What Does John 8:55 Mean?
Yet you have not known him, but I know him. If I say I do not know him, I will be a liar like you. But I know him, and guard his word.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
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.THE KEY
The verse changes verbs beneath the repeated English word “know,” then makes knowing visible in what is kept.
THE MEANING
Knowing God is shown here in the keeping of God’s word. Jesus’ knowledge and speech remain aligned, while the charge that he is a liar turns on that very alignment. The verse holds knowing together with what is kept.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
I can truly know God while remaining untouched by what God says.
THE ROOT
ἐγνώκατε
egnōkate
GROWS FROM
γινώσκω (ginōskō), stem γινωσκ- (ginōsk-)
To know or recognize; the form here means “you have known.”
The English repeats “know,” but Greek begins with ἐγνώκατε (egnōkate, “you have known”) and then shifts to οἶδα (oida, “I know/perceive”). The verse contrasts two distinct verbs for knowing, without reducing them to a fixed split between relational and factual knowledge.
ALSO GROWS
gnōsis: Knowledge or knowing
γνῶσις
This noun shares the verb’s word family and makes its idea of knowing visible as a related form.
epiginōskō: Recognize or come to know
ἐπιγινώσκω
This compound carries the same knowing verb into the related sense of recognition.
οἶδα
oida
GROWS FROM
εἴδω (eidō), with οἶδα (oida) as its perfect form
The verb family means “see”; οἶδα is used for “know” or “perceive.”
“I do not know him” in this verse is oida. οἶδα (oida, “I know/perceive”) belongs historically to εἴδω (eidō, “see”), preserving a link between seeing and knowing. Here it carries the ordinary sense “know,” while its distinctness from γινώσκω (ginōskō, “know/recognize”) gives the verse two different words where English uses one.
ALSO GROWS
eidon: I saw or they saw
εἶδον
This form from the same verb family keeps the historical link between seeing and knowing in view.
eidos: Form or appearance
εἶδος
This related word names what is seen, illuminating the perceptual history behind οἶδα (oida, “know”).
τηρῶ
tērō
GROWS FROM
τηρέω (tēreō), stem τηρ- (tēr-)
To keep, watch over, guard, or observe.
“guard his word” in this verse is tērō. This verb can carry the sense of keeping watch or guarding, so it suggests active care as well as keeping. What is kept is τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ (ton logon autou, “his word/saying”): the verse joins knowing God to holding his spoken word in care.
ALSO GROWS
tērēsis: Keeping or custody
τήρησις
This related noun gives the root’s sense of keeping a concrete form as an act of preservation.
tērētēs: Keeper or observer
τηρητής
This related noun names one who keeps or observes, echoing the action joined to knowing in the verse.
THE PATTERN
Knowing God becomes visible in the keeping of God’s word.
Perceive therefore that the LORD your God is God, the steady God, who guards the covenant and faithful love for those who love him and guard his commands to a thousand generations.Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves me, that one will guard my word, and my Father will love that one, and we will come to him and make a place to remain with him.By this we perceive that we have perceived him, if we guard his commands.THE THREAD
By this we perceive that we have perceived him, if we guard his commands.This verse uses the same Greek word families for “know” and “keep” that appear in John 8:55. It makes explicit the connection John 8:55 places in Jesus’ own words: knowing him is joined to keeping what he says.
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