John 8 John 8:1–11 Christ letteth go uncondemned the woman taken in adultery. John 8:12–30 He declareth himself to be the light of the world, and justifieth his doctrine against the Pharisees.

A mountain within less than two miles of Jerusalem, whether our Saviour, when he was at Jerusalem, was wont often to withdraw, for privacy and devotion, Matt. 24:3, Matt. 26:30, Luke 21:37, Luke 22:39.

So at our Lord’s last passover Luke notes, Luke 21:38, that all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him. Our Saviour’s early going into the temple to teach, and the people’s diligence in coming so early to him to hear, ought to check our slothfulness in sacred…

There were (as they say) three sorts of scribes amongst the Jews. The first were secretaries to princes and great men; so Sheva was scribe to David, 2 Sam. 20:25.

They bring to our Saviour a woman taken in the act of adultery, and set her before him.

Moses in the law, Lev. 20:10, commanded that such malefactors should be put to death; but we read of no law commanding this kind of death. And their rule was, that when the law had set no kind of death for an offence, there the mildest kind of death was to be their punishment, which they counted…

Their design was from his answer to take some colourable pretence to accuse, and either to discredit him with the people, or to expose him to the displeasure of the superior powers.

They will not let our Saviour alone, but importune him for an answer. He saith, He that is without sin, let him first cast a stone at her. The law of God was, Deut. 17:7, that in the execution of malefactors, The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death.

When our Saviour had said this, he returneth to his former posture and action, (it being not a thing wherein he was concerned, who was not sent into the world to be a secular judge), as not at all regarding them.

This was an age of very great corruption as to men’s lives and manners, as well as to doctrine, and corruption of worship; and as other enormities of life were very common and ordinary amongst them, so it is very probable were adulteries, and that their rulers and teachers were not without great…

The close of the former verse told us, that though the scribes and Pharisees were gone, yet the woman was left in the midst, expecting Christ’s sentence.

She tells him, None had. He replies, Neither did he. He did not acquit her, for he was not to make void the law of God; nor did he condemn her: he was neither a witness in the case, nor yet a secular judge, to whom such judgments did belong; he was only to speak to her, as the Mediator and Saviour…

I am the light of the world; this is what John the Baptist had said of Christ before, John 1:4–5, and what Christ saith of himself afterward, John 9:5. It was prophesied of him, that he should be a light to the Gentiles, and God’s salvation to the ends of the earth, Isa. 46:6.

It was a known rule of law, that none ought to be believed upon a testimony given to himself: this is that they object to our Saviour, that though he spake great things of himself, yet he was not to be believed in his own cause.

There is a seeming difficulty to reconcile the words of our Saviour, John 5:31, If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true, and his assertion here, Though I bear record of myself, my record is true: but the resolution of it is clear by considering that he speaks in the former chapter of…

According to my outward appearance to you, so you judge of me; or, according to your own passions, and corrupt affections. I judge no man in that manner; or, I judge no man alone, as it followeth in the next verse.

My testimony is not to be looked upon as a single testimony for myself; though I do judge, yet my judgment is true; for no act of mine is a single act: I and my Father are one; and what I do, my Father also doth, that sent me into the world as his ambassador.

It is written, Deut. 17:6, Deut. 19:15. God so ordered it by his Divine law, that every thing should be established by the testimony of two witnesses.

I (saith our Saviour) have two witnesses; I am one, I bear witness of myself; my Father is another, for he beareth witness of me. Our Saviour’s argumentation seemeth weak, unless we look upon him as exempt from the condition of ordinary men, and no mere man, by reason of the personal union of the…

Thou talkest much of thy Father, where is he? We know no father which thou hast but the carpenter, Joseph; we do not look upon him as so credible a witness in the case, as to take his testimony in such a matter as this is.

The treasury was a public place in the temple; concerning which, See Poole on “Matt. 27:6”, See Poole on “Mark 12:41”, See Poole on “Mark 12:43” and See Poole on “Luke 21:1”.

The greatest part of what is said here, was said by our Saviour before, John 7:34; (see the explication of it there); only here, instead of ye shall not find me, is, ye shall die in your sins; a phrase we shall find in Ezek.

Before they guessed that he would go to the dispersed amongst the Gentiles, John 7:35. Now they fancy that he would kill himself; or else speak this in mockery.

Ye are not only of an earthly extraction, creatures of the earth, not descended from heaven, as I am; but also of earthly spirits and principles; you savour nothing that is sublime and spiritual, and therefore you do not understand me.

In the Greek it is only, if ye believe not that I am. Some refer this to Christ’s Divine nature; (I am, is the name of God, Ex. 3:14); but others rather think that Christ here speaketh of himself as the Messiah and Mediator, and so the object of people’s faith; and he out of whom there is no…

What good Christian will not learn to contemn the slights and reproaches of sinful men, when he readeth of a company of miscreants thus using their Lord and Master, saying to him, Who art thou? It is no wonder if the world, which knew him not, doth not know us.

Judging is not put here for judicial condemnation; but for reproving and accusing, which is one part of judging. You accuse and reprove me; I have many things of which I could also accuse and convince you; but let me say what I will, you will not believe me.

The Jews (as we are told) used to call God The Father, in a way of eminency: they understood that he spake to them of his Father; but they would not understand when he spake to them of his Father, or the Father, he meant God the Father of all; their minds were blinded, that they could not see, and…

It is your unhappiness, that while I am alive, and preaching the gospel to you, inviting you to repentance, and faith in me, as the true Messiah, you will not believe me to be indeed what I am; but you shall lift me up upon the cross, (for that is meant by lifting up, as John 3:14, John 12:32), and…

I have the presence of God with me, as I am Mediator; the Father hath not sent me into the world to do his will, and left me alone without his presence; for I do his will; I drive no separate design from my Father, but always do those things which please him.

Believing on him is not here to be understood strictly of saving faith; but rather, of some preparations toward it: they began to believe that he was the true Messias, and to have more honourable thoughts than they had of him: that this was all, will appear from what we find in the following…

Believed on him, in the sense before expressed. Our Saviour well enough saw their hearts, and in what manner they believed, and what sort of disciples they were, viz.

And ye shall know the truth; that is, you shall more fully and clearly know the truth; by which may be either understood Christ, who styles himself, The way, the truth, and the life; or those propositions of truth which Christ hath revealed.

How carnally doth a carnal heart understand spiritual mysteries! Thus Nicodemus, hearing of being born again, grossly dreamed of entering into his mother’s womb, and being born again.

Our Saviour here correcteth their mistake, letting them know, that he was not speaking about any corporal, but spiritual servitude; not of the freedom of men’s bodies from the power of enemies, but of the freedom of men’s souls from the slavery and dominion of lusts and corruptions.

The servant of sin abideth not in the church (which is the house of God) for ever. Look as it is with slaves, and servants; they are no fixed members of families; they may be turned out, they may be sold over to others; they abide in families according as in them they behave themselves: so you,…

If that term the Son in this verse be the same with the Son mentioned in the former verse, they must both be understood of Christ: for it is most certain, that here the Son can signify no more than Christ, to whom alone it belongeth to make souls free from the slavery of the law, sin, death, hell,…

According to the flesh you are descended from Abraham, that I know; but of what advantage is or can this be to you, while in the mean time you are implacable enemies to me, and seek to murder me, who am not only an innocent person, but am the Lord of life, and came to save the world? And the root…

My Father is God; I declare unto you his mind and will; no uncertain things, but what I have seen with him, that is, what I certainly know to be his will.

Abraham is our Father; this was their continual boast, as may be learned from Matt. 3:9; glorying in their birth privilege, Abraham being the father of the whole Jewish nation; and in their church privilege, Abraham being the head of the Jewish church, and he to whom the promises were made.

You declare by your actions that you are very far from the spirit and temper of Abraham: I am one who, being sent of God, whom you own as your Father, have faithfully revealed the will of God to you, and have never told you any thing but the truth; and this is all my crime, for which you seek to…

Ye do the deeds of your father; you imitate him who is indeed your father; by whom our Saviour (as we shall hear more afterwards) meaneth the devil. This they fume at, and tell him they were not born of fornication, which is, in our English dialect, as much as, We are no bastards; but it hath…

This agreeth with what we have 1 John 5:1, Every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him. But here our Saviour rather seemeth to speak of his proceeding forth and coming from God, as sent into the world to fulfil the will of God as to the redemption of man, than of…

It is manifest all along this discourse, that Christ spake riddles to the Jews, and that they understood not the import and sense of his discourse: Now (saith our Saviour) the reason is, because ye cannot hear, that is, believe, my word: they could and did hear it with their ears; they heard the…

Our Saviour now plainly tells them what he meant by their father, mentioned John 8:38; viz. the devil, whose children though they were not by natural traduction, yet they were by imitation, wilfully doing the things which the devil would have them do. He instances in two of these lusts: 1. Murder.

Such is your hatred to the truth, that you hate me for no other reason but because I reveal my Father’s will (which is the truth) to you; than which nothing can evidence a greater hatred to truth, nor conformity and likeness to the devil.

If any of you can prove that I have spoken to you any thing that is false, and not consonant to the will of my Father, do it; but which of you is able to charge me with any such thing? If there be no such thing, but I have told you what is the very truth, and the will of my Father, as to what you…

He that is of God; to be of God, here, is opposed to a being not of God, and so may be understood to comprehend election, as well as regeneration. Heareth God’s words; he heareth, acknowledgeth, believeth, and patiently submits to the will of God revealed in his word.

A Samaritan signified to the Jews as much as an impostor, or seducer; for the Jews looked upon the Samaritans as a detestable sort of men, who had corrupted the worship of God with their horrible superstitions in Mount Gerizim. And hast a devil; that is, art mad: See Poole on “John 7:20”.

I have not a devil; that is, I am not possessed with an evil spirit, as you blaspheme; or, (as others think), I am not mad, I speak the words of truth and soberness, (for it is said, that the Jews held an opinion, That all who were distracted were influenced by all evil spirit, and had a devil).

Christ very often reminds them of this, that in what he spake and did, he sought not his own honour and reputation; which both obviated an objection they might make against him, and also convinced them of his truth and sincerity in what he did.

To see death, in this text, signifieth to die, but in an apparently differing sense from what it is taken in Luke 2:26, where it is to be understood of a natural death; of which it cannot be understood here, for the holiest men shall die: the body is dead (that is, in dying) because of sin; or,…

Thou hast a devil: this is the third time we have met with this blasphemous imputation from these wretched men, John 7:20, in this chapter, John 8:48, and here.

If thou canst so effect it, that those who keep thy sayings shall not die, thou canst also make thyself immortal: neither Abraham nor the prophets could save themselves from death, they are all dead: what art thou? What dost thou make thyself? And by the way, this was another charge upon our…

If I honour myself, my honour is nothing; this is much the same with what our Saviour said, John 5:31, which he seemed to contradict, John 5:14; (see the notes on both those places); the meaning is, If I seek mine own honour and glory; or, If I arrogate to myself what indeed doth not belong to me;…

Knowing here signifies more than a notional knowledge, or comprehending in our understanding so much of God as may by natural powers be comprehended; it signifies affections, and a conversation suitable to such a knowledge.

You glory much in this, that you have Abraham to your father. This father of yours foresaw my coming into the world, and my dying upon the cross. He saw it by the eye of faith, in the promise which was made to him, That in his seed all the nations of the earth should be blessed.

Christ was at this time but three and thirty years old, and upward: they dream of Abraham’s seeing him, and his seeing Abraham, with bodily eyes, of which Christ said nothing; that indeed had been a thing impossible, for Abraham was dead many hundred years before Christ appeared in the flesh to the…

Some will have the meaning to be, that Christ was before Abraham’s time constituted Mediator; as he is said to be the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Rev. 13:8, 1 Pet. 1:20. But thus it might have been said of any of the elect, that they were chosen before Abraham was.

Then took they up stones to cast at him; as they also did, John 5:31. It is vain to inquire where they had stones in the temple; they might be repairing some part of it, or some parts of it paved with stones might be loose, &c. it is enough that we are assured that some they found.