The Gospel of John 8
8
1and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2In the morning he went back to the Temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them.
3The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught out in adultery. They stood her out in the middle.
4“Teacher,” they said to him. “This woman was caught in the very act of adultery. 5In the law, Moses commanded us to stone people like this. What do you say?”
6They said this to test him, so that they could frame a charge against him.
Jesus squatted down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they went on pressing the question, he got up and said to them, “Whichever of you is without sin should throw the first stone at her.”
8And once again he squatted down and wrote on the ground.
9When they heard that, they went off one by one, beginning with the oldest. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there.
10Jesus looked up.
“Where are they, woman?” he asked. “Hasn’t anybody condemned you?”
11“Nobody, sir,” she replied.
“Well, then,” said Jesus, “I don’t condemn you either! Off you go—and from now on don’t sin again!”
The light of the world
12Jesus spoke to them again.
“I am the light of the world,” he said. “People who follow me won’t go around in the dark; they’ll have the light of life!”
13“You’re giving evidence in your own case!” said the Pharisees. “Your evidence is false!”
14“Even if I do give evidence about myself,” replied Jesus to them, “my evidence is true, because I know where I came from and where I’m going to. But you don’t know where I come from or where I’m going to. 15You are judging in merely human terms; I don’t judge anyone. 16But even if I do judge, my judgment is true, because I’m not a lone voice; I have on my side the father who sent me. 17It is written in your law that the evidence of two people is true. 18I’m giving evidence about myself, and the father who sent me is giving evidence about me.”
19“Where is your father?” they said to him.
“You don’t know me,” replied Jesus, “and you don’t know my father! If you had known me, you would have known my father as well.”
20He said all this in the treasury, while he was teaching in the Temple. Nobody arrested him, though, because his time hadn’t yet come.
From below or from above
21So Jesus spoke to them once more.
“I am going away,” he said. “You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. You can’t come where I’m going.”
22“Is he going to kill himself?” asked the Judaeans. “Is that what he means when he says we can’t come where he’s going?”
23“You come from below,” Jesus said to them, “but I come from above. You are from this world, I am not from this world. 24I told you that you would die in your sins; you see, that’s what will happen to you if you don’t believe that I am the one.”
25“Who are you?” they asked.
“What I’ve been telling you from the beginning,” replied Jesus. 26“There are plenty of things I could say about you, yes, and against you too! But the one who sent me is true, and I tell the world what I heard from him.”
27They didn’t understand that he was talking about the father.
28So Jesus said to them, “When you’ve lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I’m the one, and that I never act on my own initiative; I say exactly what the father taught me. 29And the one who sent me is with me. He hasn’t left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
The truth will make you free
30As Jesus said all this, several people believed in him.
31So Jesus spoke to the Judaeans who had believed in him.
“If you remain in my word,” he said, “you will truly be my disciples. 32You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33“We are Abraham’s descendants!” they replied. “We’ve never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say that ‘you’ll become free’?”
34“I’m telling you the solemn truth,” Jesus replied. “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. 35The slave doesn’t live in the house forever; the son lives there forever. 36So, you see, if the son makes you free, you will be truly free.”
Children of Abraham—or of the devil
37“I know you’re Abraham’s descendants,” Jesus went on. “But you’re trying to kill me, because my word doesn’t find a place among you. 38I am speaking of what I have seen with the father; and you, too, are doing what you heard from your father.”
39“Abraham is our father!” they replied.
“If you really were Abraham’s children,” replied Jesus, “you would do what Abraham did! 40But now you’re trying to kill me—me, a man who has told you the truth which I heard from God! That’s not what Abraham did. 41You’re doing the works of your father.”
“There wasn’t anything immoral about the way we were born!” they replied. “We’ve got one father, and that’s God!”
42“If God really was your father,” replied Jesus, “you would love me, because I came from God, and here I am. I didn’t come on my own initiative, you see, but he sent me. 43Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? It can only be because you can’t hear my word. 44You are from your father—the devil! And you’re eager to get on with what he wants. He was a murderer from the beginning, and he’s never remained in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he tells lies, he speaks what comes naturally to him, because he is a liar—in fact, he’s the father of lies! 45But because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. 46Which of you can bring a charge of sin against me? If I speak the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47The one who is from God speaks God’s words. That’s why you don’t listen, because you’re not from God.”
Before Abraham, “I Am”
48This was the Judaeans’ response to Jesus.
“Haven’t we been right all along,” they said, “in saying you’re a Samaritan, and that you’ve got a demon inside you?”
49“I haven’t got a demon!” replied Jesus. “I am honoring my father, and you are dishonoring me. 50I’m not looking for my own glory; there is one who is looking after that, and he will be the judge. 51I’m telling you the solemn truth: anyone who keeps my word will never, ever see death.”
52“Now we know that you really have got a demon!” replied the Judaeans. “Look here: Abraham died! So did the prophets! And here are you, saying, ‘Anyone who keeps my word will never, ever taste death.’ 53You’re not suggesting, are you, that you’re greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets! Who are you making yourself out to be?”
54“If I do give myself glory,” replied Jesus, “my glory is nothing. My father is the one who brings me glory—the one you say is ‘our God’; 55and you don’t know him! I know him, though. If I were to say I didn’t know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word. 56Your father Abraham celebrated the fact that he would see my day. He saw it and was delighted.”
57“You’re not yet fifty years old!” responded the Judaeans. “Have you seen Abraham?”
58“I’m telling you the solemn truth,” replied Jesus. “Before Abraham existed, I Am.”
59So they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus hid, and left the Temple.
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The Gospel of John 8: NTFE
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a. The New Testament for Everyone, Third Edition. Copyright © 2011, 2018, 2019 by
Nicholas Thomas Wright, The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. All rights reserved. Published by Zondervan, 2023.
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