John 8 - The Moody Bible Commentary

8:3-5 Since Jesus was being contested as a teacher of the law, scribes who were interpreters of the law came with the Pharisees. Together they brought to Jesus a woman caught in adultery … in the very act (v. 4). In light of the fact that the man involved was not brought, the Jewish leaders revealed their malicious intent and their disregard for fairness required by the law (Cf. 7:50-51). According to the Law of Moses (v. 5), all adulterers (male or female) were to be put to death by stoning (Lv 20:10; Dt 22:22), not just such women.

8:6-7 The scribes and Pharisees were testing Jesus. If Jesus called for her stoning as an adulteress, this would put Him in defiance of the Roman government’s sole authority to try capital cases and carry out executions. (Cf. 18:31). If He chose to free her, He would be disobeying the Mosaic law. After Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote something on the ground, He straightened up (v. 7) to say, “Let the witness who is without sin … be the first to throw a stone at her,” as the law commanded (Dt 17:7). But the law also required that any witness guilty of malicious intent was to be stoned to death instead (Dt 19:16-19).

8:8-9 What Jesus wrote is not identified. More important is that Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger (v. 6) and that He wrote twice (v. 8). God came down at Mt. Sinai (Ex 19:11, 20) and wrote the Ten Commandments twice with His finger (Ex 31:18; 34:1, 4; Dt 9:10). Jesus, by writing twice with His finger, was revealing symbolically that He was here fulfilling the same role God the Father fulfilled for Israel as the giver of the law (Jn 1:1; 5:18; 8:58; 20:28). Then they began to leave (v. 9), beginning with the older ones, the ones whose conscience weighed on them longer.

8:10-11 According to the law, a person could be put to death only with two or more witnesses (8:17; Dt 17:6; 19:15). But now there were no witnesses to condemn her to be stoned to death. Jesus could fully obey the Mosaic law in releasing the woman since there were no witnesses (v. 11): I do not condemn you, either. As in this case, forgiveness always precedes the command to sin no more, and forms its greatest motivation.

8:12 Jesus again spoke to them refers to the Pharisees (8:3, 7). During the Feast of Booths, large menorahs lit up the temple complex, commemorating the fire that guided the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings (Nm 9:15-23) and anticipating the Messiah who would bring light to nations. After seven days of dramatic illumination in the temple, Jesus declared, I am the Light of the world (1:4-5, 9; cf. “Jesus’ Seven ‘I Am’ Claims” at 6:35). If one believes in Christ and then follows Him (Cf. 8:31), he or she will not walk in the darkness (1Jn 1:5-10).

d Light of the World Message (8:12-59)

8:13-14 The law called for multiple witnesses to the truth (v. 17). But a single testimony was not necessarily false. So Jesus claimed (v. 14), My testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going. His heavenly origin, mission in the world, and return to the Father validated His testimony. But the Pharisees did not acknowledge His glorious origin or ultimate destiny.

8:15-16 Jesus criticized the Pharisees for evaluating His claims according to the flesh, i.e., according to human values. His response, I am not judging anyone, seems to contradict other statements He made (5:22, 27; 9:39). But here He meant that judgment was not the primary purpose of His first coming (3:16-17). Yet rejecting His claims invited His and His Father’s judgment (I am not alone in it, v. 16). Like the law (v. 17), two Witnesses—Jesus and the Father—will testify and execute the final judgment.

8:17-18 In saying your law (Cf. 10:34; 18:31), Jesus was distancing Himself from the law since He would replace the Mosaic law (Cf. 1:17; 7:19) with the new covenant (Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20). The Pharisees agreed that the testimony of two men was true (Dt 17:6; 19:15; Nm 35:30). So Jesus offered two Witnesses (v. 18), Himself and the Father—far greater than any human witnesses.

8:19-20 The question of the Jewish leaders, “Where is Your Father?” exposed a serious spiritual problem: they did not know the Father. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father also” asserts that a true knowledge of God comes through a personal knowledge of the Son. According to v. 20, Jesus’ “Light of the world” message (v. 12) took place in or near (NIV, NET) the treasury (cf. Mk 12:41-42; Lk 21:1-2), where the Court of Women was located. (See chart, “The Temple Area.”) The Court of Women was the temple area in which all Jews including women (but no Gentiles) could gather. It was also called the treasury because in this court there were 13 offerings boxes, each shaped like a trumpet (m. Seqal. 6.5). For His hour had not yet come, see 7:30.

8:21 For the third time in John, Jesus explained He was going away (7:33; 8:14, 21). After Jesus’ death, these same Jewish leaders will seek for Him (see comment on 7:34). But they will die in their sin and come into eternal judgment. One has only until death to believe in Christ for eternal life (Heb 9:27).

8:22-23 The Jewish questioners rightly understood Jesus to be alluding to His death, but thought that He might kill Himself. Ironically, Jesus would not commit suicide but would willingly give up His life (10:11, 15, 18). Their origin explained their discrepancies with Jesus (v. 23): from below versus from above, and of this world (the natural, sinful, human realm) versus not of this world, but sent from the Father.

8:24 Twice in this verse, the Lord stated that those who remain in unbelief will die in their sins. For the unbeliever, nothing changes when he dies; he remains a sinner for eternity. The words I am He (ego eimi; “I Am”) contain terms peculiar to the Fourth Gospel and significant to Jesus’ explicit self-declaration of deity (see comments on vv. 28, 58). Some have objected that the phrase ego eimi is not referring to deity but has an implicit completion, such as, “if you do not believe I am who I claim to be” or “if you do not believe that I am not of this world but from above” you are still in your sins. However, these translations are unlikely since the sentence does not include a grammatical object. The alternative possibility, that Jesus was declaring his own deity, is far more likely.

The phrase ego eimi is probably not a reference to Ex 3:14 (I AM WHO I AM) because the LXX translates the phrase “I Am has sent me” with the Greek words ho on (“the Existing One has sent me”) rather than using ego eimi. More likely it is taken from the LXX’s consistent usage of ego eimi as the translation of ani hu (“I am He”), a phrase used for God’s self-disclosure in Isaiah (cf. Is 41:4; 43:10, 13, 25; 46:4; 48:12). For example in Is 43:10, the Lord says, “So that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He (ani hu).” Jesus applied the words of God’s self-identification in the OT to Himself.

8:25-26 Earlier His opponents asked, “Where is Your Father?” (v. 19). Now they ask, Who are You? Jesus answered, What have I been saying to you from the beginning? Other versions (NIV, ESV, HCSB) translate this as a declaration: “Just what I have been claiming all along.” The phrase to speak and to judge (v. 26) is best translated as a hendiadys, “I have many things to speak in judgment concerning you.”

8:27-28 While Jesus’ claims were enigmatic, the Jewish leaders should have comprehended them. Instead, they did not realize that He had been speaking to them about the Father who sent Him (v. 26). When you lift up the Son of Man (v. 28) presents another prophecy of His death on the cross. For “lifted up,” see comment on 3:14. Again, Jesus made an I am statement without a predicate (He is not in the Gk.). See comment on 4:26; 8:24. For I do nothing on My own initiative, see comment on 5:19, 30.

8:29-30 God never left Jesus alone because Jesus always did the things that were pleasing to the Father (4:34; 5:30; 6:38-40). Once again, Christ’s sinlessness is implied (vv. 7, 46; cf. 2Co 5:21; Heb 4:15). The words of Jesus (As He spoke these things) led many Jewish people (v. 30) to believe in Him (pisteuo eis, John’s unique phrase for genuine faith; 1:12; 3:16, 18, 36; 6:40; 11:25, 26).

8:31-32 Because of vv. 33-59, some think that the ones who believed (vv. 30-31) did not have true faith. But one must distinguish between the new believers and the crowd at large. John interjected that Jesus’ words were spoken only to those Jews who had believed Him (v. 31), not the resistant crowd in vv. 33-59. Eternal life is by faith alone, but being true disciples requires Christians to continue or “abide” in Christ’s teachings (see comments on 6:66; 15:1-5). As believers obey (v. 32), they will know the truth experientially, and this truth will make them free. This freedom concerns sanctification, not justification (Cf. 17:17, 19). This liberation is not an intellectual accomplishment but a God-empowered freedom from sin, realized through an ongoing faith relationship with Jesus (v. 36).

8:33 They does not find its antecedent in vv. 30-32 but in the “they” of the preceding passage (vv. 19, 25, 27), the wider audience of unbelieving Jews (vv. 13, 22). Many Jews relied on their physical descent from Abraham. Despite the nation’s domination by Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, the Jewish people thought of themselves as a free people, both politically and spiritually. But Jesus was speaking spiritually of freedom from sin.

8:34-36 Since everyone, apart from Christ, commits sin (Rm 3:10-19, 23), everyone is a slave of sin (2Pt 2:19; Rm 6:16, 20). Jesus illustrated this idea with an example from real life. Since a slave can be sold by his owner to another family, he does not remain in the household forever (v. 35). But a son does. Since Jesus is the Son of God, He can make one free (v. 36) in its true spiritual sense (free indeed), both from sin’s penalty (justification) and sin’s power (sanctification).

8:37-38 Jesus agreed to their claim that they were Abraham’s physical descendants. But they lacked Abraham’s faith (cf. Rm 4:12, 16). Instead, they were seeking to kill Jesus (see comment on 5:18). Christ’s word [had] no place in their spiritually rebellious hearts. He spoke the things which He had heard, but also had seen (v. 38) while with the Father (before His incarnation). Correspondingly, they did the things which they heard from their father (the devil, v. 44).

8:39-40 In light of Jesus’ reference to “your father” (v. 38), the Jewish leaders replied, Abraham is our father. In Jewish tradition, a “child” was considered metaphorically to be anyone who imitated another (cf. 1Pt 3:6). Jesus argued that Abraham’s true spiritual children would not be seeking to kill Him (v. 40; cf. v. 37). Jesus’ point appears to be that when Abraham heard truth from God, he embraced it. But the religious leaders, who heard God’s truth through Jesus, rejected it, even to the point of seeking to kill the Son.

8:41 Again (cf. v. 38), Christ spoke of your father without clarification (which awaits v. 44). That we were not born of fornication may be (1) a denial that they were illegitimate children of Abraham, or (2) a defamatory remark about Jesus’ birth. The “we” is emphatic in Greek and favors the second option (see comment on v. 48).

8:42-43 Since Jesus was the revelation of God, if God were their Father, they would love Jesus, the One who had come from God. Christ gave a further motive for loving Him: I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. To love Jesus was to love the Father who sent Him. Like these Jewish leaders, if people do not respond to Christ, they cannot hear and spiritually understand His word (v. 43).

8:44 Spiritually, one has either God or the devil as a Father. The devil was a murderer from the beginning of history. Satan incited Cain to kill his brother (Gn 4:8; 1Jn 3:12). More to the point, in the garden of Eden his lie (Gn 3:4-5) brought death to the whole human race (Rm 5:12). So Satan is the father (creator) of lies.

8:45-47 The minds of these Jewish leaders were so deceived that the truth was impossible for them to believe. Jesus spoke only the truth. Which one of you convicts Me of sin? He asked (v. 46). No sin or falsehood can be found in Christ. Since the one who is of God hears the words of God (v. 47), the resistance of the Jewish leaders proved they had failed as the leaders of Israel and were not of God. As Paul wrote, “a natural man [non-Christian] does not accept the things of the Spirit of God … he cannot understand them” (1Co 2:14).

8:48 Rather than answering Jesus’ questions, Jesus’ opponents responded again with disparagement, calling Jesus a Samaritan and declaring He had a demon (i.e., was insane, 10:20; cf. also 7:20; 8:52). The Jewish leaders associated Jesus with the Samaritans, who were regarded as illegitimate Jews (cf. v. 41). For “Samaritan,” see comment on 4:4. In their opinion, Jesus should be put to death for blasphemy against God (10:33, 36; Mt 9:3; 26:65). But in claiming Jesus had a demon, the Jewish leaders ironically committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Mt 12:31; Mk 3:28-29).

8:49-51 After denying the charge of being demon-possessed, Jesus explained that He gave honor to His Father. But they were actually dishonoring the One (Jesus) who gave honor to the Father. Was this not contradictory? Christ was not seeking glory for Himself (v. 50). Yet, there is One who seeks Christ’s glory, and He judges on Christ’s behalf. With strong emotion (truly, truly), Jesus asserted (v. 51) that anyone who keeps His word (i.e., believes) will never see eternal death.

8:52-53 Misunderstanding Christ again, the Jewish opponents reasoned that Abraham and the prophets had died. So how could Jesus promise anyone he will never taste of [or experience] death? Jesus could not be greater than Abraham or the prophets, they reasoned (v. 53). Here another Johannine irony surfaces (Cf. 4:12). Jesus was not just greater than Abraham and the prophets. He was their God!

8:54-55 Jesus denied that His claims were self-glorifying and pointed out their hypocrisy. It is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ The clause (v. 55) you have not come to know [ginosko] Him, but I know [oida] Him uses two different Greek words for “know.” The first typically implies acquired knowledge; the second refers to knowledge without detailing how it was acquired. They had failed to gain true knowledge of the Father, but Christ already and always knew Him, probably because of His intimate fellowship with Him (Cf. 1:18).

8:56-57 Abraham rejoiced at God’s promise that he would see the day of the Messiah. This took place when Abraham received the promise that through his offspring (i.e., the Messiah, Gl 3:16) “all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gn 12:3; 17:17; 22:18). Then when Isaac was born 25 years later, Abraham saw Messiah, in that he anticipated the fulfillment of covenantal promise and looked for the coming of the Messiah and was glad. Abraham also witnessed, through the binding of Isaac, a foreshadowing of the death and resurrection of Christ (Heb 11:19).

8:58-59 The remark before Abraham was born, I am (not “I was”; ego eimi) makes a claim to deity and eternality (see comments on 4:26 and 8:24). The reaction of the Jewish leaders verifies that Jesus made a claim to deity. They picked up stones to throw at Him (v. 59), but Jesus hid Himself. Spiritually, the Jewish leadership was blind, and His departure from the temple pictured God’s OT glory departing from the temple (Ezk 10–11).