Charles Ellicott Commentary John 8:24

"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am [he], ye shall die in your sins." — John 8:24 (ASV)

I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins.—He now further explains what He meant by these words in John 8:21. The words, as they are twice repeated in this verse, differ in two particulars from their earlier form. One is that the singular noun “sin” has given place to the plural “sins.” He brings home to them the definite and known acts of sin which resulted from their sinful state. Another is that the order of the words is changed. It is not so easy to preserve this in English; but we may read in John 8:21, “In your sin ye shall die,” and here, “Ye shall die in your sins.” Not believing is itself a state of sin . It is a separation from the only source of life and is necessarily accompanied by death.

If ye believe not that I am he.—The word “He” is not found in the Greek text, and this is marked by the italics in English; but they had been thinking and speaking of the Messiah, though the name has not been mentioned since John 7:42. It was the name always first in their thoughts, and our version represents the generally received interpretation.

It may, however, be doubted whether this interpretation gives us the full meaning of the words “I am,” as used in this absolute way by our Lord and as recorded in this Gospel.

Within this same chapter, these words meet us again in John 8:28 and John 8:58; and in the account of the arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, we find them repeated (see notes on John 18:5 and following). The words had a sacred history that told of the revelation of Jehovah to Moses (Exodus 3:14).

Uttered as they were by Him who had just claimed to be “from above” and “not of this world,” and uttered as they were within the precincts of Jehovah’s Temple and in the presence of His priests and people, they may well have conveyed to their minds this deeper meaning, and been intended as a declaration of His divine existence.

The meaning then would be: “If you believe not that I am—that in Me there is existence which is the life of all who receive it—you must die in your sins.”