John 8:55

You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Jesus addresses His opponents in the temple, who have just claimed the Father as their God, by contrasting their failure to recognize Him with His own intimate knowledge and obedience.

The words — The Greek οὐκ (ouk) negates the opponents’ claim to recognition, while οἶδα (oida) affirms Jesus’ present, intimate knowledge of the Father.

The thread — This theme of unrecognized divine authority recurs in John 7:28, where Jesus notes the crowd’s limited knowledge of His origin, and John 8:19, where He states that knowing Him is inseparable from knowing the Father.

Why it lands — The text demands that readers evaluate their claim to know God by measuring it against Jesus’ actual obedience to His word, rather than mere verbal assertion.

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

Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.

Cross-references

John 8:19 “Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
John 7:28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is true. You do not know Him,
John 8:44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, because he is a liar and the father of lies.
Matthew 11:27 All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
John 8:51 Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
Revelation 3:9 As for those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead, I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I love you.
Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
John 15:21 But they will treat you like this because of My name, since they do not know the One who sent Me.
1 John 5:10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.
Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.