John 8:23-24

John 8:23-24. 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 if ye shall not believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins. The second of these verses is important as fixing the meaning of the first. The words, ‘I said that ye shall die in your sins,' are so connected both with what precedes (by means of ‘therefore ') and with what follows (by means of ‘for'), that the ground of this sentence of death is brought under our notice by each of these particles, it is to be found in the unbelief of which the following clause speaks, and in the fact stated in the preceding verse. As then this ground of condemnation is distinctly moral (John 8:24), the expressions in John 8:23 must also have a moral and not a fatalistic meaning. The condemnation results from something in the men themselves, not from any original necessity; should they believe, no longer would Jesus say to them, Ye are from beneath. The origin of their spirit and action, dominated by unbelief, is to be sought, not above, but beneath, not in heaven, but in earth: nay rather (for the thought distinctly expressed in John 8:44 is implicitly present here also), whereas He whom they are in thought consigning to the lowest depths of woe and punishment is of God, they are of the devil. It is at first sight difficult to believe that the sense does not sink but really rises in the second half of John 8:23, and yet the whole structure of this Gospel teaches us that it must be so. If, however, we remember the moral reference of the terms of the verse, an explanation soon suggests itself: for the latter clause expresses much more distinctly than the former the element of deliberate choice. The first might be thought to point to origin only, did not the second show that it implies an evil nature retained by evil choice. From this second clause we see clearly that Jesus speaks of a voluntary association, of the dependence of their spirit on the evil principles belonging to ‘this world.' Because such is their self-chosen state, Jesus has told them that their sins the sins which manifest the nature of every one who is of this world shall bring them ruin: for nothing but belief in Him who is from above can save them from dying in their sins. His words, it will be seen, grow more and more distinct in their awful import, and yet they are words of mercy: for the meaning is not, Except ye are now believers, the sentence is passed, but, Except ye shall believe (most literally ‘shall have believed '): even now they may receive Him, and the sentence will have no existence for them. But the most striking point in this verse is the mode in which our Lord expresses the object of belief, ‘Except ye shall believe that I am.' Something apparently like this has occurred before in chap. John 4:26; but the two cases are really widely different. There the word ‘Messiah ' has just been spoken, and the answer. ‘It is I,' is perfectly plain in its meaning. Here there is no such word in the context; and to assume an ellipsis, and then supply the very word on which all the emphasis must rest is surely a most dangerous step: to act thus is not to bring out the meaning of the passage, but to bring our own meaning into it. Besides, as we have already seen, our Lord is wont elsewhere to use the expression ‘I am ' in a very emphatic sense (see chap. John 7:34, etc.), with distinct reference to that continuous, unchanging existence which only He who is Divine can claim. The most remarkable example of these exalted words is found in the 58 th verse of this chapter (comp. also John 8:28). Without forestalling this, however (but referring to the note on that verse for some points connected with the full explanation), we may safely say that it is of His Divine Being that Jesus here speaks. The thought of existence is clearly present in the verse. ‘Ye shall die,' He says, ‘unless ye shall have been brought to see in me not what the impious words of John 8:22 imply, but One who is, who, belonging to the realms above, possesses life who, being of God, has life as His own and as His own gift.' So understood, our Lord's words speak of belief, not directly in His Messiahship, but in that other nature of His, that Divine nature, on His possession of which He makes all His other claims to rest. Observe in John 8:24 as compared with John 8:21 not only the mention of ‘sins' instead of ‘sin' (comp. on John 8:21), but also the change of place given to ‘ye shall die' in John 8:21 what led to their fate, here their fate itself, being the prominent thought.