mh_parser/vol_split/43 - John/Chapter 8.xml

<div2 id="John.ix" n="ix" next="John.x" prev="John.viii" progress="79.05%" title="Chapter VIII">
<h2 id="John.ix-p0.1">J O H N.</h2>
<h3 id="John.ix-p0.2">CHAP. VIII.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="John.ix-p1">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, <scripRef id="John.ix-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.1-John.8.11" parsed="|John|8|1|8|11" passage="Joh 8:1-11">ver. 1-11</scripRef>.
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, <scripRef id="John.ix-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.12-John.8.20" parsed="|John|8|12|8|20" passage="Joh 8:12-20">ver.
12-20</scripRef>. 2. Concerning the ruin of the unbelieving Jews,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:John.8.21-John.8.30" parsed="|John|8|21|8|30" passage="Joh 8:21-30">ver. 21-30</scripRef>. 3.
Concerning liberty and bondage, <scripRef id="John.ix-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.31-John.8.37" parsed="|John|8|31|8|37" passage="Joh 8:31-37">ver. 31-37</scripRef>. 4. Concerning his Father and
their father, <scripRef id="John.ix-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:John.8.38-John.8.47" parsed="|John|8|38|8|47" passage="Joh 8:38-47">ver.
38-47</scripRef>. 5. Here is his discourse in answer to their
blasphemous reproaches, <scripRef id="John.ix-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:John.8.48-John.8.50" parsed="|John|8|48|8|50" passage="Joh 8:48-50">ver.
48-50</scripRef>. 6. Concerning the immortality of believers,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:John.8.51-John.8.59" parsed="|John|8|51|8|59" passage="Joh 8:51-59">ver. 51-59</scripRef>. And in all
this he endured the contradiction of sinners against himself.</p>
<scripCom id="John.ix-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:John.8" parsed="|John|8|0|0|0" passage="Joh 8" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="John.ix-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:John.8.1-John.8.11" parsed="|John|8|1|8|11" passage="Joh 8:1-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.1-John.8.11">
<h4 id="John.ix-p1.10">The Woman Taken in Adultery.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p2">1 Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.   2
And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the
people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them.   3
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in
adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,   4 They say
unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very
act.   5 Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should
be stoned: but what sayest thou?   6 This they said, tempting
him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down,
and with <i>his</i> finger wrote on the ground, <i>as though he
heard them not.</i>   7 So when they continued asking him, he
lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone at her.   8 And again he
stooped down, and wrote on the ground.   9 And they which
heard <i>it,</i> being convicted by <i>their own</i> conscience,
went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, <i>even</i> unto the
last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the
midst.   10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but
the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers?
hath no man condemned thee?   11 She said, No man, Lord. And
Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no
more.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p3">Though Christ was basely abused in the
foregoing chapter, both by the rulers and by the people, yet here
we have him still at Jerusalem, still in the temple. <i>How often
would he have gathered them!</i> Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p4">I. His retirement in the evening out of the
town (<scripRef id="John.ix-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.1" parsed="|John|8|1|0|0" passage="Joh 8:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>He
went unto the mount of olives;</i> whether to some friend's house,
or to some booth pitched there, now at the feast of tabernacles, is
not certain; whether he rested there, or, as some think, continued
all night in prayer to God, we are not told. But he went out of
Jerusalem, perhaps because he had no friend there that had either
kindness or courage enough to give him a night's lodging; while his
persecutors had <i>houses</i> of their own to go to (<scripRef id="John.ix-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:John.7.53" parsed="|John|7|53|0|0" passage="Joh 7:53"><i>ch.</i> vii. 53</scripRef>), he could not so
much as borrow a place to lay his head on, but what he must go a
mile or two out of town for. He retired (as some think) because he
would not expose himself to the peril of a popular tumult in the
night. It is prudent to go out of the way of danger whenever we can
do it without going out of the way of duty. In the day-time, when
he had work to do in the temple, he willingly exposed himself, and
was under special protection, <scripRef id="John.ix-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.2" parsed="|Isa|49|2|0|0" passage="Isa 49:2">Isa.
xlix. 2</scripRef>. But in the night, when he had not work to do,
he withdrew into the country, and sheltered himself there.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p5">II. His return in the morning to the
temple, and to his work there, <scripRef id="John.ix-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.2" parsed="|John|8|2|0|0" passage="Joh 8:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p6">1. What a diligent preacher Christ was:
<i>Early in the morning he came again, and taught.</i> Though he
had been teaching the day before, he taught again to-day. Christ
was a constant preacher, in season and out of season. Three things
were taken notice of here concerning Christ's preaching. (1.) The
time: <i>Early in the morning.</i> Though he lodged out of town,
and perhaps had spent much of the night in secret prayer, yet he
came <i>early.</i> When a day's work is to be done for God and
souls it is good to begin betimes, and take the day before us. (2.)
The place: <i>In the temple;</i> not so much because it was a
<i>consecrated</i> place (for then he would have chosen it at other
times) as because it was now a <i>place of concourse;</i> and he
would hereby countenance solemn assemblies for religious worship,
and encourage people to come up to the temple, for he had not yet
left it desolate. (3.) His posture: <i>He sat down,</i> and taught,
as one having authority, and as one that intended to abide by it
for some time.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p7">2. How diligently his preaching was
attended upon: <i>All the people came unto him;</i> and perhaps
many of them were the country-people, who were this day to return
home from the feast, and were desirous to hear one sermon more from
the mouth of Christ before they returned. They came to him, though
he came early. They that <i>seek him early shall find him.</i>
Though the rulers were displeased at those that came to hear him,
yet they would come; and <i>he taught them,</i> though they were
angry at <i>him</i> too. Though there were few or none among them
that were persons of any figure, yet Christ bade them welcome, and
taught them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p8">III. His dealing with those that brought to
him the <i>woman taken in adultery, tempting</i> him. The scribes
and Pharisees would not only not hear Christ patiently themselves,
but they disturbed him when the people were attending on him.
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p9">1. The case proposed to him by the scribes
and Pharisees, who herein contrived to pick a quarrel with him, and
bring him into a snare, <scripRef id="John.ix-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.3-John.8.6" parsed="|John|8|3|8|6" passage="Joh 8:3-6"><i>v.</i>
3-6</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p10">(1.) They set the prisoner to the bar
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.3" parsed="|John|8|3|0|0" passage="Joh 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): they brought
him <i>a woman taken in adultery,</i> perhaps now lately taken,
during the time of the feast of tabernacles, when, it may be, their
dwelling in booths, and their feasting and joy, might, by wicked
minds, which corrupt the best things, be made occasions of sin.
Those that were <i>taken in adultery</i> were by the Jewish law to
be put to death, which the Roman powers allowed them the execution
of, and therefore she was brought before the ecclesiastical court.
Observe, She <i>was taken in her adultery.</i> Though adultery is a
work of darkness, which the criminals commonly take all the care
they can to conceal, yet sometimes it is strangely brought to
light. Those that promise themselves secrecy in sin deceive
themselves. The scribes and Pharisees bring her to Christ, and set
her in the midst of the assembly, as if they would leave her wholly
to the judgment of Christ, he having <i>sat down,</i> as a judge
upon the bench.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p11">(2.) They prefer an indictment against her:
<i>Master, this woman was taken in adultery,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.4" parsed="|John|8|4|0|0" passage="Joh 8:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. Here they call him <i>Master</i>
whom but the day before they had called a <i>deceiver,</i> in hopes
with their flatteries to have ensnared him, as those, <scripRef id="John.ix-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.20" parsed="|Luke|20|20|0|0" passage="Lu 20:20">Luke xx. 20</scripRef>. But, though men may be
imposed upon with compliments, he that searches the heart
cannot.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p12">[1.] The crime for which the prisoner
stands indicted is no less than adultery, which even in the
patriarchal age, before the law of Moses, was looked upon as <i>an
iniquity to be punished by the judges,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.31.9-Job.31.11 Bible:Gen.38.24" parsed="|Job|31|9|31|11;|Gen|38|24|0|0" passage="Job 31:9-11,Ge 38:24">Job xxxi. 9-11; Gen. xxxviii. 24</scripRef>.
The Pharisees, by their vigorous prosecution of this offender,
seemed to have a great zeal against the sin, when it appeared
afterwards that they themselves were not free from it; nay, they
were within <i>full of all uncleanness,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.27-Matt.23.28" parsed="|Matt|23|27|23|28" passage="Mt 23:27,28">Matt. xxiii. 27, 28</scripRef>. Note, It is common
for those that are indulgent to their own sin to be severe against
the sins of others.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p13">[2.] The proof of the crime was from the
notorious evidence of the fact, an incontestable proof; she was
<i>taken in the act,</i> so that there was no room left to plead
not guilty. Had she not been taken in this act, she might have gone
on to another, till her heart had been perfectly hardened; but
sometimes it proves a mercy to sinners to have their sin brought to
light, that they may <i>do no more presumptuously.</i> Better our
sin should <i>shame</i> us than <i>damn</i> us, and be set in order
before us for our conviction than for our condemnation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p14">(3.) They produce the statute in this case
made and provided, and upon which she was indicted, <scripRef id="John.ix-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.5" parsed="|John|8|5|0|0" passage="Joh 8:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. Moses in the law
commanded <i>that such should be stoned.</i> Moses commanded that
they should be <i>put to death</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10 Bible:Deut.22.22" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0;|Deut|22|22|0|0" passage="Le 20:10,De 22:22">Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22</scripRef>), but
not that they should be stoned, unless the adulteress was espoused,
not married, or was a priest's daughter, <scripRef id="John.ix-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.22.21" parsed="|Deut|22|21|0|0" passage="De 22:21">Deut. xxii. 21</scripRef>. Note, Adultery is an
exceedingly sinful sin, for it is the rebellion of a vile lust, not
only against the command, but against the covenant, of our God. It
is the violation of a divine institution in innocency, by the
indulgence of one of the basest lusts of man in his degeneracy.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p15">(4.) They pray his judgment in the case:
"<i>But what sayest thou,</i> who pretendest to be a teacher come
from God to repeal old laws and enact new ones? What hast thou to
say in this case?" If they had asked this question in sincerity,
with a humble desire to know his mind, it had been very
commendable. Those that are entrusted with the administration of
justice should look up to Christ for direction; but <i>this they
said tempting him, that they might have to accuse him,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.6" parsed="|John|8|6|0|0" passage="Joh 8:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. [1.] If he
should confirm the sentence of the law, and let it take its course,
they would censure him as inconsistent with himself (he having
received publicans and harlots) and with the character of the
Messiah, who should be meek, and have salvation, and proclaim a
year of release; and perhaps they would accuse him to the Roman
governor, for countenancing the Jews in the exercise of a judicial
power. But, [2.] If he should acquit her, and give his opinion that
the sentence should not be executed (as they expected he would),
they would represent him, <i>First,</i> As an enemy to the law of
Moses, and as one that usurped an authority to correct and control
it, and would confirm that prejudice against him which his enemies
were so industrious to propagate, that he came to <i>destroy the
law and the prophets. Secondly,</i> As a friend to sinners, and,
consequently, a favourer of sin; if he should seem to connive at
such wickedness, and let it go unpunished, they would represent him
as countenancing it, and being a patron of offences, if he was a
protector of offenders, than which no reflection could be more
invidious upon one that professed the strictness, purity, and
business of a prophet.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p16">2. The method he took to resolve this case,
and so to break this snare.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p17">(1.) He seemed to slight it, and turned a
deaf ear to it: He <i>stooped down, and wrote on the ground.</i> It
is impossible to tell, and therefore needless to ask, what he
wrote; but this is the only mention made in the gospels of Christ's
writing. Eusebius indeed speaks of his writing to Abgarus, king of
Edessa. Some think they have a liberty of conjecture as to what he
wrote here. Grotius says, It was some grave weighty saying, and
that it was usual for wise men, when they were very thoughtful
concerning any thing, to do so. Jerome and Ambrose suppose he
wrote, <i>Let the names of these wicked men be written in the
dust.</i> Others this, <i>The earth accuses the earth, but the
judgment is mine.</i> Christ by this teaches us to be slow to speak
when difficult cases are proposed to us, not quickly to shoot our
bolt; and when provocations are given us, or we are bantered, to
pause and consider before we reply; think twice before we speak
once: <i>The heart of the wise studies to answer.</i> Our
translation from some Greek copies, which add, <b><i>me
prospoioumenos</i></b> (though most copies have it not), give this
account of the reason of his writing on the ground, <i>as though he
heard them not.</i> He did as it were look another way, to show
that he was not willing to take notice of their address, saying, in
effect, <i>Who made me a judge or a divider?</i> It is safe in many
cases to be deaf to that which it is not safe to answer, <scripRef id="John.ix-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.13" parsed="|Ps|38|13|0|0" passage="Ps 38:13">Ps. xxxviii. 13</scripRef>. Christ would not
have his ministers to be entangled in secular affairs. Let them
rather employ themselves in any lawful studies, and fill up their
time in writing on the ground (which nobody will heed), than busy
themselves in that which does not belong to them. But, when Christ
seemed as though he heard them not, he made it appear that he not
only heard their words, but knew their thoughts.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p18">(2.) When they importunately, or rather
impertinently, pressed him for an answer, he turned the conviction
of the prisoner upon the prosecutors, <scripRef id="John.ix-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.7" parsed="|John|8|7|0|0" passage="Joh 8:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p19">[1.] They <i>continued asking him,</i> and
his seeming not to take notice of them made them the more vehement;
for now they thought sure enough that they had run him aground, and
that he could not avoid the imputation of contradicting either the
law of Moses, if he should acquit the prisoner, or his own doctrine
of mercy and pardon, if he should condemn her; and therefore they
pushed on their appeal to him with vigour; whereas they should have
construed his disregard of them as a check to their design, and an
intimation to them to desist, as they tendered their own
reputation.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p20">[2.] At last he put them all to shame and
silence with one word: <i>He lifted up himself,</i> awaking as one
out of sleep (<scripRef id="John.ix-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.65" parsed="|Ps|78|65|0|0" passage="Ps 78:65">Ps. lxxviii.
65</scripRef>), and <i>said unto them, He that is without sin among
you, let him first cast a stone at her.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p21"><i>First,</i> Here Christ avoided the snare
which they had laid for him, and effectually saved his own
reputation. He neither reflected upon the law nor excused the
prisoner's guilt, nor did he on the other hand encourage the
prosecution or countenance their heat; see the good effect of
consideration. When we cannot make our point by steering a direct
course, it is good to fetch a compass.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p22"><i>Secondly, In the net which they spread
is their own foot taken.</i> They came with design to accuse him,
but they were forced to accuse themselves. Christ owns it was fit
the prisoner should be prosecuted, but appeals to their consciences
whether they were fit to be the prosecutors.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p23"><i>a.</i> He here refers to that rule which
the law of Moses prescribed in the execution of criminals, that the
<i>hand of the witnesses must be first upon them</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.7" parsed="|Deut|17|7|0|0" passage="De 17:7">Deut. xvii. 7</scripRef>), as in the stoning of
Stephen, <scripRef id="John.ix-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.58" parsed="|Acts|7|58|0|0" passage="Ac 7:58">Acts vii. 58</scripRef>. The
scribes and Pharisees were the witnesses against this woman. Now
Christ puts it to them whether, according to their own law, they
would dare to be the executioners. Durst they take away that life
with their hands which they were now taking away with their
tongues? would not their own consciences fly in their faces if they
did?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p24"><i>b.</i> He builds upon an uncontested
maxim in morality, that it is very absurd for men to be zealous in
punishing the offences of others, while they are every whit as
guilty themselves, and they are not better than self-condemned who
judge others, and yet themselves do the same thing: "If there be
any of you who is <i>without sin,</i> without sin of this nature,
that has not some time or other been guilty of fornication or
adultery, let him cast the first stone at her." Not that
magistrates, who are conscious of guilt themselves, should
therefore connive at others' guilt. But therefore, (<i>a.</i>)
Whenever we find fault with others, we ought to reflect upon
ourselves, and to be more severe against sin in ourselves than in
others. (<i>b.</i>) We ought to be favourable, though not to the
sins, yet to the persons, of those that offend, and to restore them
with a <i>spirit of meekness,</i> considering ourselves and our own
corrupt nature. <i>Aut sumus, aut fuimus, vel possumus esse quod
hic est—We either are, or have been, or may be, what he is.</i>
Let this restrain us from <i>throwing stones</i> at our brethren,
and proclaiming their faults. <i>Let him that is without sin</i>
begin such discourse as this, and then those that are truly humbled
for their own sins will blush at it, and be glad to <i>let it
drop.</i> (<i>c.</i>) Those that are any way obliged to animadvert
upon the faults of others are concerned to look well to themselves,
and keep themselves pure (<scripRef id="John.ix-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.7.5" parsed="|Matt|7|5|0|0" passage="Mt 7:5">Matt. vii.
5</scripRef>), <i>Qui alterum incusat probri, ipsum se intueri
oportet.</i> The snuffers of the tabernacle were of <i>pure
gold.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p25"><i>c.</i> Perhaps he refers to the trial of
the suspected wife by the jealous husband with the waters of
jealousy. The man was to bring her to the priest (<scripRef id="John.ix-p25.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.15" parsed="|Num|5|15|0|0" passage="Nu 5:15">Num. v. 15</scripRef>), as the scribes and
Pharisees brought this woman to Christ. Now it was a received
opinion among the Jews, and confirmed by experience, that if the
husband who brought his wife to that trial had himself been at any
time guilty of adultery, <i>Aquæ non explorant ejus uxorem—The
bitter water had no effect upon the wife.</i> "Come then," saith
Christ, "according to your own tradition will I judge you; if you
are without sin, stand to the charge, and let the adulteress be
executed; but if not, though she be guilty, while you that present
her are equally so, according to your own rule she shall be
free."</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p26"><i>d.</i> In this he attended to the great
work which he came into the world about, and that was to bring
sinners to repentance; not to destroy, but to save. He aimed to
bring, not only the prisoner to repentance, by showing her his
mercy, but the prosecutors too, by showing them their sins. They
sought to ensnare him; he sought to convince and convert them. Thus
<i>the blood-thirsty hate the upright, but the just seek his
soul.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p27">[3.] Having given them this startling word,
he left them to consider of it, <i>and again stooped down, and
wrote on the ground,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p27.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.8" parsed="|John|8|8|0|0" passage="Joh 8:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. As when they made their address he seemed to slight
their question, so now that he had given them an answer he slighted
their resentment of it, not caring what they said to it; nay, they
needed not to make any reply; the matter was lodged in their own
breasts, let them make the best of it there. Or, he would not seem
to wait for an answer, lest they should on a sudden justify
themselves, and then think themselves bound in honour to persist in
it; but gives them time to pause, and to commune with their own
hearts. God saith, <i>I hearkened and heard,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p27.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.6" parsed="|Jer|8|6|0|0" passage="Jer 8:6">Jer. viii. 6</scripRef>. Some Greek copies here read, He
<i>wrote on the ground,</i> <b><i>enos hekastou auton tas
hamartias</i></b>—<i>the sins of every one of them;</i> this he
could do, for he <i>sets our iniquities before him;</i> and this he
will do, for he will <i>set them in order</i> before us too; he
<i>seals up our transgressions,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p27.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.14.17" parsed="|Job|14|17|0|0" passage="Job 14:17">Job xiv. 17</scripRef>. But he does not write men's
sins <i>in the sand;</i> no, they are written as with a <i>pen of
iron</i> and the <i>point of a diamond</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p27.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.1" parsed="|Jer|17|1|0|0" passage="Jer 17:1">Jer. xvii. 1</scripRef>), never to be forgotten till
they are forgiven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p28">[4.] The scribes and Pharisees were so
strangely thunderstruck with the words of Christ that they let fall
their persecution of Christ, whom they durst no further tempt, and
their prosecution of the woman, whom they durst no longer accuse
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.9" parsed="|John|8|9|0|0" passage="Joh 8:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>): <i>They went
out one by one.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p29"><i>First,</i> Perhaps his writing on the
ground frightened them, as the hand-writing on the wall frightened
Belshazzar. They concluded he was writing bitter things against
them, writing their doom. Happy they who have no reason to be
afraid of Christ's writing!</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p30"><i>Secondly,</i> What he said frightened
them by sending them to their own consciences; he had <i>shown them
to themselves,</i> and they were afraid if they should stay till he
lifted up himself again his next word would show them to the world,
and shame them before men, and therefore they thought it best to
withdraw. They went out <i>one by one,</i> that they might go out
<i>softly,</i> and not by a noisy flight disturb Christ; they went
away by <i>stealth,</i> as <i>people being ashamed steal away when
they flee in battle,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:2Sam.19.3" parsed="|2Sam|19|3|0|0" passage="2Sa 19:3">2 Sam. xix.
3</scripRef>. The order of their departure is taken notice of,
<i>beginning at the eldest,</i> either because they were most
guilty, or first aware of the danger they were in of being put to
the blush; and if the eldest quit the field, and retreat
ingloriously, no marvel if the younger follow them. Now see here,
1. The <i>force</i> of the word of Christ for the conviction of
sinners: <i>They who heard it were convicted by their own
consciences.</i> Conscience is God's deputy in the soul, and one
word from him will set it on work, <scripRef id="John.ix-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.4.12" parsed="|Heb|4|12|0|0" passage="Heb 4:12">Heb. iv. 12</scripRef>. Those that had been old in
adulteries, and long fixed in a proud opinion of themselves, were
here, even the oldest of them, startled by the word of Christ; even
scribes and Pharisees, who were most conceited of themselves, are
by the power of Christ's word made to retire with shame. 2. The
<i>folly</i> of sinners under these convictions, which appears in
these scribes and Pharisees. (1.) It is folly for those that are
under convictions to make it their principal care to <i>avoid
shame,</i> as Judah (<scripRef id="John.ix-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.38.23" parsed="|Gen|38|23|0|0" passage="Ge 38:23">Gen. xxxviii.
23</scripRef>), <i>lest we be shamed.</i> Our care should be more
to save our souls than to save our credit. Saul evidenced his
hypocrisy when he said, <i>I have sinned, yet now honour me, I pray
thee.</i> There is no way to get the honour and comfort of
penitents, but by taking the shame of penitents. (2.) It is folly
for those that are under convictions to contrive how to <i>shift
off</i> their convictions, and to get rid of them. The scribes and
Pharisees had the wound <i>opened,</i> and now they should have
been desirous to have it <i>searched,</i> and then it might have
been <i>healed,</i> but this was the thing they <i>dreaded</i> and
<i>declined.</i> (3.) It is folly for those that are under
convictions to <i>get away from Jesus Christ,</i> as these here
did, for he is the only one that can heal the wounds of conscience,
and speak peace to us. Those that are convicted by their
consciences will be condemned by their Judge, if they be not
justified by their Redeemer; and will they then go from him? To
whom will they go?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p31">[5.] When the <i>self-conceited</i>
prosecutors quitted the field, and <i>fled for the same,</i> the
<i>self-condemned</i> prisoner stood her ground, with a resolution
to abide by the judgment of our Lord Jesus: <i>Jesus was left
alone</i> from the company of the scribes and Pharisees, free from
their molestations, <i>and the woman standing in the midst</i> of
the assembly that were attending on Christ's preaching, where they
set her, <scripRef id="John.ix-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.3" parsed="|John|8|3|0|0" passage="Joh 8:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. She
did not seek to make her escape, though she had opportunity for it;
but her prosecutors had appealed unto Jesus, and to him she would
go, on him she would wait for her doom. Note, Those whose cause is
brought before our Lord Jesus will never have occasion to remove it
into any other court, for he is the refuge of penitents. The law
which accuses us, and calls for judgment against us, is by the
gospel of Christ made to withdraw; its demands are answered, and
its clamours silenced, by the blood of Jesus. Our cause is lodged
in the gospel court; we are <i>left with Jesus alone,</i> it is
with him only that we have now to deal, for to him all judgment is
committed; let us therefore secure our interest in him, and we are
made for ever. Let his gospel <i>rule us,</i> and it will
infallibly <i>save us.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p32">[6.] Here is the conclusion of the trial,
and the issue it was brought to: <i>Jesus lifted up himself, and he
saw none but the woman,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.10-John.8.11" parsed="|John|8|10|8|11" passage="Joh 8:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>. Though Christ may seem
to take no notice of what is said and done, but leave it to the
<i>contending</i> sons of men to <i>deal it out among
themselves,</i> yet, when the hour of his judgment is come, he will
no longer keep silence. When David had appealed to God, he prayed,
<i>Lift up thyself,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p32.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.7.6 Bible:Ps.94.2" parsed="|Ps|7|6|0|0;|Ps|94|2|0|0" passage="Ps 7:6,94:2">Ps. vii. 6,
and xciv. 2</scripRef>. The woman, it is likely, stood trembling at
the bar, as one doubtful of the issue. Christ was <i>without
sin,</i> and might cast the first stone; but though none more
severe than he against sin, for he is infinitely just and holy,
none more compassionate than he to sinners, for he is infinitely
gracious and merciful, and this poor malefactor finds him so, now
that she <i>stands upon her deliverance.</i> Here is the method of
courts of judicature observed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p33"><i>First,</i> The prosecutors are called:
<i>Where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?</i>
Not but that Christ knew where they were; but he asked, that he
might shame them, who declined his judgment, and encourage her who
resolved to abide by it. St. Paul's challenge is like this, <i>Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect?</i> Where are
those their accusers? The <i>accuser of the brethren shall</i> be
fairly <i>cast out,</i> and all indictments legally and regularly
quashed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p34"><i>Secondly,</i> They do not appear when
the question is asked: <i>Hath no man condemned thee?</i> She said,
<i>No man, Lord.</i> She speaks respectfully to Christ, calls him
<i>Lord,</i> but is silent concerning her prosecutors, says nothing
in answer to that question which concerned them, <i>Where are those
thine accusers?</i> She does not triumph in their retreat nor
insult over them as witnesses against themselves, not against her.
If we hope to be forgiven by our Judge, we must forgive our
accusers; and if their accusations, how invidious soever, were the
happy occasion of awakening our consciences, we may easily
<i>forgive them this wrong.</i> But she answered the question which
concerned herself, <i>Has no man condemned thee?</i> True penitents
find it enough to give an account of themselves to God, and will
not undertake to give an account of other people.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p35"><i>Thirdly,</i> The prisoner is therefore
discharged: <i>Neither do I condemn thee; go, and sin no more.</i>
Consider this,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p36">(<i>a.</i>) As her discharge from the
temporal punishment: "If they do not condemn thee to be <i>stoned
to death,</i> neither <i>do I.</i>" Not that Christ came to disarm
the magistrate of his sword of justice, nor that it is his will
that capital punishments should not be inflicted on malefactors; so
far from this, the administration of public justice is established
by the gospel, and made subservient to Christ's kingdom: <i>By me
kings reign.</i> But Christ would not condemn this woman,
(<i>a.</i>) Because it was <i>none of his business;</i> he was no
judge nor divider, and therefore would not intermeddle in secular
affairs. His <i>kingdom</i> was <i>not of this world. Tractent
fabrilia fabri—Let every one act in his own province.</i>
(<i>b.</i>) Because she was prosecuted by those that were more
guilty than she and could not for shame insist upon their demand of
justice against her. The law appointed the hands of the witnesses
to be first upon the criminal, and afterwards the hands of all the
people, so that if they fly off, and do not condemn her, the
prosecution drops. The justice of God, in inflicting temporal
judgments, sometimes takes notice of a <i>comparative
righteousness,</i> and spares those who are otherwise obnoxious
when the punishing of them would gratify those that are worse than
they, <scripRef id="John.ix-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.26-Deut.32.27" parsed="|Deut|32|26|32|27" passage="De 32:26,27">Deut. xxxii. 26,
27</scripRef>. But, when Christ dismissed her, it was with this
caution, <i>Go, and sin no more.</i> Impunity emboldens
malefactors, and therefore those who are guilty, and yet have found
means to escape the edge of the law, need to double their watch,
<i>lest Satan get advantage;</i> for the fairer the escape was, the
fairer the warning was to go and sin no more. Those who help to
save the life of a criminal should, as Christ here, help to save
the soul with this caution.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p37">(<i>b.</i>) As her discharge from the
eternal punishment. For Christ to say, <i>I do not condemn thee</i>
is, in effect, to say, <i>I do forgive thee;</i> and the <i>Son of
man had power on earth to forgive sins,</i> and could upon good
grounds give this absolution; for as he knew the hardness and
impenitent hearts of the prosecutors, and therefore said that which
would confound them, so he knew the tenderness and sincere
repentance of the prisoner, and therefore said that which would
comfort her, as he did to that woman who was a sinner, such a
sinner as this, who was likewise looked upon with disdain by a
Pharisee (<scripRef id="John.ix-p37.1" osisRef="Bible:Luke.7.48 Bible:Luke.7.50" parsed="|Luke|7|48|0|0;|Luke|7|50|0|0" passage="Lu 7:48,50">Luke vii. 48,
50</scripRef>): <i>Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace.</i> So
here, <i>Neither do I condemn thee.</i> Note, (<i>a.</i>) Those are
truly happy whom Christ <i>doth not condemn,</i> for his discharge
is a sufficient answer to all other challenges; they are all
<i>coram non judice—before an unauthorized judge.</i> (<i>b.</i>)
Christ will not condemn those who, though they have sinned, will
<i>go and sin no more,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p37.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.85.8 Bible:Isa.55.7" parsed="|Ps|85|8|0|0;|Isa|55|7|0|0" passage="Ps 85:8,Isa 55:7">Ps.
lxxxv. 8; Isa. lv. 7</scripRef>. He will not take the advantage he
has against us for our former rebellions, if we will but lay down
our arms and return to our allegiance. (<i>c.</i>) Christ's favour
to us in the remission of the sins that are past should be a
prevailing argument with us to <i>go and sin no more,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p37.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.1-Rom.6.2" parsed="|Rom|6|1|6|2" passage="Ro 6:1,2">Rom. vi. 1, 2</scripRef>. Will not Christ
condemn thee? Go then and sin no more.</p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p37.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.12-John.8.20" parsed="|John|8|12|8|20" passage="Joh 8:12-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.12-John.8.20">
<h4 id="John.ix-p37.5">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p38">12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I
am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life.   13 The Pharisees
therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record
is not true.   14 Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I
bear record of myself, <i>yet</i> my record is true: for I know
whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come,
and whither I go.   15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no
man.   16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am
not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.   17 It is also
written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.  
18 I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent
me beareth witness of me.   19 Then said they unto him, Where
is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father:
if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.   20
These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in the
temple: and no man laid hands on him; for his hour was not yet
come.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p39">The rest of the chapter is taken up with
debates between Christ and contradicting sinners, who cavilled at
the most gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. It is not
certain whether these disputes were the same day that the
adulteress was discharged; it is probable they were, for the
evangelist mentions no other day, and takes notice (<scripRef id="John.ix-p39.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.2" parsed="|John|8|2|0|0" passage="Joh 8:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) how early Christ began
that day's work. Though those Pharisees that accused the woman had
absconded, yet there were other Pharisees (<scripRef id="John.ix-p39.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.13" parsed="|John|8|13|0|0" passage="Joh 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>) to confront Christ, who had
brass enough in their foreheads to keep them in countenance, though
some of their party were put to such a shameful retreat; nay
perhaps that made them the more industrious to pick quarrels with
him, to retrieve, if possible, the reputation of their baffled
party. In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p40">I. A great doctrine laid down, with the
application of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p41">1. The doctrine is, <i>That Christ is the
light of the world</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.12" parsed="|John|8|12|0|0" passage="Joh 8:12"><i>v.</i>
12</scripRef>): <i>Then spoke Jesus again unto them;</i> though he
had spoken a great deal to them to little purpose, and what he had
said was opposed, yet he <i>spoke again,</i> for he <i>speaketh
once, yea, twice.</i> They had turned a deaf ear to what he said,
and yet he <i>spoke again to them,</i> saying, <i>I am the light of
the world.</i> Note, Jesus Christ is the light of the world. One of
the rabbies saith, <i>Light</i> is the name of the Messiah, as it
is written, <scripRef id="John.ix-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.2.22" parsed="|Dan|2|22|0|0" passage="Da 2:22">Dan. ii. 22</scripRef>,
<i>And light dwelleth with him.</i> God is light, and Christ is
<i>the image of the invisible God;</i> God of gods, Light of
lights. He was expected to be a <i>light to enlighten the
Gentiles</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.2.32" parsed="|Luke|2|32|0|0" passage="Lu 2:32">Luke ii. 32</scripRef>),
and so the <i>light of the world,</i> and not of the Jewish church
only. The visible light of the world is the sun, and Christ is the
<i>Sun of righteousness.</i> One sun enlightens the whole world, so
does one Christ, and there needs no more. Christ in calling himself
the light expresses, (1.) What he is in himself—most excellent and
glorious. (2.) What he is to the world—the fountain of light,
enlightening every man. What a dungeon would the world be without
the sun! So would it be without Christ by whom <i>light came into
the world,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:John.3.19" parsed="|John|3|19|0|0" passage="Joh 3:19"><i>ch.</i> iii.
19</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p42">2. The inference from this doctrine is,
<i>He that followeth me,</i> as a traveller follows the light in a
dark night, <i>shall not walk in darkness,</i> but <i>shall have
the light of life.</i> If Christ be the light, then, (1.) It is our
duty to <i>follow him,</i> to submit ourselves to his guidance, and
in every thing take directions from him, in the way that leads to
happiness. Many follow <i>false lights—ignes fatui,</i> that lead
them to destruction; but Christ is the <i>true light.</i> It is not
enough to <i>look at</i> this light, and to <i>gaze</i> upon it,
but we must follow it, believe in it, and walk in it, for it is a
light to <i>our feet,</i> not <i>our eyes</i> only. (2.) It is the
happiness of those who follow Christ that they <i>shall not walk in
darkness.</i> They shall not be left destitute of those
instructions in the way of truth which are necessary to keep them
from destroying error, and those directions in the way of duty
which are necessary to keep them from damning sin. They shall have
the <i>light of life,</i> that knowledge and enjoyment of God which
will be to them the light of spiritual life in this world and of
everlasting life in the other world, where there will be no death
nor darkness. Follow Christ, and we shall undoubtedly be happy in
both worlds. Follow Christ, and we shall follow him to heaven.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p43">II. The objection which the Pharisees made
against this doctrine, and it was very trifling and frivolous:
<i>Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p43.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.13" parsed="|John|8|13|0|0" passage="Joh 8:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. In this
objection they went upon the suspicion which we commonly have of
men's self-condemnation, which is concluded to be the native
language of self-love, such as we are all ready to condemn in
others, but few are willing to own in themselves. But in this case
the objection was very unjust, for, 1. They made that his crime,
and a diminution to the credibility of his doctrine, which in the
case of one who introduced a divine revelation was necessary and
unavoidable. Did not Moses and all the prophets bear witness of
themselves when they avouched themselves to be God's messengers?
Did not the Pharisees ask John Baptist, <i>What sayest thou of
thyself?</i> 2. They overlooked the testimony of all the other
witnesses, which corroborated the testimony he bore of himself. Had
he only borne record of himself, his testimony had indeed been
<i>suspicious,</i> and the belief of it might have been
<i>suspended;</i> but his doctrine was attested by more than <i>two
or three</i> credible <i>witnesses,</i> enough to <i>establish
every word</i> of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p44">III. Christ's reply to this objection,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p44.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.14" parsed="|John|8|14|0|0" passage="Joh 8:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. He does not
retort upon them as he might ("You profess yourselves to be devout
and good men, but your witness is not <i>true</i>"), but plainly
vindicates himself; and, though he had waived his own testimony
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p44.2" osisRef="Bible:John.5.31" parsed="|John|5|31|0|0" passage="Joh 5:31"><i>ch.</i> v. 31</scripRef>), yet
here he abides by it, that it did not derogate from the credibility
of his other proofs, but was necessary to show the force of them.
He is the light of the world, and it is the property of light to be
self-evidencing. First principles prove themselves. He urges three
things to prove that his testimony, though of himself, was true and
cogent.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p45">1. That he was conscious to himself of his
own authority, and abundantly satisfied in himself concerning it.
He did not speak as one at uncertainty, nor propose a disputable
notion, about which he himself hesitated, but <i>declared a
decree,</i> and gave such an account of himself as he would
<i>abide by: I know whence I came, and whither I go.</i> He was
fully apprised of his own undertaking from first to last; knew
whose errand he went upon, and what his success would be. He knew
what he <i>was</i> before his manifestation to the world, and what
he <i>should be</i> after; that he came <i>from the Father,</i> and
was going <i>to him</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p45.1" osisRef="Bible:John.16.28" parsed="|John|16|28|0|0" passage="Joh 16:28"><i>ch.</i>
xvi. 28</scripRef>), came <i>from glory,</i> and was going <i>to
glory,</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p45.2" osisRef="Bible:John.17.5" parsed="|John|17|5|0|0" passage="Joh 17:5"><i>ch.</i> xvii.
5</scripRef>). This is the satisfaction of all good Christians,
that though the world know them not, as it knew him not, yet they
know whence their spiritual life comes, and whither it tends, and
go upon sure grounds.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p46">2. That they are very incompetent judges of
him, and of his doctrine, and not to be regarded. (1.) Because they
were <i>ignorant,</i> willingly and resolvedly <i>ignorant: You
cannot tell whence I came, and whither I go.</i> To what purpose is
it to talk with those who know nothing of the matter, nor desire to
know? He had told them of his coming from heaven and returning to
heaven, but it was <i>foolishness to them,</i> they <i>received it
not;</i> it was what the <i>brutish man knows not,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p46.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.92.6" parsed="|Ps|92|6|0|0" passage="Ps 92:6">Ps. xcii. 6</scripRef>. They took upon them to
judge of that which they did not understand, which lay quite out of
the road of their acquaintance. Those that despise Christ's
dominions and dignities speak evil of what they <i>know not,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p46.2" osisRef="Bible:Jude.1.8 Bible:Jude.1.10" parsed="|Jude|1|8|0|0;|Jude|1|10|0|0" passage="Jude 1:8,10">Jude, <i>v.</i> 8, 10</scripRef>.
(2.) Because they were <i>partial</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p46.3" osisRef="Bible:John.8.15" parsed="|John|8|15|0|0" passage="Joh 8:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>You judge after the
flesh.</i> When fleshly wisdom gives the rule of judgment, and
outward appearances only are given in evidence, and the case
decided according to them, then men <i>judge after the flesh;</i>
and when the consideration of a secular interest turns the scale in
judging of spiritual matters, when we judge in favour of that which
pleases the carnal mind, and recommends us to a carnal world, we
judge after the flesh; and the judgment cannot be right when the
rule is wrong. The Jews judged of Christ and his gospel by outward
appearances, and, because he appeared so mean, thought it
impossible he should be the light of the world; as if the sun under
a cloud were no sun. (3.) Because they were <i>unjust</i> and
<i>unfair</i> towards him, intimated in this: "<i>I judge no
man;</i> I neither make nor meddle with your political affairs, nor
does my doctrine or practice at all intrench upon, or interfere
with, your civil rights or secular powers." He thus <i>judged no
man.</i> Now, if he did not <i>war after the flesh,</i> it was very
unreasonable for them to <i>judge him after the flesh,</i> and to
treat him as an offender against the civil government. Or, "<i>I
judge no man,</i>" that is, "not now in my first coming, that is
deferred till I come again," <scripRef id="John.ix-p46.4" osisRef="Bible:John.3.17" parsed="|John|3|17|0|0" passage="Joh 3:17"><i>ch.</i> iii. 17</scripRef>. <i>Prima dispensatio
Christi medicinalis est, non judicialis—The first coming of Christ
was for the purpose of administering, not justice, but
medicine.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p47">3. That his testimony of himself was
sufficiently supported and corroborated by the testimony of his
Father <i>with him and for him</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p47.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.16" parsed="|John|8|16|0|0" passage="Joh 8:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>): <i>And yet, if I judge, my
judgment is true.</i> He did in his doctrine judge (<scripRef id="John.ix-p47.2" osisRef="Bible:John.9.39" parsed="|John|9|39|0|0" passage="Joh 9:39"><i>ch.</i> ix. 39</scripRef>), though not
<i>politically.</i> Consider him then,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p48">(1.) As a judge, and his own judgment was
valid: "<i>If I judge,</i> I who have authority to execute
judgments, I to whom all things are delivered, I who am the Son of
God, and have the Spirit of God, if I judge, <i>my judgment is
true,</i> of incontestable rectitude and uncontrollable authority,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p48.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.2" parsed="|Rom|2|2|0|0" passage="Ro 2:2">Rom. ii. 2</scripRef>. <i>If</i> I
<i>should judge,</i> my judgment must be true, and then you would
be condemned; but the judgment-day is not yet come, you are not yet
to be condemned, but spared, and therefore now <i>I judge no
man;</i>" so Chrysostom. Now that which makes his judgment
unexceptionable is, [1.] His Father's concurrence with him: <i>I am
not alone, but I and the Father.</i> He has the Father's concurring
<i>counsels</i> to <i>direct;</i> as he was with the Father before
the world in forming the counsels, so the Father was with him in
the world in prosecuting and executing those counsels, and never
left him <i>inops consilii—without advice,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p48.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.11.2" parsed="|Isa|11|2|0|0" passage="Isa 11:2">Isa. xi. 2</scripRef>. All the <i>counsels of peace</i>
(and of war too) <i>were between them both,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p48.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.6.13" parsed="|Zech|6|13|0|0" passage="Zec 6:13">Zech. vi. 13</scripRef>. He had also the Father's
concurring power to authorize and confirm what he did; see
<scripRef id="John.ix-p48.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.89.21 Bible:Isa.42.1" parsed="|Ps|89|21|0|0;|Isa|42|1|0|0" passage="Ps 89:21,Isa 42:1">Ps. lxxxix. 21, &amp;c.; Isa.
xlii. 1</scripRef>. He did not act <i>separately,</i> but in his
own name and his Father's, and <i>by the authority aforesaid,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p48.5" osisRef="Bible:John.5.17 Bible:John.14.9-John.14.10" parsed="|John|5|17|0|0;|John|14|9|14|10" passage="Joh 5:17,14:9,10"><i>ch.</i> v. 17, and xiv. 9,
10</scripRef>. [2.] His Father's commission to him: "It is the
Father that <i>sent me.</i>" Note, God will go along with those
that he sends; see <scripRef id="John.ix-p48.6" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.10 Bible:Exod.3.12" parsed="|Exod|3|10|0|0;|Exod|3|12|0|0" passage="Ex 3:10,12">Exod. iii. 10,
12</scripRef>: <i>Come, and I will send thee,</i> and <i>certainly
I will be with thee.</i> Now, if Christ had a <i>commission</i>
from the Father, and the Father's <i>presence</i> with him in all
his administrations, no doubt his <i>judgment</i> was <i>true</i>
and valid; no exception lay <i>against</i> it, no appeal lay
<i>from</i> it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p49">(2.) Look upon him as <i>a witness,</i> and
now he appeared no otherwise (having not as yet taken the throne of
judgment), and as such his testimony was true and unexceptionable;
this he shows, <scripRef id="John.ix-p49.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.17-John.8.18" parsed="|John|8|17|8|18" passage="Joh 8:17,18"><i>v.</i> 17,
18</scripRef>, where,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p50">[1.] He quotes a maxim of the Jewish law,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p50.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.17" parsed="|John|8|17|0|0" passage="Joh 8:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>. That <i>the
testimony of two men is true.</i> Not as if it were always true
<i>in itself,</i> for many a time hand has been joined in hand to
bear a <i>false</i> testimony, <scripRef id="John.ix-p50.2" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.21.10" parsed="|1Kgs|21|10|0|0" passage="1Ki 21:10">1
Kings xxi. 10</scripRef>. But it is allowed as sufficient evidence
upon which to ground a verdict (<i>verum dictum</i>), and if
nothing appear to the contrary it is taken for granted to be
<i>true.</i> Reference is here had to that law (<scripRef id="John.ix-p50.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.17.6" parsed="|Deut|17|6|0|0" passage="De 17:6">Deut. xvii. 6</scripRef>), <i>At the mouth of two
witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be put to death.</i> And
see <scripRef id="John.ix-p50.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.9.15 Bible:Num.35.30" parsed="|Deut|9|15|0|0;|Num|35|30|0|0" passage="De 9:15,Nu 35:30">Deut. ix. 15; Num. xxxv.
30</scripRef>. It was in <i>favour of life</i> that in capital
cases two witnesses wee required, as with us in case of treason.
See <scripRef id="John.ix-p50.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.6.18" parsed="|Heb|6|18|0|0" passage="Heb 6:18">Heb. vi. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p51">[2.] He applies this to the case in hand
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p51.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.18" parsed="|John|8|18|0|0" passage="Joh 8:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>): <i>I am one
that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me bears
witness of me.</i> Behold two witnesses! Though in human courts,
where two witnesses are required, the criminal or candidate is not
admitted to be a witness for himself; yet in a matter purely
divine, which can be proved only by a divine testimony, and God
himself must be the witness, if the formality of two or three
witnesses be insisted on, there can be no other than the eternal
Father, the eternal Son of the Father, and the eternal Spirit. Now
if the testimony of two distinct persons, that are <i>men,</i> and
therefore may deceive or be deceived, is conclusive, much more
ought the testimony of the Son of God concerning himself, backed
with the testimony of his Father concerning him, to command assent;
see <scripRef id="John.ix-p51.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.7 Bible:1John.5.9-1John.5.11" parsed="|1John|5|7|0|0;|1John|5|9|5|11" passage="1Jo 5:7,9-11">1 John v. 7, 9-11</scripRef>.
Now this proves not only that the Father and the Son are two
distinct persons (for their respective testimonies are here spoken
of as the testimonies of two several persons), but that these two
are one, not only one in their testimony, but equal in power and
glory, and therefore the same in substance. St. Austin here takes
occasion to caution his hearers against Sabellianism on the one
hand, which confounded the persons in the Godhead, and Arianism on
the other, which denied the Godhead of the Son and Spirit. <i>Alius
est filius, et alius pater, non tamed aliud, sed hoc ipsum est et
pater, et filius, scilicet unus Deus est—The Son is one Person,
and the Father is another; they do not, however, constitute two
Beings, but the Father is the same Being that the Son is, that is,
the only true God.</i> Tract. 36, <i>in</i> Joann. Christ here
speaks of himself and the Father as witnesses to the world, giving
in evidence to the reason and conscience of the children of men,
whom he deals with as men. And these witnesses <i>to</i> the world
now will in the great day be witnesses <i>against</i> those that
persist in unbelief, and <i>their</i> word will judge men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p52">This was the sum of the first conference
between Christ and these carnal Jews, in the conclusion of which we
are told how their tongues were let loose, and their hands
tied.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p53"><i>First,</i> How their tongues were let
loose (such was the malice of hell) to cavil at his discourse,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p53.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.19" parsed="|John|8|19|0|0" passage="Joh 8:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. Though in
what he said there appeared nothing of human policy or artifice,
but a divine security, yet they set themselves to <i>cross
questions</i> with him. None so incurably <i>blind</i> as those
that resolve they <i>will not see.</i> Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p54"><i>a.</i> How they evaded the
<i>conviction</i> with a <i>cavil: Then said they unto him, Where
is thy Father?</i> They might easily have understood, by the tenour
of this and his other discourses, that when he spoke of his
<i>Father</i> he meant no other than God himself; yet they pretend
to understand him of a common person, and, since he appeals to his
testimony, they bid him <i>call his witness,</i> and challenge him,
if he can, to produce him: <i>Where is thy Father?</i> Thus, as
Christ said of them (<scripRef id="John.ix-p54.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.15" parsed="|John|8|15|0|0" passage="Joh 8:15"><i>v.</i>
15</scripRef>), they <i>judge after the flesh.</i> Perhaps they
hereby intend a reflection upon the meanness and obscurity of his
family: <i>Where is thy Father,</i> that he should be fit to give
evidence in such a case as this? Thus they turned it off with a
taunt, when they <i>could not resist the wisdom and spirit with
which he spoke.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p55"><i>b.</i> How he evaded the <i>cavil</i>
with a further <i>conviction;</i> he did not tell them where his
Father was, but charged them with wilful ignorance: "<i>You neither
know me nor my Father.</i> It is to no purpose to discourse to you
about divine things, who talk of them as blind men do of colours.
Poor creatures! you know nothing of the matter." (<i>a.</i>) He
charges them with ignorance of God: "<i>You know not my
Father.</i>" In Judah was God known (<scripRef id="John.ix-p55.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.76.1" parsed="|Ps|76|1|0|0" passage="Ps 76:1">Ps. lxxvi. 1</scripRef>); they had some knowledge of him
as the God that made the world, but their eyes were darkened that
they could not see the light of his glory shining <i>in the face of
Jesus Christ.</i> The <i>little children</i> of the Christian
church <i>know the Father,</i> know him as a Father (<scripRef id="John.ix-p55.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.13" parsed="|1John|2|13|0|0" passage="1Jo 2:13">1 John ii. 13</scripRef>); but these rulers of
the Jews did not, because they would not so know him. (<i>b.</i>)
He shows them the true cause of their ignorance of God: <i>If you
had known me, you would have known my Father also.</i> The reason
why men are ignorant of God is because they are unacquainted with
Jesus Christ. Did we know Christ, [<i>a.</i>] In knowing him we
should know the Father, of whose person he is the express image,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p55.3" osisRef="Bible:John.14.9" parsed="|John|14|9|0|0" passage="Joh 14:9"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 9</scripRef>.
Chrysostom proves hence the Godhead of Christ, and his equality
with his Father. We cannot say, "He that knows a man knows an
angel," or, "He that knows a creature knows the Creator;" but he
that knows Christ knows the Father. [<i>b.</i>] By him we should be
instructed in the knowledge of God, and introduced into an
acquaintance with him. If we <i>knew Christ</i> better, we should
<i>know the Father</i> better; but, where the Christian religion is
slighted and opposed, natural religion will soon be lost and laid
aside. Deism makes way for atheism. Those become vain in their
imaginations concerning God that will not learn of Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p56"><i>Secondly,</i> See how their hands were
tied, though their tongues were thus let loose; such was the power
of Heaven to restrain the malice of hell. <i>These words spoke
Jesus,</i> these bold words, these words of conviction and reproof,
<i>in the treasury,</i> an apartment of the temple, where, to be
sure, the chief priests, whose gain was their godliness, were
mostly resident, attending the business of the revenue. Christ
<i>taught in the temple,</i> sometimes in one part, sometimes in
another, as he saw occasion. Now the priests who had so great a
concern in the temple, and looked upon it as their <i>demesne,</i>
might easily, with the assistance of the janizaries that were at
their beck, either have seized him and exposed him to the rage of
the mob, and that punishment which they called the <i>beating of
the rebels;</i> or, at least, have <i>silenced</i> him, and stopped
his mouth there, as Amos, though tolerated in the land of Judah,
was forbidden to prophesy in the king's chapel, <scripRef id="John.ix-p56.1" osisRef="Bible:Amos.7.12-Amos.7.13" parsed="|Amos|7|12|7|13" passage="Am 7:12,13">Amos, vii. 12, 13</scripRef>. Yet even <i>in the
temple,</i> where they had him in their reach, <i>no man laid hands
on him,</i> for <i>his hour was not yet come.</i> See here, 1. The
restraint laid upon his persecutors by an invisible power; none of
them durst meddle with him. God can set bounds to the wrath of men,
as he does to the waves of the sea. Let us not therefore fear
danger in the way of duty; for God hath Satan and all his
instruments in a chain. 2. The reason of this restraint: <i>His
hour was not yet come.</i> The frequent mention of this intimates
how much the time of our departure out of the world depends upon
the fixed counsel and decree of God. It <i>will</i> come, it is
coming; not yet come, but it is at hand. Our enemies cannot hasten
it any sooner, nor our friends delay it any longer, than the time
appointed of the Father, which is very comfortable to every good
man, who can look up and say with pleasure, <i>My times are in thy
hands;</i> and better there than in our own. His hour was not yet
come, because his work was not done, nor his testimony finished. To
all God's purposes <i>there is a time.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p56.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.21-John.8.30" parsed="|John|8|21|8|30" passage="Joh 8:21-30" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.21-John.8.30">
<h4 id="John.ix-p56.3">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p57">21 Then said Jesus again unto them, I go my way,
and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye
cannot come.   22 Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself?
because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come.   23 And he
said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of
this world; I am not of this world.   24 I said therefore unto
you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I
am <i>he,</i> ye shall die in your sins.   25 Then said they
unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even <i>the
same</i> that I said unto you from the beginning.   26 I have
many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is
true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of
him.   27 They understood not that he spake to them of the
Father.   28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up
the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am <i>he,</i> and
<i>that</i> I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught
me, I speak these things.   29 And he that sent me is with me:
the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things
that please him.   30 As he spake these words, many believed
on him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p58">Christ here gives fair warning to the
careless unbelieving Jews to consider what would be the consequence
of their infidelity, that they might prevent it before it was too
late; for he spoke words of terror as well as words of grace.
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p59">I. The wrath threatened (<scripRef id="John.ix-p59.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.21" parsed="|John|8|21|0|0" passage="Joh 8:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>): <i>Jesus said again unto
them</i> that which might be likely to do them good. He continued
to teach, in kindness to those few who received his doctrine,
though there were many that resisted it, which is an example to
ministers to go on with their work, notwithstanding opposition,
because a remnant shall be saved. Here Christ changes his voice; he
had <i>piped to them</i> in the offers of his grace, and they
<i>had not danced;</i> now he mourns to them in the denunciations
of his wrath, to try if they would lament. He said, <i>I go my way,
and you shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go you
cannot come.</i> Every word is terrible, and bespeaks spiritual
judgments, which are the sorest of all judgments; worse than war,
pestilence, and captivity, which the Old-Testament prophets
denounced. Four things are here threatened against the Jews.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p60">1. Christ's departure from them: <i>I go my
way,</i> that is, "It shall not be long before I go; you need not
take so much pains to drive me from you, I shall go of myself."
They said to him, <i>Depart from us, we desire not the knowledge of
thy ways;</i> and he takes them at their word; but woe to those
from whom Christ departs. Ichabod, the glory is gone, our defence
is departed, when Christ goes. Christ frequently warned them of his
departure before he left them: he <i>bade often farewell,</i> as
one <i>loth to depart,</i> and willing to be invited, and that
would have them <i>stir up themselves to take hold on him.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p61">2. Their enmity to the true Messiah, and
their fruitless and infatuated enquiries after another Messiah when
he was gone away, which were both their sin and their punishment:
<i>You shall seek me,</i> which intimates either, (1.) Their
<i>enmity</i> to the <i>true Christ:</i> "You shall seek to ruin my
interest, by persecuting my doctrine and followers, with a
fruitless design to root them out." This was a continual vexation
and torment to themselves, made them incurably <i>ill-natured,</i>
and brought <i>wrath upon them</i> (God's and their own) <i>to the
uttermost.</i> Or, (2.) Their <i>enquiries</i> after <i>false
Christs:</i> "You shall continue your expectations of the Messiah,
and be the self-perplexing seekers of a Christ to come, when he is
already come;" like the Sodomites, who, being struck with
blindness, wearied themselves to find the door. See <scripRef id="John.ix-p61.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.31-Rom.9.32" parsed="|Rom|9|31|9|32" passage="Ro 9:31,32">Rom. ix. 31, 32</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p62">3. Their final impenitency: <i>You shall
die in your sins.</i> Here is an error in all our English Bibles,
even the old bishops' translation, and that of Geneva (the Rhemists
only excepted), for all the Greek copies have it in the singular
number, <b><i>en te hamartia hymon</i></b>—<i>in your sin,</i> so
all the Latin versions; and Calvin has a note upon the difference
between this and <scripRef id="John.ix-p62.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.24" parsed="|John|8|24|0|0" passage="Joh 8:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>, where it is plural, <b><i>tais hamartiais</i></b>,
that here it is meant especially of the sin of unbelief, <i>in hoc
peccato vestro—in this sin of yours.</i> Note, Those that live in
unbelief are for ever undone if they die in unbelief. Or, it may be
understood in general, <i>You shall die in your iniquity,</i> as
<scripRef id="John.ix-p62.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.3.19 Bible:Ezek.33.9" parsed="|Ezek|3|19|0|0;|Ezek|33|9|0|0" passage="Eze 3:19,33:9">Ezek. iii. 19, and xxxiii.
9</scripRef>. Many that have long lived in sin are, through grace,
saved by a timely repentance from <i>dying in sin;</i> but for
those who go out of this world of probation into that of
retribution under the guilt of sin unpardoned, and the power of sin
unbroken, there remaineth no relief: salvation itself cannot save
them, <scripRef id="John.ix-p62.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.20.11 Bible:Ezek.32.27" parsed="|Job|20|11|0|0;|Ezek|32|27|0|0" passage="Job 20:11,Eze 32:27">Job xx. 11; Ezek.
xxxii. 27</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p63">4. Their eternal separation from Christ and
all happiness in him: <i>Whither I go you cannot come.</i> When
Christ left the world, he went to a state of perfect happiness; he
went to paradise. Thither he took the penitent thief with him, that
did not die in his sins; but the impenitent not only <i>shall
not</i> come to him, but they <i>cannot;</i> it is morally
impossible, for heaven would not be heaven to those that die
unsanctified and unmeet for it. You cannot come, because you have
<i>no right</i> to enter into that Jerusalem, <scripRef id="John.ix-p63.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.14" parsed="|Rev|22|14|0|0" passage="Re 22:14">Rev. xxii. 14</scripRef>. <i>Whither I go you cannot
come,</i> to fetch me thence, so Dr. Whitby; and the same is the
comfort of all good Christians, that, when they get to heaven, they
will be out of the reach of their enemies' malice.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p64">II. The jest they made of this threatening.
Instead of trembling at this word, they bantered it, and turned it
into ridicule (<scripRef id="John.ix-p64.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.22" parsed="|John|8|22|0|0" passage="Joh 8:22"><i>v.</i>
22</scripRef>): <i>Will he kill himself?</i> See here, 1. What
slight thoughts they had of Christ's threatenings; they could make
themselves and one another merry with them, as those that mocked
the messengers of the Lord, and turned the <i>burden of the word of
the Lord</i> into a <i>by-word,</i> and <i>precept upon precept,
line upon line,</i> into a merry song, <scripRef id="John.ix-p64.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.28.13" parsed="|Isa|28|13|0|0" passage="Isa 28:13">Isa. xxviii. 13</scripRef>. But <i>be ye not mockers,
lest your bands be made strong.</i> 2. What ill thoughts they had
of Christ's meaning, as if he had an inhuman design upon his own
life, to avoid the indignities done him, like Saul. This is indeed
(say they) to go whither we cannot follow him, for we will never
<i>kill ourselves.</i> Thus they make him not only such a one as
themselves, but worse; yet in the calamities brought by the Romans
upon the Jews many of them in discontent and despair did kill
themselves. They had put a much more favourable construction upon
this word of his (<scripRef id="John.ix-p64.3" osisRef="Bible:John.7.34-John.7.35" parsed="|John|7|34|7|35" passage="Joh 7:34,35"><i>ch.</i> vii.
34, 35</scripRef>): <i>Will he go to the dispersed among the
Gentiles?</i> But see how indulged malice grows more and more
malicious.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p65">III. The confirmation of what he had
said.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p66">1. He had said, <i>Whither I go you cannot
come,</i> and here he gives the reason for this (<scripRef id="John.ix-p66.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.23" parsed="|John|8|23|0|0" passage="Joh 8:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): <i>You are from beneath, I am
from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.</i> You
are <b><i>ek ton kato</i></b>—<i>of those things which are
beneath;</i> noting, not so much their rise from beneath as their
affection to these lower things: "You are <i>in with these
things,</i> as those that belong to them; how can you come where I
go, when your spirit and disposition are so directly contrary to
mine?" See here, (1.) What the <i>spirit of the Lord Jesus</i>
was—not of <i>this world,</i> but from <i>above.</i> He was
perfectly dead to the wealth of the world, the ease of the body,
and the praise of men, and was wholly taken up with divine and
heavenly things; and none shall be with him but those who are
<i>born from above</i> and have their <i>conversation in
heaven.</i> (2.) How contrary to this <i>their</i> spirit was:
"<i>You are from beneath,</i> and of this world." The Pharisees
were of a carnal worldly spirit; and what communion could Christ
have with them?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p67">2. He had said, <i>You shall die in your
sins,</i> and here he stand to it: "Therefore I said, You shall die
in your sins, because <i>you are from beneath;</i>" and he gives
this further reason for it, <i>If you believe not that I am he, you
shall die in your sins,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p67.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.24" parsed="|John|8|24|0|0" passage="Joh 8:24"><i>v.</i>
24</scripRef>. See here, (1.) What we are required to believe:
<i>that I am he,</i> <b><i>hoti ego eimi</i></b>—<i>that I am,</i>
which is one of God's names, <scripRef id="John.ix-p67.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.14" parsed="|Exod|3|14|0|0" passage="Ex 3:14">Exod. iii.
14</scripRef>. It was the Son of God that there said, <i>Ehejeh
asher Ehejeh—I will be what I will be;</i> for the deliverance of
Israel was but a figure of good things to come, but now he saith,
"<i>I am he;</i> he that should come, he that you expect the
Messias to be, that you would have me to be to you. I am more than
the bare name of the Messiah; I do not only call myself so, but I
<i>am he.</i>" True faith does not <i>amuse</i> the soul with an
empty sound of words, but <i>affects</i> it with the doctrine of
Christ's mediation, as a real thing that has real effects. (2.) How
necessary it is that we believe this. If we have not this faith,
<i>we shall die in our sins;</i> for the matter is so settled that
without this faith, [1.] We cannot be saved from the power of sin
while we live, and therefore shall certainly continue in it to the
last. Nothing but the <i>doctrine</i> of Christ's grace will be an
argument powerful enough, and none but the <i>Spirit</i> of
Christ's grace will be an agent powerful enough, to turn us from
sin to God; and that Spirit is given, and that doctrine given, to
be effectual to those only who believe in Christ: so that, if Satan
be not by faith dispossessed, he has a lease of the soul for its
life; if Christ do not cure us, our case is desperate, and we shall
<i>die in our sins.</i> [2.] Without faith we cannot be saved from
the punishment of sin when we die, for the <i>wrath of God
remains</i> upon them that believe not, <scripRef id="John.ix-p67.3" osisRef="Bible:Mark.16.16" parsed="|Mark|16|16|0|0" passage="Mk 16:16">Mark xvi. 16</scripRef>. Unbelief is the damning sin; it
is a sin against the remedy. Now this implies the great gospel
promise: <i>If we believe that Christ is he,</i> and receive him
accordingly, <i>we shall not die in our sins.</i> The law saith
absolutely to all, as Christ said (<scripRef id="John.ix-p67.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.21" parsed="|John|8|21|0|0" passage="Joh 8:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>), <i>You shall die in your
sins,</i> for we are all guilty before God; but the gospel is a
defeasance of the obligation upon condition of believing. The curse
of the law is vacated and annulled to all that submit to the grace
of the gospel. Believers die in Christ, in his love, in his arms,
and so are saved from dying <i>in their sins.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p68">IV. Here is a further discourse concerning
<i>himself,</i> occasioned by his requiring faith in himself as the
condition of salvation, <scripRef id="John.ix-p68.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.25-John.8.29" parsed="|John|8|25|8|29" passage="Joh 8:25-29"><i>v.</i>
25-29</scripRef>. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p69">1. The question which the Jews put to him
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p69.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.25" parsed="|John|8|25|0|0" passage="Joh 8:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>): <i>Who art
thou?</i> This they asked tauntingly, and not with any desire to be
instructed. He had said, You must believe that <i>I am he.</i> By
his not saying expressly who he was, he plainly intimated that in
his person he was such a one as could not be <i>described</i> by
any, and in his office such a one as was <i>expected</i> by all
that looked for redemption in Israel; yet this awful manner of
speaking, which had so much significancy in it, they turned to his
reproach, as if he knew not what to say of himself: "<i>Who art
thou,</i> that we must with an implicit faith believe in thee, that
thou art some mighty HE, we know not <i>who</i> or <i>what,</i> nor
are <i>worthy to know?</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p70">2. His answer to this question, wherein he
directs them three ways for information:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p71">(1.) He refers them to <i>what he had
said</i> all along: "Do you ask who I am? <i>Even the same that I
said unto you from the beginning.</i>" The original here is a
little intricate, <b><i>ten archen ho ti kai lalo hymin</i></b>
which some read thus: <i>I am the beginning, which also I speak
unto you.</i> So Austin takes it. Christ is called
<b><i>Arche</i></b>—<i>the beginning</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p71.1" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.18 Bible:Rev.1.8 Bible:Rev.21.6 Bible:Rev.3.14" parsed="|Col|1|18|0|0;|Rev|1|8|0|0;|Rev|21|6|0|0;|Rev|3|14|0|0" passage="Col 1:18,Re 1:8,21:6,Re 3:14">Col. i. 18; Rev. i. 8; xxi. 6; iii.
14</scripRef>), and so it agrees with <scripRef id="John.ix-p71.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.24" parsed="|John|8|24|0|0" passage="Joh 8:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>, <i>I am he.</i> Compare
<scripRef id="John.ix-p71.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.41.4" parsed="|Isa|41|4|0|0" passage="Isa 41:4">Isa. xli. 4</scripRef>: <i>I am the
first, I am he.</i> Those who object that it is the accusative
case, and therefore not properly answering to <b><i>tis ei</i></b>,
must undertake to construe by grammar rules that parallel
expression, <scripRef id="John.ix-p71.4" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.8" parsed="|Rev|1|8|0|0" passage="Re 1:8">Rev. i. 8</scripRef>,
<b><i>ho en</i></b>. But most interpreters agree with our version,
Do you ask <i>who I am?</i> [1.] I am <i>the same that I said to
you from the beginning</i> of time in the scriptures of the
Old-Testament, the same that from the beginning was said to be
<i>the Seed of the woman, that should break the serpent's head,</i>
the same that in all the ages of the church was the Mediator of the
covenant, and the faith of the patriarchs. [2.] <i>From the
beginning</i> of my public ministry. The account he had already
given of himself he resolved to <i>abide by;</i> he had declared
himself to be the <i>Son of God</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p71.5" osisRef="Bible:John.5.17" parsed="|John|5|17|0|0" passage="Joh 5:17"><i>ch.</i> v. 17</scripRef>), to be the Christ
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p71.6" osisRef="Bible:John.4.26" parsed="|John|4|26|0|0" passage="Joh 4:26"><i>ch.</i> iv. 26</scripRef>), and
the bread of life, and had proposed himself as the object of that
faith which is necessary to salvation, and to this he refers them
for an answer to their question. Christ is <i>one with himself;</i>
what he had said from the beginning, he saith still. His is an
<i>everlasting gospel.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p72">(2.) He refers them to his Father's
judgment, and the instructions he had from him (<scripRef id="John.ix-p72.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.26" parsed="|John|8|26|0|0" passage="Joh 8:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): "<i>I have many things,</i>
more than you think of, <i>to say, and</i> in them <i>to judge of
you.</i> But why should I trouble myself any further with you? I
know very well that <i>he who sent me is true,</i> and will stand
by me, and bear me out, for <i>I speak to the world</i> (to which I
am sent as an ambassador) <i>those things,</i> all those and those
only, <i>which I have heard of him.</i>" Here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p73">[1.] He suppresses his accusation of them.
He had <i>many things</i> to charge them with, and many evidences
to produce against them; but for the present he had said enough.
Note, Whatever discoveries of sin are made to us, he that searches
the heart has still more to judge of us, <scripRef id="John.ix-p73.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.20" parsed="|1John|3|20|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:20">1 John iii. 20</scripRef>. How much soever God reckons
with sinners in this world there is still a further reckoning yet
behind, <scripRef id="John.ix-p73.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.34" parsed="|Deut|32|34|0|0" passage="De 32:34">Deut. xxxii. 34</scripRef>.
Let us learn hence not to be forward to say all we can say, even
against the worst of men; we may have many things to say, by way of
censure, which yet it is better to leave <i>unsaid,</i> for what is
it to us?</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p74">[2.] He enters his appeal against them to
his Father: <i>He that sent me.</i> Here two things comfort
him:—<i>First,</i> That he had been <i>true to his Father,</i> and
to the trust reposed in him: <i>I speak to the world</i> (for his
gospel was to be preached to every creature) <i>those things which
I have heard of him.</i> Being given for a <i>witness to the
people</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p74.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.55.4" parsed="|Isa|55|4|0|0" passage="Isa 55:4">Isa. lv. 4</scripRef>), he
was <i>Amen,</i> a <i>faithful witness,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p74.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.14" parsed="|Rev|3|14|0|0" passage="Re 3:14">Rev. iii. 14</scripRef>. He did not <i>conceal</i> his
doctrine, but spoke it <i>to the world</i> (being of common
concern, it was to be of common notice); nor did he change or alter
it, nor vary from the instructions he received from him that sent
him. <i>Secondly,</i> That his Father would be <i>true to him;</i>
true to the promise that he would <i>make his mouth like a sharp
sword;</i> true to his purpose concerning him, which was a
<i>decree</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p74.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.2.7" parsed="|Ps|2|7|0|0" passage="Ps 2:7">Ps. ii. 7</scripRef>);
true to the threatenings of his wrath against those that should
reject him. Though he should not <i>accuse</i> them to his Father,
yet the Father, who sent him, would undoubtedly reckon with them,
and would be <i>true</i> to what he had said (<scripRef id="John.ix-p74.4" osisRef="Bible:Deut.18.19" parsed="|Deut|18|19|0|0" passage="De 18:19">Deut. xviii. 19</scripRef>), that whosoever would not
hearken to that prophet whom God would raise up <i>he would require
it of him.</i> Christ would not accuse them; "for," saith he, "he
that sent me is true, and will pass judgment on them, though I
should not demand judgment against them." Thus, when he <i>lets
fall</i> the present prosecution, he <i>binds them over</i> to the
judgment-day, when it will be too late to dispute what they will
not now be persuaded to believe. <i>I, as a deaf man, heard not;
for thou wilt hear,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p74.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.13 Bible:Ps.38.15" parsed="|Ps|38|13|0|0;|Ps|38|15|0|0" passage="Ps 38:13,15">Ps.
xxxviii. 13, 15</scripRef>. Upon this part of our Saviour's
discourse the evangelist has a melancholy remark (<scripRef id="John.ix-p74.6" osisRef="Bible:John.8.27" parsed="|John|8|27|0|0" passage="Joh 8:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>): <i>They understood not
that he spoke to them of the Father.</i> See here, 1. The power of
Satan to blind the minds of those who believe not. Though Christ
spoke so plainly of God as his Father in heaven, yet they did not
understand whom he meant, but thought he spoke of some father he
had in Galilee. Thus the plainest things are riddles and parables
to those who are resolved to hold fast their prejudices; day and
night are alike to the blind. 2. The reason why the threatenings of
the word make so little impression upon the minds of sinners; it is
because they understand not whose the wrath is that is revealed in
them. When Christ told them of the truth of him that sent him, as a
warning to them to prepare for his judgment, which is <i>according
to truth,</i> they slighted the warning, because they understood
not to whose judgment it was that they made themselves
obnoxious.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p75">(3.) He refers them to <i>their own
convictions</i> hereafter, <scripRef id="John.ix-p75.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.28-John.8.29" parsed="|John|8|28|8|29" passage="Joh 8:28,29"><i>v.</i> 28, 29</scripRef>. He finds they will not
understand him, and therefore adjourns the trial till further
evidence should come in; they that <i>will not see shall see,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p75.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.11" parsed="|Isa|26|11|0|0" passage="Isa 26:11">Isa. xxvi. 11</scripRef>. Now observe
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p76">[1.] <i>What</i> they should ere long be
<i>convinced of: "You shall know that I am he,</i> that Jesus is
the true Messiah. Whether you will own it or no before men, you
shall be made to know it in your own consciences, the convictions
of which, though you may <i>stifle,</i> yet you cannot <i>baffle:
that I am he,</i> not that you represent me to be, but he that I
preach myself to be, he that should come!" Two things they should
be convinced of, in order to this:—<i>First,</i> That he did
nothing <i>of himself,</i> not of himself as man, of himself alone,
of himself without the Father, with whom he was <i>one.</i> He does
not hereby derogate from his own inherent power, but only denies
their charge against him as a <i>false prophet;</i> for of false
prophets it is said that they prophesied <i>out of their own
hearts,</i> and followed <i>their own spirits. Secondly,</i> That
as <i>his Father taught him</i> so he <i>spoke these things,</i>
that he was not <b><i>autodidaktos</i></b>—<i>self-taught,</i> but
<b><i>Theodidaktos</i></b>—<i>taught of God.</i> The doctrine he
preached was the counterpart of the counsels of God, with which he
was intimately acquainted; <b><i>kathos edidaxe, tauta
lalo</i></b>—I speak those things, not only <i>which</i> he taught
me, but <i>as</i> he taught me, with the same divine power and
authority.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p77">[2.] <i>When</i> they should be convinced
of this: <i>When you have lifted up the Son of man,</i> lifted him
up upon the cross, as the brazen serpent upon the pole (<scripRef id="John.ix-p77.1" osisRef="Bible:John.3.14" parsed="|John|3|14|0|0" passage="Joh 3:14"><i>ch.</i> iii. 14</scripRef>), as the
sacrifices under the law (for Christ is the great sacrifice),
which, when they were offered, were said to be <i>elevated,</i> or
<i>lifted up;</i> hence the burnt-offerings, the most ancient and
honourable of all, were called <i>elevations</i> (<i>Gnoloth</i>
from <i>Gnolah, asendit—he ascended</i>), and in many other
offerings they used the significant ceremony of <i>heaving</i> the
sacrifice up, and <i>moving</i> it before the Lord; thus was Christ
<i>lifted up.</i> Or the expression denotes that his death was his
exaltation. They that put him to death thought thereby for ever to
have <i>sunk</i> him and his interest, but it proved to be the
advancement of both, <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.2" osisRef="Bible:John.12.24" parsed="|John|12|24|0|0" passage="Joh 12:24"><i>ch.</i> xii.
24</scripRef>. When the Son of man was <i>crucified,</i> the Son of
man was <i>glorified.</i> Christ had called his dying his <i>going
away;</i> here he calls it his being lifted <i>up;</i> thus the
death of the saints, as it is their departure out of this world, so
it is their advancement to a better. Observe, He speaks of those he
is now talking with as the <i>instruments</i> of his death: when
<i>you have lifted up the Son of man;</i> not that they were to be
the <i>priests</i> to offer him up (no, that was his own act, he
<i>offered up himself</i>), but they would be his betrayers and
murderers; see <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.23" parsed="|Acts|2|23|0|0" passage="Ac 2:23">Acts ii. 23</scripRef>.
They <i>lifted him up</i> to the cross, but then he lifted up
himself to his Father. Observe with what tenderness and mildness
Christ here speaks to those who he certainly knew would put him to
death, to teach us not to hate or seek the hurt of any, though we
may have reason to think they hate us and seek our hurt. Now,
Christ speaks of his death as that which would be a powerful
conviction of the infidelity of the Jews. <i>When you have lifted
up the Son of man, then shall you know</i> this. And why then?
<i>First,</i> Because careless and unthinking people are often
taught the worth of mercies by the want of them, <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.4" osisRef="Bible:Luke.17.22" parsed="|Luke|17|22|0|0" passage="Lu 17:22">Luke xvii. 22</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> The guilt of
their sin in putting Christ to death would so awaken their
consciences that they would be put upon serious enquiries after a
Saviour, and then would know that Jesus was he who alone could save
them. And so it proved, when, being told that with wicked hands
they had <i>crucified and slain</i> the Son of God, they cried out,
<i>What shall we do?</i> and were made to know assuredly that this
Jesus was <i>Lord and Christ,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.5" osisRef="Bible:Acts.2.36" parsed="|Acts|2|36|0|0" passage="Ac 2:36">Acts
ii. 36</scripRef>. <i>Thirdly,</i> There would be such signs and
wonders attending his death, and the <i>lifting of him up</i> from
death in his resurrection, as would give a stronger proof of his
being the Messiah than any that had been yet given: and multitudes
were hereby brought to believe that Jesus is the Christ, who had
before contradicted and opposed him. <i>Fourthly,</i> By the death
of Christ the pouring out of the Spirit was purchased, who would
convince the world that <i>Jesus is he,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.6" osisRef="Bible:John.16.7-John.16.8" parsed="|John|16|7|16|8" passage="Joh 16:7,8"><i>ch.</i> xvi. 7, 8</scripRef>. <i>Fifthly,</i> The
judgments which the Jews brought upon themselves, by putting Christ
to death, which filled up the measure of their iniquity, were a
sensible conviction to the most hardened among them that <i>Jesus
was he.</i> Christ had often foretold that desolation as the just
punishment of their invincible unbelief, and <i>when it came to
pass (lo, it did come</i>) they could not but know that the great
<i>prophet had been among them,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p77.7" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.33.33" parsed="|Ezek|33|33|0|0" passage="Eze 33:33">Ezek. xxxiii. 33</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p78">[3.] What supported our Lord Jesus in the
mean time (<scripRef id="John.ix-p78.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.29" parsed="|John|8|29|0|0" passage="Joh 8:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>):
<i>He that sent me is with me,</i> in my whole undertaking; <i>for
the Father</i> (the fountain and first spring of this affair, from
whom as its great cause and author it is derived) <i>hath not left
me alone,</i> to manage it myself, hath not deserted the business
nor me in the prosecution of it, for <i>do I always those things
that please him.</i> Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p79"><i>First,</i> The assurance which Christ
had of his Father's <i>presence</i> with him, which includes both a
divine <i>power</i> going along with him to <i>enable</i> him for
his work, and a divine <i>favour</i> manifested to him to
<i>encourage</i> him in it. <i>He that sent me is with me,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p79.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.1 Bible:Ps.89.21" parsed="|Isa|42|1|0|0;|Ps|89|21|0|0" passage="Isa 42:1,Ps 89:21">Isa. xlii. 1; Ps. lxxxix.
21</scripRef>. This greatly <i>emboldens</i> our faith in Christ
and our reliance upon his word that he had, and knew he had, his
Father with him, to <i>confirm the word of his servant,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p79.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.44.26" parsed="|Isa|44|26|0|0" passage="Isa 44:26">Isa. xliv. 26</scripRef>. The King of
kings accompanied his own ambassador, to attest his mission and
assist his management, and <i>never left him alone,</i> either
solitary or weak; it also <i>aggravated</i> the wickedness of those
that opposed him, and was an intimation to them of the
<i>premunire</i> they ran themselves into by resisting him, for
thereby they were found <i>fighters against God.</i> How easily
soever they might think to crush him and run him down, let them
know he had one to back him with whom it is the greatest madness
that can be to <i>contend.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p80"><i>Secondly,</i> The ground of this
assurance: <i>For I do always those things that please him.</i>
That is, 1. That great affair in which our Lord Jesus was
<i>continually</i> engaged was an affair which the <i>Father that
sent him</i> was highly <i>well pleased with.</i> His whole
undertaking is called the <i>pleasure of the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p80.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.53.10" parsed="|Isa|53|10|0|0" passage="Isa 53:10">Isa. liii. 10</scripRef>), because of the
counsels of the eternal mind about it, and the complacency of the
eternal mind in it. 2. His management of that affair was in nothing
<i>displeasing</i> to his Father; in executing his commission he
punctually observed all his instructions, and did in nothing vary
from them. No mere man since the fall could say such a word as this
(for <i>in many things we offend all</i>) but our Lord Jesus never
offended his Father in any thing, but, as became him, he
<i>fulfilled all righteousness.</i> This was necessary to the
validity and value of the sacrifice he was to offer up; for if he
had in any thing <i>displeased</i> the Father himself, and so had
had any sin of his own to answer for, the Father could not have
been pleased with him as a propitiation for our sins; but such a
priest and such a sacrifice became us as was perfectly pure and
spotless. We may likewise learn hence that God's servants may
<i>then</i> expect God's presence with them when they <i>choose</i>
and do <i>those things that please him,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p80.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.66.4-Isa.66.5" parsed="|Isa|66|4|66|5" passage="Isa 66:4,5">Isa. lxvi. 4, 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p81">V. Here is the good effect which this
discourse of Christ's had upon some of his hearers (<scripRef id="John.ix-p81.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.30" parsed="|John|8|30|0|0" passage="Joh 8:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>): <i>As he spoke these
words many believed on him.</i> Note, 1. Though multitudes perish
in their unbelief, yet there is a remnant according to the election
of grace, who <i>believe to the saving of the soul.</i> If Israel,
the whole body of the people, <i>be not gathered,</i> yet there are
those of them in whom Christ will be <i>glorious,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p81.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.49.5" parsed="|Isa|49|5|0|0" passage="Isa 49:5">Isa. xlix. 5</scripRef>. This the apostle
insists upon, to reconcile the Jews' rejection with the <i>promises
made unto their fathers.</i> There is a remnant, <scripRef id="John.ix-p81.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.5" parsed="|Rom|11|5|0|0" passage="Ro 11:5">Rom. xi. 5</scripRef>. 2. The words of Christ, and
particularly his <i>threatening</i> words, are made effectual by
the grace of God to bring in poor souls to believe in him. When
Christ told them that if they <i>believed not</i> they should
<i>die in their sins,</i> and never get to heaven, they thought it
was time to look about them, <scripRef id="John.ix-p81.4" osisRef="Bible:Rom.1.16 Bible:Rom.1.18" parsed="|Rom|1|16|0|0;|Rom|1|18|0|0" passage="Ro 1:16,18">Rom. i.
16, 18</scripRef>. 3. Sometimes there is a <i>wide door opened,</i>
and an <i>effectual</i> one, even where they are <i>many
adversaries.</i> Christ will carry on his work, though <i>the
heathen rage.</i> The gospel sometimes gains great victories where
it meets with great opposition. Let this encourage God's ministers
to preach the gospel, though it be with <i>much contention,</i> for
they shall not <i>labour in vain.</i> Many may be <i>secretly</i>
brought home to God by those endeavours which are openly
contradicted and cavilled at by men of corrupt minds. Austin has an
affectionate ejaculation in his lecture upon these words: <i>Utinam
et, me loquenti, multi credant; non in me, sed mecum in eo—I wish
that when I speak, many may believe, not on me, but with me on
him.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p81.5" osisRef="Bible:John.8.31-John.8.37" parsed="|John|8|31|8|37" passage="Joh 8:31-37" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.31-John.8.37">
<h4 id="John.ix-p81.6">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p82">31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed
on him, If ye continue in my word, <i>then</i> are ye my disciples
indeed;   32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall
make you free.   33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed,
and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be
made free?   34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.   35
And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: <i>but</i> the
Son abideth ever.   36 If the Son therefore shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed.   37 I know that ye are
Abraham's seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no
place in you.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p83">We have in these verses,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p84">I. A comfortable doctrine laid down
concerning the <i>spiritual liberty</i> of Christ's disciples,
intended for the encouragement of <i>those</i> Jews <i>that
believed.</i> Christ, knowing that his doctrine began to work upon
some of his hearers, and perceiving that virtue had gone out of
him, turned his discourse from the proud Pharisees, and addressed
himself to those <i>weak</i> believers. When he had denounced wrath
against those that were hardened in unbelief, then he spoke comfort
to those few feeble <i>Jews that believed in him.</i> See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p85">1. How graciously the Lord Jesus looks to
those that <i>tremble at his word,</i> and are ready to receive it;
he has something to say to those who have hearing ears, and will
not pass by those who set themselves in his way, without speaking
to them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p86">2. How carefully he cherishes the
beginnings of grace, and meets those that are coming towards him.
These <i>Jews that believed</i> were yet but <i>weak;</i> but
Christ did not therefore cast them off, for he <i>gathers the lambs
in his arms.</i> When faith is in its infancy, he has <i>knees</i>
to <i>prevent it, breasts</i> for it to <i>suck,</i> that it may
not <i>die from the womb.</i> In what he said to them, we have two
things, which he saith to all that should at any time
believe:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p87">(1.) The character of a true disciple of
Christ: <i>If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples
indeed.</i> When they <i>believed on him,</i> as the great prophet,
they gave up themselves to be <i>his disciples.</i> Now, at their
entrance into his school, he lays down this for a settled rule,
that he would own none for his disciples but those that
<i>continued in his word.</i> [1.] It is implied that there are
many who profess themselves Christ's disciples who are not his
<i>disciples indeed,</i> but only in show and name. [2.] It highly
concerns those that are not <i>strong in faith</i> to see to it
that they be <i>sound in the faith,</i> that, though not disciples
of the highest form, they are nevertheless <i>disciples indeed.</i>
[3.] Those who seem willing to be Christ's disciples ought to be
told that they had as good never come to him, unless they come with
a resolution by his grace to abide by him. Let those who have
thoughts of covenanting with Christ have no thoughts of reserving a
power of revocation. Children are sent to school, and bound
apprentices, only for a <i>few years;</i> but those only are
Christ's who are willing to be bound to him <i>for the term of
life.</i> [4.] Those only that <i>continue in Christ's word</i>
shall be accepted as his <i>disciples indeed,</i> that adhere to
his word in every instance without partiality, and abide by it to
the end without apostasy. It is <b><i>menein</i></b>—<i>to
dwell</i> in Christ's word, as a man does at home, which is his
centre, and rest, and refuge. Our converse with the word and
conformity to it must be constant. If we continue disciples to the
last, then, and not otherwise, we approve ourselves <i>disciples
indeed.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p88">(2.) The privilege of a true disciple of
Christ. Here are two precious promises made to those who thus
approve themselves disciples indeed, <scripRef id="John.ix-p88.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.32" parsed="|John|8|32|0|0" passage="Joh 8:32"><i>v.</i> 32</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p89">[1.] "<i>You shall know the truth,</i>
shall know all that truth which it is needful and profitable for
you to know, and shall be more confirmed in the belief of it, shall
know the certainty of it." Note, <i>First,</i> Even those who are
true believers, and disciples indeed, yet may be, and are, much in
the dark concerning many things which they should know. God's
children are but children, and understand and speak as children.
Did we not need to be taught, we should not need to be disciples.
<i>Secondly,</i> It is a very great privilege to <i>know the
truth,</i> to know the particular truths which we are to believe,
in their mutual dependences and connections, and the grounds and
reasons of our belief,—to know what is truth and what proves it to
be so. <i>Thirdly,</i> It is a gracious promise of Christ, to all
who continue in his word, that they shall know the truth as far as
is needful and profitable for them. Christ's scholars are sure to
be well taught.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p90">[2.] <i>The truth shall make you free;</i>
that is, <i>First,</i> The truth which Christ teaches tends to make
men free, <scripRef id="John.ix-p90.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.61.1" parsed="|Isa|61|1|0|0" passage="Isa 61:1">Isa. lxi. 1</scripRef>.
Justification makes us free from the guilt of sin, by which we were
<i>bound over</i> to the judgment of God, and <i>bound under</i>
amazing fears; sanctification makes us free from the bondage of
corruption, by which we were <i>restrained</i> from that service
which is perfect freedom, and <i>constrained</i> to that which is
perfect slavery. Gospel truth frees us from the yoke of the
ceremonial law, and the more grievous burdens of the traditions of
the elders. It makes us <i>free from</i> our spiritual enemies,
free <i>in</i> the service of God, free <i>to</i> the privileges of
sons, and free <i>of</i> the Jerusalem which is from above, which
is free. <i>Secondly,</i> The knowing, entertaining, and believing,
of this truth does actually <i>make us free,</i> free from
prejudices, mistakes, and false notions, than which nothing more
<i>enslaves</i> and <i>entangles</i> the soul, free from the
dominion of lust and passion; and restores the soul to the
government of itself, by reducing it into obedience to its Creator.
The mind, by admitting the truth of Christ in the light and power,
is vastly enlarged, and has scope and compass given it, is greatly
elevated and raised above things of sense, and never acts with so
true a liberty as when it acts under a divine command, <scripRef id="John.ix-p90.2" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.3.17" parsed="|2Cor|3|17|0|0" passage="2Co 3:17">2 Cor. iii. 17</scripRef>. The enemies of
Christianity pretend to <i>free thinking,</i> whereas really those
are the freest reasonings that are guided by faith, and those are
men of <i>free thought</i> whose thoughts are captivated and
brought into obedience to Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p91">II. The offence which the carnal Jews took
at this doctrine, and their objection against it. Though it was a
doctrine that brought glad tidings of liberty to the captives, yet
they cavilled at it, <scripRef id="John.ix-p91.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.33" parsed="|John|8|33|0|0" passage="Joh 8:33"><i>v.</i>
33</scripRef>. The Pharisees grudged this comfortable word to those
that believed, the standers by, who had <i>no part nor lot in this
matter;</i> they thought themselves reflected upon and affronted by
the gracious charter of liberty granted to those that believed, and
therefore with a great deal of pride and envy they answered him,
"<i>We Jews are Abraham's seed,</i> and therefore are
<i>free-born,</i> and have not lost our birthright-freedom; <i>we
were never in bondage to any man; how sayest thou then,</i> to us
<i>Jews, You shall be made free?</i>" See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p92">1. What it was that they were grieved at;
it was an <i>innuendo</i> in those words, <i>You shall be made
free,</i> as if the Jewish church and nation were in some sort of
bondage, which reflected on the Jews in general, and as if all that
did not believe in Christ continued in that bondage, which
reflected on the Pharisees in particular. Note, The privileges of
the faithful are the envy and vexation of unbelievers, <scripRef id="John.ix-p92.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.112.10" parsed="|Ps|112|10|0|0" passage="Ps 112:10">Ps. cxii. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p93">2. What it was that they alleged against
it; whereas Christ intimated that they needed to be made free, they
urge, (1.) "We are Abraham's seed, and Abraham was a <i>prince and
a great man;</i> though we live in Canaan, we are not descended
from Canaan, nor under his doom, <i>a servant of servants shall he
be;</i> we hold in <i>frank-almoign—free alms,</i> and not in
<i>villenage—by a servile tenure.</i>" It is common for a sinking
decaying family to boast of the glory and dignity of its ancestors,
and to borrow honour from that name to which they repay disgrace;
so the Jews here did. But this was not all. Abraham was in covenant
with God, and his children by his right, <scripRef id="John.ix-p93.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.28" parsed="|Rom|11|28|0|0" passage="Ro 11:28">Rom. xi. 28</scripRef>. Now that covenant, no doubt, was
a free charter, and invested them with privileges not consistent
with a state of slavery, <scripRef id="John.ix-p93.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.4" parsed="|Rom|9|4|0|0" passage="Ro 9:4">Rom. ix.
4</scripRef>. And therefore they thought they had no occasion with
so <i>great a sum</i> as they reckoned faith in Christ to be <i>to
obtain this freedom,</i> when they were thus free-born. Note, It is
the common fault and folly of those that have pious parentage and
education to trust to their privilege and boast of it, as if it
would atone for the want of real holiness. They were Abraham's
seed, but what would this avail them, when we find one in hell that
could call Abraham father? Saving benefits are not, like common
privileges, conveyed by <i>entail</i> to us and our issue, nor can
a title to heaven be made by <i>descent,</i> nor may we claim as
<i>heirs at law,</i> by making out our pedigree; our title is
purely by purchase, not our own but our Redeemer's for us, under
certain provisos and limitations, which if we do not observe it
will not avail us to be Abraham's seed. Thus many, when they are
pressed with the necessity of regeneration, turn it off with this,
<i>We are the church's children;</i> but they are not all Israel
that are of Israel. (2.) <i>We were never in bondage to any
man.</i> Now observe, [1.] How false this allegation was. I wonder
how they could have the assurance to say a thing in the face of a
congregation which was so notoriously <i>untrue.</i> Were not the
seed of Abraham in bondage to the Egyptians? Were they not often in
bondage to the neighbouring nations in the time of the judges? Were
they not seventy years captives in Babylon? Nay, were they not at
this time tributaries to the Romans, and, though not in a
<i>personal,</i> yet in a <i>national</i> bondage to them, and
groaning to be made free? And yet, to confront Christ, they have
the impudence to say, <i>We were never in bondage.</i> Thus they
would expose Christ to the ill-will both of the Jews, who were very
jealous for the honour of their liberty, and of the Romans, who
would not be thought to enslave the nations they conquered. [2.]
How foolish the application was. Christ had spoken of a liberty
wherewith the <i>truth</i> would make them free, which must be
meant of a <i>spiritual</i> liberty, for truth as it is the
<i>enriching,</i> so it is the <i>enfranchising</i> of the mind,
and the <i>enlarging</i> of that from the captivity of error and
prejudice; and yet they plead against the offer of <i>spiritual</i>
liberty that they were never in <i>corporal</i> thraldom, as if,
because they were never in bondage to any <i>man,</i> they were
never in bondage to any <i>lust.</i> Note, Carnal hearts are
sensible of no other grievances than those that molest the body and
injure their secular affairs. Talk to them of encroachments upon
their civil liberty and property,—tell them of waste committed
upon their lands, or damage done to their houses,—and they
understand you very well, and can give you a sensible answer; the
thing touches them and affects them. But discourse to them of the
bondage of sin, a captivity to Satan, and a liberty by
Christ,—tell them of wrong done to their precious souls, and the
hazard of their eternal welfare,—and <i>you bring certain strange
things to their ears;</i> they say of it (as those did, <scripRef id="John.ix-p93.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.20.49" parsed="|Ezek|20|49|0|0" passage="Eze 20:49">Ezek. xx. 49</scripRef>), <i>Doth he not speak
parables?</i> This was much like the blunder Nicodemus made about
being <i>born again.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p94">III. Our Saviour's vindication of his
doctrine from these objections, and the further explication of it,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p94.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.34-John.8.37" parsed="|John|8|34|8|37" passage="Joh 8:34-37"><i>v.</i> 34-37</scripRef>, where
he does these four things:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p95">1. He shows that, notwithstanding their
civil liberties and their visible church-membership, yet it was
possible that they might be in a state of bondage (<scripRef id="John.ix-p95.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.34" parsed="|John|8|34|0|0" passage="Joh 8:34"><i>v.</i> 34</scripRef>): <i>Whosoever commits
sin,</i> though he be of Abraham's seed, and was never in bondage
to any man, is the servant of sin. Observe, Christ does not upbraid
them with the falsehood of their plea, or their present bondage,
but further explains what he had said for their edification. Thus
ministers should with meekness instruct those that oppose them,
that they may <i>recover themselves,</i> not with passion provoke
them to entangle themselves yet more. Now here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p96">(1.) The preface is very solemn: <i>Verily,
verily, I say unto you;</i> an awful asseveration, which our
Saviour often used, to command a reverent attention and a ready
assent. The style of the prophets was, <i>Thus saith the Lord,</i>
for they were <i>faithful as servants;</i> but Christ, being a Son,
speaks in his own name: <i>I say unto you,</i> I the <i>Amen,</i>
the faithful witness; he pawns his veracity upon it. "I say it to
you, who boast of your relation to Abraham, as if that would save
you."</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p97">(2.) The truth is of universal concern,
though here delivered upon a particular occasion: <i>Whosoever
commits sin is the servant of sin,</i> and sadly needs to be made
free. A state of sin is a state of bondage. [1.] See who it is on
whom this brand is fastened—on him that <i>commits sin,</i>
<b><i>pas ho poion hamartian</i></b>—<i>every one that makes
sin.</i> There is not a <i>just man</i> upon earth, that <i>lives,
and sins not;</i> yet every one that sins is not a servant of sin,
for then God would have no servants; but he that <i>makes sin,</i>
that <i>makes choice</i> of sin, prefers the way of wickedness
before the way of holiness (<scripRef id="John.ix-p97.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.44.16-Jer.44.17" parsed="|Jer|44|16|44|17" passage="Jer 44:16,17">Jer.
xliv. 16, 17</scripRef>),—that <i>makes a covenant</i> with sin,
enters into league with it, and <i>makes a marriage</i> with
it,—that <i>makes contrivances</i> of sin, <i>makes provision</i>
for the flesh, and devises iniquity,—and that <i>makes a
custom</i> of sin, who walks after the flesh, and <i>makes a
trade</i> of sin. [2.] See what the brand is which Christ fastens
upon those that thus <i>commit sin.</i> He stigmatizes them, gives
them a mark of servitude. They are <i>servants of sin,</i>
imprisoned under the guilt of sin, under an arrest, in hold for it,
<i>concluded under sin,</i> and they are subject to the power of
sin. He is a <i>servant of sin,</i> that is, he makes himself so,
and is so accounted; he has <i>sold himself to work wickedness;</i>
his lusts give law to him, he is at their beck, and is not his own
master. He does the work of sin, supports its interest, and accepts
its wages, <scripRef id="John.ix-p97.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.6.16" parsed="|Rom|6|16|0|0" passage="Ro 6:16">Rom. vi. 16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p98">2. He shows them that, being in a state of
bondage, their having a place in the house of God would not entitle
them to the inheritance of sons; for (<scripRef id="John.ix-p98.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.35" parsed="|John|8|35|0|0" passage="Joh 8:35"><i>v.</i> 35</scripRef>) <i>the servant,</i> though he
be in the house for awhile, yet, being but a <i>servant, abideth
not in the house for ever.</i> Services (we say) are no
inheritances, they are but <i>temporary,</i> and not for a
<i>perpetuity; but the son</i> of the family abideth ever. Now,
(1.) This points primarily at the rejection of the Jewish church
and nation. Israel had been <i>God's son,</i> his
<i>first-born;</i> but they wretchedly degenerated into a
<i>servile</i> disposition, were enslaved to the world and the
flesh, and therefore, though by virtue of their birthright they
thought themselves secure of their church membership, Christ tells
them that having thus made themselves servants they should not
<i>abide in the house for ever.</i> Jerusalem, by opposing the
gospel of Christ, which proclaimed liberty, and adhering to the
Sinai-covenant, which gendered to bondage, after its term was
<i>expired</i> came to be <i>in bondage with her children</i>
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p98.2" osisRef="Bible:Gal.4.24-Gal.4.25" parsed="|Gal|4|24|4|25" passage="Ga 4:24,25">Gal. iv. 24, 25</scripRef>), and
therefore was unchurched and disfranchised, her charter seized and
taken away, and she was cast out as the son of the bond-woman,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p98.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.21.14" parsed="|Gen|21|14|0|0" passage="Ge 21:14">Gen. xxi. 14</scripRef>. Chrysostom
gives this sense of this place: "Think not to be made free from sin
by the rites and ceremonies of the law of Moses, for Moses was but
a servant, and had not that perpetual authority in the church which
the Son had; but, if the Son make you free, it is well," <scripRef id="John.ix-p98.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.36" parsed="|John|8|36|0|0" passage="Joh 8:36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>. But, (2.) It looks
further, to the rejection of all that are the <i>servants of
sin,</i> and receive not the <i>adoption</i> of the <i>sons of
God;</i> though those unprofitable servants may be in God's house
awhile, as retainers to his family, yet there is a day coming when
the children of the <i>bond-woman</i> and of the <i>free</i> shall
be distinguished. True believers only, who are the children of the
promise and of the covenant, are accounted free, and shall abide
for ever in the house, as Isaac: they shall have a <i>nail</i> in
the holy place on earth (<scripRef id="John.ix-p98.5" osisRef="Bible:Ezra.9.8" parsed="|Ezra|9|8|0|0" passage="Ezr 9:8">Ezra ix.
8</scripRef>) and <i>mansions</i> in the holy place in heaven,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p98.6" osisRef="Bible:John.14.2" parsed="|John|14|2|0|0" passage="Joh 14:2"><i>ch.</i> xiv. 2</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p99">3. He shows them the way of deliverance out
of the state of bondage into the <i>glorious liberty of the
children of God,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p99.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.21" parsed="|Rom|8|21|0|0" passage="Ro 8:21">Rom. viii.
21</scripRef>. The case of those that are the servants of sin is
sad, but thanks be to God it is not helpless, it is not hopeless.
As it is the privilege of all the sons of the family, and their
dignity above the servants, that they abide in the house for ever;
so he who is <i>the Son,</i> the first-born among many brethren,
and the heir of all things, has a power both of manumission and of
adoption (<scripRef id="John.ix-p99.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.36" parsed="|John|8|36|0|0" passage="Joh 8:36"><i>v.</i> 36</scripRef>):
<i>If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.</i>
Note,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p100">(1.) Jesus Christ in the gospel offers us
<i>our freedom;</i> he has authority and power to <i>make free.</i>
[1.] To <i>discharge prisoners;</i> this he does <i>in
justification,</i> by making satisfaction for <i>our guilt</i> (on
which the gospel offer is grounded, which is to all a conditional
<i>act of indemnity,</i> and to all true believers, upon their
believing, an absolute <i>charter of pardon</i>), and for <i>our
debts,</i> for which we were by the law arrested and in execution.
Christ, as our surety, or rather our <i>bail</i> (for he was not
originally bound <i>with us,</i> but upon our insolvency bound
<i>for us</i>), compounds with the creditor, answers the demands of
injured justice with more than an <i>equivalent,</i> takes the
<i>bond</i> and <i>judgment</i> into his own hands, and gives them
up <i>cancelled</i> to all that by faith and repentance give him
(if I may so say) a <i>counter-security</i> to save his honour
harmless, and so they are <i>made free;</i> and from the debt, and
every part thereof, they are for ever acquitted, exonerated, and
discharged, and a general release is sealed of all actions and
claims; while against those who refuse to come up to these terms
the securities lie still in the Redeemer's hands, in full force.
[2.] He has a power to rescue <i>bond-slaves,</i> and this he does
in <i>sanctification;</i> by the powerful arguments of his gospel,
and the powerful operations of his Spirit, he breaks the power of
corruption in the soul, rallies the scattered forces of reason and
virtue, and fortifies God's interest against sin and Satan, and so
the soul is made free. [3.] He has a power to <i>naturalize
strangers and foreigners,</i> and this he does in <i>adoption.</i>
This is a further act of grace; we are not only forgiven and
healed, but <i>preferred;</i> there is a charter of privileges as
well as pardon; and thus the Son makes us free <i>denizens</i> of
the kingdom of priests, the holy nation, the new Jerusalem.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p101">(2.) Those whom Christ makes free are
<i>free indeed.</i> It is not <b><i>alethos</i></b>, the word used
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p101.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.31" parsed="|John|8|31|0|0" passage="Joh 8:31"><i>v.</i> 31</scripRef>) for
disciples <i>indeed, but</i> <b><i>ontos</i></b>—<i>really.</i> It
denotes, [1.] The truth and certainty of the promise, the liberty
which the Jews boasted of was an <i>imaginary</i> liberty; they
boasted of a <i>false gift;</i> but the liberty which Christ gives
is a certain thing, it is real, and has real effects. The servants
of sin promise themselves liberty, and fancy themselves free, when
they have broken religion's bands asunder; but they cheat
themselves. None are <i>free indeed</i> but those whom Christ
<i>makes free.</i> [2.] It denotes the singular excellency of the
freedom promised; it is a freedom that deserves the name, in
comparison with which all other liberties are no better than
slaveries, so much does it turn to the honour and advantage of
those that are <i>made free</i> by it. It is a <i>glorious</i>
liberty. It is that which <i>is</i> (so <b><i>ontos</i></b>
signifies); it is <i>substance</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p101.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.8.21" parsed="|Prov|8|21|0|0" passage="Pr 8:21">Prov. viii. 21</scripRef>); while the things of the world
are shadows, things that <i>are not.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p102">4. He applies this to these unbelieving
cavilling Jews, in answer to their boasts of relation to Abraham
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p102.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.37" parsed="|John|8|37|0|0" passage="Joh 8:37"><i>v.</i> 37</scripRef>): "<i>I
know</i> very well <i>that you are Abraham's seed, but now you seek
to kill me,</i> and therefore have forfeited the honour of your
relation to Abraham, <i>because my word hath no place in you.</i>"
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p103">(1.) The dignity of their extraction
admitted: "<i>I know that you are Abraham's seed,</i> every one
knows it, and it is your honour." He grants them what was true, and
in what they said that was false (that they were <i>never</i> in
bondage to any) he does not <i>contradict</i> them, for he studied
to <i>profit</i> them, and not to <i>provoke</i> them, and
therefore said that which would please them: <i>I know that you are
Abraham's seed.</i> They boasted of their descent from
<i>Abraham,</i> as that which <i>aggrandized</i> their names, and
made them exceedingly honourable; whereas really it did but
<i>aggravate</i> their crimes, and make them exceedingly sinful.
Out of their own mouths will he judge vain-glorious hypocrites, who
boast of their parentage and education: "Are you Abraham's seed?
Why then did you not tread in the steps of his faith and
obedience?"</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p104">(2.) The inconsistency of their practice
with this dignity: <i>But you seek to kill me.</i> They had
attempted it several times, and were now designing it, which
quickly appeared (<scripRef id="John.ix-p104.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.59" parsed="|John|8|59|0|0" passage="Joh 8:59"><i>v.</i>
59</scripRef>), when they <i>took up stones to cast at him.</i>
Christ knows all the wickedness, not only which men do, but which
they seek, and design, and endeavour to do. To seek to kill any
innocent man is a crime black enough, but to <i>compass and
imagine</i> the death of him that was King of kings was a crime the
heinousness of which we want words to express.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p105">(3.) The reason of this inconsistency. Why
were they that were Abraham's seed so very inveterate against
Abraham's promised seed, in whom they and <i>all the families of
the earth</i> should be <i>blessed?</i> Our Saviour here tells
them, It is because <i>my word hath no place in you,</i> <b><i>ou
chorei en hymin</i></b>, <i>Non capit in vobis,</i> so the Vulgate.
"My word <i>does not take with you,</i> you have no inclination to
it, no relish of it, other things are more taking, more pleasing."
Or, "It does not <i>take hold of you,</i> it has no power over you,
makes no impression upon you." Some of the critics read it, <i>My
word does not penetrate into you;</i> it descended as the rain, but
it came upon them as the rain upon the rock, which it runs off, and
did not soak into their hearts, as the rain upon the ploughed
ground. The Syriac reads it, "<i>Because you do not acquiesce in my
word;</i> you are not persuaded of the truth of it, nor pleased
with the goodness of it." Our translation is very significant:
<i>It has no place in you.</i> They <i>sought to kill him,</i> and
so effectually to <i>silence</i> him, not because he had done they
any harm, but because they could not bear the convincing,
commanding power of his word. Note, [1.] The words of Christ ought
to have a place in us, the innermost and uppermost place,—a
<i>dwelling</i> place, as a man at home, and not as a stranger or
sojourner,—a <i>working</i> place; it must have room to operate,
to work sin out of us, and to work grace in us; it must have a
<i>ruling</i> place, its place must be <i>upon the throne,</i> it
must dwell in us richly. [2.] There are many that make a profession
of religion in whom <i>the word of</i> Christ has no place; they
will not <i>allow</i> it a place, for they do not like it; Satan
does all he can to <i>displace</i> it; and other things possess the
place it should have in us. [3.] Where the word of God has no place
no good is to be expected, for room is left there for all
wickedness. If the unclean spirit find the heart empty of Christ's
word, he <i>enters in, and dwells there.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p105.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.38-John.8.47" parsed="|John|8|38|8|47" passage="Joh 8:38-47" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.38-John.8.47">
<h4 id="John.ix-p105.2">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p106">38 I speak that which I have seen with my
Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father.  
39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus
saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the
works of Abraham.   40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that
hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not
Abraham.   41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they
to him, We be not born of fornication; we have one Father,
<i>even</i> God.   42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your
Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God;
neither came I of myself, but he sent me.   43 Why do ye not
understand my speech? <i>even</i> because ye cannot hear my word.
  44 Ye are of <i>your</i> father the devil, and the lusts of
your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and
abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he
speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the
father of it.   45 And because I tell <i>you</i> the truth, ye
believe me not.   46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if
I say the truth, why do ye not believe me?   47 He that is of
God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear <i>them</i> not, because
ye are not of God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p107">Here Christ and the Jews are still at
issue; he sets himself to convince and convert them, while they
still set themselves to contradict and oppose him.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p108">I. He here traces the difference between
his sentiments and theirs to a different rise and origin (<scripRef id="John.ix-p108.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.38" parsed="|John|8|38|0|0" passage="Joh 8:38"><i>v.</i> 38</scripRef>): <i>I speak that which
I have seen with my Father,</i> and <i>you</i> do <i>what you have
seen with your father.</i> Here are two fathers spoken of,
according to the two families into which the sons of men are
divided—God and the devil, and without controversy these are
contrary the one to the other.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p109">1. Christ's <i>doctrine</i> was from
<i>heaven;</i> it was <i>copied</i> out of the <i>counsels</i> of
infinite wisdom, and the kind intentions of eternal love. (1.) <i>I
speak that which I have seen.</i> The discoveries Christ has made
to us of God and another world are not grounded upon guess and
hearsay, but upon ocular inspection; so that he was thoroughly
<i>apprized</i> of the nature, and <i>assured</i> of the truth, of
all he said. He that is given to be a witness to the people is an
eye-witness, and therefore unexceptionable. (2.) It is what I have
seen <i>with my Father.</i> The doctrine of Christ is not a
plausible hypothesis, supported by probable arguments, but it is an
exact counterpart of the incontestable truths lodged in the eternal
mind. It was not only what he had <i>heard from</i> his Father, but
what he had <i>seen with him</i> when <i>the counsel of peace was
between them both.</i> Moses spoke what he heard from God, but he
might not see the face of God; Paul had been in the third heaven,
but what he had seen there he could not, he must not, utter; for it
was Christ's prerogative to have <i>seen</i> what he <i>spoke,</i>
and to <i>speak</i> what he had <i>seen.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p110">2. Their <i>doings</i> were from hell:
"<i>You do that which you have seen with your father.</i> You do,
by your own works, father yourselves, for it is evident whom you
resemble, and therefore easy to find out your origin." As a child
that is trained up with his father learns his father's words and
fashions, and grows like him by an affected imitation as well as by
a natural image, so these Jews, by their malicious opposition to
Christ and the gospel, made themselves as like the devil as if they
had industriously set him before them for their pattern.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p111">II. He takes off and answers their
vain-glorious boasts of relation to Abraham and to God as their
fathers, and shows the vanity and falsehood of their
pretensions.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p112">1. They pleaded relation to Abraham, and he
replies to this plea. <i>They said, Abraham is our father,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p112.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.39" parsed="|John|8|39|0|0" passage="Joh 8:39"><i>v.</i> 39</scripRef>. In this they
intended, (1.) To do honour to themselves, and to make themselves
look great. They had forgotten the mortification given them by that
acknowledgement prescribed them (<scripRef id="John.ix-p112.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.26.5" parsed="|Deut|26|5|0|0" passage="De 26:5">Deut.
xxvi. 5</scripRef>), <i>A Syrian ready to perish was my father;</i>
and the charge exhibited against their degenerate ancestors (whose
steps they trod in, and not those of the first founder of the
family), <i>Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a
Hittite,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p112.3" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.16.3" parsed="|Ezek|16|3|0|0" passage="Eze 16:3">Ezek. xvi. 3</scripRef>.
As it is common for those families that are sinking and going to
decay to boast most of their pedigree, so it is common for those
churches that are corrupt and depraved to value themselves upon
their antiquity and the eminence of their first planters. <i>Fuimus
Troes, fuit Ilium—We have been Trojans, and there once was
Troy.</i> (2.) They designed to cast an odium upon Christ as if he
reflected upon the patriarch Abraham, in speaking of their father
as one they had learned evil from. See how they sought an occasion
to quarrel with him. Now Christ overthrows this plea, and exposes
the vanity of it by a plain and cogent argument: "Abraham's
children will do the works of Abraham, but you do not do Abraham's
works, therefore you are not Abraham's children."</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p113">[1.] The proposition is plain: "<i>If you
were Abraham's children,</i> such children of Abraham as could
claim an interest in the covenant made with him and his seed, which
would indeed put an honour upon you, then you would <i>do the works
of Abraham,</i> for to those only of Abraham's house who <i>kept
the way of the Lord,</i> as Abraham did, would God <i>perform what
he had spoken,</i>" <scripRef id="John.ix-p113.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.18.19" parsed="|Gen|18|19|0|0" passage="Ge 18:19">Gen. xviii.
19</scripRef>. Those only are reckoned the seed of Abraham, to whom
the promise belongs, who <i>tread in the steps</i> of his faith and
obedience, <scripRef id="John.ix-p113.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.4.12" parsed="|Rom|4|12|0|0" passage="Ro 4:12">Rom. iv. 12</scripRef>.
Though the Jews had their genealogies, and kept them exact, yet
they could not by them make out their relation to Abraham, so as to
take the benefit of the old entail (<i>performam doni—according to
the form of the gift</i>), unless they walked in the same spirit;
good women's relation to Sarah is proved only by this—<i>whose
daughters you are as long as you do well,</i> and no longer,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p113.3" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.3.6" parsed="|1Pet|3|6|0|0" passage="1Pe 3:6">1 Pet. iii. 6</scripRef>. Note, Those
who would approve themselves Abraham's seed must not only be of
Abraham's faith, but do Abraham's works (<scripRef id="John.ix-p113.4" osisRef="Bible:Jas.2.21-Jas.2.22" parsed="|Jas|2|21|2|22" passage="Jam 2:21,22">James ii. 21, 22</scripRef>),—must come at God's
call, as he did,—must resign their dearest comforts to him,—must
be strangers and sojourners in this world,—must keep up the
worship of God in their families, and always walk before God in
their uprightness; for these were the works of Abraham.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p114">[2.] The assumption is evident likewise:
<i>But you do not do</i> the works of Abraham, for <i>you seek to
kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard of
God; this did not Abraham,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p114.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.40" parsed="|John|8|40|0|0" passage="Joh 8:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p115"><i>First,</i> He shows them what their work
was, their present work, which they were now about; they <i>sought
to kill him;</i> and three things are intimated as an aggravation
of their intention:—1. They were so <i>unnatural</i> as to seek
the life of <i>a man,</i> a man like themselves, bone of their
bone, and flesh of their flesh, who had done them no harm, nor
given them any provocation. You <i>imagine mischief against a
man,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p115.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.62.3" parsed="|Ps|62|3|0|0" passage="Ps 62:3">Ps. lxii. 3</scripRef>. 2.
They were so <i>ungrateful</i> as to seek the life of one who had
<i>told them the truth,</i> had not only done them no injury, but
had done them the greatest kindness that could be; had not only not
imposed upon them with a lie, but had instructed them in the most
necessary and important truths; <i>was he therefore become their
enemy?</i> 3. They were so <i>ungodly</i> as to seek the life of
one who told them the truth <i>which he had heard from God,</i> who
was a messenger sent from God to them, so that their attempt
against him was <i>quasi deicidium—an act of malice against
God.</i> This was their work, and they persisted in it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p116"><i>Secondly,</i> He shows them that this
did not become the children of Abraham; for <i>this did not
Abraham.</i> 1. "He did nothing like this." He was famous for his
humanity, witness his rescue of the captives; and for his piety,
witness his obedience to the heavenly vision in many instances, and
some tender ones. Abraham believed God; they were obstinate in
unbelief: Abraham followed God; they fought against him; so that he
would be <i>ignorant of them, and would not acknowledge them,</i>
they were so unlike him, <scripRef id="John.ix-p116.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.16" parsed="|Isa|63|16|0|0" passage="Isa 63:16">Isa. lxiii.
16</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="John.ix-p116.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.15-Jer.22.17" parsed="|Jer|22|15|22|17" passage="Jer 22:15-17">Jer. xxii.
15-17</scripRef>. 2. "He would not have done thus if he had lived
now, or I had lived then." <i>Hoc Abraham non fecisset—He would
not have done this;</i> so some read it. We should thus reason
ourselves out of any way of wickedness; would Abraham, and Isaac,
and Jacob have done so? We cannot expect to be <i>ever with
them,</i> if we be <i>never like them.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p117">[3.] The conclusion follows of course
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p117.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.41" parsed="|John|8|41|0|0" passage="Joh 8:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>): "Whatever
your boasts and pretensions be, you are not Abraham's children, but
father yourselves upon another family (<scripRef id="John.ix-p117.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.41" parsed="|John|8|41|0|0" passage="Joh 8:41"><i>v.</i> 41</scripRef>); there is <i>a father whose
deeds you do,</i> whose spirit you are of, and whom you resemble."
He does not <i>yet</i> say plainly that he means the devil, till
they by their continued cavils forced him so to explain himself,
which teaches us to treat even bad men with civility and respect,
and not to be forward to say that <i>of</i> them, or <i>to</i>
them, which, though <i>true,</i> sounds <i>harsh.</i> He tried
whether they would suffer their own consciences to infer from what
he said that they were the devil's children; and it is better to
hear it from them now that we are called to <i>repent,</i> that is,
to change our father and change our family, by changing our spirit
and way, than to hear it from Christ in the great day.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p118">2. So far were they from owning their
unworthiness of relation to Abraham that they pleaded relation to
God himself as their Father: "We are <i>not born of
fornication,</i> we are not bastards, but legitimate sons; <i>we
have one Father, even God.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p119">(1.) Some understand this literally. They
were not the sons of the bondwoman, as the Ishmaelites were; nor
begotten in incest, as the Moabites and Ammonites were (<scripRef id="John.ix-p119.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.23.3" parsed="|Deut|23|3|0|0" passage="De 23:3">Deut. xxiii. 3</scripRef>); nor were they a
spurious brood in Abraham's family, but Hebrews of the Hebrews;
and, being born in <i>lawful</i> wedlock, they might call God
<i>Father,</i> who instituted that honourable estate in innocency;
for a legitimate seed, not tainted with divorces nor the plurality
of wives, is called a <i>seed of God,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p119.2" osisRef="Bible:Mal.2.15" parsed="|Mal|2|15|0|0" passage="Mal 2:15">Mal. ii. 15</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p120">(2.) Others take it figuratively. They
begin to be aware now that Christ spoke of a <i>spiritual</i> not a
<i>carnal</i> father, of the father of their religion; and so,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p121">[1.] They deny themselves to be a
generation of idolaters: "We are <i>not born of fornication,</i>
are not the children of idolatrous parents, nor have been bred up
in idolatrous worships." Idolatry is often spoken of as spiritual
<i>whoredom,</i> and idolaters as <i>children of whoredoms,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p121.1" osisRef="Bible:Hos.2.4 Bible:Isa.57.3" parsed="|Hos|2|4|0|0;|Isa|57|3|0|0" passage="Ho 2:4,Isa 57:3">Hosea ii. 4; Isa. lvii.
3</scripRef>. Now, if they meant that they were not the posterity
of idolaters, the allegation was false, for no nation was more
addicted to idolatry than the Jews before the captivity; if they
meant no more than that they themselves were not idolaters, what
then? A man may be free from idolatry, and yet perish in another
iniquity, and be shut out of Abraham's covenant. <i>If thou commit
no idolatry</i> (apply it to this spiritual fornication), yet if
thou kill thou art become a <i>transgressor</i> of the covenant. A
rebellious prodigal son will be disinherited, though he be not
<i>born of fornication.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p122">[2.] They boast themselves to be true
worshippers of the true God. We have not many fathers, as the
heathens had, <i>gods many and lords many,</i> and yet were without
God, as <i>filius populi—a son of the people,</i> has many fathers
and yet none certain; no, <i>the Lord our God is one Lord</i> and
<i>one Father,</i> and therefore it is well with us. Note, Those
flatter themselves, and put a damning cheat upon their own souls,
who imagine that their professing the true religion and worshipping
the true God will save them, though they worship not God in spirit
and in truth, nor are true to their profession. Now our Saviour
gives a full answer to this fallacious plea (<scripRef id="John.ix-p122.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.42-John.8.43" parsed="|John|8|42|8|43" passage="Joh 8:42,43"><i>v.</i> 42, 43</scripRef>), and proves, by two
arguments, that they had no right to call God Father.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p123"><i>First,</i> They did not love Christ:
<i>If God were your Father, you would love me.</i> He had disproved
their relation to Abraham by their going about to kill him
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p123.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.40" parsed="|John|8|40|0|0" passage="Joh 8:40"><i>v.</i> 40</scripRef>), but here he
disproves their relation to God by their not loving and owning him.
A man may pass for a <i>child</i> of Abraham if he do not appear an
enemy to Christ by gross sin; but he cannot approve himself a child
of God unless he be a faithful friend and follower of Christ. Note,
All that have God for their Father have a true love to Jesus
Christ, and esteem of his person, a grateful sense of his love, a
sincere affection to his cause and kingdom, a complacency in the
salvation wrought out by him and in the method and terms of it, and
a care to keep his commandments, which is the surest evidence of
our love to him. We are here in a state of probation, upon our
trial how we will conduct ourselves towards our Maker, and
accordingly it will be with us in the state of retribution. God has
taken various methods to prove us, and this was one: he sent his
Son into the world, with sufficient proofs of his sonship and
mission, concluding that all that called him Father would <i>kiss
his Son,</i> and bid <i>him</i> welcome who was the first-born
among many brethren; see <scripRef id="John.ix-p123.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.5.1" parsed="|1John|5|1|0|0" passage="1Jo 5:1">1 John v.
1</scripRef>. By this our adoption will be proved or disproved—Did
we love Christ, or no? <i>If any man do not,</i> he is so far from
being a child of God that he is <i>anathema,</i> accursed,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p123.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.16.22" parsed="|1Cor|16|22|0|0" passage="1Co 16:22">1 Cor. xvi. 22</scripRef>. Now our
Saviour proves that if they were God's children they would <i>love
him;</i> for, saith he, I proceeded <i>forth and came from God.</i>
They will love him; for, 1. He was the <i>Son of God: I proceeded
forth from God.</i> <b><i>Exelthon</i></b> this means his divine
<b><i>exeleusis</i></b>, or origin from the Father, by the
communication of the divine essence, and also the union of the
divine <b><i>logos</i></b> to his human nature; so Dr. Whitby. Now
this could not but recommend him to the affections of all that were
<i>born of God.</i> Christ is called the <i>beloved,</i> because,
being the beloved of the Father, he is certainly the beloved of all
the saints, <scripRef id="John.ix-p123.4" osisRef="Bible:Eph.1.6" parsed="|Eph|1|6|0|0" passage="Eph 1:6">Eph. i. 6</scripRef>. 2. He
was <i>sent of God,</i> came from him as an ambassador to the world
of mankind. He did not <i>come of himself,</i> as the false
prophets, who had not either their <i>mission</i> or their
<i>message</i> from God, <scripRef id="John.ix-p123.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.21" parsed="|Jer|23|21|0|0" passage="Jer 23:21">Jer. xxiii.
21</scripRef>. Observe the emphasis he lays upon this: <i>I came
from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.</i> He had both
his credentials and his instructions from God; he came to <i>gather
together in one the children of God</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p123.6" osisRef="Bible:John.11.51" parsed="|John|11|51|0|0" passage="Joh 11:51"><i>ch.</i> xi. 51</scripRef>), to bring <i>many sons to
glory,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p123.7" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.10" parsed="|Heb|2|10|0|0" passage="Heb 2:10">Heb. ii. 10</scripRef>. And
would not all God's children embrace with both arms a messenger
sent from their Father on <i>such</i> errands? But these Jews made
it appear that they were nothing akin to God, by their want of
affection to Jesus Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p124"><i>Secondly,</i> They did not understand
him. It was a sign they did not belong to God's family that they
did not understand the language and dialect of the family: <i>You
do not understand my speech</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p124.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.43" parsed="|John|8|43|0|0" passage="Joh 8:43"><i>v.</i> 43</scripRef>), <b><i>ten lalian ten
emen</i></b>. Christ's speech was divine and heavenly, but
intelligible enough to those that were acquainted with the voice of
Christ in the Old Testament. Those that had made the word of the
Creator familiar to them needed no other key to the dialect of the
Redeemer; and yet these Jews make strange of the doctrine of
Christ, and find knots in it, and I know not what stumbling stones.
Could a Galilean be known by his speech? An Ephraimite by his
<i>sibboleth?</i> And would any have the confidence to call God
Father to whom the Son of God was a barbarian, even when he spoke
the will of God in the words of the Spirit of God? Note, Those who
are not acquainted with the divine speech have reason to fear that
they are strangers to the divine nature. Christ spoke the words of
God (<scripRef id="John.ix-p124.2" osisRef="Bible:John.3.34" parsed="|John|3|34|0|0" passage="Joh 3:34"><i>ch.</i> iii. 34</scripRef>) in
the dialect of the kingdom of God; and yet they, who pretended to
belong to the kingdom, understood not the idioms and properties of
it, but like strangers, and rude ones too, ridiculed it. And the
reason why they did not understand Christ's speech made the matter
much worse: <i>Even because you cannot hear my word,</i> that is,
"You cannot persuade yourselves to hear it attentively,
impartially, and without prejudice, as it should be heard." The
meaning of this <i>cannot</i> is an obstinate <i>will not;</i> as
the Jews could not hear Stephen (<scripRef id="John.ix-p124.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.7.57" parsed="|Acts|7|57|0|0" passage="Ac 7:57">Acts
vii. 57</scripRef>) nor Paul, <scripRef id="John.ix-p124.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.23.22" parsed="|Acts|23|22|0|0" passage="Ac 23:22">Acts
xxiii. 22</scripRef>. Note, The rooted antipathy of men's corrupt
hearts to the doctrine of Christ is the true reason of their
ignorance of it, and of their errors and mistakes about it. They do
not like it nor love it, and therefore they will not understand it;
like Peter, who pretended he <i>knew not what the damsel said</i>
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p124.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.26.70" parsed="|Matt|26|70|0|0" passage="Mt 26:70">Matt. xxvi. 70</scripRef>), when in
truth he knew not what to say to it. <i>You cannot hear my
words,</i> for you have <i>stopped your ears</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p124.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.58.4-Ps.58.5" parsed="|Ps|58|4|58|5" passage="Ps 58:4,5">Ps. lviii. 4, 5</scripRef>), and God, in a way
of righteous judgment, <i>has made your ears heavy,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p124.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.10" parsed="|Isa|6|10|0|0" passage="Isa 6:10">Isa. vi. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p125">III. Having thus disproved their relation
both to Abraham and to God, he comes next to tell them plainly
whose children they were: <i>You are of your father the devil,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p125.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.44" parsed="|John|8|44|0|0" passage="Joh 8:44"><i>v.</i> 44</scripRef>. If they were
not God's children, they were the devil's, for God and Satan divide
the world of mankind; the devil is <i>therefore</i> said to <i>work
in the children of disobedience,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p125.2" osisRef="Bible:Eph.2.2" parsed="|Eph|2|2|0|0" passage="Eph 2:2">Eph. ii. 2</scripRef>. All wicked people are the devil's
children, <i>children of Belial</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p125.3" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.6.15" parsed="|2Cor|6|15|0|0" passage="2Co 6:15">2
Cor. vi. 15</scripRef>), the serpent's seed (<scripRef id="John.ix-p125.4" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.15" parsed="|Gen|3|15|0|0" passage="Ge 3:15">Gen. iii. 15</scripRef>), children of the wicked one,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p125.5" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.38" parsed="|Matt|13|38|0|0" passage="Mt 13:38">Matt. xiii. 38</scripRef>. They
partake of his nature, bear his image, obey his commands, and
follow his example. Idolaters <i>said to a stock, Thou art our
father,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p125.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.27" parsed="|Jer|2|27|0|0" passage="Jer 2:27">Jer. ii.
27</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p126">This is a high charge, and sounds very
harsh and horrid, that any of the children of men, especially the
church's children, should be called <i>children of the devil,</i>
and therefore our Saviour fully proves it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p127">1. By a general argument: <i>The lusts of
your father you will do,</i> <b><i>thelete poiein</i></b>. (1.)
"You <i>do</i> the devil's lusts, the lusts which he would have you
to fulfil; you gratify and please him, and comply with his
temptation, and are <i>led captive by him at his will:</i> nay, you
do those lusts which the devil himself fulfils." Fleshly lusts and
worldly lusts the devil tempts men to; but, being a spirit, he
cannot fulfil them himself. The peculiar lusts of the devil are
<i>spiritual wickedness;</i> the lusts of the intellectual powers,
and their corrupt reasonings; pride and envy, and wrath and malice;
enmity to that which is good, and enticing others to that which is
evil; these are lusts which the devil fulfils, and those who are
under the dominion of these lusts resemble the devil, as the child
does the parent. The more there is of contemplation, and
contrivance, and secret complacency, in sin, the more it resembles
the <i>lusts of the devil.</i> (2.) You <i>will do</i> the devil's
lusts. The more there is of the <i>will</i> in these lusts, the
more there is of the devil in them. When sin is committed <i>of
choice</i> and not by surprise, with <i>pleasure</i> and not with
reluctancy, when it is persisted in with a daring presumption and a
desperate resolution, like theirs that said, <i>We have loved
strangers and after them we will go,</i> then the sinner
<i>will</i> do the devil's lusts. "The lusts of your father you
<i>delight to do;</i>" so Dr. Hammond; they are rolled under the
tongue as a sweet morsel.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p128">2. By two particular instances, wherein
they manifestly resembled the devil—<i>murder</i> and
<i>lying.</i> The devil is an enemy to life, because God is the God
of life and life is the happiness of man; and an enemy to truth,
because God is the God of truth and truth is the bond of human
society.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p129">(1.) He was <i>a murderer from the
beginning,</i> not from his own beginning, for he was created an
angel of light, and had a first estate which was pure and good, but
from the beginning of his apostasy, which was soon after the
creation of man. He was <b><i>anthropoktonos</i></b>—<i>homicida,
a man-slayer.</i> [1.] He was a <i>hater of man,</i> and so in
affection an disposition a murderer of him. He has his name,
<i>Satan,</i> from <i>sitnah—hatred.</i> He maligned God's image
upon man, envied his happiness, and earnestly desired his ruin, was
an avowed enemy to the whole race. [2.] He was man's tempter to
<i>that</i> sin which brought death into the world, and so he was
effectually the murderer of all mankind, which in Adam had but
<i>one neck.</i> He was a murderer of souls, <i>deceived</i> them
into sin, and by it <i>slew them</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p129.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.7.11" parsed="|Rom|7|11|0|0" passage="Ro 7:11">Rom. vii. 11</scripRef>), poisoned man with the forbidden
fruit, and, to aggravate the matter, made him his own murderer.
Thus he was not only <i>at</i> the beginning, but <i>from</i> the
beginning, which intimates that thus he <i>has been</i> ever since;
as he began, so he continues, the murderer of men by his
temptations. The great tempter is the great destroyer. The Jews
called the devil <i>the angel of death.</i> [3.] He was the first
wheel in the first murder that ever was committed by Cain, who was
of that wicked one, and slew his brother, <scripRef id="John.ix-p129.2" osisRef="Bible:1John.3.12" parsed="|1John|3|12|0|0" passage="1Jo 3:12">1 John iii. 12</scripRef>. If the devil had not been
very strong in Cain, he could not have done such an unnatural thing
as to kill his own brother. Cain killing his brother by the
instigation of the devil, the devil is called the <i>murderer,</i>
which does not speak Cain's personal guilt the less, but the
devil's the more, whose torments, we have reason to think, will be
the greater, when the time comes, for all that wickedness into
which he has drawn men. See what reason we have to <i>stand</i>
upon our guard <i>against the wiles of the devil,</i> and never to
hearken to him (for he is a murderer, and certainly aims to do us
mischief, even when he <i>speaks fair</i>), and to wonder that he
who is the murderer of the children of men should yet be, by their
own consent, so much their master. Now herein these Jews were
followers of him, and were murderers, like him; murderers of souls,
which they led blindfold into the ditch, and made the <i>children
of hell;</i> sworn enemies of Christ, and now ready to be his
betrayers and murderers, for the same reason that Cain killed Abel.
These Jews were that <i>seed of the serpent</i> that were to
<i>bruise the heel</i> of the <i>seed of the woman; Now you seek to
kill me.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p130">(2.) He was <i>a liar.</i> A lie is opposed
to truth (<scripRef id="John.ix-p130.1" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.21" parsed="|1John|2|21|0|0" passage="1Jo 2:21">1 John ii. 21</scripRef>),
and accordingly the devil is here described to be,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p131">[1.] An enemy to truth, and therefore to
Christ. <i>First,</i> He is a <i>deserter,</i> from the truth; he
<i>abode not in the truth,</i> did not continue in the purity and
rectitude of his nature wherein he was created, but left his first
state; when he degenerated from goodness, he departed from truth,
for his apostasy was founded in a lie. The angels were the <i>hosts
of the Lord;</i> those that fell were not <i>true</i> to their
commander and sovereign, they were not to be <i>trusted,</i> being
charged with folly and defection, <scripRef id="John.ix-p131.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.4.18" parsed="|Job|4|18|0|0" passage="Job 4:18">Job
iv. 18</scripRef>. By <i>the truth</i> here we may understand the
revealed will of God concerning the salvation of man by Jesus
Christ, the truth which Christ was now preaching, and which the
Jews opposed; herein they did <i>like their father the devil,</i>
who, <i>seeing</i> the honour put upon the human nature in the
<i>first Adam,</i> and <i>foreseeing</i> the much greater honour
intended in the <i>second Adam,</i> would not be reconciled to that
counsel of God, nor <i>stand in the truth</i> concerning it, but,
from a spirit of pride and envy, set himself to resist it, and to
thwart the designs of it; and so did these Jews here, as his
children and agents. <i>Secondly,</i> He is <i>destitute</i> of the
truth: <i>There is no truth in him.</i> His interest in the world
is supported by lies and falsehoods, and there is no truth, nothing
you can confide in, in him, nor in any thing he says or does. The
notions he propagates concerning good and evil are false and
erroneous, his proofs are lying wonders, his temptations are all
cheats; he has great knowledge of the truth, but having no
affection to it, but on the contrary being a sworn enemy to it, he
is said to have <i>no truth in him.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p132">[2.] He is a friend and patron of lying:
<i>When he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own.</i> Three things
are here said of the devil with reference to the sin of
lying:—<i>First,</i> That he is <i>a liar;</i> his oracles were
lying oracles, his prophets lying prophets, and the images in which
he was worshipped <i>teachers of lies.</i> He tempted our first
parents with a downright lie. All his temptations are carried on by
lies, calling <i>evil good and good evil,</i> and promising
impunity in sin; he knows them to be lies, and suggests them with
an intention to deceive, and so to destroy. When he now
<i>contradicted</i> the gospel, in the scribes and Pharisees, it
was by lies; and when afterwards he <i>corrupted it,</i> in the
<i>man of sin,</i> it was by strong delusions, and a great
complicated lie. <i>Secondly,</i> That when he <i>speaks a lie</i>
he <i>speaks of his own,</i> <b><i>ek ton idion</i></b>. It is the
proper <i>idiom</i> of his language; of <i>his own,</i> not of God;
his Creator never put it into him. When men speak a lie they borrow
it from the devil, <i>Satan fills their hearts to lie</i>
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p132.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.5.3" parsed="|Acts|5|3|0|0" passage="Ac 5:3">Acts v. 3</scripRef>); but when the
devil speaks a lie the <i>model</i> of it is of his own framing,
the motives to it are from himself, which bespeaks the desperate
depth of wickedness into which those apostate spirits are sunk; as
in their first defection they had no tempter, so their sinfulness
is still their own. <i>Thirdly,</i> That he is the <i>father of
it,</i> <b><i>autou</i></b>. 1. He is the father of every
<i>lie;</i> not only of the lies which he himself suggests, but of
those which others speak; he is the author and founder of all lies.
When men speak lies, they speak from him, and as his mouth; they
come originally from him, and bear his image. 2. He is the father
of <i>every liar;</i> so it may be understood. God made men with a
disposition to truth. It is congruous to reason and natural light,
to the order of our faculties and the laws of society, that we
should speak truth; but the devil, the author of sin, the spirit
that works in the children of disobedience, has so corrupted the
nature of man that the wicked are said to be <i>estranged from the
womb, speaking lies</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p132.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.58.3" parsed="|Ps|58|3|0|0" passage="Ps 58:3">Ps. lviii.
3</scripRef>); he has taught them <i>with their tongues to use
deceit,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p132.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.13" parsed="|Rom|3|13|0|0" passage="Ro 3:13">Rom. iii. 13</scripRef>. He
is the father of liars, who begat them, who trained them up in the
<i>way of lying,</i> whom they resemble and obey, and with whom all
<i>liars</i> shall have their portion for ever.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p133">IV. Christ, having thus proved all
murderers and all liars to be the devil's children, leaves it to
the consciences of his hearers to say, <i>Thou art the man.</i> But
he comes in the <scripRef id="John.ix-p133.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.45-John.8.58" parsed="|John|8|45|8|58" passage="Joh 8:45-58">following
verses</scripRef> to assist them in the application of it to
themselves; he does not call them <i>liars,</i> but shows them that
they were <i>no friends to truth,</i> and therein resembled him who
<i>abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.</i>
Two things he charges upon them:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p134">1. That they would not <i>believe the word
of truth</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p134.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.45" parsed="|John|8|45|0|0" passage="Joh 8:45"><i>v.</i>
45</scripRef>), <b><i>hoti ten aletheian lego, ou pisteuete
moi</i></b>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p135">(1.) Two ways it may be taken;—[1.]
"Though I tell you the truth, yet you will not believe me
(<b><i>hoti</i></b>), <i>that I do so.</i>" Though he gave abundant
proof of his commission from God, and his affection to the children
of men, yet they would not believe that he told them the truth. Now
was <i>truth fallen in the street,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p135.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.14-Isa.59.15" parsed="|Isa|59|14|59|15" passage="Isa 59:14,15">Isa. lix. 14, 15</scripRef>. The greatest truths
with some gained not the least credit; for they <i>rebelled against
the light,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p135.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.13" parsed="|Job|24|13|0|0" passage="Job 24:13">Job xxiv.
13</scripRef>. Or, [2.] <i>Because I tell you the truth</i> (so we
read it) therefore <i>you believe me not.</i> They would not
receive him, nor entertain him as a prophet, because he told them
some unpleasing truths which they did not care to hear, told them
the truth concerning themselves and their own case, showed them
their faces in a glass that would not flatter them; therefore they
would not believe a word he said. Miserable is the case of those to
whom the light of divine truth is become a torment.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p136">(2.) Now, to show them the unreasonableness
of their infidelity, he condescends to put the matter to this fair
issue, <scripRef id="John.ix-p136.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.46" parsed="|John|8|46|0|0" passage="Joh 8:46"><i>v.</i> 46</scripRef>. He and
they being contrary, either he was in an error or they were. Now
take it either way.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p137">[1.] If <i>he</i> were in an error, why did
they not convince him? The falsehood of <i>pretended</i> prophets
was discovered either by the <i>ill tendency</i> of their doctrines
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p137.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.13.2" parsed="|Deut|13|2|0|0" passage="De 13:2">Deut. xiii. 2</scripRef>), or by the
<i>ill tenour</i> of their conversation: <i>You shall know them by
their fruits;</i> but (saith Christ) <i>which of you,</i> you of
the sanhedrim, that take upon you to judge of prophets, <i>which of
you convinceth me of sin?</i> They accused him of some of the worst
of crimes—gluttony, drunkenness, blasphemy, sabbath-breaking,
confederacy with Satan, and what not. But their accusations were
malicious groundless calumnies, and such as every one that knew him
knew to be <i>utterly false.</i> When they had done their utmost by
trick and artifice, subornation and perjury, to prove some crime
upon him, the very judge that condemned him owned he <i>found no
fault in him.</i> The <i>sin</i> he here challenges them to convict
him of is, <i>First,</i> An inconsistent doctrine. They had heard
his testimony; could they show any thing in it absurd or unworthy
to be believed, any contradiction either of himself or of the
scriptures, or any corruption of truth or manners insinuated by his
doctrine? <scripRef id="John.ix-p137.2" osisRef="Bible:John.18.20" parsed="|John|18|20|0|0" passage="Joh 18:20"><i>ch.</i> xviii.
20</scripRef>. Or, <i>Secondly,</i> An incongruous conversation:
"Which of you can justly charge me with any thing, in word or deed,
unbecoming a prophet?" See the wonderful condescension of our Lord
Jesus, that he demanded not credit any further than the allowed
motives of credibility supported his demands. See <scripRef id="John.ix-p137.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.5 Bible:Jer.2.31 Bible:Mic.6.3" parsed="|Jer|2|5|0|0;|Jer|2|31|0|0;|Mic|6|3|0|0" passage="Jer 2:5,31,Mic 6:3">Jer. ii. 5, 31; Mic. vi. 3</scripRef>.
Ministers may hence learn, 1. To <i>walk</i> so
<i>circumspectly</i> as that it may not be in the power of their
most strict observers to convince them of sin, <i>that the ministry
be not blamed.</i> The only way not to be convicted of sin is not
to sin. 2. To be willing to <i>admit a scrutiny;</i> though we are
confident in many things that we are in the right, yet we should be
willing to have it tried whether we be not in the wrong. See
<scripRef id="John.ix-p137.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.6.24" parsed="|Job|6|24|0|0" passage="Job 6:24">Job vi. 24</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p138">[2.] If <i>they</i> were in an error, why
were they not convinced by him? "<i>If I say the truth, why do you
not believe me?</i> If you cannot convince me of error, you must
own that I <i>say the truth,</i> and why do you not then <i>give me
credit?</i> Why will you not deal with me upon trust?" Note, If men
would but enquire into the reason of their infidelity, and examine
why they do not believe that which they cannot gainsay, they would
find themselves reduced to such absurdities as they could not but
be ashamed of; for it will be found that the reason why we believe
not in Jesus Christ is because we are not willing to part with our
sins, and deny ourselves, and serve God faithfully; that we are not
of the Christian religion, because we would not indeed be of any,
and unbelief of our Redeemer resolves itself into a downright
rebellion against our Creator.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p139">2. Another thing charged upon them is that
they would not hear the words of God (<scripRef id="John.ix-p139.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.47" parsed="|John|8|47|0|0" passage="Joh 8:47"><i>v.</i> 47</scripRef>), which further shows how
groundless their claim of relation to God was. Here is,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p140">(1.) A doctrine laid down: <i>He that is of
God heareth God's words;</i> that is, [1.] He is <i>willing</i> and
<i>ready</i> to hear them, is sincerely desirous to know what the
mind of God is, and cheerfully embraces whatever he knows to be so.
God's words have such an authority over, and such an agreeableness
with all that are born of God, that they meet them, as the child
Samuel did, with, <i>Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth.</i> Let
the word of the Lord come. [2.] He <i>apprehends</i> and
<i>discerns</i> them, he so hears them as to perceive the <i>voice
of God</i> in them, which the natural man does not, <scripRef id="John.ix-p140.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.2.14" parsed="|1Cor|2|14|0|0" passage="1Co 2:14">1 Cor. ii. 14</scripRef>. He that is of God is
<i>soon aware</i> of the discoveries he makes of himself of the
<i>nearness of his name</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p140.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.75.1" parsed="|Ps|75|1|0|0" passage="Ps 75:1">Ps. lxxv.
1</scripRef>), as they of the family know the master's tread, and
the master's knock, and <i>open to him immediately</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p140.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.12.36" parsed="|Luke|12|36|0|0" passage="Lu 12:36">Luke xii. 36</scripRef>), as the sheep know the
voice of their shepherd from that of a stranger, <scripRef id="John.ix-p140.4" osisRef="Bible:John.10.4-John.10.5 Bible:Song.2.8" parsed="|John|10|4|10|5;|Song|2|8|0|0" passage="Joh 10:4,5,So 2:8"><i>ch.</i> x. 4, 5; Cant. ii. 8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p141">(2.) The application of this doctrine, for
the conviction of these unbelieving Jews: <i>You therefore hear
them not;</i> that is, "You heed not, you understand not, you
believe not, the words of God, nor care to hear them, <i>because
you are not of God.</i> Your being thus deaf and dead to the words
of God is a plain evidence that you are <i>not of God.</i>" It is
in his word that God manifests himself and is present among us; we
are therefore reckoned to be well or ill affected to his word; see
<scripRef id="John.ix-p141.1" osisRef="Bible:2Cor.4.4 Bible:1John.4.6" parsed="|2Cor|4|4|0|0;|1John|4|6|0|0" passage="2Co 4:4,1Jo 4:6">2 Cor. iv. 4; 1 John iv.
6</scripRef>. Or, their not being of God was the reason why they
did not profitably <i>hear the words of God,</i> which Christ
spoke; they did not understand and believe him, not because the
things themselves were obscure or wanted evidence, but because the
hearers were <i>not of God,</i> were not born again. If the word of
the kingdom do not bring forth fruit, the blame is to be laid upon
the soil, not upon the seed, as appears by the parable of the
sower, <scripRef id="John.ix-p141.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.13.3" parsed="|Matt|13|3|0|0" passage="Mt 13:3">Matt. xiii. 3</scripRef>.</p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p141.3" osisRef="Bible:John.8.48-John.8.50" parsed="|John|8|48|8|50" passage="Joh 8:48-50" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.48-John.8.50">
<h4 id="John.ix-p141.4">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees.</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p142">48 Then answered the Jews, and said unto him,
Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?  
49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and
ye do dishonour me.   50 And I seek not mine own glory: there
is one that seeketh and judgeth.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p143">Here is, I. The malice of hell breaking out
in the base language which the unbelieving Jews gave to our Lord
Jesus. Hitherto they had cavilled at his doctrine, and had made
invidious remarks upon it; but, having shown themselves uneasy when
he complained (<scripRef id="John.ix-p143.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.43 Bible:John.8.47" parsed="|John|8|43|0|0;|John|8|47|0|0" passage="Joh 8:43,47"><i>v.</i> 43,
47</scripRef>) that they would not hear him, now at length they
fall to downright railing, <scripRef id="John.ix-p143.2" osisRef="Bible:John.8.48" parsed="|John|8|48|0|0" passage="Joh 8:48"><i>v.</i>
48</scripRef>. They were not the common people, but, as it should
seem, the scribes and Pharisees, the men of consequence, who, when
they saw themselves convicted of an obstinate infidelity,
scornfully turned off the conviction with this: <i>Say we not well
that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?</i> See here, see it
and wonder, see it and tremble,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p144">1. What was the blasphemous character
commonly given of our Lord Jesus among the wicked Jews, to which
they refer. (1.) That he was a Samaritan, that is, that he was an
enemy to their church and nation, one that they hated and could not
endure. Thus they exposed him to the ill will of the people, with
whom you could not put a man into a worse name than to call him
<i>a Samaritan.</i> If he had been a Samaritan, he had been
punishable, by the <i>beating of the rebels</i> (as they called
it), for coming into the temple. They had often enough called him
<i>a Galilean—a mean man;</i> but as if that were not enough,
though it contradicted the other, they will have him a
<i>Samaritan—a bad man.</i> The Jews to this day call the
Christians, in reproach, <i>Cuthæi-Samaritans.</i> Note, Great
endeavours have in all ages been used to make good people odious by
putting them under black characters, and it is easy to run that
down with a crowd and a cry which is once put into an ill name.
Perhaps because Christ justly inveighed against the pride and
tyranny of the priests and elders, they hereby suggest that he
aimed at the ruin of their church, in aiming at its reformation,
and was <i>falling away</i> to the Samaritans. (2.) That <i>he had
a devil.</i> Either, [1.] That he was <i>in league with the
devil.</i> Having reproached his doctrine as tending to
Samaritanism, here they reflect upon his miracles as done in
combination with Beelzebub. Or, rather [2.] That he was possessed
with a devil, that he was a melancholy man, whose brain was
<i>clouded,</i> or a mad man, whose brain was <i>heated,</i> and
that which he said was no more to be believed than the extravagant
rambles of a distracted man, or one in a delirium. Thus the divine
revelation of those things which are above the discovery of reason
have been often branded with the charge of enthusiasm, and the
prophet was called a <i>mad fellow,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p144.1" osisRef="Bible:2Kgs.9.11 Bible:Hos.9.7" parsed="|2Kgs|9|11|0|0;|Hos|9|7|0|0" passage="2Ki 9:11,Ho 9:7">2 Kings ix. 11; Hosea ix. 7</scripRef>. The
inspiration of the Pagan oracles and prophets was indeed a frenzy,
and those that had it were for the time beside themselves; but that
which was truly <i>divine</i> was not so. <i>Wisdom is justified of
her children,</i> as wisdom indeed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p145">2. How they undertook to justify this
character, and applied it to the present occasion: <i>Say we not
well that thou art so?</i> One would think that his excellent
discourses should have altered their opinion of him, and have made
them recant; but, instead of this, their hearts were more hardened
and their prejudices confirmed. They value themselves on their
enmity to Christ, as if they had never spoken <i>better</i> than
when they spoke the worst they could of Jesus Christ. Those have
arrived at the highest pitch of wickedness who avow their impiety,
repeat what they should retract, and justify themselves in that for
which they ought to condemn themselves. It is bad to say and do
ill, but it is worse to <i>stand to it;</i> I do <i>well to be
angry.</i> When Christ spoke with so much boldness against the sins
of the great men, and thereby incensed them against him, those who
were sensible of no interest but what is secular and sensual
concluded him <i>beside himself,</i> for they thought none but a
madman would lose his preferment, and hazard his life, for his
religion and conscience.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p146">II. The meekness and mercifulness of Heaven
shining in Christ's reply to this vile calumny, <scripRef id="John.ix-p146.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.49-John.8.50" parsed="|John|8|49|8|50" passage="Joh 8:49,50"><i>v.</i> 49, 50</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p147">1. He denies their charge against him: <i>I
have not a devil;</i> as Paul (<scripRef id="John.ix-p147.1" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.25" parsed="|Acts|26|25|0|0" passage="Ac 26:25">Acts
xxvi. 25</scripRef>), <i>I am not mad.</i> The imputation is
unjust; "I am neither actuated by a devil, nor in compact with
one;" and this he evidenced by what he did against the devil's
kingdom. He takes no notice of their calling him a
<i>Samaritan,</i> because it was a calumny that disproved itself,
it was a personal reflection, and not worth taking notice of: but
saying he had a devil reflected on his commission, and therefore he
answered that. St. Augustine gives this gloss upon his not saying
any thing to their calling him a Samaritan—that he was indeed that
good Samaritan spoken of in the parable, <scripRef id="John.ix-p147.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.10.33" parsed="|Luke|10|33|0|0" passage="Lu 10:33">Luke x. 33</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p148">2. He asserts the sincerity of his own
intentions: But <i>I honour my Father.</i> They suggested that he
took undue honours to himself, and derogated from the honour due to
God only, both which he <i>denies</i> here, in saying that he made
it his business to honour his Father, and him only. It also proves
that he <i>had not a devil;</i> for, if he had, he would not honour
God. Note, Those who can truly way that they make it their constant
care to honour God are sufficiently armed against the censures and
reproaches of men.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p149">3. He complains of the wrong they did him
by their calumnies: <i>You do dishonour me.</i> By this it appears
that, as man, he had a tender sense of the disgrace and indignity
done him; reproach was a sword in his bones, and yet he underwent
it for our salvation. It is the will of God that <i>all men should
honour the Son,</i> yet there are many that <i>dishonour him;</i>
such a contradiction is there in the carnal mind to the will of
God. Christ honoured his Father so as never man did, and yet was
himself dishonoured so as never man was; for, though God has
promised that those who honour him he will honour, he never
promised that men should honour them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p150">4. He clears himself from the imputation of
vain glory, in saying this concerning himself, <scripRef id="John.ix-p150.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.50" parsed="|John|8|50|0|0" passage="Joh 8:50"><i>v.</i> 50</scripRef>. See here, (1.) His
<i>contempt</i> of worldly honour: <i>I seek not mine own
glory.</i> He did not aim at this in what he had said of himself or
against his persecutors; he did not court the applause of men, nor
covet preferment in the world, but industriously declined both. He
did not <i>seek his own glory</i> distinct from his Father's, nor
had any separate interest of his own. For men to <i>search their
own glory</i> is <i>not glory</i> indeed (<scripRef id="John.ix-p150.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.27" parsed="|Prov|25|27|0|0" passage="Pr 25:27">Prov. xxv. 27</scripRef>), but rather their shame to be
so much <i>out in their aim.</i> This comes in here as a reason why
Christ made so light of their reproaches: "<i>You do dishonour
me,</i> but cannot disturb me, shall not disquiet me, for I <i>seek
not my own glory.</i>" Note, Those who are dead to men's praise can
safely bear their contempt. (2.) His <i>comfort</i> under worldly
dishonour: <i>There is one that seeketh and judgeth.</i> In two
things Christ made it appear that he <i>sought not his own
glory;</i> and here he tells us what satisfied him as to both. [1.]
He did not <i>court</i> men's respect, but was indifferent to it,
and in reference to this he saith, "<i>There is one that
seeketh,</i> that will secure and advance, my interest in the
esteem and affections of the people, while I am in no care about
it." Note, God will seek <i>their</i> honour that do not seek
<i>their own;</i> for before honour is humility. [2.] He did not
<i>revenge</i> men's affronts, but was unconcerned at them, and in
reference to this he saith, "<i>There is one that judgeth,</i> that
will vindicate my honour, and severely reckon with those that
trample upon it." Probably he refers here to the judgments that
were coming upon the nation of the Jews for the indignities they
did to the Lord Jesus. See <scripRef id="John.ix-p150.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.37.13-Ps.37.15" parsed="|Ps|37|13|37|15" passage="Ps 37:13-15">Ps.
xxxvii. 13-15</scripRef>. <i>I heard not, for thou wilt hear.</i>
If we undertake to judge for ourselves, whatever damage we sustain,
our recompence is in our own hands; but if we be, as we ought to
be, humble appellants and patient expectants, we shall find, to our
comfort, <i>there is one that judgeth.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="John.ix-p150.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.51-John.8.59" parsed="|John|8|51|8|59" passage="Joh 8:51-59" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:John.8.51-John.8.59">
<h4 id="John.ix-p150.5">Christ's Discourse with the
Pharisees</h4>
<p class="passage" id="John.ix-p151">51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep
my saying, he shall never see death.   52 Then said the Jews
unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and
the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall
never taste of death.   53 Art thou greater than our father
Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou
thyself?   54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is
nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he
is your God:   55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him:
and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto
you: but I know him, and keep his saying.   56 Your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw <i>it,</i> and was glad.
  57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham?   58 Jesus said unto them,
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.   59
Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and
went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so
passed by.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p152">In these verses we have,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p153">I. The doctrine of the immortality of
believers laid down, <scripRef id="John.ix-p153.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.51" parsed="|John|8|51|0|0" passage="Joh 8:51"><i>v.</i>
51</scripRef>. It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface,
<i>Verily, verily, I say unto you,</i> which commands both
attention and assent, and this is what he says, <i>If a man keep my
sayings, he shall never see death.</i> Here we have, 1. The
<i>character</i> of a believer: he is one that <i>keeps the
sayings</i> of the Lord Jesus, <b><i>ton logon ton
emon</i></b>—<i>my word;</i> that <i>word of mine</i> which I have
delivered to you; this we must not only <i>receive,</i> but
<i>keep;</i> not only <i>have,</i> but <i>hold.</i> We must keep it
in mind and memory, keep it in love and affection, so keep it as in
nothing to violate it or go contrary to it, keep it <i>without
spot</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p153.2" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.14" parsed="|1Tim|6|14|0|0" passage="1Ti 6:14">1 Tim. vi. 14</scripRef>),
keep it as a trust committed to us, keep in it as our way, keep to
it as our rule. 2. The <i>privilege</i> of a believer: <i>He shall
by no means see death for ever;</i> so it is in the original. Not
as if the bodies of believers were secured from the stroke of
death. No, even the <i>children of the Most High</i> must <i>die
like men,</i> and the followers of Christ have been, more than
other men, in deaths often, and <i>killed all the day long;</i> how
then is this promise made good that they <i>shall not see
death?</i> Answer, (1.) The property of death is so altered to them
that they do not see it as death, they do not see the terror of
death, it is quite taken off; their sight does not <i>terminate</i>
in death, as theirs does who <i>live by sense;</i> no, they look so
clearly, so comfortably, through death, and beyond death, and are
so taken up with their state on the other side death, that they
overlook death, and <i>see it not.</i> (2.) The power of death is
so broken that though there is no remedy, but they must see
<i>death,</i> yet they shall not see death <i>for ever,</i> shall
not be always shut up under its arrests, the day will come when
<i>death shall be swallowed up in victory.</i> (3.) They are
perfectly delivered from <i>eternal death,</i> shall not be <i>hurt
of the second death.</i> That is the death especially meant here,
that death which is <i>for ever,</i> which is opposed to
everlasting life; this they shall never see, for they shall
<i>never come into condemnation;</i> they shall have their
everlasting lot where there will be <i>no more death,</i> where
they <i>cannot die any more,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p153.3" osisRef="Bible:Luke.20.36" parsed="|Luke|20|36|0|0" passage="Lu 20:36">Luke
xx. 36</scripRef>. Though now they cannot avoid seeing death, and
tasting it too, yet they shall shortly be there where it will be
<i>seen no more for ever,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p153.4" osisRef="Bible:Exod.14.13" parsed="|Exod|14|13|0|0" passage="Ex 14:13">Exod.
xiv. 13</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p154">II. The Jews cavil at this doctrine.
Instead of laying hold of this precious promise of immortality,
which the nature of man has an ambition of (who is there that does
not love life, and dread the sight of death?) they lay hold of this
occasion to reproach him that makes them so kind an offer: <i>Now
we know that thou hast a devil.</i> Abraham <i>is dead.</i> Observe
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p155">1. Their <i>railing: "Now we know that thou
hast a devil,</i> that thou art a madman; thou ravest, and sayest
thou knowest not what." See how these swine trample underfoot the
precious pearls of gospel promises. If now at last they had
evidence to prove him <i>mad,</i> why did they say (<scripRef id="John.ix-p155.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.48" parsed="|John|8|48|0|0" passage="Joh 8:48"><i>v.</i> 48</scripRef>), before they had that
proof, <i>Thou hast a devil?</i> But this is the method of malice,
first to <i>fasten</i> an invidious charge, and then to <i>fish</i>
for evidence of it: <i>Now we know that thou hast a devil.</i> If
he had not abundantly proved himself a <i>teacher come from
God,</i> his promises of immortality to his credulous followers
might justly have been ridiculed, and charity itself would have
imputed them to a crazed fancy; but his doctrine was evidently
divine, his miracles confirmed it, and the Jews' religion taught
them to expect such a prophet, and to believe in him; for them
therefore thus to reject him was to abandon that promise to which
their <i>twelve tribes hoped to come,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p155.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.26.27" parsed="|Acts|26|27|0|0" passage="Ac 26:27">Acts xxvi. 7</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p156">2. Their <i>reasoning,</i> and the colour
they had to <i>run him down</i> thus. In short, they look upon him
as guilty of an insufferable piece of arrogance, in making himself
greater than <i>Abraham and the prophets: Abraham is dead,</i> and
<i>the prophets,</i> they are dead too; very true, by the same
token that these Jews were the genuine offspring of those that
killed them. Now, (1.) It is true that Abraham and the prophets
were great men, great in the favour of God, and great in the esteem
of all good men. (2.) It is true that they <i>kept God's
sayings,</i> and were obedient to them; and yet, (3.) It is true
that they <i>died;</i> they never pretended to <i>have,</i> much
less to <i>give,</i> immortality, but every one in his own order
was <i>gathered to his people.</i> It was their honour that they
<i>died in faith,</i> but die they must. Why should a good man be
afraid to die, when Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead?
They have <i>tracked</i> the way through that darksome valley,
which should reconcile us to death and help to take off the terror
of it. Now they think Christ talks madly, when he saith, <i>If a
man keep my sayings, he shall never taste death. Tasting</i> death
means the same thing with <i>seeing</i> it; and well may death be
represented as grievous to <i>several</i> of the senses, which is
the destruction of them <i>all.</i> Now their arguing goes upon two
mistakes:—[1.] They understood Christ of an immortality in this
world, and this was a mistake. In the sense that Christ spoke, it
was not true that <i>Abraham and the prophets were dead,</i> for
God is still the <i>God of Abraham</i> and the <i>God of the holy
prophets</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p156.1" osisRef="Bible:Rev.22.6" parsed="|Rev|22|6|0|0" passage="Re 22:6">Rev. xxii. 6</scripRef>);
now God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; therefore
Abraham and the prophets are still alive, and, as Christ meant it,
they had not <i>seen</i> nor <i>tasted</i> death. [2.] They thought
none could be greater than Abraham and the prophets, whereas they
could not but know that the Messiah would be greater than Abraham
or any of the prophets; they did virtuously, but he excelled them
all; nay, they borrowed their greatness from him. It was the honour
of Abraham that he was the Father of the Messiah, and the honour of
the prophets that they testified beforehand concerning him: so that
he certainly <i>obtained a</i> far <i>more excellent name than
they.</i> Therefore, instead of inferring from Christ's making
himself greater than Abraham that he had a <i>devil,</i> they
should have inferred from his proving himself so (by doing the
works which neither Abraham nor the prophets ever did) that he was
the Christ; but their eyes were blinded. They scornfully asked,
<i>Whom makest thou thyself?</i> As if he had been guilty of pride
and vain-glory; whereas he was so far from making himself greater
than he was that he now drew a veil over his own glory, emptied
himself, and made himself less than he was, and was the greatest
example of humility that ever was.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p157">III. Christ's reply to this cavil; still he
vouchsafes to reason with them, that every mouth may be stopped. No
doubt he could have struck them dumb or dead upon the spot, but
this was the <i>day of his patience.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p158">1. In his answer he insists not upon his
own testimony concerning himself, but waives it as not sufficient
nor conclusive (<scripRef id="John.ix-p158.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.54" parsed="|John|8|54|0|0" passage="Joh 8:54"><i>v.</i>
54</scripRef>): <i>If I honour myself, my honour is nothing,</i>
<b><i>ean ego doxazo</i></b>—<i>if I glorify myself.</i> Note,
Self-honour is no honour; and the affectation of glory is both the
forfeiture and the defeasance of it: it is <i>not glory</i>
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p158.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.25.27" parsed="|Prov|25|27|0|0" passage="Pr 25:27">Prov. xxv. 27</scripRef>), but so
great a reproach that there is no sin which men are more
industrious to hide than this; even he that most affects praise
would not be thought to do it. Honour of our own creating is a mere
chimera, has nothing in it, and therefore is called
<i>vain-glory.</i> Self-admirers are self-<i>deceivers.</i> Our
Lord Jesus was not one that <i>honoured himself,</i> as they
represented him; he was <i>crowned</i> by him who is the fountain
of honour, and glorified not himself to be made a high priest,
<scripRef id="John.ix-p158.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.4-Heb.5.5" parsed="|Heb|5|4|5|5" passage="Heb 5:4,5">Heb. v. 4, 5</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p159">2. He refers himself to <i>his</i> Father,
God; and to <i>their</i> father, Abraham.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p160">(1.) To his Father, <i>God: It is my Father
that honoureth me.</i> By this he means, [1.] That he
<i>derived</i> from his Father all the honour he now claimed; he
had commanded them to believe in him, to follow him, and to keep
his word, all which put an honour upon him; but it was the Father
that <i>laid help</i> upon him, that <i>lodged</i> all
<i>fulness</i> in him, that sanctified him, and sealed him, and
sent him into the world to receive all the honours due to the
Messiah, and this justified him in all these demands of respect.
[2.] That he <i>depended</i> upon his Father for all the honour he
further <i>looked for.</i> He courted not the applauses of the age,
but despised them; for his eye and heart were upon the glory which
the Father had promised him, and <i>which he had with the Father
before the world was.</i> He aimed at an advancement with which the
Father was to <i>exalt him, a name</i> he was to <i>give him,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p160.1" osisRef="Bible:Phil.2.8-Phil.2.9" parsed="|Phil|2|8|2|9" passage="Php 2:8,9">Phil. ii. 8, 9</scripRef>. Note,
Christ and all that are his depend upon God for their honour; and
he that is sure of honour where he is known cares not though he be
slighted where he is in disguise. Appealing thus often to his
Father, and his Father's testimony of him, which yet the Jews did
not admit nor give credit to,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p161"><i>First,</i> He here takes occasion to
show the reason of <i>their</i> incredulity, notwithstanding
<i>this</i> testimony—and this was their <i>unacquaintedness</i>
with God; as if he had said, "But why should I talk to you of my
Father's honouring me, when he is one you know nothing of? You
<i>say of him that he is your God, yet you have not known him.</i>"
Here observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p162"><i>a.</i> The profession they made of
relation to God: "<i>You say that he is your God,</i> the God you
have chosen, and are in covenant with; you say that you are Israel;
but all are not so indeed that are of Israel," <scripRef id="John.ix-p162.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.6" parsed="|Rom|9|6|0|0" passage="Ro 9:6">Rom. ix. 6</scripRef>. Note, Many pretend to have an
interest in God, and say that he is <i>theirs,</i> who yet have no
just cause to say so. Those who called themselves the <i>temple of
the Lord,</i> having <i>profaned the excellency of Jacob,</i> did
but trust in lying words. What will it avail us to say, He is
<i>our God,</i> if we be not in sincerity <i>his people,</i> nor
such as he will own? Christ mentions here their profession of
relation to God, as that which was an aggravation of their
unbelief. All people will honour those whom their God honours; but
these Jews, who said that the Lord was their God, studied how to
put the utmost disgrace upon one upon whom their God put honour.
Note, The Profession we make of a covenant relation to God, and an
interest in him, if it be not improved <i>by us</i> will be
improved <i>against us.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p163"><i>b.</i> Their ignorance of him, and
estrangement from him, notwithstanding this profession: <i>Yet you
have not known him.</i> (<i>a.</i>) <i>You know him not at all.</i>
These Pharisees were so taken up with the study of their traditions
concerning things foreign and trifling that they never minded the
most needful and useful knowledge; like the false prophets of old,
who <i>caused people to forget God's name by their dreams,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p163.1" osisRef="Bible:Jer.23.27" parsed="|Jer|23|27|0|0" passage="Jer 23:27">Jer. xxiii. 27</scripRef>. Or,
(<i>b.</i>) <i>You know him not aright,</i> but mistake concerning
him; and this is as bad as not knowing him at all, or worse. Men
may be able to dispute subtly concerning God, and yet may think him
such a one as themselves, and <i>not know him.</i> You say that he
is <i>yours,</i> and it is natural to us to desire to know <i>our
own,</i> yet you <i>know him not.</i> Note, There are many who
<i>claim-kindred</i> to God who yet have no acquaintance with him.
It is only the name of God which they have learned to talk of, and
to hector with; but for the nature of God, his attributes and
perfections, and relations to his creatures, they know nothing of
the matter; we <i>speak this to their shame,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p163.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.15.34" parsed="|1Cor|15|34|0|0" passage="1Co 15:34">1 Cor. xv. 34</scripRef>. Multitudes satisfy
themselves, but deceive themselves, with a titular relation to an
<i>unknown God.</i> This Christ charges upon the Jews here,
[<i>a.</i>] To show how vain and groundless their pretensions of
relation to God were. "You say that he is yours, but you give
yourselves the lie, for it is plain that you do not know him;" and
we reckon that a cheat is effectually convicted if it be found that
he is ignorant of the persons he pretends alliance to. [<i>b.</i>]
To show the true reason why they were not wrought upon by Christ's
doctrine and miracles. They knew not God; and therefore perceived
not the image of God, nor the voice of God in Christ. Note, The
reason why men receive not the <i>gospel of Christ</i> is because
they have not the <i>knowledge of God.</i> Men <i>submit not to the
righteousness of Christ</i> because they are <i>ignorant of God's
righteousness,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p163.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.10.3" parsed="|Rom|10|3|0|0" passage="Ro 10:3">Rom. x.
3</scripRef>. They that know not God, and obey not the gospel of
Christ, are put together, <scripRef id="John.ix-p163.4" osisRef="Bible:2Thess.1.8" parsed="|2Thess|1|8|0|0" passage="2Th 1:8">2 Thess. i.
8</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p164"><i>Secondly,</i> He gives them the reason
of <i>his</i> assurance that his Father would <i>honour</i> him and
<i>own him: But I know him;</i> and again, <i>I know him;</i> which
bespeaks, not only his <i>acquaintance</i> with him, having lain in
his bosom, but his <i>confidence</i> in him, to stand by him, and
bear him out in his whole undertaking; as was prophesied concerning
him (<scripRef id="John.ix-p164.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.50.7-Isa.50.8" parsed="|Isa|50|7|50|8" passage="Isa 50:7,8">Isa. l. 7, 8</scripRef>), <i>I
know</i> that I shall not be ashamed, for he is near that
justifies; and as Paul, "<i>I know whom I have believed</i>
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p164.2" osisRef="Bible:2Tim.1.12" parsed="|2Tim|1|12|0|0" passage="2Ti 1:12">2 Tim. i. 12</scripRef>), I know him
to be faithful, and powerful, and heartily engaged in the cause
which I know to be his <i>own.</i>" Observe, 1. How he
<i>professes</i> his knowledge of his Father, with the greatest
certainty, as one that was neither afraid nor ashamed to own it:
<i>If I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unto
you.</i> He would not deny his relation to God, to humour the Jews,
and to avoid their reproaches, and prevent further trouble; nor
would he retract what he had said, nor confess himself either
deceived or a deceiver; if he should, he would be found a false
witness against God and himself. Note, Those who disown their
religion and relation to God, as Peter, are liars, as much as
hypocrites are, who pretend to know him, when they do not. See
<scripRef id="John.ix-p164.3" osisRef="Bible:1Tim.6.13-1Tim.6.14" parsed="|1Tim|6|13|6|14" passage="1Ti 6:13,14">1 Tim. vi. 13, 14</scripRef>. Mr.
Clark observes well, upon this, that it is a great sin to deny
God's grace in us. 2. How he <i>proves</i> his knowledge of his
Father: <i>I know him and keep his sayings,</i> or <i>his word.</i>
Christ, as man, was obedient to the moral law, and, as Redeemer, to
the mediatorial law; and in both he kept <i>his Father's</i> word,
and <i>his own word</i> with the Father. Christ requires of us
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p164.4" osisRef="Bible:John.8.51" parsed="|John|8|51|0|0" passage="Joh 8:51"><i>v.</i> 51</scripRef>) that we
<i>keep his sayings;</i> and he has set before us a copy of
obedience, a copy without a blot: he <i>kept his Father's
sayings;</i> well might he who <i>learned obedience</i> teach it;
see <scripRef id="John.ix-p164.5" osisRef="Bible:Heb.5.8-Heb.5.9" parsed="|Heb|5|8|5|9" passage="Heb 5:8,9">Heb. v. 8, 9</scripRef>. Christ
by this evinced that he knew the Father. Note, The best proof of
our acquaintance with God is our obedience to him. Those only know
God aright that keep his word; it is a ruled case, <scripRef id="John.ix-p164.6" osisRef="Bible:1John.2.3" parsed="|1John|2|3|0|0" passage="1Jo 2:3">1 John ii. 3</scripRef>. <i>Hereby we know that
we know him</i> (and do not only fancy it), <i>if we keep his
commandments.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p165">(2.) Christ refers them to <i>their</i>
father, whom they boasted so much of a relation to, and that was
Abraham, and this closes the discourse.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p166">[1.] Christ asserts Abraham's prospect of
him, and respect to him: <i>Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my
day, and he saw it, and was glad,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p166.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" passage="Joh 8:56"><i>v.</i> 56</scripRef>. And by this he proves that he
was not at all out of the way when he <i>made himself greater than
Abraham.</i> Two things he here speaks of as instances of that
patriarch's respect to the promised Messiah:—</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p167"><i>First,</i> The ambition he had to <i>see
his day: He rejoiced,</i> <b><i>egalliasto</i></b>—<i>he leaped at
it.</i> The word, though it commonly signifies <i>rejoicing,</i>
must here signify a transport of <i>desire</i> rather than of
<i>joy,</i> for otherwise the latter part of <scripRef id="John.ix-p167.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.56" parsed="|John|8|56|0|0" passage="Joh 8:56">the verse</scripRef> would be a tautology; he <i>saw it,
and was glad.</i> He <i>reached out,</i> or <i>stretched himself
forth,</i> that he might <i>see my day;</i> as Zaccheus, that ran
before, and climbed the tree, <i>to see Jesus.</i> The notices he
had received of the Messiah to come had raised in him an
expectation of something <i>great,</i> which he earnestly longed to
know more of. The dark intimation of that which is considerable
puts men upon enquiry, and makes them earnestly ask <i>Who?</i> and
<i>What?</i> and <i>Where?</i> and <i>When?</i> and <i>How?</i> And
thus the prophets of the Old Testament, having a general idea of a
grace that should <i>come, searched diligently</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p167.2" osisRef="Bible:1Pet.1.10" parsed="|1Pet|1|10|0|0" passage="1Pe 1:10">1 Pet. i. 10</scripRef>), and Abraham was as
industrious herein as any of them. God told him of a land that he
would give his posterity, and of the wealth and honour he designed
them (<scripRef id="John.ix-p167.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.15.14" parsed="|Gen|15|14|0|0" passage="Ge 15:14">Gen. xv. 14</scripRef>); but he
never <i>leaped</i> thus to see that day, as he did to see the day
of the Son of man. He could not look with so much indifferency upon
the promised <i>seed</i> as he did upon the promised land; <i>in
that</i> he was, but <i>to the other</i> he could not be,
contentedly a stranger. Note, Those who rightly know any thing of
Christ cannot but be earnestly desirous to know more of him. Those
who discern the dawning of the light of the Sun of righteousness
cannot but wish to see his rising. The mystery of redemption is
that which <i>angels desire to look into,</i> much more should we,
who are more immediately concerned in it. Abraham desired to see
Christ's day, though it was at a great distance; but this
degenerate seed of his discerned not his day, nor bade it welcome
when it came. The appearing of Christ, which gracious souls love
and long for, carnal hearts dread and loathe.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p168"><i>Secondly,</i> The satisfaction he had in
what he did see of it: <i>He saw it, and was glad.</i> Observe
here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p169"><i>a.</i> How God gratified the pious
desire of Abraham; he longed to see Christ's day, and he <i>saw
it.</i> Though he saw it not so plainly, and fully, and distinctly
as we now see it under the gospel, yet he saw something of it, more
<i>afterwards</i> than he did at first. Note, To him that has, and
to him that asks, shall be given; to him that uses and improves
what he has, and that desires and prays for more of the knowledge
of Christ, God will give more. But how did Abraham see Christ's
day? (<i>a.</i>) Some understand it of the sight he had of it in
the other world. The separate soul of Abraham, when the veil of
flesh was rent, saw the mysteries of the kingdom of God in heaven.
Calvin mentions this sense of it, and does not much disallow it.
Note, The longings of gracious souls after Jesus Christ will be
fully satisfied when they come to heaven, and not till then. But,
(<i>b.</i>) It is more commonly understood of some sight he had of
<i>Christ's day</i> in this world. They that <i>received not the
promises,</i> yet <i>saw them afar off,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p169.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.13" parsed="|Heb|11|13|0|0" passage="Heb 11:13">Heb. xi. 13</scripRef>. Balaam saw Christ, but not
<i>now,</i> not <i>nigh.</i> There is room to conjecture that
Abraham had some vision of Christ and his day, for his own private
satisfaction, which is not, nor must be, recorded in his story,
like that of Daniel's, which must be <i>shut up, and sealed unto
the time of the end,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p169.2" osisRef="Bible:Dan.12.4" parsed="|Dan|12|4|0|0" passage="Da 12:4">Dan. xii.
4</scripRef>. Christ knew what Abraham saw better than Moses did.
But there are divers things recorded in which Abraham saw more of
that which he longed to see than he did when the promise was first
made to him. He saw in Melchizedek one <i>made like unto the Son of
God,</i> and a priest for ever; he saw an appearance of Jehovah,
attended with two angels, in the plains of Mamre. In the prevalency
of his intercession for Sodom he saw a specimen of Christ's
intercession; in the casting out of Ishmael, and the establishment
of the covenant with Isaac, he saw a figure of the gospel day,
which is Christ's day; for these things were an allegory. In
offering Isaac, and the ram instead of Isaac, he saw a double type
of the great sacrifice; and his calling the place
<i>Jehovah-jireh—It shall be seen,</i> intimates that he saw
something more in it than others did, which time would produce; and
in making his servant <i>put his hand under his thigh,</i> when he
swore, he had a regard to the Messiah.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p170"><i>b.</i> How <i>Abraham</i> entertained
these discoveries of Christ's day, and bade them welcome: <i>He
saw, and was glad.</i> He was glad of what he <i>saw</i> of God's
favour to himself, and glad of what he <i>foresaw</i> of the mercy
God had in store for the world. Perhaps this refers to Abraham's
laughing when God assured him of a son by Sarah (<scripRef id="John.ix-p170.1" osisRef="Bible:Gen.17.16-Gen.17.17" parsed="|Gen|17|16|17|17" passage="Ge 17:16,17">Gen. xvii. 16, 17</scripRef>), for that was not a
laughter of distrust as Sarah's but of joy; in that promise he saw
Christ's day, and it <i>filled him with joy unspeakable.</i> Thus
he embraced the promises. Note, A believing sight of Christ and his
day will put gladness into the heart. No joy like the joy of faith;
we are never acquainted with true pleasure till we are acquainted
with Christ.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p171">[2.] The Jews cavil at this, and reproach
him for it (<scripRef id="John.ix-p171.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.57" parsed="|John|8|57|0|0" passage="Joh 8:57"><i>v.</i> 57</scripRef>):
<i>Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen
Abraham?</i> Here, <i>First,</i> They suppose that if Abraham saw
him and his day he also had seen Abraham, which yet was not a
necessary <i>innuendo,</i> but this turn of his words would best
serve to expose him; yet it was true that Christ had seen Abraham,
and had talked with him as a man talks with his friend.
<i>Secondly,</i> They suppose it a very absurd thing for him to
pretend to have seen Abraham, who was <i>dead</i> so many ages
before he was born. The state of the dead is an <i>invisible</i>
state; but here they ran upon the old mistake, understanding that
corporally which Christ spoke spiritually. Now this gave them
occasion to <i>despise his youth,</i> and to upbraid him with it,
as if he were <i>but of yesterday, and knew</i> nothing: <i>Thou
art not yet fifty years old.</i> They might as well have said,
<i>Thou art not forty;</i> for he was now but thirty-two or
thirty-three years old. As to this, Irenæus, one of the first
fathers, with this passage supports the tradition which he says he
had from some that had conversed with St. John, that our Saviour
lived to be fifty years old, which he contends for, <i>Advers.
Hæres.</i> lib. 2, cap. 39, 40. See what little credit is to be
given to tradition; and, as to this here, the Jews spoke <i>at
random;</i> some year they would mention, and therefore pitched
upon one that they thought he was far enough short of; he did not
look to be forty, but they were sure he could not be fifty, much
less contemporary with Abraham. Old age is reckoned to begin at
fifty (<scripRef id="John.ix-p171.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.4.47" parsed="|Num|4|47|0|0" passage="Nu 4:47">Num. iv. 47</scripRef>), so that
they meant no more than this, "Thou art not to be reckoned an old
man; many of us are much thy seniors, and yet pretend not to have
seen Abraham." Some think that his countenance was so altered, with
grief and watching, that, together with the gravity of his aspect,
it made him look like a man of fifty years old: <i>his visage was
so marred,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p171.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.52.14" parsed="|Isa|52|14|0|0" passage="Isa 52:14">Isa. lii.
14</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p172">[3.] Our Saviour gives an effectual answer
to this cavil, by a solemn assertion of his own seniority even to
Abraham himself (<scripRef id="John.ix-p172.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.58" parsed="|John|8|58|0|0" passage="Joh 8:58"><i>v.</i>
58</scripRef>): "<i>Verily, verily, I say unto you;</i> I do not
only say it in private to my own disciples, who will be sure to say
as I say, but <i>to you</i> my enemies and persecutors; I say it to
your faces, take it how you will: <i>Before Abraham was, I am;</i>"
<b><i>prin Abraam genesthai, ego eimi</i></b>, <i>Before Abraham
was made or born, I am.</i> The change of the word is observable,
and bespeaks Abraham a creature, and himself the Creator; well
therefore might he make himself <i>greater</i> than Abraham.
<i>Before Abraham he was, First,</i> As God. <i>I am,</i> is the
name of God (<scripRef id="John.ix-p172.2" osisRef="Bible:Exod.3.14" parsed="|Exod|3|14|0|0" passage="Ex 3:14">Exod. iii. 14</scripRef>);
it denotes his self-existence; he does not say, <i>I was,</i> but
<i>I am,</i> for he is the first and the last, immutably the same
(<scripRef id="John.ix-p172.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.1.8" parsed="|Rev|1|8|0|0" passage="Re 1:8">Rev. i. 8</scripRef>); thus he was not
only before Abraham, but before <i>all worlds,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p172.4" osisRef="Bible:John.1.1 Bible:Prov.8.23" parsed="|John|1|1|0|0;|Prov|8|23|0|0" passage="Joh 1:1,Pr 8:23"><i>ch.</i> i. 1; Prov. viii.
23</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> As Mediator. He was the appointed
Messiah, long before Abraham; the <i>Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world</i> (<scripRef id="John.ix-p172.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.13.8" parsed="|Rev|13|8|0|0" passage="Re 13:8">Rev. xiii.
8</scripRef>), the channel of conveyance of light, life, and love
from God to man. This supposes his divine nature, that he is the
same in himself from eternity (<scripRef id="John.ix-p172.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.13.8" parsed="|Heb|13|8|0|0" passage="Heb 13:8">Heb.
xiii. 8</scripRef>), and that he is the same to man ever since the
fall; he was made of God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption, to Adam, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Shem, and
all the patriarchs that lived and died by faith in him before
Abraham was born. Abraham was the root of the Jewish nation, the
rock out of which they were hewn. If Christ was before Abraham, his
doctrine and religion were no novelty, but were, in the substance
of them, prior to Judaism, and ought to take place of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p173">[4.] This great word ended the dispute
<i>abruptly,</i> and put a period to it: they could bear to hear no
more from him, and he needed to say no more to them, having
witnessed this good confession, which was sufficient to support all
his claims. One would think that Christ's discourse, in which shone
so much both of grace and glory, should have captivated them all;
but their inveterate prejudice against the holy spiritual doctrine
and law of Christ, which were so contrary to their pride and
worldliness, baffled all the methods of conviction. Now was
fulfilled that prophecy (<scripRef id="John.ix-p173.1" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.1-Mal.3.2" parsed="|Mal|3|1|3|2" passage="Mal 3:1,2">Mal. iii. 1,
2</scripRef>), that when the messenger of the covenant should
<i>come to his temple</i> they <i>would not abide the day of his
coming,</i> because he would be <i>like a refiner's fire.</i>
Observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p174"><i>First,</i> How they were <i>enraged</i>
at Christ for what he said: <i>They took up stones to cast at
him,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p174.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.59" parsed="|John|8|59|0|0" passage="Joh 8:59"><i>v.</i> 59</scripRef>.
Perhaps they looked upon him as a blasphemer, and such were indeed
to be stoned (<scripRef id="John.ix-p174.2" osisRef="Bible:Lev.24.16" parsed="|Lev|24|16|0|0" passage="Le 24:16">Lev. xxiv.
16</scripRef>); but they must be first legally tried and convicted.
Farewell justice and order if every man pretend to execute a law at
his pleasure. Besides, they had said but just now that he was a
distracted crack-brained man, and if so it was against all reason
and equity to punish him as a malefactor for what he said. <i>They
took up stones.</i> Dr. Lightfoot will tell you how they came to
have stones so ready in the temple; they had workmen at this time
repairing the temple, or making some additions, and the pieces of
stone which they hewed off served for this purpose. See here the
desperate power of sin and Satan in and over the children of
disobedience. Who would think that ever there should be such
wickedness as this in men, such an open and daring rebellion
against one that undeniably proved himself to be the Son of God?
Thus every one has a stone to throw at his holy religion, <scripRef id="John.ix-p174.3" osisRef="Bible:Acts.28.22" parsed="|Acts|28|22|0|0" passage="Ac 28:22">Acts xxviii. 22</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="John.ix-p175"><i>Secondly,</i> How he made his
<i>escape</i> out of their hands. 1. He <i>absconded;</i> Jesus
<i>hid himself;</i> <b><i>ekrybe</i></b>—<i>he was hid,</i> either
by the crowd of those that wished well to him, to shelter him (he
that ought to have been upon a throne, high and lifted up, is
content to be <i>lost in a crowd</i>); or perhaps he concealed
himself behind some of the walls or pillars of the temple (<i>in
the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me,</i> <scripRef id="John.ix-p175.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.27.5" parsed="|Ps|27|5|0|0" passage="Ps 27:5">Ps. xxvii. 5</scripRef>); or by a divine power,
casting a mist before their eyes, he made himself invisible to
them. <i>When the wicked rise a man is hidden,</i> a wise and good
man, <scripRef id="John.ix-p175.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.12 Bible:Prov.28.28" parsed="|Prov|28|12|0|0;|Prov|28|28|0|0" passage="Pr 28:12,28">Prov. xxviii. 12,
28</scripRef>. Not that Christ was afraid or ashamed to stand by
what he had said, but his <i>hour was not yet come,</i> and he
would countenance the flight of his ministers and people in times
of persecution, when they are called to it. The Lord hid Jeremiah
and Baruch, <scripRef id="John.ix-p175.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.36.26" parsed="|Jer|36|26|0|0" passage="Jer 36:26">Jer. xxxvi.
26</scripRef>. 2. He <i>departed,</i> he <i>went out of the
temple,</i> going <i>through the midst of them,</i> undiscovered,
and <i>so passed by.</i> This was not a cowardly inglorious flight,
nor such as argued either guilt or fear. It was foretold concerning
him that he should not fail nor be discouraged, <scripRef id="John.ix-p175.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.42.4" parsed="|Isa|42|4|0|0" passage="Isa 42:4">Isa. xlii. 4</scripRef>. But, (1.) It was an instance of
his power over his enemies, and that they could do no more against
him than he gave them leave to do; by which it appears that when
afterwards he was taken in their pits he <i>offered himself,</i>
<scripRef id="John.ix-p175.5" osisRef="Bible:John.10.18" parsed="|John|10|18|0|0" passage="Joh 10:18"><i>ch.</i> x. 18</scripRef>. They now
thought they had made sure of him and yet he <i>passed through the
midst</i> of them, either their eyes being blinded or their hands
tied, and thus he left them to fume, like a lion <i>disappointed of
his prey.</i> (2.) It was an instance of his prudent provision for
his own safety, when he knew that his work was not done, nor his
testimony finished; thus he gave an example to his own rule,
<i>When they persecute you in one city flee to another;</i> nay, if
occasion be, to a <i>wilderness,</i> for so Elijah did (<scripRef id="John.ix-p175.6" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.19.3-1Kgs.19.4" parsed="|1Kgs|19|3|19|4" passage="1Ki 19:3,4">1 Kings xix. 3, 4</scripRef>), and the woman,
the church, <scripRef id="John.ix-p175.7" osisRef="Bible:Rev.12.6" parsed="|Rev|12|6|0|0" passage="Re 12:6">Rev. xii. 6</scripRef>.
When they took up loose stones to throw at Christ, he could have
commanded the fixed stones, which did <i>cry out of the wall</i>
against them, to avenge his cause, or the earth to open and swallow
them up; but he chose to accommodate himself to the state he was
in, to make the example imitable by the prudence of his followers,
without a miracle. (3.) It was a righteous deserting of those who
(worse than the Gadarenes, who <i>prayed him to depart</i>) stoned
him from among them. Christ will not long stay with those who bid
him be gone. Christ did again visit the temple after this; as one
<i>loth to depart,</i> he <i>bade oft farewell;</i> but at last he
abandoned it for ever, and left it <i>desolate.</i> Christ now
<i>went through</i> the midst of the Jews, and none of them courted
his stay, nor stirred up himself to take hold of him, but were even
content to let him go. Note, God never forsakes any till they have
first provoked him to withdraw, and will have none of him. Calvin
observes that these chief priests, when they had driven Christ out
of the temple, valued themselves on the possession they kept of it:
"But," says he, "those deceive themselves who are proud of a church
or temple which Christ has forsaken." <i>Longe falluntur, cum
templum se habere putant Deo vacuum.</i> When Christ left them it
is said that he passed by silently and unobserved; <b><i>paregen
houtos</i></b>, so that they were not aware of him. Note, Christ's
departures from a church, or a particular soul, are often
<i>secret,</i> and not soon taken notice of. As <i>the kingdom of
God comes not,</i> so it <i>goes not, with observation.</i> See
<scripRef id="John.ix-p175.8" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.20" parsed="|Judg|16|20|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:20">Judg. xvi. 20</scripRef>. <i>Samson
wist not that the Lord was departed from him.</i> Thus it was with
these forsaken Jews, God left them, and they never missed him.</p>
</div></div2>