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John 8:47  (King James Version)
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<< John 8:46   John 8:48 >>


John 8:43-47

Christ's audience had literal ears, of course, but that is not what He meant. The people heard the sounds, and the sounds formed into words, and words were comprehended to some degree, but they did not really relate to what He was saying. His words just did not hit the right chords so that they could make the right use of them. Jesus says in some exasperation, "Why do you not understand?" Then He goes on to explain why.

He explains, "You are unable to hear what I say." He is implying that the problem is inherent. It was as if He were speaking in one language, and they were hearing in another, so that what He said was totally incomprehensible to them.

John 8 deals with freedom or liberty. These people were in bondage, a kind of slavery, and they did not even know it. They said, "We have never been in bondage." They had a measure of political liberty, but even then, they were under the heel of the Romans. They had a certain amount of freedom, which they apparently considered enough for what they needed for their lives. Ordinarily, the Roman way was, once a nation was crushed, to give the people certain liberties, as long they behaved themselves.

We can see that Jesus was speaking of one thing, yet they understood it in an entirely different way. He was speaking within spiritual parameters concerning the Kingdom of God. They were hearing within political parameters, and thinking about the here and now. It just did not jive.

They became this way just as we do: They lived and operated in a world of lies. This is why Jesus mentions Satan, that he was a murderer and a liar from the very beginning. All the ways of this world - which seem to be so right carnally - are really nothing but behaviors founded upon deceptions, distortions, and falsehoods. To somebody reared in such a deceived environment, the truth of God comes out as so much gibberish. The mind simply does not relate.

John W. Ritenbaugh
We Are Unique!



John 8:43-47

The fact that these people were not hearing God's Word was proof that they were not of God. That is all Jesus needed to prove that they were not of God. He did not need to see any action. All He needed was to know that they were rejecting the truth of God, because a person who is of God is predisposed to accept it.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part Three)



John 8:46-47

Is this not similar to what Jesus says to Pilate in John 18:37? The person who is of the truth hears His voice, which suggests a response. He who is of God—that is, a converted person—hears God's words and responds to them. What is difficult is yielding to the truth.

W.E.H. Lecky authored a book called The History of European Morals, and he discusses responding to truth:

To love truth sincerely means to pursue it with an earnest, conscientious, unflagging zeal. It means to be prepared to follow the light of evidence, even to the most unwelcome conclusions; to labor earnestly to emancipate the mind from early prejudices; to resist the current of desires and the refracting influence of the passions; to proportion on all occasions conviction to evidence; and to be ready, if need be, to exchange the calm assurance for all the suffering of a perplexed and disturbed mind. To do this is very difficult and very painful, but it is clearly involved in the notion of earnest love of truth. (p. 189)

God's people will find pursuing and responding to the truth no less difficult. Jesus said elsewhere that those who hear His words—who respond to Him—will now and again have their families broken up as a result. One sees, understands, and begins to apply the truth, but others in the family see it differently. They do not respond in the same way, and the family undergoes a crisis due to the first person's conversion.

So Jesus says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). In Hebrews 4:12, the sword is compared to the Spirit, the essence of His mouth, that is of His Word. What comes out of Jesus' mouth will always be true. Those who are of the truth will respond. Their response will frequently be fraught with all kinds of difficulty, and they will be pressured on every side to shrug it off and say, "Oh, it doesn't really matter." So they suppress it, deceiving themselves into thinking they will suffer no consequences for turning away from truth.

Truth is not easy to accept whenever it cuts across the grain of our beliefs, or even more seriously, what we are currently practicing, especially if that practice gives us a certain measure of pleasure or acceptance before those we admire and respect.

From time to time, truth has a price we are unwilling to pay because we run across an idea that is extremely difficult for us to accept and do. We may accept something as being true and tell others that we believe it is true, but accepting it to the point of including it as part of our daily conduct is a bridge too far.

For example, we all know people who believe the Sabbath ought to be kept, but they are not keeping it. They will believe that Jesus and the apostles kept the Sabbath and holy days and that God's holy days should be kept. They also hold that Christmas and Easter are pagan. But they will not respond to these truths. Why? Because it is currently too big a price for them to pay.

This is the principle we are dealing with here. We must think of this in light of what Jesus says in John 18:37, where He implies both hearing and responding. We should then tie it together with John 8:47, where Jesus smashes the Jews' smug self-righteousness by asserting that their lack of response to His words was proof that they were actually following Satan the Devil.

That kind of accusation can be quite a difficult truth to accept! We hate to think of ourselves and our loved ones as pawns of Satan, but we should not blunt what Jesus said. We must be careful of being unwilling to face up to some portion of God's truth. But at this point, too many delude themselves into believing that, somehow or another, they will escape the penalty.

John W. Ritenbaugh
Truth (Part 2)



John 8:42-47

This is a interesting section of scripture, one that could be expounded for hours. It contains the main point of how we prevent deception. Christ mentions it three times: 1) He says, "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32); 2) "You are not able to listen to My word"; and 3) "He who is of God hears God's words." What, then, is the point? The truth, as revealed in God's Word, is the key element to preventing deception. The more and the better we know God's truth the more obvious deception becomes.

It could also be said that the more and the better we know God's truth the more we can avoid what is evil. Evil will not "live" where we live because we are living the truth. If we do the truth, then we will not have time for evil. They are opposite; they repel one another. Like oil and water, they do not mix. It is really that simple. If we know the truth, then we should be free from deception.

Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Preventing Deception




Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing John 8:47:

Isaiah 30:9-11
Matthew 12:22-50
Mark 7:32
John 8:46-47
Romans 8:14-17

 

<< John 8:46   John 8:48 >>



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