Greek Textus Receptus
ὁ ὢν ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀκούει· διὰ τοῦτο ὑμεῖς οὐκ ἀκούετε, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ οὐκ ἐστέ.
Free Grace Translation
"The [one] [who] is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear, because you are not of God."
Bible Translation Notes
Grk. ὢν. Literally, being (cf. Jn. 8:47 in Smith's Literal Translation). Not quite "is" because ὢν is a present active participle. This word (ὢν) is somewhat difficult to translate into English in this context, because here in John 8:47 ὢν identifies the person "as begotten anew by the Spirit of God" (Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, s.v. εἰμί, definition 3d). But that idea employs a passive verb in English, whereas ὢν is active (the subject is the doer of the action). This of course is in contrast to the teaching of Calvinism, which claims that the new birth is solely and completely the gift of God bestowed upon people unconditionally without them having any active part in it at all. But here in John 8:47, Jesus teaches otherwise. And He does so using the little Greek word ὢν. It's a small word, but it has great significance! Commenting on John 8:47, Godet affirms: "the expression, to be of God, designates the state of a soul placed under the influence of divine agency. Such a state does not exclude, but implies, the free determination of man. Otherwise, the tone of reproach which prevails in this verse would be unjust, and even absurd." (Frederic Godet, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, 3 Vols., Vol. II, p. 343.) To clarify, while the source of the life is God (the origin indicated by ἐκ), the participle ὢν describes the believer's present, active state in response to that life. As Paul Enns notes in The Moody Handbook of Theology, "The Bible is the objective and authoritative Word of God whether or not a person responds to it (John 8:47; 12:48)." (Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology [Chicago: Moody Press, 1989], p. 162.)
Grk. διὰ τοῦτο. This phrase can be translated as "on account of this," "because of this," or "for this reason". Here in John 8:47, I chose not to translate διὰ τοῦτο as "because of this" because the word ὅτι can also be translated as "because," and I wanted to maintain as much as possible the distinction in English that exists in the Greek. This distinction is noted by Bauer in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, when he writes: "διὰ τοῦτο ... ὅτι for this reason ..., (namely) that J 8:47" (Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition, p. 732, s.v. ὅτι, definition 4a, ellipsis and emphasis his).
Free Grace Study Notes
Commenting on John 8:47, Augustine says concerning Jesus that "foreknowing those who should yet believe, them He called of God, because [they were] yet to be born again of God by the adoption of regeneration. To these apply the words 'He that is of God hears the words of God.' But that which follows, 'You therefore hear them not, because you are not of God,' was said to those who were not only corrupted by sin (for this evil was common to all), but also foreknown as those who would not believe with the faith that alone could deliver them from the bondage of sin [cf. Jn. 6:64]. On this account He foreknew that those to whom He so spoke would continue in that which they derived from the devil, that is, in their sins, and would die in the impiety in which they resembled him; and would not come to the regeneration wherein they would be the children of God, that is, be born of the God by whom they were created as men. In accordance with this predestinating purpose [according to divine foreknowledge, cf. Rom. 8:29-30; 1 Pet. 1:2] did the Lord speak; and not that He had found any man among them who either by regeneration was already of God, or by nature was no longer of God." (Augustine, edited by Marcus Dods, The Works of Aurelius Augustine [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874], Vol. XI. Lectures or Tractates on the Gospel According to St. John, 2 Vols., Vol. II, p. 53. See Tractate 42, Section 16.)
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