; yet this awful manner of speaking, which had so much significancy in it, they turned to his reproach, as if he knew not what to say of himself: "Who art thou, that we must with an implicit faith believe in thee, that thou art some mighty HE, we know not who or what, nor are worthy to know?"

2. His answer to this question, wherein he directs them three ways for information: -

(1.) He refers them to what he had said all along: "Do you ask who I am? Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning." The original here is a little intricate, tēn archēn ho ti kai lalō humin which some read thus: I am the beginning, which also I speak unto you. So Austin takes it. Christ is called Archē - the beginning (Col 1:18; Rev 1:8; Rev 21:6; Rev 3:14), and so it agrees with Joh 8:24, I am he. Compare Isa 41:4 : I am the first, I am he. Those who object that it is the accusative case, and therefore not properly answering to tis ei, must undertake to construe by grammar rules that parallel expression, Rev 1:8, ho ēn. But most interpreters agree with our version, Do you ask who I am? [1.] I am the same that I said to you from the beginning of time in the scriptures of the Old Testament, the same that from the beginning was said to be the Seed of the woman, that should break the serpent's head, the same that in all the ages of the church was the Mediator of the covenant, and the faith of the patriarchs. [2.] From the beginning of my public ministry. The account he had already given of himself he resolved to abide by; he had declared himself to be the Son of God (Joh 5:17), to be the Christ (Joh 4:26), and the bread of life, and had proposed himself as the object of that faith which is necessary to salvation, and to this he refers them for an answer to their question. Christ is one with himself; what he had said from the beginning, he saith still. His is an everlasting gospel.

(2.) He refers them to his Father's judgment, and the instructions he had from him (Joh 8:26): "I have many things, more than you think of, to say, and in them to judge of you. But why should I trouble myself any further with you? I know very well that he who sent me is true, and will stand by me, and bear me out, for I speak to the world (to which I am sent as an ambassador) those things, all those and those only, which I have heard of him." Here,

[1.] He suppresses his accusation of them. He had many things to charge them with, and many evidences to produce against them; but for the present he had said enough. Note, Whatever discoveries of sin are made to us, he that searches the heart has still more to judge of us, Jo1 3:20. How much soever God reckons with sinners in this world there is still a further reckoning yet behind, Deu 32:34. Let us learn hence not to be forward to say all we can say, even against the worst of men; we may have many things to say, by way of censure, which yet it is better to leave unsaid, for what is it to us?

[2.] He enters his appeal against them to his Father: He that sent me. Here two things comfort him: - First, That he had been true to his Father, and to the trust reposed in him: I speak to the world (for his gospel was to be preached to every creature) those things which I have heard of him. Being given for a witness to the people (Isa 55:4), he was Amen, a faithful witness, Rev 3:14. He did not conceal his doctrine, but spoke it to the world (being of common concern, it was to be of common notice); nor did he change or alter it, nor vary from the instructions he received from him that sent him. Secondly, That his Father would be true to him; true to the promise that he would make his mouth like a sharp sword; true to his purpose concerning him, which was a decree (Psa 2:7); true to the threatenings of his wrath against those that should reject him. Though he should not accuse them to his Father, yet the Father, who sent him, would undoubtedly reckon with them, and would be true to what he had said (Deu 18:19), that whosoever would not hearken to that prophet whom God would raise up he would require it of him. Christ would not accuse them; "for," saith he, "he that sent me is true, and will pass judgment on them, though I should not demand judgment against them." Thus, when he lets fall the present prosecution, he binds them over to the judgment-day, when it will be too late to dispute what they will not now be persuaded to believe. I, as a deaf man, heard not; for thou wilt hear, Psa 38:13, Psa 38:15. Upon this part of our Saviour's discourse the evangelist has a melancholy remark (Joh 8:27): They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father. See here, 1. The power of Satan to blind the minds of those who believe not. Though Christ spoke so plainly of God as his Father in heaven, yet they did not understand whom he meant, but thought he spoke of some father he had in Galilee. Thus the plainest things are riddles and parables to those who are resolved to hold fast their prejudices; day and night are alike to the blind. 2. The reason why the threatenings of the word make so little impression upon the minds of sinners; it is because they understand not whose the wrath is that is revealed in them. When Christ told them of the truth of him that sent him, as a warning to them to prepare for his judgment, which is according to truth, they slighted the warning, because they understood not to whose judgment it was that they made themselves obnoxious.

(3.) He refers them to their own convictions hereafter, Joh 8:28, Joh 8:29. He finds they will not understand him, and therefore adjourns the trial till further evidence should come in; they that will not see shall see, Isa 26:11. Now observe here,

[1.] What they should ere long be convinced of: "You shall know that I am he, that Jesus is the true Messiah. Whether you will own it or no before men, you shall be made to know it in your own consciences, the convictions of which, though you may stifle, yet you cannot baffle: that I am he, not that you represent me to be, but he that I preach myself to be, he that should come!" Two things they should be convinced of, in order to this: - First, That he did nothing of himself, not of himself as man, of himself alone, of himself without the Father, with whom he was one. He does not hereby derogate from his own inherent power, but only denies their charge against him as a false prophet; for of false prophets it is said that they prophesied out of their own hearts, and followed their own spirits. Secondly, That as his Father taught him so he spoke these things, that he was not autodidaktos - selftaught, but Theodidaktos - taught of God. The doctrine he preached was the counterpart of the counsels of God, with which he was intimately acquainted; kathōs edidaxe, tauta lalō - I speak those things, not only which he taught me, but as he taught me, with the same divine power and authority.

[2.] When they should be convinced of this: When you have lifted up the Son of man, lifted him up upon the cross, as the brazen serpent upon the pole (Joh 3:14), as the sacrifices under the law (for Christ is the great sacrifice), which, when they were offered, were said to be elevated, or lifted up; hence the burnt-offerings, the most ancient and honourable of all, were called elevations (Gnoloth from Gnolah, asendit - he ascended), and in many other offerings they used the significant ceremony of heaving the sacrifice up, and moving it before the Lord; thus was Christ lifted up. Or the expression denotes that his death was his exaltation. They that put him to death thought thereby for ever to have sunk him and his interest, but it proved to be the advancement of both, Joh 12:24. When the Son of man was crucified, the Son of man was glorified. Christ had called his dying his going away; here he calls it his being lifted up; thus the death of the saints, as it is their departure out of this world, so it is their advancement to a better. Observe, He speaks of those he is now talking with as the instruments of his death: when you have lifted up the Son of man; not that they were to be the priests to offer him up (no, that was his own act, he offered up himself), but they would be his betrayers and murderers; see Act 2:23. They lifted him up to the cross, but then he lifted up himself to his Father. Observe with what tenderness and mildness Christ here speaks to those who he certainly knew would put him to death, to teach us not to hate or seek the hurt of any, though we may have reason to think they hate us and seek our hurt. Now, Christ speaks of his death as that which would be a powerful conviction of the infidelity of the Jews. When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know this. And why then? First, Because careless and unthinking people are often taught the worth of mercies by the want of them, Luk 17:22. Secondly, The guilt of their sin in putting Christ to death would so awaken their consciences that they would be put upon serious enquiries after a Saviour, and then would know that Jesus was he who alone could save them. And so it proved, when, being told that with wicked hands they had crucified and slain the Son of God, they cried out, What shall we do? and were made to know assuredly that this Jesus was Lord and Christ, Act 2:36. Thirdly, There would be such signs and wonders attending his death, and the lifting of him up from death in his resurrection, as would give a stronger proof of his being the Messiah than any that had been yet given: and multitudes were hereby brought to believe that Jesus is the Christ, who had before contradicted and opposed him. Fourthly, By the death of Christ the pouring out of the Spirit was purchased, who would convince the world that Jesus is he, Joh 16:7, Joh 16:8. Fifthly, The judgments which the Jews brought upon themselves, by putting Christ to death, which filled up the measure of their iniquity, were a sensible conviction to the most hardened among them that Jesus was he. Christ had often foretold that desolation as the just punishment of their invincible unbelief, and when it came to pass (lo, it did come) they could not but know that the great prophet had been among them, Eze 33:33.

[3.] What supported our Lord Jesus in the mean time (Joh 8:29): He that sent me is with me, in my whole undertaking; for the Father (the fountain and first spring of this affair, from whom as its great cause and author it is derived) hath not left me alone, to manage it myself, hath not deserted the business nor me in the prosecution of it, for do I always those things that please him. Here is,

First, The assurance which Christ had of his Father's presence with him, which includes both a divine power going along with him to enable him for his work, and a divine favour manifested to him to encourage him in it. He that sent me is with me, Isa 42:1; Psa 89:21. This greatly emboldens our faith in Christ and our reliance upon his word that he had, and knew he had, his Father with him, to confirm the word of his servant, Isa 44:26. The King of kings accompanied his own ambassador, to attest his mission and assist his management, and never left him alone, either solitary or weak; it also aggravated the wickedness of those that opposed him, and was an intimation to them of the premunire they ran themselves into by resisting him, for thereby they were found fighters against God. How easily soever they might think to crush him and run him down, let them know he had one to back him with whom it is the greatest madness that can be to contend.

Secondly, The ground of this assurance: For I do always those things that please him. That is, 1. That great affair in which our Lord Jesus was continually engaged was an affair which the Father that sent him was highly well pleased with. His whole undertaking is called the pleasure of the Lord (Isa 53:10), because of the counsels of the eternal mind about it, and the complacency of the eternal mind in it. 2. His management of that affair was in nothing displeasing to his Father; in executing his commission he punctually observed all his instructions, and did in nothing vary from them. No mere man since the fall could say such a word as this (for in many things we offend all) but our Lord Jesus never offended his Father in any thing, but, as became him, he fulfilled all righteousness. This was necessary to the validity and value of the sacrifice he was to offer up; for if he had in any thing displeased the Father himself, and so had had any sin of his own to answer for, the Father could not have been pleased with him as a propitiation for our sins; but such a priest and such a sacrifice became us as was perfectly pure and spotless. We may likewise learn hence that God's servants may then expect God's presence with them when they choose and do those things that please him, Isa 66:4, Isa 66:5.

V. Here is the good effect which this discourse of Christ's had upon some of his hearers (Joh 8:30): As he spoke these words many believed on him. Note, 1. Though multitudes perish in their unbelief, yet there is a remnant according to the election of grace, who believe to the saving of the soul. If Israel, the whole body of the people, be not gathered, yet there are those of them in whom Christ will be glorious, Isa 49:5. This the apostle insists upon, to reconcile the Jews' rejection with the promises made unto their fathers. There is a remnant, Rom 11:5. 2. The words of Christ, and particularly his threatening words, are made effectual by the grace of God to bring in poor souls to believe in him. When Christ told them that if they believed not they should die in their sins, and never get to heaven, they thought it was time to look about them, Rom 1:16, Rom 1:18. 3. Sometimes there is a wide door opened, and an effectual one, even where they are many adversaries. Christ will carry on his work, though the heathen rage. The gospel sometimes gains great victories where it meets with great opposition. Let this encourage God's ministers to preach the gospel, though it be with much contention, for they shall not labour in vain. Many may be secretly brought home to God by those endeavours which are openly contradicted and cavilled at by men of corrupt minds. Austin has an affectionate ejaculation in his lecture upon these words: Utinam et, me loquenti, multi credant; non in me, sed mecum in eo - I wish that when I speak, many may believe, not on me, but with me on him.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

[(b) Jesus is Light (continued).

(β) His return to the Father misunderstood by the Jews, and explained by Him (Joh_8:21-29).]

(21) Then said Jesus again unto them.—The best MSS. omit the word “Jesus,” and read, He said, therefore, again unto them. The word “therefore” connects the discourse which follows with something which has gone before, probably with the fact that no man laid hands on Him, for His hour was not yet come. He is still free to address the multitude, and after an interval does so. This interval is marked by the word “again,” but is not necessarily more than a short break in the discourse. We shall find reason for believing (see Note on Joh_9:14) that the whole of the teaching and work which is included between Joh_7:37; Joh_10:21, is probably to be placed on the last and great day of the feast. The persons addressed are the people assembled round Him in the Temple. Some of the officials take part in the discussion, for it is “the Jews” who reply in the next verse. We have to think, it may be, of men gathered together in small groups discussing what He had before said. Some are really inquiring with earnest hearts about Him. The rulers are trying to suppress the growing conviction of the multitude. There are thus two currents of thought and feeling. One is found in the honest hearts of the untutored multitude; they know little of argument, and dare not interpret the Scriptures for themselves, but in their rough-and-ready way they are grasping the truth; the heart of man is bowing before the presence of its God. The other is found in the priests and rulers to whom, as a holy and learned caste, the representatives of God to man and the interpreters of their Sacred Books, the people are in intellectual and moral bondage. They seek to bind with their fetters hearts that are finding their way to the truth. Some of these groups have moved on, it may be, and others have taken their place. Seeing a new audience near Him, Jesus speaks to them again; for it is not probable that the words of Joh_8:27 apply wholly to the same persons as those in Joh_8:19.

I go my way.—The rendering is a little tinged by the following thought. The Greek word is the same as in Joh_8:14, where it is rendered “I go.” There, as here, I go away is better. It was, let us again remind ourselves, the last day of the feast, and now its closing hours have come. That thronging multitude would be before the close of another day, leaving Jerusalem to spread itself through all the extent of Palestine and the Dispersion. He also is going away. Many of them will never see Him again. Before another Feast of Tabernacles He will, in a deeper sense, be going away. They will seek Him, but it will be too late. There is in all the discourse the solemn feeling that these are the last words for many who hear Him.

Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.—Comp. Notes on Joh_7:34; Joh_7:36. But here the result of the seeking and not finding is declared in the sadness of its fatal issue. “In your sins” is not quite exact, and is, perhaps, somewhat misleading. The Greek has the singular not the plural, and should be rendered “in your sin.” It points out the state of sin, rather than actual transgressions. This latter thought is expressed where the words are repeated in Joh_8:24.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_8:21-24

I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins.

Sin here means the departure of the heart from God, general alienation from Him, and in Joh_8:24 the particular manifestations of such a disposition. In Joh_13:33 Jesus speaks to the apostles of theimpossibility of following Him in the same terms as at the end of this verse; but for them this impossibility would be but temporary, for He will return to fetch them (Joh_14:6). For the Jews, on the contrary, there will be no longer a bridge between earth and heaven; their separation will be consummated by their rejection of Him without whom no man cometh unto the Father. (F. Godet, D. D.)

Christ and men

I. THE WITHDRAWMENT OF CHRIST FROM MEN.

1. Christ had a way--undoubtedly that through the Cross to His native heavens. What a way! It will be the study of eternity.

2. Christ pursued His way voluntarily. I go. You cannot force Me.

(1) This is no extenuation of the guilt of His murderers. The Son of Man goeth … but woe unto the man by whom He is betrayed.

(2) This is the glory of His history. Why has Christs death the power not only to save humanity but to charm the universe? Because it was free. I have power to lay down my life, etc.

(3) A more terrible calamity cannot happen than this--far greater than the withdrawment of the sun. There is a sense in which Christ withdraws from impenitent men now.

II. THE FRUITLESS SEEKING OF CHRIST BY MEN. This is a repetition of Joh_7:34. When I am gone, and the judgments of heaven will descend on your country, you will be seeking Me, but you will not find Me; you will have filled up the measure of your iniquity, the things that belong to your peace will be hid from your eyes.

1. The fruitless seeking is possible. The day of grace closes with some men even while they are in the world. In the judgment He will be earnestly sought, but shall not be found. Many shall say unto Me on that day, etc., etc.

2. This fruitless seeking is lamentable. Ye shall die in your sins. Sin is like quicksand, the man who walks on it must ultimately sink and be lost. It sometimes happens on the coast of Britain or Scotland that a person walking on the sand will suddenly find a difficulty in walking. The shore is like pitch, to which the soles of his feet cling. The coast appears perfectly dry, but the footprints that he leaves are immediately filled with water. Nothing distinguishes the sand which is solid and that which is not. He passes on unaware of his danger. Suddenly he sinks. He wishes to turn back, but it is already too late. The slow burial of hours continues: the sand reaches to his waist, to his chest, to his neck; now only his face is visible. He cries; the sand fills his mouth, and all is silent. What a striking emblem of the danger of sin!

III. THE ETERNAL SEPARATION OF CHRIST FROM MEN. Whither I go ye cannot come. The separation will be complete and irreversible. Ye cannot come. Christ had said this before (Joh_7:34), and He refers to it again (Joh_13:33). So that to Him the words had a terrible meaning. More terrible words than these could not be sounded in human ears, Ye cannot come. It means incorrigible depravity, hopeless misery. Separation from Christ is hell. The commission of every sin contributes to the construction of the impassable gulf. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Final impenitence

From the time that our Lord left the world down to this day, the expression has been peculiarly true of the Jewish nation. They have been perpetually, in a sense, seeking and hungering after a Messiah, and yet unable to find Him, because they have not sought aright. In saying this we must carefully remember that our Lord did not mean to say that any of His hearers were too sinful and bad to be forgiven. On the contrary, not a few of them that crucified Him found mercy on the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached (Act_2:22-41). But our Lord did mean to say, prophetically, that the Jewish nation, as a nation, would be specially hardened and unbelieving, and that many of them, though an elect remnant might be saved, would die in their sins. In proof of this peculiar blindness and unbelief of the Jewish nation we should study Act_28:25-27, Rom_11:7, and 1Th_2:15-16. The Greek expression for sins in this verse confirms the view. It is not, literally rendered, sins, but sin: your special sin of unbelief. Let us note that

I. IT IS POSSIBLE TO SEEK CHRIST TOO LATE, OR FROM A WRONG MOTIVE, and so to seek Him in vain. This is a very important principle of Scripture. True repentance, doubtless, is never too late, but late repentance is seldom true. There is mercy to the uttermost in Christ; but if men wilfully reject Him, turn away from Him, and put off seeking Him in earnest, there is such a thing as seeking Christ in vain. Such passages as Pro_1:24-32; Mat_25:11-12; Luk_13:24-27; Heb_6:4-8; Heb_10:26-31, ought to be carefully studied.

II. THAT IT IS POSSIBLE FOR MEN TO DIE IN THEIR SINS, and never come to the heaven where He has gone. This is flatly contrary to the doctrine taught by some in the present day, that there is no future punishment, and that all will finally be forgiven. It is worthy of remark that our Lords words, Ye shall seek Me, and Whither I go ye cannot come, are used three times in this Gospel--twice to the unbelieving Jews, here and at Joh_7:34, and once to the disciples, Joh_13:33. But the careful reader will observe that in the two first instances the expression is coupled with, Ye shall not find Me, and Ye shall die in your sins. In the last, it evidently means the temporary separation between Christ and His disciples which would be caused by His ascension. (Bp. Ryle.)

Unbelief fatal

Observe the infinite difference between dying in our sins, and dying not in our sins. Lazarus, and Dives the rich man, both died--one in his palace, but in his sins; the other famished at the gate, but not in his sins. Stephen was stoned to death, but not in his sins, for he could say Lord Jesus, receive my spirit, I see the Son of man, etc.; but Judas, in his sins, went and hanged himself. Ananias and Sapphira died in their sins, but the thief upon the cross cast his last look upon the Saviour, and his sins, though many, were instantly forgiven.

I. Let us contemplate THIS FEARFUL PREDICTION OF THE CERTAIN END OF ALL UNBELIEVERS.

1. They die under the sentence of Divine condemnation for their sins.

2. They die under the dominion or power of them.

3. Under the guilt and misery of sin.

4. They die to experience the immediate and everlasting punishment denounced upon them.

II. THE EXCLUSIVE CONDITION UPON WHICH THIS FEARFUL AND IMPENDING DOOM CAN BE AVERTED. It is involved in the converse of the text--if ye believe not, ye shall die--but if ye believe, ye shall not die.

1. The object of their believing.

2. The nature of their belief. Must be cordial, entire, practical, With the heart man believeth unto righteousness.

3. The spiritual importance and efficacy of such faith. Saving in its effects by divine appointment.

III. APPLICATION.

1. Let those who have faith exercise it on the glorious object. Appreciate the glory and grace of that Saviour by faith in whom they have life everlasting.

2. Let those who believe not in Jesus remember--. They are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (The Evangelist.)

To die in sin is the most terrible death

This is a heavy doom, and the very door of damnation. It is a sad thing to die in prison, to die in a ditch, but far worse to die in your sins. Death to the wicked is as a trapdoor to let them into hell; so that it is a just wonder that, foreseeing their danger, they do not go roaring and raving out of the world. (J. Trapp.)

Dying in sin

Charles IX (who gave order for the massacre on St. Bartholomews day, 1575) expired bathed in his own blood from his veins, whilst he said, What blood--what murders--I know not where I am--how will all this end? What shall I do? I am lost forever. I know it. Francis Spira, an Italian apostate, exclaimed, just before death, My sin is greater than the mercy of God. I have denied Christ voluntarily; I feel that He hardens me, and allows me no hope. Hobbes--I am taking a fearful leap into the dark.

Sinners warned of death

On a very dark, stormy night, out West, the wind blew down a part of a railroad bridge. A freight train came along, and it crashed into the ruin, and the engineer and conductor perished. There was a girl living in her fathers cabin near the disaster, and she heard the crash of the freight train, and she knew that in a few moments an express train was due. She lighted a lantern, and climbed up on the one beam of the wrecked bridge, and then on the main part of the bridge, which was trestle work, and started to cross amid the thunder and the lightning of the tempest and the raging of the torrent beneath. One misstep and it would have been death. Amid all that horror the lantern went out. Crawling sometimes and sometimes walking over the slippery rails and over the trestle work, she came to the other side of the river. She wanted to get to the telegraph station where the express train did not stop, so that the danger might be telegraphed to the station where the train did stop. The train was due in five minutes. She was one mile off from the telegraph station, but fortunately the train was late. With cut and bruised feet she flew like the wind. Coming up to the telegraph station panting, with almost deathly exhaustion, she had only strength to shout, The bridge is down! when she became unconscious, and could hardly be resuscitated. The message was sent from the station to the next station, and the train halted, and that night the brave girl saved the lives of hundreds of passengers, and saved many homes from desolation. But every street is a track, and every style of business is a track, and every day is a track, and every night is a track, and multitudes under the power of temptation come sweeping on and sweeping down toward perils raging and terrific; God help us to go out and stop the train. Let us throw some signal. Let us give some warning. By the throne of God let us flash some influence to stop the downward progress. Beware! Beware! The bridge is down, the chasm is deep, and the lightnings of God set all the night of sin on fire with this warning, He that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. (De Witt Talmage.)

Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself?--Afterwards at the siege of Jerusalem by Titus, many of the desperate Jews did the very thing they here said of our Lord--they killed themselves in madness of despair. (Rupertus.)

Self-murder was, by the Jews, esteemed the most aggravated of crimes--a crime which sent everyone after death to Gehenna, the place of damnation. Josephus, in the weighty speech wherein he warns his companions in war, who had been hemmed in by the enemy, to refrain from self-murder, says of suicides, a darker hell receives the souls of such. The Jews, no doubt, perceived very well what Christ meant to say. But, instead of permitting themselves to be humbled, their only purpose was to retort upon Christ the cutting expression, Ye shall die in your sins, and, therefore, they contemptuously utter the taunt, Well, if He is determined to take His own life and go to Gehenna, He is indeed correct when He says that no one will follow Him thither. (Tholuck.)

Ye are from beneath: I am from above.--An abyss separates heaven, life in God, the home of Jesus, and earth the life of this world, the natural and moral home of the Jews; and faith in Jesus could alone have bridged over this abyss. Hence their perdition is, if they refuse to embrace Him, certain, since He alone could have raised them to heaven. (F. Godet, D. D.)

Jesus lived and moved in a different world. His motives were pure, honest, kind, self-sacrificing. His joys were holy, spiritual, expanding, enduring, Divine. He had heaven in His soul, and they had hell begun in theirs. A gulf impassable between them, except by repentance. One must think with Christ, will with Him, toil with Him, endure with Him, and die with Him, so as to dwell with Him forever. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

Christs moral elevation

The expression is susceptible of two interpretations.

1. Physical or local, in which sense Christ must have meant that He came from the heavenly world, and they had their origin on the earth. But the latter is only true of their bodies; all souls, as did the Divine personality of Christ, come from God.

2. Moral. The language must apply to character, its elevation and degradation. Christs moral character was from above--lofty, divine: theirs from beneath--mean, selfish, low as hell. In this sense Christ was as distant from His age and all unregenerate mankind as heaven from hell. Concerning this distance, note

I. IT WAS MANIFESTED IN HIS EARTHLY LIFE.

1. It was seen in the conduct of the Jews and others in relation to Him. The Gospels abound with instances illustrative of the felt disparity between Christ and the people with whom He lived (Luk_4:14-27; Mat_8:5-13; Mat_21:12; Joh_8:1-11). It was thus with the soldiers in Gethsemane, Pilate, the spectators of the Crucifixion. Whence arose this felt distance? It cannot be accounted for on the grounds of

(1) Social superiority: He was a humble Peasant.

(2) Non-sociality: He mingled with the people. It was

(3) Simply distance of character. His incorruptible truthfulness, immaculate purity, calm reverence, warm and overflowing benevolence struck them with awe.

2. It was seen in the conduct of Christ in relation to the people. He felt and manifested a moral loneliness. The crowd had nothing in common with Him. What they honoured, He despised; what He loved, they hated. Hence, He only felt akin to those who had kindred sympathy. My mother and brethren are those who do My will. Hence, too, His frequent withdrawal from the people to pour out His sorrows to the Father. And in His lonely hours He bewails the moral character of His age: O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee. He was morally above them. They were mere flickering lamps, dim and sooty; He rolled as a bright star above them.

II. IT WAS DEMONSTRATIVE OF HIS REAL DIVINITY. Whence came such a character as this?

1. Intellectually there was nothing, either in Jewish or Gentile mind, to give rise to such a doctrinal system as that propounded by Jesus of Nazareth. His revelation of Gods love transcended all human conception.

2. And morally there was nothing in His age to produce such a character. How could immaculate purity come out of an age of corruption--incorruptible truth come out of a world of falsehood--self-sacrificing love out of a world of selfishness? Mens characters are formed on the principle of imitation; but Christs character could not be thus formed. He had no perfect form to imitate. Even the best of the patriarchs and the holiest of the prophets were imperfect. How can you account for the existence of such a character as His? Tell me not it came of the earth. Do grapes grow on thorns? Did the flaming pillar in the wilderness grow out of the sand?

(1) His perfect moral excellence was universally felt, not because there was no effort employed to discover imperfections in Him; the keen eye of His age was always on the watch, to descry some moral defect. And Pilate, who had every facility for knowing Him, and every motive for condemning Him, said, I find no fault in Him.

(2) This moral excellence was retained to the last, not because He was not assailed by temptation. Never came the great tempter to any man in a more powerful form than to Christ. How then shall we account for such a character as this? Only on the principle that He was indeed the Son of God.

III. IT WAS ESSENTIAL TO HIS REDEEMERSHIP. Had He not been thus morally above mankind, He had lacked the qualification to redeem souls. Holiness has the power to convict, to renovate, to sanctify, and to save. A man who is one with sinners, morally standing on the same platform, can never save them. Because Christ is above them, He rolls His moral thunders down to alarm the careless: pours His sunbeams to quicken the dead; rains His fertilizing showers to make moral deserts blossom as the rose. As the well-being of the earth depends upon the heavens, so the spiritual progress of humanity depends upon that Character that is stretched over us like the sunny skies. Conclusion: The subject predicates

1. The way to true elevation. Men are endowed with aspirations. But what altitudes should they scale to reach true dignity? Commerce, literature, scholarship, war? No; from all these heights man must fall--fall like Lucifer, the sun of the morning. The altitude of imitating Christ is that which conducts to glory. Seek the things above. Press on to assimilation to that character that is above you. It will always be above you, and so far it meets the unbounded moral aspirations of your heart. Be ye holy, even as God is holy. Christs character is everlastingly saying to you, Come up hither.

2. Reveals the only way by which we can regenerate the world. Keep at a moral distance from mankind. Let the people amongst whom we bye feel that we are morally above them. In this age, what is called the Church is morally so identified with the spirit that moves the world, that it is on the same moral plane as the market, the theatre.

3. Presents motives for the highest gratitude. The grandest fact in the history of our planet is, that a perfect moral character has been here, wearing our nature. Though His physical personality is gone, His character is here still. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Methods of living

There are three methods of living--from beneath, from within, from above. We none of us live after one single method. There has been but one self-consistent man, Jesus, who followed one method throughout. But no other man is either wholly good or consistently bad. Three distant principles, however, of the formation of character are clearly manifest.

I. LIFE FROM BENEATH we can easily recognize. The world has received Christian education enough to lead it publicly, at least to repudiate the method of the devil, even though they may follow it privately.

II. LIFE FROM WITHIN is good so far as it goes. It is the effort to live as a human being may best live in the powers of his own reason, and out of the motives of his own heart without seeking help from above. And it is fair to say that some who follow it reach admirable results. Christian faith need not make us blind to natural virtues.

III. BUT SCRIPTURE FAILS TO RECOGNIZE THIS INTERMEDIATE METHOD OF LIVING. Yet Jesus must have looked out upon life with as quick an appreciation of anything fair in it as any of us can ever feel, and was always ready to see good where we cannot. Nevertheless, He admits of only two sharply defined principles and tendencies--one of this world and tending towards that which is beneath; and the other like His own higher life rising towards that which is above. This is admittedly a difficulty. We observe a good deal of loveableness and goodness in the world growing out of mens hearts without any religions vitality in it; Christ recognized nothing of the kind. Which is right?

1. Remember that Jesus went beyond all that is temporary in human conduct, and that His judgments have reference to radical principles and final issues. When, therefore, He distinguishes two opposite methods of life only, while human experience shows us a third, the question arises whether life can go on much farther in the halfway fashion? Is not this intermediate way a path that must break off somewhere, and he who follows it be compelled to scale the height or plunge into the abyss? Is it anything more than a provisional method, and so cannot be justified as a necessary and reasonable expedient for a life?

2. It is a great presumption against it that it is an expedient, and cannot possibly be the full, final method of an immortal soul. It is a serious disadvantage that the plan must be held subject to death, and will have to be dropped in the grave. As thinking, acting beings, we want to plan our lives for ages, not for years; and who of us expect to live one single day after death without finding ourselves obliged to take God and the whole kingdom of righteousness into our account of life? I cannot live fifty, one hundred, one thousand years hence, still drifting on in unconcern about the greatest and final realities of the universe.

3. Some will admit this disadvantage, but, however they may wish to believe as their mothers have, say, I must build my life upon known facts and truths which experience can substantiate. So be it, give me facts to build into the substantial arch of a life, but let me not neglect the Keystone, because life can be carried so high without it, and the temporary scaffolding hold all in place for the present. And if the gospel brings the facts which are necessary to make life entire we ought at once to use them. Is faith in Christ, this Keystone, which completes and secures all, and that with no temporary scaffolding of our own construction, but with the righteousness of God?

4. Let me ask you who are trying to live honourably without religion to search the scriptures of your heart, and of providence, and see if the present fact of a living God is not everywhere pressed upon you? But beside this there is a whole range of Divine facts in the world called Christianity, as positive facts of history as the rocky mountains are facts of geography; and one might as reasonably attempt to engineer a railroad across America without taking the mountains into account as to seek to stretch a purpose across this life without taking Christianity into his plan. From these facts let us specify

(1) The person of Christ. Pilate did not know what to do with it and would wash his hands; but the world cannot evade its responsibility. Christ stands before the judgment throne of every soul, and the final question of our lives, whether we will or no, becomes, What shall I do with Jesus? etc.

(2) The power of the Holy Ghost in the lives of men. This is a fact which runs through the whole range of Christian history, and is not unknown outside it, or whence those instinctive prayers, great ideas, visions of better things?

5. We must allow that a provisional way of living is justifiable only on the supposition that it is necessary. One may live as well as he can in a tent, provided there is no material of which he can build a house. One may camp out under a mere moral theory of life, provided a religious home is an impossibility. But there are materials sound and ample for a Christian home in life in the Christian Church. Do not then camp out, but come in.

Conclusion: Note some considerations which show the completeness of the Christian method of living and the incompleteness of the best method which is not clearly Christian.

1. The Christian method is life from above. Christ finds the lost child and sets him in the midst of the Divine Fatherhood, and thus brings life into union with God.

2. It harmonizes everything in and around us, and the growing harmony of life is the sure proof that the method cannot be wrong.

3. Without these reconciliations the best life must be imperfect, and its method therefore to be eschewed. (Newman Smyth, D. D.)

If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.--Our Lord spoke as One having authority, as a king from the throne, a judge from the tribunal.

I. WHAT IS INCLUDED IN OUR BELIEVING IN CHRIST.

1. A deep sense of our need of Him as the only and all-sufficient Saviour. They that are whole need not a physician (Isa_27:13; Mat_9:12).

2. A giving full credit to the gospel revelation concerning Him in His Person, offices, and work.

3. A full conviction of conscience arising

(1) From a discernment of the excellency of what is revealed.

(2) From the manner in which it is revealed.

4. A removal of all enmity and aversion to Christ.

5. A. powerful attraction of the whole soul to Christ, a closing in with the gospel way of salvation, and a cleaving to Him with full purpose of heart.

II. THE AWFUL CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELIEF (Eze_3:18). Unbelievers

1. Die in a state of guilt and under condemnation. Their conscience condemns them because they have defiled it; the law, because they have broken it; the gospel, because they have rejected it. This condemnation is now (Joh_3:18).

2. Die under the power and dominion of sin (Rev_22:11).

3. Dying in their sins, they sink under everlasting punishment. Those who sin against the remedy perish without it. (B. Beddome, M. A.)

The greatest calamity

I. TO DIE IN ONES SINS IS THE GREATEST CALAMITY. To die is a terribly solemn thing, for it involves separation from home, business, acquaintance, world, the very body itself, and introduction into a mysterious, untried, spiritual state of retribution. But to die in sin adds immeasurably to its solemnity. Sin is the sting of death. To die in ones sins means

1. To die having misused this life with all its blessings. Lifes grand purpose is the cultivation of a holy character. For this

(1) All physical blessings are given: health, time, nature.

(2) All social pleasures and happy interchanges of thought, feeling, and soul

(3) All mental blessings, literature, science, poetry, schools, etc.

(4) All redemptive blessings--the gospel with its soul-saving appliances. He who dies in his sins has abused all.

2. To die with all the conditions of misery-conflicting passions, tormenting conscience, a dreaded God, foreboding anguish. It this is not hell, what is it? Better a thousand times to die in a paupers hovel or in a martyrs tortures than to die in sin.

II. UNBELIEF IS CHRIST READERS THIS GREATEST OF CALAMITIES INEVITABLE. Belief in Christ, as the Revealer of God, is essential to the deliverance of man from the guilt, power, and consequence of sins.

1. This deliverance requires the awaking in the soul of a supreme affection for God. Love to God only can destroy the old man.

2. A supreme affection for God requires a certain revelation of Him. In what aspects must the Eternal appear to man before this love can be awakened? He must appear personally, forgivingly, and sublimely perfect.

3. This certain revelation is nowhere but in Christ. Belief in Him therefore is essential to a deliverance of the soul from sin. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

Unbelief is a sin

1. Heavy with the burden of ingratitude (Luk_17:17).

2. Heavy with the burden of a broken law (Gal_3:10).

3. Heavy with impending wrath of God (Joh_3:36).

4. Crimsoned with blood (Isa_1:18; Heb_10:26; Hos_1:2). (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)

Unbelief

I. IS THE THING THAT SPECIALLY RUINS MEN. All manner of sin may be forgiven. But unbelief bars the door against mercy (Mar_16:16; Joh_3:36.

II. WAS THE SECRET OF THE JEWS BEING SO THOROUGHLY OF THE WORLD. If they would only have believed in Christ, they would have been delivered from this present evil world. The victory that overcomes the world is faith. Once believing on a heavenly Saviour a man has a portion and a heart in heaven (Gal_1:4; 1Jn_5:4-5).

III. THERE IS NOTHING HARD OR UNCHARITABLE IN WARNING MEN PLAINLY OF THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNBELIEF. Never to speak of hell is not acting as Christ did. (Bp. Ryle.)

Unbelief will destroy the soul

If but one sin be unrepented of, the man continues still a bond slave of hell. By one little hole, a ship will sink into the bottom of the sea. The stab of a penknife to the heart will as well destroy a man as all the daggers that killed Caesar in the senate house. The soul will be strangled with one cord of vanity as well as with all the cart ropes of iniquity: only the more sins, the more plagues and fiercer flames in hell; but he that lives and dies impenitent in one, it will be his destruction. One dram of poison will despatch a man, and one reigning sin will bring him to endless misery. (R. Bolton.)

Dying in sin

A dying woman, after a life of frivolity, said to me, Do you think that I can be pardoned? I said, Oh, yes, Then, gathering herself up in the concentrated dismay of a departing spirit, she looked at me and said, Sir, I know I shall not! Then she looked up as though she heard the click of the hoofs of the pale horse, and her long locks tossed on the pillow as she whispered, The summer is ended. (T. DeWitt Talmage.)

We must believe or perish

Unbelief stops the current of Gods mercy from running; it shuts up Gods bowels, closeth the orifice of Christs wounds, that no healing virtue will come out. He could not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief (Mat_13:58). (T. Watson.)

Judgment overtakes sin suddenly

The Rev. F.W. Holland in 1867 was encamped in Wady Feiram, near the base of Mount Serbal. He says: A tremendous thunderstorm burst upon us. After little more than an hours rain the water rose so rapidly in the previously dry wady (valley), that I had to run for my life, and with great difficulty succeeded in saving my tent and goods, my boots, which I had not time to pick up, being washed away. In less than two hours a dry desert wady, upwards of 300 yards broad, was turned into a foaming torrent from eight to ten feet deep, roaring and tearing down, and bearing everything before it--tangled masses of tamarisks, hundreds of beautiful palm trees, scores of sheep and goats, camels, donkeys, and even men, women, and children, for a whole encampment of Arabs was washed away a few miles above me. The storm commenced at five oclock in the evening, and at half-past nine the waters were rapidly, subsiding, and it was evident that the flood had spent its force. In the morning a gently flowing stream, but a few yards broad and a few inches deep, was all that remained of it. But the whole bed of the valley was changed. Here great heaps of boulders were piled up, where hollows had been the day before; there holes had taken the place of banks covered with trees. Two miles of tamarisk wood, which was situated above the palm grove, had been completely washed away, and upwards of a thousand palm trees swept down to the sea. The change was so great that I could not have believed it possible in so short a time had I not witnessed it with my own eyes. So sudden, and greater far will be the final ruin of those who build their hopes of eternal life on the sand of human doing, and not upon the Rock--Christ Jesus.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 8:21. Then said Jesus again — Probably in the same place where the preceding discourse was pronounced; and still confiding in the protection of Divine Providence; I go my way — That is, I shall speedily go away from among you; and ye shall seek me — Shall inquire after the Messiah; and shall die in your sins — Impenitent and unbelieving, and therefore unpardoned. Or, ye shall die, suffering the punishment of your sins: you shall perish for your unbelief and rejection of me, by a singular stroke of divine vengeance. The threatening, thus explained, conveys a prediction of the destruction of their city and state, in which probably some, that were now our Lord’s hearers, afterward perished. Whither I go ye cannot come — Either to molest me, or to secure yourselves. Though you should be ever so desirous of being admitted into my presence, the favour will not be granted you. He repeats what he had said to them in a former discourse, (see on Joh 7:33-34,) that it might make the deeper impression upon them. “He meant, that after his ascension into heaven, when the Roman armies were spreading desolation and death in every corner of the land, they would earnestly desire the coming of the Messiah, in expectation of deliverance, but should perish for their sins, and under the guilt of them, without any Saviour whatsoever, and be excluded for ever from heaven.” Some think, that in saying this, our Lord opposed a common error of the Jews, who imagined, that by death they made atonement for all their sins.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fatal effects of rejecting Jesus, Joh_8:21-24.

21. Go my way—Pass through my mission of life, death, and ascension.

Die in your sins—Not merely, as some interpret, die for your sins; but die in guilt, in impenitence, and in a sinful state of purpose.

Ye cannot come—The separation is complete and irreversible.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ALARMING PREDICTION AGAINST THEM

Joh 8:21-27. “Then He again said to them, I go, and you shall seek Me, and you shall perish in your sin; whither I go, you are not able to come.” The prophetic eye of Jesus saw the awful calamities coming on those people, when they would perish miserably by sword, pestilence, and famine, doubtless many of them seeing their awful error when too late. “Then the Jews said, Whether will He kill Himself? because He says, Whither I go, you are not able to come; and He said to them, You are from beneath, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” Those people, both preachers and members, solidly believed themselves to be the true people of God. Here the Infallible Teacher informs them that they are from beneath; i. e., not only unacquainted with God, but actually in the hands of Satan, and led captive at his will. “Therefore I said unto you, that you shall perish in your sins; for if you may not believe that I am He, you shall perish in your sins.” This is a most solemn and sweeping abnegation of all human hope without Christ. John the Baptist had preached to those people three years previously, telling them, in words of heaven- born eloquence, winged with celestial lightning, that this Jesus is the veritable Christ of prophecy, Redeemer of Israel and Savior of the world; actually pointing Him out, introducing Him to them, and inaugurating Him into His official Messiahship by the rite of baptism. These three years they have been taking counsel of the devil, imbibing unbelief, hardening their hearts, and stiffening their necks against the truth; not only sealing their own doom, but, by precept and example, leading the multitudes in the way of death. “Then they said to Him, Who art Thou? Jesus said to them, That which I tell you from the beginning, I tell you now. I have many things to speak and judge concerning you.” He knew that the judgment of the quick and dead would devolve on Him in the last day. “But the One having sent Me is true; and whatsoever things I heard with Him, these I am speaking to the world.” What a wonderful blessing is the gospel of Christ, as, having lived in heaven from the dawn of creation, in the very bosom of God, He then spoke on earth precisely what He heard from His Omniscient Father! “They did not know that He was speaking to them of the Father.”

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chapter 19

JESUS REJECTED IN JERUSALEM.

He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. The Jews therefore said, Will He kill Himself, that He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am He, ye shall die in your sins. They said therefore unto Him, Who art Thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit He that sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these speak I unto the world. They perceived not that He spake to them of the Father. Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as the Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He that sent Me is with Me; He hath not left Me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to Him. As He spake these things, many believed on Him. Jesus therefore said to those Jews which had believed Him, If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered unto Him, We be Abrahams seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abrahams seed; yet ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath not free course in you. I speak the things which I have seen with My Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father. They answered and said unto Him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abrahams children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill Me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father. They said unto Him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love Me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do ye not understand My speech? Even because ye cannot hear My word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. But because I say the truth, ye believe Me not. Which of you convicteth Me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe Me? He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. The Jews answered and said unto Him, Say we not well that Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil? Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour My Father, and ye dishonour Me. But I seek not mine own glory: there is One that seeketh and judgeth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My word, he shall never see death. The Jews said unto Him, Now we know that Thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and Thou sayest, If a man keep My word, he shall never taste of death. Art Thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest Thou Thyself? Jesus answered, If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing: it is My Father that glorifieth Me; of whom ye say, that He is your God; and ye have not known Him: but I know Him; and if I should say, I know Him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know Him, and keep His word. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it, and was glad. The Jews therefore said unto Him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. They took up stones therefore to cast at Him: but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple.- Joh_8:21-59.

John has now briefly detailed the self-manifestations of Jesus which He considered sufficient to induce the Jews to believe in Him; and he has shown us how, both in Galilee and in Jerusalem, the people, with few exceptions, remained unconvinced. He has also very clearly shown the reason of His rejection in Galilee. The reason was that the blessings He proposed to bestow were spiritual, while the blessings they craved were physical. Their Messianic expectation was not satisfied in Him. So long as He healed their sick, and by His mere will furnished famishing thousands with food, they thought, This is the King for us. But when He told them that these things were mere signs of higher blessings, and when He urged them to seek these spiritual gifts, they left Him in a body.

In Jerusalem opinion has followed a similar course. There also Jesus has exemplified His power to impart life. He has carefully explained the significance of that sign, and has explicitly claimed Divine prerogatives. But although individuals believe, the mass of the people are only perplexed, and the authorities are exasperated. The rulers, however, find it impossible to proceed against Him, owing to the influence He has with the people, and even with their own servants. This state of matters, however, was not destined to continue; and in the eighth chapter John traces the course of popular opinion from a somewhat hopeful perplexity to a furious hostility that, at length, for the first time, broke out in actual violence (Joh_8:59). Jesus did not indeed immediately retire, as if further efforts to induce faith were useless, but when the storm broke out a second time (Joh_10:39-40) He finally withdrew, and taught only such as sought Him out.

At this point, then, in the history we are invited to inquire what grounds of faith Jesus had presented, and what were the true reasons of His rejection.

1. But first we must ask, In what character or capacity did Jesus present Himself to men? What did He declare Himself to be? What demand did He make on the faith of those to whom He presented Himself? When He required that they should believe in Him, what exactly did He mean? Certainly He did not mean less than that they should believe He was the Messiah, and should accept Him as such. The Messiah was an elastic title, perhaps not conveying to any two minds in Israel precisely the same idea. It had indeed for all Israelites some contents in common. It meant that here was One upon earth and accessible, who was sent to be the Bearer of Gods good-will to men, a Mediator through whom God meant to make His presence felt and His will known. But some who believed Jesus was the Christ had so poor a conception of the Christ, that He could not accept theirs as a sound faith. The minimum of acceptable faith must believe in the actual Jesus, and allow the idea of the Christ to be formed by what was seen in Jesus. Those who believed must so trust Jesus as to be willing that He should fashion the Messiahship as He saw fit. It was therefore primarily in Himself the true believer trusted. He did not, in the first instance, believe He was this or that, but he felt, Here is the greatest and best I know; I give myself to Him. Of course this involved that whatever Christ claimed to be, He was believed to be. But it is of importance to observe that the confession, I believe that Jesus is the Christ, was not enough in Christs own day to guarantee the soundness of the faith of the confessor. He had further to answer the question, What do you mean by the Christ? For if you mean a national Messiah, coming to give you political freedom and social blessings only, this faith cannot be trusted. But if any one could say, I believe in Jesus, and if by this he meant, I so believe in Him that whatever He says He is, I believe He is, and whatever be the contents with which He fills the Messianic name, these contents I accept as belonging to the office, this faith was sound and acceptable.

And, according to this Gospel, Jesus at once made it plain that His idea of the Messianic office was not the popular idea, It was eternal life He constantly proclaimed as the gift the Father had commissioned Him to bestow; not physical life, not revived political life. So that it very shortly became impossible for any one to make the confession that Jesus was the Christ, in ignorance of what He Himself judged the Christ to be. It may be said, therefore, that when Jesus required men to believe in Him, He meant that they should trust Him as mediating efficiently between God and them, and should accept His view of all that was needful for this mediation. He meant that they should look to Him for life eternal and for perfect fellowship with God. What was doctrinally involved in this, what was implied in His claim regarding His eternal nature, might or might not at once be understood. What must be understood and believed was, that Jesus was empowered by God to act for Him, to represent Him, to impart to men all that God would impart.

II. This being so, we may now inquire, what sufficient reason Jesus, as already reported in this Gospel, has given why the people should accept Him as the Christ. In these eight chapters what do we find related which should have furnished the Jews with all the evidence which reasonable minds would require?

1. He was definitely identified as the Christ by the Baptist. It was Johns function to recognise the person sent by God to fulfil all His will, and to found a kingdom of God among men. For this John lived; and if any man was in a position to say yes or no in response to the question, Is this the Christ, the Anointed and commissioned of God? John was that man. No man was in himself better qualified to judge, and no man had such material for judging, and his judgment was explicit and assured. To put aside this testimony as valueless is out of the question. It is more reasonable to ask whether it is even possible that in this matter the Baptist should be mistaken.

Jesus Himself indeed did not rest upon this testimony. For His own certification of His dignity He did not require it. He did not require the corroborative voice of one human being. It was not by what He was told regarding Himself that He became conscious of His Sonship; nor was it by an external testimony, even from such a man as John, that He was encouraged to make the claims He made. John was but a mirror reflecting what was already in Him, possibly stimulating self-consciousness, but adding nothing to His fitness for His work.

2. He expected that His claim to have come forth from God would be believed on His own word. The Samaritans believed Him on His own word. This does not mean that they believed a mere assertion; they believed the assertion of One whom they felt to be speaking the truth. There was that in His character and bearing which compelled their faith. Through all He said there shone the self-evidencing light of truth. They might not have been able to stand a cross-examination as to the reason of the faith that was in them, they might not have been able to satisfy any other person or induce him to believe, but they were justified in following an instinct which said to them, This man is neither deceiver nor deceived. There was nothing in the claim of Jesus absolutely incredible. Nay, it rather fell in with their idea of God and with the knowledge of their own needs. They wished a revelation, and saw nothing impossible in it. This may nowadays be judged a homely rather than a philosophical view to take of God and of His relation to men. But primary and universal instincts have their place, and, if scientific knowledge does not contradict them, should be trusted. It was because the Samaritans had not tampered with their natural cravings and hopes, and had not allowed their idea of the Messiah to harden into a definite conception, that they were able to welcome Jesus with a faith which He rarely met with elsewhere.

And the main authentication of Christs claim at all times is simply this, that He makes the claim, and that there is that in Him which testifies to His truth, while there is that in the claim itself which is congruous to our instincts and needs. There was that in the bearing of Christ which commanded belief in natures which were not numbed and blunted by prejudice. The Capernaum courtier who came to Jesus expecting to bring Him down with him to heal his boy, when he saw Him felt he could trust Him, and returned alone. Jesus was conscious that He spoke of what He knew, and spoke of it truly. I speak that which I have seen with My Father (Joh_8:38). My record is true (Joh_8:14). If I say the truth, why do ye not believe Me? (Joh_8:46.) This consciousness, both of an intention to speak the truth and of a knowledge of the truth, in a mind so pellucid and sane, justly impressed candid minds in His own day, and is irresistibly impressive still.

Again, we judge of what is probable or improbable, credible or incredible, mainly by its congruity with our previous belief. Is our idea of God such that a personal revelation seems credible and even likely? Does this supposed revelation in Christ consist with previous revelations and with the knowledge of God and His will which those revelations have fostered? Does this final revelation actually bring us the knowledge of God, and does it satisfy the longings and pure aspirations, the thirst for God and the hunger for righteousness, which assert themselves in us like natural appetites? If so, then the untutored human heart accepts this revelation. It is its own verification. Light is its own authentication. Christ brings within our ken a God whom we cannot but own as God, and who is nowhere else so clearly revealed. It is this immediacy of authentication, this self-verification, to which our Lord constantly appeals.

3. But a great part of the self-revelation of Christ could best be made in action. Such a work as the healing of the impotent man was visible to all and legible by the dullest. If His words were sometimes enigmatic, such an action as this was full of significance and easily understood. By this compassionate restoration of the vital powers He proclaimed Himself the Fathers Delegate, commissioned to express the Divine compassion and to exercise the Divine power to communicate life. This was meant to be an easy lesson by which men might learn that God is full of compassion, ceaselessly working for the good of men; that He is present among us seeking to repair the mischief resulting from sin, and to apply to our needs the fulness of His own life, and that Jesus Christ is the medium through whom He makes Himself accessible to us and available for us.

These works were done by our Lord not only to convince the people that they should listen to Him, but also to convince them that God Himself was present. If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not. But if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe the works, that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in Me, and I in Him. It was this He strove to impress on the people, that God was with them. It was not Himself He wished them to recognise, but the Father in Him. I seek not Mine own glory (Joh_8:50). And therefore it was the kindness of the works He pointed to: Many good works have I showed you from My Father (Joh_10:32). He sought through these works to lead men to see how in His Person the Father was applying Himself to the actual needs of mankind. To accept God for one purpose is to accept Him for all. To believe in Him as present to heal naturally leads to belief in Him as our Friend and Father. Hence these signs, manifesting the presence and good-will of God, were a call upon men to trust Him and accept His messenger. They spoke of gifts still more akin to the Divine nature, of gifts not merely physical, but spiritual and eternal. Possibly in allusion to these intelligible and earthly signs our Lord said to Nicodemus, If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? If ye are blind to these earthly signs, what hope is there of your understanding things eternal in their own impalpable essence?

III. What were the true reasons of our Lords rejection?

1. The first reason no doubt was that He so thoroughly disappointed the popular Messianic expectation. This comes out very conspicuously in His rejection in Galilee, where the people were on the point of crowning Him, but at once deserted Him as soon as it became clear that His idea of the needs of men was quite different from theirs. The same reason lies at the root of His rejection by the authorities and people of Jerusalem. This is brought out in this eighth chapter. Many had believed on Him (Joh_8:30); that is to say, they believed on Him as Nicodemus had believed; they believed He was the Christ. But as soon as He explained to them (Joh_8:32; Joh_8:34) that the freedom He brought was a freedom attained through knowing the truth, a freedom from sin, they either were unable to understand Him or were repelled, and from believers became enemies and assailants.

It may have been with reluctance our Lord disclosed to those who had some faith in Him, that in order to be His disciples (Joh_8:31) they must accept His word, and find in it the freedom He proclaimed. He knew that this was not the freedom they sought. But it was compulsory that He should leave them in no dubiety regarding the blessings He promised. It was impossible that they should accept the eternal life He brought to them, unless there was quickened within them some genuine desire for it. For what prevented them from receiving Him was not a mere easily rectified blunder about the Messianic office, it was an alienation in heart from a spiritual conception of God. And accordingly in depicting the climax of unbelief John is careful in this chapter to bring out that our Lord traced His rejection by the Jews to their inveterate repugnance to spiritual life, and their consequent blinding of themselves to the knowledge of God. He that is of God heareth Gods words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God (Joh_8:47). Ye seek to kill Me, because My word hath no place in you [finds no room in you]. I speak that which I have seen with My Father; and ye do that which ye have seen with your father (Joh_8:37-38).

2. Here, as elsewhere, therefore, our Lord traces the unbelief of the Jews to the blindness induced by alienation from the Divine. They do not understand Him, because they have not that thirst for truth and righteousness which is the best interpreter of His words. Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot bear My word. It was this word of His, the truth regarding sin and the way out of it, which sifted men. Those who eagerly welcomed salvation from sin because they knew that bondage to sin was the worst of bondages (Joh_8:34), accepted Christs word, and continued in it, and so became His disciples (Joh_8:31). Those who rejected Him were prompted to do so by their indifference to the Kingdom of God as exhibited in the person of Christ. He was not their ideal. And He was not their ideal, because however much they boasted of being Gods people God was not their ideal. If God were your Father, ye would love Me; for I proceeded forth and came from God (Joh_8:42). Jesus is conscious of adequately representing God, so that to be repelled by Him is to be repelled by God. It is really God in Him that they dislike. This is not only His own judgment of the matter. It is not a mere fancy of His own that He truly represents the Father, for neither came I of Myself, but He sent me. He was sent into the world because He could represent the Father.

The rejection of Jesus by the Jews was therefore due to their moral condition. Their condition is such that our Lord does not scruple pungently to say, Ye are of your father the devil. Their blindness to the truth and virulent opposition to Him proved their kinship with him who was from the beginning a liar and a murderer. They are so completely under the influence of sin that they are unable to appreciate emancipation from it. They look for satisfaction so determinedly in an anti-spiritual direction, that they are positively enraged at One who certainly has power, but who steadfastly uses it for spiritual purposes. Out of this condition they can be rescued by believing in Christ. Into the mystery which surrounds the possibility that such a belief should be cherished by any one in this condition, our Lord does not here enter. That it is possible, He implies by blaming them for not believing.

It is, then, those who are unconscious of the bondage of sin who reject Christ. One of the sayings with which He sifted His profoundly attached followers from the mass is this: If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The word of which Jesus here speaks is His whole revelation, all He taught by word and action, by His own habitual conduct and by His miracles. This it is which gives knowledge of the truth. That is to say, all the truth which men require for living they have in Christ. All knowledge of duty, and all that knowledge of our spiritual relations, out of which we can draw perennial motive and unfailing hope, we have in Him. The truth disclosed in Christ, and which emancipates from sin, must not be too carefully defined. But while leaving it in all its comprehensiveness, it must be noted that the truth which especially emancipates from sin and gives us our place as children in Gods house, is the truth revealed in Christs Sonship, the truth that God, in love and forgiveness, claims us as His children. In its own measure every truth we learn gives us a sense of liberty. The truth emancipates from superstition, from timorous waiting upon the opinion of authorities, from all that cramps mental movement and stunts mental growth; but the freedom here in view is freedom from sin, and the truth which brings that freedom is the truth about God our Father, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

8:21 In the earlier debate at the festival, Jesus’ origins were at issue (7:27). Here, Jesus mentioned going away to the place he came from, meaning heaven. However, once again, his words were misunderstood.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 8:21. Πάλιν, again) For He had said so at ch. Joh 7:33, etc., “Ye shall seek Me, and not find Me; and where I am, thither ye cannot come,” when they had plotted against Him, as at this place.—ἀμαρτίᾳ, sin) The Singular: the whole of perdition is one, arising from unbelief, through which all sins flourish, Joh 8:24, “If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins” [Plural]. In this place, the emphasis is on the word, sin, which in this verse comes first; afterwards [at Joh 8:24] on the verb ye shall die, which there comes first.—ἀποθανεῖσθε, ye shall die) by death of every kind [spiritual and eternal, of body and soul].—ὑπάγω, I go) Joh 8:22, ch. Joh 13:33; Joh 13:36. [to Simon Peter] “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow Me afterwards;” Joh 14:4, “Whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_8:21. A new scene here opens, as in Joh_8:12, and is therefore, after the analogy of Joh_8:12, to be placed in one of the following days (so also Ewald; and in opposition to Origen and the common supposition).

The connecting word, with which the further discussion on this occasion (it is different in Joh_8:12) takes its rise, is a word of grave threatening, more punitive than even Joh_7:34.

οὖν] As no one had laid hand on Him, comp. Joh_8:12.

πάλιν, as in Joh_8:12, indicating the delivery of a second discourse, not a repetition of Joh_7:34.

αὐτοῖς] to the Jews who were present in the temple, Joh_8:20; Joh_8:22.

ζητήσετέ με] namely, as a deliverer from the misfortunes that are coming upon you, as in Joh_7:34. But instead of the clause there added, καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσετε, here we have the far more tragical and positive declaration, κ. ἐν τ. ἁμαρτ. ὑμ. ἀποθ.: and (not reconciled and sanctified, but) in your sin (still laden with it and your unatoned guilt, Joh_9:34; 1Co_15:17) ye shall die, namely, in the universal misfortunes amid which you will lose your lives. Accordingly, ἐν is the state wherein, and not the cause whereby (Hengstenberg) they die. The text does not require us to understand eternal death, although that is the consequence of dying in this state. Ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν, however, is to be taken in a collective sense (see Joh_8:24; Joh_1:29; Joh_9:41), and not as merely referring to the sin of unbelief; though being itself sin (Joh_16:9), it is the ground of the non-extinction and increase of their sin. Between ζητήσετέ με, finally, and the dying in sin, there is no contradiction; for the seeking in question is not the seeking of faith, but merely that seeking of desperation whose object is merely deliverance from external afflictions. The futility of that search, so fearfully expressed by the words καὶ

ἀποθαν., is further explained by ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω, etc., for they cannot ascend into heaven, in order to find Jesus as a deliverer, and to bring Him down (to this view Joh_13:33 is not opposed). Accordingly, these words are to be taken quite as in Joh_7:34, not as referring to the hell into which they would come through death; for Jesus speaks, not of their condition after, but up to, their death.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 8:21-30 . Further conversation with the Jews, in which Jesus warns them that He will not be long with them, and that unless they believe they will die in their sins. They will know that His witness is true after they have crucified Him .

Joh 8:21 . Εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν . On another occasion, but whether the same day (Origen) or not we do not know, although, as Lücke points out, the αὐτοῖς favours Origen’s view, Jesus said: Ἐγὼ ὑπάγω … ἐλθεῖν . This repeats Joh 7:34 , with the addition “and ye shall die in your sin”; i.e. , undelivered by the Messiah, in the bondage of sin and reaping its fruit. He adds the reason why they should not find Him ( cf. Joh 7:34 ): ὅπου … ἐλθεῖν . He goes to His Father and thither they cannot come, if they do not believe in Him.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. The occasion of the discourse which follows is not mentioned. It may be a continuation of what precedes (see on v. 26), and if so οὖν may be causative, having reference to the fact that Jesus had not been arrested (v. 20; cf. 7:33). But perhaps οὖν is used as a mere conjunction (see on 1:22), and πάλιν only marks (as in v. 12) the beginning of a new discourse. It is not possible to assign every discourse in Jn. to its original occasion; and one of the many rearrangements of the Gospel (that of F. W. Lewis) would place 8:21-59 after 7:52. Ver. 21 reproduces, though not verbally, the warning of 7:33, 34, and its last clause is addressed in identical terms to the disciples at 13:33 (where see note). But πάλιν is not to be taken as an allusion to the repetition of 7:34; as has been said, it may only mark the opening of a new discourse or paragraph (v. 12, 10:7; and see on 1:35).

εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν αὐτοῖς. NΓΔΘ add ὁ Ἰησοῦς (from 7:33), but om. אBDLTW.

ἐγὼ ὑπάγω. For this verb and its usage in Jn., see on 7:33. “I go away,” sc. to God.

καὶ ζητήσετέ με. As in 7:34, this is the search of despair; they will seek Jesus as their Messiah, when it is too late. καὶ οὐκ εὑρήσετέ με is added by a few manuscripts from 7:34, where it is part of the text; but it is implied in any case.

καὶ ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε, “and ye shall die in your sin,” an O.T. phrase (cf. Eze 3:18, Eze 18:18, and especially Pro 24:9 ἀποθνήσκει δὲ ἄφρων ἐν ἁμαρτίαις, of which LXX rendering the phrase in the text may be a reminiscence). It is repeated v. 24, where see note. Those who too late seek Jesus as the Messiah, shall die in a state of sin, unredeemed by Him.

ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπάγω ὑμεῖς οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν, “whither I go ye cannot come”: this is repeated verbally at 13:33, where it is addressed to the disciples. Cf. 7:34, where the same thing (in substance) was said to the Jews, and see the note there.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. “It is I.” 8:21-29.

Jesus had just applied to Himself the two principal symbols which the feast presented to Him. The following testimony completes the two which precede; it is a more general affirmation respecting His mission.

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 21-29.

1. Meyer holds that the words of Joh 8:21 f. were spoken on a different day from those of the preceding verses. Godet and others hold that it was the same day. Weiss (comp. Keil) regards the question as one which does not admit of a decisive answer. The position of Weiss is probably the correct one, but there seems to be no serious difficulty in supposing that all which is recorded in this chapter took place on one and the same day, the place only being changed at Joh 8:21.

2. In the words of Jesus contained in Joh 8:21 (comp. Joh 8:24) we find, in addition to what is said in the similar sentence in Joh 7:34, the words, You will die in your sin (your sins, Joh 8:24). As remarked in Note 11., 4, above, this clause seems to show that the seeking referred to is a seeking for the Messiah as connected with the securing of the life and blessings of the Messianic kingdom. With respect to these words two points may be noticed:

(a) That the words are addressed by Jesus to those to whom He had already presented Himself as the Messiah, and in Joh 8:24 the result mentioned is connected with not believing that He is what He thus claims to be.

(b) That dying in sin is apparently presented as a finality—a limit beyond which the hope of entrance into the kingdom is excluded. This passage must be regarded as one of the most impressive ones in the New Testament, as indicating the termination of the period of probation at the end of this life. With regard to the question whether it can be properly understood as indicating this only in the case of those who have the knowledge of Christ given them before death, it should be observed, in the first place, that everything which Jesus said was, of course, said to those who heard Him and thus knew of His claims; secondly, that His general manner of teaching was that of addressing personally those who heard Him, and declaring to them the blessing or evil which awaited them, and not of giving doctrinal statements as appertaining to a theological system. The particular declarations of such a teacher are, in general, to be extended more widely from the individual example to mankind, than in the case of one who teaches in the other way.

(c) Death is evidently referred to, in these words, as if it were the great deciding- point in human history as related to the matter of escape from the consequences of sin.

(d) Jesus does not intimate anywhere else that the other (Gentile) nations will, unlike the Jews, have an opportunity of entering the Messianic kingdom after death. The indications of any such view on the part of the apostolic writers are also, to say the most that can be said, very few and very uncertain.

(e) The knowledge of Jesus as the Messiah and of the Christian system which the Jewish hearers of Jesus, generally speaking, can be said to have had—when the contradiction of all their preconceived notions is considered: His refusal to assume earthly power, His obscure origin, His new idea of righteousness, His view of the Messianic kingdom, almost incomprehensible to their earthly mindedness, educated as they were under the influence of the Pharisaic teachers—was, in reality, so little developed, that it is difficult to say how far allowances may not properly have been made for their ignorance, after a similar manner with those which it is thought must be made for the heathen.—It is an assumption, which requires proof, that, when Christ and the apostles carried the Christian message to the men whom they chanced to meet, they placed them in an entirely new position, so far as the limiting of the probation is concerned. The proof needed is, to say the least, neither abundant nor decisive.

3. The words of Joh 8:23 seem to give the real ground of their continuance in sin and dying in it at the end. It was because they are from the things below and from this world. This was the reason why, when Jesus was presented before them as the Messiah, and as the way, the truth and the life, they did not believe in Him. The antecedent thing lying back of their unbelief was the state of their hearts and will. The refusal to believe, when He came to them, was only the outcome of this. It would seem, therefore, that the true view of the declaration of Jesus here is to be reached by taking the verses together. The man who is in the state of heart and will in which these Jews were, whoever or wherever he may be, will, if he remains in it, die in his sins, and dying thus will not be able to go to the place where Jesus is—that is to say, will not have the blessedness of the eternal life in heaven.

4. Weiss agrees with Godet in making ἐκ τῶν κάτω — ἄνω refer to the opposition of nature—i.e., origin, and ἐκ τοῦ κοσμου κ.τ.λ. to the contrast of disposition and moral activity; and this, though not necessarily, is yet not improbably the correct view.

5. The two explanations of the difficult phrase τὴν ἀρχὴν κ.τ.λ. (Joh 8:25) which are found in the text of R. V. and in the margin of A. R. V. are the most satisfactory which have been offered: “Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning,” and “Altogether that which I also speak unto you.” The use of τὴν ἀρχήν in each of these two senses is justified by examples. In the former case, He declares that He is what He has been telling them even from the beginning of His public discoursing—that is, the Messiah, the one sent from God, the one who has seen God and come forth from God to bring the full revelation of Him to the world. In the other case, the meaning may perhaps be the same, except that the idea of from the beginning is not contained in the words; or it may more probably be this: that the answer to the question will be found in the words of Jesus: “Fathom my speech and you will discern mynature” (see Godet’s note).

6. The connection of Joh 8:26 is rather with Joh 8:25 than Joh 8:24. The prominent thought of this verse is in the last part of it. The verb λαλῶ, which occurs in Joh 8:25-26; Joh 8:28, seems to show a close connection in thought throughout these verses, and to favor the idea that in the discoursings of Jesus was to be found the truth with regard to Himself. It will be noticed that the λαλῶ of Joh 8:26; Joh 8:28 refers to a speaking forth of what was given to Him by the Father to proclaim. This indicates that the λαλῶ of Joh 8:25 also has a similar reference—at least, that it represents Jesus, in answer to their question, as the one sent from God as a messenger and revealer. The whole context, therefore, is rather favorable than otherwise to the view given in A. R. V. marg.—that the meaning of Joh 8:25 is, Altogether that which I also speak unto you. The bearing of all this upon the meaning of ἐγώ εἰμι, of Joh 8:24, is towards the conclusion that the predicate of εἰμι is he —i.e., the one sent or the one from above, the Messiah—and that these words are not to be understood as meaning I am, in the sense of Deu 32:39.

7. In regard to Joh 8:27, the explanation given by Weiss, with whom Keil essentially agrees, or that given by Godet, may be adopted. That the hearers of Jesus must have generally, or oftentimes, connected the words which He spoke with God, cannot be questioned. But, considering the fact that His declarations and teachings were so widely removed from the preconceived ideas of the people, it is not surprising that at times they should have failed to understand His meaning, or that they should even have misunderstood, at one time, statements which were apparently no less clear than those which they partially comprehended at another. The representations of John as to these understandings and misunderstandings are seen to be life-like, so soon as we place ourselves in the real condition and circumstances of the time.

8. Joh 8:28 refers to the time which follows the crucifixion and ascension. The declaration of this verse, you will know, etc., doubtless has its explanation in connection with the outpouring of the Spirit and the wider proclamation and triumph of the Gospel; but the probability is that it indicates the beginning of what will be realized in its fulness only as time passes onward. But even now, in the present and intermediate period, before the realization of this future, the Father, He adds, is still with Him; and whatever His enemies may do in rejecting Him, He is strong and victorious in the truth which He proclaims.

9. There is an evident unity of thought in this whole passage, and the closing words of Joh 8:29 present the opposite character of His state of mind and life to theirs, which will finally result in the fact that the place where He is to be will be closed to them.

Vv. 21, 22. “Jesus said therefore to them again, I go away and you shall seek me and you shall die in your sin; whither I go, you cannot come. 22. The Jews therefore said, will he kill himself? for he said, whither I go, you cannot come.”

The therefore seems to allude to the liberty which Jesus continued to enjoy (Joh 8:20), notwithstanding His preceding declarations. There is nothing to prevent our admitting that this new testimony also was given on the same day, the last and great day of the feast. It was the last time that Jesus found Himself in the midst of His whole people assembled together, before the feast at which he was to shed His blood for them. On the morrow, this multitude was about to disperse to all parts of the world. To this situation the grave and sorrowful tone of this discourse fully answers.

Vv. 21 admonishes the hearers of the importance of the present hour for the people and for each individual: Jesus, their only Saviour, is to be with them only for a little while longer. When once they have rejected Him, heaven, whither He is about to return, will be closed to them; there will remain for them nothing but perdition. This declaration is a more emphatic repetition of Joh 7:33-34. As Meyer says, the seeking of the Jews will not be that of faith; it will be only the longing for external deliverance. The words ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν, in your sin, indicate the state of inward depravity, and consequently of condemnation, in which death will overtake them; Jesus alone could have delivered them therefrom. Hengstenberg and others translate: by your sin. This sense of ἐν is possible; but the former sense is better suited to the singular substantive. Sin is here the wandering of the heart, the estrangement from God, in general; in Joh 8:24, it will be the particular manifestations of this disposition. In Joh 13:33, Jesus speaks to the apostles, in the same terms as here, of the impossibility of following Him; but for them the impossibility will be only temporary (ἄρτι, at this hour), for Jesus will return to seek for them (Joh 14:3). For the Jews, on the contrary, there will be no longer a bridge between earth and heaven; the separation is made complete by the rejection of Him “without whom no one comes to the Father” (Joh 14:6). In their turn, and as if by a sort of retaliation, the Jews go beyond the answer which they had made to His preceding declaration, Joh 7:35. “Certainly,” they say, “if it is to Hades that thou meanest to descend, we have no intention of following Thee thither.” This ridicule may be explained without the necessity of having recourse to the idea that a special punishment awaited in Hades those who took their own lives (Josephus, Bell. Jud., 3.8. 5). The following words are intended to explain to them the: you cannot, which irritates them:

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Because that men do naturally abhor heavenly things, no man can be a fit disciple of Christ, unless the Spirit of God frame him: in the mean season notwithstanding, the world must of necessity perish, because it refuseth the life that is offered unto it.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, &c.--(See on Joh 7:33).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 21. Then said Jesus again unto them] He had said the same things to them the day before. See Joh 7:34.

Ye shall seek me] When your calamities come upon you, ye shall in vain seek for the help of the Messiah, whom ye now reject, and whom ye shall shortly crucify.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

21. I go. Perceiving that he is doing no good among these obstinate men, he threatens their destruction; and this is the end of all those who reject the Gospel. For it is not thrown uselessly into the air, but must breathe the odour either of life or of death, (2 Corinthians 2:16.) The meaning of these words amounts to this. “The wicked will at length feel how great loss they have suffered by rejecting Christ, when he freely offers himself to them. They will feel it, but it will be too late, for there will be no more room for repentance.” And to alarm them still more by showing them that their judgment is near at hand, in the first place, he says that he will soon go away, by which he means that the Gospel is preached to them only for a short time, and that if they allow this opportunity to pass away, the accepted time and the days appointed for salvation (Isaiah 49:8; 2 Corinthians 6:2) will not always last. Thus also, in the present day, when Christ knocks at our door, we ought to go immediately to meet him, lest he be wearied by our slothfulness and withdraw from us. And indeed we have learned, by many experiments in all ages, how greatly this departure of Christ is to be dreaded.

And you shall seek me. We must first ascertain in what manner the persons now spoken of sought Christ; for if they had been truly converted, they would not have sought him in vain; because he has not falsely promised that, as soon as a sinner groans, he will be ready to assist him. Christ does not mean, therefore, that they sought him by the right way of faith, but that they sought him, as men, overwhelmed by the extremity of anguish, look for deliverance on every hand. For unbelievers would desire to have God reconciled to them, but yet they do not cease to fly from him. God calls them; the approach consists in faith and repentance; but they oppose God by hardness of heart, and, overwhelmed with despair, they exclaim against him. In short, they are so far from desiring to enjoy the favor of God, that they do not give him permission to assist them, unless he deny himself, which he will never do.

In this manner, however wicked the scribes were, they would willingly have applied to themselves the redemption which had been promised by the hand of the Messiah, provided that Christ would transform himself, to suit their natural disposition. Wherefore, by these words Christ threatens and denounces to all unbelievers, that, after having despised the doctrine of the Gospel, they will be seized with such anguish, that they shall be constrained to cry to God, but their howling will be of no avail; because, as we have already said, seeking, they do not seek And this is still more plainly expressed in the next clause, when he says, you shall die in your sin; for he shows that the cause of their destruction will be, that they were disobedient and rebellious to the very last. What is the nature of their sin we shall presently see.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

21. Then said Jesus again unto them] The name ‘Jesus’ should be omitted both here and in the preceding verse (see on Joh_6:14), and ‘then’ should be therefore (see on Joh_6:45; Joh_6:53; Joh_6:68, Joh_7:15; Joh_7:30; Joh_7:33; Joh_7:35; Joh_7:45). He said, therefore, again to them. The ‘therefore’ does not compel us to place what follows on the same day with what precedes; ‘therefore’ merely signifies that, as no one laid hands on Him, He was able to address them again. ‘Again’ shews that there is some interval, but whether of minutes, hours, or days, we have no means of determining. There is no distinct mark of time between Joh_7:37 (the close of the Feast of Tabernacles) and Joh_10:22 (the Feast of the Dedication), an interval of two months. See introductory note to chap. 6.

I go my way] There is no ‘my way’ in the Greek; the word is the same as for ‘I go’ in Joh_8:14 and Joh_7:33; but to avoid abruptness we may render, I go away. Possibly in all three passages there is a side reference to the Jews who were now leaving Jerusalem in great numbers, the Feast of Tabernacles being over.

shall seek me] See on Joh_7:33-34. Here Christ is more explicit; He does not say ‘shall not find Me,’ but ‘shall die in your sin.’ So far from finding Him and being delivered by Him, they will perish most miserably. In your sin shall ye die. ‘Sin’ is emphatic, and is singular, not plural, meaning ‘state of sin.’

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And he said unto them,.... Upon this wicked remark of theirs, and query on his words:

ye are from beneath: not only of the earth, earthy, and so spoke of the earth, and as carnal men; but even of hell, they were the children of the devil; they breathed his Spirit, spoke his language, and did his lusts, as in Joh 8:44.

I am from above; not with respect to his human body, which he did not bring with him from heaven, that was formed below, in the Virgin's womb; otherwise he would not have been the seed of the woman, the son of Abraham, David, and Mary: but either with regard to his divine nature and person, he was of God, the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, who then lay in his bosom, and was in heaven above at that time; or to his mission, which was from heaven.

Ye are of this world; they were, as they were born into the world, sinful, carnal, and corrupt; they were in it, and belonged to it, had never been chosen, or called out of it; they had their conversation according to the course of it, and conformed to its evil customs and manners; they were under the influence of the God of the world, and were taken with the sinful and sensual lasts thereof; they were men of worldly spirits; they minded earth, and earthly things, and had their portion in this world, and might be truly called the men of it.

I am not of this world; he was in it, but not of it; he was come into it to save the chief of sinners, but he did not belong to it, nor did he conform to it; for though he conversed with sinners, ate with them, and received them, being called to repentance by him; yet he was separate from them, and did not as they did: nor did he pursue the pleasures, honours, and riches of this world, being all his days a man of sorrows, and despised of men; and though Lord of all, had not where to lay his head.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come.

Ver. 21. Ye shall die in your sins] A heavy doom, the very door to damnation. It is a sad thing to die in prison, to die in a ditch, but far worse to die in your sins. This is to be slain with death, according to that, Rev 2:21; "I will kill her children with death." All men die, but wicked men only are killed with death. As a godly man said, that he did aegrotare vitaliter, so do all the righteous, mori vitaliter, because they have hope in their death; which to them is as the valley of Achor, a door of hope to give entrance into Paradise. Whereas to the wicked it is as a trap door to let them into hell; so that it is a just wonder, that foreseeing their danger they go not roaring and raving out of the world. Nothing should be done (we say) to trouble a dying person, no shrieking or crying out. Oh, take heed and prevent the shriekings of conscience at that hour, &c. Take heed ye die not in your sin, in that your sin of unbelief, εν τη αμαρτια, in hoc peccato in this sin, (as Beza here rendereth it), for unbelief shuts a man up close, prisoner in the law’s dark dungeon, till death come with a writ of Habeas corpus, let you have the body, and hell with a writ of Habeas animam, &c. let you have the soul.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I go my way - See the notes at Joh 7:33.

Ye shall die in your sins - That is, you will seek the Messiah; you will desire his coming, but the Messiah that you expect will not come; and, as you have rejected me, and there is no other Saviour, you must die in your sins. You will die unpardoned, and as you did not seek me where you might find me, you cannot come where I shall be. Observe:

All those who reject the Lord Jesus must die unforgiven. There is no way of pardon but by him. See the notes at Act 4:12. There will be a time when sinners will seek for a Saviour but will find none. Often this is done too late, in a dying moment, and in the future world they may seek a deliverer, but not be able to find one. Those who reject the Lord Jesus must perish. Where he is they cannot come. Where he is is heaven. Where he is not, with his favor and mercy, there is hell; and the sinner that has no Savior must be wretched forever.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

I go my way, and you shall seek me, &c. See the foregoing chapter, ver. 34. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The greatest part of what is said here, was said by our Saviour before, Joh 7:34; (see the explication of it there); only here, instead of ye shall not find me, is,

ye shall die in your sins; a phrase we shall find in Eze 3:18,19, which doubtless signifieth, in the guilt of your sins, not removed from you; and is a threatening of eternal death, as well as temporal in the destruction of Jerusalem: and those who do so, cannot come into heaven, where Christ is.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

This verse introduces a new scene and place, and perhaps a new day. The audience may have greatly changed, even if it had within it some of the same bewildered and exasperated enemies. Again he said, therefore. The ou+n refers to the fact that his liberty had not been infringed. The providence of God, the fear of the people, the inadequacy or confusing nature of the reports of his speech which had been taken to the authorities, had for a while arrested the tragedy. "No one laid hands on him." In consequence of this circumstance he said unto them again (i.e. on a subsequent occasion), I go away, and ye shall seek me. So much he had said before to "the Jews," adding, "Ye shall not find me". (Joh_7:34) Thus also he spake, later on, to the disciples, adding, "Thither ye cannot. (Joh_13:33) On all three occasions he was misunderstood. His departure was a mystery to the Jews, who thought, or at least said, that he, a pseudo-Messiah, might be contemplating a mission to the Greeks and to the Dispersion. His departure to the Father by a bloodstained pathway, by violent death, was unspeakably perplexing to his most intimate friends. The bare idea utterly conflicted with the current notion of the Christ; but it was in the last case (Joh 14) modified by the promise that, though he was about to leave them and to return to his Father, yet he would come again they should once more beheld him, and he would provide a place for them. Still, they would not be able for a while to follow him, even though willing to lay down their life for his sake. (Joh_13:33, etc.) But in the face of a more bitter misunderstanding and an utter inability to perceive and know either him or the Father, Christ said not only, "Ye shall seek me," but ye shall die in your sin. The en here indicates rather the condition in which they should die than the cause of their death. "In," not "of" (so Hengstenberg, Meyer, and Luthardt). He did not say, "perish by reason of this sin," but "die in this sin." They will die looking vaguely, hopelessly, for the Saviour whom they have, in such a hyperbole of spiritual dulness and of bitter malice alike, misunderstood and rejected. They will pass through the gate of death with no deliverance from sin secured. Knowing neither the Father nor the eternal life and light manifested in himself, they will seek and not find, they will die unsanctified, unatoned, unreconciled No gleam of light will play over the dark ness of the grave. Whither I go, ye cannot come. The eternal home of the Father"s love will not open to such angry search. Such utter misunderstanding as they had evinced, such point blank refusal to walk in his light, will impede and block the way to the heart of the Father, whose perfect revelation and sufficient pleading they steadily resist. The language of this verse is probably the condensation and conclusion of s much longer debate.

Vers. 21-25. A warning to the Jews of the importance of the present hour.

It was, probably, in the last day of the feast that our Lord uttered this warning.

I THE SOLEMN ISSUES THAT HUNG UPON HIS CONTINUED SOJOURN WITH THE JEWS. "I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and ye shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come.

1. Their rejection of him would close heaven against them. They could not possibly enter into that "rest" on account of their unbelief.

2. His death was a matter fixed by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. " Through death he is to pass upward to his kingdom and glory.

3. The Jewish search after him would be in the day of their overwhelming despair, and would be fruitless because not in the way of faith.

4. The separation between Jesus and the Jews would be made perpetual by their sin. "Ye shall die in your sin." The sin was that of unbelief, in "departing from the living God." "If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.

II THE SPIRIT OF SCORNFUL LEVITY WITH WHICH THESE ISSUES ARE TREATED BY THE JEWS. "Will he kill himself? for he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?

1. There is an evident increase in Jewish bitterness. Lately they asked Would he go as a Messiah to the Gentiles? now they ask Would he go to the dead?

2. They insinuate that to follow him to the grave is out of the question. If he killed himself, he would find himself in hell; they, on the ether hand, expected to find themselves at death in Abraham"s bosom.

3. The question reveals the deepening moral separation between Jesus and his enemies.

III THE CAUSE OF THEIR INABILITY EITHER TO FOLLOW OR TO UNDERSTAND HIM. "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. Therefore said I unto you, that ye shall die in your sins.

1. They belonged to a different sphere from himself. His origin and nature were from heaven; their origin and nature were from earth. There could, therefore, be no moral understanding between them. "They were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them". (Eph_4:23)

2. Fatal effect of this worldly nature. "For if ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins." As following the course of this world, as minding earthly things, but, above all, as refusing to recognize his essential Divinity, they were separated from him who was the true Source of life, and were doomed to die in their sins.

IV THE RENEWAL OF THEIR SCORNFUL QUESTIONING. "Then said they unto him, Who art thou? Jesus saith to them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

1. How indurated was the unbelief of the Jews! They had received "line upon line, precept upon precept," and yet they rejected Christ.

2. How utterly without excuse was their unbelief! They had heard but one consistent declaration of truth, ever growing in clearness and fulness; yet there was no spiritual or intellectual response to this teaching.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

sins

(See Scofield "Rom 3:23").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ’s going to the Father:

v. 21. Then said Jesus again unto them, I go My way, and ye shall seek Me, and shall die in your sins; whither I go, ye cannot come.

v. 22. Then said the Jews, Will He kill Himself? because He saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.

v. 23. And He said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.

v. 24. I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins; for if ye believe not that I am He, yes hall die in your sins.

v. 25. Then said they unto Him, Who art Thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning.

v. 26. I have many things to say and to judge of you; but He that sent Me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of Him.

v. 27. They understood not that He spake to them of the Father.

Jesus did not permit Himself to be disconcerted or in any way influenced by the enmity which was manifested in their bearing nor by the angry thoughts of their hearts, but continued His testimony, in the effort to make clear to them what the relation between Him and His Father implied. It was necessary for Him to speak with severity, because of the hardness of their hearts, but the Savior’s sympathy and mercy is evident in every sentence. Their time of grace was the present time, now, while He was in their midst. Now was the time to accept Him as the Messiah of the world. Later, when their time of grace will have come to an end, then they will search and look for Him, then they will frantically comb the country for the Messiah whom they have rejected. But it will be too late, and all their false Messiahs will not be able to bring them either temporal or spiritual salvation. They will therefore bring the judgment upon themselves that they will die in their sins. Their unbelief, the sin! If sins, having rejected the Redeemer, all regrets would be too late; condemnation would come upon them entirely by their own fault. This fact finds its full application also today, when thousands and mil lions are fooling and frittering away their time of grace. The unbelievers cannot enter into heaven, the place of bliss, they cannot become partakers of eternal happiness. The only way, the only method, the only means of getting to heaven is Christ; he that does not accept Him is lost. The Jews were again hurt to the quick by this plain statement of the Lord. And they tried to vent their spite in mockery. Their insinuation that He contemplated suicide was a most malicious blasphemy, showing the meanness and carnal-mindedness of their hearts. See chap. 7:35. The sustained loftiness of His thoughts contrasted all the more strongly with the sordidness of their usual line of contemplation. But Jesus disregarded the sneering interruption and pointed out to them what constituted the real cause of separation between Him and them. They were from beneath, from below, from this world, in the worst sense of the term. Their thoughts were wrapped up in the blind sinfulness of this world, wherefore they had no eyes for, and no understanding of, the matters which concerned heaven and eternity with Christ. Christ, being from above, with divine ideas and thoughts, was separated from them by a wide gulf. That the Jews did not believe in Christ could be explained only by their natural blindness and enmity toward God. Their origin and their associations were both brought out in their manner of thinking and acting. They are concerned with the matters of this world; Christ’s mind and thought is centered in the world to come. And now the Lord tells them why they would die in their sins, why their sins would prove the factor of their own condemnation. It is due to the fact that they do not and will not believe. For that is the one condition for obtaining salvation, to believe that it is Jesus, and Jesus only, in whom there is salvation. That is the object which brought Him down from heaven, and that is the great gift which He has earned for all men, the gift which can be secured by faith only. This statement of the Lord did not yet make things clear to the Jews; in a measure, it added to their bewilderment, since they could not associate this simple Nazarene with supernatural gifts. In their blindness they ask: Who art Thou? And Jesus told them: What I have told you from the beginning and always, that I am. He is above all, from the beginning, the Word which He is speaking to them; He is identified with that Word; that is His essence and the description of His person and office: the Word of God Incarnate. As such He still has many things to say to them; the revelations which He could give them concerning the Father and the Father’s will are so great and wonderful that the subject could never be exhausted. And He would also be obliged to judge, to condemn them because they refuse to believe on Him. They should know, however, in spite of their refusal to believe, that the Father who sent Him is true; there is no falseness, no deceitfulness in Him. There are certain matters which the Father, that sent Jesus, has given Him to say to the world, and this will He carries out. Even now the Jews did not understand the Lord; their understanding was darkened; they did not identify "Him that sent Me" with "the Father. " Note: By the reconciliation which Christ earned through His atonement the sins are no longer imputed to him that accepts this redemption; to him that refuses to believe, they remain imputed, not because the atonement has not been made, but because it is not accepted. Mark also, in the entire passage, the stately quiet of Jesus, while His words roll from His lips like the tolling of the bell of doom. The unbelievers load a terrible responsibility upon themselves in rejecting their Savior.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Observe here, A dreadful threatening denounced by Christ against the obstinate and unbelieving Jews. Ye shall die in your sins; that is, in the guilt of your sins, under the power, and undergoing the punishment of your sins:

Lord! what a sad word is this, Ye shall die in your sins. O better is it a thousand times to die in a ditch; for they that die in their sins, shall rise in their sins and stand before Christ in their sins; such as lie down in sin in the grave, shall have sin lie down with them in hell to all eternity. The sins of believers go to the grave before them; sin dieth while they live; but the sins of unbelievers go to the grave with them. While they live they are dead in sin: and by sin they fall into death; from which there is no recovery unto life.

Observe, 2. The grand sin for which this great punishment is threatened, and that is the sin of unbelief: If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Plainly intimating, that, of all sin, infidelity or unbelief is the grand damning sin under the gospel. The devil hath as great an advantage upon men, by making them strong in unbelief, as God hath by making his people strong in faith? Unbelief renders a sinner’s case desperate and incurable; it doth not only procure damnation, but no damnation like it.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21. Whither I go, ye cannot come. Because they shall die in their sins, and he will return to heaven, where the sinner cannot enter.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus continues speaking to the crowd.

die in your sin

Here the word "die" refers to spiritual death. AT: "die while you are still sinful" or "you will die while you are sinning"

you cannot come

"you are not able to come"

The Jews said

Here "Jews" is a synecdoche for "the Jewish leaders." AT: "The Jewish leaders said" or "The Jewish authorities said" (See: Synecdoche)

translationWords

die

sin

Jew

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

21. εἶπεν οὖν πάλιν. He said therefore again. The ‘therefore’ does not compel us to place what follows on the same day with what precedes; ‘therefore’ merely signifies that, as no one laid hands on Him, He was able to address them again. ‘Again’ shews that there is some interval, but whether of minutes, hours, or days, we have no means of determining. The connexion is in thought rather than in time. There is no distinct mark of time between Joh 7:37 (the close of the Feast of Tabernacles) and Joh 10:22 (the Feast of the Dedication), an interval of two months. See introductory note to chap. 6.

ὑπάγω. Comp. Joh 8:14 and Joh 7:33. Possibly in all three places there is a side reference to the Jews who were now leaving Jerusalem in great numbers, the Feast of Tabernacles being over.

ζητήσετε. See on Joh 7:33-34. Here Christ is more explicit: so far from finding Him and being delivered by Him, they will perish most miserably; in your sin shall ye die. The singular means ‘state of sin.’ Note the order, and contrast Joh 8:24.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

21-59.] Further discourses of Jesus. The Jews attempt to stone Him. This forms the great conclusion of the series of discourses to the Jews. In it our Lord testifies more plainly still to His divine origin and sinlessness, and to the cause of their unbelief; until at last their enmity is worked up to the highest pitch, and they take up stones to cast at Him. It may be divided into four parts: (1) vv. 21-24,—announcing to them the inevitable consequence of persistence in their unbelief on His withdrawal from them: (2) vv. 25-29,—the things which He has to say and judge of them, and the certainty of their own future recognition of Him and His truthfulness: (3) vv. 30-47,—the first springing up of faith in many of them is by Him corrected and purified from Jewish pride, and the source of such pride and unbelief detected: (4) vv. 48-58,—the accusation of the Jews in ver. 48, gives occasion to Him to set forth very plainly His own divine dignity and prœ-existence.

21.] The time and place of this discourse are not definitely marked; but in all probability they were the same as before. Only no stress must be laid on the οὖν as connected with ver. 20, for it is only the accustomed carrying forward by the Evangelist of the great self-manifestation of Jesus.

ζητ. με includes the idea ‘and shall not find me,’ which is expressed in ch. 7:34, 36:—ye shall continue seeking Me.

καὶ ἐν τ. ἁμ.… and shall die (perish) in (not because of (Lampe, Kuinoel)) your sin. This sin is not unbelief, for, ver. 24, it is clearly distinguished from that: but, ‘your state of sin, unremoved, and therefore abiding and proving your ruin’ (see on ver. 24).

The words do not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem, but to individual perdition. In these discourses in John, the public judgment of the Jews is not prominently brought forward, as in the other Evangelists.

ὅπου ἐγὼ ὑπ … is the consequence, not the cause (by any absolute decree) of their dying in their sins (see ch. 7:34; 13:33). This latter sense would have required ὅπου γάρ.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then [ουν] . Properly, therefore, connecting the fact of Jesus ' continuing to speak with His freedom from arrest.

Said Jesus. Omit Jesus, and read, He said therefore.

Go away [υπαγω] . Withdraw myself from you; this sense being emphasized by the succeeding words, ye shall seek me. In expressing one's departure from men or from surrounding objects, we may emphasize merely the fact of removal, in which case ajpercomai, to go away, would be appropriate; or we may emphasize the removal as affecting some relation of the person to that from which he removes, as in Joh 6:67, where Jesus says to the disciples, "will ye also go away, or withdraw from me," in which case uJpagw is the proper word. 31 In your sin [εν τη αμαρτια υμων] . See on Mt 1:21. Note the singular, sin, not sins. It is used collectively to express the whole condition of estrangement from God.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.