They Heard Him—but Could Not Hear Him
Biblical Studies
What Jesus Meant When He Asked, “Why Do You Not Understand What I Am Saying?”
By Eliora Selwyn™
Published September 12, 2026 | Updated October 29, 2026 (presentation)
They heard every word.
That was not the problem.
They were standing close enough to Jesus to carry on a conversation with Him. They heard His claims. They understood enough of what Jesus was saying to respond and object, yet Jesus identifies a deeper inability to hear His word.
And then He asked them a startling question:
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.”
— John 8:43 BSB
How can someone hear Jesus speaking and still be unable to hear His message?
The answer unfolds through one of the most confrontational conversations recorded in the Gospel of John.
And it begins somewhere we might not expect.
The Conversation Begins with Belief
Immediately before this exchange, John tells us:
“As Jesus spoke these things, many believed in Him.”
— John 8:30 BSB
Then:
“So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’”
— John 8:31–32 BSB
That detail matters.
John does not introduce this conversation simply by describing a hostile crowd that refuses to listen. He deliberately places the language of belief at its beginning.
Exactly how deep or complete that belief was has been debated. The conversation that follows certainly exposes serious resistance to Jesus.
But we do not have to resolve every question surrounding their belief to notice what Jesus does next.
He places a condition before them:
“If you continue in My word…”
Initial belief is immediately confronted with the necessity of remaining in what Jesus says.
And almost immediately, resistance appears.
The Truth Collides with Something They Already Believe
Jesus tells them that the truth will set them free.
Their response is revealing:
“We are Abraham’s descendants,” they answered. “We have never been slaves to anyone. How can You say we will be set free?”
— John 8:33 BSB
Notice what has happened.
Jesus has spoken.
They have heard Him.
But His statement collides with something they already believe about themselves.
We are Abraham’s descendants.
Their identity is already settled in their minds.
So instead of allowing Jesus’ words to examine their understanding, they begin defending the understanding they already possess.
Jesus then explains that He is speaking about slavery to sin.
The conversation grows increasingly severe until He says:
“I know you are Abraham’s descendants, but you are trying to kill Me because My word has no place within you.”
— John 8:37 BSB
There is the problem.
It is not that no word has reached them.
The Word is standing in front of them.
The problem is that His word has no place within them.
When the Word Has No Room
The expression in John 8:37 deserves attention.
The Greek verb translated by the BSB as “has no place” is χωρέω (chōreō).
The word can carry the sense of making room, containing, having capacity, or making progress.
We should be careful not to build more into one Greek word than the context allows. But Jesus’ meaning in the passage is unmistakable:
His word is finding neither room nor progress within them.
They are hearing it externally while resisting it internally.
That brings us directly to His question.
Why Do You Not Understand My Speech?
John 8:43 reads:
“Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message.”
— John 8:43 BSB
The Greek wording is interesting.
Jesus first refers to His λαλιά (lalia)—His speech or manner of speaking.
Then He refers to His λόγος (logos)—His word or message.
And the verb translated “accept” by the BSB is ἀκούω (akouō), the ordinary Greek verb for hearing or listening.
More literally, the thought is:
Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to hear My word.
We should not force lalia and logos into two rigid theological categories. Words receive their meaning from context, and the argument does not depend upon discovering a hidden code in Jesus’ vocabulary.
But the larger contrast is difficult to miss.
These people physically hear Jesus speaking.
They converse with Him.
They challenge Him.
They answer His questions.
Yet Jesus says they cannot hear His word.
Whatever this hearing means, therefore, it must involve more than sound reaching the ear.
They Understood Enough to Resist Him
Sometimes we assume that people reject truth because they simply do not understand it.
John 8 presents something more troubling.
As Jesus continues speaking, their resistance increases.
In verse 45 He says:
“But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me!”
— John 8:45 BSB
Notice that carefully.
Jesus does not say, “You would believe Me if only I explained this more clearly.”
He says the opposite.
Because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me.
The truth itself has become offensive because it challenges what they are determined to preserve.
Their ancestry.
Their spiritual identity.
Their understanding of themselves.
Their claim that God is their Father.
Jesus’ words are not merely giving them new information.
His words are exposing them.
And they do not want what He reveals.
Hearing Is a Spiritual Matter
Jesus brings the argument to its conclusion in verse 47:
“Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
— John 8:47 BSB
Now the pattern becomes clear.
Jesus began by telling them:
Continue in My word.
Then:
You will know the truth.
Then:
My word has no place within you.
Then:
Why do you not understand what I am saying?
Then:
You cannot hear My word.
Finally:
Whoever belongs to God hears the words of God.
John is describing something far deeper than auditory hearing.
To hear God is not merely to encounter His words.
It is to receive the truth of what He has said.
The Danger Is Not Limited to That Crowd
It would be easy to finish the passage here and make John 8 a study about people who rejected Jesus two thousand years ago.
That would also allow us to keep His question safely at a distance.
But Scripture was not preserved merely so that we could diagnose someone else.
There is a question here worth allowing into our own study of the Bible:
What happens when the Word of God confronts something we have already decided must be true?
We all bring assumptions to Scripture.
We have been taught doctrines.
We inherit traditions.
We develop theological systems.
We listen to pastors, teachers, authors, friends, denominations, ministries, and voices we trust.
Some of those things may be true.
Some may be partly true.
Some may be wrong.
The danger begins when any of them becomes something Scripture is no longer permitted to challenge.
At that point, we can still read our Bible.
We can underline verses.
We can know doctrine.
We can defend theological positions.
We can even quote the words of Jesus.
And still approach the text primarily asking it to confirm what we already believe.
There Is a Difference Between Reading Scripture and Letting Scripture Read Us
That may be one of the uncomfortable lessons hidden in this conversation.
The people answering Jesus were not without religious knowledge.
Their appeal to Abraham shows how deeply their identity was rooted in the biblical story.
Yet when the One to whom that story pointed stood before them, the very claims in which they placed their confidence became points of resistance to what He was telling them.
There is another scene in John that sounds remarkably similar.
Jesus tells religious leaders that they diligently search the Scriptures because they believe they possess eternal life in them—and then says those very Scriptures testify about Him.
Yet they refuse to come to Him for life (John 5:39–40).
The problem was never lack of exposure to Scripture.
It was what happened when Scripture confronted the heart.
That distinction still matters.
We should study carefully.
We should test interpretations.
We should examine language, history, context, and theology.
But biblical study requires something more fundamental than good research.
It requires the willingness to be corrected.
The Question Has Not Gone Away
“Why do you not understand what I am saying?”
It is easy to hear that question directed toward someone else.
Someone stubborn.
Someone deceived.
Someone whose theology we think is wrong.
Perhaps the more useful place to hear it is across our own open Bible.
Lord, is there anything You have said that I keep explaining away because it does not fit what I already believe?
That is a harder question.
It is also a safer one.
Because the goal of studying Scripture is not to make the Bible agree with us.
It is to discover what God has actually said—and then allow what He has said to have room within us.
Jesus told those who had believed Him:
“If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.”
— John 8:31 BSB
Perhaps that is where hearing begins.
Not merely encountering His words.
Not merely understanding their vocabulary.
Not merely defending what we have always believed.
But remaining in His word long enough for the truth to correct us.
They heard every word.
The question was whether His word would have a place within them.
And that question is worth asking every time we open the Book.
—Eliora Selwyn
Continue Along the Path
- When Scripture Confronts What We Have Already Decided Is True: the Christian Living companion that brings this question into our own Bible study.
- Why Couldn’t They Understand Jesus?: a short Cinematic Scripture video on John 8:43.
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