The Meaning of John 8:43 Explained

John 8:43

KJV: Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.

YLT: wherefore do ye not know my speech? because ye are not able to hear my word.

Darby: Why do ye not know my speech? Because ye cannot hear my word.

ASV: Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Why  do ye  not  understand  my  speech?  [even] because  ye cannot  hear  my  word. 

What does John 8:43 Mean?

Verse Meaning

These Jews were having difficulty believing what Jesus was saying, specifically about Himself. Jesus identified the source of this difficulty as within them, not in His ability to communicate clearly. It lay in their inability to accept the truth that He spoke because of their presuppositions, prejudice, and parentage ( John 8:44). Hearing here does not mean mere understanding but responding positively.

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

1  Jesus delivers the woman taken in adultery
12  He declares himself the light of the world, and justifies his doctrine;
31  promises freedom to those who believe;
33  answers the Jews who boasted of Abraham;
48  answers their reviling, by showing his authority and dignity;
59  and slips away from those who would stone him

Greek Commentary for John 8:43

My speech [την λαλιαν την εμην]
Perhaps λαλια — lalia old word from λαλος — lalos (talk), means here more manner of speech than just story (John 4:42), while λογος — logos refers rather to the subject matter. They will not listen (ου δυναστε ακουειν — ou dunasthe akouein) to the substance of Christ‘s teaching and hence they are impatient with the way that he talks. How often that is true. [source]
Speech - word [λαλιὰν - λόγον]
The former word refers to the form, the latter to the substance of discourse. So Matthew 26:73, of Peter, “thy speech ( λαλιά ) bewrayeth thee;” thy mode of speaking. If they had understood the substance, they would have understood the form. [source]
Cannot []
See on John 7:7. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for John 8:43

John 8:51 Saying [λόγον]
Better, word, as Rev. See on John 8:43. [source]
John 7:7 Cannot []
Frequent in John, and expressing an inherent impossibility. See John 3:3, John 3:5; John 5:19; John 6:44; John 7:34, John 7:36; John 8:21, John 8:43; John 12:39; John 14:17, etc. [source]
John 4:42 Saying [λαλιὰν]
Another word is designedly substituted for λόγον , word (John 4:39, John 4:41). In John 4:39 λόγος , word, is used of the woman, from the Evangelist's standpoint, as being a testimony to Christ. Here the Samaritans distinguish between the more authoritative and dignified word of Jesus, and the talk of the woman. Rev., speaking. Compare the kindred verb λαλέω , in John 4:26, John 4:27; also John 8:43; Matthew 26:73. [source]
John 17:8 The words [τὰ ῥήματα]
Compare thy word ( λόγον ), John 17:6. That signified the gospel message in its entirety. This, the message considered in its constituent parts. See on Luke 1:37. Compare John 5:38, John 5:47; John 6:60, John 6:63, John 6:68; John 8:43, John 8:47, John 8:51; John 12:47, John 12:48; John 15:3, John 15:7. [source]
John 10:26 Because ye are not of my sheep [οτι εκ των προβατων μου]
This had been the point in the allegory of the Good Shepherd. In fact, they were the children of the devil in spirit and conduct (John 8:43), pious ecclesiastics though they seemed, veritable wolves in sheep‘s clothing (Matthew 7:15). [source]
John 4:42 Not because of thy speaking [ουκετι δια την σην λαλιαν]
“No longer because of thy talk,” good and effective as that was. Λαλια — Lalia (cf. λαλεω — laleō) is talk, talkativeness, mode of speech, one‘s vernacular, used by Jesus of his own speech (John 8:43). We have heard Perfect active indicative of ακουω — akouō their abiding experience. For ourselves Just “ourselves.” The Saviour of the world See Matthew 1:21 for σωτηρ — sōseiused of Jesus by the angel Gabriel. John applies the term sōtēr to Jesus again in 1 John 4:14. Jesus had said to the woman that salvation is of the Jews (John 4:22). He clearly told the Samaritans during these two days that he was the Messiah as he had done to the woman (John 4:26) and explained that to mean Saviour of Samaritans as well as Jews. Sanday thinks that probably John puts this epithet of Saviour in the mouth of the Samaritans, but adds: “At the same time it is possible that such an epithet might be employed by them merely as synonymous with Messiah.” But why “merely”? Was it not natural for these Samaritans who took Jesus as their “Saviour,” Jew as he was, to enlarge the idea to the whole world? Bernard has this amazing statement on John 4:42: “That in the first century Messiah was given the title sōtēr is not proven.” The use of “saviour and god” for Ptolemy in the third century b.c. is well known. “The ample materials collected by Magie show that the full title of honour, Saviour of the world, with which St. John adorns the Master, was bestowed with sundry variations in the Greek expression on Julius Caesar, Augustus, Claudius, Vespasian, Titus, Trajan, Hadrian, and other Emperors in inscriptions in the Hellenistic East” (Deissmann, Light, etc., p. 364). Perhaps Bernard means that the Jews did not call Messiah Saviour. But what of it? The Romans so termed their emperors and the New Testament so calls Christ (Luke 2:11; John 4:42; Acts 5:31; Acts 3:23; Philemon 3:20; Ephesians 5:23; Titus 1:4; Titus 2:13; Titus 3:6; 2 Timothy 1:10; 2 Peter 1:1, 2 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 2:20; 2 Peter 3:2, 2 Peter 3:18). All these are writings of the first century a.d. The Samaritan villagers rise to the conception that he was the Saviour of the world. [source]
John 8:51 If a man keep my word [εαν τις τον εμον λογον τηρησηι]
Condition of third class with εαν — ean and constative aorist active subjunctive of τηρεω — tēreō Repeated in John 8:52. See John 8:43 about hearing the word of Christ. Common phrase in John (John 8:51, John 8:52, John 8:55; John 14:23, John 14:24; John 15:20; John 17:6; 1 John 2:5). Probably the same idea as keeping the commands of Christ (John 14:21). He shall never see death Spiritual death, of course. Strong double negative ου μη — ou mē with first aorist active subjunctive of τεωρεω — theōreō The phrase “see death” is a Hebraism (Psalm 89:48) and occurs with ιδειν — idein (see) in Luke 2:26; Hebrews 11:5. No essential difference meant between οραω — horaō and τεωρεω — theōreō See John 14:23 for the blessed fellowship the Father and the Son have with the one who keeps Christ‘s word. [source]

What do the individual words in John 8:43 mean?

Because of why the speech - My not do you understand Because you are able to hear the word - My
Διὰ τί τὴν λαλιὰν τὴν ἐμὴν οὐ γινώσκετε ὅτι δύνασθε ἀκούειν τὸν λόγον τὸν ἐμόν

Διὰ  Because  of 
Parse: Preposition
Root: διά  
Sense: through.
τί  why 
Parse: Interrogative / Indefinite Pronoun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: τίς  
Sense: who, which, what.
λαλιὰν  speech 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: λαλιά  
Sense: speech, i.
τὴν  - 
Parse: Article, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἐμὴν  My 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Feminine 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐμός  
Sense: my, mine, etc.
γινώσκετε  do  you  understand 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Active, 2nd Person Plural
Root: γινώσκω  
Sense: to learn to know, come to know, get a knowledge of perceive, feel.
ὅτι  Because 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: ὅτι  
Sense: that, because, since.
δύνασθε  you  are  able 
Parse: Verb, Present Indicative Middle or Passive, 2nd Person Plural
Root: δύναμαι  
Sense: to be able, have power whether by virtue of one’s own ability and resources, or of a state of mind, or through favourable circumstances, or by permission of law or custom.
ἀκούειν  to  hear 
Parse: Verb, Present Infinitive Active
Root: ἀκουστός 
Sense: to be endowed with the faculty of hearing, not deaf.
λόγον  word 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: λόγος  
Sense: of speech.
τὸν  - 
Parse: Article, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ἐμόν  My 
Parse: Personal / Possessive Pronoun, Accusative Masculine 1st Person Singular
Root: ἐμός  
Sense: my, mine, etc.