| John 8 | |
|---|---|
_POxy1780.jpg) John 8:14-22 onPapyrus 39 from the 3rd century | |
| Book | Gospel of John |
| Category | Gospel |
| Christian Bible part | New Testament |
| Order in the Christian part | 4 |
John 8 is the eighth chapter in theGospel of John in theNew Testament of theChristianBible. It continues the account ofJesus' debate with thePharisees after theFeast of Tabernacles, which began in theprevious chapter.
Verses 1-11, along withJohn 7:53, form a pericope which is missing from some ancient Greek manuscripts. In verse 12, Jesus describes himself as "thelight of the world" and verse 32 contains the well-known teaching "ye shall know thetruth, andthe truth shall make you free". In verses 56–58, Jesus claims to havepre-existed or (according tonon-Trinitarian interpretations) been foreordained,[citation needed] beforeAbraham. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am."[1]
The original text was written inKoine Greek.This chapter is divided into 59 verses. Some earlymanuscripts containing the text of this chapter (but seebelow regarding verses 1-11) are:
The first eleven verses in chapter 8 are usually grouped with a previous verse,John 7:53, to form a passage known as "Pericope adulterae" or "Pericope de Adultera". It is considered canonical, but not found in some ancient Greek manuscripts of theNew Testament (such asP66,P75,Codex Sinaiticus,Codex Vaticanus) and some old translations.[3] Most manuscripts that contain the text place it afterJohn 7:52, probably because of the words 'neither do I condemn you' in8:11, which are comparable toJohn 8:15.[3] Some manuscripts place it afterJohn 7:36,John 7:44, orJohn 21:25, whereas a group of manuscripts known as the "Ferrar group" place it after Luke 21:38.[3]
The style of the story may be compared with Luke 7:36–50, and could be called a 'biographical apophthegm', in which a saying of Jesus may have been developed into the story of a woman caught in adultery. Here, as in theSynoptic Gospels, Jesus does not reject the law directly but criticizes those who 'apply it mechanically', for the law should be interpreted 'in the light of God's mercy for sinners'.[3]
At the end of theFeast of Tabernacles, Jesus goes overnight to theMount of Olives (John 8:1), "lodging probably in the house ofLazarus", according to theExpositor's Greek Testament,[4] whilst everyone else "goes home" (John 7:53). This is the only mention of theMount of Olives in John's Gospel, although it is also referred to inJohn 18:1, "Jesus crossed theKidron Valley with hisdisciples and entered a grove ofolive trees". Jesus returns to theTemple early the next morning.
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TheMount of Olives is a hill running north to south about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) long, directly east ofJerusalem across theKidron Valley; named for the large number ofolive trees that grew on it.[6]
There is dispute over the authenticity of the passage. It appears in theKing James Version but modernEnglish translations note that it is not present in the 'most reliable early manuscripts' of John, and therefore suggest that it is unlikely to have been part of the original text. H. W. Watkins notes that the Jewish "scribes" (verse 3) are not referred to elsewhere in this Gospel.[12] Until recently, it was not thought that anyGreek Church Father had taken note of the passage before the 12th century; but in 1941 a large collection of the writings ofDidymus the Blind (ca. 313–398) was discovered in Egypt, including a reference to thepericope adulterae (in Didymus' commentary onEcclesiastes:7:21–22[3]) as being found in "several copies", and it is now considered established that this passage was present in its usual place in some Greek manuscripts known inAlexandria and elsewhere from the 4th century onwards. In support of this it is noted that the 4th-centuryCodex Vaticanus, which was written in Egypt, marks the end ofJohn chapter 7 with an umlaut, indicating that an alternative reading was known at this point.
Jerome reports that thepericope adulterae was to be found in its usual place in "many Greek and Latin manuscripts" in Rome and the Latin West in the late 4th century. This is confirmed by someLatin Fathers of the 4th and 5th centuries CE, includingAmbrose andAugustine. The latter claimed that the passage may have been improperly excluded from some manuscripts in order to avoid the impression that Christ had sanctioned adultery:
Certain persons of little faith, or rather enemies of the true faith, fearing, I suppose, lest their wives should be given impunity in sinning, removed from their manuscripts the Lord's act of forgiveness toward the adulteress, as if he who had said, Sin no more, had granted permission to sin.[13]
Papias (circa AD 125) refers to a story of Jesus and a woman "accused of many sins" as being found in theGospel of the Hebrews, which may refer to this passage (as cited in Eusebius, H.E 3.39.17).[3] There is a very certain quotation of thepericope adulterae in the 3rd-century SyriacDidascalia Apostolorum 8.2, though without indicating John's Gospel.[3] TheConstitutions of the Holy Apostles Book II.24 refers to the passage "And when the elders had set another woman who had sinned before Him, and had left the sentence to Him, and were gone out, our Lord, the Searcher of the hearts, inquiring of her whether the elders had condemned her, and being answered No, He said unto her: 'Go thy way therefore, for neither do I condemn thee.'" Book II is generally dated to the late third century (Von Drey, Krabbe, Bunsen, Funk).[14]Codex Fuldensis, which is positively dated to AD 546 contains the adulterae pericope. The Second Epistle of Pope Callistus section 6[15] contains a quote that may be fromJohn 8:11: "Let him see to it that he sin no more, that the sentence of the Gospel may abide in him: 'Go, and sin no more.'" However the epistle quotes from eighth-century writings and is not thought to be genuine.[16]
Almost all modern translations now include thePericope de Adultera atJohn 7:53-8:11, but some enclose it in brackets or add a note concerning the oldest and most reliable witnesses.
Jesus describes himself as "theLight of the World", revisiting a theme of thePrologue to the Gospel:
Jesus' statement is discontinuous both with the narrative ofJohn 7:53–8:11, everyone but the woman having left the Temple convicted by their ownconsciences, and with the preceding verse,John 7:52, whereNicodemus the Pharisee had been urged by the other members of theSanhedrin to re-examine thescriptures on the issue of whether aprophet could come fromGalilee. TheologianHeinrich Meyer attempts to find a connection:
Some have pointed out that Jesus's likening himself to light in this verse and his likening himself to water in 7:37-39 seem to be a reference to water and light rituals on the last day of the Feast of Booths orSukkot, the setting of these chapters (7:2, 37).[19]
ThePharisees complain that Jesus bears witness to himself, an issue also addressed in the Prologue:
The assertion being made is not that Jesus' statement isuntrue, but that it is not valid astestimony,[21] insufficient,[22] or "cannot be verified".[23] In the same way, Jesus has already said atJohn 5:31, "If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is not true".
Greek:ἐγὼ μαρτυρῶ περὶ ἐμαυτοῦ, (egō marturō peri emautou): the expressed ἐγώ indicates that Jesus is an exception to the rule, the reason being that "He knows whence He comes and whither He goes ... He knows His origin and His destiny. He knows Himself, and therefore the rule mentioned has no application to Him."[4]
Various commentators allow qualifications to the words "I judge no one", for exampleGeorge Leo Haydock reads the words as "I judge no one in this manner", contrasting with the Pharisees' mode of judgment,[26] whileJoseph Benson adds "Not thus; not now; not at myfirst coming".[9]
After stating that many of Jesus' hearers believed in him (John 8:30), the narrative moves Jesus' dialogue from the Pharisees to the Jews who had believed in him (Greek:τους πεπιστευκοτας αυτω ιουδαιους; verse 31). Many English translations have "Jews who believed in Him".[27] Watkins identifies a contrast and "perhaps, something of wonder", in the idea that there were Jews who were believers.[12] The tone of verses 31 to 59 is critical and argumentative with this group; thePulpit Commentary finds them to be believers of "the most imperfect kind", who "accepted the Messianic claims [of Jesus], but persisted in interpreting them, not by his word, but by their own ideas of the theocratic kingdom, by their privileges as children ofAbraham, by theirnational animosity to their nearest neighbours theSamaritans, by their inability to press behind the veil of his humanity to his Divine nature".[28]
American theologianJ. Louis Martyn suggested that John's Gospel could be read on two levels, portraying events and contesting controversies in the early church through a narrative portraying the life and teaching of Jesus.[29] Such a reading suggests a controversy regarding Jewish partial-believers in Jesus as the Messiah who, according to the evangelist, did not accept the whole "truth" of orthodox Christian teaching and maintained that their covenantal relationship with God was rooted in the Abrahamic tradition rather than the salvation (freedom) offered by Jesus. For this group of Jews, the fundamentalcredal proposition was that "Abraham is our father" (first arm ofJohn 8:39). The evangelist's response is to acknowledge that they are indeed the descendants of Abraham (John 8:37 and second arm ofJohn 8:39), but to explore the behavior which should follow: "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham." Instead, "you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God" (John 8:40). The Pulpit Commentary notes this phrase as "the only place [in the gospels] where the Lord speaks of himself as 'a man'",[28] although the threat to kill "a man" can also be read as indicating that the Jews threatened to kill those proclaiming the message which the evangelist identifies as the true gospel (John 8:32).
InJohn 8:48, Jesus is accused of being a Samaritan and beingdemon-possessed. He denies having a demon, but makes no comment on the Samaritan accusation. The controversy portrayed as Jesus arguing with "the Jews who had believed in Him" continues through to verse 59. Jesus states that the current times fulfil Abraham's hopes and that Abraham saw this time and "was glad" (John 8:56). The Jews' response is that Jesus is not yet fifty years old, i.e. has not yet reached the age of "full manhood"[12] as indicated inNumbers 4:3,4:39 and8:24. The evangelist brings the chapter to its climax with Jesus' words, "before Abraham was, I AM" (John 8:58), words which inevitably are interpreted as Jesus "[taking] to Himself the Divine Name"[30] and so they "prepare to stone Him for blasphemy".[30] The evangelist ends the narrative with a verse in which Jesus evades their violent response and leaves the Temple. Some manuscripts add Jesus "going through the midst of them, and so passed by". Alfred Plummer, in theCambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, states that "these words are apparently an insertion, and probably an adaptation ofLuke 4:30. No English Version previous to the one of 1611 contains the passage".[30]
| Preceded by John 7 | Chapters of the Bible Gospel of John | Succeeded by John 9 |