John 8:48-57

⁴⁸The 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 honor My Father and you dishonor Me. ⁵⁰I am not seeking glory for Myself; but there is One who seeks it, and He is the judge. ⁵¹I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death." ⁵²At 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. ⁵³Are You greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do You think You are?" ⁵⁴Jesus replied, "If I glorify Myself, My glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the One who glorifies Me. ⁵⁵Though 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. ⁵⁶Your 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!"

The Jews find nothing of substance to say against Jesus, so they resort to name-calling in an effort to ridicule or taunt Him. Clearly lacking judgment, the Jews lash out in a verbal attack against Him, foolishly calling Jesus a demon-possessed Samaritan. They reckoned Samaritans to be apostate corrupters of the law; a demon possessed one must really be a lunatic! In response, Jesus refuted only the charge of demon-possession. Augustine suggests that Jesus was not afraid to identify with all of the elect, including those from Samaria, which He would be visiting soon (chapter 4). Calling Jesus a Samaritan was no big deal; but calling Him demon-possessed was, of course, blasphemous. Thus Jesus turned “the other cheek,” and rather than defending Himself against these outrageous statements, He decided to uphold the name of the Father for His glory.

In v51, Jesus claimed once again that eternal life could only come to the one who believed (and lived) the truths that Jesus was teaching – the Gospel. “If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.” And at this statement, the hardened Jews are made more confident that Jesus is truly demon-possessed. He is claiming that the one who keeps His word will never die. That is pretty crazy to an unbeliever. And these unbelievers are stupefied. Yet Jesus speaks of believers – who will experience death – as passing from the earthly realm to the heavenly kingdom. There will be no heavenly kingdom for unbelievers. They proclaim that even Abraham died along with the prophets, so the wonder how Jesus could dare to make a statement such as what He said. They are only perceiving physical words and sensing no spiritual meaning behind them. It’s what we’ve been saying all along (1 Corinthians 2:14). And they are driven by this logic to ask Jesus, “Are you greater than our father Abraham? Who do You think You are?”

They wrongly compare Abraham and the prophets to Jesus, as if the stars can be noticed in the presence of our sun. Jesus’ light makes the light of the other notables of the faith fade away. Notice they are still referring to Abraham as their father in asking this question; and notice that they are asking Jesus to tell them who He thinks He is. Of course, they are asking somewhat rhetorically, as a method of rebuke. It’s like, “How dare You say such things!” But the question is important. Who does Jesus think He is?

Jesus responds to this question with an indirect answer: “I am the One who knows the Father and keeps His Word.” He is not seeking His own glory, as the Jews accuse Him of doing. And He is certainly not looking for them to glorify Him; rather, He desires only the glory that the Father will give Him; Jesus desires God’s glory. So let us seek the glory of Christ, who makes us to share in His glory by His grace. When Jesus says in v54 that Jews claim Jesus’ Father as their God, He implies that they don’t know God; they don’t know Jesus’ Father. We learn that a true profession of faith is that which proceeds from true knowledge. And knowledge comes from Spirit through the Word. Consequently, all who boast in the name of God without agreement with the Word of God are hypocrites (called liars here). And in v55, Jesus explains that He must testify of His Father, because He does know Him. If He did not testify of the Father, He would be a hypocrite (liar) like them. Since silence would be a treacherous denial of the truth for Jesus, it ought to be likewise for His true disciples. That God reveals Himself to us for the purpose of confessing to the world the faith we have in our hearts is remarkable; it ought powerfully to strike terror into our minds, that hypocrites who either deny the truth of God or disfigure it for the sake of political correctness, are not simply gently reproved, but are rebuked as children of the devil (1 John 5:3; 2 John 6). Speak up!

In v56, Jesus explains that “their father” Abraham rejoiced, because he believed in the Christ who was to come; Abraham longed for Messiah when He was absent, while these Jews despise Messiah when He is present. Jesus displays that they are by no means true sons of Abraham, for they share not the faith of Abraham. Jesus’ assertion concerning Abraham applies to all the saints. Whoever desires to be reckoned in the number of the godly, let him rejoice, as he ought to do, in the presence of Christ, for which Abraham ardently longed. Jesus concludes that Abraham saw the day of Messiah and was glad. Commentators disagree on this statement, but the Jews take Jesus to mean that He has seen Abraham. And by declaring that Jesus was not yet fifty, the Jews allow Him room to be much older than He was (did He look old?); it still wasn’t going to be enough, they thought, because Abraham had lived two thousand years earlier and had long been deceased. The Jews thereby ridicule His claim to know anything about Abraham’s faith. They’re thinking, “How dare He say anything about Abraham!” They mistakenly esteemed Abraham as being far greater than Jesus; yet Abraham could not give eternal life, and Jesus is the Life.