John 8

John 8:1

F. The Woman Taken in Adultery (8:1-11) 8:1 This verse is closely linked with the last verse of chapter 7. The connection is better seen by putting the two verses together as follows: And everyone went to his own house, but Jesus went to the mount of Olives. The Lord had truly said, Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.8:2 The Mount of Olives was not far away from the temple. Early in the morning, the Lord Jesus walked down the side of Olivet, crossed the Kidron Valley, and climbed back up into the city, where the temple was located. All the people came to Him, and He sat down and taught them. 8:3 The scribes (a group of men who copied and taught the Scriptures) and the Pharisees were anxious to trick the Lord Jesus into saying something wrong so that they would have some charge to bring against Him. They had just brought … a woman caught in the very act of adultery, and they made her stand in the middle of the crowd, probably facing Jesus. 8:4 The accusation of adultery was made against this woman, and it was doubtless true. There is no reason to question that she was caught while committing this terrible sin. But where was the man? Too often in life women have been punished when men who were also guilty have gone free. 8:5 The trick was now clear. They wanted the Lord to contradict the Law of Moses. If they could succeed in doing that, then they could turn the common people against Jesus. They reminded the Lord that Moses, in the law commanded that a person taken in the act of adultery should be stoned to death. For their own wicked purposes, the Pharisees hoped the Lord would disagree, and so they asked Him what He had to say on the subject. They thought that justice and the Law of Moses demanded that she should be made an example. As Darby says: It comforts and quiets the depraved heart of man if he can only find a person worse than himself: he thinks the greater sin of another excuses himself; and while accusing and vehemently blaming another, he forgets his own evil. He thus rejoices in iniquity. 8:6 They had no real charge against the Lord and were trying to manufacture one. They knew that if He let the woman go free, He would be opposing the Law of Moses and they would accuse Him of being unjust. If, on the other hand, He condemned the woman to death, then they might use this to show that He was an enemy of the Roman government, and they might also say that He was not merciful. Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger. There is absolutely no way of knowing what He wrote. Many people are quite confident that they know, but the simple fact of the matter is that the Bible does not tell us. 8:7 Dissatisfied, the Jews kept insisting that He make some reply. So Jesus simply stated that the penalty of the law should be carried out, but that it should be done by those who had committed no sin. Thus the Lord upheld the Law of Moses. He did not say that the woman should be free from the penalty of the law. But what He did do was to accuse every one of these men of having sinned themselves. Those who wish to judge others should be pure themselves. This verse is often used to excuse sin. The attitude is that we are free from blame because everyone else has done things that are wrong. But this verse does not excuse sin. Rather, it condemns those who are guilty even though they have never been caught. 8:8 Once again the Savior stooped down and wrote on the ground. These are the only recorded instances of the Lord Jesus writing anything, and what He wrote has long since been erased from the earth. 8:9 Those who accused the woman were convicted by their conscience. They had nothing else to say. They began to go away, one by one. They were all guilty, from the oldest to the youngest. Jesus was left alone, with the woman standing nearby. 8:10 In wonderful grace, the Lord Jesus pointed out to the woman that all her accusers had vanished. They were nowhere to be found. There was not a single person in the entire crowd who dared to condemn her. 8:11 The word Lord here probably means Sir. When the woman said, No one, Sir, the Lord uttered those wonderful words, Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more. The Lord did not claim to have civil authority in such a matter. This power was vested in the Roman government, and He left it there. He neither condemned nor pardoned her. That was not His function at this time. But He did issue a warning to her that she should refrain from sinning. In the first chapter of John, we learned that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Here was an example of that. In the words neither do I condemn you, we have an example of grace; the words go, and sin no more are words of truth. The Lord did not say, Go, and sin as little as possible. Jesus Christ is God, and His standard is absolute perfection. He cannot approve of sin in any degree. And so He sets before her the perfect standard of God Himself.

John 8:12

G. Jesus the Light of the World (8:12-20) 8:12 The scene now shifts to the treasury of the temple (see v. 20). A multitude was still following Him. He turned to them and made one of the many grand statements as to His Messiahship. He said, I am the light of the world. Naturally speaking, the world is in the darkness of sin, ignorance, and aimlessness. The light of the world is Jesus. Apart from Him, there is no deliverance from the blackness of sin. Apart from Him, there is no guidance along the way of life, no knowledge as to the real meaning of life and the issues of eternity. Jesus promised that anyone following Him would not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. To follow Jesus means to believe on Him. Many people have the mistaken idea that they can live as Jesus lived without ever being born again. To follow Jesus means to come to Him in repentance, to trust Him as Lord and Savior, and then to commit one’s whole life to Him. Those who do this have guidance in life and clear and bright hope beyond the grave. 8:13 The Pharisees now challenged Jesus on a legal point. They reminded Him that He was testifying concerning Himself. A person’s own testimony was not considered sufficient because the average human being is biased. The Pharisees did not mind casting doubt on the words of Jesus. In fact they doubted that they were true at all. 8:14 The Lord recognized that usually it was necessary to have two or three witnesses. But in His case, His witness was absolutely true because He is God. He knew that He had come from heaven and was going back to heaven. But they did not know where He had come from and where He was going. They thought He was just another man like themselves and would not believe that He was the eternal Son, equal with the Father. 8:15 The Pharisees judged others by outward appearances and according to merely human standards. They looked upon Jesus as the Carpenter of Nazareth and never stopped to think that He was different from any other man who ever lived. The Lord Jesus said that He judged no one. This may mean that He did not judge men according to worldly standards, like the Pharisees did. Or more probably it means that His purpose in coming into the world was not to judge people but to save them. 8:16 If the Lord were to judge, His judgment would be righteous and true. He is God and everything He does is done in partnership with the Father who sent Him. Over and over again, the Lord Jesus emphasized to the Pharisees His unity with God the Father. It was this that stirred up in their hearts the bitterest antagonism toward Him. 8:17, 18 The Lord acknowledged that the testimony of two witnesses was required by the Law of Moses. Nothing He had said was intended to deny that fact. If they insisted on having two witnesses, it was not difficult for Him to produce them. First of all, He bore witness of Himself by His sinless life and by the words that came out of His mouth. Secondly, the Father bore witness to the Lord Jesus by His public statements from heaven and by the miracles which He gave the Lord to do. Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the OT concerning the Messiah, and yet in face of this strong evidence, the Jewish leaders were unwilling to believe. 8:19 The Pharisees’ next question was doubtless spoken in scorn. Perhaps they looked around the crowd as they said, Where is Your Father? Jesus answered by telling them that they neither recognized who He truly was nor did they know His Father. Of course, they would have denied vigorously any such ignorance of God. But it was true nonetheless. If they had received the Lord Jesus, they would have known His Father also. But no one can know God the Father except through Jesus Christ. Thus, their rejection of the Savior made it impossible for them to honestly claim that they knew and loved God. 8:20 Here we learn that the scene of the previous verses was in the treasury of the temple. Again the Lord is surrounded by divine protection, and no one is able to lay hands on Him to arrest Him or kill Him. His hour had not yet come. His hour refers to the time when He would be crucified at Calvary to die for the sins of the world.

John 8:21

H. The Jews’ Debate with Jesus (8:21-59) 8:21 Again Jesus showed perfect knowledge of the future. He told His critics He was going awayreferring not only to His death and burial, but to His resurrection and ascension back into heaven. The Jewish people would continue to seek for the Messiah, not realizing that He had already visited them and that they had rejected Him. Because of their rejection, they would die in their sin (sin is singular in Greek and in NKJV). This would mean that they would be forever prevented from entering heaven, where the Lord was going. It is a solemn truth! Those who refuse to accept the Lord Jesus have no hope of heaven. How dreadful to die in one’s sins, without God, without Christ, without hope forever! 8:22 The Jews did not understand that the Lord spoke of going back to heaven. What did He mean by going away? Did He mean that He would escape from their plot to kill Him by committing suicide? It was strange that they should think this. If He were to kill Himself, there would be nothing to prevent them from doing the same and following Him in death. But it was just another example of the darkness of unbelief. It seems amazing that they could be so dull and ignorant of what the Savior was saying! 8:23 Doubtless thinking of their foolish reference to suicide, the Lord told them that they were from beneath. This meant that they had a very low outlook on things. They could not rise above the literal things of time and sense. They had no spiritual understanding. In contrast, Christ was from above. His thoughts, words, and deeds were heavenly. All that they did savored of this world, whereas His whole life told that He came from a purer land than this world. 8:24 Jesus often used repetition for emphasis. Here He solemnly warned them again that they would die in their sins. If they steadfastly refused to believe on Him, there was no alternative. Apart from the Lord Jesus, there is no way to obtain forgiveness of sins, and those who die with sins unforgiven cannot possibly enter heaven at last. The word He is not found in this verse in the original, though it may be implied. It reads literally: If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. We see in the words I am another claim to deity by the Lord Jesus. 8:25 The Jews were completely perplexed by the teachings of the Lord Jesus. They asked Him pointedly who He was. Perhaps they meant this in sarcasm, as if to say, Who do You think You are, that You should speak to us in this way? Or perhaps they were really anxious to hear what He would say concerning Himself. His answer is worthy of note: Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. He was the promised Messiah. The Jews had heard Him say so frequently, but their stubborn hearts refused to bow to the truth. But His answer can have another meaningthe Lord Jesus was exactly what He preached. He did not say one thing and do another. He was the living embodiment of all that He taught. His life agreed with His teaching. 8:26 The meaning of verse 26 is not clear. It seems the Lord was saying that there were many additional things He could say and judge concerning these unbelieving Jews. He could expose the wicked thoughts and motives of their hearts. However, He was obediently speaking only those things which the Father had given Him to speak. And since the Father is true, He is worthy to be believed and listened to. 8:27 The Jews did not understand at this point that He was speaking to them of God the Father. It seems that their minds were becoming more clouded all the time. Previously when the Lord Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, they had realized He was claiming equality with God the Father. But not so anymore. 8:28 Again Jesus prophesied what was going to happen. First of all, the Jews would lift up the Son of Man. This refers to His death by crucifixion. After they had done that, they would know that He was the Messiah. They would know it by the earthquake and by the darkness, but, most of all, by His bodily resurrection from the dead. Notice carefully the words of the Lord, Then you will know that I am. Here, again, the word He is not in the original. The deeper meaning is, Then you will know that I am God. Then they would understand He did nothing from Himself, that is, by His own authority. Rather, He came into the world as the dependent One, speaking only those things which the Father had taught Him to say. 8:29, 30 The Lord’s relationship with God the Father was very intimate. Each of these expressions was a claim to equality with God. Throughout all of His earthly ministry, the Father was with Him. At no time was Jesus left alone. At all times He did the things that were pleasing to God. These words could only be spoken by a sinless Being. No one born of human parents could ever truthfully utter those words, I always do those things that please Him. Too often we do the things that please ourselves. Sometimes we are prompted to please our fellow men. Only the Lord Jesus was completely taken up with the desire to do the things that were well-pleasing to God. As He spoke these wonderful words, Jesus found that many professed to believe on Him. Doubtless some were genuine in their faith. Others might only have been prompted to give lip service to the Lord. 8:31 Then Jesus made a distinction between those who are disciples and those who are disciples indeed. A disciple is anyone who professes to be a learner, but a disciple indeed is one who has definitely committed himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are true believers have this characteristicthey abide in His Word. This means that they continue in the teachings of Christ. They do not turn aside from Him. True faith always has the quality of permanence. They are not saved by abiding in His Word, but they abide in His Word because they are saved. 8:32 The promise is made to every true disciple that he shall know the truth, and the truth shall make him free. The Jews did not know the truth, and they were in a terrible form of bondage. They were in the bondage of ignorance, error, sin, law, and superstition. Those who truly know the Lord Jesus are delivered from sin, they walk in the light, and are led by the Holy Spirit of God. 8:33 Some of the Jews who were standing by heard the Lord’s reference to being made free. They resented it immediately. They boasted of their descent from Abraham and said that they had never been in bondage. But this was not true. Israel had been in bondage to Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and now Rome. But even more than that, even while they still spoke with the Lord Jesus they were in bondage to sin and to Satan. 8:34 It is evident that the Lord was speaking about the bondage of sin. He reminded His Jewish listeners that whoever practices sin is a slave of sin. These Jews pretended to be very religious, but the truth of the matter was that they were dishonest, irreverent, and soon to be murderersfor even now they were plotting the death of the Son of God. 8:35 Jesus next compared the relative positions in the house of a slave and a son. The slave did not have any assurance that he would live there forever; whereas the son was at home in the house. Whether the word Son applies to the Son of God or whether it applies to those who become children of God by faith in Christ, it is clear that the Lord Jesus was telling these Jews that they were not sons, but slaves who could be put out at any time. 8:36 There is no question that the word Son in this verse refers to Christ Himself. Those who are made free by Him are made free indeed. This means that when a person comes to the Savior and receives eternal life from Him, that person is freed from the slavery of sin, legalism, superstition, and demonism. 8:37 The Lord acknowledged that, as far as physical lineage was concerned, these Jews were Abraham’s descendants (literally seed). But it was evident they were not of the spiritual seed of Abraham. They were not godly men like Abraham was. They sought to kill the Lord Jesus because His teachings had no place in them. This means that they did not allow the words of Christ to take effect in their lives. They resisted His doctrines and would not yield to Him. 8:38 The things Jesus taught them were things He had been commissioned by His Father to speak. He and His Father were so completely one that the words He spoke were the words of God the Father. The Lord Jesus perfectly represented His Father while here on the earth. In contrast, the Jews did those things which they had learned from their father. The Lord Jesus did not mean their literal, earthly father, but rather the devil. 8:39 Once again the Jews claimed kinship to Abraham. They boasted in the fact that Abraham was their father. However, the Lord Jesus pointed out that although they were Abraham’s descendants [seed] (v. 37), they were not his children. Usually children look, walk, and talk like their parents. But not so with these Jews. Their lives were the opposite of Abraham’s. Though descendants of Abraham according to the flesh, yet morally they were children of the devil. 8:40 The Lord proceeded to give a very clear example of the difference between them and Abraham. Jesus had come into the world, speaking to them nothing but the truth. They were offended and stumbled over His teaching, and so tried to kill Him. Abraham did not do this. He took his place on the side of truth and righteousness. 8:41 It was very clear who their father was because they acted just like him. They did the deeds of their father, that is, the devil. The Jews may well have been accusing the Lord of being born of fornication. But many Bible students see in the word fornication a reference to idolatry. The Jews were saying that they had never committed spiritual adultery. They had always been true to God. He is the only One they ever acknowledged as their Father. 8:42 The Lord showed the falseness of their claim by reminding them that if they loved God, they would love Him whom God had sent. It is foolish for anyone to claim to love God and at the same time to hate the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said He proceeded forth … from God. This meant that He was the eternally begotten Son of God. There was no particular time at which He was born the Son of God, but this relationship of Son to the Father existed from all eternity. He also reminded them that He came from God. Obviously, He was here stating His pre-existence. He dwelt in heaven with the Father long before He ever appeared on this earth. But the Father sent Him into the world to be the Savior of the world, and so He came as the obedient One. 8:43 There is a difference in verse 43 between speech and word. Christ’s word referred to the things He taught. His speech referred to the words with which He expressed His truths. They could not even understand His speech. When He spoke of bread, they thought only of literal bread. When He spoke of water, they never connected it with spiritual water. Why was it that they could not understand His speech? It was because they were unwilling to tolerate His teachings. 8:44 Now the Lord Jesus came out openly and told them that the devil was their father. This did not mean that they had been born of the devil in the way believers are born of God. Rather, it meant, as Augustine said, that they were children of the devil by imitation. They showed their relationship to the devil by living the way he lived. The desires of your father you want to do expresses the intention or tendency of their hearts. The devil was a murderer from the beginning. He brought death to Adam and the whole human race. Not only was he a murderer, but was a liar as well. He did not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he told a lie, he was merely speaking from his own resources. Lies formed a part of his very existence. He is a liar and the father of lies. The Jews imitated the devil in these two ways. They were murderers because the intention of their hearts was to kill the Son of God. They were liars because they said that God was their Father. They pretended to be godly, spiritual men, but their lives were wicked. 8:45 Those who give themselves over to lying seem to lose the capacity for discerning the truth. Here stood the Lord Jesus before these men, and he had always spoken the truth. Yet they would not believe Him. This showed that their real character was wicked. Lenski puts it well: When it meets the truth, the corrupted mind seeks only objections; when it meets what differs from this truth, it sees and seeks reasons for accepting this difference. 8:46 Only Christ, the sinless Son of God, could ever truly utter words like these. There was not a person in the world who could convict Him of a single sin. There was no defect in His character. He was perfect in all His ways. He spoke only words of truth, and yet they would not believe Him. 8:47 If a man really loves God, he will hear and obey God’s words. The Jews showed by their rejection of the Savior’s message that they did not really belong to God. It is clear from verse 47 that the Lord Jesus claimed to speak the very words of God. There could be no misunderstanding of this. 8:48 Once again the Jews resorted to abusive language, because they could not answer the words of the Lord Jesus in any other way. In calling Him a Samaritan, they senselessly used an ethnic slur. It was as if they said that He was not a pure Jew, but was an enemy of Israel. Also, they accused Him of having a demon. By this they doubtless meant that He was insane. To them, only a man out of his mind would ever make the claims which Jesus had been making. 8:49 Notice the even-tempered way in which Jesus answered His enemies. His teachings were not the words of one who had a demon, but rather of One who sought to honor God the Father. It was for this they were dishonoring Him, not because He was crazy, but because He was completely taken up with the interests of His Father in heaven. 8:50 They should have known that at no time did he seek His own glory. All He did was calculated to bring glory to His Father. Even though He accused them of dishonoring Him, that did not mean that He was seeking His own glory. Then the Lord added the words, There is One who seeks and judges. This One referred, of course, to God. God the Father would seek glory for His beloved Son, and would judge all of those who failed to give Him this glory. 8:51 Again we have one of those majestic sayings of the Lord Jesus, words which could only be uttered by One who was God Himself. The words are introduced by the familiar emphatic expression Most assuredly, I say to you. Jesus promised that if anyone keeps His Word, that person shall never see death. This cannot refer to physical death because many believers in the Lord Jesus die each day. The reference is to spiritual death. The Lord was saying that those who believe on Him are delivered from eternal death and shall never suffer the pangs of hell. 8:52 The Jews were now more convinced than ever that Jesus was mad. They reminded Him that Abraham and the prophets were all dead. Yet He had said that if anyone kept His Word he would never taste death. How can these things be reconciled? 8:53 They realized the Lord was actually claiming to be greater than their father Abraham and the prophets. Abraham never delivered anyone from death, and he could not deliver himself from death. Neither could the prophets. Yet here was One who claimed to be able to deliver His fellow men from death. He must consider Himself greater than the fathers. 8:54 The Jews thought Jesus was seeking to attract attention to Himself. Jesus reminded them that this was not the case. It was the Father who was honoring Him, the very God they professed to love and serve. 8:55 The Jews said that God was their Father, but actually they did not know Him. Yet here they were speaking with One who did know God the Father, One who was equal with Him. They wanted Jesus to deny His equality with the Father, but He said that if He did this, He would be a liar. He knew God the Father and obeyed His word. 8:56 Since the Jews insisted on bringing Abraham into the argument, the Lord reminded them that Abraham had looked forward to the day of the Messiah, and he had actually seen it by faith, and was glad. The Lord Jesus was saying that He was the One to whom Abraham looked forward. Abraham’s faith rested in the coming of Christ. When did Abraham see Christ’s day? Perhaps it was when he took Isaac to Mount Moriah to offer him as a burnt offering to God. The whole drama of the Messiah’s death and resurrection was acted out at that time, and it is possible that Abraham saw it by faith. Thus the Lord Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the OT concerning the Messiah. 8:57 Once again the Jews revealed their inability to understand divine truth. Jesus had said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day, but they answered as though He had said that He had seen Abraham. There is a great difference here. The Lord Jesus claimed for Himself a position greater than Abraham. He was the Object of Abraham’s thoughts and hopes. Abraham looked forward by faith to Christ’s day. The Jews could not understand this. They reasoned that Jesus was not yet fifty years old. (Actually He was only about thirty-three years of age at this time.) How could He have seen Abraham? 8:58 The Lord Jesus here made another clear claim to be God. He did not say, Before Abraham was, I was. That might simply mean that He came into existence before Abraham. Rather, He used the Name of God: I AM. The Lord Jesus had dwelt with God the Father from all eternity. There was never a time when He came into being, or when He did not exist.

Therefore He said, Before Abraham was, I AM.8:59 At once the Jews attempted to put Jesus to death, but He hid Himself and went out of the temple. The Jews understood exactly what Jesus meant when He said, Before Abraham was, I AM. He was claiming to be Jehovah! It was for this reason they sought to stone Him, because to them this was blasphemy. They were unwilling to accept the fact that the Messiah was standing in their midst. They would not have Him to reign over them!