Bible study series: John 8:48-59. Jesus proclaims his deity, by the Father’s permission, who glorifies his Son.
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At that link, I provide a lot more commentary.
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: John 8:48-59
48 In reply, the Jews said to him, “Did we not say correctly that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 Jesus replied: “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, yet you dishonor me. 50 I do not seek my own glory; there is one who seeks and judges. 51 I tell you the firm truth: If anyone keeps my word, he will in no way see death, forever.” 52 So the Jews said to him, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will in no way experience death, forever. 53 You are not greater our father Abraham, who died, are you? Also, the prophets died. Whom do you make yourself out to be?” 54 Jesus replied: “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God, 55 yet you do not know him, but I know him. If I say that I do not know him, I will be a liar like you. But I know him and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” 57 So the Jews said to him, “You are still not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?” 58 Jesus said to them, I tell you the firm truth: Before Abraham existed, I am.” 59 Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple. (John 8:48-59)
Comments:
48:
For these extra-pure establishment Jews, living as they did in Jerusalem, it was a deep insult to call someone a Samaritan. Samaritans were regarded as heretical because they set up their worship center on Mt. Gerizim, in Samaria. Of course, the Jews, who were right then and there in the Jerusalem temple, considered their temple to be the rightful place to carry out their rituals. Samaritans were also considered pagan-Jewish mix, so call them half-breeds, if you wish.
Quick Reference to Jewish Groups in Gospels and Acts
The Jews believed that Jesus was born up north in Galilee (he was actually born in Bethlehem), and Samaria was between Galilee and Judea, the province where Jerusalem was situated. So this belief about the “degraded” north slipped into the lie of his coming from Samaria.
You may wish to re-read John 4 for Jesus’s interaction with the Samaritan woman.
Some in the crowd had earlier slandered him that he had a demon (7:20). Having a demon is like saying he is crazy or possessed by the gods. He is not sent from God, in their view. But we know the opposite is true. He is sent from God. See 10:20, which says that he was accused of having a demon and was insane. Jesus was accused of being demonized in the Synoptics (Mark 3:22).
49:
Let’s discuss this verbal sparring match between Jesus and these religious leaders.
As I noted in other chapters, first-century Israel was an honor-and-shame society. Verbal and active confrontations happened often. By active is meant actions. Here the confrontation is both verbal and acted out. He won the actual confrontation, and this victory opened the door to his verbal victory with religious leaders who were binding people up with traditions. They needed to be loosed from them. Jesus shamed the leaders to silence. He won. It may seem strange to us that Jesus would confront human opponents, because we are not used to doing this in our own lives, and we have heard that Jesus was meek and silent.
More relevantly, for many years now there has been a teaching going around the Body of Christ that says when Christians are challenged, they are supposed to slink away or not reply. This teaching may come from the time of Jesus’s trial when it is said he was as silent as a sheep (Acts 8:32). No. He spoke up then, as well (Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:32; Luke 23:71; John 18:19-23; 32-38; 19:11). Therefore, “silence” means submission to the will of God without resisting or fighting back. But here he replied to the religious leaders and defeated them and their inadequate theology. Get into a discussion and debate with your challengers. Stand toe to toe with them. In short, fight like Jesus!
Of course, caution is needed. The original context is a life-and-death struggle between the kingdom of God and religious traditions. Get the original context, first, before you fight someone in a verbal sparring match. This was a clash of worldviews. Don’t pick fights or be rude to your spouse or baristas or clerks in the service industry. Discuss things with him or her. But here Jesus was justified in replying sharply to these oppressive, accusatory religious leaders.
50:
Recall John 5:24: “I tell you the firm truth: the one hearing my message and believing the one who sent me has eternal life does not come into condemnation but has passed from death to life.” In 5:24 we have the combination of believing a message (the same Greek word “message” is used here in v. 50. It is logos, and see v. 31 for more comments) and in judging. So who seeks and judges? The Father hands judgment to his Son, and the Son does not judge apart from his Father. They are in a tight relationship with each other. To me, it is Jesus who seeks to obey the Father, and it is the Son who judges. Recall also that the Father seeks true worshippers (4:23). So the Father never judges apart from the Son (5:22-27), yet the Son does not judge independent of his Father (8:15-16). So the Father and Son—both—are the seeker and judge. “The charge against the Son is a charge against the Father” (Klink, comment on v. 50, emphasis original).
“glory” means, in many contexts, the light of God, shining to all the world. Here the sign is a foretaste of the glory when he is resurrected, and ultimately when he comes back again.
But Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, says that the glory which Moses experienced, soon faded away.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (2 Cor. 3:7-11, NIV)
The glory of the New Covenant, initiated by Jesus, will last forever.
And so “glory” means, in many contexts, the light of God, shining to all the world. This brightness is the glory of God.
1. The Glory of God in the Old Testament
2. What Is the Glory of God in the New Testament?
3. What Does the Glory of God Mean to Us?
Moses experienced the glory of God:
18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” 21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” (Exod. 33:18-22, NIV).
Commentator Bruce also saw this connection between the glory which Moses saw and the surpassing glory of Jesus. Further, he connects the glory of the old tabernacle with God pitching his tabernacle through his Son (comment on 1:14). “Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them” (Exod. 25:8, NIV). When the tabernacle was completed, we read: “34 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” (Exod. 40:34-35, NIV).
But Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Spirit, says that the glory which Moses experienced, soon faded away.
7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, transitory though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (2 Cor. 3:7-11, NIV)
The glory of the New Covenant, initiated by Jesus, will last forever.
In more general terms, Carson says that Jesus’s glory was displayed in his signs (2:11; 11:4, 40); he was supremely glorified in his death and exaltation (7:39: 12:16, 23: 13:31-32), Yes, he also had glory before he began his public ministry, for in fact he enjoyed glory with his Father before his incarnation and returned to his Father to receive the fulness of glory (15:5, 24). While other men seek their own glory, Jesus’s relationship with his Father meant that he did not need to seek his own glory; he was secure in his relationship with his Father. He sought only God’s glory (5:41; 7:18; 8:50). (comment on 1:14).
Keener also brings focus to John’s definition of glory:
Jesus, in contrast to his opponents, accepts this only from the Father (5:41, 33; 7:18; 8:50, 54; 9:24; 12:41, 43; 16:14; 17:12). The Fourth Gospel applies Jesus’ “glory” to various acts of self-revelation (his signs–2:11; 11:4, 40), but the ultimate expression of glory is the complex including Jesus’ death (12:16, 23, 28; 13:31-32; cf. 21:9), resurrection and exaltation (cf. 7:39; 12:16; 17:1, 5). This glory thus becomes the ultimate revelation of “grace and truth”: where the world’s hatred for God comes to its ultimate expression, so also does God’s love for the world (3:16). If the Johannine [adjective for John] community’s opponents regarded the cross as proof that Jesus was not the Messiah, John regards Jesus’ humiliation as the very revelation of God; his whole enfleshment, and especially his mortality and death, continue the ultimate revelation of God’s grace and truth revealed to Moses (p. 411)
51:
I translate this somewhat verse literally, but most translations say, “He will never experience death.” The Greek literally says, “He will in no way see death, forever.” Now what about “see”? In v. 52, the Jews will use the verb “taste death,” which adds up to the same thing: experience. So it is best to translate “see” and “taste” as “experience,” so my translation is not always completely literal.
“I tell you the firm truth”: see v. 34 for more comments.
52-53:
The Jews are naturally puzzled. How can Jesus be greater than Abraham, their father and the prophets, both of whom died? So the Jews repeat their accusation that he has a demon or is out of his mind. I like their rhetorical question: Who (or whom) do you make yourself to be? Just who do you think you are? In your life, someone will criticize your advancement in the kingdom. “Who do you think you are? You’re nobody! Yet you think you’re somebody special because you belong to a church? Because you’re now religious? It won’t last! You’ll go back to your old ways! Come on! Let’s party!” Don’t listen to them. Just keep soldiering on for Jesus. He will sustain you as you stay in union with Christ.
In any case, the Jews use the fact of human existence to prove him wrong: death. Abraham and the prophets dies. How does Jesus think he’ll escape a permanent death? And how can he offer this to a disciple who keeps his word? Yet Jesus is about to reply in a way which shocks them (vv. 56-58). He is above death. He came down from heaven and will go back, he will not remain dead, forever.
54:
Recall this verse, Jesus speaking to the religious establishment: “How are you able to believe, when you accept the glory from others and do not seek the glory from the only God?” (John 5:44). Jesus was not accepting glory from others, but it was the Father who was glorifying him (John 12:28; 13:32; 17:1).
Simple logic: If Jesus glorifies himself, his glory is nothing. But his glory is not nothing because his Father glorifies him. Therefore, Jesus does not glorify himself (he does not need to do this because his Father does it for him).
55:
So now we have another example of irony. Recall that the term means that you think you know something, but actually you do not. (See v. 22 for more comments.) Jesus proclaims that these Jews do not know him. If he were to say that he does not know his Father, he would be a liar like them, who claim in an opposite way that that they know the Father and claim him to be their God (v. 54). So their claiming that they know God makes them liars—self-deceived liars. And his claim, were he to make it seriously, that if he did not know, then God would make him to be a liar like them. But he tells them the truth: he does know his Father, and he is an obedient Son who keeps his Father’s message.
If he did not know God, God would make him to be a liar (like them).
But he tells the truth (God has not made him a liar).
Therefore, he knows God.
“Note how closely Jesus links personal knowledge and obedience … The two cannot be separated. Jesus knows the Father not only because he is eternally coexistent with him but also because he obeys him” (Mounce comment on v. 55). Mounce goes on to remind us of the setting, in the temple, in front of crowds. To call these religious leaders liars is to publicly shame them and put his life in peril. (See v. 49 for a discussion of honor and shame.)
56:
Now Jesus makes a startling claim. Abraham yearned to see Jesus’s day or time, and he did see it. How? It is possible that in Gen. 18, the LORD appeared to Abraham. Three men visited him, and he at first understood that they were mere travelers, in a nomadic culture. So he prepared a dinner for them, following the custom of hospitality. When the chapter ends, and in 19:1, the two angels went to Sodom. Where was the third man? It is here that the text in Gen. 18 is clarified. The third “man” was actually the LORD. The LORD was actually the preincarnate Son of God, so Abraham did see Jesus. But he did not see Jesus in his own day—right then during his ministry on earth, but he did see Jesus in Abraham’s own day, and he celebrated it. Two thousand years ago, Abraham may have been given permission to look down from heaven or a paradise of some sort and see Jesus speaking to these Jews, right then and there! But let’s not push things too far. Or Abraham may have prophesied that God would provide a ram, when he was about to sacrifice Isaac (Gen. 22). God stopped him just before the patriarch plunged the knife in. Then God provided a ram, not a lamb (Gen. 22:13). Jesus became the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29).
Incidentally, Jesus was not Melchizedek, for Heb. 7 says that Melchizedek was like the Son of God, but not the Son of God.
I like what Mounce says, quoting another commentator (Barrett): “It is idle to ask whether by Jesus’ ‘day’ John intended his ministry on the coming glory of the Son of man. He meant that the work of salvation, potentially complete in Abraham, was actually complete in Jesus.” Mounce goes on: “It is on this sense that Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing Jesus’ day, and seeing it, was glad” (Comment on v. 56).
Borchert:
The clear answer to their question was thus that Abraham acknowledged the superiority/priority of Jesus and not the reverse (8:56). The statement concerning Abraham’s foresight and rejoicing is not unlike some of the rabbinic speculations about the implications of Abraham’s covenant vision (Gen 15:17–21). Some rabbis argued that Abraham was given a panoramic view of his descendants. But Rabbi Akiba held that Abraham was given a vision of both this age/world and the age to come (Gen. Rab. 44:22–28; cf. 4 Ezra 3:14). Abraham’s rejoicing is also linked to Abraham’s laughter at the prospect of having a son (Gen 17:17). Jewish speculators in Jubilees (14:21; 16:17–25) and the Targum Onkelos viewed that laughter of Abraham not as negative doubt but as rejoicing at the prospect of the future. (comment on vv. 53-59)
57:
The Jews ridicule him and use natural facts to refute him. Look at Jesus’s age. He is not yet fifty! By the way, the age fifty is when Levites stopped working according to Num. 4:2-3; 8:24-25. This has nothing to do with his age then and there because Luke 3:23 says he began his ministry at about thirty years old.(HT: Mounce). Yet he claims that Abraham saw him and he saw Abraham? These establishment Jews were looking at things naturalistically; they did not have heaven’s perspective. Once again, irony dominates, and see v. 22 for more comments on irony.
58:
Jesus uses the formula for this solemn pronouncement: “I tell you the firm truth.” (See v. 34 for more comments.) “Before Abraham was, I am.” Or “Before Abraham existed, I am.” Yes, the “I am” is in the present tense, and it definitely reflects Exod. 3:14. (See vv. 12 and 24 for more comments.) Throughout his ministry, Jesus had been proclaiming that the Father sent him, and he came down from heaven. Now he uses theologically heavy words here. He cannot become clearer than this.
Jesus existed eternally. He has no beginning, and he will live forever and offers us eternal life with him. His incarnation—a word that literally means ‘the act or process of (becoming) flesh’—happened at his birth. He is the Word made flesh who tabernacled among us (John 1:1-4, 14). These are the words of Christ.
Once again see vv. 25 and 36, above for the posts for the links to further study on the Incarnation.
Mounce, quoting another commentator (Barrett), “Before Abraham came into being, I eternally was, as now I am, and ever continue to be.” Mounce continues on his own: “What Jesus is claiming is eternal existence. He knows of Abraham’s delight in contemplating the future because there is no period of time in which Jesus did not exist. Not only was he before Abraham, but he now is and will forever be” (comment on v. 58).
59:
Jesus thought better of it and slipped away quietly. He delivered really heavy theology for these strict monotheists—’strict’ meaning God was alone in heaven without his Son or the Spirit. It is all right to speak truths by degrees—to strike and hold back. He had been building up to this big announcement, and it was time to let the establishment stew in their juices. And it is okay to move on from persecution that may lead to death, just as Jesus did here.
One last point of grammar: “he hid himself” could be passive: “he was hidden” because God worked behind the scenes and hid him. This is called the divine passive. In any case, most translations go with “hid himself.”
Lev. 24:16 says that anyone who blasphemes by assuming divine prerogatives must be put to death.
[A]nyone who blasphemes the name of the Lord is to be put to death. The entire assembly must stone them. Whether foreigner or native-born, when they blaspheme the Name they are to be put to death. (Lev. 24:16, NIV)
The Romans would not allow the Jews to impose the death penalty, but after mob justice and the victim was dead, what could the authorities do? And they may even look the other way.
Carson concludes this section with the observation that Jesus replaces Bethel, Sabbath, manna, the water and light ceremonies of the Feast of Tabernacles; here he leaves the temple, replacing it as well (see John 4:21-24). Then he cites Augustine: “As man [Jesus] flees from the stones, but woe to those from whose heart of stone God flees!” (comment on v. 59).
Excellent. Profound.
GrowApp for John 8:48-59
1. Jesus said he was keeping his Father’s words or message. What about you? Though Jesus never failed, what do you do when you fail to keep the Father’s clear word?
2. The religious establishment asked Jesus who he thought he was. When someone doubts your Christian walk, how do you handle the skepticism and criticism?
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12. Eyewitness Testimony in John’s Gospel
4. Church Fathers and John’s Gospel
3. Archaeology and John’s Gospel
SOURCES
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