_________________________________________________________________________________
(Why do you not understand My speech? Because
you are not able to listen to My word. (You are of your father the
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from
the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in
him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is
a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not
believe Me. (Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why
do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's words; therefore you
do not hear, because you are not of God."John 8:43-47
They had literal ears, of course, but that is not what He meant. They
heard the sounds, and the sounds formed into words, and words were
comprehended to some degree, but they did not really relate to what He was
saying. His words just did not hit the right chords so that they could make
the right use of them. Jesus
says in some exasperation, "Why do you not understand?" Then He goes on to
explain why.
He explains, "You are unable to hear what I say."
He is implying that the problem is inherent. It was as if He were speaking in
one language, and they were hearing in another, so that what He said was
totally incomprehensible to them.
John 8 deals with freedom or liberty.
These people were in bondage, a kind of slavery, and they did not even know
it. They said, "We have never been in bondage." They had a measure of
political liberty, but even then, they were under the heel of the Romans. They
had a certain amount of freedom, which they apparently considered enough for
what they needed for their lives. Ordinarily, the Roman way was, once a nation
was crushed, to give the people certain liberties, as long they behaved
themselves.
We can see that Jesus was speaking of one thing, yet they
understood it in an entirely different way. He was speaking within spiritual
parameters concerning the Kingdom
of God. They were hearing within political parameters, and thinking about
the here and now. It just did not jive.
They became this way just as we
do: They lived and operated in a world of lies. This is why Jesus mentions
Satan, that he was a murderer and a liar from the very beginning. All the ways
of this world -
which seem to be so right carnally - are really nothing but behaviors founded
upon deceptions, distortions, and falsehoods. To somebody reared in such a
deceived environment, the truth of God comes out as
so much gibberish. The mind simply does not relate.
— John W. Ritenbaugh
To learn more, see:
Related Topics:
Satan
Satan as father of liars
Satan as god of this World
Spiritual Blindness
Spiritual Bondage
Spiritual Comprehension
Spiritual Understanding
Understanding
Read more articles from The Berean, here.
No comments:
Post a Comment