Глава 8

1–11. A sinner wife forgiven by Christ. – 12–59. The Lord's speech about Himself as the true Messiah and the denunciation of the unbelief of the Jews. The story of the forgiveness of the sinner's wife by many of the newest publishers of the Gospel of John (Lachman, Tischendorf, etc.) and interpreters is recognized as an insertion into the Gospel made in later times. In support of this statement, they point out, firstly, that this story is not in many ancient manuscripts of the Gospel. Secondly, they find it impossible that this story could in any way be omitted if it actually ever existed in the Gospel of John. Thirdly, they say that the very style of this story does not correspond to the style of the entire Gospel. Regarding this statement, the following must be said. Indeed, the ancient interpreters of the Gospel of John did not have this story in the codices they had at hand (for example, Origen, St. John Chrysostom, Blessed Theodoret). In the east, in the Syriac translation of the Gospel, this story appears only in the 6th century. In the same way, in the 6th century, this story appears in the Greek Gospel codes, and interpretations of it begin only in the 7th century (by Blessed Theophylact). But in the West, Blessed Jerome wrote at the beginning of the 5th century that this story is found in many codices, both Latin and Greek (“Against Pelagius,” II, 17). St. Augustine also defends its authenticity, explaining its omission in many codices by the fact that those of little faith, out of fear of the abuses to which this story could lead their wives, excluded it from the manuscripts of the New Testament that belonged to them (“Against Adulterers,” II, 7). In addition, mention of this story is found in the Apostolic Constitutions, a written monument of the 3rd century (“Apostolic Constitutions”, II. 24, 4). In terms of content, this story was already known to Papias, Bishop of Hierapolis, disciple of John the Theologian (Eusebius. Church history, III, 39, 16). Thus, the text we adopted has certain grounds behind it. Other grounds put forward by critics of the New Testament text are very subjective. What seems to these critics to be inconsistent with the style of John's Gospel does not in fact represent any sharp disagreement with this style, and there are many respectable scholars who recognize this story as truly belonging to John the Theologian (Begel, Scholz, Klee, Stier, Ebrard, etc.). John 8:1. Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. John 8:2. And in the morning he came to the church again, and all the people came to Him. He sat down and taught them. After the people had gone home (John 7:53), Christ withdrew, according to His custom (cf. Luke 21:37), to the Mount of Olives to the house of one of His friends to spend the night there (cf. Matt. 21:1). On the morning of the next day He again appeared in the church and, sitting, taught the people there. John 8:3. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman taken in adultery, and, placing her in the midst, John 8:4. They said to Him: Teacher! this woman was taken in adultery; John 8:5. and Moses commanded us in the law to stone such people: What do you say? Those who brought the sinner wife to Christ did not at all want Him to pronounce any judgment on her action. Otherwise, they would have to bring along with her the man who sinned with this woman, since the law required the execution of not only the adulteress, but also the adulterer (Lev. 20:10). Although the law does not say what kind of adultery is, i.e. for sin with a married woman, one must be stoned, as the Jews claim here; nevertheless, such an execution, which began among the Jews in the old days, was completely consistent with the spirit of the Mosaic Law, according to which even a girl who sinned and then married someone other than the one with whom she committed the sin had to be executed precisely by stoning. John 8:6. They said this, tempting Him, in order to find something to accuse Him of. But Jesus, bending low, wrote with his finger on the ground, not paying attention to them. John 8:7. When they continued to ask Him, He bowed down and said to them: He who is without sin among you, be the first to throw a stone at her. John 8:8. And again, bending low, he wrote on the ground. Why did the enemies of Christ bring a criminal woman to Him? Knowing Him as a friend of publicans and sinners, they also counted on His mercy for the transgressor of the law in order to find a new reason to accuse Him of breaking the law. But Christ did not directly say anything either for or against the law. By not answering His enemies, He wanted to make them understand that to answer their question would mean interfering in the affairs of civil proceedings, and this was not His task as a Teacher of the people. What Jesus wrote on earth is unnecessary to discuss in the absence of any factual support for such reasoning. “Which of you is without sin?” (ἀναμάρτητος), i.e. does not feel any sins behind him at all. Christ does not look at those who brought the woman as judges who were officially examining her offense. Of course, official judges are not required to be completely clean of sins themselves, which is in fact impossible. No, those who brought the woman voluntarily took on the role of accusers; this contradicted the commandment of Christ, according to which people themselves should not condemn their neighbors (Matthew 7:1). With the words: “be the first to throw a stone at her” (this was required of a witness to the crime, see Deut. 17:7), the Lord recognizes, however, the power behind the above-mentioned prescription of the Law of Moses. John 8:9. They, having heard this and being convicted by their conscience, began to leave one by one, starting from the eldest to the last; and only Jesus remained and the woman standing in the middle. John 8:10. Jesus, standing up and not seeing anyone but the woman, said to her: woman! where are your accusers? no one judged you? John 8:11. She answered: no one, Lord. Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more. Conscience began to convict those who had brought the woman of the injustice of their attitude towards her, this criminal, and they separated - the older ones, as more savvy, earlier, and the younger ones later. They realized that their attempt to put Christ in a difficult position had ended in failure, and they felt ashamed in front of the people. The Lord released the sinner, but did not forgive her, did not declare that she was not guilty, but gave her a warning so that she would not sin in the future. Bengel notes: “he did not say: “Go in peace,” or: “Your sins are forgiven you,” but said: “Sin not.” “And I do not condemn.” Here Christ reveals His mercy as He came not to judge, but to save (John 3:17). John 8:12. Again Jesus spoke to the people and said to them: I am the light of the world; whoever follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. From verses 12 to 59, the Lord’s conversation with the Jews is outlined, in which He revealed the meaning of His activities. This conversation is divided into three parts. In the first part, the Lord proclaims that He is the light of the world, and when the Pharisees begin to dispute His testimony about Himself, Christ proves the truth of His testimony by the fact that He knows where he came from and where he is going, and that He does not judge according to the flesh. Then Christ refers to the testimony of the Father, so that from the point of view of the law the number of witnesses is quite sufficient, two - He Himself and the Father (verses 12-20). In the second part, Christ announces His distance from the Jews, and points out the inability of the Jews to understand His teaching (verses 21-29). Finally, in the third part, He addresses those who believe in Him with an exhortation to abide in the truth, which will make them free. To the unbelieving Jews, Christ shows that they are not Abraham’s, much less God’s children, but children of the devil. Christ immediately proclaims that he who keeps His word will never see death and that He was before Abraham, which statement aroused an outburst of rage against Him on the part of the Jews, after which the Lord left the church (verses 30-59). Continuing to remain in the church, Christ again began to speak to them, i.e. To his listeners, among whom were both followers and enemies of Christ (adding the Russian translation “to the people” is superfluous). "I am the light of the world". The word “light” as a term denoting spiritual enlightenment is often used by the prophets (Is. 9:2, 49:6). But Christ, calling Himself light, wants to say by this not only that He is the bearer of divine saving truth, but also that He, by virtue of His closest unity with the Father, is the primary source of all light in the world, that from Him comes not only true knowledge of God, but also the entire spiritual life of man, who otherwise, without Christ, would walk in darkness (cf. John 1:5). To get out of this darkness, you need to believe in Christ and follow Him. There is nothing incredible in the assumption that the reason for calling Himself the light of the world was given to Christ by one rite of the Feast of Tabernacles. It was on the night from the first to the second day of this holiday that two large candelabras were lit in the church in the inner front courtyard, which had four golden cups of oil, which were constantly replenished. The light of these candelabra spread throughout Jerusalem at night. The Lord could, applying His speech to this custom, speak of Himself as a light that shines not only for Jerusalem, but for the whole world. John 8:13. Then the Pharisees said to Him: You testify about Yourself, Your testimony is not true. The Pharisees understand the meaning of Christ’s words and raise an objection to Him, but the objection is of a purely formal nature. In Your own work, they say, remembering the words previously spoken by Christ (John 5:31), You cannot act as a witness, and therefore what You say cannot be the binding truth for us. John 8:14. Jesus answered and said to them: If I testify of Myself, My testimony is true; because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going. To the objection of the Pharisees, Christ responds, firstly, that He can testify about Himself as a completely reliable witness: He knows well “from where” He “came”, i.e. that His origin is Divine, and “where it goes,” i.e. that He has to return to the Father in heaven. From here it necessarily follows that He is well aware of His purpose, to which He now testifies. He speaks not as a mere mortal, to whom his future is unclear, but as the Son of God, Who knows everything. John 8:15. You judge according to the flesh; I don't judge anyone. If the Pharisees are unable to recognize the Son of God in Christ, it is solely because they “judge according to the flesh,” i.e. by the appearance of Christ (cf. John 7:24). From the outside, Christ is a simple rabbi. "I don't judge anyone." The Lord seems to be saying: “You undertake to judge Me, but you do it very unsuccessfully. For My part, I could act as your judge, and a judge who conducts my business quite correctly, since God has made Me the Judge of all people (John 5:22, 27, 30). But I don’t want to use this power of the Judge now.” John 8:16. And if I judge, then My judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me. If Christ will judge over time, then His judgment will be a completely correct and true judgment, since it will not be a judgment according to the flesh. The court of the Pharisees does not even deserve the name “court,” but Christ’s court is completely true, because Christ is constantly in close communion with the Father. John 8:17. And in your law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. The thought of communicating with the Father gives Christ a reason to present the Father as a second witness for Himself, which can fully satisfy the requirement of the law, according to which two witnesses must appear in every important matter (Deut. 19:15). If Christ has two witnesses, the Father and Himself, then His testimony must be recognized as correct. "In your law". By this addition “in yours,” Christ does not show any disdain for the law, but only says that the Pharisees took the law into their own hands as a weapon against Christ. John 8:18. I testify of Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies of Me. “The Father testifies...” see comments on John 5:32–47. John 8:19. Then they said to Him: Where is Your Father? Jesus answered: You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would also know My Father. The Pharisees’ question “Where is Your Father?” shows that they remembered Whom Christ had previously called His Father (cf. John 5:17 et seq.). They now demand only that Christ prove to them that God, whom Christ calls His Father, is really on His side. Let Christ prove in some way that God can really be considered a witness about Him. To this, Christ says that they can see or know the Father only through Him, the Father is revealed in the Son (John 1:18; cf. Matt. 11:27), there is no other way to know the true God (John 5:37 et seq.; John 6:46). John 8:20. Jesus spoke these words at the treasury when he taught in the church; and no one took Him, because His hour had not yet come. The Evangelist draws the attention of his readers to the place where Christ so clearly testified to His Messianic dignity. It was near the church treasury, not far from the meeting place of the Sanhedrin, in the courtyard of the women (Matthew 21:12). Here Christ's enemies could easily have captured Him, but His hour had not yet come, and therefore no one laid hands on Him. John 8:21. Again Jesus said to them: I am going away, and you will seek Me and die in your sin. Where I go, you cannot come. The next time, Christ turned to the same listeners, most of whom were hostile to Him, with the statement that He would soon, as if fulfilling their cherished desire, move away from them, but then they themselves would regret His departure, they would even look for Him, but would not find Him and would die in their sin. These words are reminiscent of a formidable prophecy that the prophet Zechariah once spoke to his fellow tribesmen (Zechariah 12:10). John 8:22. Then the Jews said: Will He really kill Himself, because He says: “Where I go, you cannot come”? Christ's threat, however, made no impression on His listeners. Only His last word, that they cannot follow Him where He is going, occupies their attention for a minute, and they say with malicious mockery: “Doesn’t Christ really want to commit suicide?” Among the Jews, suicide was considered a terrible sin, and the listeners of Christ do not want to suffer the same fate as suicide. John 8:23. He said to them: You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Christ does not answer His enemies directly to their mockery, but points out the sharp contrast between Himself and them: He is “from above,” and they are “from below.” By this Christ reveals the deepest basis of their mocking attitude towards Him: “the lower” is the earth, the earthly world, as can be seen from the parallel expression “of this world” (cf. Acts 2:19), the “high” is heaven. The particle “from” (ἐκ) means origin, and origin corresponds to both the mood and activity of a person. “This world”, i.e. a world that “lies in evil” (1 John 5:19), or sinful humanity. John 8:24. This is why I told you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that it is I, you will die in your sins. Christ also explains why He threatened His enemies with the fact that they would die in sins and eternal destruction: this is because only faith in Jesus can save a person. “What am I” - this expression corresponds to the Hebrew expression ανι ηου in Deuteronomy (Deut. 32:39) and in the book of the prophet Isaiah (Is. 43:10), by which Jehovah designates Himself as the One with whom the existence of any other God cannot be allowed. Christ, repeating this expression about Himself, wants to say that He alone is life, light, way, truth, etc. In Him is the whole essence of the New Testament faith (Meyer). John 8:25. Then they said to Him: Who are You? Jesus said to them, “He was from the beginning, just as I tell you.” The Pharisees had already heard Christ’s declaration of His dignity several times and, showing that they were bored with all this, they asked with disdain: “Who are You?” (σὺ τίς εἶ); They seem to want to encourage Christ to speak more clearly. But Christ does not answer their question, but with anger throws at them the words: “First of all, why should I speak to you!” ( τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅτι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν ). Christ tells the Jews that they are unworthy to listen to His words, they are so stubborn (interpretation of St. John Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigavin and other fathers) 28. John 8:26. I have much to say and judge about you; but He who sent Me is true, and what I have heard from Him, that is what I speak to the world. Christ had just pointed out the futility of His appeals to the Jews: no matter what He said to them, they remained unresponsive. Therefore, He should not answer their requests, but judge them for their stubbornness - they themselves challenge Him to this. But He does not want to judge, His purpose is completely different (John 3:17, 8:15) - He came to save the world, therefore, His enemies (John 5:34, 40). And He does this through the proclamation of God’s will for the salvation of people, which is what He was doing in all those days (John 7:14, 33 et seq.; John 8:12, 31). Yes, He could judge the Pharisees, but He who sent Him is true, faithful to His promises, and fulfills them. Therefore, Christ, whom He sent, does not allow Himself to be drawn into vain disputes with the Pharisees, since this would distract Him from His great task. He will proclaim to the world only what he has heard and continues to hear from the Sender. And He hears that God wants to save people. John 8:27. They did not understand what He was telling them about the Father. Since Christ this time called God only “He who sent Him,” and not directly “Father,” it is not surprising that the Pharisees did not want to understand what Christ was telling them about His Father, God. John 8:28. So Jesus said to them: When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that it is I, and that I do nothing of Myself, but as My Father taught Me, so I speak. Christ does not pay attention to such misunderstandings. He again begins to speak (cf. verse 21) of His departure from the people, but this time He portrays His departure not as voluntary, but as a matter of violence on the part of the Jews, to whose representatives He is now addressing. "When You Exalt the Son of Man". The connection of thoughts makes us see here an indication of the ascension of Christ from the earthly world to the heavenly one, as in the 14th verse of the 3rd chapter. The Lord wants to say that the enemies seeking His execution will only “raise” Him with this execution to the Father. He will not remain in the grave or go to hell, like suicides, but will go to heaven, where he came from. “Then you will know...” The time of this recognition of the Lord by the Jews cannot be precisely determined. In the same way, it is difficult to say where this confession will lead the Jews, to repentance and faith or to despair. John 8:29. He who sent Me is with Me; The Father did not leave Me alone, for I always do what pleases Him. Even though Christ's enemies would succeed in putting Christ to death, He expresses His firm confidence that the Father is constantly with Him as a powerful protector. “The Father has not forsaken Me.” The Savior here says that so far the enemies of Christ, despite all their efforts, have not been able to cause significant harm to Christ. From this it is natural to conclude that in the future, when Christ’s enemies kill Him, God will still not abandon Him. "For I always do." Here the moral basis of the unity of Christ with God is indicated, and not the metaphysical one (the origin of the Logos from God). But the latter is not excluded here either. John 8:30. When He said this, many believed in Him. John 8:31. Then Jesus said to the Jews who believed in Him: If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples, John 8:32. and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Christ spoke with special power of conviction, and His words were so effective that many of His Jewish listeners believed in Him and, of course, declared something about the change that had taken place in their hearts. But the Lord addresses this group of Jews with an admonition to become truly His disciples. It is not enough if they only express agreement with His teaching; they must direct their entire life and thinking along the path indicated by Christ. It is necessary that they know the truth proclaimed by Christ in its entirety, then they will truly be free. "The truth will set you free". Christ speaks here of freedom from the disastrous influence that the Pharisees had on the Jews. Such freedom could be acquired only through firm and independent assimilation and through experimental study of the truth proclaimed by Christ (cf. John 6:68 et seq.; John 3:33, 7:17). John 8:33. They answered him: we are Abraham’s seed and have never been slaves to anyone; How then do You say: You will be made free? Having heard that Christ promises to grant them some kind of freedom, the Jews who believed in Christ are offended by His words. “This means,” they say, “Christ considers us not yet free. But they were never anyone’s slaves!” What “freedom” did they mean when they said this? Of course, not political. They could not help but know that they had not had such freedom for a long time, that the real ruler of the Jews was the representative of the Roman emperor, the procurator. The freedom that they think they have is spiritual freedom, freedom from alien pagan influence: the pagans could enslave them, but they could not captivate their spirit. John 8:34. Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin.” John 8:35. But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. John 8:36. So, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free. Christ answers them that they do not have the spirit of freedom: they are slaves of sin. “Everyone who commits sin”, i.e. he who commits sin as the task of his life, as if the work assigned to him, can, of course, quite correctly be called a slave of sin. Hardly anyone could argue with this, because the word of God, the teachings of the rabbis, sacrifices for sins, and everyone’s own experience testified to this. Thus, everyone needed freedom, with the exception of the Liberator Himself, who now appeared before the Jews. Christ moves on to the last thought, explaining the difference in position in the house between the son of a householder and a slave. “But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son abides forever...” Next, one would expect the application of this rule to Christ and His listeners, but Christ does not make such an application due to the clarity of the conclusion that needs to be drawn from what was said above. Christ's listeners, of course, understood that the son is Christ, the slaves are them, and the father's house is the Kingdom of God. Therefore, the Lord further speaks directly about how a slave can change his position in the master’s house. To do this, he must turn to the protection of his son (the image of slavish submission to sin here recedes into the background, since in the house of God or the Kingdom of God sin cannot be the master, and people cannot be its slaves). "Son", i.e. Christ, with complete devotion and love, fulfills the will of His Father (John 5:20, 30; John 8:29), and He is able to save and guide on the true path those inhabitants of the house who still serve God completely slavishly, out of fear of punishment and often hypocritically. He can give them the strength to also faithfully and freely do the will of God. “So,” this is the consequence that the Lord draws from what was said, “if the Son frees you, then you will be truly free.” The fulfillment of this promise is mentioned by the Apostle Paul (Gal.5:1). John 8:37. I know that you are Abraham's seed; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word cannot be contained within you. John 8:38. I speak what I saw with My Father; but you do what you saw your father do. Now the Lord exposes the national pride that prevented them from learning the truth and achieving true freedom. Since His listeners adopted a point of view common to all Judaism, which was proud of its descent from Abraham, which supposedly alone gave them the right to take a place in the Kingdom of God, the Lord here does not make a distinction between His listeners who believed in Him and the Jews who were hostile to Him. Even though they are the children of Abraham, they are at the same time Jews, and the Jews strive to kill Him, since His “word” or His teaching does not fit into them at all or, more precisely, does not meet in their soul the conditions for its affirmation (the verb χωρεῖν means “to fit in”, as well as “to move forward”, “to penetrate inside” - Wisdom 7:23, 25). It entered their soul, but did not take over their entire inner being, because there is a strong influence of other suggestions - suggestions coming “from their father.” But who He means by “their father,” Christ does not yet say. John 8:39. They answered Him: Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them: If you were children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham. John 8:40. And now you seek to kill Me, the Man who told you the truth, which I heard from God: Abraham did not do this. The listeners are perplexed who Christ meant when he said that they have some kind of special “father”, not the same as Him. They are from Abraham, like Jesus. The Lord tells them that although they are children of Abraham in the flesh, they are not such in spirit. They have not inherited his good feelings, they are trying to kill him, the man who wants to benefit them by proclaiming the truth of God. It is clear that they are under the spiritual influence of another father. Beischlag draws attention here to the fact that Christ calls Himself “man.” This means, the scientist concludes, that Christ Himself did not believe in His Divine dignity. But Christ, obviously, uses this word “Man” due to the fact that the Jews really considered Him a simple man. Moreover, in Aramaic the word “man” is often used instead of a personal pronoun. Finally, if Christ here wanted to say that He was nothing more than a simple man, then He would have fallen into contradiction with what He further says about His existence before Abraham. John 8:41. You are doing the works of your father. To this they said to Him: We were not born of fornication; We have one Father, God. John 8:42. Jesus said to them: If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I proceeded from God and came; for I did not come of Myself, but He sent Me. John 8:43. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you cannot hear My words. The listeners understand that Christ is speaking about their spiritual father. Some pagan god could be called such a father, whom they could sometimes obey. But the Jews contemporary to Christ, according to their own statement, are not like their ancestors, who betrayed the true God. Their fathers, i.e. Our closest ancestors, starting from the time of the restoration of the Jewish state after the Babylonian captivity, never fell into idolatry. They have one God, a common Father of the people. They sacredly honor His law and are far from any attempts to deviate towards polytheism (cf. Mal. 2:10: “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?”). Christ, however, does not recognize such a statement as being true. God's children would love Him because He came from God and came here to earth according to His will. They would love Him as their brother. Now they look at Him as a foreigner, they do not understand “His speech” (λαλία), i.e. His conversation, language. Why is this? Because, of course - one could add here - that they are actually alien to God and Christ, sent by Him: Christ and they speak as if in different languages. “Because you cannot hear my words.” These words are not the answer to the question in the first half of verse 43. Indeed, the reluctance to listen that is mentioned here is not a sufficient reason that could explain why we do not understand someone else's speech. You may not want to listen to someone and still understand what that person is saying. So here, too, the Jews’ misunderstanding of Christ’s speech did not directly depend on the fact that they were unable to understand it. There could be other reasons for this. Therefore, in the second half of verse 43, it is better to see the strengthening of the thought expressed in the first half of the verse, and the entire verse can be conveyed in this form: “Why do you not understand (i.e., do not want to understand) my speech (λαλίαν μου)? So I ask you because (apparently) you cannot even understand My word (λόγον μου, i.e. My teaching).” John 8:44. Your father is the devil; and you want to do the lusts of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not stand in the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks his own way, for he is a liar and the father of lies. After all that has been said, when it became clear that the Jews are not children of God in spirit, the question arose: whose children are they? And Christ directly and decisively declares that their spiritual father is the devil. “Mankiller from the beginning”, i.e. since humans have existed. Christ, of course, here refers to the story of the book of Genesis about the fall of our first parents (Gen. 3:1-19), but, in addition, the devil subsequently became a killer of people, acting on them through the forces of nature (Luke 10:19) and through evil people (1 John 3:10, 12). And this could also be what Christ meant here. "The Liar and the Father of Lies". From the very beginning, having seduced people with the promise that they will become gods, the devil continues to act in the same direction; he multiplies lies everywhere, trying to prevent people from knowing God and doing His will (Rev. 12:9, 20:3, 10). “I did not stand in the truth” - more correctly, “I did not stand in the truth” 29, of course, at a time when people still stood in the truth, i.e. knew the true God and held to what God revealed to them. Christ wants to say here that a state outside the truth for the devil is something familiar, continuously continuing since the moment people recognized it. “He speaks his mind,” i.e. lying became, as it were, second nature to him 30. John 8:45. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. The Jews show that they are children of the devil by the fact that they do not believe the direct truth proclaimed by Christ. They love lies, just like their father the devil. John 8:46. Which of you will convict Me of unrighteousness? If I speak the truth, why don't you believe Me? John 8:47. He who is from God listens to the words of God. The reason you don't listen is because you are not from God. Christ confirms His strict judgment about the Jews by citing the fact that none of them could convict Him of untruth or sin. They tried to accuse Christ (John 5:16, 18; John 7:12, 8:13), but they could not prove their accusations either before or after. Why don't they believe in Christ? It is clear that the reason here is in them, and not in Him, and the reason here is precisely that they are not children of God, although in Israel there are still people about whom we can say that they are from God (John 1:47, 3:21) and therefore listen to Christ, the messenger of God. John 8:48. To this the Jews answered and said to Him: Are we not telling the truth that You are a Samaritan and that You have a demon? Christ’s words that His real listeners standing before Him now are “not from God” produce in them an explosion of indignation against Christ. They call Him a Samaritan, since the Samaritans were known for their hatred of the Jews (cf. Matt. 10:5). Christ, the Jews want to say, has purely Samaritan malice towards us, His fellow tribesmen! To further wound Christ, they call Him demon-possessed, because only under the influence of a demon can such insults be spoken against God’s chosen Jewish people. At the same time, they reveal that they have already discussed Christ in exactly this tone before (“Are we not telling the truth?”). John 8:49. Jesus answered: There is no demon in Me; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. John 8:50. However, I do not seek My glory: there is a Seeker and a Judge. Not paying attention to the fact that the Jews called Him a Samaritan, Christ objects only to the second statement, which was intended to completely undermine confidence in Christ, even to scare the people away from Him. “No,” says Christ, “I am of sound mind and am confident that by the way I act I honor My Father. You unfairly dishonor Me with such statements.” But let not the Jews think that Christ is particularly in need of restoring His honor. He knows well that His Father takes care of this, Who will be the Judge in the discord that arose between Christ and the Jews (cf. 1 Pet. 2:23). John 8:51. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever keeps My word will never see death. Christ does not want to judge the Jews Himself, but He cannot help but testify about Himself; He is prompted to do this by the Jews themselves, who began a stubborn struggle against Him. To those who believed in Him, He addressed them with the promise of eternal life if they kept His word (cf. verse 31). They will never die (cf. Luke 2:26; Heb.11:5; John 3:3). John 8:52. The Jews said to Him: Now we have learned that you have a demon. Abraham died and the prophets, and You say: whoever keeps My word will never taste death. John 8:53. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: what are you doing? Christ has just promised those who believe in Him not only freedom, but also immortality. For Christ's hearers, such a promise further strengthens the confidence in Christ's abnormal condition that they already expressed. In fact, if Abraham had already died, then how can ordinary people not die, even though they keep the word of Christ? What kind of power is there in the word of Christ? It seems as if He places Himself above the forefather of the entire Jewish people; Who is He? Is it not Jehovah Himself? John 8:54. Jesus answered: If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. My Father glorifies me, of whom you say that He is your God. John 8:55. And you did not know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, then I will be a liar like you. But I know Him and keep His word. Christ answers bitterly that the Jews do not want to understand Him. They look at Him as a man devoted to some kind of self-praise, suffering, as it were, from delusions of grandeur. But this is not the case: God Himself glorifies Him, and it is strange that the Jews do not see how God testifies of Christ. If the Father of Christ is the God to whom the Jews consider it a special privilege to belong, how come the Jews do not understand what God tells them through His many testimonies about Christ? No - it's true - the Jews actually don't know the true God at all! Only Christ alone knows God as he needs to be known. He is the only one who keeps the word of God, something the Jews cannot boast of under any circumstances. John 8:56. Abraham your father rejoiced to see My day; and he saw and rejoiced. As for Abraham, whom the Jews also considered one of their own, he stands not on their side, but on the side of Christ. After all, Abraham sighed to see the coming of the Messiah (“My day”), and he saw it. To understand these words of the Lord, it is worth remembering that, according to the Jews of that time, Abraham was the founder of the Feast of Tabernacles, and this conversation of Christ with the Jews took place around the time of the Feast of Tabernacles. According to the story of the Book of Jubilees, Abraham, in the seventh month of the year, four months after the birth of Isaac, built an altar for himself and his slaves on the occasion of a new angelic visit and the repetition of the promise of Isaac’s great destiny, in which he stayed for seven days, making sacrifices and daily walking around the altar seven times with palm branches and fruits in his hands (“Book of Jubilees,” ch. 16). Christ obviously makes a difference between the joy that Abraham felt when he received hope of the fulfillment of the promise given to him, and between that which he felt when he saw that his hope had come to fulfillment. We are referring to the promise of offspring given to Abraham. But since promises about the future blessing of all mankind through the Messiah were closely connected with the birth of Isaac, Christ had every reason to say that Abraham, rejoicing at the birth of his son, at the same time, without realizing it, rejoiced at the birth of the Messiah: in Isaac he already saw the future Messiah-Christ 31 . John 8:57. To this the Jews said to Him: You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham? The Jews stubbornly do not want to understand the meaning of Christ’s words and say that Christ is obviously not in Himself, He imagined that He was talking with Abraham, although he had long since died! “You are not yet fifty years old.” Christ's appearance, as can be concluded from this, was such that Christ was given more years than He actually was. Didn’t the prophet Isaiah also prophesy about Christ as “a man of sorrows and acquainted with pain” (Is. 53:3)? John 8:58. Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:59. Then they took stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid himself and left the church, passing through the midst of them, and went on. To make the Jews take His words more seriously, Christ declares that He existed before Abraham. Moreover, He speaks of Himself here “am”, i.e. I have an eternal existence in contrast to changing human generations. Such an expression, which in the Old Testament only the Lord used about Himself (Ex. 3:14), seemed to the listeners of Christ to be direct blasphemy, and those people who an hour ago seemed to believe in Christ now take up stones to beat Him with them (cf. John 10:31 et seq.). But Christ managed to hide in the crowd of pilgrims who did not take part in the dispute, and left the church. According to our Russian translation, “He is from the beginning, even as I tell you,” Christ is speaking here about His eternal existence. But this translation cannot be considered correct, firstly, because there is no corresponding participle for the word “Existing” ὁ ὤν, and secondly, where earlier (because in the translation “as I tell you” does not receive a sufficiently definite meaning, and this expression should already be replaced in the Russian translation of the entire passage with the expression “as I told you”), where earlier did Christ announce to His enemies about His existence from the beginning of the world? Thirdly, the Russian translation obviously understands the particle ὅτι as a direct τί in the sense of the relative pronoun “what” or “how”. But then it would stand ὅ, τι, and moreover, the particle ὅτι in the New Testament is most often used in the meaning of an interrogative pronoun (cf. Mark 2:16, 9:11, 28). Znamensky believes (p. 216) that the idea of ​​the Savior’s eternal existence was secretly expressed already in the Savior’s previous speech, precisely in the 23rd verse. Therefore, in his opinion, the understanding of the expression τὴν ἀρχήν in the sense of indicating the eternal existence of the Savior is also justified by the context of speech. But we believe that in the dogmatic dispute that Christ had with the Jews, He could not base anything on “hidden” instructions... Let us also note that the expression τὴν ἀρχήν can also be understood in the meaning ὅλως - in general (Blessed Theodoret). Tsang believes that it is better to read here not ἑστηκεν - past perfect from ἵστημι, but ἔστηκεν - past imperfect from στήκω - “I stand firm.” In this case, the verb στήκω is used in John and in Rev. 12:4 and in John 1:26. Preischen (Handwörterbuch, 1910) disagrees with Tsang and reads here οὐχ ἕστηκεν from ἵστημι to mean “not firm in the truth” (p. 537). The newest interpreters explain this verse differently. Thus, Wellhausen in his brochure “Extensions and Changes in the 4th Gospel” (1907, in German, 23) replaces the expression “your father is the devil” with the words “your father Cain.” This explanation does not imply a disagreement with the context of the speech: indeed, the Jews who sought to kill Christ were like Cain, who killed Abel. But, firstly, as the basis for his reading, Wellhausen can only refer to two ancient testimonies - Aphraates and the conversations of Clement, while all the rest of antiquity speaks against him, and then, secondly, Wellhausen, of necessity, has to shorten the 44th verse, because the words “There is no truth in it. When he speaks a lie, he speaks his own” can in no case be attributed to Cain. Finally, instead of the last words “for he is a liar and the father of lies,” Wellhausen puts the following reading: “for the liar is also his (Cain’s) father, i.e. devil." Thus, a complete, completely free reworking of the text is obtained, which, however, Wellhausen boldly calls a restoration of the original edition. Other interpreters (for example, Krödner, Volkmar, Thoma, O. Goltsman) see in the last words of the verse “for he is a liar...” an incorrect translation and offer the following reading: “for a liar and his father (in the Greek text αὐτοῦ - both neuter and masculine), i.e. the devil." According to this interpretation, by the father of the devil, Christ meant the Demiurge, whose existence the Gnostics taught and who was recognized in Gnosticism as the creator of all evil in the world. But it is impossible to agree with such an interpretation because nowhere in the Gospel is there any talk about the creator of the world, who is different from God. Wed. Hebrews 11:13. Likewise, Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and spoke of Him (John 12:41). There are other explanations for this place. So, some say that Abraham saw the coming of Christ while in paradise. But this interpretation has no support in the Holy Scriptures, and, moreover, the words of Christ, understood in this way, would not be at all convincing for the Jews... Others believe that Christ here had in mind the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, when Abraham felt all the love of God, who returned his son, and through reflection came to the idea that over time this great love of God would be reflected in the sacrifice of the Son of God for the sins of the world. But such a thought could only appear in the minds of Christian interpreters, and not in the minds of Christ’s listeners, who did not yet understand the necessity of the death of the Messiah. Others see here an allusion to the joyful laughter of Abraham upon receiving the promise of the birth of Isaac (Gen. 17:17). But this laughter says very little about Abraham's faith in the Messiah... You might be interested in: