The almost unanimous voice of modem criticism pronounces the narrative before us to be no genuine part of the Gospel of John. The section is wanting in the oldest and most trustworthy MSS. of the Gospel, and in several of the most ancient versions. It is passed by without notice in the commentaries... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:1. BUT JESUS WENT UNTO THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. No mention is made of the Mount of Olives in any other passage of the Fourth Gospel, but it is more than once spoken of in the Gospel of Luke as a place to which Jesus was wont to retire at the close of His daily labours in Jerusalem during the Pass... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:2. AND AT DAWN HE CAME AGAIN INTO THE TEMPLE COURTS, AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME UNTO HIM, AND HE SAT DOWN AND TAUGHT THEM. With the return of day Jesus resumed His teaching of the people; and they, on their part, seem to have been powerfully attracted by His words. According to the custom of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:3. AND THE SCRIBES AND THE PHARISEES BRING A WOMAN TAKEN. In adultery; and making her stand. In the midst.... For the ‘Pharisees,' comp. on chap. John 1:24: for the ‘scribes,' on Matthew 7:29. John nowhere else mentions the scribes: they are frequently conjoined with the Pharisees in the earl... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:4. THEY SAY UNTO HIM, TEACHER, THIS WOMAN HATH BEEN TAKEN COMMITTING ADULTERY, IN THE VERY ACT. Not only was the sin grievous: the point is that there was no possibility of denying it. No process of proof was necessary: there was no need to summon witnesses. We may even well believe that the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:5. NOW IN THE LAW MOSES COMMANDED TO STONE SUCH: WHAT THEREFORE SAYEST THOU CONCERNING HER? The words ‘concerning her,' which do not occur in the Authorised Version, but which the best authorities lead us to accept, throw light upon the scene. It is not a mere abstract contrast between Moses... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:6. BUT THIS THEY SAID TEMPTING HIM, THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE WHEREOF TO ACCUSE HIM. In what, it may be asked, did the ‘tempting' lie? The common answer is that, if Jesus pronounced for the sparing of the woman, His enemies would raise an outcry against Him as contradicting Moses; that if, on the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:7. BUT WHEN THEY CONTINUED ASKING HIM, HE LIFTED UP H imself AND SAID UNTO THEM, HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN AMONG YOU, LET HIM BE THE FIRST TO CAST THE STONE UPON HER. The scribes and Pharisees press for an answer. Then Jesus lifted Himself up (as we may well believe) with slow and solemn dignity... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:8. AND AGAIN HE STOOPED DOWN, AND WROTE ON THE GROUND. Jesus returned to His writing on the ground, and left His words to sink into the hearts of His hearers.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:9. BUT THEY, WHEN THEY HEARD IT, WENT OUT ONE BY ONE, BEGINNING AT THE ELDER. It was a correct comment on their state when the words ‘being convicted by their own conscience' found their way into the text. They felt how entirely they had misapprehended the relation in which sinners ought to s... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:10. AND JESUS LIFTED UP HIMSELF AND SAID UNTO HER. WOMAN, WHERE ARE THEY? Did no man condemn thee? The word ‘condemn,' for which it is not possible to substitute another, conveys most imperfectly the sense of the original Greek. The meaning is rather, ‘Doth no man doom thee to the sentence of... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:11. AND SHE SAID. NO MAN, LORD. Her answer is a simple statement of the fact. Perhaps the word ‘Lord' may indicate the deep impression of the greatness of Jesus that had been made upon her mind. AND JESUS SAID, NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE: GO THY WAY; FROM THIS TIME SIN NO MORE. The word ‘I' i... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:12. AGAIN THEREFORE JESUS SPAKE UNTO THEM, SAYING, I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD. The last thirteen verses (chap. John 7:49-52) have been occupied with an account of the impression made by our Lord's words of promise (chap. John 7:37-38). This verse really follows chap. John 7:38, containing a... [ Continue Reading ]
The feast of Tabernacles is closed, and with it the great illumination of the temple-courts, of which the Jews were wont to boast in lofty terms. Starting from this, and from the fact that He is the true light of the world, Jesus reveals more clearly than He had yet done what He Himself is, and by c... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:13. THE PHARISEES THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM, THOU BEAREST WITNESS CONCERNING THYSELF; THY WITNESS IS NOT TRUE. It seems impossible not to believe that we have here a reminiscence of Christ's own words (chap. John 5:31), of which His enemies now take hold, that they may turn them against Himself... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:14. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO THEM, EVEN IF I BEAR WITNESS CONCERNING MYSELF, MY WITNESS IS TRUE: BECAUSE I KNOW WHENCE I CAME, AND WHITHER I GO; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. A little later (John 8:17), Jesus gives an answer similar to the purport of His words in chap. 5... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:15. YE JUDGE AFTER THE FLESH. They had judged Him by mere outward appearance, and according to their own merely human thoughts and wishes. Having formed for themselves without patient study of the Scriptures, and thus without the guidance of the Spirit of God, their conception of Messiah and... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:16. BUT EVEN IF I JUDGE, MY JUDGMENT IS TRUE: BECAUSE I AM NOT ALONE, BUT I AND THE FATHER THAT SENT ME. Because in no action is He alone, even if He judges His judgment is true; it is a _real_ judgment, a judgment corresponding, not to outward appearance, but to the eternal reality of things... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:17. BUT IN YOUR OWN LAW ALSO IT IS WRITTEN THAT THE WITNESS OF TWO MEN IS TRUE. In the very law which they magnified, on which they take their stand, as they accuse Him of breaking the law, and declare that all who follow him are ignorant of the law (chap. John 7:49, etc.), this principle is... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:18. I AM HE THAT BEARETH WITNESS CONCERNING MYSELF, AND THE FATHER THAT SENT ME BEARETH WITNESS CONCERNING ME. In all the Son's witness concerning Himself, it is the Father that beareth witness concerning Him. This is the teaching of chap. 5, and it is easy to see that the witness may with eq... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:19. THEY SAID THEREFORE UNTO HIM, WHERE IS THY FATHER? If He is to add His witness to Thine, let Him appear and bear His testimony. The words are those of men who will not seek to enter into the meaning of the Speaker. As they judge men ‘according to the flesh,' they will go no farther than t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:20. THESE WORDS SPAKE HE IN THE TREASURY, TEACHING IN THE TEMPLE-COURTS: AND NO MAN SEIZED HIM, BECAUSE HIS HOUR WAS NOT YET COME. Again His adversaries were overawed: though He was teaching within the precincts of the temple, in the very place of their power, no one laid hands on Him. The Tr... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:21. HE SAID THEREFORE AGAIN UNTO THEM, I GO, AND YE SHALL SEEK ME, AND IN YOUR SIN YE SHALL DIE: WHITHER I GO, YE CANNOT COME. The conflict of Jesus with His opponents has now passed into a higher stage. It is no longer with the Pharisees merely (John 8:13), but with the Jews (John 8:22). The... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:22. THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID, WILL HE KILL HIMSELF? BECAUSE HE SAITH, WHITHER I GO YE CANNOT COME. Before (chap. John 7:35) their answer had been, Will He go to Gentiles? The change here shows how much farther the conflict has advanced. Will He go to the realms of the dead, they ask, to that d... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:23-24. AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, YE ARE FROM BENEATH; I AM FROM ABOVE: YE ARE OF THIS WORLD; I AM NOT OF THIS WORLD. I SAID THEREFORE UNTO YOU, THAT YE SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS; FOR IF YE SHALL NOT BELIEVE THAT I AM, YE SHALL DIE IN YOUR SINS. The second of these verses is important as fixing the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:25. THEY SAID THEREFORE UNTO HIM, WHO ART THOU? Had they been patient, willing listeners, they would have seen His meaning; but now He _seems_ to them to have left out the one essential _word,_ in thus saying, ‘Except ye shall believe that I am.' What is that word? ‘Who art thou?' The tone of... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:26. I HAVE MANY THINGS TO SPEAK AND TO JUDGE CONCERNING YOU. It is unavailing to speak to them, for they will not believe. Many things has He to speak concerning them, and (since every word regarding them in the condition they had chosen must be one of judgment) to judge also. NEVERTHELESS... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:27. THEY PERCEIVED NOT THAT HE SPAKE TO THEM OF THE FATHER. This statement of the Evangelist is very remarkable; and, as it is so different from anything we might have expected, its importance as a guide and correction is the greater. In this section (beginning at John 8:21) He has not made m... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:28. JESUS THEREFORE SAID, WHEN YE HAVE LIFTED ON HIGH THE SON OF MAN, THEN SHALL YE KNOW THAT I AM, AND THAT OF MYSELF I DO NOTHING; BUT EVEN AS THE FATHER TAUGHT ME, I SPEAK THESE THINGS. They know not the truth now: when through their own deed the Son of man has been raised on high, their e... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:29. AND HE THAT SENT ME IS WITH ME: HE LEFT ME NOT ALONE, BECAUSE I DO ALWAYS THE THINGS THAT ARE PLEASING TO HIM. The words, ‘I heard' (John 8:26), ‘taught' (John 8:28), point back to the past, laying stress on the Divine commission received: they must not be so understood as to exclude a pr... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:30. AS HE SPAKE THESE THINGS, MANY BELIEVED IN HIM. We are not told to what class these belonged. The latter part of the chapter shows how completely ‘the Jews' had hardened themselves: probably therefore these believers mainly belonged to the general body of the hearers, and not (in any larg... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:31. JESUS SAID THEREFORE TO THE JEWS WHICH HAD BELIEVED HIM. The word ‘therefore' closely joins this section with the last. Are we then to regard the Jews of this verse as included in the ‘many' of the last? Certainly not, because of the essential difference between the expressions used in th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:32. AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE. If they shall abide in the word of Jesus, it will be shown that they have begun a true discipleship, and the word in which they abide shall make known to them the truth. So far, there is nothing that these imperfect disciples... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:33. THEY ANSWERED HIM, WE BE ABRAHAM'S SEED, AND HAVE NEVER YET BEEN SLAVES TO ANY ONE: HOW SAYEST THOU, YE SHALL BECOME FREE? The promise ‘shall make you free' cannot but imply that now they have no freedom, but are slaves. This thought they indignantly repel, for they are Abraham's seed! Wh... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:34. JESUS ANSWERED THEM, VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU. EVERY ONE THAT DOETH SIN IS A SLAVE OF SIN. Jesus directs them to a slavery of which they have not thought, slavery to sin. Every one who is living a life of sin is a slave; each act of sin is no mere accident of his life, but a token o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:35. AND THE SLAVE ABIDETH NOT IN THE HOUSE FOR EVER: THE SON ABIDETH FOR EVER. The Jews believed that they were free, the sons of God; and that, as such, they were permanent possessors of His house, and thus permanent recipients of His favour and love, inheritors of eternal life. Not so. In a... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:36. IF THE SON THEREFORE SHALL MAKE YOU FREE, YE SHALL BE FREE INDEED. It is manifestly a special freedom that is here thought of, freedom gained by becoming sons, and thus gaining all that belongs to the position of a son, retaining for ever a connection with the Father's house. One only can... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:37. I KNOW THAT YE ARE ABRAHAM'S SEED; BUT YE SEEK TO KILL ME, BECAUSE MY WORD MAKETH NO WAY IN YOU. Again our Lord takes up their assertion that they are Abraham's seed. He has answered it by a parable: He speaks now in plainer words, repeating their familiar boast, that He may place in stro... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:38. I SPEAK THE THINGS WHICH I HAVE SEEN WITH THE FATHER: DO YE ALSO THEREFORE THE THINGS WHICH YE HEARD FROM THE FATHER. One last exhortation Jesus will offer before entirely giving up these ‘Jews who had believed Him.' His word had entered their heart but had made no way: let them give it f... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:39. THEY ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, ABRAHAM IS OUR FATHER. This answer shows how their minds are closing against the word of Jesus. Had they been willing to recognise the true meaning of ‘the Father' in the first clause (of John 8:38), they might have seen what the same Name implied for them... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:40. BUT NOW YE SEEK TO KILL ME, A MAN THAT HATH SPOKEN TO YOU THE TRUTH, WHICH I HEARD FROM GOD: THIS DID NOT ABRAHAM. The assertions of John 8:37-38 are reiterated, but now with a simple directness that cannot be misunderstood (thus Jesus no longer speaks of ‘the Father' but of God), and wit... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:41. YE DO THE WORKS OF YOUR FATHER. Yet the principle of John 8:39 cannot but be true: certainly they are doing the works _of their father._ THEY SAID TO HIM, WE WERE NOT BORN OF FORNICATION; WE HAVE ONE FATHER, EVEN GOD. The words of Jesus have made two things clear: (1) He is not referring... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:42. JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, IF GOD WERE YOUR FATHER, YE WOULD LOVE ME: FOR FROM GOD I CAME FORTH, AND AM HERE, FOR ALSO I HAVE NOT COME OF MYSELF, BUT HE SENT ME. Again Jesus applies the same principle to test their claim. Were they true children of God, then they would love whomsoever God love... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:43. WHY DO YE NOT KNOW MY SPEECH? BECAUSE YE CANNOT HEAR MY WORD. There is a subtle difference between ‘word' and ‘speech,' the former properly referring to substance, the latter to the form. (Thus in Matthew 26:73, when the same word is used, it is said that Peter's Galilean ‘speech' betraye... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:44. YE ARE OF THE FATHER WHO IS THE DEVIL, AND THE DESIRES OF YOUR FATHER IT IS YOUR WILL TO DO. It seems desirable to preserve in translation the expression ‘the father' (for ‘your' is not found in the Greek), because it seems to be our Lord's design to set this in strongest contrast to the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:45. BUT BECAUSE I SAY THE TRUTH, YE BELIEVE ME NOT. They loved the lie, because their father was a liar, and his desires it was their will to do. Such was their love for falsehood (even as their father ‘stood not in the truth'), that, because Jesus said the truth, they believed Him not. The w... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:46. WHICH OF YOU CONVICTETH ME OF SIN? No charge of sin could any one of them bring home to Him, no responsive consciousness of sin could any one awaken in His breast. These words are implicitly an assertion of His perfect sinlessness; and His enemies are silent. IF I SAY TRUTH, WHY DO YE NO... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:47. HE THAT IS OF GOD HEARETH THE WORDS OF GOD: FOR THIS CAUSE YE HEAR NOT, BECAUSE YE ARE NOT OF GOD. As in John 8:43, the word _hear_ has the meaning _listen to_, so that the thought of receiving and believing is implied. He that is of God, and he alone, thus listens to the words of God: re... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:48. THE JEWS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, SAY WE NOT WELL THAT THOU ART A SAMARITAN, AND HAST A DEMON? To say that Jews were children of the devil seemed an insult, not to themselves only, but to God, whose children they believed themselves to be. No one but a Samaritan, filled with jealous ha... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:49. JESUS ANSWERED, I HAVE NOT A DEMON; BUT I HONOUR MY FATHER, AND YE DO DISHONOUR ME. His answer is A simple denial of the graver accusation of the two, and also such an assertion regarding His thought and purpose as was equivalent to a denial of all such charges. He honours His Father, eve... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:50. BUT I SEEK NOT MY GLORY: THERE IS ONE THAT SEEKETH AND JUDGETH. He will not protest against the dishonour they offer Him: His cause is in the Father's hand. That glory which He seeks not for Himself, the Father seeks to give Him. The Father is deciding, and will decide between His enemies... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:51. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, IF A MAN HAVE KEPT MY WORD, HE SHALL NEVER BEHOLD DEATH. The solemn introductory words indicate that the discourse is taking a higher strain: once before they have been used in this chapter, in John 8:34 (but to a part only of ‘the Jews'), and once again we... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:52-53. THE JEWS SAID UNTO HIM, NOW WE KNOW THAT THOU HAST A DEMON. ABRAHAM DIED, AND THE PROPHETS; AND THOU SAYEST, IF A MAN HAVE KEPT MY WORD, HE SHALL NEVER TASTE OF DEATH. ART THOU GREATER THAN OUR FATHER ABRAHAM, WHO DIED? AND THE PROPHETS DIED: WHOM MAKEST THOU THYSELF? The word ‘now' lo... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:54-55 a . JESUS ANSWERED, IF I GLORIFY MYSELF, MY GLORY IS NOTHING: IT IS MY FATHER THAT GLORIFIETH ME, OF WHOM YE SAY THAT HE IS YOUR GOD, AND HAVE NOT GOT KNOWLEDGE OF HIM. First, Jesus answers the direct question, ‘Whom makest Thou Thyself?' and the general charge of self-exaltation which... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:56. TOUR FATHER ABRAHAM EXULTED THAT HE SHOULD SEE MY DAY; AND HE SAW IT AND REJOICED. This translation, though more exact than that of the Authorised Version, does not fully bring out the meaning of the original. All English renderings of the words (unless they are paraphrases) must be more... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:57. THE JEWS THEREFORE SAID UNTO HIM. THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD, AND HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM? The Jews understand ‘my day' to mean the time of His life; and His knowing that Abraham has witnessed this with joy must certainly imply that He has seen Abraham. How can this be, since He is n... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:58. JESUS SAID UNTO THEM, VERILY, VERILY, SAY UNTO YOU, BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS BORN, I AM. The third occurrence of the solemn formula ‘Verily, verily,' marks the highest point reached by the words of Jesus at this time. The substance of the words is in completest harmony with the form. In the cle... [ Continue Reading ]
John 8:59. THEY TOOK UP STONES THEREFORE THAT THEY MIGHT CAST THEM UPON HIM; BUT JESUS HID HIMSELF, AND WENT FORTH FROM THE TEMPLE-COURTS. The Jews were enraged at what they considered blasphemy, and in their rage they would have stoned Him (compare chap. John 10:31). But His hour was not yet come.... [ Continue Reading ]