Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:15
Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
15. Ye judge after the flesh ] According to His outward form, the form of a servant: comp. Joh 7:24. From the context ‘judge’ here acquires an adverse sense, and virtually means ‘condemn:’ comp. Joh 3:17-18, Joh 7:51. Judging Him to be a mere man they had condemned His testimony respecting Himself as invalid. ‘Ye’ and ‘I’ are in emphatic opposition.
I judge no man ] Neither ‘after the flesh,’ nor ‘as ye do,’ nor anything else is to be supplied. No such addition can be made in Joh 8:16, and therefore cannot be made here. The words are best taken quite simply and literally. ‘My mission is not to condemn, but to save and to bless.’ Comp. Joh 12:47.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
After the flesh – According to appearance; according to your carnal and corrupt mode; not according to the spiritual nature of the doctrines. By your preconceived opinions and prejudices you are determined not to believe that I am the Messiah.
I judge no man – Jesus came not to condemn the world, Joh 3:17. They were in the habit of judging rashly and harshly of all; but this was not the purpose or disposition of the Saviour. This expression is to be understood as meaning that he judged no one after their manner; he did not come to censure and condemn men after the appearance, or in a harsh, biased, and unkind manner.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. Ye judge after the flesh] Because I appear in the form of man, judging from this appearance, ye think I am but a mere man-pay attention to my teaching and miracles, and ye shall then see that nothing less than infinite wisdom and unlimited power could teach and do what I have taught and performed. Our Lord speaks here exactly in the character of an ambassador. Such a person does not bring a second with him to vouch his truth; his credentials from his king ascertain his character: he represents the king’s person. So our Lord represents the Father as bearing witness with him. The miracles which he wrought were the proof from heaven that he was the promised Messiah: these were the great seal of all his pretensions.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
According to my outward appearance to you, so you judge of me; or, according to your own passions, and corrupt affections. I judge no man in that manner; or, I judge no man alone, as it followeth in the next verse.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. Ye judge after the fleshwithno spiritual apprehension.
I judge no man.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ye judge after the flesh,…. According to their carnal affections and prejudices; taking the Messiah to be a temporal prince, and his kingdom to be of this world, they judged that Jesus could not be he; they looked upon him as a mere man, and seeing him in much outward meanness, in his human nature, they judged of him according to this outward appearance: or “ye” that are “after the flesh judge”; to which sense the Persic version agrees, “for ye are carnal”; and so judged as carnal men, who are very improper persons to judge of spiritual things:
I judge no man; in the same way, after the flesh, or in a carnal manner, nor according to outward appearances, according to the sight of the eyes, or the hearing of the ears: Christ did not take upon him to judge and determine in civil affairs, or in things pertaining to a court of judicature among men; this was not his province; an instance of this there is in the context, in not condemning the woman brought to him; nor did he judge the persons and states of men, or proceed to pass any sentence of condemnation on them; he came not to condemn, but save the world; this was not his business now; otherwise, all judgment is committed to him, and which he will exercise another day.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
After the flesh ( ). According to the standards of the flesh (2Co 5:16). The Baptist had said: “There stands one among you whom ye know not” (Joh 1:26). The Light of the World had come, but they loved darkness rather than light (3:19), because the god of this age had blinded their thoughts so that they could not see the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God (2Co 4:4).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Ye judge after the flesh:”- (humeis kata ten sarka krinete) “You all judge according to the flesh,” the regulation of laws of flesh conduct only, Rom 7:5-25; Joh 1:13. Even sacred and Divine things they judged according to the flesh order, ignoring the incarnate glory, Joh 1:14; They repudiated Him as “The living water,” and “The Light of the world.”
2) “I judge no man.” (ego ou krino oudena) “I do not judge any one,” independently, or alone, for my part. I did not come to judge, to adjudicate matters of law issues, Joh 3:17; Joh 12:47, Luk 12:14, Joh 18:36. He came not to make a civil or political imprint in society, to gain fame among men in the flesh, but to do the will and work of His Father who sent Him, Joh 6:38; Joh 17:4-5. His time of official judging had not come, but will, 2Ti 4:1-2.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
15. You judge according to the flesh. This may be explained in two ways; either that they judge according to the wicked views of the flesh, or that they judge according to the appearance of the person. For the flesh sometimes denotes the outward appearance of a man; and both meanings agree well with this passage, since wherever either the feelings of the flesh prevail, or a regard to the person regulates the judgment, neither truth nor justice dwells. But I think that the meaning will be more certain, if you contrast the flesh with the Spirit, understanding his meaning to be, that they are not lawful and competent judges, because they have not the Spirit for their guide.
I judge no man. Here, too, commentators differ. Some distinguish it thus, that he does not judge as man. Others refer it to the time, that while he was on earth, he did not undertake the office of a Judge Augustine gives both expositions, but does not decide between them. But the former distinction cannot at all apply. For this sentence contains two clauses, that Christ does not judge, and that if he judge, his judgment is solid and just, because it is divine. As to the former clause, therefore, in which he says that he does not judge, I confine it to what belongs peculiarly to this passage. For in order the more fully to convict his enemies of pride, he employs this comparison, that they unjustly assume the liberty to judge, and yet cannot condemn him, while he merely teaches and abstains from performing the office of a judge.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.The pronouns are placed in emphatic contrast. You on your part . . . I for My part. We must beware of the common mistake of finding the origin of this thought of judgment in Joh. 8:10-11, which as we have seen do not belong to this context. It arises rather from Joh. 8:13. The statement of the Pharisees, Thou art bearing witness concerning Thyself; Thy witness is not true, was a condemnatory judgment based upon appearances. (Comp. Note on Joh. 7:24.) They allowed these appearances to carry them away from a righteous judgment. They looked at the form of human flesh, and declared His witness false. Had they listened to the words He spoke, and judged according to their spiritual meaning, they would have heard the voice of the Messiah and have seen the Light of the world.
This thought of the Pharisees, in their ignorance judging that which they knew not, suggests by contrast the thought that He. in perfect knowledge judges no one. (Comp. Joh. 3:17.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. After the flesh Ye judge me according to your own depraved natures, (note on Joh 3:6,) instead of accepting me after a holy manner and disposition.
I judge no man I descend not to the low level of human judgments, of man upon man.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Joh 8:15-16 . The course of thought repeated with some minuteness (Tholuck), but similarly to Joh 7:24 . The rejection of His testimony by the Pharisees in Joh 8:13 , was an act of judgment on their part which, inasmuch as they were unacquainted with His higher position as an ambassador of God, had been determined merely by His cutward sensuous appearance , by His servant’s form ( , Nonnus), as to which He seemed to them to be an ordinary man. This Jesus tells them, and adds, how very differently He proceeds in this respect. [10] receives through the context the condemnatory sense, and is not to be understood of the subjective norm (Chrysostom: ; De Wette: in a carnal, selfish manner; comp. B. Crusius), but of the objective norm (comp. , Joh 7:24 ; Euth. Zigabenus: , ). Comp. 2Co 5:16 .
] I condemn no one . There is no need, however, for supplying in thought . , as even Augustine proposed, and after Cyril’s example many modern writers (also Kuinoel, Paulus); to the same thing comes Lcke’s supplement: as you do . This is decidedly to be rejected, partly for the general reason that the proper point would have to be supplied in thought, and partly because, in Joh 8:16 , cannot be taken otherwise than absolutely, and without supplement. For these reasons every kind of supplement must be rejected, whether by the insertion of , which would point to the future judgment (Augustine, Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, and several), or of (Storr, Godet), as though John had written . Jesus rather gives utterance to His maxim in the consciousness of having come, not , but to save and bless (comp. on Joh 8:11 ), which is what He carried out principaliter; but this principle was, that He refrained from all condemnation of others , knowing as He did that was neither the end (Brckner) nor the sphere of His life (Hengstenberg). This principle, however, did not exclude necessary cases of an opposite kind; and of such cases Joh 8:16 supplies the necessary explanation. Luther aptly remarks: “He herewith clothes Himself with His office ;” but an antithesis to teaching (Calvin, Beza) is foreign to the verse; and the interpretation: I have no pleasure in judging (De Wette), imports into the words what they do not contain. [11]
Joh 8:16 . ] here and in Joh 8:17 , atque etiam , see on Joh 6:51 . The thought is: and even if a on my part should take place , etc. Notwithstanding His maxim, not to judge, such cases bad actually occurred in the exercise of His vocation, and, indeed, just for the purpose of attaining its higher object as was, moreover, inevitable with His antagonism to sin and the . Comp. Luther: “If thou wilt not have our Lord God, then keep the devil; and the office which otherwise is not set for judgment, but for help and consolation, is compelled to assume the function of condemnation.” Luthardt: “ But my witness becomes a judgment through unbelief .” This, however, is not in the passage; and Jesus was often enough forced into actual, direct , Joh 8:26 .
] occupies the fourth place, because the preceding words are connected with each other, as in Joh 8:17 ; Joh 6:51 ; 1Jn 1:3 ; Mat 10:18 , al .
According to the reading (see the critical notes), the meaning of the second clause is: my condemnation is a genuine one, answering to the idea , as it ought to be not equivalent to (B. Crusius). Comp. on Joh 7:28 . Reason: For it is not (like an ordinary human personality, restricted to myself) I alone (who condemn), but I and the Father that hath sent me (are the ), which fellowship ( , , Euth. Zigabenus) naturally excludes everything that could prevent the from being . Comp. Joh 5:30 .
[10] Hilgenfeld, Evang. p. 286, ought therefore not to have concluded that the words, “I judge no man,” presuppose the history of the woman taken in adultery.
[11] Among the meanings imported into the passage may be reckoned Lange’s fanciful notion ( L. J. II. p. 958), that Jesus can never regard the real essence of man as worthy of rejection (but merely the caricature which man has made of his own nature by sin). Where is there anything in the passage about the real essence of man?
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
15 Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man.
Ver. 15. I judge no man ] viz. after the flesh, as ye do. Christians are diametrically opposite to the world; yea, they have their feet there where other men’s heads are; they go not only another, but an upper way to work, Pro 15:24 . Like eagles, they delight in high flying.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15, 16. ] There is no allusion to the foregoing history; the train of thought is altogether another .
‘The end of all testimony , is the forming, or pronouncing, of judgment . Ye do this by fleshly rules, concerning me and my mission: I judge no man, i. e. it is not the object nor habit of this My mission on earth; but even if I be called on to exercise judgment, my judgment is decisive:’ not exactly , but , which rather means, genuine; which a judgment can only be by being true and final: see ch. Joh 5:30 and note.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
judge. See App-122and note on Joh 5:22.
after = according to. Greek. kata. App-104.
flesh. See note on Joh 1:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15, 16.] There is no allusion to the foregoing history; the train of thought is altogether another.
The end of all testimony, is the forming, or pronouncing, of judgment. Ye do this by fleshly rules, concerning me and my mission: I judge no man, i. e. it is not the object nor habit of this My mission on earth; but even if I be called on to exercise judgment, my judgment is decisive: not exactly , but , which rather means, genuine; which a judgment can only be by being true and final: see ch. Joh 5:30 and note.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 8:15. , according to the flesh) and so, according to the appearance, ch. Joh 7:24, Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment. [In antithesis to from above, Joh 8:23, Ye are from beneath, I am from above.-V. g.]- , I do not judge) Comp. Joh 8:11, Neither do I condemn thee.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 8:15
Joh 8:15
Ye judge after the flesh;-They judged after the outward appearance. [They were fleshly-of the world and looked upon outward appearances, material forms and, like the world, judged accordingly. To such characters he is a riddle; to the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness.]
I judge no man.-He judged no man on such grounds. His was a righteous judgment, knowing the full truth concerning himself. [He knows the hearts of men-the most profound secret-but he lets their own works judge them. This will be true in the final judgment.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
judge: Joh 7:24, 1Sa 16:7, Psa 58:1, Psa 58:2, Psa 94:20, Psa 94:21, Amo 5:7, Amo 6:12, Hab 1:4, Rom 2:1, 1Co 2:15, 1Co 4:3-5, Jam 2:4
I judge: Joh 8:11, Joh 3:17, Joh 12:47, Joh 18:36, Luk 12:14
Reciprocal: Isa 11:3 – and he shall not Joh 5:30 – I judge Joh 9:39 – For 2Co 1:17 – according
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5
Flesh is from SARX, which Thayer defines in this passage, “Man as he appears, such as he presents to view, man’s external appearance and condition.” No doubt the bodily appearance of Jesus was like that of the ordinary Jew, and the Pharisees classed him among the others on that account. Jesus did not judge any man on that basis, for he was able to see through the veil of flesh and read his mind.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 8:15. Ye judge after the flesh. They had judged Him by mere outward appearance, and according to their own merely human thoughts and wishes. Having formed for themselves without patient study of the Scriptures, and thus without the guidance of the Spirit of God, their conception of Messiah and of His kingdom, they rejected Jesus because He did not answer their expectation. But for this, the Divine witness in Him would have reached their hearts.
I judge no one. They judged according to their own nature,standing alone, without the guidance of the Father, not taking the Father along with them in judging, and thus not judging righteous judgment (Joh 7:24). Jesus judgeth no man. The fifth chapter has prepared us for such words as these. Here, as there, they do not exclude all judgment, but all sole judgment (see Joh 8:16): it is not He that judgeth, but rather the Father who judgeth in Him. Chap. Joh 5:22 and this verse are not discordant: between the Father, the ultimate source of judgment, and those who are judged is the Son, to whom the Father hath given authority to do judgment, but who doeth nothing save in and with the Father. The I is thus emphatic, equivalent to I by myself or I without the Father.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Joh 8:15-19. Ye judge after the flesh As the flesh, that is, corrupt nature, dictates. The same carnal prejudices still prevail in the minds of the Jews, and prevent their reception of Christ; they laying it down as a first principle, that he is to be a great temporal prince and deliverer. And the admission of false principles, which are constantly taken for granted, and never examined, will, it is to be feared, be attended with fatal consequences to thousands more. I judge no man Not thus; not now; not at my first coming. Dr. Macknight paraphrases the verse thus: Ye judge of me according to outward appearances, and condemn me for this, among other things, that I judge no man. You think that I cannot be the Messiah, because I do not destroy those who oppose me, as you imagine the Messiah will do; but in this you are altogether mistaken, for the design of the Messiahs coming is not to destroy, but to save mankind. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true That is, just, equitable: for I am not alone, &c. If I should condemn any person for disbelieving my divine mission and rejecting me, the condemnation of such a one would be just, because my mission is true, being confirmed, not by my own testimony only, but by the Fathers also; and because every sentence of that kind, which I should pass, would be pronounced by the authority, and agreeable to the will of my Father. The Son is not alone in judging, any more than in testifying; for the Father is in him, and he in the Father, Joh 14:10-11. It is written in your law For which you profess to have so great and sacred a regard; that the testimony of two men is true That is, to be admitted as true; and that matters of the greatest consequence are, without scruple, to be determined by it. See the margin. As if he said, You could not justly complain if I should punish you for your unbelief in such a case as this, since your own law directs you to believe every matter that is confirmed by the concurring testimony of two witnesses, as my mission evidently is. For I am one that bear witness of myself Not by words only, but by all the actions of my life, which are agreeable to the character of a messenger from heaven; and the Father, that sent me, beareth witness of me By the miracles which he enables me to perform, (see Joh 5:32; Joh 5:36,) so that you are altogether culpable in rejecting me. Then said they, Where is thy Father The other witness to whom thou so frequently appealest? Mention him plainly, that we may know how far he is to be regarded, and produce him as a witness. Jesus answered Showing the perverseness of their question; Ye neither know me nor my Father As plainly appears by your conduct. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also If ye had properly understood who I am, and had formed a right judgment of my person, character, and mission, and regarded me as you ought to have done, you would also, long before this time, have known who and what my Father is, in another manner than you now do; for I bear his complete resemblance, and it is my great business to reveal him to those who submit to my instructions. Our Lord here plainly intimates, that the Father and he were distinct persons, as they were two witnesses; and yet one in essence, as the knowledge of him includes the knowledge of the Father.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vv. 15, 16. You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one; 16 and if I judge, my judgment is true,because I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.
The objection of the Pharisees, Joh 8:13, contained a judgment respecting Jesus. They treated Him as an ordinary man, as a sinner, like themselves. They accused Him of overrating Himself in the testimonies which He bore to Himself. It is to this that the charge refers: You judge according to the flesh. We must not confound , according to the flesh, with , in a fleshly way. The flesh here is not the veil extended before the eyes of the one who judges falsely (the carnal spirit or mind); it is rather, according to the article , the appearance marked by weakness of the one who is the object of judgment, by reason of which, at first sight, he is not at all distinguished from other men. The first sense, however, is included in the second, for with a less carnal heart the Jews would have discerned in Jesus, under the covering of the flesh, a being of a higher nature and would have accorded to Him, in the midst of mankind, a place by Himself. This superficial estimate of which Jesus sees Himself to be the object on their part, awakens in Him the feeling of a contrast. While these blind persons allow themselves to make their estimate of Him, with a perfect confidence in their own light, He, the incarnate light, judges no one. Thus, those who are ignorant allow themselves to judge, while He who knows denies Himself this right. And yet, it cannot be denied, Jesus judges also; He Himself declares it in Joh 8:16.
Writers have put themselves to great pains to explain this contradiction. The word no one has been paraphrased in this way: No one, according to the outward appearances (the flesh); so Cyril. Or, what amounts to nearly the same thing: No one… as you judge me (Lucke). Or again: No one now, in contrast with the judgment to come (Augustine, Chrysostom). But according to these views, there is an addition of what is not said. Or, without an ellipsis and in the sense of Joh 3:17 : The principal aim of my coming, is to save; and if in exceptional cases I judge, it is only with reference to those who will not allow themselves to be saved (Calvin, Meyer, Astie, Luthardt, Weiss, Keil, Westcott, with different shades of explanation). But the idea of these exceptional judgments is definitely excluded by the , no one, of Joh 8:15. Reuss makes Joh 3:18 apply here: No one, because those who are judged have judged themselves. But how then are we to explain the words: And if I judge? To all these opinions I should prefer that of Storr, who translates , I, in the sense of I alone. Comp. Joh 8:26.
What Jesus charges upon the Jews is that they think themselves competent to judge Him by themselves and according to their own light (,you). As for me, Jesus means to say, in so far as I am left to myself, reduced to my own human individuality, I do not allow myself anything of the kind; as such I judge no one. It is the same thought, in a negative form, as that of Joh 5:30 in an affirmative form: As I hear, I judge. The emphasis would thus be upon the pronoun , I, which its position in the sentence, indeed, makes prominent. And Jesus could thus add, without contradicting Himself, Joh 8:16 : And yet if I judge. For then, it is not really He who judges, since He does nothing but pronounce the sentences which He has heard from His Father. This is the sense which I formerly adopted. On weighing well the import of the word , no one, however, I ask myself whether Jesus did not mean that He judges no individual, in the sense that He pronounces on no one a final sentence; and if He judges the moral stateof the people and the character of the acts of which He is a witness, these sentences which He pronounces are dictated to Him by His Father. Wecome back thus to the preceding sense, indeed, but by another path (the contrast of the individual with the people and with things). The received reading , worthy of faith, is more appropriate to this context then the variant of some Alexandrian and Greco-Latin authorities, . Jesus does not intend to say that, in these cases, the sentence which He gives is a real sentence, but that it is a true sentence, to which one can trust. Thereby He returns to the idea from which He started, the truth of His testimony concerning Himself, and to the question of form which had been proposed to Him. He confirms the answer which He has just given by an article of the code:
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
8:15 Ye judge after the flesh; I {c} judge no man.
(c) I am presently only teaching you, I condemn no man: but yet if I want to do it, I might lawfully do it, for I am not alone, but my Father is with me.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Pharisees were evaluating Jesus only by using the external facts about Him that they knew. They were going about the evaluation process in a typically human way (cf. 2Co 5:16). Jesus used "flesh" (Gr. sarx) here in a metaphorical sense meaning human nature. His critics should have considered the spiritual teaching about Jesus’ identity that the Father was providing through the witness of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, and Jesus’ miracles too. Jesus did not judge (Gr. krino) anyone superficially, and they should not either.
Another interpretation is that Jesus meant that He did not come to condemn anyone but to save them (cf. Joh 3:17). [Note: Bruce, p. 189.] However that view only involves Jesus playing with words to make a pun. He seems to have been contrasting His judging with the Pharisees’ judging. Another unlikely view is that Jesus meant that when He did judge people it would not be He that was really judging. Rather He would only be executing the Father’s will (cf. Joh 5:27; Joh 5:45). [Note: Blum, p. 303.] The problem with this view is that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (Joh 5:27-29), and Jesus will judge eventually.