Bible Strands
John 8:43
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jesus addresses hostile Jewish opponents in the temple courts, immediately following His statement that God would be their true Father if they loved Him. He confronts their spiritual blindness at a moment when His divine origin and mission are under direct challenge.
The words — The Greek λαλιὰν (lalian) means "speech" or "message," paired with γινώσκετε (ginōskete) for "understand." Jesus states directly that their failure to grasp His words stems from an inability to receive His message, not from a lack of intellectual capacity.
The thread — This theme of spiritual inability to believe appears in John 12:39 and parallels Romans 8:7, which describes the fleshly mind as hostile to God and unable to submit to His law. It stands in contrast to John 7:17, where willingness to do God’s will leads to recognizing the divine origin of the teaching.
Why it lands — The text demands readers examine whether their resistance to Jesus’ words is a matter of missed information or a hardened refusal to accept His authority. It requires a self-assessment of whether one’s spiritual posture allows the message to be received or actively blocks it.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
Cross-references
- John 12:39 For this reason they were unable to believe. For again, Isaiah says:
- Romans 8:7 because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
- John 7:17 If anyone desires to do His will, he will know whether My teaching is from God or whether I speak on My own.
- John 5:43 I have come in My Father’s name, and you have not received Me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will receive him.
- Proverbs 28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD comprehend fully.
- Jeremiah 6:10 To whom can I give this warning? Who will listen to me? Look, their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. See, the word of the LORD has become offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.
- Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- John 6:60 On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?”
- John 8:27 They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.
- Isaiah 6:9 And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’