Robertson's Word Pictures of the NT

John 8:14

Even if

(καν). That is κα εαν, a condition of the third class with the present active subjunctive μαρτυρω. Jesus means that his own witness concerning himself is true (αληθες) even if it contravenes their technical rules of evidence. He can and does tell the truth all by himself concerning himself.For I know whence I came and whither I go

(οτ οιδα ποθεν ηλθον κα που υπαγω). In this terse sentence with two indirect questions Jesus alludes to his pre-existence with the Father before his Incarnation as in John 17:5 and to the return to the Father after the death and resurrection as in John 13:3; John 14:2. He again puts both ideas together in one crisp clause in John 16:28 for the apostles who profess to understand him then. But here these Pharisees are blind to the words of Jesus. "But ye know not whence I come nor whither I go" (υμεις δε ουκ οιδατε ποθεν ερχομα η που υπαγω). He had spoken of his heavenly destiny (John 7:33). Jesus alone knew his personal consciousness of his coming from, fellowship with, and return to the Father. Stier (Words of the Lord Jesus) argues that one might as well say to the sun, if claiming to be the sun, that it was night, because it bore witness of itself. The answer is the shining of the sun.

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Robertson's Word Pictures of the NT

John 8:14

Old Testament

New Testament