John 8:30–59
30 8:30As he was saying these things, many believed in him.
31 8:31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 8:32and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 8:33They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”
34 8:34Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave 1 to sin. 35 8:35The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 8:36So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 8:37I know that you are offspring of Abraham; yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. 38 8:38I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 8:39They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 8:40but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 8:41You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 8:42Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 8:43Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 8:44You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 8:45But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46 8:46Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? 47 8:47Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
48 8:48The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” 49 8:49Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 8:50Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 8:51Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.” 52 8:52The Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon! Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’ 53 8:53Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! Who do you make yourself out to be?” 54 8:54Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 2 55 8:55But you have not known him. I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. 56 8:56Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.” 57 8:57So the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?” 3 58 8:58Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 8:59So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.
Section Overview: Fulfillment of the Sabbatical Years and Jubilee; Seed of the Woman and Seed of the Serpent
John 7:2 places the narrative of that chapter at the time of the Feast of Booths. Verse 10 says that Jesus went up to the feast in private, verses 14 and 28 present Jesus’ teaching in the temple at the feast, and verse 37 takes us to the last and greatest day of the feast. There is no indication of a change of time or place as we turn to John 8.1 Thus in chapters 7 and 8 Jesus is teaching in the temple at the Feast of Tabernacles.
Jesus claimed in 7:37–38 to be the new and better rock that would provide new and better water—the Holy Spirit—for the liberated pilgrims making their way to the new and better Land of Promise. Then in 8:12 he claimed to be the new and better pillar of fire and cloud—the “light of the world”—leading the people on a pilgrimage. Moreover, in verses 24 and 28 Jesus asserted his identity with the one who declared to Moses in Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM.”
Jesus claims to be Yahweh, who brought Israel out of Egypt (John 8:24, 28, 58; cf. Ex. 20:1–2). Jesus claims to be the “bread of life,” fulfilling the manna from heaven (John 6:31–35). Jesus claims to be the source of living water, fulfilling the role of the rock in the wilderness (7:37–39; cf. Ex. 17:1–7; Num. 20:10–13). Jesus claims to be the source of light leading through the darkness, fulfilling the role of the pillar of fire and cloud (John 8:12).
Jesus is, therefore, the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles and what it celebrated: Israel’s pilgrimage through the wilderness to the Land of Promise (cf. Lev. 23:42–43, “You shall dwell in booths [tabernacles] . . . that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths [tabernacles] when I brought them out of the land of Egypt”). The Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated in Israel in the seventh month, beginning on the fifteenth day and continuing for seven days, followed by an eighth day of solemn rest (Lev. 23:34–36, 39, 42–43). The seventh month was a busy one in Israel’s celebration of what God had done for them:
- The first day of the seventh month was a day of solemn rest with a blast of trumpets, a holy convocation, and a presentation of a food offering to the Lord (Rosh Hashanah; Lev. 23:23–25).
- The tenth day of the seventh month was the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:26–32).
- The Feast of Booths was celebrated during the seven days from the fifteenth through the twenty-first of the seventh month, followed by the eighth day of solemn rest (Lev. 23:33–44).
- Every seventh year was to be “a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land” (Lev. 25:4), a year in which Israel did not work the land (vv. 1–7). After seven weeks of years, or forty-nine years, Israel celebrated the Year of Jubilee (vv. 8–22). The celebration of the Year of Jubilee began “on the tenth day of the seventh month” (v. 9), on the Day of Atonement, with a loud trumpet blast.
This background is relevant to John 8 as it narrates what Jesus said and did at the Feast of Tabernacles, which immediately follows the Day of Atonement. The topics of slavery and freedom in the Bible evoke Israel’s slavery in Egypt. The Lord delivered them from that slavery and gave them the Land of Promise, which was divided into tribal allotments.
On the sabbatical years in Israel, outstanding debts owed by one Israelite to another were canceled (Deut. 15:1–11), and Israelites who had sold themselves into slavery to other Israelites went free (vv. 12–18). After seven sabbatical cycles, in the Year of Jubilee, land any Israelite had sold to another was returned to its original owner (Lev. 25:10). The liberation of the slaves in the sabbatical year is compared to the liberation of the slaves from Egypt in Deuteronomy 15:15, with the added reality in the Year of Jubilee that the slaves not only went free but also received the land that God had apportioned to them (Lev. 25:13–17; cf. v. 23).
The sabbatical years and the Year of Jubilee, therefore, looked back to the exodus from Egypt. The regular repetition of the freeing of the slaves and the return of the land would also have created the expectation that God would again free his people and give them their land. This means that the sabbatical years and the Year of Jubilee looked back to the exodus from Egypt and forward to the prophesied new exodus.
All this puts us in position to understand the significance of the one who fulfills the feast, declaring that those whom he sets free are free indeed (John 8:30–36). The ensuing discussion concerning Satan’s work to kill and enslave (vv. 37–47) and how to know who belongs to him (vv. 48–59) flows out of the claims Jesus has made.
Section Outline
TABLE 1.5: The Seed of the Serpent vs. the Seed of the Woman in John 8
| Seed of the Serpent | Seed of the Woman | |
|---|---|---|
| 8:23 | from below of this world | from above not of this world |
| 8:38 | your father | my Father |
| 8:40 | kill | tell truth |
| 8:41 | your father | 8:47, of God |
| 8:44 | murderer liar | 8:42, love 8:45, truth |
8:48–59 Offspring of the Evil One. We have seen in 8:30–36 that Jesus frees people and in verses 37–47 that Satan kills and lies, and now in verses 48–59 we see that the Jews rejecting Jesus are ready to lie and kill, showing themselves to be offspring of the Evil One. The lies begin in verse 48 with the accusations that the father of Jesus was a Samaritan. That is a clear lie. Jesus was born of a virgin—John does not relate this fact but assumes his audience will know it from other Gospel accounts (Matt. 1:25; Luke 1:34). The next lie is that Jesus has a demon. In reality, Jesus has the fullness of the Holy Spirit (John 3:34).
Jesus answers the lies in 8:49 by denying that he has a demon and affirming that he honors his Father, while this brood of vipers dishonors him. In verse 50 Jesus declares that he does not seek his own glory, but the Father, the Judge, does. Thus Jesus tells the crowd that if they continue in their opposition to him, the Father will avenge him. Having threatened them with judgment in verse 50, Jesus holds out an offer of salvation, reconciliation, and everlasting life in verse 51. He has explained that they seek to kill him because his word has no place in them (v. 37) and they are unable to hear his word (v. 43), and now he solemnly proclaims, “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (v. 51).
The Jews respond to this claim as we expect a hostile crowd would. They understand what Jesus is saying. They counter his claims with the assertion that both Abraham and the prophets died, asking Jesus if he is greater than Abraham, asking just who he thinks he is (v. 53). The Jews understand that Jesus is claiming to be greater than Abraham, because Abraham died; greater than the prophets, because the prophets died. They fully understand that Jesus is claiming that his word will give life.
In response to their questions about who he thinks he is, Jesus says that his glory is not based on his own assertions about himself (v. 54). Rather, the Father is the one who glorifies him, the very Father they claim as their God. What Jesus is claiming is not suspended on his mere assertions but hangs on the Father’s own purpose to seek the glory of Jesus (v. 49) and indeed to glorify him (v. 54).
The fact that the Jews’ purpose—to kill Jesus and tell lies about him (vv. 37, 41, 48)—is at odds with the Father’s purpose of glorifying Jesus (vv. 50, 54) shows that they do not know God. Jesus tells them that they do not know the Father, but he does; moreover, if he were to say that he did not know God, he would be as much of a liar as they are (v. 55). Jesus knows God and keeps his word.
Jesus is working up to an answer to their question from verse 53, “Who do you make yourself out to be?” On the way to his answer, however, he provokes them in verse 56, telling them that their father Abraham rejoiced to see the day of Jesus, that Abraham “saw it and was glad” (v. 56). Jesus is telling them that Abraham understood there would be a redeemer, a seed of the woman who would crush the head of the serpent; Abraham looked forward to his descendant through whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen. 12:3). Jesus tells his opponents that Abraham looked forward to the fulfillment of what God had promised, and he rejoiced over the one through whom it would happen. And Jesus claims to be that one.
The Jews do not understand what Jesus has said. In view of what Jesus will go on to say, his words to this point probably connote not merely that he himself would be the one to bring about the fulfillment of what God promised to Abraham, but also that Jesus himself has always existed with the Father, and that after Abraham died he rejoiced to encounter Jesus in God’s presence. The Jews do not understand these things—contributing to the pattern in John’s Gospel of the ways people misunderstand Jesus—and they ask incredulously how Jesus, who is not yet fifty years old, has seen Abraham.
In response Jesus states, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). He has again asserted his identity as the one who appeared to Moses at the burning bush (cf. vv. 24, 28) and identified himself as “I AM WHO I AM.” The Jews understand exactly what Jesus means, and in verse 59 they take up stones to kill him. They think he has committed blasphemy. But Jesus hides himself and leaves the temple.
Consider again the wider context of this passage. At the time of the Passover in chapter 6, Jesus fed the multitude, was identified as the Prophet, knew the crowd meant to make him king, ascended the mountain alone, miraculously crossed the water, and claimed to be the “bread of life,” the fulfillment of the manna from heaven. Then, in chapter 7, at the time of Tabernacles, Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of the rock from which water flowed in the wilderness and the pillar of fire that led the people to the Land of Promise. When Jesus speaks of the Son’s setting people free in 8:32 and 36, he is claiming to be the fulfillment of the liberation of captives in the exodus from Egypt, in the sabbatical year, and in the Year of Jubilee. All this Jesus fulfills as he brings about a new exodus, a new pilgrimage through the wilderness on the way to a new inheritance of a better Land of Promise. Crowning all of this, Jesus has three times (vv. 24, 28, and 58) identified himself with the One who appeared to Moses in the burning bush.
Response
Jesus frees people. He frees them by telling them the truth, in which the free must abide. If we abide in the words of Jesus, the story Jesus is telling, with himself as God, liberator, provider, shepherd, light, bread, prophet, king, and I Am, becomes the story in which we live. In our own personal narrative, God is redoing the history of redemption. He has liberated us from slavery to sin and is sustaining us with the fulfillment of the manna from heaven, water from the rock, and pillar of fire. God will bring us to that happy land. We must abide in Christ and his word. There is no better story, no better ending, no better Savior, and no better way to live. Abide in Christ. To abide in Christ, we must abide in his Word. We must read it, memorize it, share it, meditate on it.
Note again the way the crowd responded when Jesus offered them freedom. They were offended at the suggestion that they were enslaved. As we share the gospel, we can expect to meet the same response. Like the crowd to which Jesus spoke, our contemporaries are enslaved to sin but do not realize it (8:34). Those who are enslaved to sin are unable to hear God’s word (v. 43). They need the Spirit to give them life (6:63), to enable them to see and enter the kingdom (3:3, 5) by the new birth. They need to be born of God (1:13). As we preach the gospel, God’s Spirit must give life to those who hear. We must preach and pray, plant and water, but God gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6–7).
The truthfulness of Christianity stands on the purity of Jesus. Christianity does not stand on the purity of churches or the pope or Billy Graham or anyone other than Jesus. There is no one who can convict Jesus and no one who will (John 8:46). Jesus will never fail us. We will never need to apologize for Jesus or be embarrassed about something he did. Other Christians may embarrass us, but never Jesus.
Jesus claimed the divine name for himself, identifying himself as I Am. It is not uncommon for people to say that Jesus never claimed to be God. Anytime we encounter such nonsense, we can think of John 8:58, where Jesus says “I Am” and the Jews pick up stones to stone him for blasphemy. Those who claim that Jesus never identified himself as God are either uninformed or are openly contradicting what John presents Jesus saying of himself.