John 8:1,2
John 8:1-2. A striking analogy to the Synoptic narrative, both in the matter and the form; comp. Luke 21:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:1-2. A striking analogy to the Synoptic narrative, both in the matter and the form; comp. Luke 21:38.... [ Continue Reading ]
Γραμματεῖς, _the scribes_, is a ἅπαξ λεγόμενον in John; the Synoptic style. It is scarcely probable that already at that time these men, so proud of their knowledge, would have submitted to Him so grave a question and would have thus consented to concede to Him so great authority in the eyes of the... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 5. Stoning was ordained by Moses only for the case of an unfaithful _betrothed virgin_ (Deu 22:23-24); for the adulterous _wife_, the kind of death was not determined (Lev 20:10). According to the Talmud, where the penalty is not specified, the law meant, not stoning, but strangling. And _Meyer... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 6. In what did the snare consist? Some, _Augustine, Erasmus, Luther_ and _Calvin_ think that they desired to lead Jesus to pronounce a sentence whose severity would place it in contradiction to His ordinary compassion. Others, _Euthymius, Bengel, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, Weiss_ and _Keil_ suppose... [ Continue Reading ]
The admirable, yet at the same time very simple, art of the answer of Jesus in John 8:7 consists in bringing back the question from the _judicial_ domain, where His adversaries were placing it, to the _moral_ ground, beyond which Jesus does not dream for a moment of extending His authority; comp. Lu... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 9. If the Pharisees had been sincere in their indignation against the accused, it was the time to lead her to the presence of the officially constituted judge. But it was not the evil that they were set against: it was Jesus. Recognizing the fact that their design has failed, they take the only... [ Continue Reading ]
By the οὐδὲ ἐγώ, _neither do I_, Jesus gives the woman to understand that there was nevertheless one there who, without acting in contradiction to the rule of justice laid down in John 8:7, might really have the right of taking up the stone, if He thought it fit to do so; but this one even renounced... [ Continue Reading ]
2. JESUS, THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD: 8:12-20. We find in this section: 1. A testimony (John 8:12); 2. An objection (John 8:13); 3. The answer of Jesus (John 8:14-19); 4. An historical notice (John 8:20). John 8:12. “ _Jesus, taking up the discourse again, said to them: I am the light of the world; he... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 13. “ _The Pharisees therefore said to him, thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true._ ” Lucke and _Weiss_ infer from the words _the Pharisess_, that the pilgrims had already departed from Jerusalem. But why could not the Pharisees have been among the multitude present at the fe... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 14. “ _Jesus answered and said to them; Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true, because I know whence I came and whither I go; but you know not whence I come or whither I go._ ” Jesus had accepted in chap. 5 the position of an ordinary man; this is the reason why he had cited in... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one;_ 16 _and if I judge, my judgment is true_, _because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me._ ” The objection of the Pharisees, John 8:13, contained a judgment respecting Jesus. They treated Him as an ordinary man, as a sinner, like them... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And besides it is written in your law that the testimony of two men is worthy of belief._ 18. _I bear witness of myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me._ ” Jesus enters, at least in form, into the thought of His adversaries (as in John 7:16; John 7:28). The Mosaic law required two... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 19. _“They said to him therefore, Where is thy father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also.” _ Therefore: “In consequence of this declaration.” These discourses of Jesus are of so lofty import, that they sometimes produce upon us the... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 20. “ _Jesus spoke these words as he was teaching near the treasury, in the temple;and no one laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come._ ” The position which the words ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα, _these words_, occupy at the beginning of the sentence, gives them, notwithstanding the denial of... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 21 admonishes the hearers of the importance of the present hour for the people and for each individual: Jesus, their only Saviour, is to be with them only for a little while longer. When once they have rejected Him, heaven, whither He is about to return, will be closed to them; there will remain... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus said therefore to them again_, _I go away and you shall seek me and you shall die in your sin; whither I go, you cannot come._ 22. _The Jews therefore said, will he kill himself? for he said, whither I go, you cannot come._ ” The _therefore_ seems to allude to the liberty which Jesus conti... [ Continue Reading ]
3. “IT IS I.” 8:21-29. Jesus had just applied to Himself the two principal symbols which the feast presented to Him. The following testimony completes the two which precede; it is a more general affirmation respecting His mission. ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 21-29. 1. Meyer hold... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And he said to them, you are from beneath, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world._ 24. _Therefore I said to you, that you shall die in your sins; for, if you do not believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins._ 25. _They said therefore to him, Who art thou? Jesus sai... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but he who sent me is worthy of belief, and what I have heard from him_, _that do I speak to the world._ 27. _They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father._ ” Some interpreters, ancient and modern, have tried to connect this vers... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 27. Criticism declares the want of understanding of the Jews which is mentioned in John 8:27 impossible. Can those of whom John speaks, then, be, as _Meyer_ thinks, new hearers who had not been present at the previous discourses? Or must we understand with Lucke _:_ They were not willing to ack... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus therefore said to them_, _when you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he and that I do nothing of myself, but that I speak these things to you according to the teachings of my Father_, 29 _and that he that sent me is with me; the Father has not left me alone, becau... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 30-50. 1. Whether the words of Jesus contained in these verses were spoken on the same day as those which precede (Meyer) or on the following day (Godet) Weiss says correctly that this point cannot be determined there is apparently a close connection bet... [ Continue Reading ]
4. “I AND YOU”: 8:30-59. Jesus, in His second discourse (John 8:12-20) attributed to Himself two modes of teaching: _testimony_, by which He reveals His origin, His mission, His work, and _judgment_, by which He unveils the moral state of His hearers. In this sense He had also said, John 8:26: “ _I... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _As Jesus spoke thus, many believed on him._ 31. _Jesus therefore said to those Jews who had become believers on him: If you abide in my word, you shall be really my disciples_, 32 _and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free._ ” The term “ _believed_ ” designates here undoubte... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 32. Καί : and on this condition. They will really possess the quality of disciples; and on this path they will reach the complete illumination from which will result within them complete emancipation. The _truth_ is the contents of the word of Jesus; it is the full revelation of the real essenc... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _They answered him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never been slaves of any one; how sayest thou: you shall become free?_ 34. _Jesus answered them, Verily, verily I say to you that whosoever commits sin is a slave_ [_of sin_].” According to some modern interpreters, those who thus answer Jesus ca... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 34. The genitive τῆς ἁμαρτίας _of sin_, is omitted by the _Cambridge_ MS., and an important document of _the Itala;_ without this complement, the sense is: “ _He is a slave_, truly a slave, while believing himself a free man;” a sense which is perfectly suitable. If, however, with all the other... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The slave does not abide in the house for ever; the son abides for ever._ 36. _If therefore the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed._ ” If in John 8:34 the words τῆς ἁμαρτίας, _of sin_, are read, it is necessary to admit a change of meaning in the idea of slavery between John 8:34 and Joh... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _I know indeed that you are Abraham's seed; but you seek to kill me, because my word makes no progress in you._ 38. _As for me, I speak that which I have seen with the Father;and you do the things which you have heard from your father._ ” Jesus does not deny the genuineness of the civil registers... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _They answered and said to him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham._ 40. _But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth which I have heard from God; Abraham did not do this._ 41 a. _You do the works of your f... [ Continue Reading ]
VV. 41B-43. “ _They said therefore to him: We are not children born in fornication; we have only one father, God._ 42. _Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, you would love me; for I came forth and am come from God; for neither am I come of myself, but he sent me._ 43. _Why do you not recog... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 43. Why then does all this escape them? How does it happen, in particular, that they do not distinguish the tone, and, so to speak, the heavenly _timbre_ of his _speech?_ Λαλία, speech, differs from λόγος, _word_, as the form differs from the contents, the discourse from the doctrine. “You do n... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 44. “ _You are born of the father, the devil, and you wish to fulfil the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he is not in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaks falsehood, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of the liar._ ” Th... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _And because I say the truth to you, you believe me not._ 46. _Which of you can convict me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe me?_ 47. _He that is of God hears the words of God; for this cause you hear them not, because you are not of God._ ” What, ordinarily, causes a man to... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 46. To justify their distrust with respect to His _words_, it would be necessary that they should at least be able to accuse Him of some fault in His _actions;_ for holiness and truth are sisters. Can they do this? Let them do it. This defiance which Jesus hurls at His adversaries shows that He... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _The Jews therefore answered and said to him, Say we not rightly that thou art a Samaritan and art possessed by a demon?_ 49. _Jesus answered: I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. John 8:50_. _But I seek not my own glory; there is one who seeks it and who judg... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Verily, verily, I say unto you, If any one keep my word, he shall never see death._ 52. _The Jews therefore said to him, Now we know that thou art possessed of a demon; Abraham is dead and the prophets also, and thou sayest, If any one keep my word, he shall never taste of death._ 53. _Art thou g... [ Continue Reading ]
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR. Vv. 51-59. 1. In John 8:51 Jesus turns the discourse to the more positive side, and brings out one of the great thoughts presented in this Gospel, namely, that the eternal life, which begins in the soul at the moment of believing, has no experience of death... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; he who glorifies me is my Father, he of whom you say that he is your God;_ 55 _and yet you do not know him, but I know him; and if I say that I do not know him, I shall be like to you a liar; but I know him and I keep his word._ 56. _Abrah... [ Continue Reading ]
“ _Whereupon the Jews said to him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and thou hast seen Abraham!_ 58. _Jesus said to them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Before Abraham came into being_, _I am._ ” From the fact that Abraham had seen Jesus, it seemed to follow that Jesus must have seen Abraham. The q... [ Continue Reading ]
VER. 59. “ _Thereupon, they took up stones to stone him; but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple._ ” In the face of this reply, there was indeed nothing left to the Jews except to worship or to stone him. The word ᾖραν, strictly: _they lifted up_, indicates a volition, a menace, still more,... [ Continue Reading ]