Die In Your Sins

You will die in your sins

JOHN 8 COMMENTARY ◄
John 8:12-20 I Am the Light of the World

John 8:21-30 Die In Your Sins

John 8:31-36 The Truth Will Set You Free

JOHN 8:21-24 21 Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sins. Where I am going you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Since He says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ will He kill Himself?” 23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”

Where will Jesus be “going” (John 8:21)?
Back to heaven “above,” where He is “from” (John 8:23).

Why is it that they “cannot” (John 8:21) go there as well?
God is in heaven. Because God is holy, heaven is a holy place, and a holy place cannot contain sin. So the only sinners who can enter heaven are those whose sins have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus when He paid the death penalty due for their sins.

What will happen to these “Jews” (John 8:22)?
“Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

What will that lead to?
Being “cast into hell, into the inextinguishable fire” (Mark 9:45) to pay the penalty due for their sins on their own for the rest of eternity.

What does Jesus mean by “unless you believe that I am” (John 8:24)?
The predicate “He,” referring to the Messiah “sent” by God the “Father” (John 8:16), is missing but implied in this context after “I am” in the original Greek (εγω ειμι (ego eimi)), hence “unless you believe that I am He” in most English translations.

Will Jesus “kill Himself” (John 8:22)?
No, but He will die for our sins willingly.

Why?
See John 3:16.

JOHN 8:25-26 25 Then they said to Him, “Who are You?” And Jesus said to them, “Exactly what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true; and I say to the world those things which I have heard from Him.”

Hadn't Jesus just said, “I am judging no one” (John 8:15)?
The fact that He refrains from judging doesn't mean that there aren't “many things to say and to judge concerning” (John 8:25) them.

What should be the aspiration of every preacher?
“I say to the world those things which I have heard from” (John 8:26) God.

What more or what less?
Nothing.

JOHN 8:27-30 27 They did not understand that He was speaking to them of the Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing from Myself; but I speak these things as My Father instructed Me. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that please Him.” 30 As He spoke these things, many believed in Him.

When will the Jews understand what Jesus said in John 8:21-26?
“When you have lifted up the Son of Man” (John 8:28).

Why does that sound familiar?
It's what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:14. See Bronze Snake and Son of Man (John 5:27).

What should be the aspiration of every preacher?
“I speak these things as My Father instructed Me” (John 8:28).

What should be the aspiration of every Christian?
“I always do the things that please Him” (John 8:29).

Why do you think Jesus would waste His time and words like this with the Jews?
“As He spoke these things, many believed in Him” (John 8:30), so they weren't wasted. They never are: “So shall be My word that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

In which language was Jesus speaking above?
During His earthly ministry, Jesus spoke Greek to the gentiles (e.g., Pilate), and read and quoted the Old Testament in Hebrew, which by this time had become a dying language spoken by only a small minority of the Jewish people, primarily the scribes, rabbis, and other religious leaders. The common language of the Jewish people at this time was Aramaic, which is related to Hebrew and have many similarities to it, but also differences. Since “many” in the crowd listening in understood and “believe in Him” (John 8:30), Jesus was speaking Aramaic, which is what He invariably spoke to Jewish audiences, and this will be relevant to understanding John 8:58.