By Apologist Don Crouse

Introduction

Are you smarter than dirt? My guess is that most of us think we are. Well hold on to your mortarboards, boys and girls, because dirt is a lot smarter than you think. There is one area where dirt has challenged and confounded the collective intellect of mankind for millennia. And I've been trying to figure out a way to talk about this topic for years. Well, I'm not getting any younger and dirt isn't getting any smarter, so I thought it's time to give dirt the opportunity to show us how stupid we really are compared to its basic elemental abilities. You see, dirt has done something that no human has ever done. Dirt has created life from, well, dirt! People can't do that. Sure it had a little help from water, but I can't believe we're still not as smart as mud. However, based on all the science I've looked at, that seems to be the case. So let's take a quick look at life and see if you're smarter than dirt.

by Lindsey Adkins

As born-again believers, the temptation to look at our good works can be overwhelming. The Apostle Paul instructs us to judge whether our works as believers are rewardable at the Bema Seat,^[1]but nowhere are we told to look to our good works to know we are born again. Here are five good reasons to stop looking at our works to know if we have eternal life.

1. We are participating in pagan practices.

Christianity claims to be different than all other religions. And the way one obtains everlasting life is the defining characteristic that sets it apart.

In ancient Egypt it was taught that after death the person’s heart is weighed on a scale. If wickedness outweighed righteousness, then the demon god Ammit would devour the heart; the person suffers a second death, and ceases to exist. ^[2] The ancient Greeks held that upon death a person would go to one of three destinations dependent on what kind of life they lived. ^[3] In Hinduism, one is judged according to Karma. How good or bad a person lives, conditions how they will spend the next life. ^[4] All of these religions have something in common, a person’s level of good works, determines where they will go in the afterlife.

This common understanding of judgment after death has persisted throughout the ages. Accordingly, many within Christendom also believe that Jesus saves us, but if we want to go to heaven, then we must work together with Him and live a life characterized by good works. “If we want to go to heaven, then we must be good enough.” Sadly, this basic principle of the world (Colossians 2:20-23) continues to dominate much of Christendom.

The biblical view is fundamentally different and admits that our works don’t measure up. One sin is enough to tip the scales of righteousness (James 2:10). We are saved not by our own righteousness, but by grace through faith alone in Jesus alone (Ephesian 2:8-9). The way an ancient Egyptian might gain assurance, would be to evaluate his life’s practices (a sort of test run of what is to come), but for born-again believers in Christ assurance of eternal life comes not from the good works we do, like the ancient Egyptian, but from the promise we believe… hence the title believer.

If we say, we can know we are regenerate by our life’s practices, then we are saying that there is a subjective level of righteousness that proves objectively that we have eternal life while at the same time having to acknowledge the biblical truth that we are not good (no one is good but God). When we say, we can have assurance by looking at our works, this is just a clever way of saying my good outweighs my bad. We are no better than the Egyptians, Greeks or Hindus.

Christianity, in its biblical form, isdifferent. We know works matter because we understand the law of sowing and reaping, but we also know, when it comes to our good works, we can’t merit the gift of eternal life. We can’t measure up, and Jesus has to save us by grace. If we are weighing our works to see whether or not we have eternal life, it is because we don’t believe in Jesus for the life He so freely gives according to His promise. If that is the case, then like the pagans, we will be judged by our life’s practices and will be found wanting.

2. We are judging with subjective and unknowable standards.

According to Jesus’ promise, our assurance of eternal life is an objective truth (John 3:16, 4:10-13, 5:24, 6:47-48, 11:25-27), but we turn it into a subjective practice when we say a life characterized by good works and the relative absence of sin suggests regeneration. In contrast, Scripture presents eternal life as something we objectively know for sure (John 17:3; 1 John 5:13).

The Apostle John reminds us that we still sin (1 John 1:8), and the Apostle Paul, himself, struggled with the flesh (Romans 7:14-25). However, attempting to covertly qualify our sins as more or less acceptable, leads us to construct our own idea of sins God will allow, and one’s He won’t allow, based off our own judgements, biases, dispositions, and feelings. ^[5] Scripturally, any attempt to quantify an acceptable amount of sin is completely without support:

1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. (1 John 1:5-6)

Left to our own devises, the way we evaluate our works and sin for assurance of eternal life is a subjective pursuit in which only the self-righteous are assured. Even the great apostle to the Gentiles was forced to admit: O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:24-25)!

Instead, evaluating our good works and sin reveals our inadequacy. This is the purpose of the Law. It is a mirror that reveals our imperfections, or a tutor to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:24). Looking at our works for assurance of salvation, should lead us to a dead end. The exercise should be objective; we have sinned and fall short, which should lead us to look for a new solution. But, much like people Jesus encountered, we evaluate our works subjectively to determine if we have eternal life.

Consider the example of the rich young ruler. When Jesus confronts him with the Law, he responds, All of these I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack (Matthew 19:20)? This young man was religious. This is obvious with his response of claiming to keep the law. Being a religious Jew, he would have participated in the customary sin sacrifice. The young ruler was aware he had sinned; keeping this custom of sin sacrifice is an admission of sin. Yet, he believed that his life’s practices were good enough to be considered law abiding. Much like today, he viewed it as a characterization; he must try and live a life characterized by following the law, and the sin sacrifice would cover him when he did mess up and sin. God saves him, but he must do his part by living a life characterized by goodness; therefore, he asks what do I still lack (Matthew 19:20)?

He wasn’t understanding the purpose of the Law. Jesus’ answer, If you want to be perfect (Matthew 19:21), both exposes the route to salvation the young man had chosen (the works route), and shows him the impossible standard this path demands. Perfection was the very requirement the young man could never achieve. He was seeking glory, honor, and immortality (eternal life), by means of patient continuance in doing good (by keeping the law). And if this is the path he was taking, he had to be perfect. Looking at our works for assurance of salvation should lead us to Christ, not comfort in a vague subjective practice that falsely assures us of salvation.

Instead of following the example of the young rich ruler and being in the fog of subjectivity without knowing if we have the acceptable amount of good works and absence of sin in our lives to prove we have eternal life, we should always take Jesus at His word and believe the objective promise of God. Again, because we still sin, if left to our own, the way we evaluate our sin in the flesh will and (by nature) can only be subjective. We must therefore reject this practice, follow the Bible, and confess our sin.

1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us. (1 John 1:8-10)

Scripture tells us objectively that we know that we have eternal life, but fellowship and the abundant subjective experience of eternal life can be broken by sin in our lives… by failing to abide in Christ.

3. We are following in the footsteps of cults.

Undeniably many people in cults or non-Christian religions stay away from drugs, violence, immorality, and other vices. Many do good works; they can be hard-working, honest employees, give to the poor, and care for others with persistent outreach. They often help and love each other in their religious communities. Anyone, who has lived by a practicing Mormon family, can attest to this. They can look at the practices of their lives and measure up to (if not surpass) many Christians. Should this prove they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit? Should their transformed lives, and desire for holiness prove they have the right religion? Unfortunately for them it does. The frequent testimony of people in cults is that they were living bad lives, and then everything changed after they converted. Or, if they grew up in it, their testimony is that they always desired holiness.

The testimony of a Christian is different from the rest of the world’s religions. Our testimony is that we are not good. Our life’s practices don’t measure up, and that is why we need Jesus, the cross, and His promise of eternal life. Perhaps if a Mormon discovered he is actually lost in the fog of subjectivity and not assured of salvation, this would show him (or her) how fundamentally different our beliefs are. But If we tell a Mormon, that after we became a Christian, we stopped doing certain bad works and started to desire holiness, they can come right back and tell us the same thing. Our desires as people can change for many reasons. We can become sick of the consequences of sin, we can be convinced of a judgement to come, or we might like the feeling of doing what is right. And while it is beneficial in many ways to live a morally upright life, it doesn’t prove we have found the right beliefs, that we are born again, or even that we have believed the promise of eternal life. Our source of assurance comes, not from doing good, but from knowing with perfect assurance that Jesus and His promise of eternal life are true. This is our testimony.

4. We are not the “many” in Matthew 7:21-23.

Although Jesus provides us with an invaluable sneak peek into the plight of unbelievers at the Great White Throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), His warning in Matthew chapter 7 causes grave concern for some born-again believers:^[6]

7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’

7:23 And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:22-23)

Like any fair judge, Jesus gives the many an opportunity to make their case. Their defense is in the form of a question, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? Surely the miraculous nature of these good deeds are definitive “proof” of regeneration or eternal life.” The many point to their works and hope the Judge concludes that they must be one of His own, but He commands them to depart from Him.

Fortunately for us, Jesus already established: Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord,” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven (Matthew 7:21). You and I are not a part of the many. As believers in Jesus and His promise of eternal life, we have already done the will of the Father recorded in the one book designed to tell us how to enter the kingdom of heaven: This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent (John 6:29).

If Jesus turns away unbelievers who do good works, even dazzling signs in His name, why should we look to our good works for assurance of eternal life? Only when a person believes in Him whom He (the Father) sent do we have perfect assurance of eternal life.

5. We are not victims of a spurious faith.

Why would you and I think we have believed in Jesus when our lifestyle does not reflect Him? Put another way, how should we know if we are false converts or victims of a spurious faith except by looking at our good works? These kinds of questions bother many within Christendom.

Usually the term false convert is thrown around rhetorically to describe someone who has believed “defectively.” The typical narrative explains that the many may have believed in Jesus, but it was only intellectual assent. Because their head faith never manifests in the heart, their lives evidence a spurious faith. They do not have eternal life. They are not saved.

This is an unfortunate mistake. The idea of spurious faith is illogical. (A) cannot be (non-A). One is either convinced something is true, or is not convinced. We know a person can feign faith, where they say they believe, but are only pretending. A person can have misplaced faith, which is faith in the wrong thing. A person can also have faith that does not profit others. This is a person who believes, but fails to act on what he or she believes in a manner that blesses others. ^[7] But spurious faith or faith that is not faith is both unbiblical and logically impossible.

People can have a strong sense of assurance of salvation, but in fact be unregenerate. You and I may believe many things about Jesus, but if we have not believed in Jesus alone for the promise of eternal life, then any assurance of eternal life we have is based off of a false premise. We may do many good works, yet sadly not have eternal life. You and I can see the problem of gaining assurance of eternal life from our good works. But, if you and I believe Jesus when He promises us eternal life, then we have eternal life. Our faith is not spurious, but perfectly assured!

Enough Is Enough!

If for whatever reason, when we look to our works for assurance of eternal life, we are taking our eyes off of our Savior and His promise, and putting trust in ourselves and something that Scripture characterizes as filthy rags. How can you and I be assured by the filthy rags of our flesh if looking to our works for assurance keeps us from doing the one thing that Jesus requires of us to know for sure we have eternal life (1 John 5:9-13)? Born-again believers must continue believing what Jesus promises is true.

Jesus promises: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

Jesus promises: Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13-14).

Jesus promises: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life (John 5:24).

Jesus promises: And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:40).

Jesus promises: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life (John 6:47-48).

Jesus promises: I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world (John 6:51).

Jesus promises: I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this (John 11:25-26; underlining added)?

Do you believe this(John 11:26)? Martha did: Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world (John 11:27). Like Martha, do we believe Jesus and His promise to us and know that He alone is the Christ, the Son of God, who has given us eternal life? Enough is enough…let’s stand on the consistent promise of our Lord and Savior and know for sure we have eternal life!

Copyright © Lindsey Adkins 2023

Copyright © 2022 by The True Vine Fellowship
P.O. Box 682 Carlsborg, Washington 98324

All Scripture quoted from the Gospel of John is from the Living Water Gospel of John Logos 21 Version (Glide, OR: Absolutely Free Inc. 1996). All other Scripture is quoted from the New King James Version of the Holy Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).

Dedicated to Pastor Grant Christensen
and
his lovely bride Nancy

PREFACE

This small booklet is a development from a recent 10-week class in evangelism. Originally, Grant Christensen was slated to co-teach this course. Unfortunately, health concerns did not permit him to do so. If for no other reason, consider this booklet a beginning and not a final product. Pray for Grant’s recovery. Much work remains and few are the workers. When the Lord restores Grant to health our hope it to resume work in earnest on revising and updating the Four Keys to Sharing Good News.

This booklet is a copy of the teacher’s guide to the course. The Calibri font forms the body; italicized Cambria font communicates the teacher’s answers to questions. The format of the class requires participants to answer each of the questions without the teacher’s answers prior to each class. Discussion and dialogue regarding the questions form the content of each of the 10 sessions.The True Vine Fellowship offers Four Keys to Sharing Good News free to the local church: Contact: P.O. Box 682 Carlsborg, WA 98324.

This course uses the Living Water Gospel of John Logos 21 Version extensively. Prior to starting, you may request 100 to 200 Living Water Gospels of John from Absolutely Free Inc: Mail: The Living Water Project, P.O. Box 2, Glide, Oregon 97443; Web: www.livingwater.org. To date, Absolutely Free Inc. will provide the Living Water for free including free shipping; in return this ministry asks that what is received freely is given away freely.

By Frank Tyler

Introduction

Few passages of Scripture are used as often as Hebrews 10:26-31 to undermine the certainty of Jesus’ promise of eternal life. As His children we know the certainty of eternal life, because Jesus promises in His Word that those who believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God have everlasting life or life in His name (John 5:24; 6:47; 10:28-29; 11:25-27; 20:30-31). [1] Those who take Jesus at His Word have exactly what He promises—everlasting life! Unfortunately, some think—surely this is too good to believe… afterall how about the believer who renounces his faith in Christ publicly? Therefore, we must ask, does Hebrews 10:26-31 teach that a believer can engage in apostasy and lose the gift of everlasting life? Or, does this passage teach that born-again, eternally secure, believers may forsake Christian fellowship and endure the extreme temporal consequences God reserves for His adversaries?

Audience, Place and Time

The author of Hebrews addresses born-again Jewish believers living in the Israel just prior to the 70 AD judgment. The believers may well live in Judea or even in the immediate environs of Jerusalem. Clearly, their circumstances tempt them to return to the sacrificial practices of the temple and fellowship with unbelieving friends and family to the detriment of their fellowship in Christ.

Immediate Context

Hebrews 10:26 begins with a For, in effect saying, “because of the things I have just written you in verses 18-25,” Now, where there is remission of thes e… washed with pure water. The immediate context, Hebrews 10:18-25, defines concepts and terms with in the passage in question, Hebrews 10:26-31.

Verse 10:18

Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin .

There is a remission of these refers back to Jesus’ High Priestly sacrifice on the cross: But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:12). For this reason there is no longer an offering for sin . Jesus has once for all paid for the sins of the entire world (Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10 and Romans 6:10). The sacrificial system of the Mosaic Covenant is no more. This is good news both in 10:18 and eight verses later in 10:26.

Verses 10:19-21

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,

The writer of Hebrews views himself and his audience, us, as born-again brethren, who do not offer sacrifices according to the Mosaic Law in order to draw near to God, but who, instead enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way . Having offered Himself on the cross once for all (Again, Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10), Jesus remains our High Priest over the house of God . By way of contrast, the temple high priest, who continues offering animal sacrifices according to the Mosaic Law, overtly denies the efficacy of Jesus’ priesthood and sacrifice.

Verses 10:22-25

let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Based upon Jesus’ High Priestly service the author exhorts his audience: 1) let us draw near… 2) Let us hold fast… and 3) let us consider . Through the use of the 1 ^st person plural pronoun, us, the author sees himself as a shepherd leading his flock. These three exhortations state positively what the author summarizes negatively: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. The Day approaching is the day of temporal judgment against that generation of Israel guilty of rejecting and crucifying Jesus. Fellowship in Christ ought to mirror the three positive exhortations to draw near , hold fast and consider one another. [2]

Willfully Forsaking Fellowship

Instead of drawing near, holding fast and considering one another, these Jewish believers foolishly risk forsaking fellowship in Christ.

Verse 10:26

For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,

Within the immediate context to sin willfully is to forsake Christian fellowship for temple fellowship after the readers have received the knowledge of the truth (verses 18-21) now restated in verse 26, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. The truth was good news in verses 18-21 and remains so in verse 26; however, denying this truth through willful sin reaps consequences—even for born again believers.

Verses 10:27-31

but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. And again, “The LORD will judge His people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

A certain fearful expectation of judgment and fiery indignationwill soon devour Israel as Rome utterly destroys Jerusalem in 70 AD. Again, Jesus prophesied this coming destruction (Matthew 23:34-24:2 Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44; Mark 13:1-2). The author of Hebrews desires his audience to understand the severity of this coming judgment: If willful sin required death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, how much worse punishment awaits those Jews of that generation who persist in their unbelief and rejection of Jesus? Many years before on the day of Pentecost the Apostle Peter preached: let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ… Be saved from this perverse generation (Acts 2:36 and 40). If early in his apostolic ministry Peter acknowledged the ignorance of the people and leadership of Israel in persecuting Jesus (Acts 3:17), surely several decades later no apostle would consider the people and leadership of the nation ignorant. Indeed, 70 AD looms large for the adversaries. Temple worship will not save them, nor will the sacrificial system of Moses sanctify them in the coming day of judgment.

Three things identify these particularadversaries: 1) From the early days of Jesus’ ministry, to His crucifixion, to the continued persecution of the body of Christ (Acts), unbelieving Jews trampled the Son of God underfoot ;2) The sacrifices of the Mosaic Covenant specifically point to Jesus’ once for all sacrifice on the cross, but sadly these adversaries had long since counted the blood of the covenant(Mosaic) by which he (the Jew)was sanctified a common thing; [3] and3) For 30 to 40 years after Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection believers shared the good news, while the Holy Spirit brought conviction of the truth, but the Jews of this particular generation insulted the Spirit of grace by rejecting the offer of personal salvation to the Jew first and also denying the days of refreshing offered by the Lord (Acts 3:19). Against these particular adversaries Jesus had prophesied a specific judgment (Again, Matthew 23:34-24:2 Luke 13:34-35; 19:41-44; Mark 13:1-2) now taking shape as Rome gathered to destroy Israel in 70 AD: Vengeance is Mine, I will repay… The Lord will judge His people !

Recalling Former Days

As we noted earlier, the writer of Hebrews uses the 1 ^st person plural pronoun we in verse 26 to include himself among his flock as opposed to “them guys over there,” the adversaries (verse 10:27). [4] While God judges Christians at the Bema Seat (1 Corinthians 3:1-15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-11) and unbelievers at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15), the particular judgment here is an utterly devastating temporal judgment in fulfillment of Jesus’ prophesy against Israel and more specifically the Jewish leadership and people of that generation who crucified the Son of God. Of this judgment Josephus writes: “…in my opinion, the misfortunes of all nations since the world began fall short of those of the Jews” ( J.W. 1.1.1,4). In marked contrast, death by stoning (for willful sin according to the Mosaic Covenant) would seem a welcome relief.

If the devastation reserved for the adversaries remains certain, equally certain the author of Hebrews does not threaten his flock, but instead encourages them by recalling the former days… for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods . Again, you and me equals “us,” the writer of Hebrews and his flock—not “them other guys,” the adversaries. Judgment came; the prophecy was fulfilled; and the adversaries perished under the brutal heel of Rome: The author of Hebrews envisions neither his flock, nor future generations of born-again believers as the adversaries. [5]

Verses 10:32-34

But recall the former days in which, after you were illuminated, you endured a great struggle with sufferings: partly while you were made a spectacle both by reproaches and tribulations, and partly while you became companions of those who were so treated; for you had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods, knowing that you have a better and an enduring possession for yourselves in heaven.

Few thoughts encourage Christians as much as reflecting on their better and enduring possession … in heaven. Moreover, the reminder of the former days, in which they sacrificed through their fellowship with the author by sharing in his reproaches and tribulations(of the adversaries ), suggests the overarching theme of Hebrews not to drift away (Hebrews 2:1).

Confidence with Great Reward

In light of the coming judgment of 70 AD, why forsake their fellowship in Christ, which so pleases the Lord and garners such great reward, for the empty sacrifices of temple worship and fellowship with the adversaries ? Should they endure in their fellowship in Christ unto eternal reward or join themselves to the adversaries and experience firsthand the horrific temporal judgment of 70 AD? The author of Hebrews exhorts his flock to cling to fellowship in the body of Christ and endure unto eternal reward.

Verses 10:35-39

Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.

For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:

“For yet a little while,

And He who is coming will come and will not tarry.

Now the just shall live by faith;

But if anyone draws back,

My soul has no pleasure in him.”

But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Once again casting away your confidence and drawing back to perdition recalls the grand overarching theme of Hebrews:

Verses 2:1-4

Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? (Underlining added)

The author answers this initial thematic question in chapter 12.

Verses 12:25-26

See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven .” (Underlining added)

Drawing back, casting away, drifting way, turning way, and lastly refusing Him, all of these pose a profound question relevant only to the born-again believer. (You and I cannot draw back from where we have never been; we cannot cast away what we have never had; we cannot drift or turn away from where we have never been; and we cannot refuse Him whom we have never known.) How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? The author’s emphatic answer is that if we neglect Our Lord’s so great salvation, we cannot escape.

The author of Hebrews intends his flock to escape the devastating temporal judgment of 70 AD by enduring in their fellowship in Christ; we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul . The Greek word translated soul, yuchvß, could refer to a person (Acts 2:43; Romans 13:1) as well “the immaterial part of man held in common with animals (Matt. 10:28; Romans 2:9)”. [6] To draw back to perdition (by returning to temple worship and fellowship with unbelieving Jewish friends and family) subjects these 1 ^st century Jewish believers to the temporal judgment of 70 AD; instead, as believers, they must continue believing in Christ for the deliverance of their person and psychological or “immaterial” being through Jesus’ provision of fellowship in the body.

Conclusion and Application

Hebrews 10:26-31 never teaches that believers lose their eternal salvation by committing willful sin (apostasy). You and I draw a threefold conclusion:

1) The message of Hebrews 10:26-31 specifically addresses Jewish believers tempted to forsake fellowship in Christ in favor of temple sacrifice and fellowship with unbelieving Jews.

2) The temporal judgment of 70 AD fulfils Christ’s prophecy (Luke 19:42-44) against the leaders and people of that generation of Israel who crucified the Son of God.

3) The good news of Hebrews 10:18-25 remains good news in verse 10:26 also:there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.Moreover, this shared truth ought to inform both the author of Hebrews and his flock not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, but to endure in Christ, lest they too enter into the temporal judgment God reserves for His adversaries.

This seemingly troublesome passage fits perfectly within the grand overarching theme of the book of Hebrews.

The author and his flock must not drift away. For… how shall we escape (the temporal judgment of 70 AD) if we neglect so great a salvation (fellowship in Christ). Roughly 2000 years after the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy in 70 AD, this passage remains applicable: As God’s children, we must not forsake fellowship in the body of Christ, both with God and our fellow brothers and sisters, lest we needlessly and foolishly come under the temporal judgments of God—even unto physical death.

Copyright © Frank Tyler 2023

HEBREWS CHAPTER 6

By Ken W. Yates

[Editor’s Note: Few books in the New Testament create as much tension for believers as the book of Hebrews. Yates, himself, openly acknowledges: “It is ironic that the book I once dreaded and avoided has become a source of comfort and motivation. Hebrews does not threaten the Christian with the loss of salvation. Instead, it greatly encourages believers to remain faithful to the Lord in the midst of this fallen world in which we live. Grace will do that… If you are now looking for the strength and motivation to serve the Lord and please Him, the Book of Hebrews is for you. We will be His partners forever, if we persevere.” (Ken Yates, Hebrews: Partners with Christ (Denton, TX: Grace Evangelical Society, 2019), 9-10.)]

The Third Warning Passage

As previously mentioned, 5:11-14 introduces the third warning passage in the Book of Hebrews. In those verses the author specifically says that the readers have failed in their Christian living because they have not gone on to maturity. Here in Chap. 6 the author tells them to press on to such maturity (6:1-3), what will happen if they fall back (6:4-8), and then gives them another call to hold fast to their hope (6:9-12). At the end of the chapter, he concludes this warning.

Go on to Maturity (6:1-3)

By Bob Wilkin

[Editor’s Note: As director and founder of the Grace Evangelical Society, Bob Wilkin consistently defends the freeness of eternal life and costliness of discipleship. He has allowed TTVF to reprint this short, but insightful article.]

I still use the expression saving faith occasionally since it saves a lot of space. By saving faith, I mean faith in the saving object, the gift of God (everlasting life, John 4:10, 14; Eph 2:8) given by the Messiah Giver Jesus (John 4:25- 26; 6:47).

But what is faith? It probably is no surprise to you that most Evangelicals today do not believe that faith is persuasion. Indeed, many ridicule the idea that saving faith is merely being convinced of the saving truth.

Please take a moment and put down on paper in 25 words or less what faith is. All done? Here is what most Evangelicals today say.

One leading pastor and theologian defines faith in this way: “Receiving Christ as your supreme Treasure is what faith is,” and “An essential element of saving faith is treasuring Christ above all things,” and “Faith includes the embrace of Jesus as our all-satisfying Treasure.” [1]

by Don Crouse
Copyright 2018 Don Crouse

We have the iMac, the iPod, the iPad and the iPhone. Now, I present to you, the iMonkey! It's still in beta testing, but it will work just fine for my purposes today.

So what exactly is the iMonkey? Well, I'm glad you asked (just pretend you actually care). The iMonkey is the smart monkey. I didn't invent it. But it's about time someone marketed it! You probably already have some familiarity with the smart monkey and you don't even know it. It's actually called the Infinite Monkey Theorem.[1]The Infinite Monkey Theorem states that a monkey hitting keys at random on a typewriter keyboard for an infinite amount of time will type the complete works of William Shakespeare. Well, that is something, isn't it? Amazing - especially considering William Shakespeare didn't even do that! The typewriter wasn't invented until 1808. Shakespeare died in 1616. But that doesn't stop the iMonkey! The iMonkey isn't obligated to live by the normal constraints of time and physics. And it doesn't even have to work in reality. It just has to work in principle… because it's only a theory. Of course, in the real world, the iMonkey would never work; but in theory anything is possible, right? Well, maybe not.

By Evangelist Frank Tyler

I. Introduction

Regardless of his audience, whether Jewish or Gentile, the Apostle John must record why the Judean authorities, highly motivated and educated individuals within Judaism, fail to believe in Jesus… especially when they were themselves charged with actively seeking out the Christ in hopes of throwing off the iron boot of Rome. More importantly, how does Jesus love such a fractious group burdened with legalism and the oral traditions?

II. The Depths of God’s Loyal Covenantal Love

In chapter three of John’s account, Jesus reveals to an inquiring Nicodemus and his students part of the reason for this failure.

Now That’s Good News… Now That’s Love!

By Frank Tyler

[Editor’s Note: The Beguelin Home Fellowship gathers for a breakfast fellowship, 10:00am on Fridays at Mariners Café in Sequim, Washington. We were studying the second volume of Come and See, Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum’s systematic theology, specifically the doctrine of the trinity, when one of the members of the fellowship asked two really good questions: “What is the relevance of a doctrine like the trinity to evangelism?” And secondarily, “If we are living in the end times when Jesus could come back at any moment, why spend our time on something that does not lead to opportunities to share the good news?” Both of these questions are excellent!]

Introduction

Although the Scriptures nowhere say that faith in the trinity saves anyone eternally, the Lord uses brothers and sisters, who understand doctrines like the trinity, to reach out powerfully with the good news. When Jehovah’s Witnesses go door to door sharing their faith, they attack the doctrine of the trinity in order to gain an audience for their message. Christians on the receiving end of their message are often unprepared and become flustered when defending their faith. However, those of us who are prepared and well-grounded in our understanding of this doctrine have a very unique opportunity to respond with love, gentleness, and grace—born of confidence and knowledge. Let us consider two approaches.

By Frank Tyler

Introduction

Written in conjunction with The Four Keys to Sharing Good News, this commentary is a companion to a ten-session course developed by The True Vine Fellowship to equip brothers and sisters in Christ to share their faith directly from the Bible using the Living Water Gospel of John. The True Vine Fellowship is not a church, but an evangelistic fellowship serving a multitude of churches with differing traditions and backgrounds in order to promote outreach on the Olympic Peninsula.

Historically, commentaries on the Gospel of John are anchored to various theological traditions. Some are highly technical emphasizing the original language Koine Greek and various exegetical methodologies while others are pastoral and devotional. Bible studies abound. As a compliment to The Four Keys course, this particular commentary is written from the perspective of an evangelist who equips brothers and sisters in Christ to share their faith… but what more could possibly be written that has not already been written about the Apostle John’s account?

God explicitly ordained the Apostle John’s account as an eyewitness to persuade individuals that Jesus is: 1) the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God who has successfully taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 19:30), 2) the Christ, the Son of God who to this very day gives eternal life or life in His Name to all those who believe in Him (John 20:30-31). [1] This commentary, written from an evangelist’s perspective, highlights the two-fold simplicity of this eyewitness and encourages pastors and their flocks to share their faith in Jesus directly from John’s account.

Author, Title, and Date

The Greek title Kata Ioannen (According to John) reveals an essential enigma; nowhere in John’s account is he named as the author. Scholars reason from a short list of disciples extrapolated from chapter 21 that the Apostle John wrote this account:

… he (the author) describes himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” and he “who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said. ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’” (John 21:20.) Only Peter, James and John fit that description. However, the author is clearly not Peter as John 20:20-21 shows. Since Herod killed James in AD 44 (Acts 12:2), the beloved apostle John authored the Fourth Gospel. [2]

Like the synoptic accounts Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the word gospel was added to John later; hence, the title, “Gospel of John.” By the author’s own admission, the disciple whom Jesus loved, Kata τὸν μαθητὴν ὃν ἠγάπα ὁ Ἰησοῦς (John 21:20), wrote Kata Ioannen or “According to John.” We might more accurately title this account, “According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.” [3]

The prologue reveals the account John records as the eyewitness of the apostles : And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Father’s Only-begotten, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; underlining added). Indeed, John’s fellow disciples attest to this eyewitness corporately: This is the disciple who testifies to these things and wrote them down; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added). Furthermore, according to His prayer recorded in chapter 17, the words Jesus received from the Father, He in turn gave to His disciples that they might believe in Him as the sent one of the Father.

17:7 Now they have come to know that all things You have given to Me are from You.

17:8 For the words which You have given to Me, I have given to them; and they have received them and known for sure that I came forth from You. And they have believed that You sent Me .

(John 17:7-8; underlining added)

6:68 Then Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

6:69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God!” (John 6:68-69; underlining added)

The use of the third and first person plural confirms the corporate nature of the eyewitness John records; hence, “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.”

Relying on external witnesses, many conservative scholars have dated the account roughly fifty to sixty years after Jesus’ ascension (80-95AD):

Because the writings of some church fathers indicate that John was actively writing in his old age and that he was already aware of the synoptic Gospels, many date the Gospel sometime after their composition, but prior to John’s writing of 1, 2, and 3 John or Revelation. John wrote his Gospel c. A.D. 80-90, or about fifty years after he witnessed Jesus’ earthly ministry. [4]

However, nowhere in the Gospel of John is the 70AD destruction of the temple mentioned. Consider Jesus’ prophecy regarding the destruction of Jerusalem.

19:41 Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it,

19:42 saying, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

19:43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side,

19:44 and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41-44)

How could the disciple whom Jesus loved record Jesus’ witness to the temple authorities in His first cleansing of the temple (John 2:19-10) and fail to record the temple’s destruction in 70AD especially when the fulfillment of this prophecy (Luke 19:41-44) only further confirms His authority over the temple as the Christ, the Son of God? Ironically, Jesus prefaced the second cleansing of the temple (Luke 19:45) with this very same prophecy. If John could not have recorded his account after 70AD, then perhaps you and I should look elsewhere to date the book of John.

Indeed, the internal evidence against a late date for the Gospel of John grows stronger when those disciples present with Jesus in chapter 21 attest to the truth of the account recorded by John: This is the disciple who testifies to these things, and wrote them down; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added). Within the immediate context, the we who know that his testimony is true are Simon Peter, Thomas (called Twin), Nathanael from Cana of Galilee, Zebedee’s sons (James and John), and two others of His disciples(John 21:2), then the account must have been attested to prior to James’ death in 44AD (Acts 12:2). [5] Should you and I decide to include Jesus within the wewho attest to the truthfulness of John’s account, then the account is attested to prior to our Lord’s ascension.

Following the rejection of His Messiahship, Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven in parables concluding with the parable of the scribe and householder.

13:51 Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

13:52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

(Matthew 13:51-52; underlining added)

One of the responsibilities entrusted to the apostles was to act as a scribe and bring out of his treasure… new and old. Given His purpose in writing, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31), surely the account John records is an utterly priceless treasure—especially in light of the controlling kingdom parable, the Sower and His Seed. Moreover, the instruction to bring out treasure… new and old is not merely to record as a scribe, but to steward as a responsible householder who brings out the account of things understood.

Of the three candidates to record and steward this account (Peter, James and John), Peter, as the acknowledged leader of the disciples, would appear the most likely candidate, yet his repeated unwillingness to heed His Lord and Savior (John 13:36-38, Matthew 16:22-!7:5) cost him dearly. True, Jesus restores Peter to ministry (John 21:15-19), but He does not reward him with the honor of recording and stewarding an account so instrumental in fulfilling God’s kingdom parables. Might this contribute to the underlying tension between Peter and the Sons of Zebedee that surfaces Peter’s question:But Lord, what about him(John 21:21)? You and I may only speculate; on the other hand, this we know for sure— the disciple whom Jesus loved was entrusted to steward a priceless treasure, a testimony explicitly purposed by our Lord to bring forth life in His name. In light of Peter’s failure, would Jesus entrust this responsibility to an apostle who would wait fifty to sixty years to record and distribute it?

Paul writes a faithful saying revealing for Timothy the time the apostle believed on Jesus for everlasting life:

1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1:16 However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life.

(1 Timothy 1:15-16; underlining added)

Paul was converted on the road to Damascus in 33-34AD and thereafter considered the longsuffering mercy of the Lord to those who are going to believe on Him for eternal life as a pattern. If this pattern were already established shortly after our Lord’s ascension, would the Apostle John wait fifty to sixty years to record a witness so instrumental in fulfilling this pattern?

When as a baby believer Nicodemus seeks out Jesus for understanding of his new found faith, Jesus immediately responds: Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God (John 3:3). Though highly esteemed as a teacher of Israel (John 3:10), Nicodemus struggles, like all believers do, to grasp the miracle of being born again—so much so that even as ateacher of Israel, he stumbles to find words (John 3:4). Jesus answers:

3:5 “Amen, amen, I tell you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

3:7 Don’t be amazed that I told you, ‘You all must be born again.’

3:8 The wind blows where it will, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it is coming from and where it is going. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

(John 3:5-8; underlining added)

Even a highly esteemed teacher of Israel must acknowledge the absolute necessity of being born again while at the same time humbling himself to a miracle far beyond his ability to understand, let alone put into words. This timeless and most elemental wonder lies at the very heart of discipleship—as followers of Christ, we must learn without exception to live a miracle we can neither fully grasp nor merit in any way. This miracle is life in the name of our Lord and Savior and remains to this day the very purpose of the testimony John records (John 20:30-31). If after a long tiring day of ministry in the temple, Jesus makes time into the dark hours of night to address a teacher of Israel and his disciples, and if, like Nicodemus, all born again believers continue to share this same elemental quandry, then are we to believe the disciple whom Jesus loved waited fifty to sixty years to record this vital discipleship truth?

You and I may not know the exact date of writing for the Gospel of John, but the internal witness rules out any date that fails to account for the destruction of the temple in 70AD. The disciples who attest to the account include James who died in 44AD. Dating John’s account late raises a myriad of challenging questions that leave you and I asking, what is gained by late dating a testimony designed to bring forth life in the name of our Lord and Savior? For purposes of this commentary the Gospel of John is a testimony authored by the disciple whom Jesus loved, was a part of a stewardship both to record and distribute entrusted to him prior to Jesus’ ascension, and was attested in written form by his fellow disciples prior to James’ death in 44AD. Though we will henceforth refer to John’s account as the Gospel of John, it would be more accurately titled: “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved.”

A Two-Fold Audience That Authenticates

Jews of that Generation that Crucified Christ

In John, the Greek word Ιουδαῖοι is used roughly 70 times and frequently translated ethnically as theJews. This striking feature of John’s testimony causes many scholars to declare this gospel the most anti-Semitic account in the entire Bible. Jewish scholar Geza Vermes comments: “One of the most dismaying features of the Fourth Gospel is its determined claim that the Jews, or at least the inhabitants of Judea—the Greek Ioudaioi can designate either—were profoundly and universally inimical to Jesus.” [6] …“John’s hatred of the Jews was fierce. I often wonder whether he could possibly have been Jewish himself.” [7] Daniel Goldhagen writes:

The Christian Bible presents its Christian faithful with a relentless and withering assault on Jews and Judaism. The structure of the Gospels in particular is antisemitic. The Jews are presented as the ontological enemy of Jesus and therefore of goodness… The story’s narrative structure, its force, it many warning and inducements depend upon the castigation of the Jews as the essential and dramatic villains who oppose, reject, and assault Jesus and whom he must overcome but does so only through the tragedy of his end. [8]

“The Gospel According to Mark has approximately forty antisemitic verses,” [9] Luke sixty, Matthew eighty, while “the Gospel According to John contains approximately 130 antisemitic verses.” [10] … “Because the structure of the Gospels is to present Jews as the ontological enemy of God, the damaging individual statements about Jews qua Jews get subsumed into the nature and essence of Jews.” [11]

Vermes and Goldhagen paint a very troubling picture: How can an anti-Semitic account be a part of God’s word to both Jew and Gentile alike? From their perspective, the Gospel of John is most likely the work of the early first-century Gentile church as it struggles with prejudice against the Jewish people for their supposed murder of Jesus Christ. Nothing could be farther from the truth!

In John’s account, the central irony of Jews commenting on Jews authenticates the testimony of the disciples by addressing the elephant in the room for all Jews immediately following Jesus crucifixion and resurrection: 1) If Jesus is the crucified and resurrected Son of God, then how did the leadership of Israel (the Ioudaioi or Judean authorities) fail to identify Him as the long-awaited Christ? 2) How and why did these same authorities lead the people to demand His crucifixion? 3) And lastly, what does God call His people to do in the wake of Messiah’s crucifixion and resurrection? That the vast majority of John’s account records Jesus’ interactions with the Judean authorities or Ioudaioi in Jerusalem and the surrounding environs of Judea rightly reflects the larger Jewish audience’s (Judea, Galilee, and the Diaspora) pressing need to investigate a catastrophic failure in leadership within Judaism and an impending disaster for the nation of Israel.

The early witness of John the Baptist recorded by the Apostle John ought not surprise us; afterall, each of the four gospel accounts record John the Baptist’s ministry. Luke reveals the dialogue between John and a broad spectrum of individuals, the multitudes from tax collectors to soldiers (Luke 3:7-14), but only the Apostle John records the specific inquiry by the Judean authorities about the Baptist’s ministry as the forerunner of Messiah (John1:19-23). If an official inquiry of the Baptist was merited to discern whether or not he was Israel’s coming Messiah, then how much more so an investigation of the leadership that failed to recognize God’s Messiah who had come in the flesh and was crucified on a Roman cross. Indeed, the Judean authorities heard John the Baptist’s three-fold witness (the Father, the Holy Spirit, and John the Baptist) that Jesus is both the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and Son of God (John 1:34) and yet led the nation to reject their now crucified and resurrected Messiah.

As the heavy footsteps of Rome leading up to the 70AD destruction of the temple and Jerusalem grow louder, John’s witness becomes more and more urgent to those asking the question; where is Israel’s deliverer, God’s promised Messiah? [12] If the Ioudaioi or Judean authorities so badly misled God’s people, then in whom can the people place their faith? The Apostle John’s witness remains true to this day to both Jew and Gentile alike: Believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world and now gifts eternal life to all who believe in Him and His promise of life.

Prior to his ascension, Jesus commands his apostles: But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8). On Pentecost, the Apostle Peter preaches his first sermon:

2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “ Men of Judea (Ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι,) and all who dwell in Jerusalem (οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλὴμ) let this be known to you, and heed my words.

2:22 “ Men of Israel (Ἄνδρες Ἰσραηλῖται), hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

2:29 “ Men and brethren (Ἄνδρες ἀδελφοί), let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. (Acts 2:14. 22. 29; underlining added)

As the underlined vocatives and content of his sermon reveal, Peter targets a Jewish audience about their Jewish Messiah whom they as Jews crucified, that all the house of Israel (may) know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). The account John records is no more anti-Semitic than the sermon Peter first preached on Pentecost.

Again, consider the Apostle Peter’s words to his Jewish brethren inside the temple as he recounts their complicity.

3:17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.

3:18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

3:20and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,

3:21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. (Acts 3:17-21; underlining added)

In order for the nation of Israel to receive God’s promised Messianic kingdom, Peter, as a Jew, instructs fellow Jews complicit in the crucifixion of the Jewish Messiah to repent of their sin and be converted that: 1) their sins may be blotted out; 2) times of refreshing may come ; lastly 3) God may again send their Messiah, Jesus Christ. This is hardly the message of someone who hates his Jewish brethren. Addressing this same elephant in the room, the Apostle John records the apostles’ testimony to individual Jews of that generation that wrongly rejected Jesus as Messiah that even following His rejection, they, as individuals, may have life in the name of their Jewish Messiah. The testimony of the apostles recorded by John is in no way anti-Semitic… no, not hardly! Jewish disciples addressing the larger Jewish audience about their failure to receive Israel’s Jewish Messiah and the Judean authorities’ role in that failure remains an essential part of an indelible watermark of authenticity for all following generations both Jew and Gentile. [13]

The Apostle Paul, himself a former Pharisee, writes regarding his outreach to both Jew and Gentile:

1:22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;

1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. (1 Corinthians 1:22-24)

Given this insight, should you and I be surprised that the witness of John is structured around eight signs? Truly, the Jews didrequest a sign:

2:18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “ What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?”

2:19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:18-19)

12:38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered, saying, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.”

12:39 But He answered and said to them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38-40; Luke 11:29-30)

All the gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, knew it was vital for those hearing of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection to understand the cross as a sign that reveals Him as Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. If I am lifted up from the earth I will draw all peoples to Myself (John12:32) includes both Jews and Gentiles… beginning with the Jew first.

Far from being a harbinger of first-century anti-Semitism, the Apostle John’s introspective examination of those Jews who crucified Jesus—of those who failed to discern God’s Messiah and so badly misled their fellow Jews—remains the first half of the indelible watermark of authenticity . What then is the second half?

The World

First to Jews of that generation that crucified Christ and then to the world, the world forms the other half of this indelible watermark. Consider the Prophet Isaiah’s words: It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Upon seeing the baby Jesus, Simeon praises the Lord:

2:30 …my eyes have seen Your salvation

2:31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,

2:32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,

And the glory of Your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

According to Isaiah’s prophecy, Israel’s Messiah must also be a source of revelation and salvation to the Gentiles; Simeon rightly rejoices in the baby Jesus.

In the Gospel of John, the prophetic fulfillment of Jesus’ ministry to both Jews and Gentiles is revealed in His ministry to the world. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)! God loved the world in this manner that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16)… that the world might be saved through Him (John 3:17). After spending two days with Jesus, the men of Sychar conclude this really is the Savior of the world, the Christ(John 4:42)! Having witnessed Jesus miraculously feed 5,000 men and their families, the men conclude: This man really is the Prophet who was coming into the world (John 6:14)! Jesus is the bread of God… who gives life to the world (John 6:33). He is the living Bread who gives His flesh for the life of the world (John 6:51). Jesus came as a light into the world… not to judge the world but to save the world (John 12:46-47). Jesus spoke openly to the world (John 18:20). Jesus is a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to My voice (John 18:37). Underlining of phrase the world has been added to each of these passages to underscore the vital importance of this audience to John’s account. Again, the world includes both Jew and Gentile.

Lastly, consider Jesus’ prayer for unity and evangelism in John Chapter Seventeen; the word worldis used nineteen times in twenty six verses:

17:20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in Me through their message;

17:21 that they all may be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that in Us they also may be one, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.

17:23 I in them and You in Me; so that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know the you sent Me and have loved them just as You have loved Me. (John 17:20-21, 23; underlining added)

The world, both Jew and Gentile, depends upon the authentic witness of the one and only Jewish Messiah through the message entrusted to Jewish apostles. In John, this message remains authoritatively “The Witness of the Disciples According to the Disciple Whom Jesus Loved” purposed first for those Jews of that generation that crucified Christ and secondly for all Jews and Gentiles to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and His promise of eternal life.

Some Definitive Features

The testimony left us by the Apostle John has several features not found in the Synoptics that help define Jesus’ person and ministry. Consider just these seven: 1) The Word of God, 2) The Lamb of God, 3) The Herald of Eternal Life, 4) The Eight Signs, 5) The Eight I Am Statements , 6) That You May Believe and Abide, 7) The Call to Repent.

The Word of God

Few truths are so guaranteed to shock the ears of God’s chosen people, yet few truths are as elemental to our Lord’s person and ministry:

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1:2 He was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-2; underlining added)

The translation, the Word was God, causes some in Christendom great consternation. Some go so far as to translate θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος as “the Word was a god.” [14] However, fascinating the argument between definite and indefinite predicate nominatives may be, it confuses the apostles’ witness. The NET Bible translates in a qualitative sense “and the Word was fully God” providing the footnote: “The translation ‘what God was the Word was’ is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too.” [15] In other words, the apostles testify that the Word or Jesus was Divine in the qualitative sense without being the same person as His Father. This is a truth observed time and again throughout the apostles’ witness essential in confirming Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God.

The Lamb of God

All four gospel accounts record Jesus’ baptism, but only John reveals in explicit detail John the Baptist’s witness that comes forth from His baptism. Truly, nothing could be more elemental to the witness of the disciples than the testimony of John the Baptist: Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John1:29)!

Knowledge of John’s witness early in Jesus’ ministry is critical to understanding the Judean authorities’ culpability and failure as leaders of God’s people. Equally important, the Baptist’s witness is an authoritative three-fold testimony involving God the Father, the Holy Spirit and himself as Messiah’s forerunner. The priests and Levites sent to investigate John learn that he is not the Christ, but rather the forerunner announcing that among you stands Someone you do not know. He is the One coming after me, who ranks ahead of me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie (John 1:26-27; underlining added)! Clearly, those looking for the Christ would not have departed for Jerusalem when the Christ is so near; indeed, the very next day John boldly declares, Look! The Lamb of God (John 1:29)! John the Baptist’s witness forms the basis for the authorities to request a sign authenticating Jesus’ authority to cleanse the temple (John 2:18). Jesus cryptic answer (John 2:19) strikes at the very core of the work His Father entrusts to Him as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). That Jesus is the One anointed by God to take away the sin of the world is also crucial to persuading John’s larger Jewish audience that He is the Christ, the Son of God.

The Herald of Eternal Life

According to the Apostle Paul, the elects’ acknowledgment of the truth and call to godliness is in hope of eternal life(ζωῆς αἰωνίου) which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began (Titus 1:1-2). Though you and I do not have recorded the actual promise of eternal life God made before time began, we see its effects very early in the Old Testament.

During the patriarchal period (Genesis 11-12), Job in the midst of terrible suffering testifies with great certainty and boldness.

19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

19:26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

19:27 Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

(Job 19:25-27)

As Job’s suffering rages like a swollen river, the unseen rock of God’s promise reveals itself forcing the currents of Job’s faith to rise up and boil. How certain was Job of God’s promise? Oh, that my words were written! … with an iron pen and lead, forever (John 19:23-24)! Though his flesh may die, he shall yet live and see God in a new (resurrection) body. How would Job understand this truth except God promised it to him.

The hope of eternal life based upon God’s promise profoundly influenced another very famous patriarch. Consider the commentary by the author of Hebrews:

11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

11:18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

11:19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead , from which he also received him in a figurative sense.

(Hebrews 11:17-19; underlining added)

The promisesreceived refer to God’s covenantal promises to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15:4-6). Abraham inferred eternal life and resurrection from these covenantal promises; and like Job, Abraham’s faith reflects God’s promise of eternal life from before time began. For Abraham not to conclude that God was able to raise Isaac up, even from the dead , in the larger sense would have been unbelief in the hope of eternal life .

Throughout the Old Testament, the hope of eternal life(Titus 1:2) remains so clearly implied that not to infer it is also unbelief in the very

promise of a coming Messiah and His kingdom. Consider the dry bones prophecy of Ezekiel:

37:5 Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live.

37:6 I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.” ’ ”

37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone.

37:8 Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them.

37:9 Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live .” ’ ”

37:10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army.

37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. (Ezekiel 37:5-11; underlining added)

At the very core of Israel’s faith in Messiah remains the promise of His coming kingdom, but God’s promise proves vain unless the citizens of this coming kingdom are made alive eternally with resurrection bodies. Implied in Ezekiel’s prophecy, is the propositional content of His promise—to believe in God’s coming Messiah is to believe in His promise to breathe life into the dead bones of Israel. The believing remanent of God’s people are those who infer and believe that God promises them eternal life and resurrection bodies in order to serve in the coming kingdom. Thus, the whole house of Israel will be those made alive in resurrection bodies.

Although there are many likely candidates through whom God might have overtly spoken His promise of eternal life—Job, Abraham, Moses, King David, the Prophets—not once throughout the whole of the Old Testament is God’s promise of eternal life explicitly recorded. Not until our Lord, the Sent One of the Father, is the promise explicitly heralded in the New Testament Scriptures. Indeed, the testimony of the disciples recorded by John reveals Jesus as the exclusive herald of God’s promise of eternal life. Consider a few of these passages from John: [16]

3:14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, likewise the Son of Man must be lifted up,

3:15 so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).

3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).

3:17 For God Did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

(John 3:14-17)

4:10 …“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water!”

4:13 … “Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again.

4:14 But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never thirst again—forever! On the contrary, the water that I will give him will become within him a spring of water gushing up to eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον).” (John 4:10, 13-14)

5:24 “Amen, amen, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes the One who sent Me has eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον), and will not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.” (John 5:24)

6:47 “Amen, amen, I tell you, whoever believes in Me has eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον·).

6:48 I am the Bread of Life. (John 6:47-48)

11:25 …”I am the Resurrection and the Life (ζωή·). He who believes in Me, even if he dies, will live.

11:26 And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”

11:27 “Yes Lord,” she told Him, “I believe you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11:25-27)

In each of these passages Jesus overtly heralds the promise of eternal life. Lastly, in his first epistle the Apostle John declares:

2:25And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life (τὴν ζωὴν τὴν αἰώνιον). (1 John 2:25)

5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life (ζωὴν αἰώνιον), and this life (ζωὴ) is in His Son. (1 John 5:11)

Who could this One possibly be—the One who so boldly heralds, with the perfect power and authority of the One True God, the promise of eternal life that echoes forth from before time began (Titus 1:1-2)? The promise of eternal life or life in His name defines Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God as definitively as His crucifixion and resurrection.

The Eight Signs

Most commentors of John consider only seven signs, yet ironically the eighth sign is the greatest sign of all. Though chronologically not first, it is first in that it culminates and defines His person and ministry from its inception: [17]

2:18 So in reply the Jews said to Him, “ What miraculous sign do You show, since You do these things?”

2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary and I will raise it up in three days!”

2:20 Therefore the Jews said, “This sanctuary took 46 years to build, and will You raise it up in three days?”

2:21 But He was talking about the sanctuary of His body .

(John 2:18-21; underlining added)

And it is the last and culminating sign:

2:22 So when He was raised from the dead His disciples remembered that He had said this. And they believed the Scripture and the statement that Jesus had made. … (John 2:22)

19:30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “it is finished!” And bowing His head, He yielded up His spirit.

(John 19:30)

20:27 Then He said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and observe My hands. Reach out your hand and put it into My side. And don’t be unbelieving but believing!”

20:28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

20:30 Jesus actually performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book,

(John 20:27-28, 30; underlining added)

In John’s account of Jesus’ ministry, the sign of the cross, forms an inclusio that defines the significance of the other seven signs recorded in the Gospel of John: But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His Name (John 20:31; underlining added).

Throughout John’s account, seven other signs continually foreshadow the greatest sign of all, the cross. In chronological order:

First Sign—Turning Water into Wine (John 2:6-11): First chronologically, this sign foreshadows the beginning of His ministry and the soon passing of the old covenant (ceremonial water) and the coming of the new covenant (the finest wine) which only the Christ, the Son of God can bring about.

Second Sign—Healing a Royal Official’s Son (John 4:47-54): By His word, the boy and by extension all men are healed.

Third Sign—Healing a Paralytic (John 5:2-9):Following in His Father’s footsteps, Jesus has authority to heal by His word on the Sabbath day.

Fourth Sign—Feeding 5000 Men and Their Families (John 6:5-14): Jesus is the prophet like Moses and greater still who by His blessing miraculously transforms five barley loaves and two fish into a meal of overabundance.

Fifth Sign: Walking on Water and Instantaneously Delivering His Disciples to Shore (John 6:18-21): Jesus commands not only nature, but time and space itself.

Sixth Sign—Healing of a Man Born Blind (John 9:1-12): Jesus performs a miracle only Messiah can do by giving sight to a man who had never before possessed it.

Seventh Sign—Bringing to Life a Man Dead for Four Days (John 11:38-44): Jesus performs a miracle only Messiah can do, raising from the tomb a man dead for four days.

Eighth Sign—Crucified unto Death and Three Days Later Resurrected unto Life (John 19:16 thru 20:31): Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who by His death as the Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world and who, by His resurrection in fulfillment of His Father’s will, guarantees the promise of eternal life which God who cannot lie promised before time began (Titus 1:2).

All of Jesus’ signs attest to who He is, but John selected only eight signs in order to convince his audience that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God who gives eternal life to those who believe Him and His promise of eternal life.

Following the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter returns to this same witness in the midst of the temple:

2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know—

2:23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;

2:24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.

(Acts 2:22-24; underlining added)

A Man attested by God… by miracles, wonders, and signs clearly reflects the purpose of John’s witness:

20:30 Jesus actually performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Peter’s emphasis on the greatest sign of all, the cross, is John’s emphasis… as well as the Apostle Paul’s emphasis. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3-4; underlining added).

The Eight I Am Statements

The witness of the apostles is also structured around eight I Am statements, each an affirmation and apologetic expression of Jesus’ deity.

3:14 And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֣ר אֶֽהְיֶ֑ה). And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM (אֶֽהְיֶ֖ה) has sent me to you.’ ”

(Exodus 3:14; underlining added)

Just as God sent Moses to the children of Israel to liberate them from Egyptian bondage, so too God the Father sent His Son to the children of Israel to liberate mankind from the bondage of sin and death. Indeed this One is the Prophet like Moses…

18:15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,

18:18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.

18:19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

(Deuteronomy 18:15, 18-19)

…Who is yet greater than Moses.

“I am the Bread of Life.” (John 6:35, 48, 51)

“I am the Light of the world.” (John 8:12; 9:5)

“I AM” (John 8:58)

“I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:8, 9)

“I am the good shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14)

“I am the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25)

“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” (John 14:6)

“I am the true vine.” (John 15:1, 5)

The Christ, the Son of God, Jesus is I AM Who I AM who has the power and authority to make Himself the Bread of Life, the light of the world, the door of the sheep, the good shepherd, the Resurrection and the Life, the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and the true vine , because He is indeed I AM.

That You May Believe and Abide

Many have called John the Gospel of belief. The Greek word for believe, πιστεύω, occurs 99 times in John’s Gospel and 10 times in 1 John. With the singular exception of John 2:24, it is translated in the New King James Version (NKJV) as “believe.” (But Jesus did not commit(ἐπίστευεν)Himself to them, because He knew all men(John 2:24, NKJV). The Logos 21 Version reads: Jesus, however, would not trust(ἐπίστευεν) Himself to them, since He knew all men .) The unbeliever is challenged to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God who gives eternal life to those who believe in Him and His promise of eternal life. The one who believes is challenged to abide.

The Greek word μένω, frequently translated “abide,” is used 41 times in John’s gospel and 25 times in his epistles for a total of 66 uses. Consider the following chart developed from the New King James Version.

Uses of μένω in John’s Gospel and Epistles

Clearly, the word μένω is used often by the Apostle John. The translators of the NKJV most frequently render it as “abide.” The second most common rendering, “remain,” is similar in nuance to “abide.” The Complete Word Study Dictionary offers the following definition: “Of the relationship in which one person or thing stands with another, chiefly in John’s writings; thus to remain in or with someone, i.e., to be and remain united with him, one with him in heart, mind, and will.” [18] Abiding is a work Jesus commands His disciples.

The Greek verb μένω means to abide, remain, stay, dwell, endure, continue, or be present. The believer who abides is a productive branch or disciple bearing fruit for Jesus.

15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

15:2 Every branch in Me that does not produce fruit He props up, and every one producing fruit He prunes so that it will produce more fruit.

15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. Just as the branch is unable to produce fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, is the one who produces much fruit, since you can do nothing apart from Me

15:6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown aside like a withered branch and withers. Then they gather such branches, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

15:7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you wish, and it shall be done for you.

15:8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit. So you will be My disciples.

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you. Abide in My love.

15:10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

15:11 “I have spoken these things to you so that My joy may abide in you, and your joy may be complete.

(John 15:1-11; underlining added)

In this key passage, the word abide is used 10 times in 11 verses; 3 times in verse 15:4 alone; therefore, the importance of abiding in evangelism should come as no surprise. Two questions arise: 1) How can you and I effectively share the gift of eternal life, if we do not know for sure we have eternal life? and 2) How can we share our relationship with our Lord and Savior, if you and I do not know for sure we have that relationship? An individual first believes the promise of eternal life, then as a disciple, continues believing the promise in order to abide and share the good news of eternal life.

The Absence of Repentance

Although the call to repent is recorded in the Synoptic gospels, in John, the one book explicitly designed for a person to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and to have life in His name, neither repentance nor repent are mentioned... no, not once.

John choses eight specific signs to structure a testimony sufficient for a person to believe in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God and to have life in His name (John 20:30-31). If anything required for sufficiency has been left out, then John badly misleads his audience and fails his stewardship to the Lord. For this reason, many commentators desire to read at least the concept of repentance into John’s account. Thankfully, neither the apostle, nor the truth of God’s Word has failed.

Repentance is not a requirement for a person to receive eternal life. This truth is not a theological imposition, but an essential part of the disciples’ witness. The argument is not from silence, but about silence… a wholly deafening silence. Ironically, the Apostle John understands the role of repentance in coming to believe in Jesus, but has purposefully left out repentance as a requirement to receive life in His name or eternal life. [19] That repentance is not a requirement for receiving the gift of eternal life is a non-negotiable part of John’s testimony.

In calling the Prophet Isaiah, the Lord commissions his ministry and commands him:

6:9 “Go, and tell this people:

‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

Keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

6:10 “Make the heart of this people dull,

And their ears heavy,

And shut their eyes;

Lest they see with their eyes,

And hear with their ears,

And understand with their heart,

And return and be healed.”

(Isaiah 6:9-10; underlining added)

The idea of returning in verse nine implies repentance or turning away from the sin that deafens and blinds the people to the One True God and His Word. If they turn or repent, God heals their ability to hear and see. Turning away from sin and turning to God and His Word does not guarantee a Godly transformation in behavior; nonetheless, to those who turn to God and His Word, He heals their ability to perceive, to hear and see.

Jesus quotes Isaiah 6:9-10 following His rejection as Messiah in Matthew chapter 13 and at the close of His public ministry in John chapter 12:

13:14 And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:

“Hearing you will hear and shall not understand,

And seeing you will see and not perceive;

13:15 For the hearts of this people have grown dull.

Their ears are hard of hearing,

And their eyes they have closed,

Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,

Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn (ἐπιστρέψωσιν) , So that I should heal them.’

(Matthew 13:14-15; underlining added)

Again, if the leadership of Israel turns away from the sin which blinds and deafens them to Messiah and turns to God and His Word, then God would heal their ability to perceive Him and His Word. Jesus reminds His disciples:

13:16 But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;

13:17 for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

Even among prophets and righteous men who possessed the ability to perceive God and His Word… many did not see or hear the things Jesus shares with His disciples. Although God heals those who repent or turn from sin, this restoration of the ability to perceive God and His Word does not necessarily mean they will perceive and/or believe.

Summarizing the response of the Judean authorities to Jesus’ person and ministry, John writes:

12:39 The reason they were unable to believe is because Isaiah said again:

12:40 “He has blinded their eyes

And hardened their hearts,

So that they would not see with their eyes,

Nor understand with their hearts

And be converted(ἐπιστραφῶσιν,) ,

So that I should heal them.”

(John 12:39-40;underlining added)

The Greek verb for turnin Matthew 13:15 is ἐπιστρέψωσιν, an aorist, active, subjunctive while the same verb translated be converted (Logos 21) in John 12:40 is ἐπιστραφῶσιν, an aorist, passive, subjunctive. The NKJV renders this verb in John 12:40 in an active sense as turn . For purposes of comparison between the two passages, the translation in 12:40 might be better rendered “be turned.” [20]

Roughly one hundred times the Greek word for believe appears in John’s account, yet the word for repent surfaces nowhere… even in a passage that reveals the reason for the Judean authorities’ unbelief (John 12:39). Lest you and I mistakenly think John prefers ἐπιστραφῶσιν (to turn) instead of μετανοέω (to repent), consider that he uses the Greek word ἐπιστραφῶσιν only four times (John 12:40, 21:20; Revelation 1:12) but uses μετανοέω the most of any New Testament writer outside of Luke, twelve times in the book of Revelation.

As verses 39-40 reveal, the apostles understand the importance of repentance or turning from sin to God and His word. Throughout John’s account, Jesus confronts both corporately and individually the Judean authorities who suffer grievously from spiritual deafness and blindness: He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God (John 8:47). Sin is like a deafening wax in the ears or dark sunglasses at midnight. Only God can drain the wax and remove the sunglasses from the one who repents or turns from sin. In turn, the ability to hear and see affords the opportunity to believe, but is not itself the conviction of faith. Indeed, throughout John’s account, individuals repeatedly believe in Jesus without the necessity of repenting or turning from sin. Although repentance may well be necessary for a person to perceive, it is emphatically never a requirement to receive eternal life.

A Divinely Ordained Corporate Testimony

In the Synoptics, Matthew, Mark, and Luke use the Greek noun for gospel, εὐαγγέλιον, and/or the verb to proclaim good news, εὐαγγελίζω, frequently but not once in his account does the beloved apostle use these words. [21] When referring to his account John uses the Greek verb for testifies , μαρτυρῶν, and noun for testimony, μαρτυρία: This is the disciple who testifies of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24; underlining added; see 19:35). Understanding John’s account as Divinely ordained corporate testimony opens our understanding to John’s larger purpose and the book’s unique place in the New Testament.

The Apostle John introduces the idea of a Divinely ordained corporate testimony very early: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14; underlining added). As previously noted, the use of the first person plural, us and we, reveals that what you and I commonly refer to as a gospel account is actually a testimony or witness of the eleven (less Judas) disciples as recorded by the beloved disciple. The expression only begotten is better understood as “one of a kind;” The disciples testify that Jesus is the one of a kind Word become flesh, full of grace and truth, who dwelt or tabernacled among them.

In his first epistle, John reveals the intimacy of the three and a half year-long relationship with the Word of life that he and his fellow disciples bear witness to:

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—

1:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— (1 John 1:1-2; underlining added)

Note that the Greek verb (μαρτυροῦμεν) translated bear witness comes from the same root as the noun (μαρτυρία) translated testimony (John 1:14); again, even in his first epistle, John uses the first person plural extensively (we, us, and our) to emphatically reveal the corporate nature of the testimony to which the disciples bear witness.

According to the biblical standard established in both Old and New Testaments, the witness of two or three establishes truth.

18:16 But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that “by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’

(Matthew 18:16)

19:15 “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. (Deuteronomy 19:15)

Indeed, the account recorded by the beloved disciple is good news, but more particularly it is the authoritative intimate eyewitness witness or testimony of Jesus’ disciples by which the truth shallor may be established .

Truth is everything in a testimony or witness… the truth is everything in evangelism. Consider what most scholars consider the purpose statement for John’s account:

20: Jesus actually performed many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book.

20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name. (John 20:30-31)

Of all the many signs performed by Jesus that the disciples witnessed, only eight are included in the testimony recorded by John. The last and greatest sign is the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, but according to their testimony any one of these miraculous signs are sufficient for a person to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Indeed, if anything has been left out of the apostles’ witness of Jesus’ person or ministry deemed necessary for an individual to believe in Him as the Christ, the Son of God, then their testimony is not sufficient and their witness recorded by John is not true.

In his first epistle, the Apostle John affirms the power and authority of God’s witness to bring forth life in the name of His Son or eternal life.

5:9 If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.

5:10 He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.

5:11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

5:12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

5:13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.

(1 John 5:9-13; underlining added)

Though the corporate testimony of men is worth receiving, the witness of God is greater : And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life . This is the truth that underlies all of evangelism; it is the very purpose of the beloved apostle’s testimony; it is the truth that Jesus’ disciples corporately affirm according to their eyewitness of Jesus’ person and ministry.

Just prior to the last supper and His final preparations for the cross, Jesus explains the nature of His witness:

12:48 He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words , has that which judges him— the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

12:49 For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.

12:50 And I know that His command is everlasting life . Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak .”

(John 12:48-50; underlining added)

Just as God the Father speaks with perfect power and authority, so the Son speaks the very word of God that will judge in the last daythe one who rejects Him and does not receive His words. The truth to which Jesus testifies according to His Father’s command is the promise of eternal life confirmed by the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God and His apostles.

English Translations

This commentary relies on two translations: The New King James Version of the Holy Bible (NKJV) and The Logos 21 Version of the Gospel of John (Logos 21).

The vast majority of differences between the three Greek Texts, Textus Receptus (TR), Critical (NU), and Majority (M), have little impact on the meaning of the New Testament. True, the NKJV translates the Textus Receptus, a manuscript no longer considered for scholarly work. [22] In this light, those responsible for updating The King James Version (KJV) provide translation notes which indicate textual differences between the NU and M texts and the TR. This feature alone makes the NKJV a valuable resource. Likewise the lyrical qualities of the original KJV and its literal yet very readable updated English translation make the NKJV a preferred translation. With the sole exception of the Gospel of John (Logos 21), this commentary, unless otherwise indicated, uses the NKJV.

The Gospel of John, Logos 21 Version, translates The Greek New Testament According to the Majority Text: Second Edition edited by Zane C. Hodges and Arthur L Farstad (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1985). Farstad acted as the Executive Editor for the NKJV published in 1982 and then with the support of a team of Greek scholars translated and copyrighted the Logos 21 in 1996. Absolutely Free Incorporated currently publishes the Living Water Gospel of John using the Logos 21 translation. Like the NKJV, the Logos 21 translation is a literal and very readable contemporary translation.

The apostles were charged with the responsibility to record and steward the distribution of the New Testament (Matthew 13:51-52). The relatively small number of manuscripts on which the Critical Text is based reveals a surprising lack of distribution in an area of the world (Egypt) otherwise conducive to the preservation of manuscripts, whereas the Byzantine area (Greece and Turkey), though wet and far less conducive to the preservation of manuscripts, hosts large families of representative manuscripts, hence the Majority Text. Noted NU scholar Bruce M. Metzger acknowledges “… the Byzantine form of text was generally regarded as the authoritative form of text and was the one most widely circulated and accepted.” [23] Of the NU manuscripts, Hodges and Farstad note,

…the most important papyrus witnesses in this group of texts are the Chester Beatty papyri (P ^{45 46 47}) the Bodmer papyri (P ^{66 75} ). The text which results from dependence on such manuscripts as these may fairly be described as Egyptian. Its existence in early times outside of Egypt is unproved. [24]

Hodges and Farstad go on to argue that

the Egyptian type… is probably a local text which never had any significant currency except in that part of the ancient world. By contrast the majority of manuscripts were widely diffused and their ancestral roots must reach back to the autographs themselves. [25]

The small number of poorly distributed manuscripts on which it is based leaves the Critical Text uniquely vulnerable at times to outliers.

In particular, two omissions in the Critical Text reveal the depth of this problem in John:

5:3 …waiting for the moving of the water,

5:4 because an angel would go down into the pool from time to time and stir up the water. Then the first one who went in after the water was stirred up recovered from whatever ailment he had.

(John 5:3-4)

7:53 So each one went to his house.

8:1 And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives

8:2 But at the break of dawn Jesus went to the temple courts again, and all the people were coming to Him. And He sat down and began to teach them.

8:3 Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand in the center

8:4 and said to Him, “Teacher, we found this woman in the very act of adultery.

8:5 Now in our law Moses command us to stone such women. So what do You say about her?”

8:6 They said this to test Him, so that they might have an accusation against Him. But Jesus stooped down and started to write on the ground with His finger.

8:7 So when they persisted in asking Him, He looked up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her!”

8:8 Then H stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

8:9 But when they heard this they went out one by one, starting with the older men down to the very last. Only Jesus was left, with the woman in the center.

8:10 So when Jesus had straightened up, He saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?”

8:11 “No one, Lord,” she said. “Neither do I condemn you,” Jesus told her, Go, and don’t sin any more.” (John 7:53 thru 8:11)

The great irony is that most English translations of the Critical Text translate both of these passages, while bracketing and/or footnoting them as not in in the original text. [26]

Not only does the Living Waterprovide a Majority Text translation of John, but Absolutely Free Incorporated makes these Gospels of John available for evangelism by publishing and distributing them for free. Nothing could be truer to the stewardship originally entrusted to our Lord’s disciples; nothing could be more helpful in promoting evangelism in the local church than access to the only book of the Bible explicitly purposed for the unbeliever to be saved, especially when the translation is both literal, highly readable, and free.

Conclusion: An Evangelist’s Commentary

Many famous scholars have authored commentaries on John—why countenance an evangelist’s commentary? Pastors and their flocks need to understand and have confidence in the Gospel of John as a vital eyewitness ordained by God explicitly for the work of evangelism. In very broad strokes, the good news recorded by John and testified to by the apostles is the two-fold message of the cross: 1) The crucified and resurrected Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the world (John 1:29) successfully completing the work entrusted to Him by the Father and declaring, It is finished (John 19:30). 2) To this day, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, offers the gift of eternal life or life in His name absolutely free to all those who believe in Him and His promise of eternal life. This simple two-fold message of the cross testified to by His disciples and recorded by the disciple whom Jesus loved is all too often obscured in the commentaries on John. The Gospel of John remains essential to the work of the evangelist and evangelism within the local church.

Appendix A: Nouns and Verbs—Gospel Verses Witness

John uses the noun μαρτυρία (testimony or witness) and the verb μαρτυρέω (to bear witness, testify) 47 times. Total word usages show a greater preponderance in Acts (46 times) and John. In Acts, Luke uses the noun εὐαγγέλιον (gospel) and the verb εὐαγγελίζω (to preach good news) 17 times; the three synoptic gospel accounts, 24 times. In marked contrast, the noun εὐαγγέλιον (gospel) and the verb εὐαγγελίζω (to preach good news) are not found in John’s account. While Luke uses verbs and nouns associated with witness or testimony 29 times, he only uses these words 8 times in his gospel account. Matthew uses words associated with witness or testimony 9 times and Mark 12 times.

Copyright © Frank Tyler 2023

By Frank Tyler

John 9:5-10:42

Introduction

John 9:5-10:21: Mid-Day—Evening

As you and I shall see in this third and last article in our series, As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world (John 9:5) sums up for Yeshua’s disciples both His previous ministry in the temple and His continuing ministry in an unnamed synagogue local to the environs of Jerusalem. The light of the world, God’s Menorah, loves the very ones who seek His life, the hardened unbelieving Judean authorities. He has sought them diligently with His Word (John 8:12-8:59), but now in the face of all the ongoing threats against His life, with a sign only Messiah could perform, Yeshua continues to reach out to the Judean authorities by healing a man born blind. [1]

Once healed, the man born blind becomes an ambassador of light and life—eternal life—reflecting Yeshua’s lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24) to the Pharisees and rulers. How will they respond to their Messiah through the words of this most unlikely of ambassadors? Will their eyes and ears be opened to Messiah? Will the light of world penetrate the darkness of hardened unbelief?

John 10:22-42: Sixty-Two Days Later

Beginning in the early morning with the woman caught in adultery, the long and grueling day eventually draws to a close with the Judean authorities once again divided.

10:20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”

10:21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” (John 10:20-21)

Nevertheless, the apologias and signs given by Yeshua on that long and grueling day, continue to percolate in minds and hearts of the Judean authorities 62 days later on the day of Dedication. If He so leads, are you and I willing to be shunned and cast out for sharing good news? If so, we may find our Lord’s witness continuing to fulfill its purpose days, weeks and even months later in those with whom we have shared.

A Miracle and Witness Reserved for Messiah

The Cruelty of Sin and Death

The time may be mid-day, but the cruelties of sin and death abound timelessly in a fallen world, no more transparently so, than in a child born with a serious birth defect.

9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)

The disciples’ question reflects a common theological understanding: 1) the parent’s sin might be visited upon their child through a birth defect (Exodus 34:6-7), or 2) the fetus might have sinned while in the womb.

According to Pharisaic Judaism, at the point of conception, the fetus has two inclinations. In Hebrew, they are called yetzer hara, which means “the evil inclination,” and the yetzer hatov, “the good inclination.”… During that nine-month development within the womb of the mother, there is a struggle going on for control between the two inclinations. (If) at one point, the evil inclination got the better of the fetus; and, in a state of animosity or anger toward his mother, he kicked his mother in the womb. For this act of sin, this act of animosity, he was born blind. [2]

Yeshua corrects both of these misunderstandings and relates the man’s infirmity to His continuing work as the light of the world:

9:3 …“Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him.

9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world .”

(John 9:3-5; underlining added)

Not only will the man born without sight miraculously receive his sight, but he will also serve as Yeshua’s ambassador to the Pharisees and rulers of a local synagoguethat the works of God should be revealed in him.

The Wonder of Healing

No one had ever received sight after being born blind; healing this man is a Messianic miracle, a special and utterly definitive calling card. [3] The initial stir of the crowd rightly reveals their wonder.

9:8 Therefore the neighbors and those who previously had seen that he was blind said, “Is not this he who sat and begged?”

9:9 Some said, “This is he.” Others said, “He is like him.” He said, “I am he.”

9:10 Therefore they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”

9:11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received sight.”

9:12 Then they said to him, “Where is He?” He said, “I do not know.”

Imagine this exchange among those witnessing the miracle. If fishermen from Galilee can know the theology of the Pharisees regarding birth defects, then might those witnessing this miracle know the teaching of the Pharisees regarding miracles only Messiah could perform? Indeed! Imagine the anticipation and excitement when witnessing the wonder of a man born-blind seeing for the first time. That a great act of compassion and healing has taken place among them stirs the crowd to seek authentication from those whose leadership they rely on: They brought him who formerly was blind to the Pharisees (John 9:13). Could the One who healed the formerly blind man be their long-awaited Messiah?

An Interrogation—not a Celebration

The healing of the man born blind should be a source of celebration and praise for God’s mercy and more importantly an authentication of Yeshua as Messiah. Glory to God! A man born blind has been healed? Hallelujah! Messiah is here!!! How will the authorities respond?

Perhaps a few of these Pharisees had failed to witness some of Yeshua’s many signs, yet surely they heard reports from their colleagues; perhaps, some of these Pharisees had not heard Him preach the message of eternal life, yet surely they had heard His words through colleagues like Nicodemus and if not this teacher of Israel himself, then his disciples.

9:14 Now it was a Sabbath when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes.

9:15 Then the Pharisees also asked him again how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.”

9:16 Therefore some of the Pharisees said, “This Man is not from God,

because He does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “ How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them .

(John 9:14-16; underlining added)

So powerful and definitive is this Messianic miracle that it causes an immediate division among them: How can a man who is a sinner do such signs ?” What will it take to open the eyes of the leadership to the One True God and His Messiah?

The inquiry continues filled with innuendos and doubt, all without a scintilla of rejoicing for a man who had lived his life, up until Yeshua’s intercession, living in darkness while begging on the streets.

9:17 They said to the blind man again, “What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”

9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight. (John 9:17-18; underlining added)

Imagine the humiliation of this man witnessing to the truth of his miraculous healing only to have His parents called forth by the leadership of Israel in hopes of contradicting his testimony. Imagine parents so fearful of being cast out of the synagogue that when verifying that the man is indeed their son, they fail to openly rejoice in his healing (John 9:19-21). Imagine leaders so prejudiced against Yeshua that they remain set upon condemnation regardless of the evidence, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue (John 9:22; underlining added). The blind man may see, but darkness—not joy—abounds.

In the healing of the man born blind, the Pharisees have ample reason to glorify God, but instead they command the absurd: Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner (John 9:24). Arnold Fruchtenbaum rightly notes, “This is not something to praise God for. It is a sad thing when people commit specific acts of sin.” [4] So prejudiced is the leadership that even the formerly blind man, acting as an ambassador for Yeshua, is forced to correct the Judean authorities.

9:25 He answered and said, “ Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see.”

9:26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

9:27 He answered them, “I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?” (John 9:25-27; underlining added)

Once again, the Pharisees fail to judge righteously (John 7:21-24) and remain deaf even to the words of this ambassador.

What ought to have been a time of rejoicing in the goodness and mercy of God in healing the man born blind and in confirming Yeshua as Messiah is now mired in senseless legalism: 1) Yeshua performed this definitive Messianic miracle on the Sabbath; 2) Only sinners perform work on the Sabbath; therefore, 3) Messiah is a sinner.

9:28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.

9:29 We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.” (John 9:28-29; underlining added)

The man born blind becomes righteously indignant and openly rebukes the Pharisees for their calloused behavior and astonishing blindness.

9:30 … “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes!

9:31 Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him.

9:32 Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.

9:33 If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

Unfettered by legalism, the man born blind knows his healing is a miraculous sign only Israel’s Messiah can perform: Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind (John 9:32). Though he has yet to set eyes on Yeshua personally, he already believes in Him as Messiah.

The Curse of Cherem

Yeshua’s ambassador presents his healing as a definitive calling card; How will the Judean authorities conclude their interrogation? They answered and said to him, “You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they cast him out (John 9:34; underlining added).

Dr. Fruchtenbaum describes the meaning of being cast out as excommunication. At the least, it means “hezipah… a rebuke that lasted anywhere from seven to thirty days;” for a more serious judgment, a niddui is issued for a minimum of thirty days. [5] For the most serious offense, a cherem is executed:

The third and worst type of excommunication is called the cherem, which means to be “un-synagogued.” To “be put out of the synagogue and to be separated from the Jewish community.” The rest of the Jews considered someone under the cherem curse to be dead, and no communication or any kind of relationship whatsoever could be carried on with the person. [6]

According to Fruchtenbaum, the expression be put out of the synagogue (John 9:22) reveals that the rulers placed this man under the curse of cherem for confessing Yeshua as Christ.

From the darkness and isolation of being born blind—to the briefest of public celebrations for his miraculous healing and discovery of Messiah—to being an ambassador and faithful witness to the truth of Yeshua’s Messiahship… he must now face the wrath of his interrogators who, rather than celebrate God’s goodness and mercy, condemn him to the darkness and isolation of cherem.

The Judean authorities’ reign of terror over God’s flock contrasts starkly with God’s Menorah, the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5) the One who delights in lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24).

9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”

9:36 He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

9:37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

9:38 Then he said, “Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

(John 9:35-38; underlining added)

Cast out of the synagogue into the waiting arms of His Lord and Savior, the man born blind sees, believes in, and openly worships the Son of God.

An Open and Necessary Rebuke

Judgment and Righteousness

Though His lovingkindness or chesed seemingly knows no bounds, as God, Yeshua must also exercise judgment and righteousness; He must correct the Pharisees for their calloused and arrogant treatment of the man, his parents and those who witnessed the man’s interrogation. Afterall, God has entrusted these leaders to shepherd His flock.

9:39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

9:40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, “Are we blind also?”

9:41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

(John 9:39-41)

The man born blind now sees; the Pharisees and rulers, who see, have been made blind by their own spiritual intransigency… and knowingly so; therefore He reminds them that they see and their sin remains.

The Cost of Legalism

You and I might expect Yeshua to render a very harsh judgment against these rulers. From their false teaching regarding those with birth defects, to their calloused and harsh treatment of the man and his parents, to their refusal to acknowledge Him as Messiah, to their decision to excommunicate anyone who identifies with Yeshua—their penchant for legalism has cost them and those entrusted to their care dearly. They have failed miserably in their opportunity to serve as shepherds of God’s flock. Thankfully, Yeshua’s righteousness exceeds all expectations as He continues to reach out in love to Israel’s leadership.

First things first. The Pharisees must understand their failure in light of their treatment of the man born blind.

10:1 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber (Satan).

10:2 But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep (Yeshua).

10:3 To him the doorkeeper (the Father) opens, and the sheep (the man born blind) hear his voice (Yeshua, the shepherd of the sheep); and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.

10:4 And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

10:5 Yet they will by no means follow a stranger (Pharisees), but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers (Pharisees).”

10:6 Jesus used this illustration, but they did not understand the things which He spoke to them. (John 10:1-6; underlining added)

Satan is a thief and robber; God the Father is the doorkeeper ; Yeshua is the shepherd of the sheep; the man born blind represents the sheep who hear Yeshua’s voice and follow Him; the Pharisees are strangers whose voice the sheep do not know. Yeshua’s illustration summarizes the events and characters involved in the Pharisee’s interrogation of the man born blind.

Sadly, their entrenched legalism proves so costly they did not understand the things which He spoke to them (John 10:6).

Another Explanation and Invitation for Anyone to Enter

After a long and grueling day beginning at the crack of dawn with the Judean authorities’ senseless endangerment of the woman caught in adultery, you and I might all too reasonably kick the dust off our feet in exasperation and move on. Not so Yeshua. The deep abiding love or lovingkindness (chesed) of God looks like something as He once again pursues the Pharisees.

10:7 Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep (Yeshua).

10:8 All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers (Satan and his minions), but the sheep (God’s flock) did not hear them.

10:9 I am the door (Yeshua). If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.

10:10 The thief (Satan) does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

10:11 “ I am the good shepherd (Yeshua). The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

10:12 But a hireling (Pharisees), he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf (the enemy of the sheep, Satan/Rome) coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

10:13 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep.

10:14 I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. (John 10:7-14; underlining added)

The Father remains the doorkeeper, but now Yeshua casts Himself as the door of the sheep. Satan and his minions remain thieves and robbers . The sheep are God’s flock represented by the woman caught in adultery, the man born blind, his parents and the crowds. Satan is the thief; Yeshua, the good shepherd; the Pharisees, hirelings ; lastly, the wolf , the enemy of the sheep in particular Rome. Can the rich history of shepherding in Israel and its metaphorical use within the Bible, bring these Pharisees to understand their failure?

Surely, Yeshua’s words evoke the woes pronounced upon Israel’s shepherds by the Prophet Ezekiel: The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them (Ezekiel 34:4; underlining added). The Pharisees and other Judean authorities rule over Israel not as shepherds, but as hirelings dependent on and in fear of Rome. They do not rejoice in the healing of the paralytic (John 5:1-9), show compassion on the woman caught in adultery, or glorify God for the man born blind (John 9:1-7), but instead, as hirelings, with force and cruelty they ruleover God’s flock. Afterall, the woman was caught in adultery, both of the miraculous healings were performed in violation of their Sabbath laws, and worse yet, the man born blind openly acknowledges and defends Yeshua, the One they condemn as a sinner.Small wonder that in the face of such legalism and cruelty, God’s flock scatters and flees into the diaspora… So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered (Ezekiel 34:5).

Astoundingly, Yeshua continues to invite the Judean authorities to enter in by Him: If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture (John10:9; underlining added). Anyone includes those who have just cast out the man born blind from the synagogue… that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Emphatically, as Yeshua’s continued pursuit of them reveals, the Judean authorities, Pharisees, and rulers, who fail so miserably in shepherding God’s flock… who flee in the face of Rome and instead seek to kill the good shepherd (John 11:45-50), can both know and be known by their Messiah (John 10:14). Oh, the bottomless depths of God’s great love, His judgment, and His righteousness!

The Power to Lay Down His Life and Take It Again

Who will rescue God’s sheep? Who will deliver them from their dispirited and lost estate? Only Yeshua: As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep (John 10:15).

10:16 And other sheep (Jews in the diaspora; John 11:51-52)) I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.

10:17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again.

10:18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”

(John 10:16-18; underlining added)

Yeshua is the Father’s Son and Israel’s Messiah who alone has power to lay down His life and then take it up again. It is hard to imagine these Pharisees and rulers unfamiliar with the Messianic overtones of Yeshua’s words. Consider the Prophet Ezekiel:

34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.

34:13 And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.

(Ezekiel 34:1-3; underlining added)

According to the Prophet Jeremiah, God’s flock—so badly scattered—will be regathered to their own land by none other than Messiah, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS (Jeremiah 23:1-8). And, what is the response, but division again among the Judeans (John 10:19).

10:20 And many of them said, “He has a demon and is mad. Why do you listen to Him?”

10:21 Others said, “These are not the words of one who has a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

(John 10:19-21)

The One who has the supernatural power to both lay down and take up His life offers freely the gift of eternal life and life more abundantly to hirelings without ears to hear Him, to those who would just as likely kill Him to preserve their place with Rome (John 11:47-53).

The Fruit of a Perfect Promise

A Continuing Apologia

The Apostle John provides a time marker (John 10:22) to remind his readers that the long day, which began with the accusations against the woman caught in adultery, has finally drawn to a close. From the Feast of Tabernacles to the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22) 62 days [7] transpire, but curiously Yeshua’s previous signs and apologia to the Pharisees continue to peak their curiosity.

10:24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly .”

10:25 Jesus answered them, “ I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.

(John 10:22-25; underlining added)

That Yeshua picks up upon the theme from His previous apologia I am the good shepherd , reveals that the dialogue between the Judean authorities and their Messiah has remained both active and, as you and I will soon learn, productive.

10:26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.

10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.

10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.

10:29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.

10:30 I and My Father are one.”

(John 10:26-30; underlining added)

That Yeshua says you are not of My sheep… My sheep hear my voice (John 10:16-27) reflects a larger truth He has already revealed to the Pharisees: Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word (John 8:43)… He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God (John 8:47). Yeshua knows His sheep and they know Him and follow Him. [8] To the sheep Yeshua giveseternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of(His) hand (John 10:28).

The Response of a Loving God

The reaction of the Judean authorities to stone the Son of God should not surprise us (John 10:31), but His response must.

10:32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “ For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” (John 10:32-33; underlining added)

Ironically, the Pharisees’ own theology recognizes that only Messiah can heal a man born blind. After quoting Scripture to dispense with their accusation of blasphemy (John 10:34-36), Yeshua appeals to them to believe:

10:37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

10:38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him .”

(John 10:37-38; underlining added)

Once again, the response of a loving God remains utterly breathtaking: The Judean authorities accuse the Son of God of blasphemy and seek to stone Him; in turn, He graciously, but definitively, corrects their accusation from Scripture and then beseeches them to believe based, if not upon His Words, then upon His works that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him (John 10:38). Not a scintilla of hatred, scorn, or pride surface in Yeshua’s appeal to save the Judeans. He is the light of the world (John 8:12 and 9:5) who delights in lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24)!

Many Believed in Him

The Judean authorities respond to God’s love and grace by attempting to seize Yeshua, but He departs beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first, and there He stayed (John 10:40). Miraculously, Yeshua’s ministry was not in vain:

10:41 Then many came to Him and said, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true.”

10:42 And many believed in Him there.

(John 10:41-42; underlining added)

In the most unlikely of places and under the most improbable of circumstances, many followed after Yeshua beyond the Jordan and believed in Him. We might reasonably speculate that some were Pharisees and rulers. [9]

Conclusion

John 9:5-10:24: evening to 62 Days Later

Throughout a long and grueling day of ministry—beginning in the early morning, when confronted by the Judean authorities who purposefully jeopardize the life of a woman caught in adultery in order to publicly undermine His ministry, to the conclusion of the day when Yeshua blesses the man born blind with sight that the works of God may be manifest in him as an ambassador for Messiah—the Lamb of God (John 1:29), tested and true, has been found free of spot or blemish. Regarding His apologias, the light of the world shines brightly; the door remains open for all to enter and be saved; the good shepherd shepherds God’s flock, even the most troublesome of the flock, with perfect lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness , You and I may now conclude this three part series.

Jeremiah 9:24: Three Part Series

Yeshua’s interactions with the Judean authorities are often accounted as an extended series of arguments and discourses. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God does not argue or contend, but speaks His Word with perfect power and authority. He is the light of the world, the door , and the good shepherd… the Son who glorifies His Father by relentlessly pursuing even the most hardened unbelievers with both apologias and signs demonstrating His lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness .

Yeshua is the Son who with the finger of God speaks the Word of God; He is the Spirit Filled Messiah who fulfills the Word of God perfectly. The dark malevolent motives and actions of the Judean authorities contrast vividly with the Son of God who openly glorifies and delights His Father:

But let him who glories glory in this,

That he understands and knows Me,

That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.

For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

(Jeremiah 9:24)

The Son alone has perfect understanding and knowledge of His Father and tirelessly exercises a perfect balance of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness both in word and deed under the most trying of circumstances.

If this were just one exceptionally long and grueling day of ministry, you and I would be awed, as well His disciples no doubt were, but consider that this one day is not the exception, but rather the norm in a ministry spanning three years. Remember, Nicodemus and his disciples visited at night following Yeshua’s long day of ministry in the temple (John 2:23 through 3:21); the Samaritan woman drew water for a tired and thirsty Messiah determined to share living water with her and the whiten fields of men from Sychar (John 4:3-42); likewise, Yeshua fed a crowd of 5000 men with their women and children after a long day of ministry, continued into the evening with prayer, and then walked through a storm on the sea of Galilee to deliver His disciples and their boat safely to Capernaum (John 6:1-21). According to Yeshua, Foxes haveholes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head (Matthew 8:20; Luke 9:58). The disciples observed Yeshua intimately for over three years navigate a relentless ministry schedule without sin, without flaw, without excuse, but with perfect lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness . Yeshua declares, He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him (John 8:29; underlining added). Again, you and I witness our Lord’s miraculous ministry through the eyes and ears of His apostles, a three-year-long ministry utterly routine for Him as the Christ, the Son of God.

Yeshua and His Father are One; He is the Christ, the Son of God who gives life in His name to those who believe in Him and His promise of eternal life. And, to believers who possess His perfect assurance of eternal life, the Apostle John declares:

1:1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—

1:2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—

1:3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

1:4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.

1:5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.

(1 John 1:1-5; underlining added)

The fellowship you and I are called to enjoy today as believers is a direct reflection of Yeshua’s person and ministry: I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life … eternal life (John 8:12).

Lastly, consider that on the day of Dedication, sixty-two days after this long day of ministry concluded (John 10:22-42), the Judean authorities again sought Him out regarding His previous apologias and signs… and as a result some of them pursued Him beyond the Jordan and believed in Him. Despite all the persecution He endured… He never turned those who hated Him away! Sparing neither jot nor tittle, Yeshua’s Word goes out with perfect power and authority; as God’s Spirit filled Messiah He always fulfills His Word. His apologias and signs remain as persuasive today as they were two thousand years ago; His great love or chesednever fails.

Application

Despite what His accusers might think, Yeshua never pontificates, but instead loves and evangelizes those His Father brings into His path. Far from signifying failure, being confronted with impossible circumstances, being belittled and ignored, being shun and cast out and, even being threatened with death—on our longest and most grueling day—our persecution glorifies our Lord when we glory, not in our flesh, but in the knowledge of His lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness. Indeed this is the great lesson the Apostle Peter learned so long ago.

3:13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?

3:14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.”

3:15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

3:16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.

(1 Peter 3:13-16)

To sanctify the Lord God in your hearts is to esteem Yeshua’s person and example above unjust persecution and suffering by sharing His good news. In God’s economy, ambassadors who delight in God’s lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in their witness of Yeshua—regardless of outcome—will have followed their Messiah and one day soon know heavenly commendation and reward in His presence. Our Lord and Savior is the light of the world. He who follows Him shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life… eternal life (John 8:12)!

Appendix A: A Long and Grueling Day of Ministry

Strategic repetition and similarity in language can signify unity and continuity in writing, particularly in narratives like the Gospel of John.

John 8:59 and John 9:1

The transition in question, John 8:59—John 9:1, occurs at a chapter break. Though extraordinarily useful, chapter and verse breaks were not a part of the original Greek text and can be misleading.

8:59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by (καὶ παρῆγεν οὕτως).

9:1 Now as Jesus passed by (Καὶ παράγων), He saw a man who was blind from birth. (John 8:59 and John 9:1; underlining added)

Of particular interest is the similarity of the Greek phrases translated and passed by: καὶ παρῆγεν (third person singular imperfect active indicative) and καὶ παράγων (present active participle masculine singular nominative). Do the similarities of these phrases point to a repetition of ideas and a strategic connection revealing the temporal continuation of the narrative on the same day Yeshua leaves the temple?

Craig Keener:

This narrative (conflict Over the Healing of a Blind Man: 9:1-10:21) demonstrates JESUS’ claims in the previous context and chronologically follows directly on Jesus’ departure from the temple on the last day of the festival (7:37-8:59). It probably begins not far from the temple. This section opens with the healing of a blind man (9:1-7) and closes with the recognition that this miracle was not what was expected from a demon (10:21). [10]

If John 9:1-10:21 follows “directly on Jesus’ departure from the temple” and “probably begins not far from the temple,” the temporal continuation on that day seems very likely.

Raymond Brown:

After the long and intricate discourses of vii-viii, ch. Ix provides a pleasant interlude. How closely is ch. Ix related to the Tabernacles setting of vii-viii? In itself the story is complete and could have a place anywhere in one of Jesus’ visits to Jerusalem; for instance, there are many similarities with chapter iii (see Notes on ix 24, 39,33, 39). However, the intensity of the hatred of the Pharisees for Jesus makes the general setting of the Tabernacles pilgrimage quite appropriate. The pool of Siloam (vs. 7) played a role in the water ceremonies we discussed in relation to vii 37-38; and ix 4- 5 develop the theme of light in darkness which is also a Tabernacle theme, as we saw in discussing viii 12.

Nevertheless, the immediate connection of ch. xi with the feast and with what was said in viii is not assured. John give no precise dating for the healing, and the next indication of time will be that of the feast of Dedication, three months after Tabernacles, in x 22. Thus, even if we would accept the present Gospel order and agree that the healing is related to the Tabernacles visit, there may be a considerable gap in time alluded to between viii and ix. [11]

Brown notes the strong thematic connection between the healing of the blind man and Yeshua’s immediate ministry in the temple, but concludes the correlation may or may not bode for a temporal connection.

D. A. Carson:

As he went along is sufficiently vague as a connector that very little precise information about time and place can be deduced. Because of the (thematic) connections ch. 9 has with chs. 8 and 10 (cf. notes, above), we must suppose Jesus is still in Jerusalem, presumably at some point between the Feast of Tabernacles and the Feast of Dedication. [12]

Carson’s translation As he went along ignores the conjunctive Καὶ and indeed sounds rather vague. However, John uses the same Greek verb in both John 8:59 and 9:1: The New King James Version reads 8:59 … and so passed by (παρῆγεν). 9:1 Now as Jesus passed by… (παράγων). Adopting Carson’s translation in both verses 8:59 “…and so went along (παρῆγεν).” 9:1 “(And) As he went along (παράγων)…” Carson’s translation may seem vague, but the Apostle John’s repetition hardly seems vague.

Leon Morris:

There is no time note. John does not relate this incident to others in his story, and we are left to guess at its plain in the sequence. Hoskyns says that the incident took place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, but this is pure assumption. It is most likely that some time has elapsed since the attempt on Jesus’ life (8:59), but more than this we cannot say. [13]

Ignoring the similarities between verse 8:59 and 9:1, does not disprove the potential temporal connection between the two pericopes in the overall narrative… especially in light of shared thematic content.

Andreas Köstenberger:

It is unclear exactly how much time has elapsed since Jesus’ clash with the Jewish authorities at the end of the Feast of the Tabernacles (chs. 7-8). But since the Feast was observed in September or October (in A.D. 32, Tabernacles fell on September 10-17); since both chapters 9 and 10 take place in Jerusalem (note the mention of the pool of Siloam in 9:7 and Solomon’s colonnade in 10:23); since there is no clear demarcation between chapters 9 and 10; and since 10:22 refers to the Feast of Dedication, which took place in Jerusalem in mid-December, it can be inferred that the healing of the man born blind must have taken place between October and mid- December (A.D. 32). [14]

Inferring a date between October and mid-December, may leave open the possible temporal connection between John 8:59 and John 9:1.

Herman Ridderbos:

Ch. 9 displays a clear, well-constructed, inner unity. The connection with what preceded is very loose (if one can even speak of it; see the comments on vs. 1). [15]

Very well, the comments read:

1,2 For context, see above; “pass by can also simply mean “move on” (cf. Mt. 9:9, where Jesus also “saw a man”). “Seeing” does not simply refer to observation but serves to introduce what follows (vs. 3b); it is a seeing that evoked a certain reaction in Jesus. [16]

J. Ramsey Michaels:

The opening words, “And as he was passing by,” are fully consistent with the notion that the temple discourse of the two previous chapter is over, and that a new sequence of events (at an undetermined time, but still in Jerusalem) is under way. [17]

Michaels does not correlate the repetition of words or phrases to draw a connection between John 8:59 and John 9:1.

Rodney A. Whitacre:

Perhaps some time has elapsed since his confrontation with the authorities in the temple, though as the story reads he could be coming straight from their debate . Certainly John intends us to connect this healing with the previous chapter, as the references to Jesus as the light of the world indicate (8:12; 9:5). [18]

Whitacre acknowledges a possible temporal connection; does “as the story reads” indicate the possibility that he recognizes a strategic repetition of words in both verses?

John 2:24-25 and John 3:1-2

Thankfully, the Apostle John uses repetition and similarity of key words to connect pericopes into larger narratives elsewhere in his gospel. Consider John 2:24-25 and John 3:1-2.

2:24 But Jesus did not commit Himself to them, because He knew all men,

2:25 and had no need that anyone should testify of man , (ἀνθρώπου) for He knew what was in man (ἀνθρώπῳ).

3:1 There was a man (ἄνθρωπος) of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” (John 2:24-25 and John 3:1; underlining added)

Keener:

That John calls Nicodemus ἄνθρωπος, a “man” or “person” of the Pharisees (3:1), may be inconsequential (the term appears more than fifty times in the Gospel), but “a Pharisee” would have been simpler; this term appears nowhere else in the Gospel, linked with Pharisees in the genitive. John probably employs the term here to make explicit the connection with “people” ( ἀνθρώπου… ἀνθρώπῳ) whose hearts Jesus knew in 2:25. [19]

Indeed, “Pharisee” is simpler than man of the Pharisees, yet John would have missed the opportunity to draw a stylistic connection between the two pericopes.

Brown:

Now. This seems to tie the beginning of ch iii to ii 23-25. a Pharisee . Literally “a man of the Pharisees”; perhaps this use of “man” is designed to recall the end of the last verse (ii 25) where we heard that Jesus was aware of what was in man’s heart . Notice here how Jesus knows what is in Nicodemus’ heart. [20]

Brown’s translation of δὲ as “Now” helps him correlate John 2:24-25 with John 3:1-2; Nicodemus is an example of men whose hearts Yeshua knew.

John obviously intends Nicodemus to illustrate a partial faith in Jesus on the basis of signs and has prepared the way for this with ii 23-25. Such an illustration comes logically after examples of more satisfactory faith (the disciples at Cana) and of complete lack of faith (“the Jews” at the Temple). Thus, the sequence is at least logical. [21]

According to Brown, John does not follow a chronological sequence, but the use of the word translated man may signal a logical sequence from the author; Nicodemus is an illustration of the partial faith summarized in John 2:23-25..

Carson:

The word that connects this narrative with the preceding chapter is δὲ, commonly rendered ‘and’ (NIV’s Now is an idiomatic adaption) or ‘but’. If some variation of ‘and’ is accepted, the idea is that Nicodemus exemplified those who in some sense believed in Jesus, but with a faith so inadequate that Jesus did not entrust himself to them (2:23-25)… On the other hand, if δὲ has its more usual adversative force (‘but’), it means that, in contrast to those with inadequate faith at the end of ch. 2, Nicodemus’ approach was not so faulty and Jesus did entrust himself to him. [22]

Though Carson ignores the repetition of the Greek word translated man , he highlights that how the conjunction δὲ is interpreted changes the meaning of the passage significantly. Ironically, if in John 8:59 and 9:1 the conjunction καὶ is repeated, respectively (καὶ παρῆγεν οὕτως) and (Καὶ παράγων), does this highlight a potential connection between them? Carson’s translation renders John 9:1: “As he went along.” However, you and I might literally translate John 8:59, “and He passed by in this manner” and in the very next verse, John 9:1, “And passing by.”

Morris:

The expression “a man of the Pharisees” is as unusual an expression in Greek as in English. The use of ἄνθρωπος is probably meant to link the opening words of this chapter with the closing words of the preceding one, and so bring out Jesus’ knowledge of “man.” This will also be behind the use of a αὐτὸν rather than Ιησοῦς in the first reference to the Lord. [23]

The repeated use of the Greek word translated man is unusual and probably links “the opening words of John Chapter 3 with the conclusion to John chapter 2… “of course, we have no means of knowing how long after the events of ch. 2 Nicodemus came to Jesus.” [24]

Köstenberger:

John 2:23-25 summarizes the response to Jesus’ ministry in Jerusalem by the general populace (in contrast to the hostility of the Jewish leadership [2:18, 20]; note in the Greek text the repeated use of the imperfect tense, indicating continuing action), sandwiched between Jesus’ clearing of the temple and his encounter with Nicodemus. Perhaps more than concluding 2:13-22, these verses commence the Nicodemus narrative. This may be suggested by the overlapping terminology ( ἄνθρωπος [Anthropos, man or human being] in 2:25 and 3:1; σημεῖα [semeia, signs] in 2:23 and 3:2; the use of ἦν δὲ [en de, now he/there was]in 2:23 and 3:1 .

If so, then the comments regarding Jesus’ realistic attitude toward humans and his knowledge of the sinful human heart are designed to introduce the account of Nicodemus’ coming to Jesus. [25]

Köstenberger sees the repetition of the Greek words, ἄνθρωπος (man), σημεῖα (signs), and ἦν δὲ (now he and there was) linking both passages such that John 2:23-25 introduces the Nicodemus narrative.

Ridderbos:

The conversation with Nicodemus offers a very specific elaboration of what was said in a more general sense in 2:23-25. In the figure of Nicodemus we are given an illustrative demonstration—perhaps we may say par excellence—of what is in the preceding is called “the faith” of the many in Jerusalem who were impressed by the signs that Jesus did.

Nicodemus is introduced as “a man of the Pharisees.” “A man” could simply mean “someone,” but in light of the repeated ἄνθρωπος in 2:25 (and with a view to 3:4, 27), the use of the word is probably intentional. [26]

Ridderbos finds the connection between John 8:59 and John 9:1 “very loose,” the connection between John 2:23-25 and John 3:1-2 very tight with the repeated use of the Greek word for man “probably intention.”

Michaels:

Someone once said, “If you want people to read what you’ve written, don’t write about the Man, write about a man.” The repetition of the noun “person” or “man” (anthropos)links the story of Nicodemus closely to what precedes. [27]

Michaels is convinced the repetition of the Greek word for man links John 2:23-25 and John 3:1-2.

Whitacre:

Nicodemus is one of these who have an untrustworthy faith. John signals this connection by his repetition of the word man (2:25; 3:1) and by the fact that Nicodemus’s assessment of Jesus is based on the signs he had seen (3:2; sf. 2:23). [28]

Summary

Whether, in either one or the other of these transition passages (John 2:23-25—John 3:1-2 or John 8:59—John 9:1) or both, all of these commentators (perhaps with the exception of D.A. Carson) recognize to some degree John’s use of repetition and similarity in language to signify unity and continuity in the transition between different accounts. Correlation is recognized more often (and with greater vigor) between John 2:23-25 and John 3:1-2 in support of a popular, yet mistaken, theological interpretation of faith based upon signs. The correlation between John 8:59 and John 9:1 is less frequent (and less vigorous). Instead, chapter 9, the healing of the man born blind, is viewed by some scholars as “a pleasant interlude” [29] coming on the heels of two intense discourses in the temple.

Conclusion

The word choices made by the Apostle John in John 8:59 and John 9:1 are wonderfully similar and purposefully chosen.

8:59 Then they took up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by (καὶ παρῆγεν οὕτως).

9:1 Now as Jesus passed by (Καὶ παράγων), He saw a man who was blind from birth. (John 8:59 and John 9:1; underlining added)

Should you and I translate literally, verse 8:59 might read, “and so passed by” while verse 9:1 might read “And passing by.” This contiguous similarity of phrases, καὶ παρῆγεν… καὶ παράγων, along with their simple straightforward meaning, when combined with the thematic similarities between the account John 8:59 concludes and the account 9:1 introduces, convinces this author that the Apostle John uses a literary devise to purposefully connect the two passages, both thematically and chronologically, into one long and grueling day of ministry.

Copyright © Frank Tyler 2023

By Frank Tyler

John 8:12-9:5

Introduction

John 8:12-9:5: Late Morning—Mid Day

In part one of this study, we discovered that Yeshua is both the Giver of the Law and the Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills the Law with perfect lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24). [1] In stark contrast, the Judean authorities engage in the sin of legalism by manipulating the Law and putting a woman at jeopardy, all to undermine Yeshua’s ministry before a large crowd in the court of the women. Far from accepting the rebuke and correction of God’s Son, the Judean authorities will continue to resort to legalism and incessant provocations. Though openly acknowledging the hand of Satan working through the Judean authorities, with apologia after apologia, Yeshua never ceases reaching out to these rulers with the good news of who He is and the gift of life in His name. Darkness descends into a gathering storm, but the light of God’s Menorah shines tirelessly as a beacon of salvation evermore brightly and with sharper and sharper contrast. Yeshua will develop, both in word and in deed, the theme of His latest apologia, I am the light of the world (John 8:12); as a result, many more will believe in Yeshua, the One who delights in lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24).

The Larger Historic Context

Finding themselves in the presence of a large crowd of observers, how will the rulers react to the One whose actions so graphically reveal that He is both the Giver of the Law and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills the Law perfectly (John 7:53-8:11), the One who openly proclaims I am the light of the world (John 8:12)? Although the story of the woman caught in adultery forms the immediate and crucial backdrop defining the composition of Yeshua’s audience and the motivation driving the Judean authorities’ relentless attack on Him, [2] there exists a larger historic context that helps you and I better understand the interactions between Yeshua and the Judean authorities.

The Sin of Legalism

Like an invisible Black Hole drawing matter into its deadly vortex, historically, legalism has a long destructive history that remains relevant to understanding the context underlying the present conflict between Yeshua and the Judean authorities. Though nowhere defined in Scripture, for our purpose this simple definition suffices: Legalism is the sin or act of turning from the grace of God to the law and in so doing denying God and His Son Yeshua. [3]

In the Garden of Eden, Satan is both brilliant… and persuasive: Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made (Genesis 3:1).

God’s command: Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…

(Genesis 2:16; underlining added).

Satan’s interpretation: Has God indeed said, “ You shall not eat of every tree of the garden ”? (Genesis 3:1; underlining added)

Satan asks a misleading question purposefully rephrased from God’s positive affirmation, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, to express a negative summation, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden . The sole exclusion to God’s positive affirmation and gracious provision becomes the source of Satan’s negative and twisted summation.

Eve fails to discern the distinction and makes the forbidden tree the focal point of her understanding of God’s provision: We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, “You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die” (Genesis 3:2-3). God plainly states the consequence for eating of the tree of knowledge: in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die (Genesis 2:17). Eve’s embellishment, nor shall you touch it is a logical inference; if she and Adam cannot touch the fruit, they certainly cannot eat the fruit… but is her inference a part of God’s command? No, she has inadvertently stepped away from God’s gracious provision and simple obedience to His command onto the thin ice of legalism. [4]

Might she and Adam touch the fruit and not die? Absolutely, her self-imposed rule is without consequence. Seizing the opportunity, Satan boldly contradicts God’s command by denying the consequence for disobedience, You will surely not die (Genesis 3:4), and reasons—if you eat of the tree and know good and evil you become like God (Genesis 3:4-5). Logical inferences and legalism prove an attractive invitation to sin. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate (Genesis 3:6).

Satan is brilliant. He successfully manipulates God’s commandment to Adam and Eve and turns them from the goodness of God’s grace (partaking of the fruit of the garden) to sin (partaking of the tree of knowledge). But, how does this bit of legal brilliance play out with God, the One who created Adam and Eve and gave them the commandment?

3:14 So the LORD God said to the serpent:

“Because you have done this,

You are cursed more than all cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you shall go,

And you shall eat dust

All the days of your life.

3:15 And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel.”

The sin of legalism brought forth Man’s fall and God’s judgment:Satan is brilliant… utterly brilliant, and resolutely condemned.

Succumbing to Satan’s legalistic ploy and disobeying God’s command, Adam and Eve now exit the Garden of Eden and enter a foreign world under condemnation of sin and death.

3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—

3:23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.

3:24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:22-24)

The One who gave the command now fulfills that command with perfect power and authority, but not without lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24). God not only provides clothing for Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:21), but He also promises Messiah, the Seed that comes forth from the woman who crushes the head of Satan (Genesis 3:15).

Just as Satan sought to manipulate the positive blessing of God’s gracious provision and commandment to Adam and Eve, Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat (Genesis 2:16), in order to bring condemnation upon God’s creation, so too in the pericope adulterea (John 7:53-8:12), the great scholars of Judaism, the scribes and Pharisees, sought to manipulate the blessing of His Law, in order to bring condemnation upon the woman and God’s Chosen One. [5] Thankfully, the difference between the first Adam and the second Adam could not be more apparent. Adam and Eve succumbed to Satan’s ploy and fell under condemnation of sin and death. Yeshua boldly and very graphically exposes the Judean authorities’ plot by issuing a simple command: He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first (John 8:7). Despite their brilliance, neither Satan nor the woman’s accusers are a match for Yeshua, the Giver of the Law and Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills God’s Law perfectly.

Just as God showed lovingkindness to Adam and Eve, so too Messiah shows lovingkindness to the woman caught in adultery and her accusers. Yeshua demonstrates righteous judgment by correcting both; yet mercifully, neither bear the full consequence of their sin. Truly, Yeshua is the Lord exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these He delights (Jeremiah 9:24). Like His commandment to Adam and Eve, His Law to His chosen people was meant for blessing… it takes pride, intellect, and a depraved heart to turn them into the curse of legalism.

The Promise of Eternal Life

Within the immediate history of John’s account, chapters 3 and 5 record apologias designed to persuade the Judean authorities of Yeshua’s promise of eternal life. [6] These apologias shape the ongoing dialogue between Yeshua and the Judean authorities in chapter 7 and 8.

In His apologia to Nicodemus and his disciples (John 3:14-18), we find Yeshua’s promise of everlasting life.

John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

John 3:15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

John 3:17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

(John 3:14-18; underlining added)

That Yeshua declares the promise of everlasting life twice in verses 15 and 16 and then restates it in verse 17, that the world through Him might be saved , makes the promise emphatic. The Son is the Father’s herald speaking the promise of eternal life. Furthermore, He links this promise directly to the cross and God’s great love for the world in giving His Son. The meaning of God’s love and our Lord’s sacrifice is inextricably linked to His promise: whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. How do you and I know God loves us? He gave us His Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29), in order that we might believe in His Him and have eternal life. This is the apologia Yeshua speaks to both Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel (John 3:10), and his disciples.

In John chapter 5, healing a paralytic on the Sabbath draws the Judean authorities to Yeshua and gives Him an opportunity to reach out to them with yet another apologia.

5:21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will.

5:22 For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,

5:23 that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

5:24 “ Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

5:25 Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

5:26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:21-26; underlining added)

Verses 21 and 26 form an inclusio: [7] Just as the Father raises the dead, gives life, and has life in Himself, so too the Son (John 5:21 and 26). To the one who hears His word and believes His Father’s testimony, Yeshua promises everlasting life, freedom from final judgment, and immediate and final passage from death into life (John 5:24). Indeed, the hour is both coming and now is when the spiritually dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and have everlasting life (John 5:25). Not only is Yeshua’s eternality revealed, but even as the Son of God speaks with the Judean authorities, He continues with perfect power and authority to both promise and fulfill His promise of eternal life—according to His word many have been saved, and moreover, will continue to be eternally saved.

With the particular events of John 5 still fresh (John 7:21-24) and just days before the events of the pericope adulterea, the Judean authorities are well aware of Yeshua’s promise: Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life (John 5:24). It is His word to them. And, if that were not enough, these same rulers likely heard (perhaps through one of Nicodemus’ disciples) the earlier promise given to Nicodemus, the teacher of Israel (John 3:10), and his disciples: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). In both chapters, the apologias focus on Yeshua’s promise of eternal life to the world or whoever believes. The world includes whoevers like the Judean authorities.

Yeshua is the Word of God

The Apostle John introduces the witness of the apostles with a very radical revelation: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). For this reason, you and I rightly expect the boldness of Yeshua’s words throughout John’s account, but for those without the benefit of the apostle’s introduction, namely the Judean authorities, His boldness becomes a stumbling block.

From the Giver of the Law to the Giver of God’s Word

The incident with the woman caught in adultery dramatically revealed Yeshua as the Giver of the Law. In His continuing interactions with the Judean authorities, Yeshua purposefully expands this apologia: [8] He is the Giver of—not just the Law—but the very word of God. The heart of Yeshua’s apologia to the Judean authorities in John chapter 8—I am the light of the world—challenges them to hear His word as the Word of God spoken like rays of light to illuminate the truth and save them. Will they hear and believe His promise of eternal life to them?

Lighting the Temple with the Word of God

If the pericope adulterae is omitted from John’s account, then seeing the progression from Giver of the Law to Giver of God’s Word (interchangeably the Father’s or His Word) might easily be missed; likewise, the ensuing interactions between Yeshua and the authorities might be misinterpreted as little more than a heated argument over His statement, I am the light of the world (John 8:12). Emphatically this apologia to the Judean authorities is designed to bring them to faith in their Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. And, it begins with the dramatic revelation of who Yeshua is as the Giver of the Law and the Spirit filled Messiah who fulfills the Law perfectly (John 7:53-8:12).

If the rulers revere the Law and have witnessed Yeshua openly identifying Himself as the Giver of that Law, then how will they respond to Yeshua when He continues speaking as the light of the world with power and authority the Word of God designed to save them? Again, Yeshua neither argues, nor debates with the Judean authorities, but instead speaks to these rulers with the perfect power and authority of the One True God in order to persuade them of who He is as the light of the world (John 8:12). Will they recognize His power and authority and embrace Him as the light of the world? His word is the light of God’s Word; will they believe in Him for eternal life?

Future Fulfillment of the Divine Profile

In itself, the significance of being both the Giver of the Law and Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills the Law dovetails into John’s and his fellow apostles’ larger purpose in recording their gospel account (John 20:30-31, 21:24). However, with the progression from the Law to the whole of God’s Word, the Giver of the God’s Word and Spirit-filled Messiah, Yeshua, is uniquely qualified—not just to fulfill the Law—but the whole of God’s word profiling Messiah in both the Old Testament [Law (Torah); Prophets (Nevi’im); and Writings (K’tuvim)] [9] and the New Testament [Gospels, Epistles, and Apocalypse]. This Divine profile fits Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah exclusively.

Scriptures in John Fulfilled in Messiah

Note that hina (that) clauses are woven throughout these passages to demonstrate a purposeful fulfillment in Yeshua’s ministry. Verses 12:14-15 use a similar expression, as it is written, and verse 19:37 attaches to the previous hina clause in verse 19:36, And again another Scripture says. Only the Spirit-filled Messiah fulfills this Scriptural profile.

Eventually these fulfillments of the Old Testament law, prophets and writings along with the New Testament gospel accounts become a part of a still larger developing apologia to Israel’s ruling authorities culminating in the greatest sign of all, His crucifixion and resurrection (John 2:18-22, 3:14-18, 8:28, 12:32-34, 19:1-20:30-31).

Despite all their efforts to dismiss Him as a backwater preacher from the sticks of Galilee, Yeshua both speaks and fulfills Scripture (not just the Law), and with every word spoken and fulfilled, He alone fits the Divine profile; will the rulers believe in Him and His promise of eternal life?

Summary: Shocking Truths

Surely, you and I are not shocked by these truths. Afterall, the Apostle John forewarns of us of the radical nature of Yeshua’s deity: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). Nevertheless, following Yeshua’s crucifixion, even the Apostle Thomas struggles. [10] Unless he sees for himself the imprint of the nails on Yeshua’s hands and the wound in His side, he will not believe Yeshua’s resurrection (John 20:25). Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27). The Divine profile fits perfectly and brings the unbelieving apostle to his knees, My Lord and my God (John 20:28)!

20:30 And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book;

20:31 but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name .

(John 20:30-31; underlining added)

The many other signs in the presence of His disciples implies the significance of our Lord’s greatest of all signs, His crucifixion and resurrection, and confirms the power of His Word to bring forth life in His name . The Word of God is perfectly fulfilled in Yeshua’s person and ministry. The Judean authorities are not forewarned by the Apostle John, but must struggle prior to the cross with the radical truth that Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of God..

Yeshua, Himself, repeatedly foreshadows the apologetic impact His crucifixion and resurrection will have upon the Judean authorities (John 2:18-22, 3:14-18, 8:28, 12:32-34). Likewise, He continues to boldly proclaim His promise of eternal life and fulfill the Divine profile, so how will the Judean authorities react? Will they believe in Yeshua? Will they see the light? Will they perceive in His word the very Word of God spoken to deliver them from eternal condemnation? Or, when faced with the truth of who Yeshua is, will they remain in the darkness of unbelief and continue in their efforts to undermine Him and the ministry entrusted to Him by the Father? These are vital questions the Apostle John must answer also in order to persuade his own audience that Yeshua is the Christ, the Son of God, the One who promises life in His name to those who believe in Him (John 20:30-31).

Sons of Satan

The plot to force Yeshua to judge the woman caught in adultery, brilliantly conceived by the scribes and Pharisees seeking to undermine the Messiah, is a dramatic opening engagement in a battle, itself, a part of a much larger ongoing war stretching all the way back to the Garden of Eden (and perhaps beyond). The accusers of the woman in chapter 8 represent a subgroup within a larger group of Judean authorities. Though our Lord eventually identifies the larger group as sons of Satan (John 8:44), [11] He never ceases reaching out to them with the good news of who He is. Indeed, His word reaches out with perfect power, authority, and love. As His Divine profile becomes clearer for all to see, many believe in their Messiah. As darkness descends in the temple, God’s Menorah shines evermore brightly sharply contrasting with the Judean authorities’ accusations and inquiries. [12]

You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true (John 8:13).

If Satan is a master at manipulating God’s Law, should you and I expect anything less from brilliant, yet unwitting proteges? The laws governing witnesses read:

17:6 Whoever is deserving of death shall be put to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses; he shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness. (Deuteronomy 17:6)

19:15 One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established. (Deuteronomy 19:15)

If Yeshua were an ordinary man, then His lone witness might be dismissed easily, but as the Giver of the Word of God (not merely the Law) and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah, He is anything but ordinary. Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going (John 8:14). For those with ears to hear, this revelation clearly reveals Yeshua’s deity. As God, He needs no witness to affirm the truth of His word; God speaks and it is; His Word always affirms itself as truth.

To be the Spirit-filled Messiah is to be the Sent One of the Father. Yeshua carefully abstained from judging both the woman and her accusers, and in so doing exercised perfect understanding and knowledge of His Father(Jeremiah 9:24; John 8:15). However, should He judge both the woman and her accusers, His judgment would have been true for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me . (John 8:16). Regarding the law governing witnesses, even if it were applicable to Him, they already have two witnesses—both He and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me (John 8:18). The words Yeshua speaks are the very words of God revealing the Father’s intimate relationship with His Son. Yeshua is the light of the world worthy of their belief!

Where is your Father(John 8:19)?

True, Yeshua has an earthly Father in Joseph, a lowly carpenter. If the authorities do not know him personally, at least they know about him. However, the Lord’s reference is not to His earthly Father, but to His heavenly Father: You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also (John 8:20; 14:7). Consider the great Shema, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). [13] Yeshua and His Father are One; far from loving the LORD, these authorities know neither the Father nor His Son. How can they love God with all their heart, soul and strength?

Then Jesus said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come” (John 8:21). Clearly, the Judean authorities can go to Yeshua’s earthly home, but as unbelievers, they cannot go to His heavenly home. Juxtapose this warning to the comfort He gives His disciples: I go and prepare a place for you… that where I am, there you may be also (John 14:1-4). Ironically, the rulers will die in their sin for in their brilliance they foolishly war against the One giving them the Word of God and the One sent to fulfill it... the One promising them eternal life.

Will He kill Himself, because He says, “Where I go you cannot come” (John 8:22)?

Casting aspersions on key witnesses remains one of the most common tactics employed by lawyers and other adversaries.

8:23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

8:24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24)

The authorities slander Yeshua by questioning whether He intends to commit suicide. Truly, they are from beneath; nevertheless, Our Lord responds with lovingkindness, believe that I am He… the Giver of the God’s Word and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills the Scripture… the One who has come to keep you from dying in your sins … the One who promises eternal life.

Who are you(John 8:25)?

By asking Him who He is, the Judean authorities imply that Yeshua’s words reveal cognitive dissonance; surely You do not think You are who You say You are, so who are You really? Do You even know who You are? [14]

Yeshua does not suffer cognitive dissonance. Though He has articulated clearly who He is from the very beginning (John 8:25), has many thing to say and to judge concerning them, and speaks to the world those things whichHe heard from His Father (John 8:26), His persecutors simply do not know Him.

Again, Yeshua clarifies who He is for both the Judean authorities and crowd by returning to familiar themes.

8:28 “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He , and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

8:29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.”

8:30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.

(John 8:28-30; underlining added)

Imagine the effect on Nicodemus and his disciples, themselves Judean authorities, as they reflect back on Yeshua’s authoritative yet gracious correction of their teacher and His apologia designed to persuade them of His promise of eternal life. Just as He showed lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24) towards them, so too He shows His Father’s delight in His words to the Judean authorities. Despite their dark malevolent behavior, the Father has not left Yeshua alone, for He always does those things that please Him (John 8:29); afterall, He is the Son who glories in the perfect understanding and knowledge of His Father (Jeremiah 9:24). Truly, Yeshua is the sent One of God, the Son of Man who, when lifted up, takes away the sin of the world including the sin of the Judean authorities who disparage Him.

The Judean authorities’ actions and words fail to dim the light of God’s Menorah; far from suffering from cognitive dissonance, the light of the world (John 8:12) speaks God’s Word with perfect power and authority in the midst of a dark temple, and many believe in Him (John 8:30). Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:31-32). Those who believe in Yeshua have life in His name and need not walk in darkness with the Judean authorities; they have the light of life , eternal life, within them; they need only abide in His Word. Indeed, Yeshua is the light of the world who promises thatHe who followsHimshall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life—eternal life (John 8:12)!

We are Abraham’s Descendants(John 8:33); Abraham is our Father (John 8:39); We were not born of fornication (John 8:41).

By asserting who they are as Abraham’s children, the authorities seek to impress upon the crowd their authority and the righteousness of their inquiry while questioning the legitimacy of Yeshua’s promise to those who believe in Him. We are Abraham’s descendants , and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, “You will be made free” (John 8:33; underlining added)?This defensive strategy cannot hide the sinfulness of the authorities’ words and deeds and their need for a Savior.

The beginning of John 8:33, They answered Him, troubles many commentators especially if the they refers to those who just three verses earlier believed in Yeshua (John 8:30, 31). Indeed, the voice of those answering back in verse 8:33 clearly remains that of the unbelieving Judean authorities. Have these authorities or rulers suddenly believed in Yeshua, but in a spurious and untrustworthy manner? Or, are those who believe in Yeshua (John 8:30, 31) an audience distinct from the unbelieving Judean authorities?

One of the clues resides in John 8:30, As He spoke these words,many (πολλοὶ) believed in Him (underling added). The Apostle John uses the expression many believed in Him several times in His gospel account (John 4:39, 7:31, 8:30, 10:42, 11:47 and 12:42), but not until John 11:47 and 12:42 does the text explicitly state, even among the rulers many believed (John 12:42). In light of the earlier strong opposition to Yeshua, Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? (John 7:48), why should you and I imagine that one day later the many referred to in John 8:30 are rulers or Judean authorities? If many rulers believe, then what is the size of the group remaining in opposition to Yeshua? Are you and I to imagine the they in John 8:33 represents a highly vocal minority within the rulers? If many of the rulers already believe in Yeshua (John 8:30), then why would the Apostle John wait until after Lazarus’ resurrection to reveal such an important state of affairs? Nevertheless, scholars often insist that the many are Judean authorities or rulers. How so?

In John 2:23, the expression many believed in His name is frequently linked to an untrustworthy spurious faith. According to this kind of thinking, if Nicodemus exemplifies untrustworthy faith (John 2:24-3:2), then those authorities believing in John 8:30 reveal this same kind of untrustworthy faith(John 8:33). [15]

Ironically, the response to Yeshua differs greatly between Nicodemus and his fellow Judean authorities. Nicodemus sought clarification as a newly born again believer— who, as the teacher of Israel, desired his disciples to hear directly from Yeshua. In marked contrast, the Judean authorities relentlessly seek clarification as unbelievers determined to undermine Yeshua and His ministry before the people (λαὸς).

As noted in a previous article, believing in His name expresses genuine, not spurious faith. [16] Yeshua does not entrust Himself to newly born again believers, but instead invites them to abide in His word in order to mature and experience freedom from sin. Correctly understood, the expression many believed in His name makes unlikely the idea that the many in John 8:30 are Judean authorities and more likely, the many are composed of newly born again believers mostly among the crowd—and if among the rulers, then perhaps smaller groups like Nicodemus and his disciples.

The referent or antecedent defining many in verses 8:30-31 is not the nearer one in John 8:33, but the clearer one logically inferred and directly referred to in John 7:31-32, 40-41, 49, and 8:2, the people (λαὸς) or crowd (ὄχλου). Likewise, regarding the referent for they in verse 8:33, Bob Wilkin writes:

The third person plural pronoun in They answered Him looks to the far antecedent in vv 13, 19, 22, 25, and 27. Basically the whole chapter—except for the excursus of vv 30-32—deals with Judeans opposed to Jesus and seeking to kill Him. [17]

Again as Wilkin rightly notes, the clearer referent or antecedent takes precedent over the nearer one.

When Yeshua responds to those declaring themselves descendants of Abraham (John 8:33), He addresses a separate group from those He encourages to abide in His word (John 8:31-32). The former group has yet to believe, while the latter group has just believed. Likewise, the freedom Yeshua promises is the believer’s freedom from sin and carnality. If whoever commits sin is a slave of sin (John 8:34) and a slave does not abide in the house forever(John 8:35), how does He make those who believe in Him free?

The Son makes you free from sin through His Word. As the Giver of God’s Word and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah, Yeshua speaks with perfect power and authority: He has perfect power and authority to promise eternal life to the unbeliever; He has perfect power and authority to deliver the believer who abides in His word. Instead of believing in Yeshua, the Judean authorities seek His life because His word has no place in them (John 8:37). Unless unbelievers become persuaded of the truth of Yeshua’s Word or promise to them, they remain dead in their sins and eternally condemned. Unless the believers abide in His Word—though born again and not subject to eternal condemnation—they experience the death-like consequences of sin. Yeshua is the Son of God, the Giver of His Word and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah, who delivers both unbelievers and believers according to His Word. He speaks what He has seen with His Father; sadly, the rulers do what they have seen with their father (John 8:38).

Though Judean authorities assert that Abraham is their father (John 8:39), Yeshua warns them of their hypocrisy:

8:39 If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham.

8:40 But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.

8:41 You do the deeds of your father. (John 8:39-41; underlining added)

Casting aspersions now turns into outright character assassination as they respond: We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God (John 8:41). Unlike Yeshua, they were not born of fornication, is a clear reference to Mary’s conception prior to being married to Joseph.

True, the Judean authorities have one father, but the God of Abraham is not their father.

8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.

8:43 Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. (John 8:42-43; underlining added)

Imagine the crowd listening to the harsh demeaning words of the Judean authorities directed to Yeshua, and yet as the Sent One of the Father, He remains unflappable and restrained in His response, demonstrating lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness , all while speaking the Word of God with perfect power and authority, all to the delight of His Father (Jeremiah 9:24).

Nonetheless, the legalism and lies the Judean authorities believe about themselves, along with Satan’s deception, must be exposed. If there is any hope of reaching them with the good news, then grace and truth must come together.

8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

(John 8:44; underlining added)

Perhaps, you and I may recall our Lord’s poignant rebuke of Peter: Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men (Matthew 16:23). Even a born again believer and one entrusted with the keys to the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:16-19) can—as a lowly disciple—become a pawn of Satan, especially when mindful of the things of men and not God. How much more so the Judean authorities, who ruling over Israel, are daily consumed by the concerns of men.

Surely, Yeshua’s words call to mind the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how Eve was deceived by the serpent. Imagine, what a fateful day for the crowd and the Judean authorities; beginning in the early morning with the accusation against the woman caught in adultery and then with the resumption of their attack on Yeshua, the Judean authorities reveal who their real father is. Alas, despite their brilliance, like Adam and Eve, the rulers of Israel have been caught up in legalism… Satan has deafened and blinded them to the words of their Messiah.

If only the authorities had listened to their temple guards: No man ever spoke like this Man (John 7:46)!If only they had listened to one of their own, Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing (John 7:51)?

8:45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me.

8:46 Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth , why do you not believe Me? (John 8:45-46; underlining added)

Though they demean the crowd that does not know the law as accursed (John 7:49), the Judean authorities remain blind to the One who has given them the very Scripture they so greatly extol, the One who tells them the truth with perfect power and authority tempered with the perfect balance of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness . He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God (John 8:47; underlining added). Yeshua speaks the very Word of God, yet those leading the nation of Israel cannot hear Him. They are most certainly not the children of the God of Abraham. Satan has their ear.

Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon (John 8:48, 52)?

The authorities confuse the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit with demon possession and accuse Yeshua with having the biblical literacy of a Samaritan (John 8:48).

8:49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me.

8:50 And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges.

8:51 Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” (John 8:49-51; underlining added)

And how does Yeshua honor His Father and not seek His own glory? By manifesting a perfect harmony of lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness for in these things His Father delights (Jeremiah 9:24). In the face of persecution, He speaks the Word of God and promises with perfect assurance, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death. [18] Anyone includes the Judean authorities who seek Yeshua’s life. Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death . (John 8:52). In their cleverness and haste to call Him demon-possessed, they deny the very Word of God—Messiah’s promise to them of eternal life.

Are You greater than our Father Abraham? Who do You make Yourself out to be (John 8:53)?

The Judeans now return to the familiar theme of cognitive dissonance. Logically, Yeshua claims to be greater than Abraham; surely He does not think He is who He says He is, Who do You make Yourself out to be(John 8:53)?

8:54 Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God.

8:55 Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, “I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.

8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:54-56; underlining added)

Deaf to Yeshua’s words, the authorities fail to pick up on His eternality: You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham(John 8:57)? Yeshua now confirms what was so obvious the day before to the temple guards; No man ever spoke like this Man (John 7:46); the One who speaks to the rulers is the One True And Eternal God, “Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM(John 8:58; Exodus 3:14).

Throughout a long morning into mid-day, before a large crowd composed of the Judean authorities and ordinary people, Yeshua has now spoken the Word of God with perfect power and authority tempered with lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness . During this time many of the people and possibly even some of the Judean authorities believed in Him (John 8:30-31), but what is the response of the majority of rulers who continue warring with Yeshua? Despite all His efforts as the Giver of the Scriptures and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah to persuade them of good news,they took up stones to throw at Him(John 8:59). As if to confirm all that He previously said, miraculously Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by (John 8:59). His time had not yet come.

I Am the Light of the World

Although He leaves the temple under threat for His life, Yeshua continues to reach out to the leaders of Israel with yet another sign, one that only Messiah can perform, healing a man born blind (John 9:32-33). [19]

9:1 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth.

9:2 And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:1-2)

The disciples consider blindness a curse brought on by the sin of either the man or his parents, but Yeshua reveals: Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him (John 9:3).

This man born blind will soon be Yeshua’s seeing ambassador to the Judean authorities, who—themselves, brought forth from their mother’s wombs seeing—remain blind to the Christ, the Son of God. Although untrained in the Law, this man will stand before Israel’s greatest legal minds and under intense scrutiny represent Yeshua. This man born into darkness will witness to the light of the world (John 9:15, 25) without a scintilla of partiality... without formally knowing Yeshua as the Son of God (John 9:35-38).

9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.

9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world .”

(John 9:4-5; underlining added)

And, how does Yeshua do the works of Him who sent Him, but by continuing to pursue and draw the Judean authorities with the utterly miraculous good news of a man born blind gaining his sight… again, a sign only Messiah can perform.

Conclusion

Previously, Yeshua concluded His time with the woman caught in adultery by admonishing her without judgment, declaring, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life (John 8:12) . Now in the person of a lowly blind man, our Lord concludes his apologia to the Judean authorities by sending forth a willing ambassador to present good news and a definitive Messianic calling card. How will the man fare? Will the Pharisees exercise lovingkindness, judgment and righteousness ? Do they understand and know the Father and His Son? The love of God looks like something; it looks like compassion for a woman entrapped in an ungodly scheme and a man born blind seeing for the first time; it looks like Yeshua, the light of the world continuing to pursue the unbelieving Judean authorities with the good news.

Yeshua’s love for the Judean authorities, who seek His life, remains one of the greatest examples of God’s lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness (Jeremiah 9:24) and an essential part of His larger apologia as the One who speaks the Word of God and fulfills it perfectly in His promise of eternal life. Whoever believes in Yeshua and His promise of eternal life has what He promises, eternal life. Despite their malevolent intentions, “whoever” includes the Judean authorities.

1)Israel’s most brilliant and noted scholars continue their legalistic attack upon Yeshua, even after He definitively demonstrates who He is as both the Giver of God’s Word and Israel’s Spirit-filled Messiah (John 7:53-8:12), This only confirms further the bankruptcy of that generation of Israel’s leadership.

2)The Judean authorities or rulers mimic the same legalism Satan used to separate Adam and Eve from God. Their efforts to undermine Israel’s Messiah reflect Satan’s larger design and provide the dark contrast necessary for many to weigh Yeshua’s apologia, I am the light of the world , and believe on Him and His promise of eternal life.

3)Accounting for the Judean authorities’ failure to discern Israel’s Messiah remains an essential element and watermark of authenticity in the apostles’ witness to early first century Jews and Gentiles.

As Yeshua demonstrates, glorifying God oftentimes requires being a determined and persistent light in the midst of darkness. Thankfully, He promises, I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life —eternal life (John 8:12).

Application

Yeshua is the perfect God/Man, Israel’s Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God who speaks the very Word of God with perfect power and authority. He is the giver of His Word and that Word is the Word of His Father that you and I know as the Scriptures. When we share the Gospel of John, we share the very Word He has given us to bring forth eternal life in others. We share a perfect witness that can never return void!

1)In His person and ministry, He is both the Giver of His Word and the Spirit-filled Messiah who fulfills His Word with perfect lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness . He promises life in His name to whoever believes in Him, including the Judean authorities who seek His life. We should share His promise with the “whoevers” He brings into our lives.

2)Those we share with do not always respond positively to the light of the world and the light of life within us (John 8:12). If Yeshua experienced outright rejection for His witness to the Judean authorities, then might you and I expect rejection when witnessing to those caught up in spiritual darkness? Absolutely, the challenge of following Yeshua’s example is how to witness effectively and glory in the lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness of our Lord (Jeremiah 9:24).

3)While imprisoned in Rome, the Apostle Paul writes: For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me (Philippians 1:29-30). Clearly, neither Yeshua nor Paul held themselves hostage to a positive response to the good news. Likewise, when suffering comes into our lives, you and I must not lose hope in the power and authority of God’s promise to bring forth life in our Savior’s name... even under the most impossible of circumstances conviction of His grace and truth will rule the day. Truly, His Word never returns to Him void (Isaiah 55:11).

The Giver of His Word, our Spirit-filled Messiah is good. The promise of eternal life comes from the same One who with the finger of God gave us not merely the Law, but the whole of God’s Word. Yeshua never fails His promise!

Appendix A: Turning From the Grace of God to the Law

Ironically, though the Bible has much to say about “legalism,” the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures never once use the word “legalism”. Merriam Webster’s defines legalism as “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law or to a religious or moral code.” [20] Biblically, what constitutes “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law?”

You and I might summarize Psalm One in this manner: The one who is blessed does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, stand in the path of sinners , or sit in the seat of the of scornful, but instead delights in the law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night (Psalm 1:1-2). As a result, he prospers like a tree planted by the rivers of water (Psalm 1:3). In contrast to the man God blesses, the ungodly do not do the aforementioned things and are like the chaff which the wind drives away standing neither in the judgment nor the congregation of the righteous (Psalm 1:4-5 ). For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish (Psalm 1:6). This psalm is properly considered a wisdom psalm. Lest the Godly man described in this psalm be considered a legalist, what is subjectively considered “strict, literal, or excessive conformity to the law” cannot in itself define legalism.

Knowing what legalism cannot be helps us discover a serviceable definition. For the moment, let us assume the ungodly man described in Psalm One is licentious in his behavior. In the New Testament, verse 4 of Jude warns of, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ . The Greek word (ἀσέλγειαν) translated lewdness is a synonym for licentiousness.

Licentiousness: Ungodly men turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Legalism: Ungodly men turn the grace of our God into legalism and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Licentiousness and legalism are polar opposites of the fleshly response to sin composed of two key elements. Ungodly men do two things: 1) they turn the grace of our God into either lewdness or legalism and 2) they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, a serviceable definition: Legalism is the act or sin of turning from the grace of God to the law and denying God and His Son Yeshua .

In marked contrast to Old Testament saints, Christians are permanently indwelled with the Holy Spirit. When confronting licentiousness or legalism, the Holy Spirit lifts us out of the mire of our flesh and secures our victory through His ongoing ministry of conviction and filling. Our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin (Romans 6:5-6). Like our brother Paul, we must reckon ourselves dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord(Romans 6:11). Like our brother John, we must confess our sins and know that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:8-10). Our victory is in Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit’s ministry to us.

Appendix B: The Promise of Eternal Life

Few things reveal Israel’s Messiah as definitively as Yeshua’s promise of life in His name or eternal life. Throughout the Old Testament, eternal life underpins God’s promise of a Messianic kingdom. Simply put, without life, no Old Testament saint participates in this coming kingdom; God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. So clearly implied throughout the Scripture is this promise, not to infer and believe it personally is tantamount to unbelief. Let us consider the faith of three Old Testament saints, Job, Abraham, and David in God for eternal life.

Beginning with Job, even prior to the Abrahamic covenant, you and I find a personal belief in everlasting life the foundation of Job’s comfort.

19:23 “Oh, that my words were written!

Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!

19:24 That they were engraved on a rock

With an iron pen and lead, forever!

19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

And He shall stand at last on the earth;

19:26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,

That in my flesh I shall see God,

19:27 Whom I shall see for myself,

And my eyes shall behold, and not another.

How my heart yearns within me! (Job 19:23-27)

In the midst of all his suffering, Job finds comfort not in his family, friends or even himself, but in the sure personal knowledge that his Redeemer lives . Clearly, Job believes he possesses life beyond his physical death and that he will live that life in the very presence of God Himself: How my heart yearns within me!

Considered the father of the Jewish people, Abraham needed an heir in order to secure the promises God had made to him. Imagine, the deep spiritual challenge he faces when God commands: Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you (Genesis 22:2). When Isaac asks where the offering is Abraham replies : My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering (Genesis 22:8). Only after the Angel of the Lord commands Abraham to stop does the father of the Jewish people cease from offering the life of his only son and heir, Isaac. The author of Hebrews reveals the source of Abraham’s confidence:

11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

11:18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,”

11:19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. (Hebrews 11:17-19)

Clearly, Abraham believed God would resurrect His son Isaac. And if resurrection, then eternal life in the kingdom God promised Abraham… for God is not the God of the dead, but of the living… Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Known as a man after God’s own heart, death chased King David as he penned this very famous Psalm:

23:1 The LORD is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

23:2 He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

23:3 He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

23:4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil;

My cup runs over.

23:6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

All the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD

Forever. (Psalm 23:1-6)

King David wants for nothing because the Lord is his shepherd who tends to his every need… ultimately leading the King in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake . Likened to a shadow, death is an ever-present companion to the King; however, walking through the valley of the shadow of death he fears no evil for David knows the presence of His shepherd through the comfort of His rod and staff. Even in the presence of the King’s enemies who long for his death, David is comforted and blessed: You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over . And, where is King David’s astounding confidence anchored, but in the LORD Himself. Goodness and mercy(the Hebrew word חֶ֣סֶד transliterated chesed) shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever . Clearly, King David personally believed he would live eternally in the presence of his LORD.

Despite these examples of faith from key biblical figures, who so assiduously infer and believe in the promise of everlasting life, the Father entrusts His Son Yeshua with the power and authority to overtly declare or herald His promise of eternal life. That He promises life in His name reveals Yeshua as the Christ, the Son of God as surely as His crucifixion and resurrection (John 12:44-50). In this sense, Yeshua’s promise of eternal life is the fulfillment of the faith expectations of all the Old Testament saints like Job, Abraham, and David, just as the crucifixion and resurrection is the fulfillment of Israel’s sacrificial system. Both decisively reveal Yeshua as the Christ, the Son of God.

Copyright © Frank Tyler 2023