Joh 8:12-19 | RWP | e4.org | Again therefore ( παλιν ουν ). This language fits in better with than with . Just suppose Jesus is in the temple on the following day. Unto them ( αυτοις ). The Pharisees and crowds in the temple after the feast was past. I am the light of the world ( εγω ειμ το φως του κοσμου ). Jesus had called his followers "the light of the world" ( ), but that was light reflected from him. Already Jesus (the Logos) had been called the true light of men ( ; ). The Psalmist calls God his Light ( ). So . At the feast of tabernacles in the Court of the Women where Jesus was on this day ( ) there were brilliant candelabra and there was the memory of the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. But with all this background this supreme and exclusive claim of Jesus (repeated in ) to being the light of the whole world (of Gentiles as well as of Jews) startled the Pharisees and challenged their opposition. Shall have the light of life ( εξε το φως της ζωης ). The light which springs from and issues in life (Westcott). Cf. , about Jesus being the Bread of Life. In this sublime claim we come to a decisive place. It will not do to praise Jesus and deny his deity. Only as the Son of God can we justify and accept this language which otherwise is mere conceit and froth.

‏ John 8:12-19

Again therefore ( παλιν ουν ). This language fits in better with 7:52 than with 8:11. Just suppose Jesus is in the temple on the following day.

Unto them ( αυτοις ). The Pharisees and crowds in the temple after the feast was past.

I am the light of the world ( εγω ειμ το φως του κοσμου ). Jesus had called his followers "the light of the world" (Mt 5:14), but that was light reflected from him. Already Jesus (the Logos) had been called the true light of men (1:9; 3:19). The Psalmist calls God his Light (27:1). So Isa 60:19. At the feast of tabernacles in the Court of the Women where Jesus was on this day (8:20) there were brilliant candelabra and there was the memory of the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night. But with all this background this supreme and exclusive claim of Jesus (repeated in 9:5) to being the light of the whole world (of Gentiles as well as of Jews) startled the Pharisees and challenged their opposition.

Shall have the light of life ( εξε το φως της ζωης ). The light which springs from and issues in life (Westcott). Cf. 6:33, 51 about Jesus being the Bread of Life. In this sublime claim we come to a decisive place. It will not do to praise Jesus and deny his deity. Only as the Son of God can we justify and accept this language which otherwise is mere conceit and froth.

Of thyself ( περ σεαυτου ). This technical objection was according to the rules of evidence among the rabbis. "No man can give witness for himself" (Mishnah, Ketub. 11. 9). Hence, they say, "not true" ( ουκ αληθες ), not pertinent. "They were still in the region of pedantic rules and external tests." In Joh 5:31 Jesus acknowledged this technical need of further witness outside of his own claims (Joh 19-30) and proceeded to give it (Joh 32-47) in the testimony of the Baptist, of the Father, of his works, of the Scriptures, and of Moses in particular.

Even if ( καν ). That is κα εαν, a condition of the third class with the present active subjunctive μαρτυρω. Jesus means that his own witness concerning himself is true ( αληθες ) even if it contravenes their technical rules of evidence. He can and does tell the truth all by himself concerning himself.

For I know whence I came and whither I go ( οτ οιδα ποθεν ηλθον κα που υπαγω ). In this terse sentence with two indirect questions Jesus alludes to his pre-existence with the Father before his Incarnation as in 17:5 and to the return to the Father after the death and resurrection as in 13:3; 14:2f. He again puts both ideas together in one crisp clause in 16:28 for the apostles who profess to understand him then. But here these Pharisees are blind to the words of Jesus. "But ye know not whence I come nor whither I go" ( υμεις δε ουκ οιδατε ποθεν ερχομα η που υπαγω ). He had spoken of his heavenly destiny (7:33). Jesus alone knew his personal consciousness of his coming from, fellowship with, and return to the Father. Stier (Words of the Lord Jesus) argues that one might as well say to the sun, if claiming to be the sun, that it was night, because it bore witness of itself. The answer is the shining of the sun.

After the flesh ( κατα την σαρκα ). According to the standards of the flesh (2Co 5:16). The Baptist had said: "There stands one among you whom ye know not" (Joh 1:26). The Light of the World had come, but they loved darkness rather than light (3:19), because the god of this age had blinded their thoughts so that they could not see the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God (2Co 4:4).

Yea and if I judge ( κα εαν κρινω δε εγω ). "And even if I pass judgment." Condition of third class again.

True (althin). See 1:9 for αληθινος, genuine, soundly based (cf. δικαια in 5:30), "satisfying our perfect conception" (Westcott), not merely true ( αληθες ) in the particular facts (verse 14).

For I am not alone ( οτ μονος ουκ ειμ ). Jesus now takes up the technical criticism in verse 13 after justifying his right to speak concerning himself.

But I and the Father that sent me ( αλλ εγω κα ο πεμψας με πατηρ ). See 16:32 for a like statement about the Father being with Christ. It is not certain that πατηρ is genuine here (omitted by Aleph D, but in B L W), but the Father is clearly meant as in 7:18, 33. Jesus gives the Father as the second witness.

Yea and in your law ( κα εν τω νομω δε τω υμετερω ). Same use of και--δε as in verse 16. They claimed possession of the law (7:49) and so Jesus takes this turn in answer to the charge of single witness in verse 13. He will use similar language (your law) in 10:34 in an argumentum ad hominem as here in controversy with the Jews. In 15:24 to the apostles Jesus even says "in their law" in speaking of the hostile Jews plotting his death. He does not mean in either case to separate himself wholly from the Jews and the law, though in Matthew 5 he does show the superiority of his teaching to that of the law. For the Mosaic regulation about two witnesses see De 17:6; 19:15. This combined witness of two is not true just because they agree, unless true in fact separately. But if they disagree, the testimony falls to the ground. In this case the Father confirms the witness of the Son as Jesus had already shown (5:37).

The Father ( ο πατηρ ). Clearly genuine here. So these are the two witnesses that Jesus presents to the Pharisees in defence of his claim to be the Light of the World (verse 12).

Where is thy Father? ( που εστιν ο πατηρ σου; ). "The testimony of an unseen and unheard witness would not satisfy them" (Vincent). Bernard understands the Pharisees to see that Jesus claims God the Father as his second witness and so ask "where," not "who" he is. Augustine has it: Patrem Christi carnaliter acceperunt, Christ's human father, as if the Pharisees were "misled perhaps by the Lord's use of ανθρωπον (verse 17)" (Dods). Cyril even took it to be a coarse allusion to the birth of Jesus as a bastard according to the Talmud. Perhaps the Pharisees used the question with double entendre, even with all three ideas dancing in their hostile minds.

Ye would know my Father also ( κα τον πατερα μου αν ηιδειτε ). Conclusion of second-class condition determined as unfulfilled with αν and second perfect active of οιδα used as imperfect in both condition and conclusion. See this same point made to Philip in 14:9. In 14:7 Jesus will use γινωσκω in the condition and οιδα in the conclusion. The ignorance of the Pharisees about Jesus proves it and is due to their ignorance of the Father. See this point more fully stated in 5:36-38 when Jesus had his previous controversy in Jerusalem. In 7:28 Jesus said that they knew his home in Nazareth, but he denied then that they knew the Father who sent him. Jesus will again on this occasion (8:55) deny their knowledge of the Father. Later he will deny their knowledge of the Father and of the Son (16:3). The Pharisees are silenced for the moment.