Ep. 64: Disputes

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JOHN 8:12-59

It was no longer a secret that the leaders of Israel and Jerusalem were plotting the death of Jesus. This underlies all of his words. And he intended to turn this to his advantage, not by appealing to their pity, but by claiming as his right that for which they would condemn him. He was the Messiah, although, to know him and his mission, it needed a true understanding of God and his ways. Did Israel, as such, possess this? They did not; no man possessed it until given to him by God. This was not exactly a new idea by now, but it was now far more clearly stated and developed. Perhaps we have overlooked this teaching of Jesus? It is concerning the corruption of our whole nature by sin and hence the need of understanding that which is born of the flesh is flesh; that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit; therefore ‘you must be born again.’ (John 3:3)

That had been Jesus’ initial teaching to Nicodemus and it became, with growing emphasis, his final teaching to the teachers of Israel. It forms the very basis of Christianity; it is the ultimate reason for the need for a Redeemer. The Priesthood and the sacrificial work of Christ, as well as the higher aspect of his prophetic office and the true meaning of his Kingship, as not of this World, are based upon it.

It most definitely constitutes the starting point in the fundamental divergence between the leaders of the synagogue and Christ; we might say for all time between Christians and non-Christians. The teachers of Israel knew not, nor believed in the total corruption of man - Jew as well as Gentile - and therefore did not feel the need of a Saviour. They could not understand it - how except a man were ‘born again,’ and, ‘from above,’ he could not enter, nor even see, the Kingdom of God.

Also, he would teach that Satan was not a merely malicious, impish being, working outward destruction, but that there was a moral power of evil which held us all - not just the Gentile world, but even the most favoured, learned and exalted among the Jews. Satan was the fullest expression of this power, the prince of the power of darkness. This opens up Jesus’ reasoning. He presented himself to them as the Messiah and hence as the Light of the World. It meant that only by following him would a man ‘not walk in the darkness’ but have the light, not the light of knowledge, but of life.

Edersheim is very clear about this:

‘On the other hand, it also followed that all who were not within this light, were in darkness and in death. The Pharisees sought to turn it aside by an appeal to the external and visible. They asked for some witness or palpable evidence of what they called his testimony about himself, just as they had formerly asked for a sign from heaven. The Bible is full of what men ordinarily, and often thoughtlessly, call the miraculous. But, in this case, the miraculous would have become the magical, which it never is. If Christ had yielded to their appeal and transferred the question from the moral to the coarsely external sphere. He would have ceased to be the Messiah of the Incarnation, Temptation, and Cross, the Messiah-Saviour. It would have been to un-Messiah the Messiah of the Gospel, for it was only, in another form, a repetition of the temptations in the desert.’

The interruption of the Pharisees was thoroughly Jewish and so was their objection. The reply of Jesus was plain. Even if his testimony about himself was unsupported, it would still be true and he was competent to bear it, for he knew where he came from and where he was going, unlike them!

This gave occasion for him to return to the main subject, that the reason for their ignorance of him was that they knew not the Father and that only acknowledgement of him would bring true knowledge of the Father. Such words would only increase their anger towards him. Yet, not until his hour had come!

Soon we find him again teaching ‘the Jews.’ These would be the Judeans - perhaps Jerusalemites, aware of the murderous intent of their leaders - not his own Galileans. The words are intensely sad, Jesus’ farewell to his rebellious people, his tears over lost Israel. ‘I go my way … you shall seek Me and in your sin shall you die … where I go, you cannot come!’

How true this was. For these many centuries Israel has sought its Messiah and perished in its great sin of rejecting him; they thought that he spoke of his death and not of that which came after it. It was this misunderstanding which Jesus briefly, but emphatically, corrected by telling them that the ground of their separation was the difference in their nature; they were from beneath. He from above; they of this world. He not of this world.

Jesus now turned to his people. They were at a crisis in their spiritual history and he must encourage them. Only if they remained in his Word would they know the truth and the truth would set them free. It was not merely believing him, but abiding in it. Their own tradition told them that only those who laboured in the study of the Law were free. Yet he spoke not of study but on abiding in his Word. But it was this very thing which they resisted. And so they ignored the spiritual and fell back upon the physical applications of his words.

He would turn to their favourite conceit of being Abraham’s seed. Yes, they were, but it was only the moral application that alone was of real value. Abraham’s seed? he showed that their father could not have been Abraham, so far as spiritual heritage was concerned. They had now a glimpse of his meaning, but only to misapply it, according to their Jewish prejudice. Their spiritual heritage, they urged, must be of God, since their physical ancestor was Abraham. But Jesus showed them that, if theirs was a spiritual heritage from God, then they would not reject his message, nor seek to kill him, but recognise and love him.

He had now said most of what he wanted to say and their objections were degenerating into wrangling. It was time to break it off through a general application. The question. He added, was not of what he said, but of what God said of him. That God, whom they claimed as theirs, and yet knew not.

But, as for Abraham. He had delighted in the thought of the coming day of the Christ and, seeing its glory. He was glad. Even Jewish tradition agreed on this! he then spoke the words which could not be mistaken; ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I AM.’ It was as if they had only waited for this. Furiously they rushed into the Court of the Gentiles to pick up stones, and to cast them at him. But, once more, his hour had not yet come and their fury proved impotent. Hiding for the moment in one of the many chambers, passages, or gateways of the Temple. He soon left the scene.

It had been the first open demonstration of his Divinity in the presence of his enemies and when most contempt was thrown at him. Soon would that conflict be renewed both in word and by deed, for the end of mercy and judgment had not yet come, but was drawing terribly closer.

This is an extract from the book, Jesus : Life and Times, available for £10 here (Finalist for Academic Book of the year at 2023 CRT awards)