Thoughts on John 8:43-47
In John Chapter 8 we find the Lord teaching the woeful state of the unregenerate who are uttelry incapable of spiritual perception or understanding. Consider…
“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 ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode 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 of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” (John 8:43-47)
COMMENTARY
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. (v43) Here the Lord Jesus Christ says that these men "cannot hear" his word. They do not have the ears to hear. This is an affirmation of their unregenerate state. Paul said, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (I Corinthians 2:14) It follows that the men that Christ is rebuking here are mere natural men - they are not born again as affirmed by...
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode 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 of it. (v44) More solid affirmation that Jesus Christ is speaking to and about the state of the unregenerate as described by the apostle Paul in Romans 3:10-18.
And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (v45) Again, they don't believe the truth because they are unregenerate as previously affirmed.
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not believe me? (v46) Jesus is pointing out that what He says is the truth and the fact that they don't believe it stems from their unregeneracy.
He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God. (v47) Jesus here explains that it is a man who is "of God" - which from the preceding context intends a man who is BORN OF GOD, or regenerate - who is able to hear God's words. That is because apart from having the ears to hear, the capacity of faith imparted in regeneration, a man is unable to receive spiritual truth. (I Corinthians 2:14) Thus, stated again, the reason they don't believe is because they are unregenerate. It is not their unbelief that determines their state of grace, but rather their state of grace which determines their unbelief (John 10:26).
- Elder Daniel Samons