Chapter 8
7:53 – “And every man went to his own house.” The verb “went” here is the aorist active indicative of poreuomai which means to go from one place to another, and usually means to go from one place to another successfully or frustrated. In this case we have the breaking up of the Sanhedrin after their failure to indict the Lord Jesus Christ. The Sandedrin has subverted justice. They have tried to use the law to get rid of a person. Common law in a national entity is not designed to get rid of someone who is persona non grata as far as their politics, their policy, their attitude or their opinions. The Jews had a fantastic system of law. There was nothing wrong with the law but there was something wrong with those who administered the law. So we have the problem of perverting justice. Often when there is some maladministration in law they blame it on the laws rather than on the persons who are administering the law. The Jews have a corrupt administration, and the reason for their corrupt administration primarily is the union of religion and state. In the Jewish political structure at the time that our Lord lived on the earth there were two completely different political organizations in Judea. Judea was a third-class province and the Roman governor was called a procurator and appointed directly by the emperor. In this particular case we have in Jesus’ day the Roman government, which always maintained the separation of religion and state. The Jewish government which operated for example, in Jerusalem – the Sanhedrin headed by the chief priests, the Sadducees and the Pharisees – combined religion and state, and whenever you combine religion and state it means that whatever system of common law that exists in a national entity is going to be distorted.
Jesus Christ is facing a system of jurisprudence that is excellent but it is now mixed up with the fact of religion. Whenever any government has religion in its leadership there is trouble. Religion is the worst thing that ever hit this world and more crimes are committed in the name of religion than anything else.
The problem with
the first eleven verses of chapter eight
1. This passage is undoubtedly a true story, but it is not found in the Bible – it is not a part of the canon of scripture. It was not a part of the original canon, the autograph.
2. The oldest and best MSS do not have verses 1-11 – just as they do not have the last half of Mark 16. Specifically, these MSS are Codex Aleph, Codex A, Codex B, Codex C, Codex L, and Codex W, plus 5000 pieces of papyri. (The King James version was taken from the fifth edition of Erasmus, which was the second edition of Elsevere, a tenth century manuscript collection of seven manuscripts, all of which had been corrupted by that time). Over the past 100 years there have been found over 10,000 MSS that are older than Textus Receptus.
3. This story, which is undoubtedly a true story, is not a part of the canon of scripture.
4. There is one copy of the original text which has this story. That is Codex Besi, a relatively old manuscript going back to the 6th century (about 550 AD).
5. The MSS which do not have this story: Codex Aleph – 340 AD; Codex A, known as Alexandrinus – 450 AD; Codex B, known as Vaticanus Manuscript – 325 AD; Codex C, Ephraemi Rescriptus; Codex D, The Oxyrhynchos papyri, etc.
It becomes obvious, then, that along with the last half of Mark 16 we have here a rather long passage which was inserted. While undoubtedly it is a true story it
is still not a part of the Word of God.
6. Conclusion: A true story but not a part of the canon of scripture. It demonstrates how the Pharisees tried to trip up Jesus Christ by again distorting the law. But whoever inserted this inserted false doctrine, i.e., “God and sin no more.”
The Pharisees’ trap is obvious. If Jesus refuses to condemn the adulteress woman under the Mosaic law then the Pharisees will say that Jesus is in opposition
to the law, He is lawless and should be removed Himself. But if He condemns her and says that it is all wrong, then they will show that He is not consistent with His own message of grace. So they are going to get Him one way or another.
Verse 1 – “Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.” This may or may not be true. Later on Jesus had to go up to the mount of Olives every night in order to be safe. He wasn’t safe in town, so He left town.
Verse 2 – “And early in the morning [the next day] he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him.” This is undoubtedly true and it happened on many occasions, and so there is a consistency here. The Greek brings out that the crowds sat around on the steps of the temple, and when He went up into the temple they got up and went in with Him. It says they came face to face with Him – proj plus the accusative.
“and he sat down and taught them” – here is something apparently inconsistent. Generally, Jesus did not sit down and in the temple there wouldn’t be any place to sit down. So this is a point of inaccuracy, the same type that there is in the pseudepigrapha and other portions which are not a part of the scripture but sometimes included with the canon and are not correct.
Verse 3 – “And the scribes and the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery.” When is says she was taken it means that she was taken in the very sex act. She was grabbed, and so apparently they already knew what they were going to do. They just waited until they had a case where there would be no doubt. They had their witnesses all there, everything was all lined up, and everything was according to the law. Ordinarily they would let this thing go, they wouldn’t bother with it. But now they have to use it to trap Jesus. So they waited until the act of intercourse was in the process and then walked in and broke it up. It can be seen that the Pharisees are also cruel. Now they drag this woman right from the bed of adultery and haul her in right in front of all these people, and in verses 4-6 the members of the Sanhedrin spring the trap.
Verse 4 – “They say unto him, Master.” That would be accurate, they didn’t call Him Lord. No man can called Jesus Lord, except by the Spirit – 1 Corinthians 12:3. Later on the woman will call Him Lord. (There are enough details here to know that this is a true story. There are also enough details to know that even apart from MSS evidence something is wrong)
“this woman was taken in adultery” – lit. “seized.” The verb is katalambanw [lambanw = seize; kata = according to a norm or standard]. That looks good because it means. “Aha! violation of our law. Let’s enforce the law, get the criminal.” But that isn’t what is happening. It means here, “Let’s get Jesus, we need a law violator to get Him.” So their norms and standards are distorted norms and standards, and katalambanw means they are not fulfilling the law and enforcing the law, they are using the law.
Literally from the Greek this verse says, “This woman, having been apprehended in adultery, in the very process of sexual intercourse.”
Verse 5 – “Now Moses in the law.” They are specifically referring to Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22.
“commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what do you say?” This is the trap. The woman is the bait; the Sanhedrin is using the scripture to gain their own ends, using the Word of God in order to try to trap Jesus. They are going to Get Him whichever way He goes – for opposing the law or for inconsistency.
Verse 6 – “This they said, tempting him.” The word for tempting means to bring out evil. There are two words for “tempting.” One means to check for good or evil, but they use peirazw here, which has the connotation of really trying to bring out the worst.
“that” introduces a purpose clause; “they might have [something] whereby they can accuse him.” Jesus is under tremendous pressure. He is aware, of course, of what is going on. So He stoops down and He writes. The ordinary word for “write” is grafw, but with Jesus this doesn’t describe this as just grafw. The word that is used is katagrafw which means to write according to a norm or standard. When they found the woman they seized her, and the word for seizing her – katalambanw. Kata is the preposition of norm and standard. They seized her but their norm or standard was distorted. Their norm or standard was not the law. They weren’t getting her because she was committing adultery; they need her for bait in a trap. They needed someone where it was established she had committed adultery and they were just using her, and they were using the law. So this is distortion. But Jesus: katagrafw means that He is going to write the true issue from the Word of God, and He stoops down and He writes. He is not writing in the dust, He is in the temple. He wrote on stone, the marble floors of the temple. This is very interesting because Jesus Christ had written in stone before; He gave the law to Moses. All this time He was writing with His finger, and it was katagrafw. He apparently wrote the ten commandments.
Verse 7 – “So when they continued [kept on pressing him], [constantly] asking him” – “continued” is present linear aktionsart. It means they persevered; they pressed Him for an answer.
“he lifted himself up” – either He raised His eyes or He stood up; “and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” This is grace. In principle it is absolutely correct. You can administer the law. On the surface this is grace, grace, grace. We are dealing with the laws of the nation, and in administering the laws of a nation we do not say, “He who is without sin, let him be the police officer; arrest him.” “He who is without sin, let him be the judge sitting upon the bench.” “Let him who is without sin, let him sit upon the jury.” We don’t say that. We all have old sin natures, and here the whole issue is the law, The Word of God here is the law. The law itself is all right, and when people administer the law they must do it within the realm of justice and fairness. But it is all lost here with the Pharisees. The point is correct that this woman should not be condemned any more than anyone else in the human race; the point is that we are sinners and we all possess the sin nature.
Verse 8 – “And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.” This is speculation but it could be suspected that the second time He wrote the word grace.
Verse 9 – “And they, having heard it, being convicted [reproved or rebuked] by the conscience [the norm or standard of the soul], kept on going out.” In other words, they didn’t all go out at once. As this thing would hit them they would turn around and leave -- “one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last.”
“and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
Verse 10 – “When Jesus lifted up himself [stood up] and saw no one but the woman, he said unto her, Woman [gunh], where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?” This time when He uses the word condemned He uses katakrinw, which means to judge according to a norm or standard. Ordinarily He would have used the word krinw, which means to judge. Judging according to a norm or standard here is very beautiful and very nice because by that norm or standard who can ever condemn anyone else? – “He that is without sin,” etc. In principle here we have a glimmer of “Judge not that ye be not judged.” What right to you have to judge someone else when you yourself are a sinner? As an individual you do not have the right. Remember that judging always means to ascribe to someone else a sin, real or imagined. And what right do you have to judge someone else?
Verse 11 – “Neither do I condemn [katakrinw] thee.” We have to watch something here. Jesus Christ is the God-Man. As God, can He say “Neither do I katakrinw thee?” No, because as God He must condemn sin. As the God-Man He is providing for the sinner but He cannot say to her, “Neither do I condemn thee” and use katakrinw. He could have used krinw, but katakrinw says that there is a norm or standard that is demanded. Jesus would have to have said, “I will be katakrinw for you.” This is what happened on the cross.
“go and sin no more” – present active imperative. This means, Go out of here and stop sinning. This is impossible! This indicates sinless perfection and therefore is inconsistent with 1 John 1:8,10.
Verse 12 begins one of four great dissertations by Jesus Christ regarding Himself. This is really where John chapter 8 begins. From here until the end of the chapter we have four facets of the Lord Jesus Christ.
1. Christ is the light of the light of the world, verses 8-20.
2. Christ is the liberator of the world, verses 21-36. We must have a liberator because Satan is the ruler of this world. There must be some way to break his power in his kingdom so that we can come under the reign and the will and the desires of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Christ is the founder of the Jewish nation, verses 37-51.
4. Christ is the victor over death, 52-59.
“Then spake Jesus again” – the word again is an adverb in the Greek, palin. While it means again it is an adverb of continuation. This is important because
the adverb of continuation at this very point indicates that when it says at the end of the last chapter, “And every man went to his own house,” the story actually begins at “again.” It is a way of knowing that verses 1-11 were never in the original, or if they were they were a parenthesis. “Spake” is an aorist active indicative of the verb lalew which means to communicate doctrine. So we now see we are back on the track. This is what is called the original text protecting itself. The Bible has protection within the framework of its own text in the original language.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world, verses 12-20.
Jesus Christ is the liberator of the world, verses 21-36.
Jesus Christ is the founder of the Jewish nation, verses 37-51.
Jesus Christ is the victor over death, verses 52-59.
Verse 12 – “Then spake Jesus.” The word to speak is an aorist active indicative of the verb lalew which means to bring a message. The aorist recognises that at this point of time Jesus Christ actually brought this as a formal message, a message in which doctrine is communicated. According to verse 20 this message was given in the temple treasury which adjoins the court of the women, the largest auditorium in the temple. Along the side of the treasury they had chests, and you could walk by and put money into these various chests. Each chest carried a designation: some went to the priesthood, some to the animal sacrifices, for various causes. Then, in the very middle of the treasury was the largest candelabra in the temple, and the rabbis claimed that when it was lit in the evening you could actually see the light all over the city of Jerusalem. They had a special ceremony for lighting this candelabra every evening. It included the singing of Isaiah 42:6, “I will give thee for a covenant to the people and for a light to the Gentiles.” After the completion of the ceremony of lighting the candles there was a great period of rejoicing and singing and dancing right there in the temple.
Jesus uses this for His next message. In the feast of the tabernacles messages of our Lord He used the little ceremony of using the golden pitcher, taking it to the pool of Siloam, filling it with water, having a parade through the streets, and finally coming into the temple where the water was emptied and there was singing from Isaiah 55, and so on. Jesus used that to give His message on the bread of life and the water of life, and now He is using the lighting of the candelabra to give a message on the light of the world. He is now speaking two days after the feast of the tabernacles to a crowd in the temple in the largest auditorium which was a combination of the treasury and the court of the women.
“unto them” – dative plural of advantage, it was to their advantage to hear this message; “saying” – the verb legw which emphasises the content of the message, and He will be communicating doctrine. This is a present active participle indicating that the message in content is a repetition of some things from before, and basically it is always the same – the doctrine of the hypostatic union, sometimes emphasising His deity, sometimes His humanity and the purpose of the incarnation, but always emphasising the uniqueness of the person of Christ.
“I am” – present active indicative of the verb for absolute status quo, e)imi. Present tense, linear aktionsart – He always was; He always will be. Active voice: speaking of His own person. The indicative mood: the reality of the fact that Christ is the light of the world.
“the light” – there are a number of words for light; this is a very important one: fwj, the word from which we get phosphorous, phosphate, and so on. It means a blaze of light, a radiance of light, a source of light. The third is the proper use here and this is going to be an emphasis on the deity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God, and as God He keeps on being the light of the world. This is the absolute status quo of Jesus Christ. He is the source of light, which is light in its source concept and therefore an absolute concept.
“of the world” – kosmoj, the Satanic organization. The word simply means organization, something that is well organised. It is generally used for the world because of the various laws by which the world operates, and so on. It is often used in the scripture for Satan since he is the ruler of the cosmos. He has superimposed upon the laws of nature some laws of his own – anti-biblical, anti-doctrine, anti-Christian, anti-God laws. But Jesus Christ is the light of the kosmoj. The kosmoj is said to be in darkness. For example, in Luke 1:78,79; Psalm 107:10 the unbeliever is said to be sitting in darkness. The unbeliever is sitting in Satan’s world and he lives in darkness. Christ Himself was hanging in darkness when He was bearing our sins – Matthew 27:45,46. In 1 Peter 2:9 believers are called out of darkness, and as a part of operation phase two we are told to walk in the light and not to walk in darkness. Walking in darkness is a picture of the believer operating under the power of the old sin nature.
“he that followeth me” – present active participle of a)kolouqew. The word means to follow, but more than that. It means to come after, to go along with a plan. It means more than just simply get in line. It means to become involved in a plan. Jesus Christ is not only the entrance into the plan of God – the only saviour – but He is also the revealer of the plan. He is also the light of the world because He sets the pattern for the plan, and the pattern for God’s plan is grace. Grace excludes human good, human works. The participle here indicates a precedence. The present tense is a dramatic present and it means to actually get into the plan of God. So following Christ means to get into His plan, and to get into His plan you believe in Him. So in a sense this becomes a synonym for faith. But He is not dealing here with the mechanics of salvation, He is dealing with the principle and therefore a principle-type verb is used rather than a mechanical-type verb. 1 John 3:23 – both principle and mechanics [“will of God” – principle; “believe in Christ” – mechanics].
“shall not walk in darkness but shall have” – future tense of e)xw which means to have or to possess. This would be possessed in the future, anticipating the Church Age; “the light of life” – the life is eternal life, the light of life is the ministry of the Holy Spirit throwing light on phase two in the future.
Verse 13 – the reaction of the Pharisees. “Though bearest record concerning thyself” – the preposition is peri and it means “concerning,” not “of.” They are saying, ‘You witness concerning yourself’ – present active indicative, ‘you keep on witnessing,’ linear aktionsart.
“your record is not true” – the Pharisees are in the crowd and they challenge. What basis do they have for this challenge? They are going to go back to the Bible and distort the scriptures. This time they are going to use the law of the two witnesses, a concept which is found in Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15. For an indictment you must have two reliable witnesses. The Pharisees have taken this same concept and are saying now [debater’s technique], ‘You talk about yourself is not true because you alone say it.’ They say that is violates the two-witness principle.
So now we have Jesus Christ answering them in verses 14-18. Basically, Jesus says He personally is a bona fide witness because “I am God, and I have another bona fide witness and He is God.” When God the second person and God the first person witness that is an air-tight case.
Verse 14 – Jesus says that He Himself is the first witness. “Jesus answered” – aorist passive indicative of a)pokrinomai [a)po = preposition of ultimate source; krinomai = passive of the verb to judge]. We put “judge” in the active voice here for a reason. A deponent verb often has the concept of a passive voice – the subject receives the action of the verb. A deponent verb is a verb which is passive in morphology but active in meaning. What does this mean? It means that Jesus received information, He had Bible doctrine, and therefore He gives it out. Therefore this is always translated like an active voice. It doesn’t say, “Jesus received an answer.” This is a deponent verb because in the process you receive something by which you answer. So we translate this, “Jesus had an answer for them” – for their advantage, dative of advantage.
“Though” – 3rd class condition [maybe yes, maybe no]; “If I bear record of [concerning] myself, my witness is true.” He presents the other side of the case. His witness “keeps on being true.” Why?
“for I know” – a perfect tense used as a present tense for doctrine in the soul. The word is o)ida for inherent knowledge, something which is definitely known. Here it is used for the omniscience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice the next phrase: “whence I came.” This has to do with origin. He is describing the fact that He knows from His own origin.
“and whither I go” – the words I go really give us our clue: u(pagw [u(per = to be under the authority of; a)gw = to go, to bring] means to go under the authority of, and it eventually came to mean to operate under a plan. U(pagw means to bring under, to go under, to go in a certain direction. It means to be under a specific authority. Jesus says, ‘My witness is true because I am operating under the specific authority of God.’ This means that He understands in detail the purpose for the incarnation.
“but ye cannot tell” – He uses o)ida again, plus the negative. They are totally unfamiliar with the plan of God. He is speaking to the religious crowd. Why are they totally unfamiliar with the plan of God? Because they are yuxikoj – 1 Corinthians 2:14, the natural [yuxikoj] man, the soulish man. The unbeliever has a soul but he does not have a human spirit. So He says, “but you do not know.”
Verse 15 – the failure of the Pharisees. “Ye [keep on] judging” – the verb krinw which can mean one of two things: a) to condemn; b) to evaluate. It is necessary to determine from the context which is which.
“after” – preposition kata [norm or standard; “the flesh” – human. They judge by human norms and standards. They know nothing about the plan of God, and because they know nothing they try to take nothing and superimpose it upon the plan of God. This is what the legalist always does; this is what the religionist does.
“I judge [condemn] no man” – literally, “no one.” This means two things. First of all, He is sinless in the field of the sins of the tongue; He has no mental attitude sins. He is condemning the Pharisees here because knows they have nothing by way of understanding grace but they are filled up with mental attitude sins, especially jealousy and hatred. The reason that they condemn Him is because they have mental attitude sins. Jesus is saying in effect that He does not have their pattern, and He understands their pattern.
Verse 16 – two bona fide witnesses now described. “And yet of I judge” – ‘But if I do’; “my judgement keeps on being true.” His judgment is absolute. He doesn’t use the ordinary word for true, He uses a)lhqinoj which means genuine, accurate, trustworthy. Accuracy is the concept here. If Jesus Christ does judge He says His judgment is a)lhqinoj – He is saying, ‘I am God’: omniscience, ‘I know all the facts.’ They understood from the use of the word that this is exactly what He was saying to them.
“I am not alone” – then He introduces the second witness, God the Father; “but I and the Father that sent me.”
Verse 17 – the citation of the law of two witnesses; Jesus understands their approach. “It is also written” – they didn’t have the nerve to quote the passage but He does; “in your law, that the testimony of two men is true [genuine: a)lhqinoj].
Verse 18 – “I am one that keeps on bearing witness concerning [peri] myself, and the Father that sent me keeps on bearing witness concerning me.” So He spells out again so that they can understand it that there are two reliable witnesses, God the Father and God the Son.
Verse 19 – the key to knowing the Father. “Where is thy Father?” Notice that they said “where” rather than “who.” They understood His implication, His remarks, that He was saying that God was His Father.
“Jesus answered “ – He understands that they have rejected the two witnesses. They have rejected Him as saviour; they have rejected the Father as the author of the plan that sent Him.
“Ye neither know me” – the first witness; “not my Father” – the second witness. Therefore they will not accept the testimony of God the first person and God the second person. These religious people are so proud and so stuffed with their own self-importance they will not accept the testimony of eternal God.
“if” – this time a 2nd class condition, if and it is not true; had known me [but you do not], ye should have known my Father also.” Both times here the word for ‘known’ is o)ida. They do not know the Father. If they are ever going to know the Father they must believe in Jesus Christ.
Verse 20 – “no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet come.” No one laid a hand on Him; He was perfectly safe. There was no way in the world that anyone could touch Him. Principle: God is perfect; His plan is perfect. At this point God’s plan calls for the protection of Jesus Christ. He is protected.
Verses 21-24 – deliverance from the second death.
Verse 21 – “ye shall die in your sins.” The word “sins” is in the singular – “sin.” In verse 24, “ye shall die in your sins” is in the plural.
“I go my way” – present active indicative of u(pagw which means to operate under the framework of a plan. Jesus Christ is still operating under the plan of God even though He faces tremendous Satanic opposition. He stays with the plan of God. He is moving toward the cross.
“and ye shall seek me” – the word to seek is the future active indicative of the verb zetew. The word that is not used is e)uriskw. Zetew means to find something you have; e)uriskw means to find something you don’t have. What does Jesus use for the Jews? – zetew, ‘you have me, I am your Messiah, I am here right now.’ The word e)uriskw is not used because the Jews possessed the Messiah at the time of the first advent. He is addressing this to the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious crowd. He says He is going to pursue His course right to the cross, resurrection, ascension, seated at the right hand of the Father in glorification, operation footstool. And after the crucifixion and resurrection these religious people would seek what they now have but cannot get. The Pharisees are on maximum negative volition, and therefore in the future when they zetew they will keep seeking but they will never find, they are locked in negative volition. In other words, it is possible to say no so long that they habitually stay negative. This is the strong delusion concept in the Tribulation; it is the hardness of Pharaoh’s heart; and that is what happened to the Pharisees. That is why we have zetew here. They were not seeking something they had never found, they were seeking something they had. Satan is the father of religion and religion cannot touch the human race apart from negative volition. They go on negative signals and they express it to the maximum.
“and [but] shall die in your sins” – ‘ye shall die’ is a future middle indicative. Notice: “Ye shall seek” is zetew, future active indicative; “Ye shall die” is future middle indicative. When the middle voice follows an active voice in a sequence of action it means they are responsible for that situation. God is not responsible. The reflexive middle voice, active voice: they have pursued a course of action, therefore it is their responsibility, they did it themselves.
“die” – a)poqnhskw [a)po = ultimate source; qnhskw = to die] means to die from the ultimate source. The future tense refers to the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20:12-15. The middle voice: they themselves made the decision that put them where they are, it is their own decision.
“in the sphere of your sin [singular]” – you die in the principle of your sin. Sin is in the singular, referring to the old sin nature. This is a reference, then, to the second death. Jesus is prophesying right now that these Pharisees who have constantly said no are going to seek in the future. They are going to seek what they have, but they have lost it, it is too late.
The “second death” is described in this verse by the verb a)poqnhskw, the strongest word for death, a compound verb which includes the concept of ultimate source, and it really has the concept of an ultimate death in this passage. “Sin” [singular] in this verse refers to the sin nature. (In verse 24 it is in the plural and it refers to personal sins) This refers:
a) To the OSN.
b) To die (second death) in the sphere of your sin or sin nature is a reference to an unbeliever. Only an unbeliever can die in the sphere of his OSN.
Remember that this is not physical death; this is the second death, the last judgment.
c) To die in sin or the sphere of the OSN is to die in unbelief, or rejection of Jesus Christ as saviour – John 16:8,9; 3:18.
d) While Christ was judged for all personal sins on the cross He was not judged for
the sin of unbelief.
e) Therefore the second death is for unbelievers only – John 3:18, 36.
“whither” – this is always an adverb of place, o)pou. In modern this should be translated, “in which place.” It always connotes a place, a specific place, a definite place. It is an indefinite reference to a definite place! – “the place I go.” O)pou refers to heaven – the right hand of the Father.
“ye cannot come” – ‘you are not able,’ present active indicative, linear aktionsart, they never will be able. Why? They are locked in negative volition? They are outside of the framework of the plan of God.
Verse 22 – this is the way religion takes a statement. Jesus says He is going to be glorified in His humanity. He says He is going to heaven, but they say He is going to Gehenna (the phrase, “Will he kill himself?”). Jewish theology taught that anyone who took his own life went to Gehenna. This was a question of sarcasm. They are not making inquiry, they are suggesting it to Him. This is a rhetorical question of suggestion. They are suggesting that if He wants to play Messiah, leave the temple and leave the earth. There is no place for Him to play Messiah on their Jewish religious earth and they are suggesting that He commit suicide. We know this is a rhetorical question because it begins with the word mhti which means several things: a rhetorical question of sarcasm, and it also expects a negative answer – ‘No, He will not kill Himself but we are suggesting it.’ They are assigning Him and His Messiahship to hell.
There are two blasphemies of location which the Jews used against Jesus. The first was found in John 7:35 where the religious leaders suggest that Jesus leave Palestine and go to play Messiah among the Hellenistic Jews. Judaism despised Hellenism and there were two kinds of Jews in the day of our Lord – the Judaisers, led by the Pharisees, and the Hellenes who were Jews who had accepted Greek culture. The second is here in verse 22 where the religious leaders imply that Jesus should commit suicide so He would go to Gehenna, He would get a better following in Gehenna! In other words, this is a combination of blasphemy and sarcasm and it is always the way religion regards our Lord. They understood what He was saying, and they said no, what you really ought to do is commit suicide because we can’t go to the lake of fire (Gehenna).
Verse 23 – Jesus points out that by rejecting Him the religious crowd are headed for Gehenna. They are the ones who are going to the lake of fire.
“Ye are from beneath” – the word beneath is technical here, it means Gehenna or the lake of fire. It is actually the word below – “You are from below; I am from above.” This is the future. ‘In the future,’ Jesus says, ‘I will be in heaven; you will be below [Gehenna].’
As for the present, “you are of this world [the kosmoj].” The cosmos means organization and here it means the religious organization of the world. So, ‘You are a part of the religious system of the world’ – organised religion. Organised religion always goes to hell. (This does not mean that believers in organised religion are going to hell).
“I am not of this world” – not a part of this religious system. He is saying, “I am not religious”! Christianity is not a religion. Christianity begins at the cross; it is grace, God doing the work and man receiving what God has provided. In religion man seeks God by his own works.
Verse 24 – “I said,” aorist tense, ‘I said just a moment ago.’
“ye shall die in your sins” – now He changes ‘sin’ to the plural. “Sins” refers to the cosmos system. Again, this is the second death. They are going to face the last judgment because they are a part of the cosmos system. Their personal sins have been judged on the cross and they will not be judged for their sins. But the word “sins” here means another emanation from the sin nature, and that is going to be their human good. The sins have been judged at the cross. They have rejected the cross, the work of Christ; they will be judged on the basis of their human good.
“Ye shall die in
the sphere of your sins”
1. Sins is in the plural in contrast to verse 21.
2. Since sins of the old sin nature were judged at the cross it is impossible for them to be indicted on the basis of these sins at the last judgment.
3. The indictment at the last judgment is human good – Revelation 20:12-14.
4. The change to the plural is explained in the last half of this verse, beginning with a 3rd class condition.
5. When a person rejects Christ as saviour he refuses the work of Christ on the cross.
6. Therefore he is in the sphere of his sins which have already been judged. His sins have been judged but he has refused the work of Christ, therefore he is in
the sphere of his sins [plural].
7. He is not judged for his sins but he is in the sphere of them. He is judged for his human good – Revelation 20:12-13.
8. Dying in the sphere of sins refers to the second death. It emphasises a person who has rejected the work of Christ on the cross.
“if” – introducing a 3rd class condition: “if you believe not.” Here is the explanation for dying in the sphere of sins. Jesus said, “ye shall die.” The word “in” is
the preposition e)n – “in the sphere of your sins [pl].” These sins were judged on the cross. Dying in the sphere of sins means unbelief.
“if ye believe not” – aorist active subjunctive. The aorist tense here is ingressive. Ingressive emphasises the point before the point of time. (The constative aorist emphasises the point of time. The culminative aorist emphasises the results of the point of time.) This ingressive aorist recognises the fact that the religious crowd had already rejected Christ as saviour and had gone on maximum negative volition. Active voice: the decision belongs to the volition of the individual. They had done this of their own free will and God will not tamper with volition. People go to hell on the basis of their own decision, they do not go to hell on the basis of divine decision. This means that the last judgment is a courtroom scene, a legitimate courtroom scene, and also that the divine administration of God’s judgment is accurate and fair. This is in the subjunctive mood, which means the decision was potential and indicates the actual free will principle.
“that I am” – this encompasses the whole concept of the hypostatic union. “I am” means that Jesus Christ is God, and He has the essence of God. He is also man and He has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So He is the God-Man, the unique One, the one for whom
they have looked, the One Moses called “that prophet.” This is present active indicative to indicate the hypostatic union is perpetuated forever, and Jesus Christ will always be the God-Man. If you do not accept the uniqueness of Christ you do not accept His work on the cross. Therefore they are rejecting His person and His work. And Jesus puts it in principle. Even though they have already gone on negative volition He says, “if ye believe not,” indicating through the subjunctive mood and the third class condition that they could still change their minds. As long as they are not dead they can still reverse their decision and believe and be saved. They will not because they are expressing negative volition to the maximum.
“ye shall die [a)poqnhskw] in the sphere of your sins” – He repeats the phrase in the plural once again to indicate this is the explanation.
Verse 25 – “Who art thou?” In other words, they are expressing again their rejection. In reality they understand everything Jesus is saying, even though this is not clear in the English. They are saying, “You, who I am?” In other words, they are saying, ‘Who, you are God?’ This is actually what the question says and is the best way to communicate it. They know exactly what He has said and they are using a question of sarcasm.
“Even the same” – ‘the same’ doesn’t exist here. The last phrase, “from the beginning” is actually first in the Greek and it should be translated “essentially.” He uses it to dig into their rhetorical question. “Essentially I am that that which also I keep telling you” – literal translation. He has been telling them this now for nearly three years. He is almost at the end of His ministry when He said this. They won’t accept it. Again, they have expressed negative volition.
Verses 26-29 – Jesus reveals the Father’s plan.
Verse 26 – “many things” are the details of the Father’s plan. This includes the Church Age and we will get these “many things” in John chapters 14-17, plus the 5th cycle of discipline to Israel, plus the fulfilment of the unconditional covenants to Israel at the second advent.
“and to judge” – present active infinitive. He is going to indict religion before He goes to the cross. Krinw – He is going to function as a judge with regard to religion. His indictment is given in Matthew chapter 23.
“concerning you” – the religious leaders.
“he that sent me is true” – He goes back to the two witnesses. When there are two members of the Godhead as witnesses, this is an absolute. The first witness is the Father – He ‘keeps on being true.’
“and I speak to the world those things I have heard from the immediate source of him” – para, immediate source. Para means to be by the side of and the Son and the Father were side by side in eternity when the plan for man was designed. He was there; He heard it all. The Father is the designer; Jesus Christ was there with Him.
Verse 27 – “They understood not that he spake unto them concerning the Father.” They didn’t understand that He was talking about the doctrine of divine decrees.
Verse 28 – He mentions the two witnesses. “When ye have lifted up the Son of man” – this is the crucifixion. He predicts the crucifixion and He uses an aoristic future tense. In John 3:14 ‘lifting up’ was used for the crucifixion. It will be used again in John 12:32.
“then shall ye know that I am” – no word for ‘he’ here; “and that I do nothing of myself” – a)po, from the ultimate source of myself. In other words, Jesus Christ is following the Father’s plan. He will execute the plan as the Father designed it.
“but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things” – the word to teach here means to instruct, to communicate doctrine to someone, and the aorist tense is the point of time when Christ studied the scripture in time. It refers to every time He studied the Bible as a youth and as a young man before 30. He not only knew it in eternity – His deity--, but His humanity learned it in time. Jesus “grew in wisdom.” Wisdom is knowledge of doctrine. So we have here the second witness. God the Father taught, and He taught Christ’s humanity through the scripture.
Verse 29 – “And he that sent me keeps on being with me.” Again, we have the two witnesses.
“the Father hath not left me” – has not deserted me – “for I keep on doing those things which are pleasing to him [literally, “the pleasing things to him”]: present active indicative, linear aktionsart. The ‘pleasing things’ is a noun, not a verb. The pleasing things is the plan of God designed in eternity past. Jesus Christ never deviated from the plan of the Father even once.
Verse 30 – the positive response of the crowd. “As he spake these words” – there are a lot of people who are not religious, not under bondage to religion.
“many believed on him” – aorist active indicative of pisteuw, the verb to believe. This word is a word for thinking. Believing is intellectual! Aorist tense: point of time. Active voice: their faith was initiated by them. The indicative mood is the reality of their faith in Christ and the reality of their salvation.
Verse 31-32, a short message to new believers.
Verse 31 – “which [had] believed on him.” This time the word believe is in the perfect tense: something they had done in the past with results that go on forever. In other words, the perfect tense of pisteuw following the aorist is eternal security.
“If ye continue” – here is the big issue today, as well as then. The word if divides all believers into two groups. “If” is a 3rd class condition – maybe yes or maybe no. There are believers who are saved but reject doctrine and there are those who go on positive volition toward doctrine. The word “ye continue” is the verb menw which means to abide, to persist. It means to stick with doctrine no matter what. Aorist tense: the point of time which is phase two. Active voice: you must decide that doctrine is the important thing. Knowledge of doctrine is the greatest virtue in the Christian life. The subjunctive mood indicates that some will not do it.
“in my word” – Bible doctrine; “you keep on being my disciples. What is a disciple? Every believer is not a disciple. This describes a disciple in terms of a believer who lives in the Word. Those who are minus doctrine are not disciples; those who are plus doctrine are disciples. A disciple is a believer who gets with the Word and sticks with it, learns it, uses it, applies it – all the time, never stops.
“ye are” – present active indicative, ‘you keep on being.’
Verse 32 – the most misunderstood verse!
“ye” – those who believe in Jesus Christ in verse 30. This applies to believers only. This is a plural pronoun and should be translated “you all.”
“shall know” – ginwskw, as distinct from o)ida which means inherent knowledge. This means to comprehend by studying. The verb connotes discipline. It takes self-discipline to learn doctrine. Decision and discipline is the key to concentration. Every believer is equipped to learn doctrine by means of the indwelling of the Spirit and by means of a completed canon of scripture available, and by means of the gift of pastor and teacher.
“the truth” – a)lhqeia. This word does not refer to academic information, philosophy, history, mathematics, liberal arts courses; it refers to Bible doctrine. It is a compound noun made up of the alpha privative plus lhqw. Lhqw in itself means to conceal. The alpha privative in front of it means not to conceal but opened up categorically. So a)lhqeia means divine truth expressed in terms of categories so it can be assimilated. In other words, there are categories of doctrine in the Word that match up the empty shelves in your human spirit. The Bible has doctrine and that doctrine is divided categorically so you can fill up the human spirit. This is the biblical process of learning.
“shall make you free” – it is Bible doctrine that frees you to serve. What is the dynamic equation for phase two? Knowledge of doctrine + the filling of the Holy Spirit = the production of divine good. The word for free is e)leuqerew which means freedom to serve the Lord. It means liberated from slavery so you can serve as a non-slave. This is a future tense; it is prophecy regarding the Church Age. Knowledge of doctrine in the Church Age frees you to serve the Lord. Active voice: the believer is free to serve God by learning doctrine.
Verses 33-36 is a short message to unbelievers. This was anticipated by the imperfect tense of the verb legw when it says, “Jesus said [began to speak].” He was interrupted before He concluded His message.
Verse 33 – “They answered him.” Not at all, they didn’t answer Him. The Greek says they had an answer for Him. “They” introduces the unbelieving religious crowd. They could no longer contain themselves. They lose their cool, their poise; they are antagonised. They are reacting instead of responding. Believers are responding; the unbelievers are reacting. Actually, the word answer was not the original meaning of this word – a)pokrinomai [a)po = ultimate source; krinomai = to judge]. So they have a judgment from the ultimate source of themselves. They are speaking from themselves; they have an answer from their own mentality. What Jesus has said grates on their mentality. This grates on legalism. Legalism is aroused, it hates this type of a message and therefore they had an answer for Him – aorist passive indicative. Aorist tense: the time at which they broke in. Passive voice: they received this information from the mentality of the soul. The indicative mood is the reality of their interruption, their antagonism, and their attempt to put Jesus down.
Now the religious crowd is going to intrude with something which is entirely different from what Jesus has said. Jesus said to believers, those who had passed the point of phase one, “Ye shall know.” Knowledge of doctrine is a part of the dynamics of phase two. He said, ‘Ye shall know doctrine, and doctrine shall liberate you to serve me’ – fulfil the principle of full time Christian service. Everything that Jesus has said is based on regeneration – being born again. But when people have not been born again they resent something as easy and gracious as learning doctrine and producing. Doctrine means that everything is provided for you; it is just a matter of learning it and using it.
“We be” – present active indicative of the verb e)imi, absolute status quo. Literally, “We are absolutely [emphatically].”
“Abraham’s seed” – emphasis on physical birth. In the self-consciousness of these people was a tremendous pride. In their mentality was the human viewpoint of salvation by works. Volition: all the decisions made here are incompatible with grace; they are decisions to follow a works system. Emotion: they did not have an appreciation of God; their emotion had a backlash of pride – appreciation of self, pride of achievement. They had pride of race. The Jews emphasised the physical seed of Abraham and they are relying upon physical birth rather than regeneration for relationship with God.
The thing that irritated them was the words “free [to serve God].” The Jews thought that they were the only ones free to serve God and that they received this through physical birth, through the rite of circumcision, followed by the system of works which they had developed.
“and were never in bondage to any one” – this is the thing that antagonised them; “how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?” The word for bondage is a word for slavery, douleiw. When they said they had never been in bondage they put it in the perfect active indicative. The perfect tense sowed the quintessence of their pride. The perfect tense is something that happened in the past with results that go on forever, and they said in effect that since Abraham we have never been in bondage. That is, ‘We keep on being the seed of Abraham and have never historically been in bondage to anyone.’ The word never is an adverb – pwpote means ‘never yet.’
Politically, they were in slavery to Egypt. At the moment at which they speak they are under the fourth cycle of discipline to Rome. Jesus could have made a political issue of their statement and knocked them down very quickly, but He did not. There is something more important than the political issue, and that is the spiritual issue. And that is where He is going to place the emphasis.
Secondly, there is a religious issue. They are in bondage to the Mosaic law plus the hundreds of commandments that have been added to the Mosaic law. Had Jesus made an issue of this He would have obscured the true spiritual issue.
They were also under a dictatorship to the Sanhedrin – a governmental issue.
But there is a true issue here. Every one of them there was in bondage to his old sin nature. This is manifest through the committing of personal sins.
So we have a principle here which is very important. Jesus made an issue out of Himself as the only saviour, as the key to the plan of God and the basis for regeneration. Jesus was standing there without a sin nature. Jesus was never in bondage to the sin nature through physical birth. We become slaves to the sin nature at the point of physical birth, but not Jesus Christ. Also, we live our lives in bondage to the old sin nature – apart from the plan of God.
Verse 34 – here is the true slavery issue. “Jesus had an answer” – a)pokrinomai, aorist passive indicative.
“Verily, verily” – point of doctrine; “whosoever” includes the entire human race. Notice that Jesus does not make it personal. In answering them He deals with a principle which is true for all members of the human race. Later on He will get very personal with them but at this point He deals in terms of principle.
“committeth sin” – poiew which means to do, to produce, and even to commit, as here. It is a present active participle. Present tense: keeps on committing sin. Active voice: sin comes from the individual. Participle: it is a precedent. As long as you live in this flesh/body containing an old sin nature you are going to commit sin. The word sin here is in the singular – a(martia which in the singular generally refers to the OSN. Here it refers to the principle of the OSN, the principle of sin – the OSN as the source of personal sins. It is literally, “committeth the sin.” Personal sin is the manifestation of the indwelling OSN – Romans 7:7.
“is [keeps on being] the servant [douloj --slave] of sin.” So, “Whosoever commits sin keeps on being the slave of the sin.” The sin is the OSN, so they are in slavery to their OSN.
Verse 35 – “And the slave [douloj] does not abide [menw] in the house forever.” What keeps the slave out of the house is eternal life. The slave can’t live in the house because of the type of slavery he has – OSN, and there is no place in the house for the OSN.
“but the Son abideth forever” – when we believe in Christ we enter into union with Christ. Positionally we get into the house at the point of salvation. So Jesus is saying to the religious people that if they ever want to get into this house called heaven, if they ever want to enter the kingdom of God, if they want eternal life, there is only one way they will ever get it: through the Son. The house is the eternal state of the believer.
Verse 36 – “If” is a 3rd class condition. It all depends on volition, you can change your mind; “the Son shall make you free” – e)leuqerow. He is the only one who can. The aorist tense refers to the point of the cross, the point of redemption. Active voice: only Jesus Christ can redeem. Subjunctive mood: redemption is potential based on faith in Christ – John 3:36.
“ye shall be free” is not what the Greek says. The Greek says, “being free, you shall be [free].” The verb e)imi is used twice here. Being free is a participle – o)ntwj. The next phrase, “you shall be” is a future active indicative of e)imi – e)seqe, which is the future tense of e)imi. The present active participle refers to the state of freedom and it refers to phase two. As long as you are in phase two you are always free to serve the Lord; “being free” – a)ntwj e)leuqeroi [pl]. Free is a plural because it indicates every believer; “ye shall be.” The word free is not repeated. This is the future tense of e)imi.
Verse 37 – all through this passage we have some heckling and it comes from the religious crowd. And so our Lord says, “I know” – perfect tense used as a present tense to indicate doctrine in the soul, and to indicate in this case omniscience.
“that you are Abraham’s seed” – when He is saying ‘Abraham’s seed’ He is using a technical word because in the plural Abraham’s seed could mean something else. Abraham’s seeds fall basically into two areas: a) several of the Arabic groups are descended from Abraham through two sources – Hagar and Keturah; b) the Jews through Isaac and Jacob. Jesus uses “seed” in the singular here. In other words, these religious Jews had the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in them. But being physically born with the genes of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob does not provide salvation. And this He will point out because, after all, Jesus Christ was the founder of the Jewish race.
“but ye seek to kill me” – anyone in the line of Abraham who would seek to kill the Lord Jesus Christ has to be hooked up with religion. There are two kinds of people among the Jews who are Abraham’s seed. There are those who believe in Jesus Christ and are born again, and those who reject Jesus Christ and are unbelievers. And, again, the unbelievers had a category called the religious Jew. It is the religious Jews, represented by the Pharisees, who are heckling the Lord Jesus Christ during this discourse in the temple.
The word for “kill” here doesn’t mean character assassination or some form of mental attitude sinning but it is the word which means to kill physically, violently – a)pokteinw [kteinw = to kill; a)po = preposition of ultimate source]. He uses the compound verb here to indicate that the desire to kill Him is there. They haven’t succeeded; they will not succeed, but from the ultimate source of themselves they are motivated to do so. Their motivator is religion and religion is the devil’s ace trump, and the reason they are so motivated is because of John 8:44 – “Ye are of your father the devil.” The father of all religion is the devil.
There is no such thing as the universal Fatherhood of God. There is such a thing as the universal fatherhood of the devil and most ‘brotherhood’ religious organizations are in that category.
“because my word hath no place in you” – ‘my word’ is Bible doctrine, the canon of scripture which contains doctrine; “hath no place” – xwrew means to make room for, but when there is a negative with it the meaning is to no make room for. So here is a religious soul in which there is no room for doctrine. These people hate Jesus Christ and seek to kill Him because there is no room in the soul for Bible doctrine.
Verses 38-44, the dissertation on the two fathers.
Verse 38 – “I speak that which I have seen.” Jesus uses the present active indicative of lalew for ‘speak.’ It means to communicate in a public-speaking situation. It is used with time and means to give a speech in time. But He says, ‘I am giving you a speech in time of what I have seen.’ The verb for ‘seen’ is o(raw, from which we get horizon, and it means to use the eyes or to use the mental faculties. It is in the perfect tense here and it means in the past, before time existed. So Jesus saw the plan of God the Father in eternity past and He is now communicating [lalew] in time, in the temple, but He learned in eternity past. “I keep on speaking what I have seen in the past [with the result that I still have this information].” How do we know this is eternity past and not merely past time? The perfect tense just says ‘the past.’ The answer is the preposition which follows, para, the preposition of immediate source. It is often translated “by the side of.” It is translated here “with.” It means here “by the side of my Father; from the immediate source of my Father.” Para with o(raw means eternity past.
“and ye do that which ye have seen” – the word and is really a preposition of contrast, ‘but in contrast to me.’ So, “but ye do.” Notice the difference. This is a contrast between Jesus and the religious crowd. Jesus says, “I speak” – present linear aktionsart of lalew, but the religious crowd – “ye do,” poiew. They emphasise doing; He emphasises communicating. Lalew emphasises doctrine; poiew emphasises a system of deeds. The religious crowd always have emphasis on doing something – human good. The emphasis of the Word of God is on learning doctrine. Religion says do; Christianity says listen, learn, apply. The greatest virtue in the Christian life is knowledge of doctrine. From that we have our full orientation to the plan of God, and then our production becomes meaningful because it is compatible with the grace of God.
But “and ye do that which ye have seen” is incorrectly translated. They do not do what they see, as is translated in the KJV, they do what they hear – a)kouw, “what ye have heard.” They cannot do what Jesus did; they cannot be in eternity past. They were not by the side of the Father. What do they do? They work on the basis of Satan’s doctrine – 1 Timothy 4:1. So it should be translated, “you keep on doing what you have heard.” Jesus said, “I keep on speaking [communicating] what I have seen.” What the religious crowd had heard refers to the teaching of religious doctrine. All religious organizations have a system of teaching.
“with your father” – again we have para which means “from the source of your father.” We know this is Satan because of John 8:44. God the Father is the author of the plan of grace; Satan is the author of his plan, and the two systems have been in opposition since the angelic conflict began.
Verse 39 – the religious crowd come back with an answer. “They answered” – a word which is found extensively in the Gospel of John, a)pokrinomai. In the passive voice here it means to receive an answer. We would translate this, “They had an answer.” Jesus distinguishes between God the Father’s plan – operation grace – and the devil’s plan. The word father is used. So they had an answer and their answer is based upon a contention regarding physical birth. They said, “Abraham is” – present active indicative of e)imi, i.e. Abraham keeps on being; “our father” – when Jesus said they had a father He didn’t mean Abraham, He meant the devil. And they suspected that! They are therefore now jumping back to their human ancestry. When a Jew can do nothing else, when he is in a corner, he can go right back to his human ancestry. He takes the attitude, “I am born physically a Jew; I am saved the minute I am born.”
When they say “our father” this is the first Jewish fatherhood claim. It is a physical claim, a false spirituality claim.
“Jesus saith unto them, If” – first class condition of supposition, a part of debater’s technique if, and I am assuming you are]. The Jews assume that being born physically a descendant of Abraham automatically gives them salvation. “If you were Abraham’s children [spiritually] you would do the works of Abraham.” The works of Abraham have to do with salvation – Galatians 3:6,7; Romans 4:1-16, 22-25. Justification by faith is the principle. They understood Him immediately. They understood that Jesus was not emphasising physical birth but spiritual birth. Jesus is saying that while they are physically descended from Abraham they have failed to do what Abraham did – he was born again – and therefore they are the physical heritage, not the spiritual heritage of Abraham.
Verse 40 – Jesus goes on to amplify. “But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth.” In other words, instead of doing the works of Abraham, what are they doing? Seeking to kill Jesus Christ. The spiritual seed believes; the religious seed tries to kill.
Verse 41 – a second fatherhood claim of the Jews. “You keep on doing the deeds of your father [the devil]” – the deeds of religion, the deeds of human good.
“We be not born of fornication” – this is simply an idiom that says, “We are not bastards.”
“we have one Father, God” – we have is present linear aktionsart of e)xw, ‘we keep on having.’ Galatians 3:26 says, “Ye are the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ.”
Verse 42 – Jesus no longer uses subtle debater’s technique. Now He uses a second class condition, if and it is not true: “If God were your Father [and He is not].” He also does something else. He takes the verb e)imi that they had used in the present tense and puts it in the imperfect tense – ‘In the past you keep on contending this, but it is not true.’ By so doing, and with the second class condition, He makes it very clear that God is not their Father.
“ye would love [have loved] me” – imperfect linear aktionsart in past time. And they are trying to kill Him; so they hate Him. Religious unbelievers. Their father is the devil. They hate Him – mental attitude sins. They are trying to kill Him. If they were believers their Father would be the first person of the Trinity and they would love. And instead of trying to kill they would seek to serve.
The word for love here is a)gapaw, mental attitude love, relaxed mental attitude. This is what the religious crowd do not possess.
“for I proceeded forth and came from God” – a)po, from the ultimate source [of God]. To proceed forth means to come out from, and the word came is a word that mean to arrive. “I proceeded forth and arrived from God.”
“neither came I of myself” is literally, ‘I came not from the ultimate source [a)po] of myself.’ He didn’t send Himself, in other words. The Father sent Him. The Father sent the humanity of Christ who has to be obedient to the deity of the Father.
“but he sent me” – a)postellw. Up to this time we have used the word pempw which means to send on an errand. But here we have a)postellw which means to send on a mission with authority. This is an aorist active indicative. The point of time is eternity past. When the plan was designed the Father sent the Son.
Verse 43 – “Why do ye not understand” – the word for understand is not the word we have been having – o)ida. It is ginwskw here which means ‘Why don’t you concentrate?’ In effect Jesus is saying, ‘I am making sense but you are not concentrating.’ Notice: Religion can practice asceticism and self-effacement, but religion always has self-effacement minus self-discipline. Ginwskw implies self-discipline, and the reason they are not getting it is because they are negative.
“because ye cannot hear my word” – they are not able to do so. The word for hear is a)kouw which means to hear and obey “my words.”
Verse 44 – the knockout punch. “Ye are” – present linear aktionsart, absolute status quo: ‘You keep on being.’
“of” is literally, ‘from.’
“your father the devil” – for the first time He now mentions him by name.
“the lusts of your father is what you keep on doing” – it was their modus operandi. Jesus is going to indict religion on three counts, and what He says about religion is always true when religion gains the political ascendancy. a) Murder; b) antagonism toward doctrine; c) deceit. These are the three facets of religion which are covered at the end of this verse.
“He was [kept on being] a murderer” – this goes back to the beginning of time, and the murder was Cain’s murder of Abel. Cain was religious; Abel was born again, regenerate. Cain in his religion always brought the best fruits and vegetables. He wanted to impress – approbation lust. Abel brought a blood sacrifice. Cain never killed an animal – “without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” He didn’t bother; he was not a believer. John 8:44 alludes to the murder, as does 1 John 3:12 and Jude 11. But what we are interested in here is the pattern. Who motivated Cain to slay Abel? Satan did. What is there in the pattern? A religious person, a jealous person – mental attitude sin. The next step is murder. The thinking of Cain led to the action of Cain; the thinking of the Pharisees will lead to the action of the Pharisees.
“abode not in the truth” – antagonism toward doctrine. The Greek actually says he “did not stand in the truth” – i(sthmi means to stand. Perfect tense: in the past the truth was there and he stepped out of it. Satan is the original rejector of doctrine, he would not stand in the truth.
“because there is no truth in him” – no doctrine in him.
Satan is the father of all religion, and especially here religious Jews. Obviously they are going to follow his characteristics. Jesus has been giving them doctrine and they rejected it.
Finally we have deceit: “he speaketh a lie.” When you reject the truth you take in that which is false, and when you communicate that which is false you are speaking the lie – to yeudoj. Where do we get the lie? Negative volition toward Bible doctrine leads to a vacuum in the soul into which religion is drawn. Religion communicated is to yeudoj – “the lie.” And when you communicate false doctrine you become the liar.
“for he is a liar” – yeusthj, a falsehood; “and the father of it” – Satan is the author of every system of deceit, every system of false doctrine, everything that is contrary to the truth of the Word of God. It is easier for the devil to lie than to tell the truth. In fact, the devil cannot tell the truth because the truth [doctrine] is not in him. The children of the devil cannot understand the truth, cannot accept the truth, and therefore they, too, must set up a satanic system – and they do, in religion.
Verse 45 – “And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.” Once you are in the devil’s clutches it is almost impossible to believe the truth. This is the function of deceit – to keep people from belief. 2 Corinthians 4:4.
The word because means that the religious crowd had been exposed to Bible doctrine for some time now; “I tell” means to present something in categorical, logical, progressive concepts. It is present linear aktionsart, “I keep on telling you the truth [doctrine].” Jesus says, Because I keep on teaching doctrine, you believe me not.” Doctrine is the truth. In other words, they have rejected Christ as saviour and therefore they reject doctrine. Doctrine delineates the plan of God. They have rejected the plan of God and therefore they will not accept doctrine. So this is the phenomenon of religion and it is amplified in the next two verses.
Verse 46 – “Which of you convicts me of sin [prove that I am a sinner]?” The words of sin is literally concerning sin. Jesus then uses a first class condition: “If I say the truth [and I do], why do you not believe me?” Jesus already has the answer to that. They do not believe Him because what He says is doctrine. Principle: Religion rejects doctrine. This explains the rise of the social gospel around the turn of the century (1900) and the rise of social action in the National Council of Churches. Negative volition toward doctrine creates a vacuum in the soul. These religious Jews have gone negative toward a certain type of doctrine – the gospel. Into the vacuum in the soul was drawn religion, mental attitude sins, emphasis on the details of life. Religion includes, by the way, legalism. Everything in the vacuum is called in 2 Timothy 2:11,12 strong delusion. When a person goes on negative signals from the point of God-consciousness on he has created in the soul a vacuum, and compatible with his own vocabulary, his academic structure, and everything else he knows in life, he is going to fall into some system of religion. The reason the religious crowd did not believe Jesus is because they are under strong delusion. They have been on negative signals since God-consciousness. The vacuum in the negative volition soul will only pick up a lie.
Verse 47 – “He that is [keeps on being] from God heareth God’s words [Bible doctrine, the plan of God in eternity past].” The message of Jesus Christ is the message of God the Father, it is designed from eternity past, and this message finds a response in those who are on positive signals. And when a person who at the point of God-consciousness goes on positive signals he may live a long time and he will hear a little truth here and there and will respond to it – truth about government, about people, and maybe way down the line he will hear the gospel, and he will respond to these things.
“therefore” is literally, because of this, “you hear them not,” i.e. because they are on negative volition; “because you are not from God.” They are not in the plan of God, they are not interested in the plan of God, they have rejected the plan of God.
Verse 48 – “Say we not well.” The word well here is an adverb which means accurately, sometimes it means with becoming or with propriety – kaloj means “with propriety.” “Did we not say with propriety” – there is self-righteousness.
“thou art a Samaritan” – racial prejudice. The Jews in Jerusalem would not allow a Samaritan to build a house next to them, to move into a house next to them, to come to their temple, etc. A Samaritan could not do business in Jerusalem. The Jews thought the Samaritans were the worst in the world. The Samaritans were the Gentiles that moved in when the Jews were out under the fifth cycle of discipline. And then some of the renegade Jews intermarried with them, and so they were half Jew and half Gentile.
“hast a demon” – keep on having a demon.
Verse 49 – “I have not a demon; but I keep on honouring my Father, and you keep on dishonouring me.” He is saying that in the plan of God only the first person in the Trinity has the right to honour. The first person of the Trinity is honouring the Son, the second person of the Trinity, and He is honouring Him by giving the power for the miracle. The Father is honouring Jesus by the performance of the miracle coming up and the one that has just been performed. He is honouring Him also by permitting Him to speak in the temple. So when the religious crowd look at the Son and go negative they are dishonouring the one that the Father has honoured, and therefore they dishonour the Father.
Verse 50 – “there is one who seeks and judges.” In other words, the Father will keep on glorifying Jesus Christ [present linear aktionsart of seek] but He will
also judge those who do not honour Jesus Christ.
Verse 51 – Jesus Christ is the hope of Israel. “If [3rd class condition]” a man keep my saying [word]” – observing Bible doctrine – “he shall never see death.” The word to see here is qeorew, and with the strong double negative it means both to perceive and to experience.
Verses 52-59, Christ is the victor over death.
Verse 52 – “Now we know.” They contradict themselves. They said before, “Thou hast a demon.” Now they say, “Now we know”! They have wiped themselves out but they go right on.
“Abraham died, and the prophets; and yet you say, If a man keep my word he shall not taste death forever.”
Notice their weapons. The last one was logic, and they cancelled that out by contradicting themselves. So, when you run out of logic what can you do? Get sarcastic!
Verse 53 – sarcastic question number one: “Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who is dead?” One thing not found here in the English is the negative mh which suggests a negative answer – “you are not” or of course you are not.” At this point the question is designed to trap Jesus. Either Jesus will deny His deity or affirm it. If He affirms it they will try to execute Him for blasphemy. If He denies it they will discredit Him.
The second question is also sarcastic: “and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself?” ‘Whom makest thou thyself’ is an idiom that means ‘Who do you think you are?’
Verse 54 – Jesus answers and wipes out their sarcasm just as He did their logic. “If [3rd class condition, maybe I will and maybe I won’t] I honour myself [I could, you know], my honour [glory] is nothing.” He is making a great point here. The whole key is in the phrase “glorify self.” But He says, ‘If I glorify self the glory that I produce is nothing.’ That is true of all of us. Self-glorification is outside of the plan of God.
“it is my Father that honoureth me” – God the Father is the author of the plan and the plan of God calls for the Father to glorify the Son.
“of whom you say, that he is your God” – here is where He has tied them up in knots. The Father honours the Son through the entire period of the incarnation. They have rejected Him whom they claim is their God. Jesus is saying, “If the Father was really your God then there is only one thing you can do: glorify me right now.” Why don’t they? Negative volition! They will never glorify Him because the Father is not their God. Who is their father? The devil!
Verse 55 – “Yet ye have not known him.” To know, ginwskw, is in the perfect tense. The word means to know from experience, and because this is in the perfect tense the experience started at the point of God-consciousness, at which point they went negative. They have never known Him.
“but I know him” – here the word know is o)ida which is inherent knowledge. This refers to the fact that He knew the Father in eternity past, He knows the Father now, and this is all packed into one – His omniscience. He has a firm and total understanding of the Father, of His plan operation grace, and all the principles that pertain thereto.
“and if I should say, I do not know him, I would be a liar just like you are” – He called them liars to their faces. Religion cannot stand up under logic from a person who knows doctrine or from the person who doesn’t know doctrine.
Verse 56 – “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.” How did Abraham see? The Greek word for see is o(raw – he saw the perspective. Abraham saw Jesus’ day – faith-rest. This was after he learned doctrine. It is faith-rest claiming doctrine, not faith-rest claiming promises. A new believer can latch on to a promise with a little bit of faith and claim it, but to take a lot of faith and reach in and take a doctrine and claim it is maturity. When Abraham became a mature believer he reached in and grabbed doctrine. He looked out ahead and saw the first coming of Christ. And when he saw it – faith-rest technique plus doctrine – he rejoiced. When Abraham was alive he saw what this religious crowd did not see.
“and was glad” – he celebrated.
Verse 57 – the Jews are going to try once more. “Thou art not ye fifty years old.” This has two meanings. To the Jews if you weren’t fifty you were still inexperienced. They had great respect for age. They were saying here, in effect, ‘You have no right to be saying these things, you have no arrived at the proper age.’
“and hast thou seen Abraham?” This brings out the sarcasm. They took this as a literal seeing, but it is more than that.
Verse 58 – “Verily, verily” means point of doctrine; “I keep on saying to you.” He emphasises this.
“Before Abraham was” – the word for was is ginomai. In other words, before Abraham came into existence as a human being – aorist tense, he was born in a point of time.
“I am” – e)gw e)imi, present tense: “I always existed.” He came right down to the issue, the point of doctrine: “I am God.”
Verse 59 – the rejection. They can’t meet words with words. Jesus has used in His discourse logic, sarcasm, and doctrine. They cannot meet any of them. So when they can’t they resort to rocks! They want to shut Him up, destroy Him.
“cast” – ballw, to throw.
“but Jesus hid himself” – the word hid doesn’t quite mean to hide, it simply means He just faded out of that area. It is the word kruptw which means to fade. He just turned around and walked past them while they were picking up stones. He didn’t hide and He kept right on walking out of the temple. No one threw a rock at Him and no one followed Him to stone Him. It was not His time to die, nor the manner in which God had planned. The plan of God called for crucifixion bearing our sins and the Father was a wall of fire around Him to protect Him so that the plan of God could be accomplished. When God has a plan for your life the devil himself can’t kill you.
The words, “going through the midst of them, and so passed by” are not in the original.