You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.
Parallel Translations
-
You have not known him, but I know him. If I said, ‘I don’t know him,’ I would be like you, a liar. But I know him and keep his word.
-
and ye have not knowen him: but I knowe him. And yf I shuld saye I knowe him not I shuld be a lyar lyke vnto you. But I knowe him and kepe his sayinge.
-
Yet ye haue not knowen him: but I knowe him, and if I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like vnto you: but I knowe him, and keepe his worde.
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to John 8:55 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- John 8:19 They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”
- John 7:28-29 Jesus therefore cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, “You both know me, and know where I am from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, whom you don’t know. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
- John 8:44 You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and the father of lies.
- Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
- John 8:51 Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”
- Revelation 3:9 Behold, I give some of the synagogue of Satan, of those who say they are Jews, and they are not, but lie—behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
- John 15:21 But they will do all these things to you for my name’s sake, because they don’t know him who sent me.
- 1 John 5:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son.
- Jeremiah 9:3 “They bend their tongue, as their bow, for falsehood. They have grown strong in the land, but not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they don’t know me,” says Yahweh.
- Hosea 5:4 Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know Yahweh.
- Luke 10:22 Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”
- John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- John 6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
- John 8:29 He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”
- John 10:15 even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
- John 15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
- John 16:3 They will do these things because they have not known the Father, nor me.
- John 17:25 Righteous Father, the world hasn’t known you, but I knew you; and these knew that you sent me.
- Acts 17:23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.
- 2 Corinthians 4:6 seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
- 1 John 2:4 One who says, “I know him,” and doesn’t keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn’t in him.
- 1 John 2:22 Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the Antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain There is no right knowledge of God, without Christ,…
There is no right knowledge of God, without Christ, neither any right knowledge of Christ without his word.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I…
55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying.
Ver. 55. Yet ye have not known him] There is a twofold knowledge of God. 1. Apprehensive; 2. Affective, or cognoscitiva, standing in speculation, and directiva vitae.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Knowing here signifies more than a notional knowledge, or…
Knowing here signifies more than a notional knowledge, or comprehending in our understanding so much of God as may by natural powers be comprehended; it signifies affections, and a conversation suitable to such a knowledge. But I (saith our Saviour) fully and perfectly know him, both as to his essence, counsels, and will, and am fully obedient to him.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto…
Jesus said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you,.... Whether it will be believed or not, it is certainly fact:
before Abraham was, I am; which is to be understood, not of his being in the purpose and decree of God, foreordained to sufferings, and to glory; for so all the elect of God may be said to be before Abraham, being chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world: or that Christ was man, before Abraham became the father of many nations; that is, before the calling of the Gentiles; for nothing is said in the text about his being the father of many nations; it is a bold and impudent addition to it: and besides, Abraham was made the father of many nations, as Ishmaelites, Israelites, Hagarenes, &c. long before the incarnation of Christ; yea, he was so from the very promise in Gen 17:5, which so runs, "a father of many nations have I made thee"; so that this appears a false sense of the text, which is to be understood of the deity, eternity, and immutability of Christ, and refers to the passage in Exo 3:14. "I am that I am--I am hath sent me unto you", the true Jehovah; and so Christ was before Abraham was in being, the everlasting I am, the eternal God, which is, and was, and is to come: he appeared in an human form to our first parents before Abraham was, and was manifested as the Mediator, Saviour, and living Redeemer, to whom all the patriarchs before Abraham looked, and by whom they were saved: he was concerned in the creation of all things out of nothing, as the efficient cause thereof; he was set up from everlasting as Mediator; and the covenant of grace was made with him, and the blessings and promises of it were put into his hands before the world began; the eternal election of men to everlasting life was made in him before the foundation of the world; and he had a glory with his Father before the world was; yea, from all eternity he was the Son of God, of the same nature with him, and equal to him; and his being of the same nature proves his eternity, as well as deity, that he is from everlasting to everlasting God; and is what he ever was, and will be what he now is: he is immutable, the same today, yesterday, and for ever; in his nature, love, grace, and fulness, he is the invariable and unchangeable I am.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I shall be a liar like unto you--now rising…
I shall be a liar like unto you--now rising to the summit of holy, naked severity, thereby to draw this long dialogue to a head.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 55. Have not known him—Have not understood him, or…
55. Have not known him—Have not understood him, or you would have recognized him in his Son.
I know him not—To know him as truly as I know him, and yet deny my knowledge of him, would be basest falsehood and apostacy.
Read full note →
Liar like unto you—He would forthwith place himself upon a par with them, denying that the Father is in the Son, and so in truth denying the Son.
Keep—Not contradict and disobey.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 55. Yet ye have not known him; but I…
55. Yet ye have not known him; but I know him] Once more we have two different Greek words for ‘know’ in close proximity, and the difference is obliterated in our version (comp. Joh_7:15; Joh_7:17; Joh_7:26-27, Joh_13:7, Joh_14:7, and see on Joh_7:26). Here the meaning is, And ye have not recognised Him; but I know Him, the latter clause referring to His immediate essential knowledge of the Father.
a liar like unto you] Or, Like unto you, a liar. Referring back to Joh_8:44.
Read full note →
keep his saying] Or, keep His word, as in Joh_8:51-52. Christ’s whole life was a continual practice of obedience: Heb_5:8; Rom_5:19; Php_2:8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (55) Yet ye have not known him; but I…
(55) Yet ye have not known him; but I know him.—The frequency of lip-assertion was not accompanied by any true heart-knowledge. The Father who glorified Him was the God whom they professed to serve. Their question, “Whom makest Thou Thyself? “has its explanation in the fact that this service was independent of any real knowledge of God. The two verbs “know” and “known” here do not represent the same Greek word. More exactly the rendering should be, And ye have not come to know Him: but I know Him. The one clause expresses acquired recognition; the other expresses immediate essential knowledge. (Comp. Note on Joh_14:7.)
If I should say, I know him not.—The thought of their want of perception of God has led to the assertion by contrast of His own full intuitive knowledge of God. To assert this knowledge is to make Himself greater than Abraham and the prophets; but there is untruth in silence as well as in utterance, and His very truthfulness demands the assertion.
Read full note →
But I know him, and keep his saying.—Or better, His word, as in Joh_8:51-52. Again the positive statement is made in the certainty of His full knowledge, and this is followed by a statement of the observance of the same condition of communion with the Father which He had made necessary for communion of the disciples with Himself.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And (i.e. while you thus speak, and though you…
And (i.e. while you thus speak, and though you call him your God; cf. a similar use of kai , very nearly expressed, but not exactly, by the "yet" of the Authorized Version) ye have not come to know him by all the experiences through which you have passed. (cf. Joh_7:29 Joh_17:25; and ver. 19) You do not know the only true God, you have not the knowledge which is life eternal. But I know him, absolutely, intuitively, by the open eye of clearest consciousness, with invincible and perfect assent. The use and contrast of the two verbs egnwkate and oida , here and elsewhere, is very striking. (see Joh_3:10 Joh_21:17) When our Lord, however, was broadly contrasting the Jewish knowledge of God with that of the Samaritans, and identifying himself with the Jews, (Joh_4:22) he uses oidameN . if I should say that I know him not which I do not and dare not say. Christ could not admit that his absolute knowledge was a delusion. The reality of the Father in his Divine-human consciousness, expressing itself through his human thought and word, was supreme, overmastering, sublimeI shall be, like you, a liar; I should deceive you wilfully, as you are deceiving yourselves. We cannot fail here again to observe the severity of Jesus as portrayed in this Gospel. (There is nothing surely here, or in other numerous utterances in this discourse, inconsistent with the Son of Thunder.) No cowardly modesty (Lange) is possible to him. He knows, and must speak. He cannot, dare not, be silent, or allow these bitter enemies, with their ready malice and perverse and continuous misinterpretation of his words, to be ignorant, either of the ground of his self-consciousness or his penetration of their flimsy excuses. So once more he adds, But I know him, and keep (thrw ) his word. He will not allow this Divine consciousness to be taken from him, even by the shame and agony of the cross (Lange).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Ye have not known Him; but I know Him
Joh_8:55
Ye have not known Him; but I know Him
Read full note →
I.
THE JEWS IGNORANCES.
1. They knew Him not in His majesty, His infinity, His mercifulness, since they conceived of Him only after a low and material idea.
2. They knew Him as the Maker of the world, but not as the Almighty Father of mankind; they saw in Him only their own God, and refused to think of Him as the God of the whole human race.
3. They knew Him not as He is, one in essence though three in person; as the Eternal Father, by whom the Eternal Son was begotten, and from both of whom proceeds the one Sanctifying and Eternal Spirit. Hence their blindness to the meaning of the words of Christ and their rejection of Him as the Messiah.
4. They knew Him not through the way of obedience to His laws, without which there can be no real knowledge of the Father. Thus, although their faith came from God, and was based upon His revelation of Himself, their works were from Satan, and in this way they proved that they knew not God who is One in His faith and in His works. Thus were they liars, not because they said He had a devil, which is not the meaning here, but because they declared that they knew God whilst every one of their actions declared that they had no true real knowledge of Him.
II. CHRISTS KNOWLEDGE.
1. As being Himself God, of the same substance and nature with the Father, dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and so always beholding Him as He is in His essential Godhead.
2. As the man Christ Jesus He knew Him, since He had the knowledge of Divine things by impartation from the Father.
3. As man, again, He knew Him through His perfect obedience to the whole will of the Father, and His doing all things which were well pleasing in the sight of the Eternal Father. We also, if we would receive and retain
God in our thoughts, and come to the knowledge of Him, must receive and keep His saying. (W. Denton, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.