JOHN Chapter 8.

JOHN Chapter 8.

8:1-11.   The Lord and the woman taken in adultery.  (Placed as a footnote in the R.S.V.)

8:12-33.  The Lord rightly bears witness of himself, for he alone knows his origin and destiny.  The Lord debates with the Jews concerning his person, origin and relation to the Father.  The truth that the Lord imparts sets free those in bondage to sin. 

           

8:34-59.  Their hatred of Jesus proves that they have never experienced the freedom the Son gives.  Their conduct indicated that they were not Abraham's children, though they be Abraham's seed.  A greater than Abraham was here.

           

The woman taken in adultery.  This does not seem to have belonged to the original John.  External evidence.  The manuscripts, Greek Fathers.  Internal evidence.  It destroys the sequence of argument being placed here, and the style etc. is different.  `Synoptic' in style.  But it may be a fragment apostolic times and probably to be acknowledged as scripture.  There is a similar problem in Mark 16.

           

The chapter presents the Lord in controversy with the Jews - The occasion of the controversy, "I am the light" etc.  He is the full revelation of the will of God to man (1:12).  The matter at issue is the Lord's origin, his Sonship, his destiny. The Lord refutes the Jewish objection that if he bears witness of himself, then his witness is false, for he alone can know his own origin and destiny, and his witness is not alone since the Father also bears witness of him. That the Lord bears witness to himself is not a contradiction of 5:31.  There we learn that the Father had given him authority to judge and that if he bore witness of himself, his witness would not be true.  In chapter 8, we read that though he bear witness of himself, yet his witness is true and also that he judges no man.

           

In John 5:31 the argument is that it is impossible for Jesus, who acts in union and conjunction with the Father, to pose as an independent, self-authenticating witness (see Barrett).  In chapter 8:14, Jesus vindicates his right to make, in conjunction with the Father statements about himself.  Chapter 8 shows the unique personality of Jesus.  Man is a creature of the present and his testimony about himself is unreliable.  He does not know what brought him to the present hour or where the next moment will find him.  Jesus on the other hand knows whence he came, and therefore fully understands himself, and whither he goes, and is therefore subject to no temptation to conceal or twist the truth; hence his own witness regarding himself is true. (Barrett).

           

The matter of our Lord's person, origin and destiny is of supreme importance to men, since it is the `Son" who mediates the truth that sets men free from sin.  The Lord declares the condemnation of those who do not recognize and believe the truth of His Person.  The climax of the controversy is reached in the Lord's claim to be "I Am" (8:58).  But also see verses 24 and 28.  Note the dramatic effect.