John 8:38

ἃ ἐγώ for ἐγὼ ὅ. Omit μου after πατρί. ἃ ἠκούσατε for ὃ ἑωράκατε and τοῦ πατρός for τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (both for the sake of harmony with the first clause).

38. The text is somewhat uncertain. The things which I (in My own Person) have seen (see on John 1:18) with the Father I speak: ye also, therefore, do the things which ye heard from your father. We are uncertain whether ποιεῖτε is indicative or imperative: if indicative, παρὰ τ. π. means ‘from your father,’ the devil, as in John 8:41; if imperative, it means ‘from the Father,’ as in the first half of the verse. In the former case οὖν (rare in discourses) is severely ironical; ‘I speak those truths of which I have direct knowledge from all eternity with the Father: you, therefore, following My relation to My Father, are doing those sins which your father suggested to you.’ In the latter case the οὖν is simple; ‘I in My words follow the Father, of whom I have direct knowledge: you also, therefore, in your acts must follow the Father, of whom you have had indirect knowledge.’ This appeal to Christ’s having seen God is peculiar to S. John; it is made sometimes by Christ Himself (John 3:11; John 6:46), sometimes by the Evangelist or the Baptist (John 1:18; John 3:32). The connexion of John 8:38 with John 8:37 is not quite obvious: perhaps it is—‘My words make no progress in you, because they are so opposite in origin and nature to your deeds.’