The Gospel According to John

Biblical Research Monthly
October, 1956
Dr. David L. Cooper
(Installment Twenty-one)

DIALOGUE BETWEEN JESUS AND HIS ENEMIES THE JEWS

As we have already seen, the events recorded in John, chapter seven and eight, occurred at the last Feast of Tabernacles during the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. In our last study we found a marvelous invitation that Jesus gave on the last day of the Feast. At the conclusion of this festival season, most of the people naturally returned to their homes, but the inhabitants of Jerusalem and possibly some who remained in the city came the next day to learn more about Jesus. While He was at the temple, as we have already seen, the Scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been taken in the very act of adultery and wanted Jesus to condemn her; but the Lord did not. Instead He stooped down and wrote in the dust; and, when He looked up, His enemies had retired. Jesus asked the woman where her accusers were. Since none of them had accused her, but had gone away, Jesus said that He did not condemn her, and that she should be careful not to commit the sin again.

The section of Scripture which we are to study at this time is found in John 8:12-30.

The Exalted Claims of Jesus Concerning Himself

To the woman at the well of Samaria, Jesus promised to give the water of life if she would only ask Him. To the multitudes in the Synagogue at Capernaum, He declared that He was the Bread of Life. (John, chapter 6.) To the multitudes on the last great day of the Feast, He promised to give the Water of Life freely to those who would accept. On the occasion which we are studying, He claimed to be the Light of the world. To Martha, He said that He was the resurrection and the Life. (John, chapter 11.) To Philip He declared, "I am the Way and the Truth and the Life …" (John 14:6). Never has anyone made such exalted claims as the Lord Jesus made. These promises and statements are to be taken at their literal face value. The Lord Jesus Christ can meet the needs of every soul and will satisfy the longing heart—if people will but come to Him and let Him work in their behalf.

The First Dialogue

In verses 12-20, of chapter 8 we have recorded the dialogue which took place between Jesus and the Pharisees on this occasion. In verse 12, Jesus claimed that He was the Light of the world and that the one who followed Him would never walk in darkness but would have the Light of Life. Immediately the Pharisees replied, "Thou bearest witness of thyself: thy witness is not true." According to the Jewish law, all matters that were brought into court were to be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses. The testimony of one person could not establish anything; therefore, the Jews said that Jesus was bearing witness of Himself and that there was no one to corroborate His testimony; consequently it was not true and not accepted. In other words they said that they did not believe in Him and would not accept Him or His testimony.

His reply to them is found in John 8:14-18: "Jesus answered and said unto them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. 15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 16 Yea, and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that that sent me. 17 Yea and in your law it is written, that the witness of two men is true. 18 I am he that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me."

To the Pharisees who rejected Jesus because He seemingly stood alone giving testimony concerning Himself, Jesus said that, even if He did bear witness concerning Himself, His testimony was true, because He knew whence He came and whither He was going. He knew that He had been in heaven with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, and that He had laid aside His glory and had emptied Himself, coming into the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. He knew God in a special manner which no mortal man ever did. Though Jesus knew those facts about His own personal history and existence, the Jews who were finding fault with Him did not understand any of them. Moreover the Lord Jesus accused them of judging after the flesh, as men here with their limited faculties do. But He declared that He did not judge any man. When He was here upon earth, He judged no man. But when He comes again, He will judge all men, because, when He was God, He became man—became the God-man—and championed the cause of man. Now since He is a son of man—the God-man—all judgment has been committed unto Him, and when He returns He will judge all.

According to verse 16 Jesus declared that, even if He should judge, His judgment would be true; because He was not alone in what He was saying. But God the Father was corroborating everything that Jesus said and did. Since, therefore, God the Father was corroborating the testimony, Jesus declared that "the witness of two men is true." As just stated, the supposition (or proposition) was true, because of two competent qualified witnesses according to Jewish law—God the Father joining Jesus His Son—bore testimony concerning Himself; therefore, according to the law of Moses, His testimony should be accepted. In verse 18 Jesus reiterates this thought.

The Pharisees replied to Jesus, "Where is thy Father?" Then Jesus answered, "Ye know neither me nor my Father; if ye knew me ye would know my Father also." These opponents of Jesus claimed to know God the Father, but Jesus categorically stated that they knew neither Him nor the Father. If they had known God in a real manner, they would have known Jesus; or, if they had known Jesus, they would have known God the Father also.

This dialogue between Jesus and the Pharisees took place in the treasury as He was teaching in the temple, but we are told that "no man took Him; because His hour was not yet come." The angel of the Lord was camping round about the Lord Jesus, and no one could lay hands upon Him until the time came for Him to give up His life for the redemption of the human family. In the plan of God there was a time for Him to be given up and to be crucified. When that time came, God withdrew His restraining hand and permitted the enemies of Jesus to seize and to crucify Him.

Second Dialogue

With John 8:21, begins a second dialogue that occurred on this occasion: "He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come." Since John used the word again in this verse, it seems very likely that the preceding conversation was broken off and then was later resumed when Jesus made this statement.

In reply, the Jews said to one another, "Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come?" (vs. 22). This question seems to have been on the lips of various Jews who were opposing Jesus. What He said was a puzzle to them. They were in darkness. He was in the light. They could not see or comprehend what he was saying.

In response Jesus said: "Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins; for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins" (vs. 23, 24). This statement to the Jews that they were from beneath is to be taken at its face value. Their parents had lived on this earth, and they were living on this earth. They lived and moved and had their being in God, but in the sphere of human activity alone. In contrast to them Jesus declared that He was from above. He knew that He had been with the Father from all eternity, and He knew that, when the time had come, He had laid aside His glory, entering the world by miraculous conception and virgin birth. Hence He said that He was from above. A classical passage on the incarnation of the Lord Jesus is found in Phil 2:5-11. Though Jesus was in "the form of God, He counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself and took the form of a servant becoming obedient unto death, yea the death of the cross." Jesus declared that they were of this world, whereas He was not of this world. He was here on a visit, to work out the plan of redemption of the human family. He knew that the time was very close at hand when he would give His life for the sins of humanity—only about three months longer.

The Jews retorted, "Who art thou?" Jesus might as well have been speaking in a foreign language to them on this occasion, for they had no conception of spiritual realities and the teaching of the Scriptures which foretold that God would come to earth and appear in the form of man. Had they known the Scriptures and had they believed them, they would have recognized Him as the One of whom all the prophets had spoken.

Jesus replied, "Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world." From the very beginning Jesus spoke of Himself as having been in heaven and as having left there and come to earth for the specific purpose of redeeming humanity. He could therefore truthfully say that He was the one concerning whom He had spoken from the very beginning of His ministry. Moreover Jesus declared that He had many things to speak to them as a judge concerning them, but He did not do so because they were not prepared for any such message. Nevertheless He was true, even though He did withhold facts which He would have spoken to them had they been in condition to receive the same.

A great revelation is found in the statement "… the things which I heard from him (the Father), these speak I unto the world" (vs. 26). In Isaiah, chapter 50, we have a prophecy concerning the intimacy and the communication and the fellowship which the Lord Jesus would have on earth with the Father in heaven. According to this prediction He would rise early in the morning and go out to some secluded spot where He could have uninterrupted communication in prayer and fellowship with God. God would open His eyes concerning the situation which would confront Him daily and would give Him the very words to speak so that He would not speak amiss, but would strike fire with every word. It is to these daily revelations that the Lord Jesus referred to in His statement in John 8:26.

Although Jesus spoke plainly concerning His intimate fellowship with the Father, the Jews to whom He was talking had such little spiritual insight that they could not understand that He was speaking to them of the Father.

Moreover Jesus had cried to the Jews saying, "When ye have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things" (vs. 28). This lifting up to which Jesus referred was the crucifixion of the Son of Man. His enemies lifted Him upon a cross, nailing Him to it. According to the prediction of the Lord Jesus on this occasion, when His enemies thus lifted Him, they would know that He is—that is, He is self-existing—and that He did nothing of Himself. In this way Jesus claimed to be the I AM, the One who spoke with Moses as we see in Exodus, chapter 3. God told Moses to tell the children of Israel that "I AM THAT I AM" was speaking to them. Then the Lord shortened the term to I AM, so Moses was commissioned to say that "I AM" had sent him unto Israel. Jesus here makes the same high claim that He is the I AM, the self-existing One, the One in whom we live and move and have our being.

Jesus moreover said that He of Himself did nothing; but as the Father taught Him, He acted and spoke. By this statement Jesus meant that He was not doing anything independently of God the Father. Having entered the world by miraculous conception and Virgin Birth, he was as God-man utterly dependent upon God for everything. He therefore had communion and fellowship daily with God, who revealed to Him just how He should act and what He should say on all occasions.

According to verse 29 the Father who had sent Him had not left Him alone, but was with Him constantly. Moreover he declared that He always did those things that were pleasing to the Father. He never sought to do His own will.

Jesus spoke with such convincing force, power, and clarity that many of the Jews believed on Him from that time on; but, as we shall see, there was superficiality in their faith.