Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

John 8:17

καὶ ἐν τῷ νόμῳ … πατήρ. He returns from “judging” to “witnessing,” and He maintains that His witness (John 8:18) satisfies the Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 17:6; Deuteronomy 19:15) because what He witnesses of Himself is confirmed by the Father that sent Him. The nature of this witness was given fully at John 5:37-47. ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ μαρτυρῶν … Field maintains the A.V [63] “I am one that beareth witness,” against the R.V [64] “I am He that beareth witness”; ἐγώ εἰμι being equivalent to “There is I” or “It is I”. Misled perhaps by the Lord's use of ἀνθρώπων (John 8:17), the Pharisees ask (John 8:19): Ποῦ ἐστὶν ὁ πατήρ σου; “Patrem Christi carnaliter acceperunt” (Augustine), therefore they ask where He is that they may ascertain what He has to say regarding Jesus; as if they said: “It is all very well alleging that you have a second witness in your Father; but where is He?” The idea of Cyril that it was a coarse allusion to His birth is out of the question, and Cyril himself does not press it. Jesus replies: Οὔτε … ᾔδειτε ἄν [or ἂν ᾔδειτε]. They ought to have known who He meant by His Father and where He was; and their hopeless ignorance Jesus can only deplore. They professed to know Jesus, but had they known Him they would necessarily have known the Father in whom He lived and whom He represented. Their ignorance of the Father proves their ignorance of Jesus. Ταῦτα … ἱερῷ. On γαζοφ., see John 8:12. Euthymius, as usual, hits the nail on the head: “ Ταῦτα ” τὰ παῤῥησιαστικά. ἐπεσημήνατο γὰρ τὸν τόπον, δεικνύων τὴν παῤῥησίαν τοῦ διδασκάλου. “But no one apprehended Him, because not yet was His hour come.” His immunity was all the more remarkable on account of the proximity to the chamber where the Sanhedrim held its sittings, in the southeast corner of the Court of the Priests. See Edersheim's Life of Christ, ii. 165, note.

[63] Authorised Version.

[64] Revised Version.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

John 8:17

Old Testament

New Testament