John 8:57

Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? THEN SAID THE JEWS UNTO HIM, THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD. No inference, as Alford properly says, can he drawn from this as to our Lord's age as man at that time. Fifty years was, with the Jews, the term of ripe manhood, and at that age the Levites ceased to officiate. AND HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM? He had not said He saw Abraham, but that Abraham saw Him, as being Abraham's special privilege. They, however, give the opposite turn to it - "Hast thou seen Abraham?" - as an honour which it was insufferable for him to pretend to....

57._Thou art 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, “Thou certainly wilt not make thyself so old, though thou wert to boast that thou art 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....

54-59 Christ and all that are his, depend upon God for honour. Men may be able to dispute about God, yet may not know him. Such as know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put together, 2 Thessalonians 1:8. All who rightly know anything of Christ, earnestly desire to know more of him. Those who discern the dawn of the light of the Sun of Righteousness, wish to see his rising. "Before Abraham was, I AM." This speaks Abraham a creature, and our Lord the Creator; well, therefore, might he make himself greater than Abraham. I AM, is the name of God, Exodus 3:14; it speaks his self-existence; he is the First and the Last, ever the same, Revelation 1:8. Thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds,...

Verse John 8:57. _THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD_] Some MSS. read _forty_. The age of our blessed Lord has never been properly determined. Some of the primitive fathers believed that he was _fifty_ years old when he was crucified; but their foundation, which is no other than these words of the Jews, is but a very uncertain one. Calmet thinks that our Lord was at this time about _thirty-four years_ and _ten months_ old, and that he was crucified about the middle of his _thirty-sixth_ year; and asserts that the vulgar era is _three years_ too late. On the other hand, some allow him to have been but _thirty-one_ years old, and that his ministry had lasted but _one_ year. Many opinions on this subject, which are scarcely worthy of being copied, may be found in Calmet....

FIFTY YEARS OLD - Jesus is supposed to have been at this time about the age of 33. It is remarkable that when he was so young they should have mentioned the number 50, but they probably designed to prevent the possibility of a reply. Had they said 40 they might have apprehended a reply, or could not be so certain that they were correct. HAST THOU SEEN ABRAHAM? - It is remarkable, also, that they perverted his words. His affirmation was not that he had seen Abraham, but that Abraham had seen his day. The design of Jesus was to show that he was greater than Abraham, John 8:53. To do this, he says that Abraham, great as he was, earnestly desired to see his time, thus acknowledging his inferiority to the Messiah. The Jews perverted this, and affirmed that it was impossible that he and Abraham should have seen each other....

EXPOSITION Verses 7:53-8:11 (8) _The pericope adulterae. _(A)_ Excursus on the genuineness of _John 7:53-43__John 7:53-43. It is our duty to examine the various grounds on which this passage has been almost universally concluded to have formed no portion of the original Fourth Gospel; and then the internal grounds on which it has been rejected, and some of the speculations as to its origin and value. Doubts have beset the authenticity of the passage from the fourth and fifth centuries in the Eastern Church, both on external and internal grounds. The authority and practice of Augustine, Ambrose, and Jerome gave it a secure resting place till the criticism of Erasmus re-awakened doubt. Calvin expressed a more favourable opinion con

THEN SAID THE JEWS UNTO HIM, THOU ART NOT YET FIFTY YEARS OLD,.... One copy reads forty, but he was not that; no, not much more than thirty; not above two or three and thirty years old: the reason of their fixing on this age of fifty might be, because Christ might look like such an one, being a man of sorrows and acquainted with griefs, as well as of great gravity; or they might be free in allowing him as many years, as could be thought he should be of, and gain their point; for what were fifty years, when Abraham had been dead above two thousand? and therefore he could never see Abraham, nor Abraham see him; moreover, this age of fifty, is often spoken of by the Jews, and much observed; at the age of fifty, a man is fit to give counsel, they say a; hence the Levites were dismissed from service at that age, it being more proper for them then to give advice, than to bear burdens; a Methur...

Christ thus spake to his adversaries. John 8:29. _And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone: for I do always those things that please him._ Brethren, what Christ could say, I trust many of his servants can also say in a like manner. «He that sent me is with me.» What power, what pleasure, must the presence of God give to his servants! «The Father hath not left me alone.» Oh! how blessed to feel that behind us is the sound of our Master's feet, and that in us is the temple of his presence! We cannot, however, say, as Christ did, «I do always those things that please him,» for, alas! we have the remembrance of sin this morning, and have to confess it in his sight. But let us also remember that he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. John 8:30. As he

JOHN 8:57 penth,konta e;th In an attempt to harmonize the statement more closely with Luke 3:23, a few witnesses (L 239 262 1355 1555 Chrysostom Ps-Athanasius) read tessera,konta (“You are not yet _forty_ years old”)....

CHAPTER 8 _ 1. The Woman Taken in Adultery. (John 8:1 .)_ 2. The Light of the World. (John 8:12 .) 3. His Testimony Concerning Himself and the Father. (John 8:13 .) 4. His Solemn Declarations. (John 8:21 .) 5. Before Abraham Was, I Am. (John 8:48 .) The first verse belongs to the preceding chapter. The officers returned without Him, bearing their testimony that “never man spake like this man.” Nicodemus ventured his timid defense. Then every man went to his own house while the Lord went to the Mount of Olives. The story of the woman