John 8 - CSB Ancient Faith Study Bible

8:3-6 Bede: If [Jesus] determined that she was to be stoned, they would scoff at him inasmuch as he had forgotten the mercy that he was always teaching. If he prohibited the stoning, they would gnash their teeth at him, and, as they saw it, rightly condemn him as a doer of wicked deeds contrary to the law. But it was beyond the ability of earthly stupidity . . . [to know] what he would answer. Far be it from blind wickedness to stand in the way of the “Sun of justice” to keep him from giving light to the world. Homilies on the Gospels 1.25.

8:7-9 Augustine: [Some say,] We are men; will the dignity of our sex sustain this affront, so that we become like women in paying the penalty for our sins if we have relations with women other than our own wives? As if for this very reason, that they are men, they ought not all the more to bridle their sinful desires, as becomes men. . . . And yet, they become indignant if they should hear that men, guilty of adultery, pay the same penalty as adulterous women, although they should be punished as much more severely as it befits them to surpass the virtue of their wives and to govern them by their examples. . . . There are some who are not pleased at the fact that, in the matter of chastity, there is a single norm for both husband and wife. In this matter, particularly, they would rather be subject to the standard of the world than the law of Christ, because civil law does not seem to restrict men with the same bonds of chastity as it does women. On Adulterous Marriages 2.8.7.

8:14 Augustine: A burning lamp is indeed capable at the same time of exposing to view other things that the darkness covered and of showing itself to your eyes. So also the Lord Christ distinguished between his faithful ones and his enemies, as between light and darkness: as between those whom he illuminated with the ray of faith and those on whose closed eyes he shed his light. So, too, the sun shines on the face of the sighted and of the blind. Both alike, while standing and facing the sun, have the sun shine on them, but both are not enlightened in the eyesight. The one sees; the other does not. The sun is present to both, but one of them is absent from the present sun. So likewise the Wisdom of God, the Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is everywhere present because truth is everywhere, wisdom is everywhere. . . . Therefore the light bears witness to itself. It opens the healthy eyes and is its own witness so that it may be known as the light. . . . It is also present [to unbelievers], but they do not have the eyes of the heart with which to see it. Tractates on the Gospel of John 35.4.

8:27-30 Chrysostom: When he brought his speech down to a more human level, many believed in [Jesus]. Do you still ask why he spoke so humbly? And yet, the Evangelist clearly alludes to the reason [here], all but proclaiming aloud: Do not be disturbed at hearing so humble a speech from Christ, for those who had heard the greatest doctrines from him and were still not persuaded that he was from the Father were persuaded by these more humble words so that they might believe. This explains why he spoke these things in such a humble way. These then believed on him, yet not as they ought but only because they were pleased with the refreshing humility of his words. The Evangelist, in fact, shows their imperfect faith in his subsequent narration, which relates their unjust proceedings against him. Homilies on the Gospel of John 53.2.

8:36 Augustine: The first stage of freedom, then, is to abstain from sins . . . such as murder, adultery, any sexual sins, theft, fraud, sacrilege, and others of that sort. When someone has started getting free from these (and every Christian ought to be so), he begins to raise his head toward freedom. But that is freedom begun, not completed. Why, says someone, is it not completed freedom? Because “I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind” [Rm 7:23]; “for what I want to do,” [Paul] says, “that I do not do; but what I hate, that I do” [Rm 7:19]. “The flesh,” he says, “lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, so that you do not do the things that you want” [Gl 5:17]. There is partial freedom and partial bondage. This freedom is not yet complete, pure or full freedom because it is not yet in eternity. For we are still partially weak and thus only partially free. . . . If there were no weakness left, then that would mean that we should be living here without sin. Yet who would venture to say such a thing except someone who is proud but also unworthy of the Deliverer’s mercy? This is the kind of person who wants to be self-deceived and who is destitute of the truth. And so, from the fact that some weakness remains, I venture to say that in whatever measure we serve God, we are free. In whatever measure we serve the law of sin, we are still in bondage. And so too the apostle says what we began to say: “I delight in the law of God after the inward person” [Rm 7:22]. Here it is then. Freedom occurs when we delight in the law of God, for freedom gives you joy. As long as you do what is right out of fear, you find no delight in God. Find your delight in him, and you are free. Do not fear punishment; rather, love righteousness. Tractates on the Gospel of John 41.10.

8:56 Theodore of Mopsuestia: Therefore, [Christ] says, after my Father’s testimony about me has been explained, now listen to what is in conformity with that [testimony] about me: I am certainly enough of Abraham’s superior that he also wished and hoped to see the time when I would reform the world through my passion. And in his desire he saw this, as much as he was allowed to, and clearly rejoiced when, by sacrificing his own son, he revealed his will and received from God the revelation so that he might know what would happen. As he accepted giving his son as a victim for God, so also God would give his Only Begotten for the salvation of the world. Commentary on John 3.8.56.

8:58 Gregory the Great: Our Redeemer graciously turns their gaze away from his body and draws it to contemplation of his divinity. He says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” “Before” indicates past time, “I am” present time. Because divinity does not have past and future time but always is, he did not say, “I was before Abraham” but “Before Abraham was, I am.” And so it was said to Moses, “I am who I am,” and “You will say to the children of Israel, ‘He who is has sent me to you.’” Therefore he who could draw near by manifesting his presence and depart after completing his life existed both before and after Abraham. Truth always exists, because nothing begins before it in time or comes to an end after it. Forty Gospel Homilies 16.

8:59 Chrysostom: [W]hy didn’t Jesus say, “Before Abraham was, I was,” instead of “I am”? In other words, he uses the same expression, “I am,” that his Father does [in Ex 3:14], because it signifies continuous being irrespective of all time. This is why the expression seemed so blasphemous to [his hearers]. Now, if they could not bear the comparison with Abraham (although this was only a minor comparison), just imagine if he had continually made [statements about making] himself equal to the Father. Would they have ever stopped throwing stones at him? Homilies on the Gospel of John 55.2.