< John 8 >

The scribes and Pharisees v.3Waiting for response for John 8:3 tried to trick Jesus v.6Waiting for response for John 8:6 by bringing to him a woman “taken in adultery” but, while they remained unrepentant in their own sins which Jesus exposed, he showed that we can be forgiven our sins if we confess and forsake them - if we obey the instruction “Go, and sin no more” v.11.Waiting for response for John 8:11

The rest of the chapter records the ensuing discussion between Jesus and the Pharisees v.13Waiting for response for John 8:13 about paternity because Jesus declared that God, his Father, bore witness to him by the mighty works he did v.18.Waiting for response for John 8:18 They claimed, as Abraham’s seed v.33,Waiting for response for John 8:33 that Abraham was their father v.39.Waiting for response for John 8:39 Jesus acknowledged they were Abraham’s seed v.37Waiting for response for John 8:37 because they were his natural descendants but by their deeds they proved they were not really his children: “If ye were Abraham’s children, ye would do the works of Abraham but now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham” vs.39-40.Waiting for response for John 8:39-40 The Jews then raised their claims to declare: “We have one Father, even God” v.41,Waiting for response for John 8:41 but Jesus showed that if God was truly their father they would have loved him because he was the Son of God v.42,Waiting for response for John 8:42 although he expressed this in terms they failed to understand v.43.Waiting for response for John 8:43 Those, however, who do listen to his word with the right attitude of mind can understand his speech v.43.Waiting for response for John 8:43

The Pharisees' real father was Sin, as Jesus said: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” v.44.Waiting for response for John 8:44 They allowed free rein to their sinful flesh and manifested they were, not only sin’s children, but also the slaves of sin v.34.Waiting for response for John 8:34 On the other hand Jesus, although a partaker of our sinful nature, overcame sin so that he could challenge them: “Which of you convinceth me of sin?” v.46.Waiting for response for John 8:46 They expressed the mind of the flesh, but Jesus spoke the word of God v.38.Waiting for response for John 8:38

The Pharisees implied that Jesus was “born of fornication”, no doubt referring to the unusual circumstances of his birth which they did not rightly understand, but Jesus’ miracles proved that he came from God v.42Waiting for response for John 8:42 and bore witness to the fact that God was his Father v.18.Waiting for response for John 8:18 But they did not know Jesus’ Father v.19Waiting for response for John 8:19 even though they claimed he was their God v.54.Waiting for response for John 8:54 Jesus submitted himself to his Father: doing and saying nothing except that taught by him v.28;Waiting for response for John 8:28 honouring not himself but his Father v.54,Waiting for response for John 8:54 and always doing the things which pleased him v.29.Waiting for response for John 8:29 The Jews, however, neither understood his speech v.43Waiting for response for John 8:43 nor that he was was speaking of God v.27.Waiting for response for John 8:27 Many other people have wrested the words of Jesus recorded here and misunderstood them.

Jesus told the the Jews: “Whither I go ye cannot come” v.21Waiting for response for John 8:21 which they did not understand v.22,Waiting for response for John 8:22 but he was declaring he would go to his Father in heaven where no other man can go. He said to them: “Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world” v.23.Waiting for response for John 8:23 Through Adam they had come from the earth beneath, but through the Holy Spirit coming on Mary Jesus had come from heaven above. They conformed to this world while he was in the world but not of it, as he desired his disciples to be John 17:16Waiting for response for John 17:16 if they too are to be the children of God, “for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” 1 John 2:16.Waiting for response for 1 John 2:16

A scripture commonly wrested is: “Before Abraham was, I am” v.58.Waiting for response for John 8:58 This is supposed to mean that Jesus existed before Abraham whereas, consistent with the context, Jesus is declaring that he was in God’s purpose from the very beginning and was spoken of before Abraham’s day. The phrase “I am” occurs in this book a great number of times and on each occurrence with a complement telling us what the speaker was. For example, Jesus said: “I am the good shepherd” and “I am the bread of life”. If there is no complement, the translators have added the word “he” in italics to give the sentence grammatical sense. For example: Jesus said “I am he” meaning “I am he whom ye seek” John 18:5;Waiting for response for John 18:5 and, the blind man given sight said “I am he” meaning “I am he that was born blind” John 9:9.Waiting for response for John 9:9 For some reason, however, the translators did not do the same in this verse, but had they done so everyone would have readily understood from the context that when Jesus said “I am he” he meant “I am he whose day Abraham rejoiced to see” v.56.Waiting for response for John 8:56 Indeed Jesus was spoken of by God to Abraham as his seed, so that Abraham longed for the day when he would be born, but Jesus was also spoken of centuries “before Abraham was”, e.g. as the seed of the woman promised in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:15).Waiting for response for Genesis 3:15