Discovery BoxJohn 8:23-24 
Context8:23 Jesus replied, 1 “You people 2 are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world. 8:24 Thus I told you 3 that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, 4 you will die in your sins.”
John 8:42-47
Context8:42 Jesus replied, 5 “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. 6 I 7 have not come on my own initiative, 8 but he 9 sent me. 8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept 10 my teaching. 11 8:44 You people 12 are from 13 your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. 14 He 15 was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, 16 because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, 17 he speaks according to his own nature, 18 because he is a liar and the father of lies. 19 8:45 But because I am telling you 20 the truth, you do not believe me. 8:46 Who among you can prove me guilty 21 of any sin? 22 If I am telling you 23 the truth, why don’t you believe me? 8:47 The one who belongs to 24 God listens and responds 25 to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, 26 because you don’t belong to God.” 27
1 tn Grk “And he said to them.”
2 tn The word “people” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.
3 tn Grk “thus I said to you.”
4 tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).
sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
5 tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”
6 tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”
7 tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.
8 tn Grk “from myself.”
9 tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).
10 tn Grk “you cannot hear,” but this is not a reference to deafness, but rather hearing in the sense of listening to something and responding to it.
11 tn Grk “my word.”
12 tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.
13 tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).
14 tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”
15 tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).
16 tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).
17 tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”
18 tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”
19 tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”
20 tn Or “because I tell you.”
21 tn Or “can convict me.”
22 tn Or “of having sinned”; Grk “of sin.”
23 tn Or “if I tell you.”
24 tn Grk “who is of.”
25 tn Grk “to God hears” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).
26 tn Grk “you do not hear” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).
27 tn Grk “you are not of God.”
