John 8:42 (ASV)

Passage

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me.

Nearby Context

John 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham.

John 8:41 Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, [even] God.

John 8:42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me.

John 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? [Even] because ye cannot hear my word.

John 8:44 Ye are of [your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "jesus", "said", "father", "love", "came", "forth", "come", and "neither". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "jesus" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 41's "Ye do the works of your father..." into verse 43's "Why do ye not understand my speech...", so "jesus" and "said" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "jesus" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.