And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.
Parallel translations
- WEB But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me.
- BSB But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!
- NKJV But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
- NASB But because I say the truth, you do not believe Me.
- NLT So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me!
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
Precisely because Jesus tells the truth, they refuse to believe him. Their rejection is driven by their resistance to truth itself.
Overview
Jesus exposes the irony that his truthfulness, which should compel belief, instead provokes unbelief. Aligned with the father of lies, they recoil from the truth. The verse shows that unbelief is not for lack of evidence but flows from a heart at odds with God, highlighting humanity's need for spiritual rebirth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- 2 Tim 4:3–4For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
- John 18:37Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.
- John 3:19–20And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
- 2 Th 2:10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
- John 7:7The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth, because I testify of it, that the works thereof are evil.
- Gal 4:16Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
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 8:45 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.