John 8:23 (LSB)

Passage

And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.

Nearby Context

John 8:21 Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.”

John 8:22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?”

John 8:23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.

John 8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:25 So they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "world", "saying", "below", and "above". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "world" and "saying", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 22's "So the Jews were saying Surely He..." into verse 24's "Therefore I said to you that you...", so "world" and "saying" 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 "world" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.