(These notes were prepared as part of a series of teachings on John’s gospel, given in Pretoria in 2008 and 2009.)
John 8:48: The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”
49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honour my Father and you dishonour me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
52 At this the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”
57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” the Jews said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”
58 “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.
In our previous study we considered the basis on which Jesus called the Pharisees ‘children of the devil’. His own claim to being the Son of God was not founded, as theirs was, on pedigree or ethnicity – but on the criterion that ‘the Son does only what he sees the Father doing. The Father loves the Son and shows him all that he does’ (John 5:19-20).
Jesus determined the Pharisees’ paternity on the same basis. Since Satan is the antagonist and opponent of God, those who would oppose God are doing Satan’s work – regardless their supposed birthright – and are thus his children. If Jesus was doing only what the Father showed him, then the Pharisees were opposing God by opposing him. This made them children of the Opponent, who is Satan the Devil, and this is what Jesus told them.
While the Pharisees relied on their natural descent from Abraham, by which they claimed to be heirs of the promise, John the Baptist had already warned: ‘out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.’ Since the promise was confirmed and sworn to Abraham on account of his faith, those who claimed a share in Abraham’s inheritance had likewise to share his faithfulness.
The Pharisees retort with a counter accusation, namely that Jesus is a ‘Samaritan’ and ‘having a demon’. These were the conclusions they had reached, probably from the reports of the deputations sent to investigate him (Mark 7:1; Luke 5:17). While Samaritanwas usually a ‘half-Jew’ resident in the territory between Jerusalem and Galilee, the name was also used for ‘half-Jews’ more generally. The Rabbis claim – now as they did then – that Jesus was the illegitimate progeny of Mary and a Roman soldier – which, if it were the case, would fit him for that description.
At the same time, Jesus was accused of being demon possessed. From Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (p. 1039 of the Hendrickson edition), we learn that the Rabbis understood demon possession to result from impurity or uncleanness. Quoting from Siphré on Deut.18:12, ‘He who joins himself (cleaves) to uncleanness, on him hangs the spirit of uncleanness; but he who cleaves to the shechinah, it is meet that the Holy Spirit should rest on him.’ Its comment on Deut. 32:16 states further: ‘What is the way of a demon? He enters into a man and subjects him’.
(This forms an interesting parallel to Jesus’ teaching earlier in this chapter, that ‘whoever sins becomes a slave to sin’.)
The early Rabbis understood demon possession to have a moral rather than a physical effect. One of the things that a demon could supposedly do was to make a man travel more on the Sabbath than permitted by the rabbinical law (Tractate Erubhin 41b). In the later writings it is acknowledged that demon possession could also be the cause of many diseases (See Edersheim, p. 1040).
Of the unclean practices that could lead to demon possession, anything received from unwashed hands was considered dangerous. For such a contingency, a whole legion of demons was supposedly on the watch (Tractate Berachot 51a ; cf. Mark 7:1 et seq.).
Whether by Jesus flagrant disregard for the traditions of the rabbis (especially with regard to hand washing and Sabbath regulations), or by the ‘uncleanness’ of his supposed illegitimate birth, the Pharisees inferred that he was demon-possessed. Yet they had nothing to say in response to his challenge of verse 46: ‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin?’
The Rabbis moreover held that Jesus did his miracles by magic arts, which he learnt as youth while in Egypt (Tractate Shabbat 104b). As Jesus’ miracles could not be denied, the Pharisees postulated this alternative as the basis for his powers. The Rabbinical teaching that magic and spells could have no power over an Israelite – as long as he held to and remained in obedience to YHVH (Tractate Nedarim 32a) – explains why the Pharisee’s always disparaged those healed by Messiah as sinners. (See in chapter 8, their accusation against the man born blind: ‘you were steeped in sin from birth!’ )
At verses 49-51, Jesus addresses the insinuation of illegitimate birth, by reaffirming the paternity test he established earlier: ‘I am not possessed by a demon,’ said Jesus, ‘but I honour my Father and you dishonour me. I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.’
God is surely the ultimate judge over the identity of His children! It is for Him to show who are His, and who are not. See this response paralleled and further expounded in the answer given at John 5:19-24:
Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he will show him even greater things than these. 21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him.
24 “I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Jesus is the Son of God through his sheer obedience – he does everything by His command and for His honour. For this reason the Father honours the Son with His own glory, entrusting all judgment to him and giving him the power to confer eternal life.
This creates a further controversy. For those who do not know the Law, this claim may well seem preposterous. Who can offer eternal life to anyone, when not even Abraham or Moses attained to it? But the Pharisees, who claimed to see (John 9:41), should have known that the Law of Moses offered only one hope of eternal life, which was by the promise of Deuteronomy 18:18.
Consider the following:
Although the Law offered life through obedience, Israel could not obtain it by that means. Not that the Law was defective, but man was defective, and thus prevented by his sinful nature from meeting the righteous requirements of the Law.
Leviticus 18:4 states: ‘You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.’ But no-one in Israel ever succeeded in obtaining life in this way.
The best that the Law could do was to condemn the sinner and lead him to Messiah. As Paul taught the Romans:
‘Now we know that whatever the Law says, it says to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the Law; rather, through the Law we become conscious of sin.’ (Romans 3:19-20)
Thus, ‘Messiah is the end of the Law’ (Romans 10:4) – i.e. its goal and objective, being the Source of Life to which it leads.
(For more on this topic, refer to the Bible Study notes on Matthew 19 – Life by the Law.)
While the Law did also provide atonement for sin through various sacrifices, these sacrifices testified by their very need for endless repetition, that they were not the final solution, but merely a transitory measure:
‘The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming – not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4 because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.’ (Hebrews 10:1-4)
The Pharisees were convinced that the Law contained the secret of eternal life, but it nowhere contained an express promise to that effect, nor did it offer life except by obedience, which was never complete. This leaves only one place in the entire Law of Moses where eternal life could be found, and that was in Deuteronomy 18.18. Since this verse made provision for a later addition to the Law, through words that God would yet speak, the word-of-life that was hitherto absent from the Torah would have to be added in this way. I.e. eternal life could only come by the word spoken through the prophet like Moses. And here he was, and openly claiming: ‘I am he.’
The Scribes and Pharisees who ‘gazed intently into the Law to find life …’, did yet fail to recognize that what was written in that Law was about Jesus the Messiah!
‘You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.’ (John 5:39-40)
The only explanation for this failure would be that they Rabbis no longer looked to the Law of God, but had in fact shifted their hope to the teachings of men. ‘For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness’ (Romans 10: 2-3).
This is what the LORD accused them of, as early as the time of Jeremiah:
‘My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water.’ (Jeremiah 2:13)
Thus, instead of understanding Jesus’ life giving claim as a further proof that he was indeed the Prophet like Moses, ‘… the Jews exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that if anyone keeps your word, he will never taste death. Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”
Jesus replied, ‘If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.’ (verses 54-56)
We begin our next study at verse 56.