Knabenbauer's commentary exemplifies late 19th-century Catholic biblical scholarship: rigorous attention to textual variants, engagement with patristic and medieval exegetes (Augustine, Rupert, Thomas, Cajetan), dialogue with contemporary critical scholarship (Schanz, Corluy, Patrizi), and a hermeneutic that harmonizes historical-critical inquiry with doctrinal fidelity. His treatment of John 8:12-29 emphasizes Christ's divine self-revelation, the necessity of faith for true knowledge of God, and the soteriological urgency of believing in Jesus as the "I AM." This post includes a brief list of textual variants but the average reader can skip over these and proceed to the commentary if they so desire. The following was translated by Qwen.
Joseph Knabenbauer's Commentary on John 8:12-29
Jesus Testifies Concerning Himself: "I Am the Light of the World"
The Biblical Text (John 8:12-29)
Latin Vulgate
12 Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying: "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him: "You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true." 14 Jesus answered and said to them: "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 or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 And yet, if I do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me. 17 And in your law it is written that the witness of two men is true. 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." 19 They said therefore to Him: "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered: "You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also." 20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come. 21 Then Jesus said to them again: "I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come." 22 The Jews therefore said: "Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?" 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. 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." 25 They said therefore to Him: "Who are You?" Jesus said to them: "What I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you. But He who sent Me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him." 27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father. 28 Then Jesus said to them: "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. 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."
Textual Variants
Exegetical Commentary
Introduction: The Setting and Symbolism
Docens in gazophylacio Iesus se lucem mundi dicit et contra pharisaeorum exceptionem vindicat veritatem sui de se testimonii (Jn 8:12-20).
"Teaching in the treasury, Jesus declares Himself the light of the world and, against the Pharisees' objection, vindicates the truth of His self-testimony."
Dein illis minatur fore ut moriantur in suis peccatis nisi in se utpote Messiam crediderint; indolem eorum terrenam et mundanam reprehendit… originem suam supernam et unionem cum Patre… affirmat (vv. Jn 8:21-29).
"Then He warns them that they will die in their sins unless they believe in Him as the Messiah; He rebukes their earthly, worldly character… affirms His heavenly origin and union with the Father…"
Historical-Liturgical Background:
In the Mishnaic tractate Sukkah (On Tabernacles), it is narrated that on the first night of the Feast of Tabernacles, golden candlesticks with four golden basins at their tops were placed in the Court of Women. Into each basin were poured 120 log measures of oil, and such a brilliant light was kindled that there was no courtyard in Jerusalem that was not illuminated by that light. Moreover, men danced there with burning torches, singing, while the Levites played various musical instruments, standing on the fifteen steps descending from the Court of Israel to the Court of Women (m. Sukkah 5:2-3; cf. Surenhuysius, vol. II, p. 277).
Just as Jesus at 7:37 took occasion from the water-libation ritual to teach, so here too He appears to allude to this ceremony—which, although performed only once during the feast, nevertheless, because of its great solemnity and joy, remained deeply impressed on everyone's minds (cf. Schegg, Schanz). Indeed, Talmudic sources even state that this illumination occurred on each night of the feast (cf. Edersheim, vol. II, p. 165). This ceremony was called Simchat Beit HaShoevah ("the Joy of the Water-Drawing").
Jn 8:12: "I Am the Light of the World"
Iterum ergo locutus est eis Iesus… dicens: Ego sum lux mundi.
"Again therefore Jesus spoke to them… saying: I am the light of the world."
Iterum ("again"): Not immediately after verse 11; for as verse 20 makes clear, Christ spoke these words in the gazophylacium (treasury), therefore in a different location from that indicated in 8:2.
Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris, sed habebit lumen vitae.
"He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Here Jesus declares Himself most clearly and openly as the Messiah (cf. Isaiah 9:2; especially 42:6; 49:6: "Behold, I have given You as a light to the nations, that You may be My salvation to the end of the earth"). Among the rabbis too, the Messiah was called by the name "Light," "Illuminator," and Daniel 2:22 ("light dwells with Him") was interpreted of Him (cf. Edersheim, vol. I, p. 166; Wünsche, p. 530). In the same way, Simeon spoke of Him as "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32; cf. Matthew 4:15; John 1:4, 9: "the life was the light of men… the true light").
He calls Himself the light of the whole world—i.e., of all men—just as among the prophets messianic salvation is announced to all nations. He is light both according to His divine and human nature:
As God, He illuminates human minds with the graces of enlightenment, suggesting what is salutary;
As man, in His assumed nature, by word and example—dispelling the darkness of ignorance and sins—He taught what is just, and through the Gospel (i.e., the saving message) He gladdened afflicted minds.
In Scripture, "light" is also used metaphorically for joy and refreshment, just as "darkness" signifies affliction and anguish.
Ego sum ("I am"): Spoken with emphasis—i.e., apart from Me, no one else is this light; and if anyone is light, it is through participation in Him ("you are the light of the world," Matthew 5:14; Jansenius). Christ, therefore, is the Teacher who efficaciously illuminates minds and alone bestows true blessedness.
Rupert rightly notes:
"He says, 'I am the light of the world,' as if to say: 'What, you impious children of night and darkness, labor to withdraw mortal support from my brightness? Would you not be ridiculous if you tried to extinguish this visible sun shining on the whole world by blowing on it, or to beat the air with your fists to cast it down from God's great chandelier of heaven and hide it under a basket? Surely this is like what you attempt in striving to erase my name or extinguish my fame.' For by this declaration He excellently proclaims that all adversarial efforts to crush Christ will be vain and futile."
Qui sequitur me non ambulat in tenebris
"He who follows me shall not walk in darkness."
We are accustomed to follow a torch-bearer through dark places lest we stray or stumble. Christ was speaking of men journeying through this life—as through a certain path full of darkness and errors—toward heaven. To follow Christ is to believe Him, to obey Him; "to walk" is to live; "not to walk in darkness" is to live without error and sin (Maldonatus).
Just as the sun, though it is the world's light, does not give light to the blind or to those who close their eyes, so that spiritual light does not give light to those who refuse to embrace it (Jansenius).
Some have thought Christ alludes to the pillar of cloud in the desert that went before the Israelites (Cyril). Whoever believes in Christ and obeys Him walks in the way of His teaching, follows in His footsteps, imitates His example (Toletus).
Sed habebit lumen vitae
"But shall have the light of life."
Ἕξει ("shall have"): Future tense, which after οὐ μή with aorist subjunctive frequently follows (4:14; Luke 10:19; 22:34; Schanz). The future is used not as if this fruit were to be had only in the future or in the other life, but because whoever has followed Christ will possess this fruit; hence it is placed—as often—of a repeated action which, once the condition is fulfilled, is ever present (cf. Krüger §53.10.4); or, if you prefer, of an effect that ought to follow and certainly will follow (cf. Winer §40.6).
He therefore has or possesses within himself the light that leads him to life: believing in Christ, obeying His doctrine, he is continually aided by the internal grace of enlightenment so that he does not stray from the way of true life. He possesses an unfailing light, and this light gives life (Thomas).
Note on the Latin text: Because the currently read Latin has ambulat… habebit (present… future), some refer the second verb to the future or the other life—a view that cannot stand in light of the Greek text.
Such statements about Himself, no mere man could utter without the utmost absurdity. Which of the holy prophets ever dared to burst forth in such a voice? To whom does it belong to say such things except to Him alone who by nature is God? (Cyril, similarly Thomas).
Jn 8:13-14: The Pharisees' Objection and Christ's Reply
Dixerunt ergo ei pharisaei: Tu de te ipso testimonium perhibes; testimonium tuum non est verum.
"The Pharisees therefore said to Him: 'You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.'" (cf. 5:31)
They object with greater malice, even though they knew Jesus had already appealed to the testimony of John and of the Father (cf. 5:33, 36). Nor is it immediately true that if someone bears witness of himself, therefore his witness is false (Rupert). For there are many things about which a man can testify alone, and which ought to be received as true by others. Therefore they object falsely—even if they meant only to say: "Your witness is not legally valid for producing faith according to the norm of the Law" (Corluy).
Respondit Iesus…: Et si ego testimonium perhibeo de me ipso, verum est testimonium meum, quia scio unde veni et quo vado.
"Jesus answered…: 'Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going.'"
Christ explains why He can affirm the matter to be so: scio ("I know")—I know God, from whom I am and to whom I go; and I, indeed, who am from God, cannot lie (Patrizi). "I am from God, and God, and the Son of God: God is a witness worthy of faith concerning Himself" (Cyril). For light both demonstrates other things and demonstrates itself (Augustine). By these words Christ enunciates the beginning and end of His coming (Toletus), and embraces all that can be testified concerning Himself: the mystery of the Incarnation and its fruit (cf. Corluy).
Vos autem nescitis unde venio aut quo vado.
"But you do not know where I come from or where I am going."
You are ignorant of My mission; you are ignorant whence I am and whither I go when My work on earth is completed. They are ignorant, of course, by their own fault, because they refuse to believe the clearest signs; therefore they cry out that Jesus' testimony concerning Himself is inept for producing faith.
The reason for their ignorance is indicated in the next verse.
Jn 8:15: Judgment According to the Flesh
Vos secundum carnem iudicatis; ego non iudico quemquam.
"You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one."
Κατὰ τὴν σάρκα ("according to the flesh"): It is not unjustly [said], but "you therefore have not known Me because you wish to understand nothing except what appears" (Ammon, Euthymius). "Because I am seen as a man, you despise Me" (Cyril, Augustine, Bede). "You consider My person according to the poverty and lowliness of My parents and relatives, and you wish to hear or understand nothing beyond what is visible" (Rupert, Thomas, Maldonatus, and most).
Tacitly, Jesus also censures the Pharisees' false, carnal, and malignant judgment by saying: ego non iudico quemquam ("I judge no one"; cf. 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"). He opposes His own modesty and benevolence to their arrogance and perversity.
That secundum carnem ("according to the flesh") is not to be supplied [in the second clause]—as some do supply it (Augustine)—is clear from what follows (Maldonatus, Schanz).
Others prefer to construct the connection thus: "Why do you not rebuke [Me]? Because I have not come for this; for if I wished to judge, you would be among the number of the condemned" (Cyril, Chrysostom).
Jansenius indicates an easier connection: The second reason by which the Lord also makes a distinction between Himself and the Pharisees is this: "You judge things and persons by a carnal and human judgment, and therefore your judgment is frequently not true. I, indeed, even if for My office I now judge no one—for I have not come to judge the world but to save it—nevertheless, if I should wish to judge now, and if ever I judge concerning Myself or others, My judgment is true."
Jn 8:16: The Truth of Christ's Judgment
Et si iudico ego, iudicium meum verum est, quia solus non sum, sed ego et qui misit me Pater.
"And yet, if I do judge, My judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent Me."
My judgment is simultaneously the judgment of the Father; therefore it is divine, therefore true (cf. 5:19). For the Son does those things which He sees the Father doing—things which the Father, communicating them, demonstrates to Him. Now, if His judgment is true, His testimony also is true.
Jn 8:17: Appeal to the Law
Et in lege vestra scriptum est quia duorum hominum testimonium verum est.
"And in your law it is written that the witness of two men is true."
With emphasis He says to the Pharisees—emulators who boast of the Law—in lege vestra ("in your law"): therefore they are the more to be rebuked if they do not attend to the statutes of their own Law. Now therefore, according to the Law imposed upon them, they ought to accept Jesus' testimony (Rupert).
Jn 8:18: The Twofold Witness
Ego sum qui testimonium perhibeo de me ipso, et testimonium perhibet de me qui misit me Pater.
"I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me."
How the Father bears witness, see 5:36 ff. For if, by professing Himself the Son of God, He were lying, surely He would not be glorified by the glory of miracles (Rupert).
Someone may object that Deuteronomy 17:6 and 19:15 are to be understood of two witnesses, not counting the one concerning whom testimony is given. This is true. Therefore explain with Toletus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, Corluy: Christ was man and God; by reason of His divinity, through His proper divine works, He bore witness concerning Himself as man, proving that under that humanity lay hidden God. Hence there is the testimony of two divine Persons.
For the Jews, who did not acknowledge His divine nature, the force of the proof lies in this: that Jesus by His manner of acting and speaking testifies concerning Himself, and that this testimony of His is confirmed by the Father through those miraculous works as true. For Christ's very life—by which He seeks not His own glory but solely the Father's, not His own will but solely the Father's (5:30, 41)—is the best witness for Him. Hence truly Jesus Himself is witness to Himself, and the Father is witness; therefore the testimony of two witnesses is had (cf. Cajetan, Schanz). Nor do the Pharisees attack the argument on the ground that there are not two witnesses.
Jn 8:19: "Where Is Your Father?"
Dicebant ergo ei: Ubi est pater tuus? Respondit Iesus: Neque me scitis neque Patrem meum; si me sciretis, forsitan et Patrem meum sciretis.
"They said therefore to Him: 'Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered: 'You know neither Me nor My Father. If you knew Me, you would know My Father also.'"
With mockery and malice they object: "Where is Your Father?"—i.e., the other witness. They knew perfectly well whom He called His Father (cf. 5:18, 36). They cavil: "Where is He? So that we may seek out His testimony. We see Him nowhere; we hear Him nowhere." Perhaps they also ask so that they may again accuse Him of blasphemy and declare Him deserving of death.
Christ first rebukes their ignorance, then shows how they may attain to the knowledge of truth (Thomas).
Neque me scitis neque Patrem meum…
"You know neither Me nor My Father…"
That forsitan ("perhaps") is elsewhere better rendered utique ("certainly")—as in 14:7, 28—is clear; for the sense is not enunciated with doubt. Latin interpreters explain forsitan either as a rebuke (Augustine, Rupert, Thomas, Bonaventure) or as an affirmative particle—i.e., "certainly" (Cajetan, Jansenius, Toletus, Maldonatus).
To the Pharisees, who boast of their knowledge and observance of the Law, true knowledge of God is now denied (cf. 5:40, 44). It is indicated to them that knowledge cannot be had except through Jesus. For if they acknowledged Jesus and committed themselves to Him in true faith, He would grant them knowledge of God the Father by His grace and enlightenment; for "no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him" (Matthew 11:27), and "he who sees Me sees the Father also" (14:9). For through Christ and in Christ God has offered Himself to be known more fully and perfectly, working and speaking through Him. God cannot be known by us on earth in Himself, but only in His works and words; therefore, whoever does not acknowledge or approve divine works and words as divine, certainly declares that he does not truly know God—whose justice, goodness, power, and wisdom, shining forth in His works and words, he neither acknowledges nor receives (Jansenius).
In how great darkness the Pharisees are now enveloped, who boast themselves "guides of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, instructors of the foolish" (Romans 2:19)—Christ declares when He says they do not know God, nor do they use that one remedy for knowing God.
Jn 8:20: The Treasury and the Unseized Hour
Haec verba locutus est Iesus in gazophylacio docens in templo; et nemo apprehendit eum, quia necdum venerat hora eius.
"These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come."
Gazophylacium: From the Persian gaza ("treasure") + Greek φυλάκειον ("guard-place"), this term designates the chambers in the temple courtyard in which sacred objects and the sacred treasury were kept (cf. 2 Kings 12:10; Nehemiah 3:10, etc.). Josephus also speaks of gazophylacia (Bell. Jud. 5.5.2), before which porticoes extended; they were burned together with the temple, in which an infinite amount of money, infinite garments, and other ornaments, and almost all the wealth of the Jews had been heaped up (ibid. 6.5.2). He narrates that Agrippa suspended a golden chain within the temple enclosure ὑπὲρ τὸ γαζοφυλάκιον ("above the treasury"; Antiq. 19.6.1).
In our passage, as in Mark 12:41 and Luke 21:1, it is said to designate a place in the Court of Women in which—according to the rabbis—thirteen small chests were placed for receiving the coins that were offered (see what I have said on Mark 1; cf. Edersheim, vol. II, p. 165). But it is true, as Patrizi notes, that in Josephus (Bell. Jud. 5.5.2) it is by no means said that the gazophylacia were placed in the Court of Women. Nevertheless, that such were there is plain, because women also made offerings, beyond which courtyard they were not permitted to proceed. But that they were only there certainly cannot be affirmed; hence it seems doubtful where the treasury was, near which Christ taught.
Et nemo apprehendit eum, quia necdum venerat hora eius.
"And no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come." (cf. 7:30)
By these words it is indicated that among those who were hearing Him there were some who wished to seize Him. To these malevolent persecutors He directs His words.
Jn 8:21-24: Warning of Death in Sin
Dixit ergo iterum eis Iesus: Ego vado et quaeretis me, et in peccato vestro moriemini. Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire.
"Then Jesus said to them again: 'I am going away, and you will seek Me, and you will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.'"
Iterum ("again"): Because He had already said the same things before (7:34; Rupert, Cajetan, Toletus, Jansenius, Maldonatus, Schanz). Since in the preceding verses it has been accurately indicated where Christ spoke those words, it is probable that these are not spoken in the same place, and that some interval has intervened. That they are spoken in the temple is certain from verse 59; therefore they are spoken in the temple courtyard or in some portico.
Ego vado et quaeretis me…
"I am going away, and you will seek Me…"
He signifies that He will die freely when He Himself wills; that their plots can accomplish nothing unless He permits it. They will seek Him—namely, as a helper in distress, during the Roman siege (cf. 7:34; Jansenius, Corluy, Schanz, Fillion, Weiss); or they will seek Him by persecuting with hatred His faithful ones, His members (Augustine, Bede, Cajetan)—which explanation is more subtle.
Et in peccato vestro moriemini
"And you will die in your sin."
I.e., in the state and condition of sin, in unbelief—not because of sin (Jansenius). Christ speaks these words by way of threatening (Bonaventure), with a condition understood from the matter itself and from verse 24, which becomes manifest.
Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire.
"Where I go you cannot come."
He wishes to terrify them (Cyril). They will die in sin; therefore they will be excluded from the Kingdom of God. For Christ goes to Him who sent Him (7:33)—to God; therefore they will not attain to possessing God in the kingdom of glory (cf. 7:34; Matthew 8:12; 12:41-42; 21:31).
Jn 8:22: The Jews' Misunderstanding
Dicebant ergo Iudaei: Numquid interficiet semet ipsum, quia dixit: Quo ego vado, vos non potestis venire?
"The Jews therefore said: 'Will He kill Himself, because He says, "Where I go you cannot come"?'"
That the enormity of this insult may be perceived, recall what the Jews thought concerning suicide. Josephus indeed has this among other things:
"Those whose hands have raged against themselves—their souls Hades, darker still, receives. This crime is against the nature of all living things, an impiety against God and an impious violation of divine law, [proceeding] from a weak and most cowardly soul," etc. (Bell. Jud. 3.8.5).
Hence they make Jesus speak as if He wished to go into "darker Hades," the lowest depth, to which the Jews, as an elect people, would never be thrust down, because they are utterly incapable of such a crime as suicide.
Jesus does not respond to the insult which the Jews uttered among themselves, but continues His begun discourse, giving the reason for verse 21—by which indeed simultaneously some cause is assigned why they cavil at His words with mocking.
Jn 8:23: Origin and Nature Contrasted
Et dicebat eis: Vos de deorsum estis, ego de supernis sum; vos de mundo hoc estis, ego non sum de hoc mundo.
"And He said to them: 'You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.'"
These two clauses are not synonymous:
In the first member: "You are earthly and savor earthly things; and as such you cannot ascend to heaven. Christ is from above by reason of His Person and divine nature." In this member His nature is expressed.
In the second member, His quality: In the former is declared their earthly origin, Christ's heavenly origin; in the latter, their character: "You savor, seek, and ambition those things which are of this world—i.e., alien to and hostile to the Kingdom of God. You are of the wicked and perverse world; therefore you bear minds hostile to God and to God's things."
For the world, whose prince the devil is said to be (14:30), everywhere opposes the Kingdom of God; hence those who bear its character in themselves cannot ascend to heaven, and if they do not cease to be "of the world," they will die in their sins.
The powers of human nature of themselves cannot attain the Kingdom of God, heaven; much less fit for heaven are those who are of the perverse world.
Jn 8:24: The Condition of Salvation
Dixi ergo vobis quia moriemini in peccatis vestris: si enim non credideritis quia ego sum, moriemini in peccato vestro.
"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."
The only salvation is in the Messiah who stands before them. Si enim non credideritis quia ego sum ("for if you do not believe that I am He"): I am the Messiah, the Son of God—i.e., because I am He whom I profess Myself to be. And the Jews understood well whom He said He was (cf. 5:18).
More subtle is the view, pleasing to Augustine, Thomas, Cajetan, Patrizi, that ego sum ("I am") is to be explained from Exodus 3:13-14: "I am who am." Therefore Christ enunciates the same thing that Peter later said: "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).
Therefore they themselves are the cause of their destruction; but by this very commination He opens to them the way and manner of saving themselves. Christ enunciates concerning Himself what Simeon once said of the infant: "This Child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel" (Luke 2:34). And how greatly He is set "as a sign that is spoken against" is already adumbrated in this disputation. For in their malignity and contentious spirit of contradiction, the Jews—although they know whom He says He is—nevertheless interrupt Him again.
Jn 8:25: "Who Are You?"
Dicebant ergo ei: Tu quis es? Dixit eis Iesus: Principium qui et loquor vobis.
"They said therefore to Him: 'Who are You?' Jesus said to them: 'What I have been telling you from the beginning.'"
The mode of questioning displays contempt and mockery; moreover, they impudently ask as if Jesus had never said who He was, or they had never heard it.
Dixit eis Iesus: Τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν.
"Jesus said to them: 'Τὴν ἀρχὴν ὅ τι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν.'"
That the currently received reading of the Vulgate rests on the support of few codices, see the textual variants. The readings quia, quod have quite a few witnesses. The sense, as is plain, must be elicited not from the Latin version but from the Greek.
Most Probable Explanation: "Altogether I am that which I also speak to you." And since in later Greek ὅστις etc. is also put for the interrogative τίς etc. in direct questions, it may with equal right also be translated: "Altogether, why do I even speak to you?" And in this sense the Greeks appear to have understood the words. For Chrysostom thus writes: "You are unworthy to hear My words, much less to learn who I am." Similarly Theophylact, Euthymius say the speech is defective, but the sense is: ὅλως ὅτι καὶ λαλῶ ὑμῖν περιττόν ἐστιν ("Altogether, that I even speak to you is superfluous"). Cyril: "In this manner it was altogether necessary not to address you from the beginning" (ὅλως κατὰ τὴν ἀρχήν). These paraphrases refer that question: "Altogether, why do I even address you?" Since they do not ask with a desire to learn, but exclaim with contempt, "Who are You?" certainly it is not strange if Jesus, after so many declarations concerning Himself by words and deeds, rejects them and does not answer their question in any way.
Various other explanations have moreover been proposed. There is no doubt that τὴν ἀρχήν is put here in an adverbial manner, as also occurs among profane authors, in which sense it signifies "from the beginning," "altogether" (ὅλως). Moreover, it is asked whether ὅ τι or ὅτι should be read. And if the former, whether it should be read interrogatively or not. Hence various acceptations arise. The interrogation itself can also be conceived either as direct or indirect: "Is it that from the beginning I also speak to you? This you ask of Me; you ought to have known it long ago."
Quite a few read the sentence as an affirmation: "I am that which from the beginning I also speak to you." Thus Nonnus: ὅ τι περ ὑμῖν ἐξ ἀρχῆς ὀάριζον ("that which I have been whispering to you from the beginning"), which sense Maldonatus says is "most true and simplest," which Nonnus expressed, and which many learned and Catholic interpreters before me have approved: "From the beginning I am that which I also speak to you" (cf. Toletus, Lapide). But then surely we would expect ἀπ' ἀρχῆς rather, if He had wished to express His eternal being.
Others prefer to take τὴν ἀρχήν in the sense "first I say," because I also speak to you (Cajetan); or "imprimis, omnino: sic est ut et loquor vobis" ("above all, altogether: so it is as I also speak to you"; Jansenius); "altogether I am that which I also speak to you"—which interpretation, because it is easy and straightforward, many have embraced; as Maldonatus says, Schanz also judges it "most probable," and Schanz, Fillion, and others adopt it (cf. Studien und Kritiken, 1874, p. 543). Corluy prefers the interrogation: "Altogether, what is it that I still even address you, who plainly neither wish to hear nor to understand Me?"
It is established that τὴν ἀρχήν is used here in place of an adverb (Patrizi); therefore the explanation is sought in vain from the Latin version. And Augustine indeed expounds: "Believe Me to be the Beginning, because I also speak to you"; he says credite ("believe") must be supplied on account of the Greek, and "Beginning" cannot be changed: "He remains the same, He renews all things; the Beginning is He to whom it was said: 'But You are the same, and Your years will not fail'" (Psalm 101:28). He frequently proposes this interpretation, as Barhebraeus pursues at greater length; the same is Ambrose's, as Toletus shows, and Salmeron (vol. 8, tract. 40); the same are followed by Bede, Rupert: "By one and the same response simultaneously designating both the timeless, immutable essence of His divinity and the temporal condition of His assumed humanity" (Albert, Thomas, Bonaventure, Salmeron, Natalis). To this opinion those also incline who translate "from the beginning I am"—i.e., from eternity (cf. Toletus, Lapide).
But Patrizi rightly warns: "Moreover, Christ had said enough about Himself from which anyone could understand who He was; nevertheless, He had not thought the matter needed to be enunciated more openly up to this point; therefore now also, when He was pressed by that interrogation of the Jews, He so responded that He added nothing to what He had at other times said about Himself."
Another connection has also been attempted, namely, that this sentence be closely joined with the following: "Above all, because I speak to you, I have many things to say and to judge concerning you"; or "before all, because I speak to you, I have many things…"—of which connection Jansenius and Calmet make mention; concerning it see also Schanz.
Jn 8:26: Many Things to Say and Judge
Multa habeo de vobis loqui et iudicare. Sed qui misit me verax est, et ego quae audivi ab eo haec loquor in mundo.
"I have many things to say and to judge concerning you. But He who sent Me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him."
Many things: Namely, which I may rebuke and condemn; by which word He confirms what He threatened in verse 24, and indicates simultaneously that at length He will someday be Judge (Cyril).
But that He may anticipate, reject, and declare that He does not speak and affirm from Himself alone, He adds: Sed qui misit me verax est… ("But He who sent Me is true…"). Therefore explain: "I have many things which I may condemn—not from Myself, but I speak those things which I heard from Him who sent Me, who is true." Therefore, even for those comminations which He uttered in verse 24, He appeals to the truth of Him who sent Him. But they did not acknowledge Him to whom He appealed, and whose messenger He affirmed Himself to be bringing to the world.
Jn 8:27: Their Failure to Understand
Et non cognoverunt quia Patrem eius dicebat Deum.
"And they did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father."
Explain from the Greek: They did not understand that He was speaking to them of the Father—i.e., that He was talking to them about the Father. By their malice, contempt, and mockery they were blinded, so that, because of vehement disturbances of soul—as is wont to happen—they no longer grasp words plain enough, although Jesus had not rarely spoken of the Father.
In this way, therefore, the Evangelist depicts for us and exhibits their minds—of those who in verses 22, 25 openly professed their perversity, impudence, and hatred—as utterly clouded and preoccupied by these vices, [reduced] to a certain extreme slowness of perception.
Jn 8:28: The Lifting Up of the Son of Man
Dixit ergo eis Iesus: Quum exaltaveritis Filium hominis, tunc cognoscetis quia ego sum, et a me ipso facio nihil, sed sicut docuit me Pater, haec loquor.
"Then Jesus said to them: '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.'"
When you lift up the Son of Man: Then it will become manifest to many that Jesus is the Messiah—by His death and by those things that will happen after His death. That Christ speaks of His death on the cross by "exaltation," see 3:14 and 12:32-33. And what He says here began to be fulfilled in His death (cf. Luke 23:48; Acts 2:37, etc.). Then, His divinity also being known, they will simultaneously perceive that Jesus did and said nothing except what was from the Father: et a me ipso facio nihil… ("and I do nothing of Myself…").
If He does nothing from Himself, He professes the same nature with the Father (Cyril). He receives all things by communication of nature from the Father; therefore, "as He taught Me" or "as I heard" (verse 26). Moreover, see 5:19-20, 30, 36.
Jn 8:29: The Father's Abiding Presence
Et qui me misit mecum est, et non reliquit me solum, quia ego quae placita sunt ei facio semper.
"And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him."
He explains the reason for His mission: He is not sent in such a way as to depart from the Sender. Mecum est ("is with Me"): He is intimately joined to Me and remains, and works with Me—not only as God, having the same nature with Me, but also as God cooperating with Me as man, directing Me in all things; and thus whatever I do, I do under His auspices, with His help, by His operation and authority, as He says in 5:17 (Maldonatus).
This sentence does not depend on cognoscetis quia ("you will know that") in verse 28—which connection is more awkward and rather weak—but is an independent saying illustrating that preceding sentence; thus most interpreters.
Quia ego quae placita sunt ei facio semper
"For I always do those things that please Him."
Since Jesus speaks also of Himself as man, by these words may be understood the meritorious cause of the continuous divine governance in all that He does. For although by right of His divine Person Christ possessed the continuity of divine presence and governance, nevertheless He also possessed it by reason of merit; thus Jansenius, and Cyril, Jansenius, and others note that Jesus speaks more humbly of Himself.
By these words, some explain, is assigned the cause or reason (Augustine): "Why has He not left Me? 'Because,' He says, 'I always do the things that please Him'"; thus Bede, Bonaventure, Albert, Salmeron, Cajetan, Barhebraeus, Patrizi, Corluy. Rupert rightly notes that no man can profess of himself that he always does the things that are pleasing to God.
Thomas also concedes that the words can be understood of Christ as man, and that by them is designated the meritorious cause—in the second place; for in the first place he says that quia ("for") is put not for the meritorious cause but for a sign: "This very fact, that I always do the things that please Him, is a sign that He is always with Me." This explanation Toletus and Maldonatus follow; [they] prove from the effect that He is not left alone: "Therefore this is the sign of what He said: 'He is with Me'" (cf. Jansenius). And Rupert hints at the same when he writes: "Moreover, He gave the greatest and firmest argument concerning Himself, whence it might be evident that He was not deserted, by saying: 'Because I always do the things that please Him.'"
CONTINUE
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