John 8:38-47 I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your father.… The doctrine of Christ's sinlessness rests on foundations far too strong to be shaken by the removal of one stone which has been generally supposed to form part of them. When we read concerning Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26; 1 John 3:5), what need have we to demand further documentary demonstration of a truth so explicitly stated, and so implicitly believed by every genuine Christian? It has been held, however, with considerable unanimity that in this passage Christ Himself bears witness to, and calls upon His adversaries, the Jews, to impugn, if they can, that sinlessness of His. Yet I would submit that this is not the meaning of our Lord's question. The whole argument is concerned, not with action, but with speech. In ver. 43, Jesus says: "Why do ye not apprehend My language? Because ye cannot hear My word." Then, describing the devil, He declares: "There is no truth in him; when he speaks falsehood, he draws out of his own store, for he is a liar and the father of it (falsehood). But as for Me, because I say the truth, ye do not believe Me." Then comes the question under consideration, with the words immediately following (vers. 46, 47): "If I say truth, why do ye not believe Me? He who is of God hears the words of God; therefore ye hear not, because ye are not of God." And so the discourse for the moment closes. And we see that it is the language of Jesus which is on the rack; that truth which, as God's Prophet, He declares to unwilling ears, and tries to drive home to sin-hardened hearts. They will not listen to Him that they may have life. They cannot confute, yet they cavil. Though He tells them the truth, and they cannot deny it, they wilfully refuse to believe Him, for to do so was to condemn themselves. (W. S. Wood, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. |
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