=22-24. Will he kill himself?= This they said to each other, partly in perplexity, partly in scorn. Contrast their different interpretation but similar spirit in ch. 7:35. Christ, in his reply, repels the idea that he had referred to his death; they cannot come where he is going, because he is going to that heaven from which he first came, and they are of the earth earthy. Comp. 1 Cor. 15:50, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”--=Ye are from beneath, I am from above.= This statement is interpreted by the clause which follows.--=Ye are of= (_from_, ἐκ) =this world, I am not of= (_from_, ἐκ) =this world=. Man is born of the flesh, and therefore is flesh, needing to be born anew and from above in order to enter into the kingdom of heaven (ch. 3:5, 6). Christ was born, even in his earthly nature, of the Spirit (Luke 1:35), was from his birth the Son of God, and therefore did not need to experience the new birth. Though John does not describe his supernatural birth, he recognizes it. Christ’s language here would be incomprehensible but for the interpretation afforded by the narratives of his advent in Matthew and Luke. The declaration “Ye are from beneath” here is not equivalent to the declaration of ver. 44, “Ye are of your father the devil.” Here he speaks only of the earthly nature inherited; there of the wilful sin superadded.--=If ye believe not that I am, ye shall die in your sins.= In the phrase “I am” there is a reference to Exod. 3:14, and the language implies the divinity of Christ, and would be so understood by his Jewish auditors, and was so understood by them. See ver. 38 and note. But it is not equivalent to a general statement that belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ is essential to salvation. It was addressed to men who had abundant reason to believe that Christ was the divine Messiah of prophecy, and who were wilfully ignorant of the truth. We must not give the words any wider application than our Lord gave to them himself. To reject Christ is fatal; to be ignorant of him is not. 25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even _the same_ that I said unto you from the beginning.