Giovanni 8:16 Commento

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.

I am one that bear witness of myself,.... As he does of his sonship, in Jo1 5:7. And the Father that sent me, beareth witness of me; as he did, by the descent of the Spirit upon him at his baptism, and by a voice from heaven, both at that time, and at his transfiguration, and by the miracles which he wrought; and particularly he bore testimony of him, long before, in prophecy, that he was the light of the world he now said he was, Isa 42:6; so that here were two testifiers, his Father and himself; which show them to be two distinct divine persons, and equal to each other: and now if the testimony of two men is true, firm, and authentic, and to be depended upon and received, then much more the testimony of two divine persons; see Jo1 5:9.

When … [Jesus] declares that he is not alone and uses these words, “but I and the Father who sent me,” does he not show that there are two—two and yet inseparable? Indeed, this was the sum and substance of what he was teaching them, that they [i.e., Father and Son] were inseparably two. [This must be the case] since, after citing the law when it affirms the truth of two men’s testimony, he adds at once: “I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” Now, if he were one—being at once both the Son and the Father—he certainly would not have quoted the sanction of the law, which requires not the testimony of one but of two.

When, however, He declares that He is not alone, and uses these words, "but I and the Father that sent me," does He not show that there are Two-Two, and yet inseparable? Indeed, this was the sum: and substance of what He was teaching them, that they were inseparably Two; since, after citing the law when it affirms the truth of two men's testimony, He adds at once: "I am one who am bearing witness of myself; and the Father (is another, ) who hath sent me, and beareth witness of me.

"Ye judge after the flesh." As to live after the flesh is to live badly, so to judge after the flesh is to judge unjustly. "But I judge no man. And yet if I judge, My judgment is true." What He saith, is of this kind; "Ye judge unjustly." "And if," saith some one, "we judge unjustly, why dost Thou not rebuke us? why dost Thou not punish us? why dost Thou not condemn us?" "Because," He saith, "I came not for this." This is the meaning of, "I judge no man; yet if I judge, My judgment is true." "For had I been willing to judge, ye would have been among the condemned. And this I say, not judging you. Yet neither do I tell you that I say it, not judging you, as though I were not confident that had I judged you, I should have convicted you; since if I had judged you, I must justly have condemned you. But now the time of judgment is not yet."

He alluded also to the judgment to come, saying, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me." Here He hinted, that not He alone condemneth them, but the Father also. Then He concealed this, by leading them to His own testimony. "It is written in your Law, that the testimony of two men is true."

"I judge not any man." Does not the Lord Jesus Christ, then, judge any man? Is He not the same of whom we confess that He rose again on the third day, ascended into heaven, there sits at the right hand of the Father, and thence shall come to judge the quick and the dead? Is not this our faith of which the apostle says, "With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation?" When, therefore, we confess these things, do we contradict the Lord? We say that He shall come a judge of the quick and the dead, whilst He says Himself, "I judge not any man." This question may be solved in two ways: Either that we may understand this expression, "I judge not any man," to mean, I judge not any man now; in accordance with what He says in another place, "I am not come to judge the world, but to save the world;" not denying His judgment here, but deferring it. Or, otherwise, surely that when He said, "Ye judge after the flesh," He subjoined, "I judge not any man," in such manner that thou shouldst understand "after the flesh" to complete the sense. Therefore let no scruple of doubt remain in our heart against the faith which we hold and declare concerning Christ as judge. Christ is come, but first to save, then to judge: to adjudge to punishment those who would not be saved; to bring them to life who, by believing, did not reject salvation. Accordingly, the first dispensation of our Lord Jesus Christ is medicinal, not judicial; for if He had come to judge first, He would have found none on whom He might bestow the rewards of righteousness. Because, therefore, He saw that all were sinners, and that none was exempt from the death of sin, His mercy had first to be craved, and afterwards His judgment must be executed; for of Him the psalm had sung, "Mercy and judgment will I sing to Thee, O Lord." Now, He says not "judgment and mercy," for if judgment had been first, there would be no mercy; but it is mercy first, then judgment.

(Tract. xxxvi. s. 4) Which may be understood in two ways; I judge no man, i. e. not now: as He says elsewhere, God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved: not that He abandons, but only defers, His justice. Or having said, Ye judge according to the flesh, He says immediately, I judge no man, to let you know that Christ does not judge according to the flesh, as men judged Him. For that Christ is a judge appears from the next words, And yet if I judge, My judgment is true.

What is the mercy first? The Creator of man deigned to become man; was made what He had made, that the creature He had made might not perish. What can be added to this mercy? And yet He has added thereto. It was not enough for Him to be made man, He added to this that He was rejected of men; it was not enough to be rejected, He was dishonored; it was not enough to be dishonored, He was put to death; but even this was not enough, it was by the death of the cross. For when the apostle was commending to us His obedience even unto death, it was not enough for him to say, "He became obedient unto death;" for it was not unto death of any kind whatever: but he added, "even the death of the cross." Among all kinds of death, there was nothing worse than that death. In short, that wherein one is racked by the most intense pains is called cruciatus, which takes its name from crux, a cross. For the crucified, hanging on the tree, nailed to the wood, were killed by a slow lingering death. To be crucified was not merely to be put to death; for the victim lived long on the cross, not because longer life was chosen, but because death itself was stretched out that the pain might not be too quickly ended. He willed to die for us, yet it is not enough to say this; He deigned to be crucified, became obedient even to the death of the cross. He who was about to take away all death, chose the lowest and worst kind of death: He slew death by the worst of deaths. To the Jews who understood not, it was indeed the worst of deaths, but it was chosen by the Lord. For He was to have that very cross as His sign; that very cross, a trophy, as it were, over the vanquished devil, He was to put on the brow of believers, so that the apostle said, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world." Nothing was then more intolerable in the flesh, nothing is now more glorious on the brow. What does He reserve for His faithful one, when He has put such honor on the instrument of His own torture?

"And if I judge, my judgment is true." Behold, thou hast Him as thy judge, but acknowledge Him as thy Saviour, lest thou feel the judge. But why has He said that His judgment is true? "Because," saith He, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me." Just as if He had said, "My judgment is true," because I am the Son of God. But I would have thee in such wise believe that I am the Son of God, that thou mayest understand that the Father is with me: I am not Son in such manner as to have left Him; I am not in such manner here that I should not be with Him; nor is He in such manner there as not to be with me: I have taken to me the form of a servant, yet have I not lost the form of God; therefore He saith, "I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me."

(Tract. xxxvi. 7) But if the Father is with Thee, how did He send Thee? O Lord, Thy mission is Thy incarnation. Christ was here according to the flesh without withdrawing from the Father, because the Father and the Son are every where. Blush, thou Sabellian; our Lord doth not say, I am the Father, and I the self-same person am the Son; but, I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. Make a distinction then of persons, and distinction of intelligences: acknowledge that the Father is the Father, the Son the Son: but beware of saying, that the Father is greater, the Son less. Theirs is one substance, one coeternity, perfect equality. Therefore, He says, My judgment is true, because I am the Son of God.

But we must know that by his saying again that he was sent, he does not show that he is second in dignity to the Father. For we must not imagine a mission befitting a servant, even though, because he was clothed in a servant's form, he might rightly say even this of himself. But he was sent as Word from Mind, as the Sun's radiance from itself. For these I suppose are processions from those things in which they are, from their appearing to issue forth, yet they exist naturally and immovably in those things from which they come. For we should not suppose that the things that mind and sun have produced, that is, Word or radiance, are devoid of Word or radiance once they have gone forth from them.… For mind will never be wordless, nor will words ever exist without the mind that fashioned them.

"Doth then," will haply one say of those who think contrary to the doctrines of the Church, "the Son know how to judge aright, only for this reason, that the Father is with Him when He does so? This being so (and that in truth) what yet hinders from saying that the Son is in a way directed unto uprightness through the Will of the Father, not possessing this in perfectness, nor able of Himself to act irreproachably?" What then shall WE too respond to their words? Impious, sirs, is your idea and most befitting Jewish folly alone, for not as though not possessing the power of judging rightly of Himself, does the Son so speak; for the Psalmist will testify to Him saying in the Spirit, God is a Righteous Judge. And that none other save He is Judge, Himself will be our witness, saying in the Gospels, For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment unto the Son. Hath then God the Father given the judgment to one who knoweth not to judge rightly? But any one (I suppose) would attribute to the uttermost folly so to deem of the Righteousness of the Father, i. e. the Son. For the Father knoweth His own Offspring and gave Him judgment, and by giving it, clearly testifies His Power to judge aright. It is therefore most manifest, that not as being impotent to judge justly does He say that the Father co-judges with Him, but the words are replete with some thoughts akin to those above and in sequence. What then He wishes to make known, we will clearly say. YE (He says) O leaders and teachers of the Jews, made an evil and most unjust judgment against Me: for by reason of only the flesh, ye deem ye ought to esteem Me as nothing, although I am by Nature God. But I when I begin to judge of you, shall not put forth such a judgment against you, for not because ye are men by nature, shall I therefore deem it fit to condemn you: but having the Father in all things Co-willer and Co-judge, I condemn you justly. And why? Ye did not receive Him Who cometh from Heaven, ye have not ceased to insult Him That was sent to you from the Father, ye depreciated Me Who came for the salvation of all, for merely the flesh's sake, spurning far the Law which was ever dear to you. For where (tell me) doth Moses bid you condemn any because he was a man by nature? YE therefore judge and reckon unjustly: for ye have not the Law as your Co-willer herein, but by yourselves are bold to every daring deed, having not the inspiration of the Divine will: but I not so, for having in Myself the Father as My Assessor and Co-approver in all things that concern you, I judge most justly in giving up to desolation your whole country, and burying it in the misfortunes of war, yea in expelling from the very kingdom of Heaven those who have so raged against Him who willeth to save them, and who for this cause came in man's form.

Then, as if someone were to say: "If we Jews judge unjustly, then why do You not punish, why do You not condemn?" He says: "I did not come for the purpose of judging. I now judge no one; and if I do judge, My judgment is true, and if I wished to judge, you would be condemned. But now you remain without condemnation not because I supposedly cannot condemn you, but because now is not the time, since the condemnation upon you I am reserving until the Second Coming." So also in another place He says: "I came not to judge the world, but to save it" (Jn. 12:47). And that He is the Judge of all, hear the truthful lips: "The Father has given all judgment to the Son" (Jn. 5:22). Therefore, when you hear: "I judge no one," understand these words not of the future Coming, but of the first. Having said "I am not alone, but My Father is with Me," He declared: not I alone condemn you, but the Father also. For I do not judge one way and the Father another, but as I judge, so does He, and as He judges, so do I.

Yet, I will judge at some time, because "The Father has given all judgment to the Son" (5:22). And then, my judgment is true, that is, just: "He will judge the people with justice" (Ps 95:10); "We know that the judgment of God is according to the truth" (Rom 2:2). This shows that his judgment is true. He gives the reason for its truth when he says, because I am not alone. What Christ said before, "The Father himself judges no one" (5:22), should be understood to refer to the Father in isolation from the Son. Or, again, he said this because the Father will not appear visibly to all at the judgment. Thus he says, I am not alone, because he is not left alone by the Father, but is with him: "I am in the Father, and the Father is in me" (14:10). This statement rejects the error of Sabellius, who said that the Father and the Son were the same person, the only difference between them being in their names. But if this were true, Christ would not have said: I am not alone; but there is me and the Father who sent me. He would rather have said: "I am the Father, and I am the Son." We should, therefore, distinguish between the persons, and realize that the Son is not the Father.

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.

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].

And yet if I judge, my judgment is true, &c.--Ye not only form your carnal and warped judgments of Me, but are bent on carrying them into effect; I, though I form and utter My judgment of you, am not here to carry this into execution--that is reserved to a future day; yet the judgment I now pronounce and the witness I now bear is not Mine only as ye suppose, but His also that sent Me. (See on Joh 5:31-32). And these are the two witnesses to any fact which your law requires.