John 8 Study Notes

8:36 On Jesus as the life-giving Son, see note at 3:16-18.

8:37-38 Even in the OT, physical descent from Abraham was insufficient to establish one’s lineage (Jr 9:25-26; cp. Rm 2:28-29; 9:7; Gl 4:21-31).

8:39-58 On children of God, see note at 3:3-8.

8:40 Jesus had surreptitiously called them children of the devil, to which they replied that they were children of Abraham. Here Jesus argues that that cannot be the case.

8:41 Though the OT calls the Israelites God’s children (Ex 4:22; Dt 14:1-2; 32:6; Is 63:16; 64:8; Jr 31:9; Mal 2:10), John said only those born of God (through faith) are God’s children (Jn 1:12-13; 3:3-8).

8:42-43 The Jews had further declared that they were children of God; Jesus proceeded to prove that they were not.

8:44 The devil is a murderer from the beginning. He incited Cain to kill Abel (1Jn 3:15). He does not stand in the truth is a possible reference to Satan’s fall (Is 14:12). At the fall of Adam and Eve, he blatantly contradicted God’s word (Gn 3:3-4; cp. Gn 2:17).

8:45-46 Jesus always did what pleases God (v. 29; Is 53:9).

8:47 Jesus spoke boldly and plainly to the Jews, telling them, you are not from God.

8:48,52 On the accusation that Jesus had a demon, see note at 7:20.

8:49-53 Jesus countered the charge that he was demon-possessed by declaring that he honored his Father. Then he boldly said that keeping his word is the way to avoid death. This sounded insane to the Jews because all the great men of the faith had died. They responded, Who do you claim to be?

8:54-55 Jesus replied that he didn’t have to glorify himself because God was doing it.

8:56 Jesus’s statement refers to Abraham’s joyful anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. See the later affirmation in 12:41 that Isaiah saw Jesus’s glory.

8:57-58 On Jesus’s I am statements, see note at 6:35,48.

8:59 Stoning was the prescribed punishment for blasphemy (Lv 24:16; cp. Dt 13:6-11; Jn 10:31-33; 11:8). However, this was never to be enacted by mob violence (Dt 17:2-7). In the OT, righteous men like Moses (Ex 17:4), Joshua and Caleb (Nm 14:10), and David (1Sm 30:6) were nearly stoned. As on previous occasions, Jesus evaded arrest (Jn 7:30,44; 8:20; see note at 2:4). His withdrawal from the Jews strikes a note of judgment similar to the removal of God’s favor from King Saul (1Sm 15:23).