properly · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person singular
them
αὐτοῖςautois
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — dative plural masculine
Father
πατέραpatera
G3962
a "father" (literally or figuratively · noun — accusative singular masculine, a title
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 6:9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
Isaiah 59:10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as…
Isaiah 42:18-20 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.
John 8:47 He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.
Romans 11:7-10 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded
2 Corinthians 4:3-4 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 8:21-30
Christ here gives fair warning to the careless unbelieving Jews to consider what would be the consequence of their infidelity, that they might prevent it before it was too late; for he spoke words of terror as well as words of grace. Observe here,
I. The wrath threatened (Joh 8:21): Jesus said again unto them that which might be likely to do them good. He continued to teach, in kindness to those few who received his doctrine, though there were many that resisted it, which is an example to ministers to go on with their work, notwithstanding opposition, because a remnant shall be saved. Here Christ changes his voice; he had piped to them in the offers of his grace, and they had not danced; now…
I have many things to say and to judge of you; but he that sent me is true, &c.--that is, I could, and at the fitting time, will say and judge many things of you (referring perhaps to the work of the Spirit which is for judgment as well as salvation, Joh 16:8), but what I do say is just the message My Father hath given Me to deliver.
Adam Clarke on John 8:26
I have many things to say and to judge of you - Or, to speak and to condemn, etc. I could speedily expose all your iniquities - your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief of your hearts, and show that these are the reasons why I say you will die in your sins; but these will appear in their true light: when, after you have crucified me, the judgments of God shall descend upon and consume you.
He that sent me is true - Whatever he hath spoken of you by the prophets shall surely come to pass; his word cannot fail.
John Gill on John 8:27
They understood not that he spake to them of the Father. That sent him, and who was true and faithful to all he had said, whether in a way of promise, or threatening; such was their stupidity, that they did not know that he meant God the Father by him that sent him, so deriving his mission and doctrine from him; their hearts were made fat, and hardened, and their eyes were blinded. The Vulgate Latin version reads, "they did not know that he said, God was his Father"; and so Beza's most ancient copy, and another exemplar of his.
The Church Fathers
"They understood not that He spake to them of the Father." Oh folly! He ceased not to speak concerning Him, and they knew Him not.
They did not understand however what He meant by saying, He is true that sent Me: they understand not that He spake to them of the Father. For they had not the eyes of their mind yet opened, to understand the equality of the Father with the Son.
The Spirit-clad is astonishment-stricken at the senselessness of the Jews, and with great reason: for what more without understanding than such, who, when much discourse and often had been made to them concerning God the Father, conceive not of Him a whit when they hear our Saviour saying, But He That sent Me is True? What then is the plea, and why the blessed Evangelist says that the Jews knew not that Christ in these words signified God the Father to them, we must needs say. For since the Saviour said to them, If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also, in order that in this too He may be found saying what was true, the Evangelist brings in those who know not the Son, as ignorant of the Father too. For the Son is (so to speak) a Door and Gate unto the knowledge of the Father, wherefore He also said, No man cometh unto the Father but by Me. For the mind darting up from Image to Archetype imageth the other from what is before it. It was necessary therefore to show that the Jews had no conception of the Father, since they would not be led, upward mounting from knowledge of the Son to conception of the Father. Wherefore does the Evangelist clearly show that when Christ says, He That sent Me is True, they knew not that He spake to them of the Father.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
John Calvin on John 8:25-29
John 8:25-29
25. Then they said to him. Who art thou? Jesus said to them, From the beginning, [225] because I also speak to you. [226] 26. I have many things to speak and judge of you; but he who hath sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him. 27. They knew not that he spoke to them of the Father. Jesus therefore said to them, 28. When you shall have exalted the Son of man, then shall you know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself; but as the Father hath taught me, I speak. 29. And he who hath sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, because I always do the things which please him.
25. From the beginning. They who translate the wo…
