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THE PENTATEUCH

GENESIS ---EXODUS--- LEVITICUS 1.1-7.38 --- 8.1-11.47 --- 12.1-16.34--- 17.1-27.34--- NUMBERS 1-10--- 11-19--- 20-36--- DEUTERONOMY 1.1-4.44 --- 4.45-11.32 --- 12.1-29.1--- 29.2-34.12 --- THE BOOK OF JOSHUA --- THE BOOK OF JUDGES --- PSALMS 1-17--- ECCLESIASTES --- ISAIAH 1-5 --- 6-12 --- 13-23 --- 24-27 --- 28-35 --- 36-39 --- 40-48 --- 49-55--- 56-66--- EZEKIEL --- DANIEL 1-7 ---DANIEL 8-12 ---

NAHUM--- HABAKKUK---ZEPHANIAH ---ZECHARIAH --- THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW ---THE GOSPEL OF MARK--- THE GOSPEL OF LUKE --- THE GOSPEL OF JOHN --- THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES --- 1 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-16 --- 2 CORINTHIANS 1-7 --- 8-13 -- -GALATIANS --- EPHESIANS --- COLOSSIANS --- 1 THESSALONIANS --- 2 THESSALONIANS --- 1 TIMOTHY --- 2 TIMOTHY --- TITUS --- HEBREWS 1-6 --- 7-10 --- 11-13 --- JAMES --- JOHN'S LETTERS --- REVELATION

--- THE GOSPELS

Jesus - The Light of the World and the ‘I am’ (John 8.12-59)

Jesus the Light of the World (John 8.12-20)

8.12 ‘Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life”.’

‘Spoke to them’ refers to the large crowd in 7.43. The controversy with the Pharisees continues. Jesus declares openly, while speaking to the crowds in the Temple treasury (presumably the place where the large collecting boxes were in the court of the women - v.20), ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life’. This is His second distinctive ‘I am’ saying. His first was ‘I am the bread of life’ (6.35). Here then is the One Who brings the ‘life which is the light of men’ (1.4), Who shines in the darkness (1.5) and is the true light which lightens every man (1.9).

These statements were specifically drawing attention to His uniqueness as God’s revelation and source of life to man, and could not be ignored. Others would speak of the Scriptures as ‘a light’ (Psalm 119.105) to lead men into faith and truth. He speaks of Himself as the light. It compares with the way He could say ‘but I say to you’ in the Matthew 5.22 etc., a claim to unique authority.

The mention of ‘light’ at this particular feast is significant. The feast was a reminder of the journey through the wilderness under Moses, and a great lampstand of fiery flames would be erected in the Temple and the whole Temple illuminated as a reminder of the pillar of fire that illuminated the way for the people of Israel at that time. The pillar of fire was Israel’s light on the way to freedom, and the pillar of fire represented God Himself. Jesus is now saying that He is that light, leading men to safety and a new life.

He is claiming uniquely to present men with truth and understanding, both about God and about themselves, shining in their hearts with the truth of God. His own life will act as a light to show men that truth, and with His teaching will lead them ‘out of darkness into His most marvellous light’ (1 Peter 2.9). Men’s sins will be revealed in that light, and some will turn away from them and begin to live lives approved by God (John 3.19-21). Thus will they find life through faith in Him.

But His life and teaching also reveal His own glory, so that we behold His glory, the glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1.14). We see ‘the light of the good news of the glory of Christ who is the image of God’ (2 Corinthians 4.4). And as we see this light it will shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God Himself in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4.6). No one has ever seen God, but the only Son, Who came from intimate closeness with the Father Himself, makes Him known (John 1.18). So through Him as the light, God is revealed as never before to those whose eyes are opened.

These amazing benefits are available to all who follow Him and receive from Him ‘the light of life’ by responding to His words and receiving the work of the Spirit in their hearts (John 6.63). This life will illuminate them so that they see His glory and come to know Him for what He is, and gain a new awareness of God. They will receive a totally new moral outlook, as His light shines in their hearts. But conversely, those who do not respond will fail to see.

Again we are reminded of those words, “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death on them has the light shined’ (Isaiah 9.2), and as we have seen this is connected with Galilee (Isaiah 9.1). Originally 8.12 came directly after 7.52. This is Jesus reply to that denial that a prophet could arise out of Galilee.

8.13 ‘The Pharisees therefore said to him, “You bear witness of yourself, your witness is not true”.’

The Pharisees recognise the enormity of His claim, and reply, ‘You testify about yourself. What you say is not true’. They are no doubt appalled. Their prejudice has prevented them from giving fair consideration to His life and teaching and they therefore fall back on claiming that what a man says about himself carries no weight. Their Rabbinic law of evidence stated that a man’s own testimony to himself was invalid.

8.14a ‘Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I do bear witness of myself, my witness is true, for I know from where I came and where I am going”.’

Jesus replies that in His case the general principle is not true. This is because ‘I know where I have come from and where I am going’. This makes Him a special case. As the heavenly Son of Man (John 3.13), who has come from Heaven and will return to Heaven, He has authority to testify about Himself. None would doubt that the Messiah could so speak.

8.14b-15 “But you do not know from where I come and where I am going. You judge after the flesh, I judge no man”.’

They are not in a position to judge His testimony for they judge only ‘according to the flesh’. They are unable to enter Heaven and they are unaware of Who He is or where He has come from. That is why they see only a man like themselves, which invalidates their judgment.

‘I am not (at present) judging anyone’ (v.15) . At present Jesus will not pass judgment, even on the Pharisees. There is still chance for them to open their eyes and see The heavenly court is in abeyance, waiting to see who will respond to Jesus, and who will turn away. The light is here and men will pass judgment on themselves, depending on how they respond (John 3.17-21).

The adulterous woman was a good example of this. His time to pass final judgment is future. For now He shines as a light in the world, and some come to Him aware that their sins are judged and forgiven.

8.16 “Yes, and even if I were to judge my judgment would be true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me” (v.16).

But if he were to judge, His judgments would be accurate and just. His relationship with the Father is so close that any judgment He did make would be in association with the Father. Thus it would be totally reliable.

8.17-18 “Yes, and in your Law it is written that the witness of two men is true, I am he who bears witness of myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness of me.”

He points out that the law of Moses says that the testimony of two men is true (Deuteronomy 17.6; 19.15). Well, He can give them two witnesses, Himself, and His Father Who sent Him.

8.19a ‘They therefore said to him, “Where is your Father?” ’

Their reply to this is, ‘where is your father?’. They are possibly trying to blur the issue in terms of His earthly father, or perhaps they are confused, but it enables Him to press home His message.

Throughout the Gospel John uses the misunderstanding of men to act as a platform to bring out the truth, and this is but another example of it. He says he has two witnesses, well, where is the other one? Let them see him so that they can judge for themselves.

8.19b ‘You do not know either me or my Father, if you knew me you would know my Father also’.

Their failure to see what He meant is significant. It shows that they are blind. Furthermore it shows that with all their claim to special knowledge they do not know God, and that this is the real reason that they fail to recognise Him. For as the light of the world He has come to reveal the Father. If they would but come to see Him for what He is and respond to Him, then they would come to know the Father too.

8.20 ‘These words he spoke in the treasury as he taught in the Temple, and no man arrested him because his hour was not yet come.’

‘In the treasury’, that is in the Court of the Women where there were thirteen trumpet shaped boxes to receive offerings.

‘No man arrested him.’ This brings out the constant threat of arrest that Jesus is under. All He says is in the light of that threat. Yet they seem powerless to act against Him. This is because God is in control. His hour, the hour of His death, has not yet come. His oneness with His Father also ensures His safety until that hour.

Jesus Is From Above (John 12.21-30)

8.21 ‘He said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will search for me and die in your sin, for where I am going you cannot come”.’

‘He said therefore again --’. We do not know how long after the previous verses He spoke these words.

There is a strange pathos to them. Jesus is going away, as He knows, to Heaven via the cross. They will go on searching for eternal life and for a Messiah from God, but will die in their sin, because unknowingly they have rejected the source of eternal life, and the true Messiah. Because they will not come to Him they can never go where He is going.

8.22 ‘The Judaisers therefore said, “Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, ‘where I am going you cannot come’?”

Jesus’ statement ‘where I am going you cannot come’ makes them ask themselves whether He is intending to kill Himself. This is pointed irony. Even while they are seeking His death they avoid the issue even among themselves. Do they really think He does not know what their aims are?

8.23-24 ‘And he said to them “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. That is why I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am you will die in your sins”.’

He now faces them with the central issue. He is totally different from them. They are from below. They have no knowledge or experience of where God dwells. In contrast to them He is from above, He is not of this world. This is what they need to recognise. The phrase ‘from above’ reflects Psalms 18.16; 144.7. It is the abode of God and His power.

That is why He has stated that they are without hope, because they will not recognise Him for what He is, as the ‘I am’. This phrase ‘I am’ (used again specifically and unequivocally in v.58) was the Name that God revealed to Moses and was the root of the divine name Yahweh (Exodus 3.14). This is why in Isaiah 43.10 God says, ‘that you may know and believe and understand that I am’. Jesus almost certainly has this verse in mind.

They must accept His otherness, and His power to act, and His eternal being, if they wish to be have eternal life. (See also Isaiah 41.4; 43.13; 46.4; 48.12). At this stage, however, the phrase is not unequivocal and is thus not seen as provocative.

‘You will die in your sins.’ Compare Ezekiel 3.18 where these words are used. The Pharisees’ total aim was so to live as to conquer sin. They strove manfully to do this, seeking to fulfil hundreds of requirements in order to attempt to do so, hoping eventually to rise above their sins. But Jesus warns them that unless they know Him they can only be unsuccessful. What they are striving for will be in vain.

8.25a ‘They therefore said to him, “Who are you?” ’

His statement brings them up short. ‘Who are you?’ they ask. Is the statement one of awed curiosity, or of angry cynicism? Possibly a little of both could be found among the questioners, for some were willing to give His words consideration (see verse 31).

8.25b ‘Jesus said to them, “Even that which I have told you right from the start”.’

(The words can actually be translated either ‘even what I have told you from the beginning’ or ‘why do I talk to you at all?’. Either is possible but the former seems more likely, although in context both mean the same). By now He considers they should be aware of the truth about Him. But He know they are still arguing because they hope that He will fall into a trap. To this point His words, while clear, have not taken Him beyond the pale, and they need something that will be incontrovertible.

8.26 “I have much to say about you and much to pass judgment on. However he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world”.’

He no longer sees any hope of their response to His teaching. There is a lot He could say about them which is not to their credit. There is much He needs to show up about their attitudes and teaching. However, He will not do so now. ‘But he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him’. They will not listen but the world is waiting for the truth, and what He would like to say about His antagonists must give place to His message from the One Who is true to the world at large.

8.27 ‘They did not perceive that he spoke to them of the Father.’

John comments, ‘they did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father’. Like Jesus he is exasperated at their failure to listen to what Jesus was saying. It is one of the characteristics of all ages that men listen, and then hear what they want to hear, rather than listening with hearts open to learn the truth.

8.28 So Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing of myself but say just what my Father has taught me’.

The phrase ‘lifted up’ occurs a number of times in John’s Gospel. In John 3.14 it refers to His crucifixion, but must contain the seeds of His glorification, for His lifting up will offer eternal life to those who believe in Him. In John 12.32 it is specifically stated to also refer to His crucifixion, but again must include the idea of His glorification, for how else could He draw all men to Him? Thus here it is probably intended again to include both, while considering mainly the latter.

The words are general and not specific. Their main significance is for believers. It is they who will know that Jesus is the ‘I am’, and that He reflected His Father’s will. So His death will be a triumph because for many it will result in belief and understanding. But the Pharisees will know in a more general sense when they see the impact of His death and resurrection.

8.29 “And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.’.

His words remind us of the words of the Servant in Isaiah 42.1, and the words spoken by God at His baptism, ‘the one in whom I am well pleased’ (although the Greek words for ‘please’ are not the same). Jesus is the faithful servant. Although He is facing approaching death His Father has not deserted Him, for He is doing His Father’s will. Though He may be ‘lifted up’ on the cross He will not be left alone, for He was sent to be the One who would be led like a lamb to the slaughter that He may bear the sins of the world (Isaiah 53.6-7).

8.30 ‘As he spoke these things many believed on Him’.

There was something in what He said which, while not fully understood, struck a cord in the hearts of some of His listeners. They responded in full faith. They ‘believed into him’ (eis auton - eis with the accusative), in contrast with the Jews of verse 31 who ‘had believed in him’ (auto - dative case ), the latter a faith similar to those in John 2.23 which could not be relied on. This is a typical Johannine contrast.

(The question of what is meant by a ‘believer’ is in constant tension in John. Sometimes it means full believers. Those whose response is total. At others it means those who are ‘won over’ by some aspect of His ministry without being actually totally committed. We can rest sure that there are always some of both kinds, just as there are today).

The Children of Abraham and the Children of the Devil (8.31 - 47)

8.31-32 ‘Jesus therefore said to those Judaisers who had believed in him, “If you dwell in my word then are you my disciples indeed, and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free”.’

Jesus then said to some Judaisers who showed some response to Him, ‘If you persevere in my teaching, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’. There is only one test of true faith and that is perseverance. By such perseverance those who receive His teaching (‘word’) will come into a fuller understanding of truth, especially the truth about Him, and will thus find freedom from sin and its power. Thus will they find true freedom, not the freedom from the tyranny of Rome which they have previously longed for, but from the tyranny of that greater despot, sin.

Even though some of the Judaisers have made some kind of response of faith towards accepting Him as from God, Jesus cannot rest satisfied until that faith is deeply rooted in the truth about Him.

But what follows does not necessarily mean that none of these were genuine in their faith. If we take the ‘they’ of verse 33 to refer to the group of ‘believing’ Judaisers then clearly the majority were not willing to hold to their belief when more deeply challenged. In some ways it was more difficult for them than for the common people to fully respond to the words of Jesus for they were so hidebound by their own teaching and ideas. This they have to be rid of. But there is good ground for thinking that this ‘they’ in verse 33 looks to the Judaisers as a whole, and not just to the responsive ones. John’s transitions are not always as clear as they could be.

8.33 ‘They answered him, “We are Abraham’s seed and have never been slaves to any man. How do you say that we will be made free?” ’

This suggestion of not being free peaks the Pharisees. This may include some but not necessarily all of the ‘believing’ Judaisers. The boast of the Pharisees, and indeed of all Jews, was that they were free men because they were the children of Abraham. Whatever the tyranny, they proudly believed and claimed that they had a freedom that came from the fact that they had God’s Law and were ruled by it. Besides this outside interference and subjection did not matter.

And indeed, under the Romans they did have specific rights to practise their own religion exclusively, and thus considered themselves religiously free, and this had generally been true through the ages (sometimes their kings had had to bow to pressure from outside, but this had not usually affected the ordinary people). ‘We are descendants of Abraham and have never been in bondage to any man’. This could only apply religiously as they well knew. ‘How can you say that we must be made free?’

8.34 ‘Jesus answered them, “I tell you emphatically that every one who goes on sinning is a slave of sin”.’

As with drugs, men may think they have sin under control, but once they try to escape they soon find they are helplessly enslaved. As Paul puts it, ‘the good I want to do, I do not do. The evil that I do not want to do, I do’ (Romans 7.19). It is only when we are happy to continue in sin that we think we have control over it. Slaves, while not over common in Judea, were looked on religiously as equivalent to bastards. To be compared with a slave was an insult.

8.35 - 36. ‘And the slave does not remain in the house for ever, the son remains for ever. So if the Son makes you free, you will indeed be free’.

The significance of this sentence is that a slave in ‘the household of sin’ is a loser. He may think that he gets the best bargain but he only receives what is temporary , for as a slave he has no rights and no standing, whereas one who receives sonship in ‘the household of God’ has permanent existence in that household. Thus if the Son makes you free, by bringing you into sonship, and removing you from the household of sin into the household of God, then your place in the household of God is eternal, not passing or fading away, and you are free indeed from the control of sin.

Alternately, the intention may have been the simple contrast of a temporary position in a household with a position of permanence, contrasting Isaac, the primary son, with Ishmael, the son of the slave girl, who was cast out. The idea then is that sin offers only what is temporary, while Jesus offers sonship, which is permanent, and gives total freedom (‘the house’ not having any interpretative significance).

Alternately ‘the son’ might refer to Jesus in both cases, in which case the meaning is that sin only gives you what is temporary while the Son invites you to forsake sin and share His permanence, thus receiving freedom from sin which is true freedom. In the end the overall meaning is the same.

8.37 “I know that you are Abraham’s seed. Yet you seek to kill me because my word does not have free course in you.”

Jesus now takes up their claim to be Abraham’s children, and from now on, when He says ‘you’, He is certainly not referring specifically to the ‘believing’ Judaisers, but to the Judaisers as a whole. ‘I know that you are descendants of Abraham.’ He does not deny that in the flesh these men can call themselves children of Abraham because they belong to a nation whose roots were in Abraham, and they proudly seek to trace their ancestry back to him (although often the relationship was only by adoption). But He then points out that they do not behave like it. ‘Yet you seek to kill me because my words find no place in you’.

Among Israelites ‘son of --’ can have two levels of significance. On the one it means by ancestry, on the other it means by behaviour. Thus the ‘sons of Belial’ are those who behave like Belial (Judges 19.22; 1 Samuel 2.12; 1 Kings 21.10). (At some point, it is clear, other Judaisers, not quite so friendly to Jesus, have joined the group around Him, as it is difficult to see how Jesus could have been quite so harsh with genuine, if misguided, seekers. John’s vagueness as to this has made it a commentators Paradise. But the general intent is clear and it is the message John is concentrating on).

8.38 “I speak the things which I have seen with my Father, and you also do the things that you have heard from your father.”

Jesus speaks only of what He has seen with His Father. Thus what He speaks is good and true. His abiding in the Father is constant. But the Judaisers speak what they have heard from their father. Later he will show this to be the Devil, for it is he, not Abraham, whose works they follow.

8.39a ‘They answered and said to him, “Our father is Abraham”.’

His listeners are quick to pick up the fact that He is distinguishing His Father from their’s. This immediately sets them on their mettle. ‘Abraham is our father’, they proudly declare. Surely being connected with Abraham could only be good.

Like many they thought that they could be judged by their connections. They were inordinately proud of their connection with Abraham for it was to him that God’s great promises were given. But Jesus will now point out that if they are Abraham’s children it only counts if they behave like Abraham. They should recognise this for their history and their Scriptures are full of God’s rejection of those who did not obey Him.

8.39b-40 ‘Jesus says to them, “If you were Abraham’s children you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I have heard from God. This is not what Abraham did”.’

Jesus now explains that if they were really Abraham’s children they would behave as Abraham behaved. But the very fact that they are plotting His death proves that they are not. He has come as a man who has told them the truth which He has heard from God. Abraham, in contrast to these people, welcomed the messengers that came from God (Genesis 18.2 etc.).

8.41a “You do the works of your father.”

He repeats His enigmatic statement. ‘You (Judaisers) do what your father did’. They uneasily realise that there is an unpleasant indication behind His words. He is linking their ‘father’, whoever that might mean, with a murderous attitude.

Recognising that they can no longer defend themselves by reference to Abraham they change tack.

8.41b ‘We (Judaisers) were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God’.

This may well be a sneer at the mystery surrounding the birth of Jesus. Alternately it may be because they see non-Jews as impure, and not true children of God. They may well also be smarting at having been called ‘slaves’ to sin, for slaves were equated to bastards. So they are contrasting that state with their own. They are proud of the fact that God is their Father as the Old Testament has often implied (Isaiah 63.16; 64.8; Hosea 11.1; Malachi 1.6; 2.10) and overlook the strictures in Malachi, which they think, rightly to a certain extent, no longer apply to themselves. They overlook the fact that there may be other things that can exclude from God’s Fatherhood.

8.42-43 Jesus said to them, ‘If God were your Father you would love me, for I have come forth and am come from God, and I did not come of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear my word’.

Jesus now denies what they claim. Their very attitude is a proof that they are not true children of God, for if they were they would love the One Who came from God at the express will of God. And the reason that they do not understand this is because they do not want to, simply because His preaching is too uncomfortable. It will demand far reaching changes and an acceptance that the system on which they have built their lives might not be as satisfactory as they think. ‘Cannot hear my word’ means cannot because their prejudice prevents them from hearing it.

8.44 “You are of your father the Devil, and it is your will to do the longings of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and a father of them.”

Now He is no longer restrained, and explains His enigmatic earlier statement about them being like their father. They are showing themselves to be like their father the Devil, for they behave as he does. He too was a murderer, right from the beginning, and did not hold to the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies’.

They are like ‘their father the Devil’ in that they long for His death and cannot bear the truth. They cling to their beliefs regardless, deliberately refusing to see the weaknesses in them. These are traits of the Devil, which clearly come out in them. Far from being the children of God, they show themselves by this as being as far from God as it is possible to be. Among the Jews it was customary to say that someone was a ‘child of’ whatever influenced them. Thus Jesus is saying to the Judaisers that their behaviour marks them out as ‘children of the Devil’ because they behave like him.

8.45 ‘But because I tell you the truth you do not believe me’.

How can they believe when they are so dishonest that they behave like the Devil, He is saying. Had He brought them lies they would have believed, (as later they would believe other false Messiahs who pandered to them), what they cannot stand is the truth.

Facing up to the fact that we might be wrong is a problem we all have. We too become so set in our ways and our ideas that we do not step back to look. No one person or church is fully right. We must learn that there is truth that we have yet to find, and that what we consider the truth may only be partially so. There is only One Who is ‘the Truth’.

8.46a ‘Which of you convicts me of sin?’ What an amazing test. Jesus throws Himself open to the world. His recent life has been subjected to constant investigation and examination, and yet He is unafraid to lay down His challenge. Yet not one of His enemies could point a finger at anything in His life, apart from His disagreement with them on theological matters. And He knew that it would be so. All good men are deeply aware of their own faults, yet here was One Who not only claimed to be without fault, but also challenged others to disprove His claim. In this too Jesus was unique.

8.46b-47 ‘If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is of God, hears the words of God. The reason you do not hear them is because you are not of God’.

His life substantiates His teaching. If they cannot fault the one they should accept the other. Their response to His teaching shows the truth about their lives. Whatever they claim, they are not of God. Any man who studies the teachings of Jesus, and then turns away from them, is demonstrating thereby his own sinfulness. For if his heart was right he would have to respond.

Jesus the ‘I Am’ (8.48-58)

8.48 ‘The Judaisers answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a devil?” ’

The Judaisers respond hotly. ‘Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?’ To call Him a Samaritan is to accuse Him of being heretical. But the term is intended to be more insulting than that, for they deeply despised the Samaritans. To call him a Samaritan was one of the biggest insults a Jew could give to another Jew.

Furthermore, the Judaisers considered that to link them with the Devil was a clear sign of demon-possession. The way they link the Samaritans with the idea of demon-possession demonstrates their general attitude.

8.49-50 Jesus answered, ‘I am not demon-possessed, but I honour my Father and you dishonour me. Yet I do not seek my own glory, for there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge’.

Jesus denies their charge. Rather than being demon possessed He honours the Father. He is not fighting for His own honour, He points out, for there is Another Who will defend His honour. And that One is the Judge of all men. By seeking to dishonour Him the Judaisers are attacking God Himself.

8.51 ‘In very truth I tell you, if a man keeps my word he will never see death’.

The fact is that His words offer life. Those who fully respond to them will never die. Jesus is of course speaking about eternal death. The way to eternal life, He is telling them, is to study Jesus’ words and obey them. The Pharisees taught that eternal life was obtainable by a constant study of the words of Moses, and a determined effort to obey them as they were expounded by the Rabbis. Jesus is now replacing Moses and putting Himself in his place.

The Judaisers, probably mainly Pharisees, either cannot see, or probably prefer not to see. They prefer to take His words literally.

8.52-53 ‘The Judaisers said to him, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed. Abraham is dead, and so are the prophets. And you say, ‘If a man keep my word he will never taste of death’. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who are you making yourself out to be?” ’

They are trying to ridicule His teaching. They must have known what He really meant but are as aware as He is that others are listening. They have changed ‘see death’ to ‘taste of death’ with the intention of emphasising physical death, as their comments about Abraham and the prophets demonstrate. They are refusing to acknowledge that He is speaking of ‘the second death’, something that they too believe in.

‘Are you greater than our father Abraham?’ In the Greek the question is put in such a way as to assume a negative answer.

8.54-55 ‘Jesus answered, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. But you have not known him. But I know him, and if I said that I did not know him I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and keep his word’.

Jesus diffuses their argument by disclaiming any desire to glorify Himself. They claim that His Father is their God. Well, the One they claim as their God is the One Who glorifies Jesus. Thus they are proving that they do not know the Father. On the other hand Jesus does know Him and keeps His word, as their failure to convict Him of sin proves. To suggest any other position would make Him a liar like them. There is obviously now no holding back. Both have made their positions clear.

At this point Jesus, in full awareness of what He is doing, makes His past comments absolutely clear. They have asked Him whether He is greater than Abraham. Well, He will tell them.

8.56 “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad’.

Abraham was told by God that ‘by you all the families of the earth will be blessed’ (Genesis 12.3 compare Genesis 22.18-19), and as he looked forward to kings being born from him, might well associate the time of blessing with a future king descended from him. Abraham thus rejoiced in the great day when God and the world would be at one. This came out especially when at last the chosen son through whom the promises would begin fulfilment was born and laughter was continually associated wit that birth, even in the very name Isaac itself. Abraham rejoiced at the fulfilment of the promises in the future.

There was also a Rabbinic tradition that when God made His covenant with Abraham He showed him the day of the Messiah. Genesis Rabbah 44:25ff states that Rabbi Akiba, in a debate with Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai, held that Abraham had been shown not this world only but the world to come, which would include the days of the Messiah.

This statement, taken literally, produces derision.

8.57 The Judaisers therefore said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”.’

This may be intended for the crowds, or it may be because they refuse to connect Him with the Messiah. But now they get what they wanted. Jesus unequivocal statement of His divine origin.

8.58. ‘Jesus said to them, “In very truth I tell you that before Abraham was, I am’.

His statement cannot be misunderstood. Jesus is now patently claiming to have eternal existence. He is saying that He is the ‘I am’, the eternally existing God, existing long before Abraham, and even before the world was created.

In the Septuagint (LXX - the Greek Old Testament) God claims in Exodus 3.14 to be the ‘I am’ (ego eimi), the phrase Jesus uses here, and His Name Yahweh means ‘the one who is’.

8.59 ‘They took up stones therefore to hurl at Him. But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.

The Judaisers understand His meaning exactly and in fury pick up stones to stone Him, risking the wrath of the Romans. But Jesus is able to slip away and hide, no doubt assisted by supporters, after which He leaves the Temple. (‘Going though the midst of them and so passed by’ is certainly a later interpolation, although it has fair manuscript support and must have been introduced fairly early in the areas where it was introduced).

IS THERE SOMETHING IN THE BIBLE THAT PUZZLES YOU?