Christ forgives a sinful woman
8
📚Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 📚And early in the morning he returned to the temple. And all the people came to him, and he sat down, and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees 📖 brought to him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had made her stand in the center, 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
8:4 They called Him “Teacher”, but they would not accept anything He taught. Compare Luke 6:46.⚜
5 📚Now Moses in the Law commanded us to stone such women, but what do you say?”
8:5 The law does say this, but it says also that the man must be killed (Deut 22:22-24; Lev 20:10). It seems significant that they did not bring the guilty man. Could he have been one of their own? It is likely they were sure that Jesus would try to save this woman from the law’s judgment. If He did, they thought this would be setting Himself against the law of God.⚜
6 📚They said this, testing him, that they might have some reason to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with his finger, as though he did not hear them.
8:6 This is not the only time they tried to trap Him. See Matt 22:15. It is useless to speculate about what Jesus wrote or why. No man knows. There is enough in the Bible that is clear and spiritually profitable. Let us emphasize those things.⚜
7 📚So when they kept on asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her”.
8:7 This wonderful answer turned the situation completely around. Those on the attack against the woman and against Jesus were defeated, and had to leave the field of battle. They had dug a pit for Him but fell into it themselves. Compare Ps 7:14-15; 57:6; Prov 26:27.⚜
8 And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 📚And those who heard that, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one after the other, beginning with the oldest and on to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the center.
8:9 Though many of the Pharisees were self-righteous and thought themselves better than others (Luke 18:9-12), not one of them could claim to be sinless. They knew the Old Testament (Gen 8:21; Ps 51:5; Jer 17:9), and though they had stifled their consciences many times, that inner voice was not completely dead and silent.⚜
10 📚When Jesus straightened up and saw no one except the woman, he said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
8:10 Those who had accused her had departed, and there was no one to bring evidence against her. So even according to the law it was proper to let her go free. See Deut 17:6-7; 19:15.⚜
11 📚She said, “No one, Lord”. And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more”.
8:1-11 The author of these notes believes these verses were a part of the original Greek manuscript, though some scholars dispute this.⚜
8:11 See John 3:17. If Jesus had come to condemn sinners, then all – this woman, the Pharisees, the people in general, and His own disciples would have been condemned, for all were sinners (Rom 3:9, 19, 23; Matt 7:11). But Jesus came to seek and save the lost, not to condemn and punish them (Luke 19:10). Was Jesus then saying that sinning does not matter? Absolutely not. He knew that sin is an awful thing and that He had come to suffer and die as a sacrifice to take sin away (John 1:29; 3:14; 6:53-58; 10:11). See what He says to this woman – Leave your life of sin. See also John 5:14; Matt 4:17; Luke 13:2-3. Does this sound as if sin does not matter? If the Lord Jesus forgives our sin it is not that we might go on sinning, but that we might stop sinning. See Matt 1:21; Ps 130:4; Rom 6:14; 1 John 2:1.⚜
Christ reasons with the religious leaders
12 📚Then Jesus spoke again to them, saying, “I am 📖 the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light 📖 of life”.
13 📚Then the Pharisees said to him, “You testify for yourself. Your testimony is not valid”.
8:13 Were they trying to use Jesus’ own words against Him (John 5:31)? Notice that they had nothing to say about light. They were content with their darkness. In hostility and unbelief they were demanding that Jesus give proof that He was the light. Actually, in the nature of things, light does not need to give proof of its existence. All it needs to do is shine. Shining is itself proof of light. Darkness may deny that light exists, but that denial is not evidence there is no light but only that there is darkness.⚜
From heaven to heaven
14 📚Jesus answered and said to them, “Though I testify for myself, my testimony is still valid, because I know from where I have come and where I am going. But you cannot tell where I have come from and where I am going. 15 📚You judge according to the flesh. I am judging no one. 16 📚And yet if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me judge together. 17 📚It is also written in your Law that the testimony of two men is valid.
8:17 Deut 19:15. The testimony of two men was accepted under the law. Should we not accept the testimony of God the Father and His Son?⚜
18 📚I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me gives testimony about me”.
8:14-18 In John 5:31 Jesus said that if He gave witness concerning Himself apart from other witnesses, His witness alone would not be enough. No court of law would accept such witness. Here He says His witness is true because of two things – He knows from where He came and where He is going, and God the Father is a witness on His behalf. See also John 5:36-37.⚜
19 📚Then they said to him, “Where is your father?” Jesus answered, “You do not know me, or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also”.
8:19 Compare John 10:30; and 14:9. The Son of God and God the Father were so united in nature, essence, character, mind, and purpose that to know the one was to know the other. See also John 1:18; Heb 1:3. See other references on Christ’s deity at Phil 2:6; Luke 2:11. These Pharisees did not know Christ. Though they saw and heard Him their prejudice and unbelief made it impossible for them to understand Who He really is.⚜
20 📚Jesus spoke these words near the treasury, as he was teaching in the temple. And no one laid a hand on him, for his time had not yet come.
21 📚Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going my way, and you will look for me and will die in your sins. You cannot come where I am going”.
8:21 See John 7:33-34. Here Jesus adds the fearful words “You will die in your sin”. This is fearful because to die in sin is to be lost forever. The Bible does not teach that there will be opportunities to be saved after death. And men are not born on earth again and again. See Heb 9:27. Individuals live but once on earth and die but once. See notes at John 9:3; Job 11:12; Luke 16:19-31; Heb 9:27.⚜
22 📚Then the Jews said, “Will he kill himself? For he says, ‘You cannot come where I am going.’ ”
8:22 See John 7:35-36. Could they really imagine that Jesus would commit suicide? This question reveals how ignorant they were of Him and His Father (v 19).⚜
23 📚And he said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
24 📚Therefore I told you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am 📖 he, you will die in your sins”.
8:24 Here Jesus plainly says that the only way to avoid dying in one’s sins and being lost is to believe Him. Compare John 3:36.⚜
25 📚Then they said to him, “Who are you?” And Jesus said to them, “Just who I have been telling you from the beginning.
26 📚I have many things to say, and to judge concerning you. But he who sent me is faithful, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him”.
8:26 He did not come to judge the world, that is, pass final judgment on it, condemn it to punishment (John 3:17). But He saw what the conduct of others was like and had the authority to speak the truth about them.⚜
27 📚They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.
8:27 Again we see the blindness of unbelief.⚜
28 📚Then Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up 📖 the Son of man, 📖 then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things just as my Father has taught me. 📖 29 📚And he who sent me is with me. The Father has not left me alone, for I always do those things that please him”.
8:29 The chief purpose of His whole life was to please God the Father, and He perfectly fulfilled it (note at 4:34).⚜
30 📚As he spoke these words, many believed in him.
8:30 From the verses which follow we can see that their faith was very shallow. See also John 2:23-25; 12:42-43. They believed certain facts about Jesus but this belief did not reach their hearts and change their lives.⚜
Christ sets people free
31 📚Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed in him, “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed,
8:31 Disciples are those who choose the Lord Jesus as their teacher, who learn from Him in order to obey, who follow where He leads. Here He says only those who continue to do this are true disciples. The proof of discipleship is in perseverance. Some appear to begin well, but soon leave Christ’s teachings and go their own way. See John 6:66. Such were never true disciples, not “disciples indeed”. Compare 1 John 2:19.⚜
32 📚and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”.
8:32 Christ came to set men free (Luke 4:18). What is this freedom? Not political freedom, not freedom from physical slavery, but freedom from the bondage of sin (v 34). Along with that He gives freedom from guilt and punishment (Rom 6:18, 22; Titus 2:14; Heb 9:15, 26), from the condemnation of God’s holy law (Rom 8:1-2; Gal 3:13; 5:1), from fear of death (Heb 2:14-15; Ps 49:15; 1 Cor 15:56-57), from the chains of the world and its empty way of living (Gal 1:4; 1 Pet 1:17-18), from the bonds of possessions (Phil 4:11-13; 1 Tim 6:6-8; Heb 13:5), from any tie that would prevent us from fully following Christ and serving God (Luke 14:26-33). It is spiritual freedom He gives. And it is a “glorious liberty” (Rom 8:21) which is possible only in the way of Christ.
How does Christ give this freedom? Through the knowledge of the truth. A true disciple comes to know Christ who is the Truth (John 1:17; 14:6), and the truth about Christ – who He is and why He came to earth and what He accomplished here. He will also learn the truth about himself and about salvation and the meaning of other great teachings Christ has given. This knowledge of the truth is the only way to liberation.
Men are held in bondage by the lies of Satan and other men (especially lies in the area of religion), by sin, by unbelief and by ignorance of the truth of Christ. Note at John 15:21. The truth that sets men free is Christ’s truth alone.⚜
33 📚They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and were never in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free 📖?’”
8:33 See Matt 3:9. This was pride of race. Because Abraham, the forefather of the Jewish nation, was great they vainly imagined this made them great. But vs 39,40 shows that spiritually they were not Abraham’s descendants. Family pride or racial pride will get us nowhere with God.⚜
34 📚Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, whoever sins is a slave of sin.
8:34 Jesus now speaks so plainly no one can fail to understand. How many there are who think that by casting off the restraints of God’s Word and going their own way that they are obtaining freedom! But by trying to be free to do as they please, to enjoy their pleasures to their hearts’ content, they are making their own chains and becoming enslaved to a very cruel master indeed – sin.⚜
35 📚And the slave does not remain in the house forever, but the Son remains forever.
8:35 This is true of any family, including God’s family. Those who are still slaves of sin have no real part in God’s family, as a son has.⚜
36 📚So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
8:36 Slaves cannot liberate themselves. If they could they would not be slaves. Slaves need someone apart from themselves, someone who is not a slave, to set them free. This Christ did and continues to do (Matt 1:21; Acts 26:17-18; Rom 6:16-18, 22; 8:2, 21; Gal 5:1).⚜
37 📚I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you are seeking to kill me, because my word has no place in you.
8:37 By descendants He meant physical descendants. Jesus knew all about their plots to kill Him – John 5:18.⚜
38 📚I speak what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have seen with your father”. 📖
39 📚They answered and said to him, “Abraham is our father”. Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the deeds of Abraham. 40 📚But now you are seeking to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I have heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
8:39-40 They insisted that Abraham was their “father”, and probably meant that this was true in a spiritual sense as well as physical. Jesus says their behavior shows this could not be true. The Bible (in Genesis chapters 12–24) reveals what Abraham was like, and these Jews were certainly not like him.⚜
41 📚You are doing the deeds of your father”.
8:41 It is not clear why these Jews said this. Perhaps they meant only that they were direct descendants of Abraham both physically and spiritually and were worshipers of the true God (in the Old Testament the worship of other gods is said to be like fornication and adultery). Notes at Jer 2:1; Ezek 16:31-34; 23:2-3; Hos 1:2. They knew that God was the Father of the nation of Israel (Isa 64:8; Mal 2:10). Here they claim the same for themselves as individuals. But saying it is so does not make it so.⚜
Then they said to him, “We were not born of fornication. We have one Father, God Himself”.
Children of the devil
42 📚Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I set out and came from God. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.
8:42 Many say and like to think they are God’s children. But do they love the Lord Jesus? If they do not they are not the children of God, whatever they may think. And what is it to love the Lord Jesus? See John 14:15, 23, 24. It is impossible to love God and not love the Lord Jesus whom God sent into the world.⚜
43 📚Why do you not understand my speech? Because you cannot hear my word.
8:43 Why were they unable to hear? Because spiritually speaking they were deaf, blind, and dead. They loved darkness (John 3:19), and God’s judgment was on them (Matt 13:11-15).⚜
44 📚 You are of your father the devil, and you want to fulfill the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning 📖, and did not remain in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar, and the father of lies 📖.
8:44 Verses 38,41. Physically they were the children of Abraham, but in spiritual matters the children of Satan (Matt 13:38. Notes on Satan at 1 Chron 21:1; Matt 4:1-11; 2 Cor 11:14). Satan was at work in them (Eph 2:2). They obeyed Satan, in many ways were like him, and belonged to him. They revealed this by their behavior toward the Lord Jesus. Let us learn from this that men may have a wonderful ancestry, be very religious (as these men were), say they are the children of God, and yet be sons of Satan. Such is the deceitfulness of the human heart and its desperate wickedness (Jer 17:9). Jesus here reveals two things about Satan – he is a murderer and an utter liar.⚜
45 📚And because I tell you the truth, you do not believe me.
8:45 Notice the word “because”. If Jesus had told them lies they would have believed Him! But they had already believed Satan’s lies and hated the truth and would not, could not, believe it. See John 5:44 also.⚜
46 📚“Which of you convicts me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
8:46 Neither they nor anyone else was ever able to prove that Jesus sinned (Matt 27:23; Luke 23:4; 2 Cor 5:21; Heb 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet 2:22-24). In the next verse He gives the reason why they did not believe Him.⚜
47 📚He who belongs to God hears God’s words. So you do not hear them, because you do not belong to God”.
48 📚Then the Jews answered and said to him, “Do we not rightly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
8:48 Defeated in argument they rage and use slander. This is a usual way with the ungodly. Four times they said Jesus was demon possessed (John 7:20; 8:48, 52; 10:20). See also Matt 12:24. They called Him a Samaritan because they despised the Samaritans (John 4:9) and considered them heretics. They thought it was a big insult to call a person a Samaritan.⚜
49 📚Jesus answered, “I have no demon, but I honour my Father, and you dishonour me.
8:49 Jesus, though He was a Jew, evidently did not consider being called a Samaritan an insult and didn’t bother to deny it. He did not look down on any people.⚜
50 📚And I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and judges.
51 📚Truly, truly I say to you, if a man keeps my word, he will never see death”.
8:51 Note at 6:49-51. He was not speaking of what men call physical death. He did not want to close the discussion without another great promise for anyone willing to receive it. It is similar to John 5:24; 6:50; 11:25-26. To keep His word means to receive it, trust it, obey it.⚜
52 📚Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets also, and you say, If a man keeps my word, he will never taste death. 53 📚Are you greater than our father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead. What are you making yourself out to be?”
8:52-53 As usual they misunderstood Him.⚜
Christ is Jehovah, the great “I am”
54 📚Jesus answered, “If I honour myself, my honour is nothing. It is my Father who honours me, concerning whom you say that he is your God.
55 📚And you have not known him. But I know him, and if I should say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and keep his word.
8:55 Verse 19; John 15:21; 16:3. This was their whole problem. Because of this lack of knowledge they were arguing in the dark.⚜
56 📚Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it, and was glad”.
8:56 He shows again how different they were from their great ancestor. Abraham rejoiced at Christ’s day; they tried to kill Christ. Abraham looked forward with joy to the coming of the Messiah. It is possible that God gave him a special vision of that coming day. If so, it is not recorded in the Bible.⚜
57 📖Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
58 📚Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”. 📖
8:58 The words “truly, truly” mean that Jesus was about to make another very solemn and important statement.⚜
59 📚Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple, passing through among them, and so went out.
8:59 See John 5:18. They thought Jesus was guilty of blasphemy and making false claims. See Matt 26:63-66. Actually He merely spoke the truth, but they in their darkness refused to believe it. Jesus left them, not because He was afraid, but because He knew His time had not yet come (John 7:30).⚜