Notes on John 8
© David H. Linden Action International Ministries
John 8 is a continuation of John 7. Keeping these
segments together maintains a continuity intended by the Apostle John. This is very
similar to John 9 & the first half of John 10, where it is even more
important to read those verses as a unit. Chapter divisions can be misleading. (The
later addition to this Gospel of the woman caught in adultery, in my opinion,
disrupts the flow of what John wrote. See the box below for reason to conclude
that 7:53-8:11 was not in the original text).
If we read 8:12 as part of the same conversation
found in chapter 7, then both chapters are part of Jesus’ visit to
The apostle usually made quite clear by his
introductory words whether he was beginning a different context. He might point
out a different location as in 5:1 and 6:1, or that it was a different time as
in 7:1 where it says, “after these things”, or in the NIV, “after this”. 8:12
says, “Jesus spoke to them again,” so we have good reason to think that this is
a dialogue continued.
In John 9 & 10 John intentionally drew a sharp
contrast between Christ as the Good Shepherd in chapter 10, and the Pharisees
as false shepherds in chapter 9 for abusing the man born blind. Here in John 7 & 8, with both chapters related
to Tabernacles, John presents a double contrast:
If we keep John 7 & 8 together, we
benefit from the full contrast John made. That Christ is the truth and
the life (14:6) has been shown in advance of chapter 14. Satan is the master of
deceit. His gift to all who believe him is death.
Chapter 7 opened with the danger to Jesus’ life in
If we view John 7 & 8 as a unit, then we have here the longest
sustained conversation between Jesus and His enemies to be found in any of the
four Gospels. (Thus in my seminars, I try to lecture on John 7 & 8 on the same day.) At this feast Jesus
offered Himself as light and His Spirit as life. This was a gracious gospel
message offering both power to live and direction in life to those in need of both. It was answered by blasphemous insults
(7:20 & 8:48) and attempted murder (8:59). John 8 is famous for the hostile
contradictions of Christ that it records (Hebrews 12:3). He is questioned about
His Father, and He identified their father as the devil. John 8 is also a
treasure having one of the strongest affirmation of the deity of Christ that ever
came from the mouth of our Lord. For those with a shallow profession of faith,
the Lord gave a penetrating analysis of the fruit that is consistent with
genuine faith. Only those who remain in His word are His disciples.
Was the Story
of the Woman Taken in Adultery an Original Part of this Gospel?
The strong evidence is that it was not! We
must remember that 400 years ago the King James Version was translated from
Greek texts that were much later than many that have been discovered since.
Since the more ancient and more reliable texts do not have 7:53 – 8:11 in them,
the NIV wisely places lines at the end of 7:52 and before 8:11 with this caveat:
“The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have John
7:53 – 8:11.” The ESV gives a
similar notice, “The earliest manuscripts do not include John 7:53 – 8:11.” The ESV footnotes that not all later manuscripts
place this addition it in the same location. One even sticks it in Luke,
another near the end of the Gospel of John in chapter 21!
[Continued] 8:1-11 is absent not only in
early Greek manuscripts, but in all early translations of this Gospel into
other languages. We have no record of any Greek Father prior to 1100 AD referring
to it, and then later the first man to do so noted that accurate copies of this
Gospel do not contain the disputed section. Later when it did begin to show up in
Greek manuscripts, it appeared in different places, such as following 7:36. Why
such unusual variations? The simple answer is that it was not in the original
at all. On top of all this, when these verses began to be included, some
scribes added asterisks to show that they knew something was different about
it. The evidence is overwhelming that, in spite of the familiarity and fondness
people in the church have for this story, we should not consider it a
legitimate part of the text. Unfortunately, there are people more familiar with
this story (whether it belongs in Scripture or not) than they are with what the
rest of John 8 does say.
8:12
In the context of 7:52, Jesus responded in
8:12 to the challenge of whether He was a true prophet because He was from
Furthermore, Isaiah 9:1 refers
to “
The setting is still the
great Feast of Tabernacles. That feast had water drawing ceremonies, (fitting
7:37-39) and at night they would light four huge lamps at the temple. With no
competing electric lights, this made for a huge glow over
Christ as the
Light Apart from Matthew’s obvious quotation of Isaiah 9,
(see above) little is said in the Synoptics of Christ being the light. Simeon
held Jesus as a baby and referred to God’s salvation in his arms as “a light for revelation
to the Gentiles…” (Luke
2:32). Simeon’s words fit Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6. It is the Gospel of John that
returns to this metaphor repeatedly. In his Prologue, John presents Christ as
the light in vv.4,5,7,8,9. It appears again in 3:19-21, but 8:12 is the first
time Jesus uses light to describe
Himself. In His final public words the Lord pleaded with His hearers to put
their trust in Him as the Light, for they would have that light with them for
only a very short time (12:35,36). Then in the apostle’s summary of Jesus’
words, he reiterated Jesus’ cry to His people, "When a man believes in me,
he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. When he looks at
me, he sees the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that
no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” (12:44-46).
His implied claim of deity
was enhanced even more when Jesus, speaking as the Light, made promises to
those who follow Him.
This is the second “I am” in
this Gospel where Jesus said I am something, such as bread (see 6:35-51). Some uses of “I am” without the pronoun (in Greek) are not making the same kind
of bold affirmation as in 8:12. For Christ to say, “I am the Light of the world,” is to use “I am” language of the
kind the Lord God used of Himself many times in Isaiah 41-51. (Note Isaiah
48:12; see also v.58 below).
Just as in 3:16, there is in
Jesus’ words a double benefit, one negative and one positive:
8:13
The response to God was to challenge Jesus’
claim as unsubstantiated. It is true that the witness of one person is not
valid to settle a dispute in court. It is not invalid because one person testifies.
The question is whether such testimony stands alone without any support. The
Lord then made clear that there was
additional testimony; the other Witness was God Himself.
8:14 The Lord spoke as an expert witness. He knew where He had come from. He was not repeating an opinion derived from others. If a man claims that gasoline burns easily, his testimony should not be rejected as mere opinion. One could use a match to verify the testimony. Jesus knew His origin, but those rejecting His testimony did not. In ignorance they denied His claim. Later He will remind them again that His Father was a second testimony.
8:15,16
In this same context Jesus had warned
against making judgments on mere appearances (7:24). In saying that, the Lord
showed what kind of decisions they were making, decisions from very limited
observations, decisions without all the facts.
Now in 8:14, Jesus points out that their decisions were according to the
flesh. John uses flesh in contrast to the Spirit. By the flesh no one could
discover whether Jesus had come from heaven. Yet they were captive to
expectations of men. People still argue that they do not believe in God because
He has not communicated with them in the way they insist He must in order for
them to believe. God does not salute His creatures and say, “Yes, sir”. He is
God and may reveal what He chooses and how He chooses. John gives responses of
Jesus to show how comprehensive that revelation was. (See the notes on John 5:30-47.)
John reports only a few miracles, but he says much about how their
significance. (Note: 2:11,23; 3:2; 6:2;
7:21,31; 9:16; 10:25,32,38; 11:47; 12:37;
and 14:11.)
Jesus had said that judgment was committed to Him in
5:27. He is not denying that in v.15, as v.16 makes clear. He simply means that
He does not judge as they do. They judge from the limitations of human flesh, which
includes bias and ignorance. Christ judges in a different way, with the
knowledge that God has, and in communion with His Father. Unlike human
judgment, “Nothing in all creation is
hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes
of him to whom we must give account,” (Hebrews 4:13). Whenever Jesus
judges, though it was not the mission of His First Coming (3:17), it will be
right.
It is a valuable exercise
to follow how much Jesus spoke of His Father. Just using a concordance and
counting the word Father will not
show the full picture. There are also pronouns referring to the Father. He is mentioned
in more than one way. The Lord sometimes called Him “the One Who sent Me”! Jesus’
fervent love of His Father dominates this Gospel.
8:17-18 Some find it odd that the Lord would call God’s law (and thus His law!) your own Law when speaking to the Jewish leaders. By this He simply acknowledged that they too confessed it as God’s and professed it as their own with fervor. He reminded them that the law they so ardently affirmed recognized that two witnesses were necessary for valid testimony in a dispute (Deuteronomy 19:15). He had support for His testimony about Himself. He had the Father. If Jesus continued at this point to elaborate on how the Father had testified to Him as the Light of the World, the Apostle John does not report it here. Other parts of this Gospel do, such as 5:30-47.
8:19
At this point the conversation settles on
the topic of Jesus’ Father. Various fathers, whether good or bad, whether God,
man or the devil, are connected in some way to the remainder of the chapter. Asking
where Jesus’ Father is, might have been a ploy to bring up Joseph as a human
father. My strong suspicion is that Jesus’ background had been vigorously researched
by the leaders. When they said that they
were not illegitimate children, that way of putting it may have be designed to
cast doubt whether Jesus was the result of fornication. They were certain God
was not His Father. The Lord tells them they do not know His Father, but He
said, “Me or My Father”. This Gospel teaches in a number of places that to know
One is to know the Other! (1:18; 5:19;
10:30;
14:7).
This shows that the virgin birth of Christ also makes clear Who Jesus is.
The essence of the gospel
message is that from our standpoint that Christ is the way to the Father. From God’s standpoint Christ is the way by
which He saves. So Jesus’ words must be taken in their full significance. He
was not exaggerating: to know Him is to know the Father. Though the Jews
hearing Jesus’ words were covenant people, they were still in darkness, in
spiritual death, in deceptive self-confidence, in pride of culture and ancestry,
and in their sin (8:21). In chapter 4, a Samaritan woman came to know the God
of Israel by means of the Messiah she met at a well near her village. Here in
John 8 in the
8:20
Jesus was teaching in a very public location.
It was probably in the court of the women, since women had access to the
offering box (Mark 12:41,42). In spite of the eagerness to arrest Him found in
chapter 7, and be rid of Him forever, Jesus continued to teach very publicly.
There was this overriding reason. It was not the time God had appointed for Him
to be captured and crucified. That was waiting for the next Passover. Meanwhile
the Lord had more to do. According to 11:9, there were still hours of daylight
(and ministry) left before the darkness of
8:21
They had asked the location of His
Father, and John mentions also His presence in the temple. (See 8:59.) Before
them was the One they yearned to capture. In this context Jesus repeats that
they will look for Him and not find Him. Where He will be, they cannot follow
(7:33,34). No one seized Him; in God’s plan it was not yet His chosen time; from
their perspective, it was not the right opportunity. Later He promised His
disciples that they would be with Him where He would be (14:3), and He prayed
for that to be fulfilled (17:24).
The conversation turns from
their frustration in locating Him so they could do Him harm. Christ spoke of
the harm not knowing Him would bring them. It would be eternal loss for them,
never able to be with Him. By maintaining their sin (singular) of unbelief,
they would lose the right to the Presence of God. That Presence is the same
thing as being with Christ.
8:22 As often reported in this Gospel, they did not understand. In 7:35 the Jews thought He would leave the area to teach Greeks elsewhere. When Jesus repeated the warning of being cut off from Him, they thought He might kill Himself and in that way make it impossible for them to find Him. The irony is that they would kill Him and so they would never see Him again (but note Matthew 26:64). No unbeliever ever saw Jesus after His resurrection. His humiliation ended at His death and burial. No unbeliever could be with Him where He was, even while He was still on earth. It is ironic that He did not kill Himself but that He would give Himself to be killed in a sacrifice, not a suicide. Here is another example of how dull of spiritual insight supposed experts are when they do not know the Lord.
8:23, 24 What the Jews had challenged in v.13 was Jesus’ assertion that He is the Light of the World and that following Him was essential to not walking in darkness. This they disputed. Jesus, as He often did, had based His claim on the fact that He was from above; He was sent from above, and He had truth directly from God above, including all He said about Himself. The religious leaders were of this world and made crucial judgments as mere men, apart from any light from God. This resistance to Jesus’ claims was a rejection of truth and of the way of their salvation. Apart from Jesus they would die in their sins (plural) and lose everything. All they would then have from God would be judgment for their many transgressions. The Lord was not urging on them some vague sense of relationship, but that they must believe the truth about Him. This truth Jesus had expressed in propositions. He said they must believe “that I am”. He had already made a few “I am” statements (with more to come in this Gospel). No one can have faith in a Jesus without truth about Him. To reject the truth of Jesus is to reject the person of Jesus. He made clear that all He conveyed was from the Father. Man cannot divide the gospel package, accepting and rejecting its parts, and still have Christ as Savior. By believing we pass from death to life (5:24). Here Jesus said that not believing makes dying in sin their hopeless destiny.
8:25-27
Their question, “Who are You?” had been
answered by the Lord many times. (See also 10:24.) The most recent answer was
that He was the Light of the World (v.12), Who stands with the Father (v.16), One
from above, not of this world (v.23). The situation was not that He had been
unclear on Who He was, but that they had been rejecting every claim made by Him
and all evidence supporting His words. Therefore, He had much to say in
judgment of them. This too was not new; He had said that they would die in
their sin and in theirs sins, because they would not believe that “I am”. Instead of saying again that they do not
believe Him, He stated that God is true, and all He had been saying had God as
its source. To reject God makes judgment certain.
The questions to Jesus illustrate
a problem besetting those who reject truth. They have great difficulty arriving
at any coherent alternative to it, because there is no alternative to truth.
They did not understand that Christ was speaking of His Father, because the error
that captivated them produced misunderstanding.
8:28 Note what
Jesus knew: a) that He would die; b) that His death would be by being lifted up, i.e., by crucifixion; and c)
that they would do it. Peter likewise
identified his own people as the primary crucifiers with the help of the Romans
(Acts 2:23; 4:10; 10:39). They wanted to
know who He was, yet they rejected His answers, so Jesus pointed to a future
event that would make more clear the truth of His numerous replies to them.
Using His preferred label for Himself, the
Son of Man, Jesus meant that the reality of that would come forcefully when
they crucified Him. They could have Him killed, but they could not keep Him in
the grave, even with a Roman guard at the tomb (Matthew 27:62-66). After His
ascension, His apostles acting in His Name performed miracles just as He had.
The leaders of Israel wanted to be rid of Christ, but He continued, and
continues to this day, to act as He wishes, with all authority given to Him
(Matthew 28:18). Later, “a large number
of priests became obedient to the faith,” (Acts 6:7)
Twice the NIV renders
Jesus’ “I am” as “I am the one I claim to be”, (vv.24,28). In my opinion this
addition weakens what the Lord was actually saying. I am, without qualification, is a way Jesus identified Himself as
the Lord God of
The Lord’s identity would be made clear about six
months later in events at Passover. Since He is Who He is, He is in union with
and subject to His Father. He elaborated:
After an answer like that, they should never say He
had not been forthcoming in responding to their questions about who He was. However,
a few weeks later they will ask if He is the Christ, demanding a plain answer.
To that the Lord replied, “I did tell you
and you do not believe” (10:24,25). Christ did not make rare claims,
supported by scant evidence, with weak miracles difficult to verify, performed
far off in obscure places witnessed only by sympathizers. His activity was known
by many (Acts 10:37,38; 26:25,26),
and His miracles were utterly undeniable (11:45-47).
8:30,31 That many believed is a fact clearly reported in 8:30,31. This has been rather difficult for some to explain because of what Jesus said about these “believers” following v.31. (Some even wonder if there has been a corruption of the text. The Greek texts have no evidence of an alternate reading.) Yet something made John report that many believed.
A response to Christ that was both positive and
inadequate shows up repeatedly. (See below Appendix 8A The Popularity of
Jesus.) This is often the case. Many
unbelievers today would be incensed to hear Jesus’ Name used in cursing or to
hear denials of His virgin birth, resurrection, or miracles. However, true
saving faith in Christ is beyond mere agreement or sentimentalism.
8:32 Here the Lord defines a disciple. If one holds to His teaching in obedience, he is a disciple. If one professes to have Jesus as Lord while refusing to obey His teaching, such a person is not a disciple. Christ will not allow a contradiction to His role as Lord to co-exist with a life of sin. There is a tight bond between justification and sanctification. (See below Appendix 8B Justification and Sanctification.) The Lord defined discipleship because some were believers who restricted their obedience to what suited them. Jesus was clarifying who are genuine. The ones who were false believers asserted truth about Christ. Thus in some sense they “believed”. Multitudes today believe in God. Many wish to know truth while resisting the allegiance the truth requires. If we really believe, we will not pick and choose what truth we will obey. If we will not obey, we do not believe.
“The truth shall set you free” is a popular motto. Jesus was
not arguing for a free press. The truth Jesus spoke of was His teaching about
Himself as the One sent from God. Only this truth (8:23,24) sets men free,
whether they live in slavery to other men or not. To have great political and
intellectual freedom and to die without Christ is to remain in bondage to Satan’s
deception. We must pay attention to what the Lord was really saying in those
words. A man who hates his neighbor is in sin and is not free even if he may
read or say whatever he wishes.
The Lord presented two alternatives: being a disciple
or being a slave to sin. There is no middle ground. In Matthew 7:24-27 there
were two responses to God’s word. If truth is adhered to, which is far more
than making some concession to it, that “holding” or “keeping” or “abiding” is
evidence that one has been born from above. A valid profession of faith
involves, as in the case of Father Abraham, that we would do the kind of things
Abraham did. If we are like Abraham, faith will be accompanied by obedience,
showing that the faith is genuine. Abraham’s interest was in Christ as he
looked forward so keenly to the day of His coming. What we are interested in is
an important indicator of spiritual reality. A disciple hears the word of God
and obeys it.
8:33 He did not
say directly that they were slaves, but they knew He meant that because they rejected
His explanation of what it means to be a disciple. They could see that “The
truth shall set you free” meant that they were slaves. If someone says to
another, “You need to wash your face,” he need not say, “Your face is dirty;”
the implication is clear. Those arguing with Jesus protested that they were
privileged children of Abraham. (In Galatians 3:28,29 Paul included as sons of
Abraham all Jews and Gentiles in Christ). In John 9:28,29, they professed to be
disciples of Moses. Professing to honor a godly heritage does not make one part
of it. In v.40 the Lord showed how unlike Abraham they were. In 5:46,47, they
had rejected the words of Moses. A false profession makes a deceived soul sure
of needing nothing more than he is or has already. Before he believed, and while killing those
who did, Paul said that he was “zealous for God” (Acts 22:3), yet at that time,
he did not know the truth that later would set him free. He was persecuting the
Lord he thought he was serving.
The Jews did not mean they had never been slaves in
8:34-36 Whoever
does not adhere to Jesus’ teaching and whoever commits sin is a slave to sin.
Freedom from this slavery comes only if Christ, the Son of God, sets one free. The
slave, like Ishmael, has no permanent place in the family with the rank of
Isaac (Genesis 21). Jesus’ warning implied that those born in the line of Isaac
were spiritually in the line of Ishmael (Note Galatians 4:24,25).
8:37 They were the seed of Abraham by birth and thus the people of God by covenantal privilege. They were circumcised members of the covenant God made with Abraham, yet they did not demonstrate sonship to Abraham, or that Abraham’s God was truly their God. If a son has no resemblance to a man thought to be his father, this raises the question who the real father might be! The reason they, unlike Abraham, were slaves to the sin of murder was that Jesus’ word had no place in their hearts. (See Appendix 8C below, Jesus’ Description of Depravity) There was nothing to deliver them from their desire to act so contrary to Father Abraham (v.40). When there is no room for the truth*, professions of faith are false. This explains how these who “believed” in Jesus were at heart His killers. (*Jesus varied His words by saying “the truth” or “My word” in vv.31-52, and once “the words of God” in v.47. These terms mean the same thing.)
8:38 To reiterate the authority of what the Jews were rejecting, Jesus again clarified its origin. Christ did not speak visions He invented but things seen in heaven from God the Father and authorized for publication on earth. Their source for their desires was their father, not identified as the devil till v.44. Christ spoke from His Father and they followed theirs. Likeness reveals paternity.
8:39-41 They repeat that Abraham is their father (v.33). The Lord replied that what they would like to do showed who their real father was. Abraham never tried to kill the Son of God, nor reject God’s word. His character was different; Abraham believed God’s word (Genesis 15:6). They claim God as their father while desiring to kill the Son of God. Hypocrites make lofty claims. Their parents were married when they were born so they thought they must be godly people. Here is the pride of law-keeping. They may have been hinting as well at their knowledge that Joseph was not the real father of Jesus.
8:42 Having God
as their Father would result in loving God. This shows again that the Bible has
no room for a middle category of a carnal
Christian who disobeys God but still has God as his Father.(See Appendix 10C:
The Carnal Christian). Since they do not love him, their claim is false.
The Godward connection of Jesus is essential to this discussion: no one can
love God and reject His ambassador. They loved neither the One God sent, nor
the Sender.
8:43 The breakdown in communications was due to their spiritual dullness. They could not accept His message (Matthew 13:9). See Appendix 8C: Jesus’ Description of Depravity.
8:44 Jesus had mentioned their father (vv. 38,41). Here that father is identified as the devil. The devil must be their father because they were so much like him, including carrying out his program against Christ. (It is difficult to keep in mind that Jesus was speaking to people who “believed” in Him but served Satan.)
Two characteristics of the devil are emphasized:
deceit and murder. These are closely related. By lying, Satan led our first
parents away from the truth, warning, promise, and character of God. In so
doing he brought them into death. Deceit was essential to his goal. Their
desire to kill Jesus identified those Jews as children of the devil. The other
Satanic feature was found in them as well: neither he (v.44) nor they (v.37)
had any room for the truth. Satan sinned
according to his sinful nature, a nature man has come to share. The devil is
the father of lies and liars. The truth of Who Jesus was and where He was from
was truth they rejected in favor of a lie, thus they would die in their sins
and be denied eternal life (v.24). Freedom from slavery depended upon accepting
what Jesus told them, but they rejected Christ as Liberator and remained in a
slavery so great it even hid from them that they were slaves. Whatever observation
of Christ had impressed them, their spurious faith did not bring them into
truth or life. They were exposed to both the Word of God and the deceit of
Satan, and they sided with their father the devil.
8:45-47 Some
discussion of vv.45 & 47 appears in Appendix 8C: Jesus’ Description of
Depravity.
As I study this chapter, I must express some surprise
at v.46. Why would Jesus even continue to talk with them? His next words
provided yet another reason why they should take Him seriously. (Surely here is
the patience of God.) This new feature He shows of Himself should make them
more serious in considering Him. The devil is noted for deceit; now by a great
contrast Jesus puts His character before
them. Though often charged with sin, could anyone show that He had sinned? If
this was impossible to discover in His case, should that not make them take Him
more seriously? One of the easiest ways to sin is with our words. James the
brother of Jesus said years later, “For
we all stumble in many ways, and if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he
is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body,” (James 3:2). I
wonder if James had these words of Jesus (v.46) in mind when he wrote James
3:2. There was no deceit for anyone to catch, nothing devilish in Him. Truth
characterized Him and made Him unique among all teachers on earth; should they
not take such a man seriously? He spoke the words of God, but only those who belonged
to God would hear Him. They recognized His word for what it was. (Note
1Thessalonians 2:13.)
8:48 This again is more insult. (See Psalm 31:18.) The contempt those Jews had for Samaritans violated Leviticus 19:17,18. They spoke of Jesus as a Samaritan, possibly because His challenge to them was that they were not true children of Abraham, something they thought a Samaritan might say of Jews. He had referred to them as children of the devil, so their “demon” remark was possibly retaliation for Jesus saying that. They felt that if Jesus could be so wrong about them, His thoughts must be inspired by Satan.
8:49-51 The Lord
did not dismiss the word about a demon. He knew that they knew He was a Jew. He
did not reply (at least in the brief account John has written for us) to the
slur that He was a Samaritan. (It is not a sin to be a Samaritan!) One cannot have demon-inspired intentions
while honoring God. Since Jesus had a single and pure motive in all His
ministry, this shows He was not demonic. There are many accounts of genuine
demonic possession and activity in the Synoptic Gospels. Nothing in Jesus’
activity or teaching fits in with that. Children of the devil do not attempt to
be fair. In Matthew 12:24-32 the Lord gave a major reply to the charge that He
was the devil’s agent. Here in John 8, Jesus gave a different one. Demon
possession could not explain His teaching and the large impact it was having on
That Jesus sought the glory of God was a claim that
would remain in their memory. That God the Judge would seek His glory would be observed
later in the resurrection. The Father was determined to glorify His obedient
Son. Ordinarily the New Testament refers to the resurrection as the act of the
Father (Acts 2:32; 4:10; 5:30). Only months away, in the following spring, it
would happen, and people could see that the ministry of Christ was not
generated by demons. The Resurrection is still God’s testimony to Jesus
(Matthew 12:39,40), the only Man in all of history Who deserved a resurrection!
It appears to me that the matter of God honoring
Christ was presented in this text parallel to the way God treats the one
keeping His Word. Not only would Jesus not see death as the final word, neither
would anyone who believes in Him. The Father will honor anyone who honors
Christ (12:26). Eternal life is the gift for the one who keeps Jesus’ word. The
Christian will never see death in the sense of 11:25,26. (Note how the Lord
maintained His ministry of evangelism in the face of hostility.)
8:52,53 When
the Jews heard about never dying,
and that Jesus asserted that anyone agreeing with and holding His teaching
would not die, they were sure He was more than wrong. In their minds, His
claims were preposterous. They grew more convinced that He must have a demon.
When He said He was the Son of God, the religious leaders were certain He was blaspheming.
To make such a claim is blasphemous with one exception; it is not blasphemous
for God to speak this way! The One through Whom all things were made (1:3) was
speaking to them. The Possessor of all life (1:3) said “I am the Bread of life”
(6:35). They did not test their doubts by Scripture (5:39). There they would
learn of a divine Messiah, Who would minister in
John does not report any discussion of what Jesus
meant by not seeing death. His word had been dismissed. His claims were
rejected, and an explanation for them had been thrown into His face. Then they
asked Who He made Himself out to be. They were insulting God.
8:54 To make an exalted claim about oneself is deceitful
and self-centered. Christ did not seek glory by false appraisals of Himself. To glorify Himself would prove Him a vain man.
Jesus, though worthy of the worship of all creation, left all glorification of
Himself to His Father.
These Jews had claimed Abraham as their father and God
as their Father. They had a right by birth to Abraham and by covenant with God to
make such a claim. God had promised to be Abraham’s God and the God of Abraham’s
offspring (Genesis 17:7). Jesus in v.54 referred to their claim that He was
their God. They could not have God as their God if they reject God, and that is
what they were doing when they repudiated Christ. These Jews who once had the
true God as their God were breaking covenant and making themselves to be “not
His people” (Hosea 1:9).
8:55 It was impossible for Jesus to speak in any other way. He did know the Father; He could not deny it, and He had been sent by Him. He could not have peace with them by denying this truth. To speak differently would be to lie and be like them. The people who could say, “He is our God” did not know Him! It was the situation in Isaiah 1:2-4 again. With Christ it was different; He knew God in a way and to an extent no creature ever will (Matthew 11:25-27). Christ also lived obediently. He held to His Father’s word. We have here in 8:55, an amazing example of the Lord God obeying the Lord God Who sent Him! The Head of Christ is the Father (1Corinthians 11:3). The Lord was speaking of His perpetual knowledge of and obedience to the Father.
8:56,57 They initiated the mention of Abraham in vv. 33,39,52, & 53, so the Lord also spoke of him. They thought of Abraham as dead. In Matthew 22:32, Jesus said Abraham’s God “is not the God of the dead, but of the living," even though Abraham had experienced physical death (but not broken communion with the Lord). Here the Lord speaks of Abraham’s days on earth many centuries before. Back then, Abraham rejoiced in the time when Christ would come. He knew of it and looked forward to it. He even knew that someday he too would walk on this earth with Christ. God had not promised him a land for a possession that He would never see, but one Abraham would later see! (Hebrews 11:13-16; 39,40) If the future appearance of Christ on earth made Abraham so glad, true children of Abraham ought to share their father’s rejoicing when it happened! Jesus had said that Abraham saw His day, but they wondered if He might be saying that He had seen Abraham’s. He was too young to have been here in Abraham’s time, which makes perfect sense unless Christ also lived earlier than John the Baptist (1:15). They asked if He had seen Abraham. We know the answer is that He had and for all of Abraham’s life.
8:58,59 The answer
the Lord Jesus gave has a number of elements, some of which are implied:
a) Yes, He had seen
Abraham;
b) Yes, He was more than
fifty years old;
c) He had a previous
existence;
d) what He was about to
affirm of Himself was so crucial, He would introduce it with His method of
making the greatest emphasis; it was another “truly, truly” statement;
e) “before Abraham was, I am.”
Translating “I am” In the ESV vv. 24 & 28 both read “I am he” though in Greek there is no “he”. In the NIV, the translators put “I am the one I claim to be” in both verses, though the words “the one I claim to be” are not in the Greek text. Both translations seek to make the English smoother. In both translations I am disappointed. In vv. 24,28, the Apostle John was building attention by this unusual wording to who Christ is. Plus, John knew well that he would soon be quoting Jesus’ more famous words, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Thankfully neither the ESV nor NIV added any words in v.58 to the “I am”. The ESV says “Before Abraham was, I am,” and the NIV, “Before Abraham was born, I am.”
“I am” was a way the Lord referred to Himself in a
number of places in Isaiah; see Isaiah 43:10-13 for examples. Probably the most
striking use of I am appears as the
Name God used for Himself in Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM” (which is the precise wording and lettering of both the NIV and ESV). The Jews knew that Jesus
had applied the divine Name to Himself. Their reaction in v.59 shows that they
were certain He had done so. It is right that the Lord should take His own
Name. When Jesus did this, either He was guilty of a gross and wicked blasphemy,
or He was the Lord in human flesh saying in very clear language Who He was.
(Note the odd request of Christ in 10:24!)
The Deity of
Christ in the Gospel of John The
Apostle John called Jesus God (1:1,
18), and presented Him as the Creator (1:3). In 1:14 he implied that in Christ
the glory of God was again visible on earth. As begotten of the Father, He is
what the Father is. John agreed with the Jewish conclusion that Christ intended
to be understood as equal to God in 5:18. Then later in chapter 5, Jesus openly
claimed all the prerogatives of God in knowledge, resurrection, salvation and
judgment. The proper honor for Christ is the kind reserved for God (5:23). When
Jesus said I am, the Apostle John wrote
in Greek quoting the Lord, using the precise pronoun and verb (with no
predicate) that combine to form the Name of God in Exodus 3:14. No clearer
words existed for Jesus to say Who He was than what He used in 8:58. All the I-am-something
statements that John reports (I am the Bread of Life, etc.) should be read
knowing that Jesus had deliberately used the Divine Name in 8:58. So He is the
Bread of Life, and all the other things as well, because He is the Lord
Himself.
We ought to retain the significance of the
Lord repeatedly referring to Himself as the
Son of
8:59 The law of
God required stoning for blasphemy (Leviticus 24:16). Reaching for stones shows
both their passionate rejection of the truth that Christ was their Lord, and
their murderous hatred of Him. It also shows that they understood well what He
was saying. Since in their opinion He was not God, His sin was blasphemy with
the proper penalty being stoning. Under this kind of duress, the Lord left the
temple, where He had been during the narrative of 7:14 – 8:59. God was rejected
in it, and a generation later, the Lord would have Gentiles tear it down, while
He built another temple composed of those who believe that Jesus is the I am. These living stones (1 Peter 2:4-8)
would form a spiritual house built on the foundation where Jesus Christ is the
cornerstone.
Appendix 8A The Popularity of Jesus
In many instances Jesus enthralled His observers for a
variety of reasons. The first example in Scripture was the effect on those in
the temple who heard His questions and answers when He was twelve years old. They
were amazed (Luke 2:46,47). Later when He was an adult teacher, His most bitter
opponents marveled at His learning though they could not account for his
knowledge (7:15). When experts tried to catch Him in His words, they were the
ones to lose the argument (Matthew 22:22). The guards sent to arrest Him, did
not dare to do so because of His profound ability in public teaching. His teaching influenced some hearers to conclude
that He must be the Prophet or the Christ (7:40,41). Matthew 7:28,29 reports
that people were astonished at the authoritative quality of His teaching. In
Probably it was Jesus’ miracles that caused the
greatest attention and thus a kind of “faith” in Him (2:23), probably limited
to positive opinions of Him. When a crowd of disciples at his Triumphal Entry joyfully
praised God, it was because of His miracles (Luke 19:37). This does not mean
they had a faith that produced the kind of fruit Jesus insisted on in 8:31-36.
Some faith, as in Matthew 13:20,21, is little more than temporary excitement. Jesus
made a huge impression on many people, as seen in Luke 5:26, “Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with
awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today.’” Luke and Matthew especially report that His
fame spread far and wide. Matthew 4:24 is only one of many examples. The
miracles were of different kinds. When Jesus cast out demons, this too revealed
the greatness of God (Luke 9:42,43). Miracles gained the attention of many, such
as Nicodemus (3:2), convincing him that Jesus was from God. That kind of faith
can occur without one being born of the Spirit.
I conclude that some “believed” because Jesus was
persuasive, holding His listeners’ attention, and confounding those who tried
to catch Him in an error. It was obvious that the young rabbi was much more clever
than the seasoned teachers. He seemed to be winning the public debates. The
common people observed this and were impressed. They knew of His great miracles.
They could also see Him courageously appear in public when it was known that the
authorities intended to kill Him (7:25,26). Often people were divided in their
opinions. To many who were saying confidently that He was in some way connected
to God, Jesus had some strong words with an emphasis on obedience about what a
real disciple is. So many opinions of Jesus have been reported in this Gospel already
that the faith of those mentioned in v.31 is vague. It is enough to accept that
in some unclear and inadequate way, they believed, or they thought they did.
Appendix 8B Justification and
Sanctification
Question 70: What is
justification?
Answer:
Justification is an act of God's free grace unto sinners, in which he pardons
all their sins, accepts and accounts their persons righteous in his sight; not
for any thing wrought in them, or done by them, but only for the perfect
obedience and full satisfaction of Christ, by God imputed to them, and received
by faith alone.
Question 71: How is
justification an act of God's free grace?
Answer: Although
Christ, by his obedience and death, did make a proper, real, and full
satisfaction to God's justice in the behalf of them that are justified; yet
inasmuch as God accepts the satisfaction from a surety, which he might have
demanded of them, and did provide this surety, his own only Son, imputing his
righteousness to them, and requiring nothing of them for their justification
but faith, which also is his gift, their justification is to them of free
grace.
Question 72: What is
justifying faith?
Answer: Justifying
faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and
Word of God, whereby he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the
disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost
condition, not only assents to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but
receives and rests upon Christ and his righteousness, therein held forth, for
pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in
the sight of God for salvation.
Question 73: How does
faith justify a sinner in the sight of God?
Answer: Faith
justifies a sinner in the sight of God, not because of those other graces which
do always accompany it, or of good works that are the fruits of it, nor as if
the grace of faith, or any act thereof, were imputed to him for his
justification; but only as it is an instrument by which he receives and applies
Christ and his righteousness.
Question 74: What is
adoption?
Answer: Adoption is
an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby
all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have
his name put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his
fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges
of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with
Christ in glory.
Question 75: What is
sanctification?
Answer: Sanctification is a
work of God's grace, whereby they whom God has, before the foundation of the
world, chosen to be holy, are in time, through the powerful operation of his
Spirit applying the death and resurrection of Christ unto them, renewed in
their whole man after the image of God; having the seeds of repentance unto
life, and all other saving graces, put into their hearts, and those graces so
stirred up, increased, and strengthened, as that they more and more die unto
sin, and rise unto newness of life.
Question 76: What is
repentance unto life?
Answer: Repentance
unto life is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner by the Spirit and
Word of God, whereby, out of the sight and sense, not only of the danger, but
also of the filthiness and odiousness of his sins, and upon the apprehension of
God's mercy in Christ to such as are penitent, he so grieves for and hates his
sins, as that he turns from them all to God, purposing and endeavoring
constantly to walk with him in all the ways of new obedience.
Question 77: Wherein do
justification and sanctification differ?
Answer: Although
sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, yet they differ, in
that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ; in
sanctification his Spirit infuses grace, and enables to the exercise thereof;
in the former, sin is pardoned; in the other, it is subdued: the one does
equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly
in this life, that they never fall into condemnation; the other is neither
equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing up to perfection.
Question 78: Whence arises
the imperfection of sanctification in believers?
Answer: The
imperfection of sanctification in believers arises from the remnants of sin abiding
in every part of them, and the perpetual lustings of the flesh against the
spirit; whereby they are often foiled with temptations, and fall into many
sins, are hindered in all their spiritual services, and their best works are
imperfect and defiled in the sight of God.
Question 79: May not true
believers, by reason of their imperfections, and the many temptations and sins
they are overtaken with, fall away from the state of grace?
Answer: True
believers, by reason of the unchangeable love of God, and his decree and
covenant to give them perseverance, their inseparable union with Christ, his
continual intercession for them, and the Spirit and seed of God abiding in
them, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.
Appendix 8C: Jesus’ Description of Depravity
A variety of statements appear in John 8 from the lips
of Christ relating to human depravity. John 8 is not alone in reporting that
Jesus taught the depravity of man. (See Matthew 13:15; 15:7-20.)
A definition:
Depravity
refers to human corruption. This corruption began when Adam by sinning
abandoned his original state of righteousness, which was replaced by an evil
nature opposite to the good condition in which he was created. Thus man’s
nature has become actively contrary to the rule of God. He may have a very
admirable life in relation to other humans, but he will not live obedient to
God, motivated by love for God and seeking God’s glory above his own.
Jesus
described or implied a condition in which men:
Some
observations:
Theological
conclusions:
The depravity described in
John 8 is related to the theme of a sinner’s inability to respond properly in
faith and repentance to the gospel. (For this theme, see Appendix 3A The
Cannot’s and the New Birth.) Inability
and corruption are not the same. It is the corruption of human nature by
sin that makes a man unable to come to Christ (6:44). Depravity is our moral
condition apart from divine intervention to save. The awful truth about us is
that we cannot come (6:44, inability) because we will not (8:43 corruption),
and we will not because we do not want to, and we will not want to unless we
are given a change of heart by God (3:3; 3:5). Our hearts are set in an
anti-God mode and a pro-sin mode that affects all our motivations. This is our
natural depravity. What Jesus said in John 8 is fully consistent with Paul’s
description of man as: dead in sin, in step with the world, dominated by
Satanic power, and producing many sins (Ephesians 2:1-3).
The popular notion of “free will” involves much harmful and unnecessary confusion. Man
is free to make all the decisions he wishes to make. God has not hampered man’s
will or locked him into a certain psychological disposition against his will.
The problem is that man has corrupted himself. In the first sin, Adam destroyed
his good appetite for fellowship with God; he chose sin freely and so came
under its power, which dominates him within. In addition, he has come under a
very dominating power without, the devil himself. Man cannot act against his
own altered nature, even though allowed and urged by God to do so. The sinner
cannot welcome the rule of a Lord over Him, to Whom He is in rebellion and Whom
he hates. That Lord requires of man a course of righteousness unattractive to
man in his sinfulness, and therefore it is unnatural for a man to seek God
(Romans 3:10-18). He may do so; God is not stopping Him; but He cannot do so,
for his will is part of his contaminated nature. For faith to occur, God must
exercise His free will to turn the sinner’s heart back to Himself. This
resurrection from rebellion unto repentance (3 r’s!) is the new birth. Without it a man can neither see, enter nor desire
God’s kingdom (3:3,5). The unregenerate man is free to choose cake according to
his physical appetite, but he is not free to choose Christ because his
spiritual appetite despises the things of God, making Christ as Lord unattractive.
The vague term free will is
misleading because a man is free to do only what he wills. He cannot and will
not will any obedient response to Christ unless his will has been transformed by
God to believe the gospel.
If all this sounds compatible
with a doctrine of election by God
unto salvation, it is. In the Gospel of John, salvation is not only by God in
execution; salvation springs from God’s decision. In 3:8, the birth from above
is by the Holy Spirit’s will; in
5:21 it is the Son’s choice; in 6:37-39 the ones who
eventually believe are the Father’s prior gift to the Son. God had not intervened to save the ones Jesus was
debating in John 8. (Much repentance occurred later, according to the Book of
Acts.) Their inability to hear at that point in time had not been relieved by
God taking them in as His own. “The
reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God” (v. 47). Likewise,
the reason others did not believe was “you
are not part of my flock,” (10.26). Election does not prevent the salvation
of those who might otherwise decide for it. Unless there is God’s election,
salvation cannot occur because otherwise no man would ever want to know the
Lord. No one can act contrary to his own nature, (God cannot act contrary to
His nature either! Titus 1:2) The depravity Jesus described is so real only
God’s decision to save can remedy our deep-seated rejection. Without
regeneration no one would believe, and without election not one would be
regenerated. Election is God’s eternal decision to bring to life and faith, all
the undeserving and depraved sinners He had chosen to save.