CHAPTER VIII. _The story of the woman taken in adultery_, 1-11. _Jesus declares himself the light of the world_, 12. _The Pharisees cavil_, 13. _Jesus answers, and shows his authority_, 14-20. _He delivers a second discourse, in which he convicts them of_ _sin, and foretells their dying in it,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:3. _A WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY_] Some of the popish writers say that her name was _Susanna_; that she was espoused to an old decrepid man, named _Manasseh_; that she died a saint in Spain, whither she had followed St. _James_. These accounts the judicious Calmet properly terms _fables_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:5. _THAT SUCH SHOULD BE STONED_] It is not strictly true that Moses ordered adultery in general to be punished by _stoning_. The law simply says that _the adulterer and the adulteress shall be_ _put to death_. Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22. The rabbins say they were _strangled_. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:6. _THAT THEY MIGHT HAVE TO ACCUSE HIM._] Had our Lord condemned the woman to death, they might have accused him to Pilate, as arrogating to himself the power of life and death, which the Romans had taken away from the Jews; besides, the Roman laws did not condemn an adulteress to be pu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:7. _HE THAT IS WITHOUT SIN_] αναμαρτητος, meaning the same kind of sin, adultery, fornication, c. Kypke has largely proved that the verb αμαρτανειν is used in this sense by the best Greek writers. _LET HIM FIRST CAST A STONE AT HER._] Or, _upon her_, επ αυτη. The Jewish method of ston... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:9. _BEING CONVICTED BY_ THEIR OWN _CONSCIENCE_] So it is likely they were all guilty of similar crimes. _Their own_ is not in the original, and is needless: _being convicted by conscience_ is expressive enough. _BEGINNING AT THE ELDEST_ EVEN _UNTO THE LAST_] Απο των πρεσβυτερων ἑως τω... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:11. _NEITHER DO I CONDEMN THEE_] Bishop _Pearce_ says: "It would have been strange if Jesus, when he was not a _magistrate_, and had not the _witnesses_ before him to examine them, and when she had not been tried and condemned by the law and legal judges, should have taken upon him to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:12. _THEN SPAKE JESUS AGAIN UNTO THEM_] Allowing the story about the woman taken in adultery to be authentic, and to stand here in its proper place, we may consider that our Lord, having begun to teach the people in the temple, was interrupted by the introduction of this woman by the sc... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:13. _THOU BEAREST RECORD_] As if they had said, Dost thou imagine that we shall believe thee, in a matter so important, on thy bare assertion? Had these people attended to the teaching and miracles of Christ, they would have seen that his pretensions to the Messiahship were supported by... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:14. _I KNOW WHENCE I CAME_] I came from God, and am going to God, and can neither do nor say any thing but what leads to and glorifies him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:15. _YE JUDGE AFTER THE FLESH_] Because I appear in the form of _man_, judging from this appearance, ye think I am but a _mere_ _man_-pay attention to my _teaching_ and _miracles_, and ye shall then see that nothing less than infinite wisdom and unlimited power could teach and do what I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:19. _YE NEITHER KNOW ME_, c.] Ye know neither the Messiah, nor the God that sent him. _IF YE HAD KNOWN ME_] If ye had received my teaching, ye would have got such an acquaintance with the nature and attributes of God as ye never could have had, and never can have any other way. That i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:20. _THE TREASURY_] Lightfoot observes, from the rabbins, that the treasury was in what was called the _court of the_ _women_-that there were thirteen chests in it; in the _thirteenth_ only the women were permitted to put their offerings. Probably the other _twelve_ were placed there in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:21. _THEN SAID JESUS AGAIN UNTO THEM_] He had said the same things to them the day before. See John 7:34. _YE SHALL SEEK ME_] When your calamities come upon you, ye shall in vain seek for the help of the Messiah, whom ye now reject, and whom ye shall shortly crucify.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 22. _WILL HE KILL HIMSELF?_] They now understood that he spoke concerning his death; but before, John 7:35, they thought he spoke of going to some of the Grecian provinces, to preach to the dispersed Jews.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 23. _YE ARE FROM BENEATH_] Ye are capable of murder, and of self-murder too, because ye have nothing of God in you. Ye are altogether _earthly, sensual_, and _devilish_. They verified this character in murdering the Lord Jesus; and many of them afterwards, to escape famine, c., _put an end_ to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 25. _WHO ART THOU?_] This marks the indignation of the Pharisees-as if they had said: Who art thou that takest upon thee to deal out threatenings in this manner against us? _JESUS SAITH UNTO THEM, EVEN THE SAME THAT I SAID UNTO YOU FROM_ _the beginning._] Rather, _Just what I have already to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 26. _I HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY AND TO JUDGE OF YOU_] Or, _to_ _speak and to condemn_, c. I could speedily expose all your iniquities-your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 28. _WHEN YE HAVE LIFTED UP_] When ye have crucified me, and thus filled up the measure of your iniquities, ye shall know that I am the _Christ_, by the signs that shall follow; and ye shall know that what I spoke is true, by the judgments that shall follow. _To_ _be lifted up_, is a common mo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _THE FATHER HATH NOT LEFT ME ALONE_] Though ye shalt have power to put me to death, yet this shall not be because he hath abandoned me. No-he is ever with me, because I do that which pleaseth him; and it is his pleasure that I should lay down my life for the salvation of the world. Does no... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _AS HE SPAKE THESE WORDS, MANY BELIEVED ON HIM._] The same sun that hardens the clay softens the wax. This discourse, which proved the savour of death unto death to the _obstinate_ Pharisees, became the savour of life unto life to many of the simple-hearted people.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _IF YE CONTINUE IN MY WORD_] Or, _in this doctrine of_ _mine_. It is not enough to _receive_ God's truth-we must _retain_ and _walk_ in it. And it is only when we receive the truth, love it, keep it, and walk in it, that we are the genuine disciples of Christ.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH_] Shall have a constant _experimental knowledge_ of its power and efficacy. _AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE._] It was a maxim of the Jews, "That no man was free, but he who exercised himself in the meditation of the law." No man is truly free, but he in whose h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _THEY ANSWERED_] That is, the other Jews who had not believed-the carping, cavilling Pharisees already mentioned; for the words cannot be spoken of the simple people who had already believed. See John 8:30. _WERE NEVER IN BONDAGE TO ANY MAN_] This assertion was not only false, but it was... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _WHOSOEVER COMMITTETH SIN IS THE SERVANT OF SIN._] Or, δουλος εστι, c., _is the slave of sin_. This was the slavery of which Christ spoke and deliverance from it, was the _liberty_ which he promised.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _AND THE SERVANT ABIDETH NOT IN THE HOUSE_] Or, rather, _Now the slave abided not in the family_. As if Jesus had said: And now that I am speaking of a _slave_, I will add one thing more, viz. a slave has no _right_ to any part of the _inheritance_ in the family to which he belongs; but t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 37. _MY WORD HATH NO PLACE IN YOU._] Or, _this doctrine of_ _mine hath no place to you_. Ye _hear_ the truths of God, but ye do not _heed_ them: the word of life has no influence over you; and how can it, when you seek to kill me because I proclaim this truth to you? It is a dismal omen when... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 38. _I SPEAK THAT WHICH I HAVE SEEN_] I speak nothing but that unchangeable, eternal truth which I have received from the bosom of God. _YE DO THAT WHICH YE HAVE SEEN_] Instead of εωρακατε, _ye have_ _seen_, I think we should read ηκουσατε, _ye have heard_, on the authority of BCKL, _fifteen_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 39. _IF YE WERE ABRAHAM'S CHILDREN_] _Griesbach_ reads εστε, _ye are_, instead of ητε, _ye were_, on the authority of BDL, _Vulgate, four_ copies of the _Itala; Origen_ and _Augustin_. _YE WOULD DO THE WORKS OF ABRAHAM._] As the son has the nature of his father in him, and naturally imitates... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 41. _YE DO THE DEEDS OF YOUR FATHER._] You have certainly another father than Abraham-one who has instilled his own malignant nature into you; and, as ye seek to murder me for telling you the truth, ye must be the offspring of him who was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the tru... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 42. _IF GOD WERE YOUR FATHER, YE WOULD LOVE ME_] I came from God, and it would be absurd to suppose that you would persecute me if you were under the influence of God. The children of the same father should not murder each other.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 43. _WHY DO YE NOT UNDERSTAND MY SPEECH?_] την λαλιαν την εμην, _This my mode of speaking _- when illustrating spiritual by natural things: λαλια refers to the manner of speaking; λογος, to the matter or subject on which he spoke. For λαλιαν, the _Codex_ _Bezae_ had originally αληθειαν: _why d... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _YE ARE OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL_] Ye are the seed of the old serpent. John 8:37. _THE LUSTS OF YOUR FATHER_] Like father like son. What Satan desires, ye desire; because ye are filled with his nature. Awful state of unregenerate men! They have the nearest alliance to Satan; they partake... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 46. _WHICH OF YOU CONVINCETH ME OF SIN?_] Do you pretend to reject the truths which I announce, because my life does not correspond to the doctrines I have taught? But can any of you prove me guilty of any fault? You have maliciously watched all my steps; have you seen the smallest matter to r... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _HE THAT IS OF GOD_] Meaning probably himself: he who came from God, or was born of God-heareth the words of God-has the constant inspiration of his Spirit, speaks nothing but truth, and cannot possibly err.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 48. _THOU ART A SAMARITAN_] This was the same, among them, as _heretic_, or _schismatic_, among us. This is the only time in which the Jews gave our Lord this title of reproach; and they probably grounded it on his having preached among them, and lodged in their villages. See the account in Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 49. _I HAVE NOT A DEVIL_] The first part of the charge was too futile: if taken literally, it was both absurd and impossible; they did not believe it themselves, and therefore our Lord does not stop a moment to refute it; but he answers to the second with the utmost meekness and conclusiveness... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 50. _I SEEK NOT MINE OWN GLORY_] Another proof that I am not influenced by any spirit but that which proceeds from God. But there is _one that seeketh_-i.e. my glory-_and judgeth_-will punish you for your determined obstinacy and iniquity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 51. _SHALL NEVER SEE DEATH._] As Moses promised a long life, with abundance of temporal blessings, to those who should keep his statutes and ordinances, so he who keeps my doctrine shall not only have a long life, but shall never see death-he shall never come under the power of the death of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 54. _YOUR GOD_] Many MSS. and most of the versions read ημων, _our_, instead of υμων. The variation is of very little consequence. They called God their God, while enemies to him both in their spirit and conduct.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:56. _ABRAHAM REJOICED TO SEE MY DAY_] Or, _he earnestly_ _desired to see my day_; ηγαλλιασατο, from αγαν, _very much_, and αλλομαι, _I leap _- his soul leaped forward in earnest hope and strong expectation that he might see the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The metaphor appears to be tak... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:57. _THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD_] Some MSS. read _forty_. The age of our blessed Lord has never been properly determined. Some of the primitive fathers believed that he was _fifty_ years old when he was crucified; but their foundation, which is no other than these words of the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:58. _BEFORE ABRAHAM WAS, I AM._] The following is a literal translation of Calmet's note on this passage:-"I am from all eternity. I have existed before all ages. You consider in me only the person who speaks to you, and who has appeared to you within a particular time. But besides this... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse John 8:59. _THEN TOOK THEY UP STONES_, c.] It appears that the Jews understood him as asserting his _Godhead_ and, supposing him to be a blasphemer, they proceeded to _stone him_, according to the law. Leviticus 24:16. _BUT JESUS HID HIMSELF_] In all probability he rendered himself _invisible... [ Continue Reading ]