Liars not only speak untruth, but they also reject the truth. These Jews rejected Jesus partially because He spoke the truth. The only way children of the devil can believe and welcome the truth is if God draws them and teaches them the truth ( John 6:44-45). [source][source][source]
Context Summary
John 8:39-47 - The Test Of Sonship
Godly ancestors and parents will avail nothing, unless we are animated by their spirit and do their works. There were in the old world two families that ran in parallel lines-that of Cain and that of Seth. See Genesis 4:1-26; Genesis 5:1-32. The Cainites were citizens of this world; the Sethites were pilgrims of the eternal. The one family finally reached such a pitch of wickedness that they were swept away by the flood, while the other furnished the world with an Enoch that walked with God and a Noah who was perfect in his generation.
This distinction has continued down the ages, and is not only accentuated by these words of our Lord but by 1 John 3:12; 1 John 3:15. In Ephesians 2:2, those who walk according to the course of this world are practically walking according to the spirit that works disobedience in men's lives. It becomes us, then, to see to it that we are not deceived. We may never have plunged into such depth of sin as overwhelmed the men of that generation; and yet if our hearts are steeped in the love of this world, which is passing away, we betray our affinity to evil and not to good, to the devil and not to God, Ephesians 2:2. [source]
Chapter Summary: John 8
1Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery 12He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine; 31promises freedom to those who believe; 33answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham; 48answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity; 59and slips away from those who would stone him
Greek Commentary for John 8:45
Because I speak the truth [εγω δε οτι την αλητειαν λεγω] Proleptic emphatic position of εγω egō “Truth is uncongenial to them” (Bernard). See John 3:19 for their picture. [source]
And because I [ἐγὼ δὲ ὅτι] Render but, instead of and. You would believe falsehood if I should speak it, but because I tell you the truth, you do not believe. The I is emphatic. I, because I tell you, etc. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 8:45
John 8:32And ye shall know the truth [και γνωσεστε την αλητειαν] Truth is one of the marks of Christ (John 1:14) and Jesus will claim to Thomas to be the personification of truth (John 14:6). But it will be for them knowledge to be learned by doing God‘s will (John 7:17). The word is from αλητης alēthēs See also John 8:40,John 8:44,John 8:45. And the truth shall make you free Future active indicative of ελευτεροω eleutheroō old verb from ελευτερος eleutheros (from ερχομαι erchomai to go where one wishes and so free). One of Paul‘s great words for freedom from the bondage of the law (Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1). The freedom of which Jesus here speaks is freedom from the slavery of sin as Paul in Romans 8:2. See John 8:36. This freedom is won alone by Christ (John 8:36) and we are sanctified in truth (John 17:19). In John 1:17 truth is mentioned with grace as one of the marks of the gospel through Christ. Freedom (intellectual, moral, spiritual) is only attainable when we are set free from darkness, sin, ignorance, superstition and let the Light of the World shine on us and in us. [source]
1 John 2:24As for you [υμεις] Emphatic proleptic position before the relative ο ho and subject of ηκουσατε ēkousate a familiar idiom in John 8:45; John 10:29, etc. Here for emphatic contrast with the antichrists. See 1 John 1:1 for απ αρχης ap' archēs (from the beginning). [source]
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: πιστεύω
Sense: to think to be true, to be persuaded of, to credit, place confidence in.
Greek Commentary for John 8:45
Proleptic emphatic position of εγω egō “Truth is uncongenial to them” (Bernard). See John 3:19 for their picture. [source]
Render but, instead of and. You would believe falsehood if I should speak it, but because I tell you the truth, you do not believe. The I is emphatic. I, because I tell you, etc. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 8:45
Truth is one of the marks of Christ (John 1:14) and Jesus will claim to Thomas to be the personification of truth (John 14:6). But it will be for them knowledge to be learned by doing God‘s will (John 7:17). The word is from αλητης alēthēs See also John 8:40, John 8:44, John 8:45. And the truth shall make you free Future active indicative of ελευτεροω eleutheroō old verb from ελευτερος eleutheros (from ερχομαι erchomai to go where one wishes and so free). One of Paul‘s great words for freedom from the bondage of the law (Romans 6:18; Galatians 5:1). The freedom of which Jesus here speaks is freedom from the slavery of sin as Paul in Romans 8:2. See John 8:36. This freedom is won alone by Christ (John 8:36) and we are sanctified in truth (John 17:19). In John 1:17 truth is mentioned with grace as one of the marks of the gospel through Christ. Freedom (intellectual, moral, spiritual) is only attainable when we are set free from darkness, sin, ignorance, superstition and let the Light of the World shine on us and in us. [source]
Emphatic proleptic position before the relative ο ho and subject of ηκουσατε ēkousate a familiar idiom in John 8:45; John 10:29, etc. Here for emphatic contrast with the antichrists. See 1 John 1:1 for απ αρχης ap' archēs (from the beginning). [source]