John 8 - CSB Tony Evans Study Bible

8:3-5 This scene should make us ask, Where was the man who was involved with the woman? The law required that both parties be judged (see Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22). This, therefore, smells like a setup.

8:6 Just as the Ten Commandments had been “inscribed by the finger of God” (Exod 31:18), whatever Jesus was writing was a subtle way of communicating to them that he himself was the divine author of the law. Writing on the dirt was also an allusion to the fact that the law had been given to humankind who had been created out of dust and were therefore vulnerable to weakness and sin.

8:7 The point of Jesus’s words was that not one of them was qualified to judge her. Their hypocrisy was revealed because they only brought the woman. The law commanded that both the man and the woman were guilty (Lev 20:10; Deut 22:22).

8:11 Notice that Jesus demonstrated grace and mercy to the woman (removing her condemnation) before he told her to start living right. A true understanding of grace and mercy does not endorse or promote sin; rather, it’s designed to produce gratitude and holiness (see Rom 6:1-7).

8:14 Jesus came from and was going to heaven. The divine Son of God isn’t capable of giving false testimony.

8:17-18 Jesus pointed to the law of Moses, which declared the testimony of two witnesses to be true (8:17). Jesus’s words passed this requirement because he testified about himself through his messianic claims, and the Father also testified about him through his miraculous deeds (8:18; see the note on 5:36).

8:19 Anyone who rejects Jesus cannot know God because the former provides access to the latter (see the note on 14:4-7).

8:20 See the notes on 7:30 and 7:46.

8:23-24 Jesus and his interlocutors ap-proached their debates from two different realms, the physical and the spiritual. Unless the Jewish leaders could see Jesus from a heavenly perspective, they would experience eternal judgment. Unless they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and received his payment for their sins, they would die in [their] sins (8:24).

8:28-30 Though the Father had sent the Son into the world, he had not left [him] alone. Jesus affirmed that the Father was with him because he always [does] what pleases him (8:29). In response to these words, many believed in him (8:30). Those who likewise place their faith in Jesus can have confidence that God will receive them—not because of their perfect faith but because of Jesus’s perfect obedience.

8:31 Notice that you can believe in Jesus but not continue in [his] word and, thus, not function as a true disciple. Justification does not automatically result in continuous discipleship.

8:32 Truth is the absolute standard by which reality is measured. We live in a relativistic society that denies absolute truth, claiming, “What’s true for you may not be true for me.” But truth is not based on feelings, experiences, or desires. Truth is God’s viewpoint on every matter, and it is not subject to redefinition. Pilate would ask, “What is truth?” (18:38), and the answer to that question is “Jesus” (see 14:6).

8:33 The Jews were basing their spiritual status on their physical link to Abraham.

8:36 The living Word (Jesus) provides us with legal freedom from sin through his atoning death on the cross; thus, we no longer stand condemned before God. But we must continue in his written Word (Scripture) in order to enjoy freedom from the sin to which we can be enslaved in our daily lives.

8:41 In other words, they said, “We know all about your illegitimate birth, Jesus! Your mother was pregnant before she was married” (see Matt 1:18).

8:42 In saying, If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God, Jesus denied their accusation (see the note on 8:41); his birth wasn’t immoral but supernatural.

8:44-47 These Jews had lied about Jesus’s mama (8:41), but in 8:44 he was telling the truth about their daddy! Their opposition to Jesus was Satanic in origin. They wanted to do whatever their father did, which explained all of their actions. Their religion was a fiction, and their allegiance was to the wrong kingdom. They were not from God (8:47).

8:48 See the note on 4:4-5.

8:51 Every person who believes in Jesus Christ as his or her Savior will escape death because when a Christian dies, he or she is immediately ushered into the presence of the Lord. Have no fear. Physical death is merely a transition into eternity.

8:58 This is one of Jesus’s most profound claims to deity in the Gospels. He didn’t say, “Before Abraham was, I was,” but “I am.” The former wording could be ambiguous and misunderstood, but not the latter. Not only was he claiming to have existed in Abraham’s day, but he was also claiming divine identity.

8:59 Wrongly assuming Jesus was speaking blasphemy, they picked up stones to stone him.