"The Truth Shall Make You Free"
John 8:30-59
From John Calvin, Commentary
on the Gospel According to John, Vol. I, trans. Rev. William Pringle (Grand
Rapids: Baker, 2003), 340-363, emphasis added and English updated.
JOHN 8:30-38
30.
While He spoke these things,
many believed on Him. 31. Jesus therefore said to the Jews who believed
on Him, If you continue in My word, you shall be truly My disciples. 32.
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33. They
answered, We are Abraham’s seed, and never were enslaved to any one; how then do
You say, You shall be free? 34. Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say
to you, That every man who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35. And the
slave does not remain always in the house, but the son remains always. 36.
If the Son then shall make you free, you shall be truly free. 37. I
know that you are the seed of Abraham, but you seek to kill Me, because My word
does not dwell in you. 38. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and
you do what you have seen with your father.
Hypocrisy
30.
While he spoke these things.
Though the Jews, at
that time, almost resembled a dry and barren soil, yet God did not permit the
seed of His word to be entirely lost. Thus, contrary to all hopes, and amidst so
many obstructions, some fruit appears. But the Evangelist inaccurately gives the
name of faith to that which was only a sort of preparation for faith.
For he affirms nothing higher concerning them than that they were disposed to
receive the doctrine of Christ, to which also the preceding warning refers.
31.
If you continue in My word.
Here Christ warns
them, in the first place, that it is not enough for any one to have begun well,
if their progress to the end does not correspond to it; and for this reason he
exhorts to perseverance in the faith those who have tasted of His doctrine. When
He says that they who are firmly rooted in His word, so as to continue
in Him, will truly be His disciples, He means that many profess to be
disciples who yet are not so in reality, and have no right to be
accounted such. He distinguishes His followers from hypocrites by this mark,
that they who falsely boasted of faith give way as soon as they have entered
into the course, or at least in the middle of it; but believers persevere
constantly to the end. If, therefore, we wish that Christ should reckon us
to be His disciples, we must endeavor to persevere.
32.
And you shall know the truth.
He says, that they
who have arrived at some knowledge of it shall know the truth. True,
those whom Christ addresses were as yet uneducated, and scarcely knew the first
elements, and therefore we need not wonder if He promises them a more full
understanding of His doctrine. But the statement is general. Wherefore, whatever
progress any of us have made in the Gospel, let him know that he needs new
additions. This is the reward which Christ bestows on their perseverance, that
He admits them to greater familiarity with Him; though in this way He does
nothing more than add another gift to the former, so that no man ought to think
that he is entitled to any reward. For it is He who impresses His word on our
hearts by His Spirit, and it is He who daily chases away from our minds the
clouds of ignorance which obscure the brightness of the Gospel. In order
that the truth may be fully revealed to us, we ought sincerely and earnestly to
endeavor to attain it. It is the same unvarying truth which Christ teaches His
followers from the beginning to the end, but on those who were at first
enlightened by Him, as it were with small sparks, He at length pours a full
light. Thus believers, until they have been fully confirmed, are in some measure
ignorant of what they know; and yet it is not so small or obscure a knowledge of
faith as not to be efficacious for salvation.
Christian Liberty & Freedom
The truth shall make you free.
He commends the
knowledge of the Gospel from the fruit which we derive from it, or —
which is the same thing — from its effect, namely, that it restores us to
freedom. This is an invaluable blessing. Hence it follows, that nothing
is more excellent or desirable than the knowledge of the Gospel. All men feel
and acknowledge that slavery is a very wretched state; and
since the Gospel delivers us from it, it follows that we derive from the
Gospel the treasure of a blessed life.
We must now ascertain what
kind of liberty is here described by Christ, namely, that which sets
us free from the tyranny of Satan, sin, and death. And if we obtain it
by means of the Gospel, it is evident from this that we are by nature the
slaves of sin. Next, we must ascertain what is the method of our
deliverance. For so long as we are governed by our sense and by our natural
disposition, we are in bondage to sin; but when the Lord regenerates us
by His Spirit, He likewise makes us free, so that, loosed from the snares
of Satan, we willingly obey righteousness. But regeneration proceeds from faith,
and hence it is evident that freedom proceeds from the Gospel.
Let Papists now go and proudly
vaunt of their free-will, but let us, who are conscious of our own slavery,
glory in none but Christ our Deliverer. For the reason why the Gospel ought to
be reckoned to have achieved our deliverance is, that it offers and gives us to
Christ to be freed from the yoke of sin. Lastly, we ought to observe,
that freedom has its degrees according to the measure of their faith; and
therefore Paul, though clearly
made free, still
groans and longs after perfect freedom (Romans 7:24).
33.
We are Abraham’s seed. It is uncertain if the Evangelist here introduces the
same persons who formerly spoke, or others. My opinion is, that they replied to
Christ in a confused manner, as usually happens in a promiscuous crowd; and that
this reply was made rather by despisers than by those who believed. It is a mode
of expression very
customary in Scripture, whenever the body of a people is mentioned, to ascribe
generally to all what belongs only to a part.
Those who object that they are
Abraham’s seed, and have always been free, easily inferred
from the words of Christ that freedom was promised to them as to people
who were slaves. But they cannot endure to have it said that they, who
are a holy and elect people, are reduced to slavery. For of what avail
was the adoption and the covenant (Romans 9:4) by which they were
separated from other nations, but because they were accounted the children of
God? They think, therefore, that they are insulted, when freedom is
exhibited to them as a blessing which they do not yet possess. But it might be
thought strange that they should maintain that they never were enslaved,
since they had been so frequently oppressed by various tyrants, and at that time
were subjected to the Roman yoke, and groaned under the heaviest burden of
slavery; and hence it may be easily seen how foolish was their boasting.
Yet they had this plausible
excuse, that the unjust sway of their enemies did not hinder them from
continuing to be free by right. But they erred, first, in this respect,
that they did not consider that the right of adoption was founded on the
Mediator alone; for how comes it that Abraham’s seed is free, but
because, by the extraordinary grace of the Redeemer, it is exempted from the
general bondage of the human race? But there was another error less tolerable
than the former, that, though they were altogether degenerate, yet they
wished to be reckoned among the children of Abraham, and did not consider
that it is nothing else than the regeneration of the Spirit that makes them
lawful children of Abraham. And indeed, it has been too common a vice in
almost all ages, to refer to the origin of the flesh the extraordinary gifts of
God, and to ascribe to nature those remedies which Christ bestows for correcting
nature. Meanwhile, we see how all who, swelled with false confidence, flatter
themselves on their condition drive away from them the grace of Christ.
And yet this pride is
spread over the whole world, so that there is scarcely one person in a hundred
who feels that he needs the grace of God.
Slavery to Sin
34.
Every man who commits sin is
the slave of sin.
This is an argument drawn from contrary things. They boasted that they were
free. He proves that they are the slaves of sin, because, being enslaved
by the desires of the flesh, they continually sin. It is astonishing that
men are not convinced by their own experience, so that, laying aside their
pride, they may learn to be humble. And it is a very frequent occurrence in the
present day, that, the greater the load of vices by which a man is weighed down,
the more fiercely does he utter unmeaning words in extolling free-will.
Christ appears to say nothing
more here than what was formerly said by philosophers, that they who are devoted
to their lusts are subject to the most degrading slavery. But there is a
deeper and more hidden meaning; for he does not argue what evil men bring on
themselves, but what is the condition of human nature. The philosophers thought
that any man is a slave by his own choice, and that by the same choice he
returns to freedom. But here Christ maintains, that all who are not
delivered by Him are in a state of slavery, and that all who derive
the contagion of sin from corrupted nature are slaves from their birth.
We must attend to the comparison between grace and nature, on which Christ here
dwells; from which it may be easily seen that men are destitute of freedom,
unless they regain it from some other quarter. Yet this slavery is
voluntary, so that they who necessarily sin are not compelled to sin.
35.
Now the slave does not remain
in the house always.
He adds a comparison, taken
from the laws and from political law, to the effect that a slave, though
he may have power for a time, yet is not the heir of the house; from which He
infers that there is no perfect and durable freedom, but what is obtained
through the Son. In this manner He accuses the Jews of vanity, because
they hold but a mask instead of the reality; for, as to their being
Abraham’s offspring, they were nothing but a mask. They held a
place in the Church of God, but such a place as Ishmael, a slave, rising
up against his freeborn brother, usurped for a short time (Galatians
4:29). The conclusion is that all who boast of being Abraham’s
children have nothing but an empty and deceitful pretense.
The God of Freedom
36.
If then the Son shall make you
free. By these words
he means that the right of freedom belongs to Himself alone, and
that all others, being born slaves, cannot be delivered but by His
grace. For what He possesses as His own by nature He imparts to us by adoption,
when we are ingrafted by faith into His body, and become His members. Thus we
ought to remember what I said formerly, that the Gospel is the instrument by
which we obtain our freedom. So then our freedom is a benefit
conferred by Christ, but we obtain it by faith, in consequence of which also
Christ regenerates us by His Spirit. When He says that they shall be truly
free, there is an emphasis on the word truly; for we must supply the
contrast with the foolish persuasion by which the Jews were swelled with pride,
in like manner as the greater part of the world imagine that they possess a
kingdom, while they are in the most wretched bondage.
37.
I know that you are Abraham’s
seed. I explain this
as said by way of concession. Yet at the same time He ridicules their folly in
glorying in so absurd a title, as if he had said: “Granting that on which you
flatter yourselves so much, still what avails it that those men are called
the children of Abraham, who are enraged against God and His ministers, and
who are actuated by such wicked and detestable hatred of the truth, that they
rush headlong to shed innocent blood?” Hence it follows that nothing is farther
from their true character than what they wished to be called, because they have
no resemblance to Abraham.
You seek to kill Me, because My
word has no place in you.
He means that they are not
merely murderers, but are driven to such rage by hatred of God and His truth,
which is far more heinous; for such an enormity does not merely extend to
men, but likewise dishonors God. He says, that they cannot receive His words,
because through malice they keep their minds shut, so that they cannot admit
anything wholesome.
38.
I speak what I have seen with
my Father. He had
already made frequent mention of His Father; and now, by an argument
drawn from contrary things, He infers that they are enemies to God and are
the children of the devil, because they oppose His doctrine. “For
my part,” says He, “I bring nothing forward, but what I have learned from my
Father. How comes it then that the word of God excites you to such fury, but
because you have an opposite father?” He says that He speaks, and
they do, because He discharged the office of a teacher, while they
labored strenuously to extinguish His doctrine. At the same time, He protects
the Gospel against contempt, by showing that it is not surprising if it should
be opposed by the children of the devil. Instead of you do, some
render it, DO YOU what you have seen with your father; as if Christ had
said, “Come, show that you are the children of the devil, by opposing me; for
I speak nothing but what God has commanded.”
JOHN 8:39-42
39.
They answered, and said to Him,
Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham’s children, you
would do the works of Abraham. 40. But now you seek to kill Me, a man who
have spoken to you the truth which I have heard from God; Abraham did not do
this. 41. You do the works of your father. They said therefore to Him, We
were not born of fornication; we have one Father, who is God. 42. Jesus
said to them, If God were your Father, you would love Me: for I proceeded and
came from God, for I did not proceed from Myself, but He sent Me.
Jesus’ Altercation with False
Religion
39.
Abraham is our father.
This altercation
shows plainly enough how haughtily and fiercely they despised all Christ’s
reproofs. What they continually claim and vaunt of is, that they are
Abraham’s children; by which they do not simply mean that they are the
lineal descendants of Abraham, but that they are a holy race, the
heritage of God, and the children of God. And yet they rely on nothing but the
confidence of the flesh. But carnal descent, without faith, is nothing more than
a false pretense. We now understand what it was that so greatly blinded them, so
that they treated Christ with disdain, though armed with deadly thunder. Thus
the word of God, which might move stones, is ridiculed in the present day by
Papists, as if it were a fable, and fiercely persecuted by fire and sword; and
for no other reason but that they rely on their false title of “the Church,” and
hope that they will be able to deceive both God and man. In short, as soon as
hypocrites have procured some plausible covering, they oppose God with hardened
obstinacy, as if He could not penetrate into their hearts.
If you were the children of
Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham.
Christ now distinguishes more plainly between the bastard and
degenerate children of Abraham, and the true and lawful children; for He
refuses to give the very name to all who do not resemble Abraham. True,
it frequently happens that children do not resemble, in their conduct,
the parents from whom they are sprung; but here Christ does not argue about
carnal descent, but only affirms that they who do not retain by faith the grace
of adoption are not reckoned among the children of Abraham before God.
For since God promised to the seed of Abraham that He would be their God,
saying, I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and your seed after
you, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto you,
and to your seed after you (Genesis 17:7), all unbelievers, by rejecting this
promise, excluded themselves from the family of Abraham.
The state of the question
therefore is this: Ought they to be accounted Abraham’s children who
reject the blessing offered to them in the Word, so that, notwithstanding of
this, they shall be a holy nation, the heritage of God, and a
royal priesthood? (Exodus 19:6; Joel 3:2). Christ denies this, and justly;
for they who are the children of the promise must be born again by the Spirit,
and all who desire to obtain a place in the kingdom of God ought to be new
creatures. Carnal descent from Abraham was not indeed useless, and of no
value, provided that the truth were added to it. For election dwells in the seed
of Abraham, but it is free, so that all whom God sanctifies by His Spirit
are accounted heirs of life.
40.
But now you seek to kill Me.
He proves from the
effect, that they are not the children of God, as they boasted, because they
oppose God. And, indeed, is there any thing in Abraham that is more
highly commended than the obedience of faith? This then is the mark of
distinction, whenever we are required to distinguish between his children and
strangers; for empty titles, whatever estimation they may procure before the
world, are of no account with God. Christ therefore concludes again, that
they are the children of the devil, because they hate with deadly hatred true
and sound doctrine.
41.
We were not born of
fornication. They
claim no more for themselves than they did formerly, for it was the same thing
with them to be Abraham’s children and to be God’s
children. But they erred grievously in this respect, that they imagined that
God was bound to the whole seed of Abraham. For they reason thus: “God adopted
for Himself the family of Abraham; therefore, since we are Abraham’s
descendants, we must be the children of God.” We now see how they thought that
they had holiness from the womb, because they were sprung from a holy root. In
short, they maintain that they are the family of God, because they are descended
from the holy fathers. In like manner, the Papists in the present day are
exceedingly vain of an uninterrupted succession from the fathers. By sorceries
of this description Satan deceives them, so that they separate God from His
word, the Church from faith, and the kingdom of heaven from the Spirit.
Let us know, therefore, that
they who have corrupted the seed of life are at the farthest remove from being
the children of God, though, according to the flesh, they are not bastards, but
pretend a right to the plausible title of the Church. For let them go about the
bush as much as they please, still they will never avoid the discovery that the
only ground of their arrogant boasting is, “We have succeeded the holy fathers;
therefore, we are the Church.” And if the reply of Christ was sufficient for
confuting the Jews, it is not less sufficient now for reproving the Papists.
Never indeed will hypocrites cease to employ the name of God falsely, with most
wicked effrontery; but those false grounds of boasting, on which they plume
themselves, will never cease to appear ridiculous in the eyes of all who shall
abide by the decision of Christ.
42.
If God were your Father, you
would love me.
Christ’s argument is this: “Whoever is a child of God will acknowledge His
first-born Son; but you hate me, and therefore you have no reason to boast that
you are God’s children.” We ought carefully to observe this
passage, that there is no piety and no fear of God where Christ is rejected.
Hypocritical religion, indeed, presumptuously shelters itself under the name of
God; but how can they agree with the Father who disagree with His only Son? What
kind of knowledge of God is that in which His lively image is rejected? And this
is what Christ means, when He testifies that He came from the Father.
For I proceeded and came from
God. He means that
all that He has is divine; and therefore it is most inconsistent that the true
worshippers of God should fly from His truth and righteousness. “I did not
come,” says He, “of Myself. You cannot show that anything about Me is
contrary to God. In short, you will find nothing that is either earthly or human
in My doctrine, or in the whole of My ministry.” For He does not speak of His
essence, but of His office.
JOHN 8:43-45
43.
Why do you not understand My
language, that you cannot hear My word? 44. You are of your father the
devil, and you wish to execute the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and he did not remain in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. 45. And because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.
43.
Why do you not understand My
language? In this
passage, He reproaches the Jews with their obstinacy, which was so great, that
they could not even endure to hear Him speak. Hence He infers,
that they are actuated and hurried away by diabolical rage. . . . [It is] as if
He had said, “What is the reason why my speech appears to you barbarous and
unknown, so that I gain nothing by speaking to you, and so that you do not even
deign to open your ears to receive what I say?” In the former clause, therefore,
He reproves their stupidity; in the latter, He reproves their
obstinate and ungovernable hatred of His doctrine; and He afterwards assigns
a reason for both, when he says, that they are sprung from the devil. For
by putting the question, He intended to take out of their hands what was the
subject of their continual boasting, that they are led by reason and judgment to
oppose Him.
44.
You are of your father the
devil. What He had
twice said more obscurely, He now expresses more fully, that they are the
devil’s children. But we must supply the contrast, that they
could not cherish such intense hatred to the Son of God, were it not that they
had for their father the perpetual enemy of God. He calls them
children of the devil, not only because they imitate him, but because they
are led by his instigation to fight against Christ. For as we are called the
children of God, not only because we resemble Him, but because He governs us
by His Spirit, because Christ lives and is vigorous in us, so as to conform us
to the image of His Father; so, on the other hand, the devil is said to be the
father of those whose understandings he blinds, whose hearts he moves to
commit all unrighteousness, and on whom, in short, he acts powerfully and
exercises his tyranny; as in 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2, and in other
passages.
The Manicheans foolishly and
ineffectually abused this passage to prove their absurd tenets. For since, when
Scripture calls us the children of God, this does not refer to the transmission
or origin of the substance, but to the grace of the Spirit, which regenerates us
to newness of life; so this saying of Christ does not relate to the transmission
of substance, but to the corruption of nature, of which man’s revolt was the
cause and origin. When men, therefore, are born children of the devil, it must
not be imputed to creation, but to the blame of sin. Now Christ proves this from
the effect, because they willingly and of their own accord are disposed to
follow the devil.
He was a murderer from the
beginning. He
explains what are those desires, and mentions two instances, cruelty and
falsehood; in which the Jews too much resembled Satan. When He says that
the devil was a murderer, He means that he contrived the destruction of
man; for as soon as man was created, Satan, impelled by a wicked desire of
doing injury, bent his strength to destroy him. Christ does not mean the
beginning of the creation, as if God implanted in him the disposition to do
injury; but He condemns in Satan the corruption of nature, which he brought upon
himself. This appears more clearly from the second clause, in which he says,
He did not remain in the truth.
For though those who
imagine that the devil was wicked by nature, endeavor to make evasions, yet
these words plainly state that there was a change for the worse, and that the
reason why Satan was a liar was, that he revolted from the truth.
That he is a liar, arises not from his nature having been always contrary
to truth, but because he fell from it by a voluntary fall. This
description of Satan is highly useful to us, that every person for himself may
endeavor to beware of his snares, and, at the same time, to repel his violence
and fury; for he goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour (1
Peter 5:8) and has a thousand stratagems at his command for deceiving. So
much the more ought believers to be supplied with spiritual arms for fighting,
and so much the more earnestly ought they to keep watch with vigilance and
sobriety. Now, if Satan cannot lay aside this disposition, we ought not to be
alarmed at it, as if it were a new and uncommon occurrence, when errors
exceedingly numerous and varied spring up; for Satan stirs up his followers like
bellows, to deceive the world by their impostures. And we need not wonder that
Satan puts forth such strenuous efforts to extinguish the light of truth;
for it is the only life of the soul. So, then, the most important and most
deadly wound for killing the soul is falsehood. As all who have eyes
to see perceive, in the present day, such a picture of Satan in Popery, they
ought, first, to consider with what enemy they carry on war, and, next, to
betake themselves to the protection of Christ their Captain, under whose banner
they fight.
Because the truth is not in
him. This statement,
which immediately follows the other, is a confirmation a posteriori, as
the phrase is; that is, it is drawn from the effect. For Satan hates the truth,
and therefore cannot endure it, but, on the contrary, is entirely covered with
falsehoods. Hence Christ infers, that he is entirely fallen from the truth and
entirely turned away from it. Let us not wonder, therefore, if he daily exhibits
the fruits of his apostasy.
When he speaks falsehood.
These words are
generally explained as if Christ affirmed that the blame of falsehood
does not belong to God, who is the Author of nature, but, on the contrary,
proceeds from corruption. But I explain it more simply, that it is customary
with the devil to speak falsehood, and that he knows nothing but to
contrive corruptions, frauds, and delusions. And yet we justly infer from these
words, that the devil has his vice from himself, and that, while it is peculiar
to him, it may likewise be said to be accidental; for, while Christ makes the
devil to be the contriver of lying, he evidently separates him from God,
and even declares him to be contrary to God. For he is a liar, and the
father of it. The word father has the same object as the preceding
statement; for the reason why Satan is said to be THE FATHER of falsehood
is because he is estranged from God, in whom alone truth dwells, and from whom
it flows as from the only fountain.
45.
But because I speak the truth.
He confirms the
preceding statement; for, since they have no other reason for opposing, but
because truth is hateful and intolerable to them, they show plainly that they
are the children of Satan.
JOHN 8:46-50
46.
Which of you convicts Me of
sin? And if I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? 47. He who is of
God hears the words of God; you do not hear them, because you are not of God.
48. The Jews therefore answered, and said to Him, Do we not say well, that
You are a Samaritan and have a devil? 49. Jesus answered, I do not have a
devil, but I honor my Father, and you have dishonored Me. 50. But I seek
not My own glory; there is one who seeks it and judges of it.
46.
Which of you?
This question proceeds from
perfect confidence; for, knowing that they could not justly bring any reproach
against Him, He glories over His enemies, as having obtained a victory. And yet
He does not say that He is free from their slanders; for, though they had no
reason for reproaching, still they did not cease to pour out slanders on Christ;
but He means that no crime dwells in Him. . . .
Which of you convicts Me of
sin? Those who think that Christ here asserts His complete
innocence, because He alone surpassed all men, so far as He was the Son of God,
are mistaken. For this defense must be restricted to what belongs to the
passage, as if He had asserted that nothing could be brought forward to show
that He was not a faithful servant of God. In like manner Paul also glories that
he is not conscious of any crime (1 Corinthians 4:4); for that does not extend
to the whole life, but is only a defense of his doctrine and apostleship. It is
away from the subject, therefore, to speculate, as some do, about the perfection
of righteousness which belongs to the Son of God alone; since the only object
which He has in view is, to give authority to His ministry, as appears more
clearly from what follows; for He again adds immediately afterwards, If I
speak truth, why do you not believe Me? From which we infer that Christ is
rather defending His doctrine than His person.
Rejecting Christ’s Commands and
Rejecting Christ Himself
47.
He who is of God.
As He has a full right to take
this for granted, that He is the ambassador of the heavenly Father, and that He
discharges faithfully the office which has been committed to Him, He kindles
into greater indignation against them; for their impiety was no longer concealed
since they were so obstinate in rejecting the word of God. He had showed that
they could not bring forward any thing which He had not taught as from the mouth
of God. He concludes, therefore, that they have nothing in common with God, for
they do not hear the words of God; and, without saying any thing about Himself,
He charges them with being at war with God. Besides, we are taught by this
passage, that there is not a more evident sign of a reprobate mind,
than when one cannot endure the doctrine of Christ, even though, in other
respects, it shone with angelic sanctity; as, on the contrary, if we embrace
that doctrine cheerfully, we have what may be called a visible seal of our election.
For he who has the Word enjoys God Himself; but He who rejects it excludes
himself from righteousness and life. Wherefore, there is nothing which we ought
to fear so much as to fall under that dreadful sentence.
48.
Do we not say well?
They show more and more how
greatly they are stupified by Satan; for, though they are fully convicted, still
they are enraged, and are not ashamed to show that they are utterly desperate.
Besides, though they bring a double reproach against Christ, still they
wish to do nothing more than to say in a few words, that He is a detestable
man and that He is actuated by a wicked spirit. The Jews reckoned the
Samaritans to be
apostates and corrupters of the Law; and therefore, whenever they wished to
stamp a man with infamy, they called him a Samaritan. Having no crime
more heinous, therefore, to reproach Christ with, they seize at random, and
without judgment, this vulgar taunt. To express it in a few words, we see that
with effrontery they curse Him, as men are accustomed to do when, infuriated
like enraged dogs, they cannot find any thing to say.
49.
I do not have a devil.
He passes by the first
charge, and clears Himself only of the second. Some think that He did so,
because He disregarded the insult offered to His person, and undertook only the
defense of the doctrine. But they are mistaken, in my opinion; for it is not
probable that the Jews were so ingenious in distinguishing between the life and
the doctrine of the Lord Jesus. Besides, the dislike of this name arose, as we
have said, from this circumstance, that the Samaritans, being perverse
and degenerate observers of the Law, had debased it by many superstitions and
corruptions, and had polluted the whole worship of God by foreign inventions.
Augustine flies to allegory, and says that Christ did not refuse to be called a
Samaritan, because He is a true guardian of his flock. But Christ’s
intention appears to me to have been different; for since the two reproaches
cast upon Him had the same object, by refuting the one, He refutes the other;
and, indeed, if the matter be properly considered, they insulted Him more
grievously by calling Him a Samaritan than by calling Him a demoniac.
But, as I have already said, Christ satisfies Himself with a simple refutation,
which He draws from what is contrary, when He asserts that He labors to promote
the honor of His Father; for He who properly and sincerely honors Him must be
guided by the Spirit of God, and must be a faithful servant of God.
You have dishonored me.
This clause may be
explained, as if it were a complaint of Christ, that He does not receive the
honor due to Him on account of His promoting the glory of God. But I think that
He looks much higher, and connects the glory of the Father with His own, in this
manner. “I claim nothing for Myself which does not tend to the glory of God; for
His majesty shines in Me, His power and authority dwells in Me; and therefore,
when you treat me so disdainfully, you pour contempt on God Himself.” He
immediately adds, therefore, that God will revenge this insult. For they might
have alleged that He was ambitious, if He had not testified that it was not from
any personal feelings of a carnal nature that He cared about the honor or
contempt showed to Himself, but so far as the honor or contempt of God is
concerned. Besides, though we are at a great distance from Christ, let every man
be fully convinced that if he be sincerely desirous to promote the glory of God,
he will find that God has secured for him abundant commendation; for we shall
always find that saying to be true, Those who honor Me, I will render honorable
(1 Samuel 2:30). If men not only despise, but even load Him with reproaches,
let him calmly wait till the day of the Lord come.
JOHN 8:51-55
51.
Truly, truly, I say to you, If
any man keeps My word, he shall never see death. 52. The Jews said
therefore to Him, Now we know that You have the devil; Abraham is dead, and the
Prophets, and You say, If any man keeps My word, he shall never taste of death.
53. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? The Prophets
also are dead. Whom do You make Yourself? 54. Jesus answered, If I
glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies Me, of whom
you say that He is your God. 55. And you know Him not, but I know Him;
and if I say that I do not know Him, I shall be a liar like you; but I know Him,
and keep His word.
51.
Truly, truly, I say to you.
Christ
unquestionably knew that some persons in that multitude were curable, and that
others of them were not opposed to His doctrine. For this reason, He intended to
terrify the wicked whose malice was desperate, but to do so in such a way as to
leave ground of consolation for the good, or to draw to Him those who were not
yet ruined. Whatever dislike of the word of God, therefore, may be entertained
by the greatest part of men, yet the faithful teacher ought not to be wholly
employed in reproving the wicked, but ought also to impart the doctrine of
salvation to the children of God, and endeavor to bring them to sound views, if
there be any of them who are not perfectly incurable. In this passage,
therefore, Christ promises eternal life to His disciples, but demands disciples
who shall not only prick up their ears, like asses, or profess with the mouth
that they approve of His doctrine, but who shall keep His doctrine as a precious
treasure. He says that they shall never see death; for, when faith
quickens the soul of a man, death already has its sting extracted and its venom
removed, and so cannot inflict a deadly wound.
52.
Now we know.
The
reprobate persist in their stupidity, and are not moved by promises any more
than by threatenings; so that they can neither be led nor drawn to Christ. Some
think that they slanderously torture His words, by using the expression,
taste of death, which Christ had not used; but this appears to me to be
groundless. I rather think that both of the phrases, to taste of death
and to see death, were used by the Hebrews in the same sense; namely,
to die. But they are false interpreters in this respect, that they apply
the spiritual doctrine of Christ to the body. No believer shall see death,
because believers, having been born again of incorruptible seed (1 Peter
1:23) live even when they die; because, united to Christ their Head, they cannot
be extinguished by death; because death is to them a passage into the
heavenly kingdom; because the Spirit, dwelling in them, is life on account of
righteousness (Romans 8:10) until He swallow up all that remains of death. But
those men, being carnal, cannot perceive any deliverance from death, unless it
appear manifestly in the body. And it is a disease too common in the world, that
the greatest part of men care almost nothing about the grace of Christ, because
they judge of it only by their carnal perception. That the same thing may not
happen to us, we must arouse our minds, that they may discern spiritual life in
the midst of death.
53.
Are You greater than our father
Abraham? This is
another offense, that they endeavor to obscure the glory of Christ by the
splendor of Abraham and of the saints. But as all the stars are thrown
into the shade by the brightness of the sun, so all the glory that is to be
found in all the saints must fade away before the incomparable brightness of
Christ. They act unjustly and absurdly, therefore, in contrasting the servants
with the Lord; and they even act improperly towards Abraham and the Prophets,
by abusing their name in opposition to Christ. But this wickedness has prevailed
in almost every age, and prevails even in the present day, that wicked men, by
mangling the works of God, make Him appear to be contrary to Himself. God
glorified Himself by the Apostles and Martyrs; the Papists frame idols for
themselves out of the Apostles and Martyrs, that they may occupy the place of
God; and do they not, in this manner, manufacture engines out of the very favors
of God, to destroy His power? For how little remains for God or for
Christ, if the saints have all that the Papists so lavishly bestow upon them!
Wherefore, we ought to know that the whole order of the Kingdom of God is
destroyed, unless Prophets, Apostles, and all that can be called Saints, be
placed far below Christ, that He alone may hold the highest rank. And,
indeed, we cannot speak of the Saints more respectfully than when we place them
below Christ. But the Papists, though they may deceive the ignorant by boasting
that they are faithful admirers of the Saints, offer an insult both to God and
to them, because, by assigning to them a lofty station, they reduce Christ to
a level with them. And, indeed, they are doubly in the wrong, because they
prefer the Saints to Christ in doctrine; and because, by clothing themselves
with the spoils of Christ, they deprive Him of almost all His power.
54.
If I glorify Myself.
Before replying to that
unjust comparison, He begins by saying that He does not seek His own glory,
and thus meets their slander. If it be objected, that Christ also glorified
Himself, the answer is easy, that He did so, not as man, but by the direction
and authority of God. For here, as in many other passages, He distinguishes
between Himself and God, by way of concession. In short, He declares that He
desires no glory whatever but what has been given Him by the Father. We are
taught by these words that, when God glorifies His Son, He will not permit the
world to hate or despise Him with impunity.
Meanwhile, those voices
sounding from heaven, Kiss the Son (Psalm 2:12), Let all the angels
worship Him (Hebrews 1:6), Let every knee bow to Him, (Philippians
2:10), Hear ye Him (Matthew 17:5), Let the Gentiles seek Him
(Romans 15:11), and Let all flesh be humbled, ought greatly to encourage
believers to render honor and reverence to Christ. We are also reminded by these
words, that all the honor which men procure for themselves is trivial and
worthless. How blind then is ambition, when we labor so earnestly about
nothing! Let, us continually keep before our eyes that saying of Paul, Not
he who commends himself is approved, but whom God commends (2 Corinthians
10:18). Besides, as we are destitute of the glory of God, let us learn to glory
in Christ alone, so far as by His grace He makes us partakers of His glory.
The Prophets and Apostles had
invincible courage.
Of whom you say that He is your
God. He pulls off
from them the false mask of the name of God which they were accustomed to
employ. “I know,” He says, “how presumptuously you boast that you are the people
of God; but it is a false title, for you do not know God.” Hence also we
learn what is the true and lawful profession of faith. It is
that which proceeds from true knowledge. And from where comes that
knowledge, but from the Word? Consequently, all who boast of the name of God
without the word of God are mere liars. Yet to their audacity Christ opposes
the assurance of His conscience; and thus all the servants of God ought to be
prepared in their hearts to be satisfied with this alone, that God is on their
side, though the whole world should rise against Him. Thus anciently
the Prophets and Apostles had invincible courage and magnanimity, which
stood firm against the dreadful attacks of the whole world, because they knew by
whom they were sent. But when solid knowledge of God is lacking, there is
nothing to support us.
And if I shall say that I know
Him. By this clause,
Christ testifies that the necessity of His office constrains Him to speak,
because silence would be a treacherous denial of the truth. This is a remarkable
statement, that God reveals Himself to us for this purpose, that we may confess
before men the faith which we have in our hearts, when it is needful. For it
ought powerfully to strike terror into our minds, that they who act
hypocritically to please men, and either deny the truth of God or disfigure it
by wicked glosses, not only are gently reproved, but are sent back to the
children of the devil.
JOHN 8:56-59
56.
Your father Abraham exulted to
see My day; and he saw it and rejoiced. 57. The Jews then said to Him,
You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham? 58. Jesus
said to them, Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham was, I am. 59.
Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus concealed Himself and went
out of the temple.
56.
Your father Abraham.
He grants to them, in words
only, what He formerly took from them, that Abraham is their father. But
He shows how idle is the objection drawn from the name of Abraham. “He
had no other object,” says He, “during his whole life, than to see My kingdom
flourish. He longed for Me when I was absent, you despise Me when I am
present.” What Christ here asserts concerning Abraham alone, applies to all the
saints. But this doctrine has greater weight in the person of Abraham, because
he is the father of the whole Church. Whoever then 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.
Exulted to see My day.
The word exult
expresses a vehement zeal and ardent affection. We must now supply the contrast.
Though the knowledge of Christ was still so obscure, Abraham was inflamed by so
strong a desire, that he preferred the enjoyment of it to everything that was
reckoned desirable. How base then is the ingratitude of those who despise and
reject Him, when He is plainly offered to them? The word day does not, in
this passage, denote eternity (as Augustine thought) but rather the time of
Christ’s kingdom, when He appeared in the world clothed with flesh to fulfill
the office of Redeemer. But a question now arises, How did Abraham behold, even
with the eyes of faith, the manifestation of Christ? For this appears not to
agree with another statement of Christ, Many kings and prophets desired to see
the things which you see, and yet did not see them (Luke 10:24). I reply, faith
has its degrees in beholding Christ. Thus the ancient prophets beheld Christ at
a distance, as He had been promised to them, and yet were not permitted to
behold Him present, as He made Himself familiarly and completely visible, when
He came down from heaven to men.
Again, we are taught by these
words that, as God did not disappoint the desire of Abraham, so He will
not now permit any one to breathe after Christ, without obtaining some good
fruit which shall correspond to his holy desire. The reason why He does not
grant the enjoyment of Himself to many is — the wickedness of men; for few
desire Him. Abraham’s joy testifies that he regarded the
knowledge of the kingdom of Christ as an incomparable treasure; and the reason
why we are told that he rejoiced to see the day of Christ is that we may
know that there was nothing which he valued more highly. But all believers
receive this fruit from their faith, that, being satisfied with Christ alone, in
whom they are fully and completely happy and blessed, their consciences are calm
and cheerful. And indeed no man knows Christ aright, unless he gives Him this
honor of relying entirely upon Him. Others explain it to mean, that Abraham,
being already dead, enjoyed the presence of Christ, when He appeared to the
world; and so they make the time of desiring and the time of seeing
to be different. And indeed it is true, that the coming of Christ was
manifested to holy spirits after death, of which coming they were held in
expectation during the whole of their life; but I do not know if so refined an
exposition agrees with Christ’s words.
57.
You are not yet fifty years
old. They endeavor
to refute Christ’s saying, by showing that He had asserted what was impossible,
when He who was not yet fifty years of age makes Himself equal to Abraham,
who died many centuries before. Though Christ was not yet thirty-four years of
age, yet they allow Him to be somewhat older, that they may not appear to be too
rigid and exact in dealing with Him; as if they had said, “You certainly will
not make Yourself so old, though You were to boast that You are already fifty
years of age.” Consequently, those who conjecture that He looked older than
He actually was, or that the years mentioned in this passage are not
solar years, in either case labor to no purpose. The notion of Papias, who says
that Christ lived more than forty years, cannot at all be admitted.
58.
Before Abraham was.
As unbelievers judge only from
the appearance of the flesh, Christ reminds them that He has something greater
and higher than human appearance, which is hidden from the senses of the flesh,
and is perceived only by the eyes of faith; and that, in this respect, He might
be seen by the holy fathers, before He was manifested in the flesh. But He uses
different verbs. Before Abraham WAS, or, Before Abraham WAS BORN,
I AM. But by these words He excludes Himself from the ordinary rank of men, and
claims for Himself a power more than human, a power heavenly and divine, the
perception of which reached from the beginning of the world through all ages.
Yet these words may be
explained in two ways. Some think that this applies simply to the eternal
Divinity of Christ, and compare it with that passage in the writings of Moses,
I am what I am (Exodus 3:14). But I extend it much farther, because the
power and grace of Christ, so far as He is the Redeemer of the world, was common
to all ages. It agrees therefore with that saying of the apostle, Christ
yesterday, and today, and for ever (Hebrews 13:8). For the
context appears to demand this interpretation. He had formerly said that Abraham
longed for His day with vehement desire; and as this seemed incredible to the
Jews, He adds, that He Himself also existed at that time. The reason assigned
will not appear sufficiently strong, if we do not understand that He was even
then acknowledged to be the Mediator, by whom God was to be appeased. And yet
the efficacy which belonged, in all ages, to the grace of the Mediator depended
on His eternal Divinity; so that this saying of Christ contains a
remarkable testimony of His Divine essence.
We ought also to observe the
solemn form of an oath, Truly, truly. Nor do I disapprove of the opinion
of Chrysostom, that the present tense of the verb is emphatic; for He does not
say, I was, but I am; by which He denotes a condition uniformly
the same from the beginning to the end. And He does not say, Before Abraham
WAS, but, Before Abraham WAS MADE; which implies that Abraham had a
beginning.
59.
Then they took up stones.
There is reason to
believe that they did this, as if Christ ought to be stoned according to the
injunction of the Law (Leviticus 24:16). Hence we infer how great is the
madness of inconsiderate zeal; for they have no ears to know the cause, but they
have hands ready to commit murder. I have no doubt that Christ rescued Himself
by His secret power, but yet under the appearance of a low condition; for He did
not intend to make a clear display of His Divinity without leaving something for
human infirmity. Some copies have the words, And so Jesus passed through the
midst of them; which Erasmus justly considers to have been borrowed from the
Gospel by Luke 4:30. It deserves notice also, that the wicked priests and
scribes, after having banished Christ, in whom dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead (Colossians 2:9), retain possession of the outward temple; but they are
greatly deceived, when they think that they have a temple in which God does not
dwell.
Such is the course now pursued
by the Pope and his followers. After having banished Christ, and in this manner
profaned the Church, they foolishly glory in the false disguise of a Church.
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