Bible Commentaries
John 8

Verses 1-11

41 Ever since the days of Moses the nation of Israel has been waiting for the Prophet Who was to be like him, and lead the nation out of worse than Egyptian bondage into the heritage of the kingdom. Those who knew Him for that promised Prophet little realized that, as Moses was rejected by his brethren when he first came to deliver them, so the great Antitype of Moses must also be rejected by them. A prophet, in the Scriptures, is not primarily one who predicts the future, but one who has a message from God. It is a well-nigh universal rule that God's message and its bearer must first be refused. Indeed, the "Prophet like Moses" must follow the footsteps of the type, and, in his first efforts to save His people He must be opposed by the people themselves. This shows us that we must not lay too much stress on human "responsibility" (a term unknown to the Scriptures), for, if the Jews had received the Lord, He would not have been the true Prophet. They were obliged to reject Him!

41 "Galilee of the nations" and especially the town of Nazareth, were held in contempt by pious Jews. The term "Nazarene" is a term of reproach, never used by His friends. From it could come no Christ. Messiah must be born in Bethlehem, the city of King David, and as they should have known, the birthplace of his greater Son. Let us never be guilty of calling Him a Nazarene, and thus class ourselves with His worst enemies and murderers.

46 Throughout this account it is the incarnate Word which is before us. The testimony of the deputies is a notable tribute to the supernal nature of that which came from His lips. How lame their excuse must have seemed to the hard-hearted Pharisees! Why do they not arrest Him? Why do they not do the duty assigned them? "No man ever speaks thus!" Not His superb looks, or august appearance, but His utterances arrest them, and all power to perform their part vanishes.

50 Nicodemus, the half-hearted disciple' is afraid to champion His cause boldly, so he seeks to hinder them in their lawless act. But such a weak supporter is soon silenced, and by the very law to which he appealed.

53-11 As this passage is not contained in any of the three manuscripts on which the Concordant Version is based, it was not included in our Greek text. Two leaves of Alexandrinus are lost at this point, but a careful calculation of the number of lines shows that the lost leaves did not contain this story. Besides, the evidence of ancient versions and other manuscripts is so much against its retention in the text that no editor gives it a place, unless within brackets. Nevertheless, the story is so fully In harmony with the grace of Christ that we question whether it could have any other source. Hence we are constrained to class it among the many things which He did of which there is no inspired record. The Greek text of Joh_7:53 ; Joh_8:1-11 , together with an English sublinear, is available from the publishers on request. A literal translation follows: [And they went each to his home. Yet Jesus went to the mount of Olives. Now early He again came along into the sanctuary, and the entire people came to Him. And, being seated, He taught them. Now the scribes and Pharisees are leading a woman who has been overtaken in adultery, and, standing her in the midst, they are saying to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been overtaken and detected committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses directs us that such are to be stoned. You then, what are you saying?" Now this they said to try Him, that they may have something to accuse Him of. Now Jesus, stooping down, wrote down something with a finger in the earth. Now as they persisted asking Him, He unbends and said to them, "Let the sinless one of you first cast a stone at her. And, again stooping down, He wrote in the earth. Now those hearing it came out one by one, beginning with the elders, to the last. And Jesus was left alone, the woman also being in the midst. Now, unbending, Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Does no one condemn you?" Now she said, "No one, Lord!" Now Jesus said, "Neither am I condemning you! Go! From now on by no means any longer be sinning."]

Verses 12-59

12-29 Nothing would so swiftly and surely prove the undoing of an impostor as the claim that he always pleases God. Of all living, only One has been able to stand such a severe test. In the mouth of anyone else the claim to perfect obedience would sound preposterous. The very assumption itself would be displeasing to God and derided by men. It would be a proof of spiritual pride. But in His mouth it was perfectly natural. Instead of taking exception to it they seemed struck by the fact and what it involved, and, as a result, believed on Him. This is one of the glories of Christ which makes Him a solitary figure in the annals of mankind. There have been philosophers and good men, but the best have not been flawless. Indeed, they do not dare to claim absolute perfection. Yet we see this apparently humble peasant of Palestine challenging a hostile world to discover in His acts a single word or work which does not glorify God and benefit man. Whoever should dare to criticize Him condemns himself.

44 All sin, in the Scriptures, seems to be traced back to the Adversary or Satan. Adam sinned at his suggestion. He is the father of all that is false. Being a creature of God, it has been a perplexing problem to account for him without incriminating God Himself. It is usual to insist that he was created perfect and, at a later stage, fell into sin. But this is no real relief. The impulse to sin, in that case, came from without instead of within, and it, in turn, demands an explanation. The Adversary sinned from the beginning. He was a murderer from the beginning. The Scriptures plainly teach that he was created an Adversary and a Satan. The solution of the ultimate source of sin lies in its nature. Sin is essentially a mistake. It means to miss the mark, to fall short of a given standard. With this definition in mind, it is easy to see how God could create a creature to sin, if that were necessary to the fulfillment of His purpose. He would not be making any mistake in doing this. He would not sin. On the contrary, if He created Satan perfect, and had no intention or desire that he should sin, then God did make a mistake. The sinfulness of Satan is the strongest evidence of the sinlessness of God. The essence of God is love. It demands exercise. God must be made known. He will be a Saviour; His purpose demands the presence of sin. He makes a medium-the Adversary-to inject the virus into creation. He rescues His creatures and gains their affection. He banishes sin. Sin is His servant. He will justify all sin when He has made it a means of bringing His creatures into heart intimacy with Himself.

46 What a challenge to the self-righteous Jews! They claimed a sinless God for a father, yet hated His sinless Son. Without any pretentious effort whatever, He calmly went His way without making a single misstep!

57 The Jews seemed to be utterly unconscious of the great spiritual truths connected with Abraham's family. They claimed physical descent from him, without realizing that Ishmael had the same right. He was the son of Abram's flesh-and unbelief. They were Ishmaelites,

slaves of sin in spite of their noble father. They knew nothing of the faith of Abraham which produced Isaac, after the flesh was as good as dead. They failed to see the significance of Abraham's harsh measures with Ishmael. Were he to visit them he would cast them out, just as he had the slave girl Hagar and her son.

58 The Word was in the beginning with God, long before Abraham was born. All came into being through it, and apart from it not even one thing came into being, including Abraham himself. Such was His glory before He became flesh. Then no human could see Him and live

( Exo_33:20 ). It was not until "the last of these days" that God spoke in His Son (Hebrews 12), that is, after He had emptied Himself to be in the likeness of humanity ( Php_2:7 ). In those days He used messengers of inferior rank in communicating with mankind. Two of these visited Abraham just before Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The Jews could not understand how One so glorious could condescend to take human form.