Jesus, speaking to unbelieving Jews:
“And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”
(John 8:23, KJV)
”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 8:23, NASB)
”The two halves of the verse are manifestly equivalent, and ‘ye are from beneath’ = ‘ye are of this world.’ The pronouns throughout are emphatically opposed. The whole verse is a good instance of ‘the spirit of parallelism, the informing power of Hebrew poetry,’ which runs more or less through the whole Gospel.”
(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
But to believing Jews, his disciples, he says this:
”If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
(John 15:19, NASB)
And in prayer to his God and their God, Jesus says this about them and about himself:
”I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
(John 17:14, NASB)
”They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
(John 17:16, NASB)
The Jews who believed Jesus, which is to say, his disciples, are not from beneath = are not of this world.
Those who are not from beneath are from above.
“And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.”
(John 8:23, KJV)
”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 8:23, NASB)
”The two halves of the verse are manifestly equivalent, and ‘ye are from beneath’ = ‘ye are of this world.’ The pronouns throughout are emphatically opposed. The whole verse is a good instance of ‘the spirit of parallelism, the informing power of Hebrew poetry,’ which runs more or less through the whole Gospel.”
(Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges)
But to believing Jews, his disciples, he says this:
”If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”
(John 15:19, NASB)
And in prayer to his God and their God, Jesus says this about them and about himself:
”I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
(John 17:14, NASB)
”They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
(John 17:16, NASB)
The Jews who believed Jesus, which is to say, his disciples, are not from beneath = are not of this world.
Those who are not from beneath are from above.
