Sermon Tone Analysis

Notes:

The following text points out accusations that Jesus, who is the True Judge, makes against the Pharisees and religious leaders.

1.

The first accusation: They have Inappropriate Belief (8:12-30)

A. First verbal exchange: The Authority and Judgment of the Son, 8:12-20.

“again” points to a change of scene, which is typical of John’s gospel.

The location, according to verse 20, is the treasury, located in the Court of Women.

It was said by many historians that in this court were thirteen shofar-style receptacles.

The smaller mouth of each one had a sign below it indicating the specific purpose for the monies collected.

Every evening during the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), during the time between the evening offering (3 PM) and the end of the day (6 PM), priests would enter the Court of Women to light two (some historians say four) giant candelabra-like lampstands.

It was claimed that these caused light to fall on every courtyard in Jerusalem.

However, the lamps were said not be be lit on the last day of the feast.

(1) Charge: “I am the Light of the World” (v.

12)

“I am the light of the world” is Jesus claiming exclusivity — He is the true light that shines in the darkness of this world.

believers become children of light through belief, John 12:36

Jesus foretold the future of His disciples in Matt.

5:14

The one who follows Jesus, the promise is two-fold: they will not walk in darkness; they will have the Light of life.

(2) Responses: The Witness of the Father and Son (vv.

13-18)

To this, the Pharisees responded by contradicting Jesus, saying Jesus’ testimony is not true (real).

People can claim anything about themselves, but mere statement doesn’t establish the truth.

Jesus responds, declaring His testimony is true, since He knows both where He came from and where He is going, information that the Pharisees do not have.

Jesus then declares that His judgment is true in contrast to that of the Pharisees.

Jesus judges according to the Father’s will, so He and the Father who sent Him are in agreement.

Jesus and the Father give true testimony, in agreement with the law.

(3) Verdict: “You Know neither Me nor My Father” (vv.

19-20)

The Pharisees express their cynicism, retorting, “Where is your father?”

Jesus ignores their question, and states that they do not know neither Him nor His Father.

Jesus explains that He is the only means of knowing God personally; He Himself is the perfect representation of God.

B. Second Verbal Exchange: The Origin of the Son, 8:21-30.

(1) Charge: “You Will Die in Your Sin” (v.

21)

Jesus now states that He will go away, predicting His crucifixion, burial, resurrection, and ascension to heaven.

However, the Jewish religious leaders will never see heaven because they do not know God.

Their “sin” is unbelief.

They interpret Him literally, so Jesus explains further

(2) Responses: “You Are from the World; I Am Not from This World (vv.

22-27)

“Below” is the realm of fallen creation; “above” is the heavenly realm, where no sin can exist.

Believers can be born from above through faith, John 3:16-17

Those from below are “of this world,” doomed to die in sin and suffer eternal punishment.

Jesus is “not of this world,” holy, and will not suffer judgment.

The “sins” are their acts, evidence spiritually their need for the Savior who is God in the flesh; without believing in Him, they will indeed die in their sins.

The question of verse 25 evidences their ignorance of who Jesus truly is.

He responds that He has been telling them from the beginning who He is.

Because of their willful blindness, they failed to understand Jesus’ reference to the Father, cf.

John 3:13

The conversation between Jesus and these leaders is a striking resemblance of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (3:3-21).

(3) Verdict: “You will know that I Am” (vv.

28-30)

“When You lift up the Son of Man...” a reference to the crucifixion, John 3:14-15

Also cf.

John 5:19-47 with verse 28-29.

Jesus teaches the same lessons to many people several times each day in the temple throughout the Feast.

These discourses, preserved for us by John, are representative of numerous instances where Jesus proclaimed truth and became a target for the religious leaders’ wrath.

But even though Jesus’ opponents stood steadfast in their rebellion.

verse 30 lets us know that Jesus is still reaping a harvest.

2. Second Accusation: The Charge against Illegitimate Origin (8:31-59).

A. First Verbal Exchange: The Identity of the People of God, 8:31-47

(1) Charge: True Disciples Abide in My Word (vv.

31-32)

In this section, there may be another change of scene, but the conversation continues.

The Greek word translated “know” is one of four possible; this word stresses understanding.

Belief is not the end of something as if we have arrived; it is a beginning, a rebirth after which growth must follow.

“make us free” from the indebtedness of the penalty of sin.

This freedom is spiritual release from judgment and the free gift of eternal life.

(2) Responses: Abraham and the Father (33-43)

The leaders once again interpreted Jesus’ words at a literal level.

They were descendants of Abraham by which they claimed racial, cultural, and moral superiority.

Their denial was based on the fact that even under Rome, they could still worship God.

But even in this literal understanding, their history has been one of enslavement under other nations.

Jesus clarified the freedom He was referring to in the first of three solemn proclamations: The slave master is sin! (34)

The slave is always inferior to the Son, v. 25.

The Son has come to liberate the slave from the slave master of sin, and allowing them to become children of God through faith, John 1:12-13

Jesus was well aware of Abraham’s physical descendents, but they were not spiritual descendents of Abraham — Abraham placed trust in God because he heard and obeyed God, but their desire was to kill Jesus; They did not obey His word; yet to reject Jesus was to reject God.

Verse 38 could be translated as an imperative, so it would read, “I speak the things which I have seen with the Father; therefore, you must also do the things which you have heard from the Father.”

Their continued emphasis on being Abraham’s descendants brings Jesus to bring the differences between Him and them to the forefront.

Jesus charged them to live like Abraham, doing his deeds, but in seeking to kill Him, they evidence that they are doing the deeds of a different father, the implication being that they are sons of Satan, rejecting God.

Verse 41 displayed the leaders cynical hatred of Jesus, throwing in His face accusation surrounding His mother Mary, and they claimed to have God as their Father.

Jesus ignores the insult and reinforces His earlier teaching that He was on earth to do the Father’s will (42).

Then Jesus reveals the source of their unbelief: they “cannot hear My Word.”

In John’s gospel there is not a muddying of the water.

Spiritual truth was black and white: light ct.

darkness; truth ct.

lie; life ct.

death; kingdom of God ct. the world.

(3) Verdict: “You Belong to Your Father, the Devil” (vv.

44-47)

Why they cannot hear Jesus’ word?

They are Satan’s and they do his desires willingly

Satan is everything God is not.

To practice sin is to side with Satan against God, 1 John 1:5-7

Why do these religious leaders reject Jesus?

Simply, they are dedicated to the father of lies!

B. Second Verbal Exchange: The Counterclaim by the Jews: Heresy! 8:48-59

(1) Charge: “You are a Samaritan and Have a Demon” (v.

48)

This was a venomous, insulting response.

It was a racial slur with the leader’s contending that Jesus was controlled by Satan.

(2) Responses: “Before Abraham Was [Born], I Am” (vv.

49-58)

Jesus responded to this insult with the truth, and a warning: there is One who seeks and judges.

This is followed by a second solemn promise: “If anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”

Jesus is referring to the judgment of sin and eternal punishment.

The Jews rejected Jesus’ statement (52-53).

Their disbelief was based on a spiritually myopic interpretation of what Jesus proclaimed.

Then they heaped on the sarcasm: “Whom do you make yourself out to be?”

Jesus responds, proclaiming that he will not glorify Himself but allow the Father to glorify Him.

Jesus, though equal with the Father.