They did not understand that He was telling them about the Father.
Parallel translations
- WEB They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.
- KJV They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.
- NKJV They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.
- NASB They did not realize that He was speaking to them about the Father.
- NLT But they still didn’t understand that he was talking about his Father.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The crowd failed to realize Jesus was speaking of God as his Father. Their spiritual blindness kept them from understanding his relationship to God.
Overview
John adds this editorial note to highlight the hearers' incomprehension despite Jesus' clear references to the One who sent him. Their failure illustrates that without spiritual sight, even plain teaching about the Father remains obscure. It sets up Jesus' coming explanation that full understanding will come through the cross.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Isa 6:9And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’
- Isa 42:18–20Listen, you deaf ones; look, you blind ones, that you may see!
- Rom 11:7–10What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
- John 8:43Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.
- Isa 59:10Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.
- John 8:47Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
- 2 Cor 4:3–4And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 8:27 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.