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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
J O H N.
CHAP. VIII.
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,
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,
2. Concerning the ruin of the unbelieving Jews,
3. Concerning liberty and bondage,
4. Concerning his Father and their father,
5. Here is his discourse in answer to their blasphemous reproaches,
6. Concerning the immortality of believers,
And in all this he endured the contradiction of sinners against
himself.
| The Woman Taken in Adultery. |
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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 his finger wrote on the
ground, as though he heard them not.
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 it, being convicted by their own
conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even
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.
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. How often would he have gathered them!
Observe,
I. His retirement in the evening out of the town
(v. 1):
He went unto the mount of olives; 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 houses of their own to go to
(ch. vii. 53),
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,
But in the night, when he had not work to do, he withdrew into the
country, and sheltered himself there.
II. His return in the morning to the temple, and to his work there,
v. 2.
Observe,
1. What a diligent preacher Christ was: Early in the morning he came
again, and taught. 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: Early in the morning. Though he lodged out of
town, and perhaps had spent much of the night in secret prayer, yet he
came early. 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: In the temple; not so much because it was a
consecrated place (for then he would have chosen it at other
times) as because it was now a place of concourse; 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: He sat down, and taught, as one having
authority, and as one that intended to abide by it for some time.
2. How diligently his preaching was attended upon: All the people
came unto him; 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 seek him early
shall find him. Though the rulers were displeased at those that
came to hear him, yet they would come; and he taught them,
though they were angry at him too. Though there were few or none
among them that were persons of any figure, yet Christ bade them
welcome, and taught them.
III. His dealing with those that brought to him the woman taken in
adultery, tempting 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,
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,
(1.) They set the prisoner to the bar
(v. 3):
they brought him a woman taken in adultery, 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 taken in adultery 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
was taken in her adultery. 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 sat down, as a judge upon the bench.
(2.) They prefer an indictment against her: Master, this woman was
taken in adultery,
v. 4.
Here they call him Master whom but the day before they had
called a deceiver, in hopes with their flatteries to have
ensnared him, as those,
But, though men may be imposed upon with compliments, he that searches
the heart cannot.
[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 an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
Job xxxi. 9-11; Gen. xxxviii. 24.
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 full of
all uncleanness,
Matt. xxiii. 27, 28.
Note, It is common for those that are indulgent to their own sin to be
severe against the sins of others.
[2.] The proof of the crime was from the notorious evidence of the
fact, an incontestable proof; she was taken in the act, 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 do no more
presumptuously. Better our sin should shame us than
damn us, and be set in order before us for our conviction than
for our condemnation.
(3.) They produce the statute in this case made and provided, and upon
which she was indicted,
v. 5.
Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned. Moses
commanded that they should be put to death
(Lev. xx. 10; Deut. xxii. 22),
but not that they should be stoned, unless the adulteress was espoused,
not married, or was a priest’s daughter,
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.
(4.) They pray his judgment in the case: “But what sayest thou,
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
this they said tempting him, that they might have to accuse him,
v. 6.
[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, First, 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 destroy the law and the
prophets. Secondly, 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.
2. The method he took to resolve this case, and so to break this
snare.
(1.) He seemed to slight it, and turned a deaf ear to it: He stooped
down, and wrote on the ground. 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, Let the names of these wicked men be written in the
dust. Others this, The earth accuses the earth, but the judgment
is mine. 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: The
heart of the wise studies to answer. Our translation from some
Greek copies, which add, me prospoioumenos (though most
copies have it not), give this account of the reason of his writing on
the ground, as though he heard them not. He did as it were look
another way, to show that he was not willing to take notice of their
address, saying, in effect, Who made me a judge or a divider? It
is safe in many cases to be deaf to that which it is not safe to
answer,
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.
(2.) When they importunately, or rather impertinently, pressed him for
an answer, he turned the conviction of the prisoner upon the
prosecutors,
v. 7.
[1.] They continued asking him, 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.
[2.] At last he put them all to shame and silence with one word: He
lifted up himself, awaking as one out of sleep
and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her.
First, 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.
Secondly, In the net which they spread is their own foot taken.
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.
a. He here refers to that rule which the law of Moses prescribed
in the execution of criminals, that the hand of the witnesses must
be first upon them
as in the stoning of Stephen,
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?
b. 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 without sin, 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,
(a.) Whenever we find fault with others, we ought to reflect
upon ourselves, and to be more severe against sin in ourselves than in
others.
(b.) We ought to be favourable, though not to the sins, yet to
the persons, of those that offend, and to restore them with a spirit
of meekness, considering ourselves and our own corrupt nature.
Aut sumus, aut fuimus, vel possumus esse quod hic est–We either
are, or have been, or may be, what he is. Let this restrain us from
throwing stones at our brethren, and proclaiming their faults.
Let him that is without sin begin such discourse as this, and
then those that are truly humbled for their own sins will blush at it,
and be glad to let it drop.
(c.) Those that are any way obliged to animadvert upon the
faults of others are concerned to look well to themselves, and keep
themselves pure
(Matt. vii. 5),
Qui alterum incusat probri, ipsum se intueri oportet. The
snuffers of the tabernacle were of pure gold.
c. 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
(Num. v. 15),
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, Aquæ non explorant ejus uxorem–The
bitter water had no effect upon the wife. “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.”
d. 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 the blood-thirsty hate the upright,
but the just seek his soul.
[3.] Having given them this startling word, he left them to consider of
it, and again stooped down, and wrote on the ground,
v. 8.
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 hearkened and heard,
Jer. viii. 6.
Some Greek copies here read, He wrote on the ground, enos
hekastou auton tas hamartias—the sins of every one of
them; this he could do, for he sets our iniquities before
him; and this he will do, for he will set them in order
before us too; he seals up our transgressions,
Job xiv. 17.
But he does not write men’s sins in the sand; no, they are
written as with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond
(Jer. xvii. 1),
never to be forgotten till they are forgiven.
[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
(v. 9):
They went out one by one.
First, 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!
Secondly, What he said frightened them by sending them to their
own consciences; he had shown them to themselves, 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 one by
one, that they might go out softly, and not by a noisy
flight disturb Christ; they went away by stealth, as people
being ashamed steal away when they flee in battle,
2 Sam. xix. 3.
The order of their departure is taken notice of, beginning at the
eldest, 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 force of the word of Christ for the conviction of
sinners: They who heard it were convicted by their own
consciences. Conscience is God’s deputy in the soul, and one word
from him will set it on work,
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 folly 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 avoid shame, as Judah
lest we be shamed. Our care should be more to save our souls
than to save our credit. Saul evidenced his hypocrisy when he said,
I have sinned, yet now honour me, I pray thee. 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 shift off their convictions, and to get rid of them. The
scribes and Pharisees had the wound opened, and now they should
have been desirous to have it searched, and then it might have
been healed, but this was the thing they dreaded and
declined.
(3.) It is folly for those that are under convictions to get away
from Jesus Christ, 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?
[5.] When the self-conceited prosecutors quitted the field, and
fled for the same, the self-condemned prisoner stood her
ground, with a resolution to abide by the judgment of our Lord Jesus:
Jesus was left alone from the company of the scribes and
Pharisees, free from their molestations, and the woman standing in
the midst of the assembly that were attending on Christ’s
preaching, where they set her,
v. 3.
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
left with Jesus alone, 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 rule
us, and it will infallibly save us.
[6.] Here is the conclusion of the trial, and the issue it was brought
to: Jesus lifted up himself, and he saw none but the woman,
v. 10, 11.
Though Christ may seem to take no notice of what is said and done, but
leave it to the contending sons of men to deal it out among
themselves, yet, when the hour of his judgment is come, he will no
longer keep silence. When David had appealed to God, he prayed, Lift
up thyself,
Ps. vii. 6, and xciv. 2.
The woman, it is likely, stood trembling at the bar, as one doubtful of
the issue. Christ was without sin, 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 stands upon her deliverance. Here is
the method of courts of judicature observed.
First, The prosecutors are called: Where are those thine
accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? 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, Who shall lay any thing to the charge of
God’s elect? Where are those their accusers? The accuser of the
brethren shall be fairly cast out, and all indictments
legally and regularly quashed.
Secondly, They do not appear when the question is asked: Hath
no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. She speaks
respectfully to Christ, calls him Lord, but is silent concerning
her prosecutors, says nothing in answer to that question which
concerned them, Where are those thine accusers? 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 forgive them this wrong. But she answered the question
which concerned herself, Has no man condemned thee? True
penitents find it enough to give an account of themselves to God, and
will not undertake to give an account of other people.
Thirdly, The prisoner is therefore discharged: Neither do I
condemn thee; go, and sin no more. Consider this,
(a.) As her discharge from the temporal punishment: “If they do
not condemn thee to be stoned to death, neither do 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: By me kings reign. But Christ would not
condemn this woman,
(a.) Because it was none of his business; he was no judge
nor divider, and therefore would not intermeddle in secular affairs.
His kingdom was not of this world. Tractent fabrilia
fabri–Let every one act in his own province.
(b.) 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 comparative righteousness, and spares those who are
otherwise obnoxious when the punishing of them would gratify those that
are worse than they,
But, when Christ dismissed her, it was with this caution, Go, and
sin no more. 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, lest Satan get advantage; 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.
(b.) As her discharge from the eternal punishment. For Christ to
say, I do not condemn thee is, in effect, to say, I do
forgive thee; and the Son of man had power on earth to forgive
sins, 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
Thy sins are forgiven thee, go in peace. So here, Neither do
I condemn thee. Note,
(a.) Those are truly happy whom Christ doth not condemn,
for his discharge is a sufficient answer to all other challenges; they
are all coram non judice–before an unauthorized judge.
(b.) Christ will not condemn those who, though they have sinned,
will go and sin no more,
Ps. lxxxv. 8; Isa. lv. 7.
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.
(c.) Christ’s favour to us in the remission of the sins that are
past should be a prevailing argument with us to go and sin no
more,
Rom. vi. 1, 2.
Will not Christ condemn thee? Go then and sin no more.
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees. |
|
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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, yet 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.
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
(v. 2)
how early Christ began that day’s work. Though those Pharisees that
accused the woman had absconded, yet there were other Pharisees
(v. 13)
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,
I. A great doctrine laid down, with the application of it.
1. The doctrine is, That Christ is the light of the world
(v. 12):
Then spoke Jesus again unto them; though he had spoken a great
deal to them to little purpose, and what he had said was opposed, yet
he spoke again, for he speaketh once, yea, twice. They
had turned a deaf ear to what he said, and yet he spoke again to
them, saying, I am the light of the world. Note, Jesus
Christ is the light of the world. One of the rabbies saith,
Light is the name of the Messiah, as it is written,
And light dwelleth with him. God is light, and Christ is the
image of the invisible God; God of gods, Light of lights. He was
expected to be a light to enlighten the Gentiles
(Luke ii. 32),
and so the light of the world, and not of the Jewish church
only. The visible light of the world is the sun, and Christ is the
Sun of righteousness. 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 light came into the world,
ch. iii. 19.
2. The inference from this doctrine is, He that followeth me, as
a traveller follows the light in a dark night, shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life. If Christ be the
light, then,
(1.) It is our duty to follow him, to submit ourselves to his
guidance, and in every thing take directions from him, in the way that
leads to happiness. Many follow false lights–ignes fatui, that
lead them to destruction; but Christ is the true light. It is
not enough to look at this light, and to gaze upon it,
but we must follow it, believe in it, and walk in it, for it is a light
to our feet, not our eyes only.
(2.) It is the happiness of those who follow Christ that they shall
not walk in darkness. 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 light
of life, 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.
II. The objection which the Pharisees made against this doctrine, and
it was very trifling and frivolous: Thou bearest record of thyself;
thy record is not true,
v. 13.
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, What sayest thou
of thyself?
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 suspicious, and the
belief of it might have been suspended; but his doctrine was
attested by more than two or three credible witnesses,
enough to establish every word of it.
III. Christ’s reply to this objection,
He does not retort upon them as he might (“You profess yourselves to be
devout and good men, but your witness is not true“), but
plainly vindicates himself; and, though he had waived his own testimony
(ch. v. 31),
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.
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 declared a decree, and gave such an account of
himself as he would abide by: I know whence I came, and whither I
go. 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 was before his manifestation to the world, and what
he should be after; that he came from the Father, and was
going to him
(ch. xvi. 28),
came from glory, and was going to glory,
(ch. xvii. 5).
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.
2. That they are very incompetent judges of him, and of his doctrine,
and not to be regarded.
(1.) Because they were ignorant, willingly and resolvedly
ignorant: You cannot tell whence I came, and whither I go. 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 foolishness to them, they
received it not; it was what the brutish man knows not,
Ps. xcii. 6.
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
know not,
Jude, v. 8, 10.
(2.) Because they were partial
(v. 15):
You judge after the flesh. 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 judge after the flesh;
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 unjust and unfair towards him,
intimated in this: “I judge no man; 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 judged no man. Now, if he did not war after the
flesh, it was very unreasonable for them to judge him after the
flesh, and to treat him as an offender against the civil
government. Or, “I judge no man,” that is, “not now in my first
coming, that is deferred till I come again,”
Prima dispensatio Christi medicinalis est, non judicialis–The first
coming of Christ was for the purpose of administering, not justice, but
medicine.
3. That his testimony of himself was sufficiently supported and
corroborated by the testimony of his Father with him and for him
(v. 16):
And yet, if I judge, my judgment is true. He did in his doctrine
judge
(ch. ix. 39),
though not politically. Consider him then,
(1.) As a judge, and his own judgment was valid: “If I judge, 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, my judgment is true, of incontestable rectitude and
uncontrollable authority,
If I should judge, 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 judge no
man;” so Chrysostom. Now that which makes his judgment
unexceptionable is,
[1.] His Father’s concurrence with him: I am not alone, but I and
the Father. He has the Father’s concurring counsels to
direct; 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 inops
consilii–without advice,
Isa. xi. 2.
All the counsels of peace (and of war too) were between them
both,
Zech. vi. 13.
He had also the Father’s concurring power to authorize and confirm what
he did; see
Ps. lxxxix. 21, &c. Isa. xlii. 1.
He did not act separately, but in his own name and his Father’s,
and by the authority aforesaid,
ch. v. 17, and xiv. 9, 10.
[2.] His Father’s commission to him: “It is the Father that sent
me.” Note, God will go along with those that he sends; see
Come, and I will send thee, and certainly I will be with
thee. Now, if Christ had a commission from the Father, and
the Father’s presence with him in all his administrations, no
doubt his judgment was true and valid; no exception lay
against it, no appeal lay from it.
(2.) Look upon him as a witness, 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,
where,
[1.] He quotes a maxim of the Jewish law,
That the testimony of two men is true. Not as if it were always
true in itself, for many a time hand has been joined in hand to
bear a false testimony,
But it is allowed as sufficient evidence upon which to ground a verdict
(verum dictum), and if nothing appear to the contrary it is
taken for granted to be true. Reference is here had to that law
At the mouth of two witnesses shall he that is worthy of death be
put to death. And see
It was in favour of life that in capital cases two witnesses wee
required, as with us in case of treason. See
[2.] He applies this to the case in hand
(v. 18):
I am one that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me
bears witness of me. 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 men, 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
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. 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. Tract. 36,
in 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
to the world now will in the great day be witnesses
against those that persist in unbelief, and their word
will judge men.
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.
First, How their tongues were let loose (such was the malice of
hell) to cavil at his discourse,
Though in what he said there appeared nothing of human policy or
artifice, but a divine security, yet they set themselves to cross
questions with him. None so incurably blind as those that
resolve they will not see. Observe,
a. How they evaded the conviction with a cavil: Then
said they unto him, Where is thy Father? They might easily have
understood, by the tenour of this and his other discourses, that when
he spoke of his Father 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 call his witness, and
challenge him, if he can, to produce him: Where is thy Father?
Thus, as Christ said of them
(v. 15),
they judge after the flesh. Perhaps they hereby intend a
reflection upon the meanness and obscurity of his family: Where is
thy Father, that he should be fit to give evidence in such a case
as this? Thus they turned it off with a taunt, when they could not
resist the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke.
b. How he evaded the cavil with a further
conviction; he did not tell them where his Father was, but
charged them with wilful ignorance: “You neither know me nor my
Father. 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.”
(a.) He charges them with ignorance of God: “You know not my
Father.” In Judah was God known
(Ps. lxxvi. 1);
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 in the face of Jesus Christ. The little children
of the Christian church know the Father, know him as a Father
but these rulers of the Jews did not, because they would not so know
him.
(b.) He shows them the true cause of their ignorance of God:
If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. The
reason why men are ignorant of God is because they are unacquainted
with Jesus Christ. Did we know Christ,
[a.] In knowing him we should know the Father, of whose person
he is the express image,
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.
[b.] By him we should be instructed in the knowledge of God, and
introduced into an acquaintance with him. If we knew Christ
better, we should know the Father 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.
Secondly, 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. These words spoke Jesus, these bold words, these
words of conviction and reproof, in the treasury, 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 taught in the temple, 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
demesne, 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 beating
of the rebels; or, at least, have silenced him, and stopped
his mouth there, as Amos, though tolerated in the land of Judah, was
forbidden to prophesy in the king’s chapel,
Yet even in the temple, where they had him in their reach, no
man laid hands on him, for his hour was not yet come. 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: His hour was not yet come. 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
will 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,
My times are in thy hands; 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 there is a time.
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees. |
|
|
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 he, ye shall die in your sins.
25 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto
them, Even the same 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 he, and that 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.
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,
I. The wrath threatened
(v. 21):
Jesus said again unto them 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 piped to them in the offers of his grace, and they had
not danced; now he mourns to them in the denunciations of his
wrath, to try if they would lament. He said, I go my way, and you
shall seek me, and shall die in your sins. Whither I go you cannot
come. 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.
1. Christ’s departure from them: I go my way, 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, Depart from us,
we desire not the knowledge of thy ways; 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 bade often
farewell, as one loth to depart, and willing to be invited,
and that would have them stir up themselves to take hold on
him.
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: You shall seek me, which
intimates either,
(1.) Their enmity to the true Christ: “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 ill-natured, and
brought wrath upon them (God’s and their own) to the
uttermost. Or,
(2.) Their enquiries after false Christs: “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
3. Their final impenitency: You shall die in your sins. 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, en te hamartia
hymon—in your sin, so all the Latin versions; and
Calvin has a note upon the difference between this and
where it is plural, tais hamartiais, that here it is
meant especially of the sin of unbelief, in hoc peccato vestro–in
this sin of yours. Note, Those that live in unbelief are for ever
undone if they die in unbelief. Or, it may be understood in general,
You shall die in your iniquity, as
Many that have long lived in sin are, through grace, saved by a timely
repentance from dying in sin; 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,
4. Their eternal separation from Christ and all happiness in him:
Whither I go you cannot come. 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 shall not come to him, but they
cannot; 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 no right to enter into that Jerusalem,
Whither I go you cannot come, 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.
II. The jest they made of this threatening. Instead of trembling at
this word, they bantered it, and turned it into ridicule
(v. 22):
Will he kill himself? 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 burden of the word of the
Lord into a by-word, and precept upon precept, line upon
line, into a merry song,
But be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong.
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 kill ourselves. 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
Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles? But see how
indulged malice grows more and more malicious.
III. The confirmation of what he had said.
1. He had said, Whither I go you cannot come, and here he gives
the reason for this
(v. 23):
You are from beneath, I am from above; you are of this world, I am
not of this world. You are ek ton kato—of those
things which are beneath; noting, not so much their rise from
beneath as their affection to these lower things: “You are in with
these things, 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 spirit of the Lord Jesus was–not of this
world, but from above. 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 born from above and have their
conversation in heaven.
(2.) How contrary to this their spirit was: “You are from
beneath, and of this world.” The Pharisees were of a carnal worldly
spirit; and what communion could Christ have with them?
2. He had said, You shall die in your sins, and here he stand to
it: “Therefore I said, You shall die in your sins, because you are
from beneath;” and he gives this further reason for it, If you
believe not that I am he, you shall die in your sins,
v. 24.
See here,
(1.) What we are required to believe: that I am he, hoti
ego eimi—that I am, which is one of God’s names,
It was the Son of God that there said, Ehejeh asher Ehejeh–I will
be what I will be; for the deliverance of Israel was but a figure
of good things to come, but now he saith, “I am he; 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 am he.” True faith does not
amuse the soul with an empty sound of words, but affects
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, we shall die in our sins; 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
doctrine of Christ’s grace will be an argument powerful enough,
and none but the Spirit 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 die in our sins.
[2.] Without faith we cannot be saved from the punishment of sin when
we die, for the wrath of God remains upon them that believe not,
Unbelief is the damning sin; it is a sin against the remedy. Now this
implies the great gospel promise: If we believe that Christ is
he, and receive him accordingly, we shall not die in our
sins. The law saith absolutely to all, as Christ said
(v. 21),
You shall die in your sins, 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 in their
sins.
IV. Here is a further discourse concerning himself, occasioned
by his requiring faith in himself as the condition of salvation,
Observe,
1. The question which the Jews put to him
(v. 25):
Who art thou? This they asked tauntingly, and not with any
desire to be instructed. He had said, You must believe that I am
he. By his not saying expressly who he was, he plainly intimated
that in his person he was such a one as could not be described
by any, and in his office such a one as was expected 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: “Who art thou, that we
must with an implicit faith believe in thee, that thou art some mighty
HE, we know not who or what, nor are worthy to
know?“
2. His answer to this question, wherein he directs them three ways for
information:–
(1.) He refers them to what he had said all along: “Do you ask
who I am? Even the same that I said unto you from the
beginning.” The original here is a little intricate, ten
archen ho ti kai lalo hymin which some read thus: I am the
beginning, which also I speak unto you. So Austin takes it. Christ
is called Arche—the beginning
(Col. i. 18; Rev. i. 8; xxi. 6; iii. 14),
and so it agrees with
I am he. Compare
I am the first, I am he. Those who object that it is the
accusative case, and therefore not properly answering to tis
ei, must undertake to construe by grammar rules that parallel
expression,
ho en. But most interpreters agree with our version, Do
you ask who I am?
[1.] I am the same that I said to you from the beginning of time
in the scriptures of the Old-Testament, the same that from the
beginning was said to be the Seed of the woman, that should break
the serpent’s head, the same that in all the ages of the church was
the Mediator of the covenant, and the faith of the patriarchs.
[2.] From the beginning of my public ministry. The account he
had already given of himself he resolved to abide by; he had
declared himself to be the Son of God
(ch. v. 17),
to be the Christ
(ch. iv. 26),
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 one with himself; what he
had said from the beginning, he saith still. His is an everlasting
gospel.
(2.) He refers them to his Father’s judgment, and the instructions he
had from him
(v. 26):
“I have many things, more than you think of, to say, and
in them to judge of you. But why should I trouble myself any
further with you? I know very well that he who sent me is true,
and will stand by me, and bear me out, for I speak to the world
(to which I am sent as an ambassador) those things, all those
and those only, which I have heard of him.” Here,
[1.] He suppresses his accusation of them. He had many things 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,
How much soever God reckons with sinners in this world there is still a
further reckoning yet behind,
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 unsaid, for what is it
to us?
[2.] He enters his appeal against them to his Father: He that sent
me. Here two things comfort him:–First, That he had been
true to his Father, and to the trust reposed in him: I speak
to the world (for his gospel was to be preached to every creature)
those things which I have heard of him. Being given for a
witness to the people
(Isa. lv. 4),
he was Amen, a faithful witness,
Rev. iii. 14.
He did not conceal his doctrine, but spoke it to the
world (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. Secondly, That his Father would be
true to him; true to the promise that he would make his mouth
like a sharp sword; true to his purpose concerning him, which was a
decree
(Ps. ii. 7);
true to the threatenings of his wrath against those that should reject
him. Though he should not accuse them to his Father, yet the
Father, who sent him, would undoubtedly reckon with them, and would be
true to what he had said
that whosoever would not hearken to that prophet whom God would raise
up he would require it of him. 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
lets fall the present prosecution, he binds them over to
the judgment-day, when it will be too late to dispute what they will
not now be persuaded to believe. I, as a deaf man, heard not; for
thou wilt hear,
Ps. xxxviii. 13, 15.
Upon this part of our Saviour’s discourse the evangelist has a
melancholy remark
(v. 27):
They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father. 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 according to truth, they slighted the
warning, because they understood not to whose judgment it was that they
made themselves obnoxious.
(3.) He refers them to their own convictions hereafter,
He finds they will not understand him, and therefore adjourns the trial
till further evidence should come in; they that will not see shall
see,
Isa. xxvi. 11.
Now observe here,
[1.] What they should ere long be convinced of: “You shall
know that I am he, 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 stifle,
yet you cannot baffle: that I am he, 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:–First,
That he did nothing of himself, not of himself as man, of
himself alone, of himself without the Father, with whom he was
one. He does not hereby derogate from his own inherent power,
but only denies their charge against him as a false prophet; for
of false prophets it is said that they prophesied out of their own
hearts, and followed their own spirits. Secondly, That as
his Father taught him so he spoke these things, that he
was not autodidaktos—self-taught, but
Theodidaktos—taught of God. The doctrine he
preached was the counterpart of the counsels of God, with which he was
intimately acquainted; kathos edidaxe, tauta lalo–I
speak those things, not only which he taught me, but as
he taught me, with the same divine power and authority.
[2.] When they should be convinced of this: When you have
lifted up the Son of man, lifted him up upon the cross, as the
brazen serpent upon the pole
(ch. iii. 14),
as the sacrifices under the law (for Christ is the great sacrifice),
which, when they were offered, were said to be elevated, or
lifted up; hence the burnt-offerings, the most ancient and
honourable of all, were called elevations (Gnoloth from
Gnolah, asendit–he ascended), and in many other offerings they
used the significant ceremony of heaving the sacrifice up, and
moving it before the Lord; thus was Christ lifted up. Or
the expression denotes that his death was his exaltation. They that put
him to death thought thereby for ever to have sunk him and his
interest, but it proved to be the advancement of both,
When the Son of man was crucified, the Son of man was
glorified. Christ had called his dying his going away;
here he calls it his being lifted up; 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 instruments of his death: when you have lifted up
the Son of man; not that they were to be the priests to
offer him up (no, that was his own act, he offered up himself),
but they would be his betrayers and murderers; see
They lifted him up 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. When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you
know this. And why then? First, Because careless and
unthinking people are often taught the worth of mercies by the want of
them,
Secondly, 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 crucified and slain the Son of God, they
cried out, What shall we do? and were made to know assuredly
that this Jesus was Lord and Christ,
Acts ii. 36.
Thirdly, There would be such signs and wonders attending his
death, and the lifting of him up 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.
Fourthly, By the death of Christ the pouring out of the Spirit
was purchased, who would convince the world that Jesus is he,
ch. xvi. 7, 8.
Fifthly, 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 Jesus was he. Christ had often foretold that desolation as
the just punishment of their invincible unbelief, and when it came
to pass (lo, it did come) they could not but know that the great
prophet had been among them,
Ezek. xxxiii. 33.
[3.] What supported our Lord Jesus in the mean time
(v. 29):
He that sent me is with me, in my whole undertaking; for the
Father (the fountain and first spring of this affair, from whom as
its great cause and author it is derived) hath not left me
alone, to manage it myself, hath not deserted the business nor me
in the prosecution of it, for do I always those things that please
him. Here is,
First, The assurance which Christ had of his Father’s
presence with him, which includes both a divine power
going along with him to enable him for his work, and a divine
favour manifested to him to encourage him in it. He
that sent me is with me,
Isa. xlii. 1; Ps. lxxxix. 21.
This greatly emboldens our faith in Christ and our reliance upon
his word that he had, and knew he had, his Father with him, to
confirm the word of his servant,
Isa. xliv. 26.
The King of kings accompanied his own ambassador, to attest his mission
and assist his management, and never left him alone, either
solitary or weak; it also aggravated the wickedness of those
that opposed him, and was an intimation to them of the premunire
they ran themselves into by resisting him, for thereby they were found
fighters against God. 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 contend.
Secondly, The ground of this assurance: For I do always those
things that please him. That is,
1. That great affair in which our Lord Jesus was continually
engaged was an affair which the Father that sent him was highly
well pleased with. His whole undertaking is called the
pleasure of the Lord
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 displeasing 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 in many things we offend
all) but our Lord Jesus never offended his Father in any thing,
but, as became him, he fulfilled all righteousness. This was
necessary to the validity and value of the sacrifice he was to offer
up; for if he had in any thing displeased 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
then expect God’s presence with them when they choose and
do those things that please him,
Isa. lxvi. 4, 5.
V. Here is the good effect which this discourse of Christ’s had upon
some of his hearers
(v. 30):
As he spoke these words many believed on him. Note,
1. Though multitudes perish in their unbelief, yet there is a remnant
according to the election of grace, who believe to the saving of the
soul. If Israel, the whole body of the people, be not
gathered, yet there are those of them in whom Christ will be
glorious,
Isa. xlix. 5.
This the apostle insists upon, to reconcile the Jews’ rejection with
the promises made unto their fathers. There is a remnant,
2. The words of Christ, and particularly his threatening 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 believed not
they should die in their sins, and never get to heaven, they
thought it was time to look about them,
3. Sometimes there is a wide door opened, and an
effectual one, even where they are many adversaries.
Christ will carry on his work, though the heathen rage. 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 much contention, for they shall not labour
in vain. Many may be secretly 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: 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.
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees. |
|
|
31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye
continue in my word, then 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: but 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.
We have in these verses,
I. A comfortable doctrine laid down concerning the spiritual
liberty of Christ’s disciples, intended for the encouragement of
those Jews that believed. 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 weak believers. When
he had denounced wrath against those that were hardened in unbelief,
then he spoke comfort to those few feeble Jews that believed in
him. See here,
1. How graciously the Lord Jesus looks to those that tremble at his
word, 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.
2. How carefully he cherishes the beginnings of grace, and meets those
that are coming towards him. These Jews that believed were yet
but weak; but Christ did not therefore cast them off, for he
gathers the lambs in his arms. When faith is in its infancy, he
has knees to prevent it, breasts for it to suck,
that it may not die from the womb. In what he said to them, we
have two things, which he saith to all that should at any time
believe:–
(1.) The character of a true disciple of Christ: If you continue in
my word, then are you my disciples indeed. When they believed on
him, as the great prophet, they gave up themselves to be his
disciples. 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 continued in his word.
[1.] It is implied that there are many who profess themselves Christ’s
disciples who are not his disciples indeed, but only in show and
name.
[2.] It highly concerns those that are not strong in faith to
see to it that they be sound in the faith, that, though not
disciples of the highest form, they are nevertheless disciples
indeed.
[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 few years; but those only are Christ’s who are willing to
be bound to him for the term of life.
[4.] Those only that continue in Christ’s word shall be accepted
as his disciples indeed, that adhere to his word in every
instance without partiality, and abide by it to the end without
apostasy. It is menein—to dwell 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 disciples indeed.
(2.) The privilege of a true disciple of Christ. Here are two precious
promises made to those who thus approve themselves disciples indeed,
[1.] “You shall know the truth, 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,
First, 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. Secondly, It is a very great privilege to know
the truth, 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. Thirdly, 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.
[2.] The truth shall make you free; that is, First, The
truth which Christ teaches tends to make men free,
Justification makes us free from the guilt of sin, by which we were
bound over to the judgment of God, and bound under
amazing fears; sanctification makes us free from the bondage of
corruption, by which we were restrained from that service which
is perfect freedom, and constrained 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
free from our spiritual enemies, free in the service of
God, free to the privileges of sons, and free of the
Jerusalem which is from above, which is free. Secondly, The
knowing, entertaining, and believing, of this truth does actually
make us free, free from prejudices, mistakes, and false notions,
than which nothing more enslaves and entangles 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,
The enemies of Christianity pretend to free thinking, whereas
really those are the freest reasonings that are guided by faith, and
those are men of free thought whose thoughts are captivated and
brought into obedience to Christ.
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,
The Pharisees grudged this comfortable word to those that believed, the
standers by, who had no part nor lot in this matter; 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, “We Jews are Abraham’s
seed, and therefore are free-born, and have not lost our
birthright-freedom; we were never in bondage to any man; how sayest
thou then, to us Jews, You shall be made free?” See
here,
1. What it was that they were grieved at; it was an innuendo in
those words, You shall be made free, 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,
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 prince and a great
man; though we live in Canaan, we are not descended from Canaan,
nor under his doom, a servant of servants shall he be; we hold
in frank-almoign–free alms, and not in villenage–by a
servile tenure.” 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,
Now that covenant, no doubt, was a free charter, and invested them with
privileges not consistent with a state of slavery,
And therefore they thought they had no occasion with so great a
sum as they reckoned faith in Christ to be to obtain this
freedom, 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
entail to us and our issue, nor can a title to heaven be made by
descent, nor may we claim as heirs at law, 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, We are the church’s children; but they are not all
Israel that are of Israel.
(2.) We were never in bondage to any man. 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 untrue. 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 personal, yet in a national bondage
to them, and groaning to be made free? And yet, to confront Christ,
they have the impudence to say, We were never in bondage. 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 truth would make them free, which must be meant of
a spiritual liberty, for truth as it is the enriching, so
it is the enfranchising of the mind, and the enlarging of
that from the captivity of error and prejudice; and yet they plead
against the offer of spiritual liberty that they were never in
corporal thraldom, as if, because they were never in bondage to
any man, they were never in bondage to any lust. 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 you bring certain strange things to their
ears; they say of it (as those did,
Doth he not speak parables? This was much like the blunder
Nicodemus made about being born again.
III. Our Saviour’s vindication of his doctrine from these objections,
and the further explication of it,
where he does these four things:–
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
(v. 34):
Whosoever commits sin, 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 recover themselves, not with passion
provoke them to entangle themselves yet more. Now here,
(1.) The preface is very solemn: Verily, verily, I say unto you;
an awful asseveration, which our Saviour often used, to command a
reverent attention and a ready assent. The style of the prophets was,
Thus saith the Lord, for they were faithful as servants;
but Christ, being a Son, speaks in his own name: I say unto you,
I the Amen, 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.”
(2.) The truth is of universal concern, though here delivered upon a
particular occasion: Whosoever commits sin is the servant of
sin, 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
commits sin, pas ho poion hamartian—every one
that makes sin. There is not a just man upon earth, that
lives, and sins not; yet every one that sins is not a servant of
sin, for then God would have no servants; but he that makes sin,
that makes choice of sin, prefers the way of wickedness before
the way of holiness
that makes a covenant with sin, enters into league with it, and
makes a marriage with it,–that makes contrivances of
sin, makes provision for the flesh, and devises iniquity,–and
that makes a custom of sin, who walks after the flesh, and
makes a trade of sin.
[2.] See what the brand is which Christ fastens upon those that thus
commit sin. He stigmatizes them, gives them a mark of servitude.
They are servants of sin, imprisoned under the guilt of sin,
under an arrest, in hold for it, concluded under sin, and they
are subject to the power of sin. He is a servant of sin, that
is, he makes himself so, and is so accounted; he has sold himself to
work wickedness; 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,
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
(v. 35)
the servant, though he be in the house for awhile, yet, being
but a servant, abideth not in the house for ever. Services (we
say) are no inheritances, they are but temporary, and not for a
perpetuity; but the son of the family abideth ever. Now,
(1.) This points primarily at the rejection of the Jewish church and
nation. Israel had been God’s son, his first-born; but
they wretchedly degenerated into a servile 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 abide in the house for ever. Jerusalem, by
opposing the gospel of Christ, which proclaimed liberty, and adhering
to the Sinai-covenant, which gendered to bondage, after its term was
expired came to be in bondage with her children
and therefore was unchurched and disfranchised, her charter seized and
taken away, and she was cast out as the son of the bond-woman,
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,”
But,
(2.) It looks further, to the rejection of all that are the servants
of sin, and receive not the adoption of the sons of
God; 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 bond-woman and of the free 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 nail in the holy place on
earth
and mansions in the holy place in heaven,
3. He shows them the way of deliverance out of the state of bondage
into the glorious liberty of the children of God,
Rom. viii. 21.
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 the Son, the
first-born among many brethren, and the heir of all things, has a power
both of manumission and of adoption
(v. 36):
If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.
Note,
(1.) Jesus Christ in the gospel offers us our freedom; he has
authority and power to make free.
[1.] To discharge prisoners; this he does in
justification, by making satisfaction for our guilt (on
which the gospel offer is grounded, which is to all a conditional
act of indemnity, and to all true believers, upon their
believing, an absolute charter of pardon), and for our
debts, for which we were by the law arrested and in execution.
Christ, as our surety, or rather our bail (for he was not
originally bound with us, but upon our insolvency bound for
us), compounds with the creditor, answers the demands of injured
justice with more than an equivalent, takes the bond and
judgment into his own hands, and gives them up cancelled
to all that by faith and repentance give him (if I may so say) a
counter-security to save his honour harmless, and so they are
made free; 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 bond-slaves, and this he does in
sanctification; 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 naturalize strangers and foreigners, and
this he does in adoption. This is a further act of grace; we are
not only forgiven and healed, but preferred; there is a charter
of privileges as well as pardon; and thus the Son makes us free
denizens of the kingdom of priests, the holy nation, the new
Jerusalem.
(2.) Those whom Christ makes free are free indeed. It is not
alethos, the word used
(v. 31)
for disciples indeed, but ontos—really. It
denotes,
[1.] The truth and certainty of the promise, the liberty which the Jews
boasted of was an imaginary liberty; they boasted of a false
gift; 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 free indeed
but those whom Christ makes free.
[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 made free by it. It is a
glorious liberty. It is that which is (so
ontos signifies); it is substance
while the things of the world are shadows, things that are
not.
4. He applies this to these unbelieving cavilling Jews, in answer to
their boasts of relation to Abraham
(v. 37):
“I know very well that you are Abraham’s seed, but now you
seek to kill me, and therefore have forfeited the honour of your
relation to Abraham, because my word hath no place in you.”
Observe here,
(1.) The dignity of their extraction admitted: “I know that you are
Abraham’s seed, 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 never in bondage to any) he does not contradict
them, for he studied to profit them, and not to provoke
them, and therefore said that which would please them: I know that
you are Abraham’s seed. They boasted of their descent from
Abraham, as that which aggrandized their names, and made
them exceedingly honourable; whereas really it did but aggravate
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?”
(2.) The inconsistency of their practice with this dignity: But you
seek to kill me. They had attempted it several times, and were now
designing it, which quickly appeared
(v. 59),
when they took up stones to cast at him. 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 compass and imagine the death of him that was
King of kings was a crime the heinousness of which we want words to
express.
(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 all the families of the earth should be
blessed? Our Saviour here tells them, It is because my word
hath no place in you, ou chorei en hymin, Non
capit in vobis, so the Vulgate. “My word does not take with
you, you have no inclination to it, no relish of it, other things
are more taking, more pleasing.” Or, “It does not take hold of
you, it has no power over you, makes no impression upon you.” Some
of the critics read it, My word does not penetrate into you; 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, “Because you do not
acquiesce in my word; you are not persuaded of the truth of it, nor
pleased with the goodness of it.” Our translation is very significant:
It has no place in you. They sought to kill him, and so
effectually to silence 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 dwelling place, as a man at home, and not as
a stranger or sojourner,–a working place; it must have room to
operate, to work sin out of us, and to work grace in us; it must have a
ruling place, its place must be upon the throne, it must
dwell in us richly.
[2.] There are many that make a profession of religion in whom the
word of Christ has no place; they will not allow it a place,
for they do not like it; Satan does all he can to displace 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 enters in, and dwells
there.
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees. |
|
|
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, even 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? even because ye cannot
hear my word.
44 Ye are of your 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 you 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
them not, because ye are not of God.
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.
I. He here traces the difference between his sentiments and theirs to a
different rise and origin
(v. 38):
I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and you do
what you have seen with your father. 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.
1. Christ’s doctrine was from heaven; it was
copied out of the counsels of infinite wisdom, and the
kind intentions of eternal love.
(1.) I speak that which I have seen. 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
apprized of the nature, and assured 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 with my Father. 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 heard from his
Father, but what he had seen with him when the counsel of
peace was between them both. 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 seen what he
spoke, and to speak what he had seen.
2. Their doings were from hell: “You do that which you have
seen with your father. 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.
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.
1. They pleaded relation to Abraham, and he replies to this plea.
They said, Abraham is our father,
v. 39.
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
A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and the charge exhibited
against their degenerate ancestors (whose steps they trod in, and not
those of the first founder of the family), Thy father was an
Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite,
Ezek. xvi. 3.
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. Fuimus Troes, fuit
Ilium–We have been Trojans, and there once was Troy.
(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.”
[1.] The proposition is plain: “If you were Abraham’s children,
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 do the works of Abraham, for to those only of
Abraham’s house who kept the way of the Lord, as Abraham did,
would God perform what he had spoken,”
Those only are reckoned the seed of Abraham, to whom the promise
belongs, who tread in the steps of his faith and obedience,
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 (performam doni–according to the form of
the gift), unless they walked in the same spirit; good women’s
relation to Sarah is proved only by this–whose daughters you are as
long as you do well, and no longer,
Note, Those who would approve themselves Abraham’s seed must not only
be of Abraham’s faith, but do Abraham’s works
(James ii. 21, 22),–
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.
[2.] The assumption is evident likewise: But you do not do the
works of Abraham, for you seek to kill me, a man that has told you
the truth, which I have heard of God; this did not Abraham,
v. 40.
First, He shows them what their work was, their present work,
which they were now about; they sought to kill him; and three
things are intimated as an aggravation of their intention:–
1. They were so unnatural as to seek the life of a man, 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 imagine
mischief against a man,
Ps. lxii. 3.
2. They were so ungrateful as to seek the life of one who had
told them the truth, 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; was he therefore become their enemy?
3. They were so ungodly as to seek the life of one who told them
the truth which he had heard from God, who was a messenger sent
from God to them, so that their attempt against him was quasi
deicidium–an act of malice against God. This was their work, and
they persisted in it.
Secondly, He shows them that this did not become the children of
Abraham; for this did not Abraham.
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 ignorant of them, and
would not acknowledge them, they were so unlike him,
See
2. “He would not have done thus if he had lived now, or I had lived
then.” Hoc Abraham non fecisset–He would not have done this; 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 ever with them, if we be never like
them.
[3.] The conclusion follows of course
(v. 41):
“Whatever your boasts and pretensions be, you are not Abraham’s
children, but father yourselves upon another family
(v. 41);
there is a father whose deeds you do, whose spirit you are of,
and whom you resemble.” He does not yet 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 of them, or
to them, which, though true, sounds harsh. 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 repent, 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.
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 not born of fornication, we are not bastards, but legitimate
sons; we have one Father, even God.“
(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
nor were they a spurious brood in Abraham’s family, but Hebrews of the
Hebrews; and, being born in lawful wedlock, they might call God
Father, who instituted that honourable estate in innocency; for
a legitimate seed, not tainted with divorces nor the plurality of
wives, is called a seed of God,
Mal. ii. 15.
(2.) Others take it figuratively. They begin to be aware now that
Christ spoke of a spiritual not a carnal father, of the
father of their religion; and so,
[1.] They deny themselves to be a generation of idolaters: “We are
not born of fornication, are not the children of idolatrous
parents, nor have been bred up in idolatrous worships.” Idolatry is
often spoken of as spiritual whoredom, and idolaters as
children of whoredoms,
Hosea ii. 4; Isa. lvii. 3.
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. If thou commit no idolatry (apply it to this
spiritual fornication), yet if thou kill thou art become a
transgressor of the covenant. A rebellious prodigal son will be
disinherited, though he be not born of fornication.
[2.] They boast themselves to be true worshippers of the true God. We
have not many fathers, as the heathens had, gods many and lords
many, and yet were without God, as filius populi–a son of the
people, has many fathers and yet none certain; no, the Lord our
God is one Lord and one Father, 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
(v. 42, 43),
and proves, by two arguments, that they had no right to call God
Father.
First, They did not love Christ: If God were your Father, you
would love me. He had disproved their relation to Abraham by their
going about to kill him
(v. 40),
but here he disproves their relation to God by their not loving and
owning him. A man may pass for a child 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 kiss his Son, and bid him welcome who was
the first-born among many brethren; see
By this our adoption will be proved or disproved–Did we love Christ,
or no? If any man do not, he is so far from being a child of God
that he is anathema, accursed,
Now our Saviour proves that if they were God’s children they would
love him; for, saith he, I proceeded forth and came from
God. They will love him; for,
1. He was the Son of God: I proceeded forth from God.
Exelthon this means his divine exeleusis,
or origin from the Father, by the communication of the divine essence,
and also the union of the divine logos to his human
nature; so Dr. Whitby. Now this could not but recommend him to the
affections of all that were born of God. Christ is called the
beloved, because, being the beloved of the Father, he is
certainly the beloved of all the saints,
2. He was sent of God, came from him as an ambassador to the
world of mankind. He did not come of himself, as the false
prophets, who had not either their mission or their
message from God,
Observe the emphasis he lays upon this: I came from God; neither
came I of myself, but he sent me. He had both his credentials and
his instructions from God; he came to gather together in one the
children of God
(ch. xi. 51),
to bring many sons to glory,
Heb. ii. 10.
And would not all God’s children embrace with both arms a messenger
sent from their Father on such errands? But these Jews made it
appear that they were nothing akin to God, by their want of affection
to Jesus Christ.
Secondly, 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: You do not understand my speech
(v. 43),
ten lalian ten emen. 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
sibboleth? 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
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:
Even because you cannot hear my word, that is, “You cannot
persuade yourselves to hear it attentively, impartially, and without
prejudice, as it should be heard.” The meaning of this cannot is
an obstinate will not; as the Jews could not hear Stephen
nor Paul,
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 knew not
what the damsel said
when in truth he knew not what to say to it. You cannot hear my
words, for you have stopped your ears
and God, in a way of righteous judgment, has made your ears
heavy,
Isa. vi. 10.
III. Having thus disproved their relation both to Abraham and to God,
he comes next to tell them plainly whose children they were: You are
of your father the devil,
v. 44.
If they were not God’s children, they were the devil’s, for God and
Satan divide the world of mankind; the devil is therefore said
to work in the children of disobedience,
Eph. ii. 2.
All wicked people are the devil’s children, children of Belial
the serpent’s seed
(Gen. iii. 15),
children of the wicked one,
They partake of his nature, bear his image, obey his commands, and
follow his example. Idolaters said to a stock, Thou art our
father,
Jer. ii. 27.
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
children of the devil, and therefore our Saviour fully proves
it.
1. By a general argument: The lusts of your father you will do,
thelete poiein.
(1.) “You do 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 led captive by him at his will: 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 spiritual
wickedness; 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 lusts of the devil.
(2.) You will do the devil’s lusts. The more there is of the
will in these lusts, the more there is of the devil in them.
When sin is committed of choice and not by surprise, with
pleasure and not with reluctancy, when it is persisted in with a
daring presumption and a desperate resolution, like theirs that said,
We have loved strangers and after them we will go, then the
sinner will do the devil’s lusts. “The lusts of your father you
delight to do;” so Dr. Hammond; they are rolled under the tongue
as a sweet morsel.
2. By two particular instances, wherein they manifestly resembled the
devil–murder and lying. 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.
(1.) He was a murderer from the beginning, 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
anthropoktonos—homicida, a man-slayer.
[1.] He was a hater of man, and so in affection an disposition a
murderer of him. He has his name, Satan, from
sitnah–hatred. 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 that sin which brought death into
the world, and so he was effectually the murderer of all mankind, which
in Adam had but one neck. He was a murderer of souls,
deceived them into sin, and by it slew them
(Rom. vii. 11),
poisoned man with the forbidden fruit, and, to aggravate the matter,
made him his own murderer. Thus he was not only at the
beginning, but from the beginning, which intimates that thus he
has been 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 the angel of death.
[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,
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
murderer, 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 stand upon our
guard against the wiles of the devil, and never to hearken to
him (for he is a murderer, and certainly aims to do us mischief, even
when he speaks fair), 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 children of hell; 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 seed of the
serpent that were to bruise the heel of the seed of the
woman; Now you seek to kill me.
(2.) He was a liar. A lie is opposed to truth
and accordingly the devil is here described to be,
[1.] An enemy to truth, and therefore to Christ. First, He is a
deserter, from the truth; he abode not in the truth, 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 hosts of the Lord; those that fell were not
true to their commander and sovereign, they were not to be
trusted, being charged with folly and defection,
By the truth 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 like
their father the devil, who, seeing the honour put upon the
human nature in the first Adam, and foreseeing the much
greater honour intended in the second Adam, would not be
reconciled to that counsel of God, nor stand in the truth
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. Secondly, He is destitute of
the truth: There is no truth in him. 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 no truth in
him.
[2.] He is a friend and patron of lying: When he speaketh a lie he
speaketh of his own. Three things are here said of the devil with
reference to the sin of lying:–First, That he is a liar;
his oracles were lying oracles, his prophets lying prophets, and the
images in which he was worshipped teachers of lies. He tempted
our first parents with a downright lie. All his temptations are carried
on by lies, calling evil good and good evil, 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
contradicted the gospel, in the scribes and Pharisees, it was by
lies; and when afterwards he corrupted it, in the man of
sin, it was by strong delusions, and a great complicated lie.
Secondly, That when he speaks a lie he speaks of his
own, ek ton idion. It is the proper idiom of
his language; of his own, not of God; his Creator never put it
into him. When men speak a lie they borrow it from the devil, Satan
fills their hearts to lie
(Acts v. 3);
but when the devil speaks a lie the model 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. Thirdly, That he is the father
of it, autou.
1. He is the father of every lie; 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 every liar; 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 estranged from the
womb, speaking lies
(Ps. lviii. 3);
he has taught them with their tongues to use deceit,
Rom. iii. 13.
He is the father of liars, who begat them, who trained them up in the
way of lying, whom they resemble and obey, and with whom all
liars shall have their portion for ever.
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,
Thou art the man. But he comes in the
to assist them in the application of it to themselves; he does not call
them liars, but shows them that they were no friends to
truth, and therein resembled him who abode not in the truth,
because there is no truth in him. Two things he charges upon
them:–
1. That they would not believe the word of truth
(v. 45),
hoti ten aletheian lego, ou pisteuete moi.
(1.) Two ways it may be taken;–
[1.] “Though I tell you the truth, yet you will not believe me
(hoti), that I do so.” 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
truth fallen in the street,
Isa. lix. 14, 15.
The greatest truths with some gained not the least credit; for they
rebelled against the light,
Job xxiv. 13.
Or,
[2.] Because I tell you the truth (so we read it) therefore
you believe me not. 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.
(2.) Now, to show them the unreasonableness of their infidelity, he
condescends to put the matter to this fair issue,
He and they being contrary, either he was in an error or they were. Now
take it either way.
[1.] If he were in an error, why did they not convince him? The
falsehood of pretended prophets was discovered either by the
ill tendency of their doctrines
or by the ill tenour of their conversation: You shall know
them by their fruits; but (saith Christ) which of you, you
of the sanhedrim, that take upon you to judge of prophets, which of
you convinceth me of sin? 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
utterly false. 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 found no fault in him.
The sin he here challenges them to convict him of is,
First, 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?
Or, Secondly, 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
Ministers may hence learn,
1. To walk so circumspectly as that it may not be in the
power of their most strict observers to convince them of sin, that
the ministry be not blamed. The only way not to be convicted of sin
is not to sin.
2. To be willing to admit a scrutiny; 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
[2.] If they were in an error, why were they not convinced by
him? “If I say the truth, why do you not believe me? If you
cannot convince me of error, you must own that I say the truth,
and why do you not then give me credit? 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.
2. Another thing charged upon them is that they would not hear the
words of God
(v. 47),
which further shows how groundless their claim of relation to God was.
Here is,
(1.) A doctrine laid down: He that is of God heareth God’s
words; that is,
[1.] He is willing and ready 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, Speak, Lord, for thy servant
heareth. Let the word of the Lord come.
[2.] He apprehends and discerns them, he so hears them as
to perceive the voice of God in them, which the natural man does
not,
He that is of God is soon aware of the discoveries he makes of
himself of the nearness of his name
(Ps. lxxv. 1),
as they of the family know the master’s tread, and the master’s knock,
and open to him immediately
(Luke xii. 36),
as the sheep know the voice of their shepherd from that of a stranger,
(2.) The application of this doctrine, for the conviction of these
unbelieving Jews: You therefore hear them not; that is, “You
heed not, you understand not, you believe not, the words of God, nor
care to hear them, because you are not of God. Your being thus
deaf and dead to the words of God is a plain evidence that you are
not of God.” 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
Or, their not being of God was the reason why they did not profitably
hear the words of God, 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 not of
God, 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,
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees. |
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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.
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
that they would not hear him, now at length they fall to downright
railing,
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: Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and
hast a devil? See here, see it and wonder, see it and tremble,
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 a Samaritan. If he had
been a Samaritan, he had been punishable, by the beating of the
rebels (as they called it), for coming into the temple. They had
often enough called him a Galilean–a mean man; but as if that
were not enough, though it contradicted the other, they will have him a
Samaritan–a bad man. The Jews to this day call the Christians,
in reproach, Cuthæi-Samaritans. 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 falling away to the
Samaritans.
(2.) That he had a devil. Either,
[1.] That he was in league with the devil. 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 clouded, or a mad man, whose brain was
heated, 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 mad fellow,
2 Kings ix. 11; Hosea ix. 7.
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 divine was not so. Wisdom is justified of her
children, as wisdom indeed.
2. How they undertook to justify this character, and applied it to the
present occasion: Say we not well that thou art so? 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
better 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 stand to it; I do well to be
angry. 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
beside himself, for they thought none but a madman would lose
his preferment, and hazard his life, for his religion and
conscience.
II. The meekness and mercifulness of Heaven shining in Christ’s reply
to this vile calumny,
1. He denies their charge against him: I have not a devil; as
Paul
I am not mad. 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 Samaritan, 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,
2. He asserts the sincerity of his own intentions: But I honour my
Father. They suggested that he took undue honours to himself, and
derogated from the honour due to God only, both which he denies
here, in saying that he made it his business to honour his Father, and
him only. It also proves that he had not a devil; 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.
3. He complains of the wrong they did him by their calumnies: You do
dishonour me. 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 all men should honour the Son, yet there are many that
dishonour him; 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.
4. He clears himself from the imputation of vain glory, in saying this
concerning himself,
See here,
(1.) His contempt of worldly honour: I seek not mine own
glory. 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 seek his own glory distinct from his Father’s, nor had any
separate interest of his own. For men to search their own glory
is not glory indeed
but rather their shame to be so much out in their aim. This
comes in here as a reason why Christ made so light of their reproaches:
“You do dishonour me, but cannot disturb me, shall not disquiet
me, for I seek not my own glory.” Note, Those who are dead to
men’s praise can safely bear their contempt.
(2.) His comfort under worldly dishonour: There is one that
seeketh and judgeth. In two things Christ made it appear that he
sought not his own glory; and here he tells us what satisfied
him as to both.
[1.] He did not court men’s respect, but was indifferent to it,
and in reference to this he saith, “There is one that seeketh,
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
their honour that do not seek their own; for before
honour is humility.
[2.] He did not revenge men’s affronts, but was unconcerned at
them, and in reference to this he saith, “There is one that
judgeth, 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
I heard not, for thou wilt hear. 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, there is one that
judgeth.
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees |
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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 it,
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.
In these verses we have,
I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down,
It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface, Verily, verily, I
say unto you, which commands both attention and assent, and this is
what he says, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see
death. Here we have,
1. The character of a believer: he is one that keeps the
sayings of the Lord Jesus, ton logon ton emon—my
word; that word of mine which I have delivered to you; this
we must not only receive, but keep; not only have,
but hold. 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 without spot
keep it as a trust committed to us, keep in it as our way, keep to it
as our rule.
2. The privilege of a believer: He shall by no means see
death for ever; so it is in the original. Not as if the bodies of
believers were secured from the stroke of death. No, even the
children of the Most High must die like men, and the
followers of Christ have been, more than other men, in deaths often,
and killed all the day long; how then is this promise made good
that they shall not see death? 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 terminate in death, as theirs does who
live by sense; 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 see it not.
(2.) The power of death is so broken that though there is no remedy,
but they must see death, yet they shall not see death for
ever, shall not be always shut up under its arrests, the day will
come when death shall be swallowed up in victory.
(3.) They are perfectly delivered from eternal death, shall not
be hurt of the second death. That is the death especially meant
here, that death which is for ever, which is opposed to
everlasting life; this they shall never see, for they shall never
come into condemnation; they shall have their everlasting lot where
there will be no more death, where they cannot die any
more,
Luke xx. 36.
Though now they cannot avoid seeing death, and tasting it too, yet they
shall shortly be there where it will be seen no more for ever,
Exod. xiv. 13.
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: Now we know that thou hast a devil.
Abraham is dead. Observe here,
1. Their railing: “Now we know that thou hast a devil, 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 mad, why did they
say
(v. 48),
before they had that proof, Thou hast a devil? But this is the
method of malice, first to fasten an invidious charge, and then
to fish for evidence of it: Now we know that thou hast a
devil. If he had not abundantly proved himself a teacher come
from God, 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 twelve tribes
hoped to come,
Acts xxvi. 7.
2. Their reasoning, and the colour they had to run him
down thus. In short, they look upon him as guilty of an
insufferable piece of arrogance, in making himself greater than
Abraham and the prophets: Abraham is dead, and the
prophets, 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 kept God’s sayings, and were obedient
to them; and yet,
(3.) It is true that they died; they never pretended to
have, much less to give, immortality, but every one in
his own order was gathered to his people. It was their honour
that they died in faith, but die they must. Why should a good
man be afraid to die, when Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead?
They have tracked 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, If a man keep my
sayings, he shall never taste death. Tasting death means the same
thing with seeing it; and well may death be represented as
grievous to several of the senses, which is the destruction of
them all. 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
Abraham and the prophets were dead, for God is still the God
of Abraham and the God of the holy prophets
(Rev. xxii. 6);
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 seen nor tasted 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 obtained a far more excellent name than
they. Therefore, instead of inferring from Christ’s making himself
greater than Abraham that he had a devil, 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, Whom makest thou
thyself? 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.
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 day of his
patience.
1. In his answer he insists not upon his own testimony concerning
himself, but waives it as not sufficient nor conclusive
(v. 54):
If I honour myself, my honour is nothing, ean ego
doxazo—if I glorify myself. Note, Self-honour is no
honour; and the affectation of glory is both the forfeiture and the
defeasance of it: it is not glory
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 vain-glory.
Self-admirers are self-deceivers. Our Lord Jesus was not one
that honoured himself, as they represented him; he was
crowned by him who is the fountain of honour, and glorified not
himself to be made a high priest,
2. He refers himself to his Father, God; and to their
father, Abraham.
(1.) To his Father, God: It is my Father that honoureth me. By
this he means,
[1.] That he derived 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 laid help upon him, that lodged all fulness
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 depended upon his Father for all the honour he
further looked for. 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 which he had with the Father before the
world was. He aimed at an advancement with which the Father was to
exalt him, a name he was to give him,
Phil. ii. 8, 9.
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,
First, He here takes occasion to show the reason of their
incredulity, notwithstanding this testimony–and this was their
unacquaintedness 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 say of him that he is your God, yet you have not
known him.” Here observe,
a. The profession they made of relation to God: “You say that
he is your God, 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,”
Note, Many pretend to have an interest in God, and say that he is
theirs, who yet have no just cause to say so. Those who called
themselves the temple of the Lord, having profaned the
excellency of Jacob, did but trust in lying words. What will it
avail us to say, He is our God, if we be not in sincerity his
people, 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 by us will be improved against
us.
b. Their ignorance of him, and estrangement from him,
notwithstanding this profession: Yet you have not known him.
(a.) You know him not at all. 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 caused people to
forget God’s name by their dreams,
Jer. xxiii. 27.
Or,
(b.) You know him not aright, 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 not know him. You say that he is yours,
and it is natural to us to desire to know our own, yet you
know him not. Note, There are many who claim-kindred 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 speak this to their
shame,
1 Cor. xv. 34.
Multitudes satisfy themselves, but deceive themselves, with a titular
relation to an unknown God. This Christ charges upon the Jews
here,
[a.] 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.
[b.] 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 gospel of Christ is because
they have not the knowledge of God. Men submit not to the
righteousness of Christ because they are ignorant of God’s
righteousness,
Rom. x. 3.
They that know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put
together,
Secondly, He gives them the reason of his assurance that
his Father would honour him and own him: But I know him;
and again, I know him; which bespeaks, not only his
acquaintance with him, having lain in his bosom, but his
confidence in him, to stand by him, and bear him out in his
whole undertaking; as was prophesied concerning him
(Isa. l. 7, 8),
I know that I shall not be ashamed, for he is near that
justifies; and as Paul, “I know whom I have believed
(2 Tim. i. 12),
I know him to be faithful, and powerful, and heartily engaged in the
cause which I know to be his own.” Observe,
1. How he professes his knowledge of his Father, with the
greatest certainty, as one that was neither afraid nor ashamed to own
it: If I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unto
you. 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
Mr. Clark observes well, upon this, that it is a great sin to deny God’s
grace in us.
2. How he proves his knowledge of his Father: I know him and
keep his sayings, or his word. Christ, as man, was obedient
to the moral law, and, as Redeemer, to the mediatorial law; and in both
he kept his Father’s word, and his own word with the
Father. Christ requires of us
(v. 51)
that we keep his sayings; and he has set before us a copy of
obedience, a copy without a blot: he kept his Father’s sayings;
well might he who learned obedience teach it; see
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,
Hereby we know that we know him (and do not only fancy it),
if we keep his commandments.
(2.) Christ refers them to their father, whom they boasted so
much of a relation to, and that was Abraham, and this closes the
discourse.
[1.] Christ asserts Abraham’s prospect of him, and respect to him:
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was
glad,
v. 56.
And by this he proves that he was not at all out of the way when he
made himself greater than Abraham. Two things he here speaks of
as instances of that patriarch’s respect to the promised Messiah:–
First, The ambition he had to see his day: He rejoiced,
egalliasto—he leaped at it. The word, though it
commonly signifies rejoicing, must here signify a transport of
desire rather than of joy, for otherwise the latter part
of
would be a tautology; he saw it, and was glad. He reached
out, or stretched himself forth, that he might see my
day; as Zaccheus, that ran before, and climbed the tree, to see
Jesus. The notices he had received of the Messiah to come had
raised in him an expectation of something great, 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
Who? and What? and Where? and When? and
How? And thus the prophets of the Old Testament, having a
general idea of a grace that should come, searched diligently
(1 Pet. i. 10),
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
(Gen. xv. 14);
but he never leaped 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 seed as he did upon the promised land; in
that he was, but to the other 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 angels desire to
look into, 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.
Secondly, The satisfaction he had in what he did see of it:
He saw it, and was glad. Observe here,
a. How God gratified the pious desire of Abraham; he longed to
see Christ’s day, and he saw it. 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 afterwards 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?
(a.) 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,
(b.) It is more commonly understood of some sight he had of
Christ’s day in this world. They that received not the
promises, yet saw them afar off,
Heb. xi. 13.
Balaam saw Christ, but not now, not nigh. 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 shut up, and sealed
unto the time of the end,
Dan. xii. 4.
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 made like unto the Son of God, 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
Jehovah-jireh–It shall be seen, intimates that he saw something
more in it than others did, which time would produce; and in making his
servant put his hand under his thigh, when he swore, he had a
regard to the Messiah.
b. How Abraham entertained these discoveries of Christ’s
day, and bade them welcome: He saw, and was glad. He was glad of
what he saw of God’s favour to himself, and glad of what he
foresaw 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
for that was not a laughter of distrust as Sarah’s but of joy; in that
promise he saw Christ’s day, and it filled him with joy
unspeakable. 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.
[2.] The Jews cavil at this, and reproach him for it
(v. 57):
Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Here, First, They suppose that if Abraham saw him and his day he
also had seen Abraham, which yet was not a necessary innuendo,
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. Secondly, They suppose it a very absurd
thing for him to pretend to have seen Abraham, who was dead so
many ages before he was born. The state of the dead is an
invisible state; but here they ran upon the old mistake,
understanding that corporally which Christ spoke spiritually. Now this
gave them occasion to despise his youth, and to upbraid him with
it, as if he were but of yesterday, and knew nothing: Thou
art not yet fifty years old. They might as well have said, Thou
art not forty; 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, Advers. Hæres. lib. 2, cap. 39, 40.
See what little credit is to be given to tradition; and, as to this
here, the Jews spoke at random; 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
(Num. iv. 47),
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: his visage was so
marred,
Isa. lii. 14.
[3.] Our Saviour gives an effectual answer to this cavil, by a solemn
assertion of his own seniority even to Abraham himself
(v. 58):
“Verily, verily, I say unto you; I do not only say it in private
to my own disciples, who will be sure to say as I say, but to
you my enemies and persecutors; I say it to your faces, take it how
you will: Before Abraham was, I am;” prin Abraam
genesthai, ego eimi, Before Abraham was made or born, I
am. The change of the word is observable, and bespeaks Abraham a
creature, and himself the Creator; well therefore might he make himself
greater than Abraham. Before Abraham he was, First, As
God. I am, is the name of God
it denotes his self-existence; he does not say, I was, but I
am, for he is the first and the last, immutably the same
(Rev. i. 8);
thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds,
ch. i. 1; Prov. viii. 23.
Secondly, As Mediator. He was the appointed Messiah, long
before Abraham; the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
(Rev. xiii. 8),
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
(Heb. xiii. 8),
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.
[4.] This great word ended the dispute abruptly, 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
that when the messenger of the covenant should come to his
temple they would not abide the day of his coming, because
he would be like a refiner’s fire. Observe here,
First, How they were enraged at Christ for what he said:
They took up stones to cast at him,
v. 59.
Perhaps they looked upon him as a blasphemer, and such were indeed to
be stoned
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. They took up
stones. 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,
Secondly, How he made his escape out of their hands.
1. He absconded; Jesus hid himself;
ekrybe—he was hid, 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 lost in a
crowd); or perhaps he concealed himself behind some of the walls or
pillars of the temple (in the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide
me,
Ps. xxvii. 5);
or by a divine power, casting a mist before their eyes, he made himself
invisible to them. When the wicked rise a man is hidden, a wise
and good man,
Not that Christ was afraid or ashamed to stand by what he had said, but
his hour was not yet come, 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,
2. He departed, he went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, undiscovered, and so passed
by. 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,
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 offered
himself,
ch. x. 18.
They now thought they had made sure of him and yet he passed through
the midst of them, either their eyes being blinded or their hands
tied, and thus he left them to fume, like a lion disappointed of his
prey.
(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, When they persecute you in
one city flee to another; nay, if occasion be, to a
wilderness, for so Elijah did
and the woman, the church,
When they took up loose stones to throw at Christ, he could have
commanded the fixed stones, which did cry out of the wall
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 prayed him to depart) 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 loth to depart, he
bade oft farewell; but at last he abandoned it for ever, and
left it desolate. Christ now went through 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.”
Longe falluntur, cum templum se habere putant Deo vacuum. When
Christ left them it is said that he passed by silently and unobserved;
paregen houtos, so that they were not aware of him. Note,
Christ’s departures from a church, or a particular soul, are often
secret, and not soon taken notice of. As the kingdom of God
comes not, so it goes not, with observation. See
Samson wist not that the Lord was departed from him. Thus it was
with these forsaken Jews, God left them, and they never missed him.
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