John 8:30 Komentář

In this chapter we have, I. Christ's evading the snare which the Jews laid for him, in bringing to him a woman taken in adultery (Joh 8:1-11). II. Divers discourses or conferences of his with the Jews that cavilled at him, and sought occasion against him, and made every thing he said a matter of controversy. 1. Concerning his being the light of the world (Joh 8:12-20). 2. Concerning the ruin of the unbelieving Jews (Joh 8:21-30). 3. Concerning liberty and bondage (Joh 8:31-37). 4. Concerning his Father and their father (Joh 8:38-47). 5. Here is his discourse in answer to their blasphemous reproaches (Joh 8:48-50). 6. Concerning the immortality of believers (Joh 8:51-59). And in all this he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself.

Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives. Which lay eastward of Jerusalem, about a mile from it; hither Christ went on the evening of the last day of the feast of tabernacles; partly to decline the danger, and avoid the snares the Jews might lay for him in the night season; having been disappointed and confounded in the daytime; and it may be for the sake of recreation and diversion, to sup with his dear friends Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, who lived at Bethany, not far from this mount; and chiefly for private prayer to God, on account of himself as man, and for his disciples, and for the spread of his Gospel, and for the enlargement of his interest; this being his common and usual method, Luk 21:37. . John 8:2 joh 8:2 joh 8:2 joh 8:2And early in the morning he came again into the temple,.... Which shows his diligence, constancy, and assiduity, in his ministerial work, as well as his courage and intrepidity; being fearless of his enemies, though careful to give them no advantage against him, before his time: and all the people came unto him; which also commends the industry and diligence of his hearers, who were forward to hear him, and were early at the temple for that purpose, and that in great numbers: and he sat down and taught them; he sat, as his manner was; See Gill on Mat 5:1; and taught them as one having authority, and such doctrine, and in such a manner, as never man did; with all plainness, boldness, and freedom.

They answered him,.... Not the believing Jews, whom he peculiarly addressed, but the unbelieving Jews, who were present, and heard these things: we be Abraham's seed; this the Jews always valued themselves upon, and reckoned themselves, on this account, upon a level with the nobles and the princes of the earth. "Says R. Akiba (c), even the poor of Israel are to be considered as if they were , "noblemen", that are fallen from their substance, because they are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;'' and were never in bondage to any man; which is a very great falsehood, for it was declared to Abraham himself, that his seed should serve in a land not theirs, and be afflicted four hundred years, as they were; and as the preface to the law which the Jews gloried in shows, which says, that the Lord their God brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; and they were frequently overcome by their neighbours, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Philistines, and reduced to servitude under them, until delivered by one judge, or another: and not to take notice of their seventy years' captivity in Babylon, they were at this very time under the Roman yoke, and paid tribute to Caesar; and yet such was the pride of their hearts, they would not be thought to be in bondage; and therefore, with an haughty air, add, how sayest thou, ye shall be made free? when they thought themselves, and would fain have been thought by others, to have been free already, and so to stand in no need of being made free. (c) Misn. Bava Kama, c. 8. sect. 6. & T. Bab. Bava Kama, fol. 86. 1. & 91. 1.

"As He spake these words, many believed on Him." When He brought down His speech to a lowly strain, many believed on Him. Dost thou still ask wherefore He speaketh humbly? Yet the Evangelist clearly alluded to this when he said, "As He spake these things, many believed on Him." By this all but proclaiming aloud to us, "Oh hearer, be not confounded if thou hear any lowly expression, for they who after such high teaching were not yet persuaded that He was of the Father, were with good reason made to hear humbler words, that they might believe." And this is an excuse for those things which shall be spoken in a humble way. They believed then, yet not as they ought, but carelessly and as it were by chance, being pleased and refreshed by the humility of the words. For that they had not perfect faith the Evangelist shows by their speeches after this, in which they insult Him again.

"As He spake these words, many believed on Him." Would that, while I speak also, many, who before this were otherwise disposed, understood and believed on Him! For perhaps there are some Arians in this large assembly. I dare not suspect that there are any Sabellians, who say that the Father Himself is one with the Son, seeing that heresy is too old, and has been gradually eviscerated. But that of the Arians seems still to have some movement about it, like that of a putrefying carcase, or certainly, at the most, like a man at the last gasp; and from this some still require deliverance, just as from that other many were delivered. This province, indeed, did not use to have such; but ever since the arrival of many foreigners, some of these have also found their way to our neighborhood. See then, while the Lord spoke these words, many Jews believed on Him. May I see also that, while I am speaking, Arians are believing, not on me, but with me!

The wise Evangelist ofttimes marvels at Christ practising depreciation in His Words because of the infirmity of the hearers, and wont to achieve something great thereby. For whereas it was in His Power as God to speak all things, and to fashion His Discourse free and with royal Authority over all, keeping measure in His Speech economically, He encloses many unto obedience, many again He persuades to give heed more zealously unto Him. Therefore not empty is the Saviour's purpose, I mean His speaking to the multitudes in more human wise: for some of the more unlearned were used to rage against Him not a little and readily to desert Him, beholding a man and hearing God-befitting words. But since He was God and Man in one, having unblamed the authority that pertains to each, and able to speak without fault in whatever way He please, He doing exceeding well fashioned it in view of the levity of His hearers, diversely declaring of Himself (and that often) the things that belong to a man, such (I mean) as Of Myself I do nothing and things akin to this: for they understanding nothing whatever, but attacking without any investigation what was said, went to this common and offhand mode of understanding it, and thought that He said, Receiving power of God I work miracles, and He is with Me, since I do always what is pleasing to Him. Likeminded then with the unholy Jews are the accursed enemies of the Truth, who contradicting the dogmas of piety and loving to wrangle, think meanly of the Lord, and seizing on what is economically and rightly said, to overturn therewith His inbeing Glory and Authority, they steal away the Beauty of the Truth. For they have not (it seems) remembered Paul who saith that one ought to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God and to bring into captivity every thought to Christ and to His obedience: they have not known what was uttered concerning the Divine Oracles by one of the Prophets, Who is wise and he shall understand these things? prudent and he shall know them? For unless some exceeding great obscurity hovered upon them, and a deep darksome veil floated over, what were the need for a wise and prudent man being sought after who might find out the knowledge of them? And this is abundance for the present matter, we will speak rather on what is before us, choosing something profitable. Upon Christ when saying these things, there believed on Him, as saith the Evangelist, not all but many. Yet albeit He is Very God, and hath nought that is not wholly naked unto His Eyes and knows and that with all accuracy that He will not take hold of all unto belief, He yet perseveres, expending long discourse on them who come to Him, giving us an Example most fair in this too, and |621 offering Himself a Pattern to the Teachers of the Church. For even though all be haply not profited because of their own depravity, yet since it was likely that some would reap good thereby, we must not be sluggish to lead to what is profitable. For if we bury so to say in unfruitful silence the talent given us, that is, the grace through the Spirit, we shall be like that wicked servant who said without any restraint to his Master, I knew Thee that Thou art an hard man reaping where Thou didst not sow and gathering whence Thou didst not straw and I was afraid and hid Thy talent in the earth, lo, Thou hast Thine own. But to what end that so wretched man came, and what penalty He exacted of him, the studious man well knows having met with it not once only in the Gospel books. Therefore let us lay this to heart and consider aright that it is his duty to be free from all indolence in teaching, his I mean who is set forth for this work, and in no wise to turn aside to despise it, even though all be not persuaded by his words, but rather shalt thou rejoice at what thou gainest by thy toil. It is meet too to consider with all sobriety that which has been spoken by our Saviour, The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord: enough for the disciple that he be as his master and the servant as his lord. For if the Lord persuade not all on account of the crookedness and hardness of heart of the hearers, who will blame our feeble speech, though it demand understanding of free-choice not of necessity?

I said that the listeners were more captivated by humble speech. The evangelist hints at this as well. "As He was saying these things," he notes, "many believed in Him." He was saying "these things," that is, words that were humble and seemingly unworthy of His glory. Therefore, when you hear Him say something small and imperfect about Himself, do not be troubled in any way, for He says this for the sake of His listeners, who cannot comprehend anything loftier and immediately fly into a rage. What would have happened to them, unable to grasp the depths of the theological mystery, when the height of His glory remained incomprehensible even to Christians who had come to know His power and were saved by Him? When you hear that "many believed," understand it this way: they believed simply and as it happened, not as they should have; they believed because they were pleased by the humility in His words.

Then when he says, Because he spoke in this way, many came to believe in him, he shows the effect of his teaching, which is the conversion of many of them to the faith because they had heard Christ's teaching: "Faith comes by hearing, and what is heard by the word of Christ" (Rom 10:17).

The story of the woman taken in adultery, Joh 8:1-11. Jesus declares himself the light of the world, Joh 8:12. The Pharisees cavil, Joh 8:13. Jesus answers, and shows his authority, Joh 8:14-20. He delivers a second discourse, in which he convicts them of sin, and foretells their dying in it, because of their unbelief, Joh 8:21-24. They question him; he answers, and foretells his own death, Joh 8:25-29. Many believe on him, in consequence of this last discourse, Joh 8:30. To whom he gives suitable advice, Joh 8:31, Joh 8:32. The Jews again cavil, and plead the nobility and advantages of their birth, Joh 8:33. Jesus shows the vanity of their pretensions, and the wickedness of their hearts, Joh 8:34-47. They blaspheme, and Christ convicts and reproves them, and asserts his Divine nature, Joh 8:48-58. They attempt to stone him, Joh 8:59.

As he spake these words, many believed on him - The same sun that hardens the clay softens the wax. This discourse, which proved the savor of death unto death to the obstinate Pharisees, became the savor of life unto life to many of the simple-hearted people.

THE WOMAN TAKEN IN ADULTERY. (Joh 8:1-11) Jesus went unto the Mount of Olives--This should have formed the last verse of the foregoing chapter. "The return of the people to the inert quiet and security of their dwellings (Joh 7:53), at the close of the feast, is designedly contrasted with our Lord's homeless way, so to speak, of spending the short night, who is early in the morning on the scene again. One cannot well see why what is recorded in Luk 21:37-38 may not even thus early have taken place; it might have been the Lord's ordinary custom from the beginning to leave the brilliant misery of the city every night, that so He might compose His sorrowful and interceding heart, and collect His energies for new labors of love; preferring for His resting-place Bethany, and the Mount of Olives, the scene thus consecrated by many preparatory prayers for His final humiliation and exaltation" [STIER].

As he spake these words, many believed on him--Instead of wondering at this, the wonder would be if words of such unearthly, surpassing grandeur could be uttered without captivating some that heard them. And just as "all that sat in the council" to try Stephen "saw his face"--though expecting nothing but death--"as it had been the face of an angel" (Act 6:15), so may we suppose that, full of the sweet supporting sense of His Father's presence, amidst the rage and scorn of the rulers, a divine benignity beamed from His countenance, irradiated the words that fell from Him, and won over the candid "many" of His audience.