by

Pastor Max A. Forsythe

Great Lakes Presbytery
(Presbyterian Church in America)

11 March 1988
Lightly Revised: Fall 1995

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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       A. Introductory Notes
       B. The Gospel of John (Chapter 8: 12-59)

       I. What is Truth?
      II. The Meaning of Truth
           a. Hebrew Truth
           b. Greek Truth
           c. The New Testament Meanings of Truth
     III. The Gospel of Truth
      IV. The Purpose of Truth

       C. Bibliography

INTRODUCTORY NOTES

If the translator's goal is for those who read his translation to know Christ more clearly and follow him more nearly and love him more dearly"1, then the translator must be careful to speak in common words the uncommon thoughts of the Holy Scriptures. Particularly in our time, the responsibility is heavy. "In the ancient days the aim of the translator was to satisfy the hunger of the hearts of men: and it may be the aim of the modern translator, not so much to satisfy that hunger, as to awaken it."2

The aim of this translation is to communicate clearly John's message. Particular attention has been given to the meaning of the truth present in John's Gospel of Glory. The aim is to bring the glories of our God and King into the common tongue as simply and sincerely as possible.

To do this, it is essential to establish the particular meaning of the Greek text carefully. "The principle is translation by meaning and not by words; it is not what the author says, but what he means, which is important - and it is precisely for this reason that the translator requires the help of the Holy Spirit ... ."3

Now, there is a danger in this transposing of ideas to our time. We must not ever think for even a tiny moment, that it is primarily our skill that allows the Gospel message to be adequately conveyed! However, we must study, translate and write as if this were actually the case! It is in this spirit that the following translation was begun:

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THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

Chapter Eight
Verses Twelve to Fifty-nine

12

When Jesus spoke to the people again, He said,

I am the light of the world.

Whoever follows me shall never walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

13

The Pharisees challenged him,

Who are you to witness on your own behalf?

Your testimony alone is not valid.

14

Jesus replied,

Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is still valid.

Because I know where I came from and where I am going.

But you have no comprehension where I come from or where I am going.

You use only human standards to judge, but I am not judging anyone.

Even if I do judge, my judgment will be sound; because I am not alone.

I stand with the Father, who sent me.

In your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is valid.

I may testify for myself, but the Father who sent me is my witness .

19

They asked him,

Where is your Father?

Jesus replied,

You do not know me nor my Father, if you knew me, you would know my Father as well.

20

He spoke these words while teaching in the Temple grounds,

Yet no one seized Him, because His time had not yet come.

21

Again He said to them,

I am going away and you will look for Me, and you shall die in your sin.

It is impossible for you to go where I am going.

22

The Jews murmured,

Is he going to kill himself?

Is this what he means when he says that it is impossible for us to go where he is going?

23

Jesus continued,

You are from below, I am from above.

Because I know where I came from and where I am going.

You are of this world, I am not of this world.

I have told you already that you will die in your sins.

Because, if you do not believe that I am He, you will indeed die in your sins.

25

They asked,

Who are you?

Jesus replied

Why do I bother to talk to you?

I have much to say in judgment of you.

But, He who sent me is reliable, and what I have heard from Him I declare to the world.

27

They did not comprehend that He was speaking about His Father.

28

Jesus continued,

When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He.

I do nothing by myself, I speak only what the Father has taught me.

He who sent me is with me, he has not left me alone,

because I always do what pleases Him.

30

While He was speaking these words, many put their faith in Him.

31

To these Jews, who believed Him, Jesus said,

If you earnestly remain in my teaching, then you will indeed be my disciples.

You shall know the correct doctrine and that truth will make you free.

33

Other Jews questioned Him,

We are descended from Abraham, and we have never been the slaves of anyone.

What do you mean when you say, we will be made free?

34

Jesus replied,

I tell you and it is true, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.

Now the slave's place in the house is not assured, but the son's place is assured.

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

I know that you are descended from Abraham.

In spite of that, you want to kill me because nothing I say has penetrated into your mind.

What I tell you, I have seen in the Father's presence,

And you, you do what you have learned from your father!

39

They retorted.

Abraham is our father!

Jesus observed:

If you were indeed Abraham's children, then you would do the things that Abraham did.

Even now you determine to murder me, when I tell you the truth I have learned from God.

That is not what Abraham did.

What you are doing, is what your father does.

They protested,

Have we been spiritually unfaithful? Our father is God Himself.

42

Jesus said to them,

If God were your Father, You would have loved me.

It is from God I am, and it is from God I come.

I have not come on my own initiative, for He has sent me.

Do you know why you cannot comprehend?

It is because you are unable to hear what I say.

The devil is your father and you prefer to do what your father wants.

He was a murderer from the start.

He has never stood for truth, for there is no truth in him at all.

In his lies, he speaks his native tongue, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

But as for me, I speak the truth, that is why you do not believe me!

Can one of you convict me of sin?

If I speak the truth, why don't you believe me?

A child of God listens to the words of God.

For this reason you cannot hear: you do not belong to God.

48

The Jews answered Him,

It has been well said, that you are a Samaritan and possessed by a demon.

49

Jesus replied,

I am not possessed by a demon.

I honor my Father, you dishonor me.

I do not seek my own glory.

There is one who takes care of that and is the judge of it.

I tell you and it is true, whoever keeps my word, will never see death.

52

The Jews exclaimed,

Now we know for certain that you are demon-possessed!

Abraham died and so have the prophets.

Yet you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.'

Surely you are not greater than our father Abraham?

He died and so did the prophets.

Just who do you think you are?

54

Jesus answered,

If I seek my own glory, that would be no glory at all.

My glory is conferred by the Father.

It is by Him, whom you claim as your God.

You have not known Him, I do know Him.

If I had said that I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you.

But I do know Him and keep His word.

Your father Abraham rejoiced knowing that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad.

57

The Jews argued,

You, who are not yet fifty, you have seen Abraham?

58

Jesus answered,

I tell you and it is true, before Abraham ever was, I AM.

59

At this point, they picked up stones to stone Him, but Jesus hid Himself,

and left the temple grounds.

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I. What is Truth?

In the early months of 1987 there was considerable media exposure for the supposed life experiences of a major star. This particular star was trying to dignify some rather bizarre beliefs. She even acknowledged the problem of public acceptance in her chosen title of Out on a Limb. There was no real need to worry, our culture's curiosity in the bizarre and outrageous are well documented. In fact, there was and has been a wide measure of titillation, if the assorted articles on the New Age over the course of the decade since are any indication.

We have become a nation that accepts the whole range of opinionated beliefs, as eagerly as we anticipate new additions to our favorite restaurant's salad bar. This is the worldly reaction to all faiths these days, to suspend any real belief and publicly agree that everyone is completely free to develop their own opinion. Even the Church of Jesus Christ is infected with this opinionization. Once I was talking with a "Christian" friend about the Reformed particulars. Of course he recognized our freedom to think whatever we would. But, he was very cautious about expressing any absolute claims to truth.

To him and many others, the claim of truth seems beyond comprehension. Pilate's question "What is truth?" in John 18: 38 gives emphasis to this idea. However, in the preceding verse Jesus speaks about the revelational aspect of the claim to truth. In John 8: 47 and 1 John 4: 6 we see a further indication that "comprehension is not a free act of existence, but is grounded in the determination of existence by divine reality."4 So, it would seem there is something more to this idea of truth than meets the common eye! But, Pilate's question is still the world's question. However, in our time, we are more likely to hear the question this way: "What do you mean by truth?"

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II. The Meaning of Truth.

Have you ever tasted white strawberries? Very few people have. Once, my dad tasted a few that he found growing along the edge of his woods. White Strawberries are extraordinarily rare. It is said by the few with first hand experience, my father included, that the taste is exquisitely sweet. The point of this story is that not everyone can experience the taste of white strawberries. To comprehend, you have to talk to someone who has had the taste. So it is with our understanding of truth, we have to dig back in time and literature to find out what truth really meant, so that we are not left hanging like Pilate of old with an unanswered question vital to our understanding of life.

Hebrew Truth

Our ordinary understanding of the English word "truth" fails to do justice to what is described in the Hebrew Scriptures. In its various forms, "truth" is used over one hundred times. There is is rendered with several connotations: firm reliable, solid, faithful, tested, perceptible, true and lasting. Generally, the Hebrew word designates a reality, which is firm, sure, authentic and unchanging.5 While the Hebrew word "emeth" is used as a legal term, it can also indicate a validity beyond the area of law. This reference is to facts which always demand recognition by all men as reality.6

This recognition of the eternal reality of God's Word and Law is expressed in Psalm 119: 160; and Psalm 19: 9. This eternal truth is the source of real knowledge, and in that truth there is trust and confidence which is expressed in Psalm 31: 5, revealed in Isaiah 45: 19 and invoked in Isaiah 65: 16. On appeal, moral and legal standards are guaranteed as the goal of divine action in Exodus 34: 6. As the foundation of such truth, God is worthy of our total devotion. "The works of His hands are truth and right, and all His commands are unconditionally valid".7 His words are trustworthy and true precisely because He is God!

Greek Truth

The Greek word aletheia has an original meaning of non-concealment. It indicates a state of being that can be seen, indicated or expressed. This state can, when it is disclosed, indicate the real or absolute state of affairs in legal, historical and philosophic use.8

In our time, we may well speak of this idea of true truth in the words of Francis Schaeffer. While the Old Testament is not so much concerned about raising the question of what is truly true, there is the sense that what God is and says is truth. This idea is wholly compatible with the Greek ideal, "since in the practice of history and in historical and philosophical enquiry, it is essentially the task of the logos to reveal and indicate, aletheia can also denote an aspect of the logos".9 Aletheia thus denotes a normative absolute that requires action based upon the full understanding of disclosed knowledge. For this reason aletheia is pregnant with the sense of "correct doctrine", because this shows what the truth is.10 Once the truth is known, action on that truth as an act of obedience conveys a sense of accepting the "authoritative teaching". In this way, truth and law can become joined in correct doctrine.

The New Testament Meanings of Truth

The word aletheia occurs over one hundred times in the New Testament. Of these, almost half occur in the Gospel and Letters of John. This indicates that the idea of truth is mightily important to the convictions of John the Apostle. In John's Gospel, Jesus Christ lays claim to be the Truth. And while the Synoptics do not make the idea as dominant, this claim appears in the controversies of the last week of Christ's life.11

In the New Testament, the word may convey the following meanings:12

1. it is that which "has certainty and force".
2. it can also have the meaning of "judicial righteousness."
3. it often takes on the weaker sense of "uprightness".
4. it is also that "on which one can rely".
5. it may also signify "sincerity" or "honesty".
6. it implies the "real state of affairs".
7. it is used as "statement of truth".
8. it is also the "true teaching or faith".
9. it can also mean "genuineness, divine reality or revelation".

While the Greek concept of aletheia is primarily intellectual, the Hebrew emeth stresses the moral content. While many commentators feel that John stresses the intellectual model, the focus of truth in who and what Jesus Christ is, seems directed more in the sense of the Hebrew emeth.13 In several places, it may simply be used in the ordinary Greek sense of describing what is not false, but actual fact. It is in this sense found in John 5: 33, 8:40 & 44ff and 16: 7. In the stronger sense of describing the faithfulness of God to his own character and promises, it means the Christian revelation in and through Jesus Christ. This sense can be seen in John 1: 17, 8:32, 16:33, 17:17 & 19 and 18:37.14

It should readily be apparent that in a certain sense, John's witness to the good news of Jesus Christ stresses this concept of truth. And in this Gospel, the idea of truth is concentrated in the eighth chapter. May we then describe this chapter as "The Gospel of Truth"?

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III. The Gospel of Truth

What does John have to say about the real truth and its acceptance by the people of his time. We begin at verse twelve of chapter eight. In this verse, Jesus speaks out and says that He is the light of the world. This claim is challenged by the Pharisees. John 8: 13 ... Your testimony alone is not [true] valid. Jesus then suggests that their question is mute because they do not completely understand where He is coming from! John 8: 14 Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is still [true] valid. He questions their limited human standards and rests His appeal upon the authority of God the Father. John 8: 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment will be [true] sound; because I am not alone.

This fact, in and of itself, if accepted, is the basis for a lawful testimony. But the acceptance of this true witness will be the problem evident in the entire passage. John 8: 17 In your own law it is written that the testimony of two men is [true] valid. If this law is legitimate, then they have to accept Jesus' testimony. The very same law that they use to question his testimony can only be understood if His hearers can appreciate the relationship of that law to His special witness in fulfilling the very implications of the law itself.15 We see in verse twenty- seven that this was not understood by very many of the group listening to Jesus. However, there were in the crowd some people who comprehended and understood. To them, Jesus gave a promise. John 8: 31 If you [truly] earnestly remain in my teaching, then you will indeed be my disciples.

There is some confusion over exactly what this means. One of my students once asked me to clarify a question on Queen Guinevere, of Camelot fame. He didn't catch what I meant by Guinevere being more in love with love than she was in love with King Arthur. yes, she loved the King, she also loved the court and the devoted knights. But, when it finally came down to the nitty gritty, she wasn't exactly certain she really loved Arthur! She loved being in love more than she loved him.

Now, let us transfer this notion back to our issue of faith. The tragedy of the Pharisees is that they did not place their faith in Jesus Christ. Instead they put their faith in faith ahead of the proper object of faith: Jesus Christ. Looking at verse thirty-one, we see one of the keys to understanding a real faith relationship with Jesus Christ. And what is it, it is really very simple for those who are called by the Father. That key to those called by Him is to make Jesus Christ the object of faith and to do all that He requires. John 8: 32 You shall know the [truth] correct doctrine and that truth will make you free.

In those words there is a great promises of faith, a saving faith. If those who hear Him, believe His words; then they will know of his love and they shall be free indeed. When Jesus speaks, He tells the truth, from His truth, there can reasonably be stated the correct doctrine that He saves! And those who believe that truth, can have a saving faith.

In Judaism, the truth was the law, and the study of the law made a man free. As this passage develops, the object of faith moves from the law to the Christ. This saving truth described here as correct doctrine is to be perceived only through the work of the Spirit as John 16: 13 describes its coming. This saving truth is Jesus Himself, who John says is of God in John 1: 2, and is the fulfillment and revelation of God's eternal purposes as described in John 14: 6. This revelation is not a means to an end, it is itself the way and the goal. This revelation of truth is a divine occurrence. It is and was a real event. Just as aletheia is the object of ginoskein; so too can truth also be known in and through Jesus Christ.16 John 8:34 I tell you and it is true, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. John Calvin reports that it would appear that Christ is saying no more than the philosophers. And how much the world want so believe that and thus reduce Christ to just one voice among many. yet, Calvin points out a deeper and more hidden meaning.17 The philosophers think that any man by his own choice becomes slave or free. however, Jesus is not speaking of an evil that men bring upon themselves, but of the fallen state of human nature! Jesus here declares that all who are not freed from slavery by Him are slaves indeed!

During the American Civil War, when the Union Armies advanced, the only slaves that truly were free, were those who were fortunate to live in areas conquered and occupied by the Federal Government. So it is with spiritual bondage, if we would be free, we must be freed by, in and through Jesus Christ only. However, some slaves unfortunately remain enslaved.

John 8:40 Even now you determine to murder me, when I tell you the truth.

aletheia here implies the "real state of affairs". Jesus is beginning to reveal to these Sons of Abraham that they are really children of the Devil! In verse forty-two, He says that if they were really God's children, they would love him as the revealed truth from the Father. However, they will not listen and need stronger words in verse forty-four. Who is their father? it should be evident even to them. it is the devil, who is very very far from the truth.

John 8: 44 He has never stood for the truth, for there is no truth in him at all.

The antithesis between divine and anti-divine reality is noted here. There is a real division between the children of God and the children of the Devil. And that division can be realized in a person's reaction to the truth of Jesus Christ.

John 8: 45 But as for me, I speak the truth, that is why you do not believe me!

The Pharisees real condition is revealed here. They cannot comprehend the plain truth. It is this reason why I chose the words for the difficult passage in verse twenty-six. "Why do I bother to talk to you?" Even though He and we must witnesses to the glory of our Father, it should be evident from scripture and experience that not everyone can or will comprehend the good news revealed in Jesus Christ.

John 8: 46 If I speak the truth, why don't you believe me?

A twofold question with a twofold answer. While aletheia here has a formal sense of "speaking the truth" it also means "bringing the revelation in words. This same twofold sense is also to be found in John 5: 33-34 and 18: 37 where salvation and truth are served.18 The aletheia here is the self-revealing divine reality. In the same sense there is reference in First John 4:6 to the criterion for knowing whether something is of God or of anti-godly power. That is the hearing or non-hearing of the Word proclaimed.

Some teach that any and all can come to Christ whenever they will. The popular phrase is "whosoever will, may come!" That misconception belittles the true faith by substituting something different from what the Scriptures really teach. The correct doctrine here revealed by Christ insists that it is only by God's free grace that we become His sons with all the rights and privileges of being His. Even though we are illegitimate, just as the Pharisees were, God is willing to adopt us into His family and make us His own both now and forever as we see in verse fifty-one

John 8: 51 I tell you and it is true, whoever keeps my word, will never see death.

Earlier in verse forty-seven, Jesus informs us that a child of God listens to the words of God. Who can hear, who can obey? Paul answers our question in Ephesians 1:5 "He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will." But, unlike the Pharisees, we have to realize who it is that is speaking to us.

John 8: 58 I tell you and it is true, before Abraham ever was, I AM.

All through the chapter, there have been subtle hints for hearts quickened by the Spirit. The words I AM are not strange to our ears in this whole section. We see here that some of the Jews had ignored Him and His claims. They wanted a direct answer. Who is this man? In this verse Jesus gives them a precise answer. I AM.

And what is the worldly reaction? Look, there in verse fifty-nine. They would stone Him, they would kill Him, they would eventually crucify Him. And to their utter shame, they would not believe the truth. In fact, Jesus knew their minds well, as early as verse forty. here they would finish their thoughts if they were allowed. But as the Gospel record, not just yet! There is still God's complete purpose to be worked out.

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IV. The Purpose of Truth.

And what is that purpose? Paul writes well in Ephesians 2:5 "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast." Faith in the truth of Christ is not something that merits the favor of God. The totality of salvation resides completely in the Savior! We must be certain of this: It is not faith that saves but faith in Jesus Christ. Strictly speaking, it is not even faith in Christ that saves. But it is Christ that saves through faith!19

And you shall know the correct doctrine and that truth will make you free.

Unfortunately people do not change. Some, like the Pharisees always claim that their fathers came over on the Mayflower, fought in the Revolution, or came west over the mountains through the Cumberland Gap. yet we have known from this chapter that the correct pedigree did not guarantee anything absolutely worthwhile for the "sons" of Abraham! True Sonship on our part depends upon knowing who Jesus is, acknowledging His word and accepting what His truth can indeed do for us. If we know His doctrine, then we will be free by His grace.

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