John 8:29

29. Omit (אBDLTX) ὁ πατήρ after μόνον (a gloss).

29. ἀφῆκεν. It will depend on the interpretation whether the aorist or perfect is to be used in English. If it refers to God sending the Messiah into the world, then, as in the cases of ἤκουσα and ἐδίδαξεν, we must keep the aorist; He left. But if it refers to Christ’s experience in each particular case, the perfect may be substituted; He hath left. In some cases (comp. John 13:13; John 13:34; John 15:9; John 15:12) it is the idiom in English to use the perfect where the aorist is used in Greek, and then to translate the Greek aorist by the English aorist would be misleading. see on John 16:32 and comp. οὐκ� (Acts 14:17).

ὅτι ἐγὼ κ.τ.λ. Because the things pleasing to Him I always do: πάντοτε is emphatic, and means ‘on every occasion,’ which is somewhat in favour of the second interpretation of οὐκ�: ‘He hath never left Me alone because in every case I do what pleaseth Him.’ The emphasis on ἐγώ is perhaps in mournful contrast to the Jews. In any case it is a distinct claim to Divinity. What blasphemous effrontery would such a declaration be in the mouth of any but the Incarnate Deity! The theory that Jesus was the noblest and holiest of teachers, but nothing more, shatters against such words as these. What saint or prophet ever dared to say, ‘The things which are pleasing to God I in every instance do’? Comp. John 8:46; John 14:30; John 15:10. And if it be said, that perhaps Jesus never uttered these words, then it may also be said that perhaps He never uttered any of the words attributed to Him. We have the same authority for what is accepted as His as for what is rejected as not His. History becomes impossible if we are to admit evidence that we like, and refuse evidence that we dislike. Comp. 1 John 3:22, and Ign. Magn. VIII.; ὃς κατὰ πάντα εὐηρέστησεν τῷ πέμψαντι αὐτόν. See on John 3:8; John 4:10.