John 8

John 8:1-11:
but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him. But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she said. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

Jesus says nothing about sodomy, and we can, by all means assume he approved of what the Law of Moses said. But if we want to see how Jesus, as opposed to sinful men, interpreted that, we only have to look at John 8:1-11. The woman caught there actually fulfilled the high hurdle the Law commanded for proof of adultery – she was caught in the act. Jesus knows the Pharisees are testing him. The Law says what it says – she should be stoned. Jesus asks them to look in their hearts and, if they are without sin, cast the first stone. To give the Pharisees credit, when they do they walk quietly away. Jesus also does not condemn her – he tells her to go an sin no more. If we were more like Him, would those with same-sex attraction have felt persecuted? They sin if they act on that impulse, as I would if I were to have heterosexual sex outside marriage. They are no worse than me, I am no worse than them. We are all sinners and we deserve what we did not get from Jesus. We got uncovenanted mercy. Can we not think a little more before insisting that Scripture backs what were societal attitudes? Our Faith it the ultimate counter-culture. For sin we receive forgiveness – if we confess, repent and follow Him.

John 8:12:
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." The light of llfe can mean two things. The Greek can mean either the light which issues the source of light or the light which gives life. In this passage it means both. The word "Light" was especially associated in Jewish thought and language with God. When Jesus claimed to be the "Light of the World," He was making a claim which none could possibly be higher.

One of the familiar terms by which the Scriptures represent the condition of the worldly man is to say that they sit or walk in darkness . . . The Lord, however, puts his people in strong contrast with the men of the world. They are 'the light of the world' . . . They are the light, because they are enlightened by their Lord in order that they may shed light on the darkness of the world while he is withdrawn. It was his design in leaving them here in this dark and evil world, that they should be seen, like a bright light flashing forth on the darkness.
--Charles Octavius Boothe (1845–1925)

He is called the light of the world (John 8:12), as are those who are united to Him by faith (Matt. 5:14). In Christ is life, and that life is the light that exposes the evil works of men and makes plain the good works of the righteous (John 1:4, 7–9; 3:19–21; Eph. 5:13–14). The glory of Christ is represented by His blindingly white clothing and shining visage (Matt. 17:2; Rev. 1:12–16; 19:11–12). Christ is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s hopes of a light for the nations (Luke 2:29–32; Acts 13:47; Eph. 3:9). He is the light that illuminates the path of the faithful (John 12:35–36, 46). He is the light of the glory of God (Acts 9; 1 John 1:5). His followers are called “children of light” (1 Thess. 5:5) who have been “called . . . out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). He “dwells in unapproachable light” (1 Tim. 6:16). And He is the lampstand in the midst of the new Jerusalem whose light will shine continually (Rev. 21:22–25). --Table Talk

He told us that, if we follow Him as the light of the world, we will by no means walk in darkness but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). When the Lord shines on us again and again, the divine light controls and rules us.

In a very real sense, there’s no “code of behavior” in the church life, neither are there any “rules” on how to do things in the Christian life or church life. What we have is the regulating divine life within us and the controlling light shining on us.

When the brothers and sisters are regulated by the inward life growing in them and controlled by the divine light shining in them, the church life is kept in order, peace, oneness, and harmony. The reason there’s no oneness and no harmony in the church is because the saints don’t habitually walk in the light and they don’t constantly allow God’s light to shine in them.

As seen in the New Jerusalem, in the church life today we have the invisible God in Christ shining with glory, and when He shines, all darkness is removed, all rebellion is terminated, and all disorderliness is set right. Light rules, and God in Christ on the throne shines and brings everyone under His authority by His shining.
Where there is darkness, there is chaos and confusion, but when light shines, things are set in order and the light rules and governs. In our Christian life and church life we need to have God shining in us as light, and we will be brought under His authority.

SOURCE: http://www.agodman.com/blog/god-christ-light-rules-generates-life-shining-gods-light-rules/

John 8:15-16:
You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me.

Righteous judgment means not judging according to the flesh, but according to the spirit. (John 8:15). It means we judge the fruit and not the motive. We do not have the capability to judge the heart of others or their intentions. Only God can read the heart and discern the motives of men. Therefore, we must not arrogate to ourselves the judgment that only God can make. 9SOURCE: Premium Times)

John 8:31:
“So Jesus said to those who believed in Him, “If you obey my teaching, you are really my disciples.”

“To be a Christian disciple is to be a follower of Christ, but the cost of following Jesus Christ is your life. It will cost you everything. You will have to say no to temptations and things of this world. You must follow Him through trials, suffering, loneliness, and humiliation.

“This is because the Christian faith isn’t just a matter of human effort or intellectual belief; it’s a supernatural reality. If you are a follower of Jesus, it’s God’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, living inside you who fills you and enables you to live out and grow in discipleship and disciple-making.” -Fr Xavier Andrew

John 8:31-35:
Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. 32 And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 “But we are descendants of Abraham,” they said. “We have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean, ‘You will be set free’?”
34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever.

The root of slavery is in the nature of man. We are today surrounded by a slave people because they are by nature unregenerate. They are most at home in slavery, and most comfortable with it. They will vote for slavery because they are slaves. They dislike and fear freedom because they are at enmity with God. Give them freedom and they will vote it out of existence and work in every way to destroy it.
Men fear freedom, because it means life and responsibility under God. The appeal of slavery is that it offers a life free of responsibilities, and this is always the appeal of slavery. Some nations have in the past had as many as four-fifths living in actual slavery and content with it, because it took responsibility off their shoulders. The flight from freedom is always first of all the flight from God, Who created man to be responsible and to exercise dominion over the earth under Him. The choice is always God or slavery.

Tony Hoss

To His disciples Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free”. Jesus declares that his disciples can know something very special; “the truth.” The key to knowing the truth is “continuing in His word”. According to Jesus, the knowledge of these truths is accompanied by a special blessing. It is what makes men “free.” Of course, the freedom in question is freedom from the burden of sin. But there is so much more that His Word allows us to know the truth about. Heaven is one of those blessings. Consider what the Lord’s Word reveals that we need to know about Heaven. First, Heaven is where we are to lay up treasures. Jesus said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal” (Matthew 6:19-20 KJV). For most people in the world, the only treasure they are concerned with are those of a physical nature. Jesus assures us that the spiritual blessings play a far greater significance in our lives than the physical ones. --Tony Hoss; Centerview Church of Christ 12/7/23

Steve Gallagher Files

"Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sins is the slave of sin." (John 8:34). Paul said, "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness.?" (Romans 6:16). Solomon wrote, "His own iniquities will capture the wicked, and he will be held with the cords of his sin." *Prov 5:22). And the Psalmist said, "There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in misery and chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God, and spurned the counsel of the Most High (Psalms 107:10-11) --Steve Gallagher; At The Idol of Sexual Idolatry

Slavery is a terminology that creates discomfort in conversations because it represents one of the worst atrocities a human life can undergo. It is easier to deny or be hush about it. Openly acknowledging that the human mind is capable of manufacturing an ideology to oppress and detain, mistreat and dehumanize another human being can be difficult for the mind to wrap around. Yet Jesus was not afraid to address slavery head on.
Jesus reveals the type of mentality we should have towards sin which is detest, avoid and conquer it. Sin is a master that loves slaves. There is nothing good that comes out of it. It will seduce, manipulate, use, and deplete you. And just when you think you are done, it will create a small sense of relief to trick you into thinking you are okay, only for you to succumb to another cycle that keeps going on and on. -Mwikali Munyao; DEVOTION: THE YOKE OF INVISIBLE SLAVERY

We recoil from the idea of being a slave. Yet both Jesus and Paul identified our life before Christ as being one of slavery. Slaves, not of a human master. But slaves to sin.
In John 8:34, Jesus said that “everyone who sins is a slave to sin.” In Romans 7:14, we see Paul expressing that he was “sold as a slave to sin.” And, in Galatians 4:7, he looks back at what we were when he says that we “are no longer a slave.”
Our natural state is as slaves to sin. Sin, in this case, does not relate to individual acts of disobedience. Rather sin is personified as one who rules over us. And we live under the authority of sin, obeying its commands. --We Were Bought at a Price

John 8:36:
36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.

Light dispels darkness. Light penetrates. Light purifies. In the scripture before us, we see Jesus dispelling spiritual darkness, discerning the thoughts and hearts of men and women and cleansing the souls of sinful people. The scripture is true: “Thy word is a lamp unto me feet, and a light unto my path.” -Ron Purkey

John 8:37:
Yes, I realize that you are descendants of Abraham. And yet some of you are trying to kill me because there’s no room in your hearts for my message. 38 I am telling you what I saw when I was with my Father. But you are following the advice of your father.”

John 8:44:
Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Jesus referred to Satan as “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Lies are the devil’s primary weapon, his “fiery darts” of which the apostle Paul wrote (Eph. 6:16, KJV). Since he is the father of lies, it should not surprise us then that Satan even lies about himself. We are told by the apostle Paul that he disguises himself as an “angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:4). He wants us to believe about himself what isn’t true.

Steve Yount

The importance of distinguishing between truth and lies becomes clear in the first few pages of the Bible. When Eve told the serpent that God had said she and Adam would die--become mortal—if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the serpent responded: “You will not certainly die. . . . For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5 NIV).
Ever since then, the devil has used lies in spiritual warfare. Jesus said there is “no truth” in the devil: “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 NIV). And that, John Mark Comer asserted in Live No Lies, leads us to a fundamental truth: “Jesus sees our primary war against the devil as a fight to believe truth over lies.”
But there are practical things we can do to avoid being duped.
--Steve Young; Denison Forum; Discernment 101: How to separate fact from fiction 10.31.23

Satan's purpose on earth is to kill and destroy. He does this through lies. We are told in I John 3:8: "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." The Lord came to destroy lies and murder by giving life and revealing the truth. The Lord prayed in John 17:18: "As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world." It is likewise our purpose while on the earth to destroy these works of the devil by walking in the life and light of the Lord. The Lord promised in Matthew 16:18 that the gates of hell would not prevail against His church. The life that is in Christ is more powerful than death. The truth that is in Christ is more powerful than any lie. Life and truth will ultimately prevail.

To understand how life and truth will prevail, we must understand the "gates of hell" (see Matthew 16:18). Gates are doors, or access points. The gates of hell are doors that hell is using to gain entrance into the world, the church, and even our own lives. The original gate of hell was in the garden. He gained access to the world by convincing the man and woman, who had been given authority over the world, to believe his lies. Once man listened to the devil, because the devil was "a murderer from the beginning", it was inevitable for man to become a murderer. The lie that he used to lead to the release of murder was envy, or jealousy.
--Rick Joyner

John 8:31-32:
If you abide in my word, then you are truly my disciples Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free

I think the strength of these verses is in the conditional word "abide." Abide: to endure without yielding, to bear patiently, to accept without objection. The condition is genuine. The precondition for freedom is not in simply hearing the truth; but comes from "knowing" the truth. But all this hinges on yielding, bearing & accepting His word. Christianity is the only "religion" (for lack of a better word) that does not have doctrines which simply point to truth. Rather it is built upon the foundation of knowing the truth (ie, Jesus: the way, the truth & the life).

Truth in Biblical Greek is the word aletheia. It means ‘that which corresponds to reality’, ‘that which is real’, ‘facts that are objective’, and ‘the actual state of something’. This means that you can say 2+2=22, make a logical explanation for your answer, and still be wrong. 2+2 is still 4. You can think you’re right, but in all reality be wrong.

John 8:49-50:
49 Jesus answered, I have not a devil; but I honour my Father, and ye do dishonour me.
50 And I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth.

Thomas Watson

First, we pray, "Hallowed be your name, may your kingdom come, may your will be done," before we pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." God's glory ought to weigh down all before it; it must be preferred before our dearest concerns. Christ preferred his Father's glory before his own as he was man. "I honor my Father, I seek not my own glory." John 8:49, 50. God's glory is that which is most dear to him; it is the apple of his eye; all his riches lie here. As Micah said, "What more have I" (Judges 18:24)—so I may say of God's glory, what more has he? His glory is the most orient pearl of his crown—which he will not part with. "My glory I will not give to another." Isaiah 42:8. God's glory is more worth than heaven, more worth than the salvation of all men's souls. It is better that kingdoms be demolished, better men and angels be annihilated—than God lose any part of his glory! We are to prefer God's glory before our nearest concerns. But before we prefer God's glory to our private concerns—we must be born again. The natural man seeks his own personal interest before God's glory. He is "of the earth, earthly." John 3:31. Let him have peace and trading, let the rock pour out rivers of oil—and let God's glory go which way it will, he minds it not. A worm cannot fly and sing as a lark. Just so, a natural man, whose heart creeps upon the earth, cannot admire God, or advance his glory, as a man elevated by grace does.
― Thomas Watson, The Lord's Prayer