Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:19
Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
19. Then said they ] They said therefore.
Where is thy Father? ] They do not ask ‘who’ but ‘where;’ they know well enough by this time the meaning of Christ’s frequent reference to ‘Him that sent me:’ Joh 5:23-24; Joh 5:30; Joh 5:37-38, Joh 6:38-40; Joh 6:44, Joh 7:16; Joh 7:18; Joh 7:28; Joh 7:33. They ask, therefore, in mockery, what Philip (Joh 14:8) asks with earnest longing, ‘ Shew us the Father: we see one of Thy two witnesses; shew us the other.’
if ye had known me, &c.] Better, If ye knew Me, ye would know, &c. (There is a similar error Joh 5:46). It is in the Son that the Father reveals Himself. Comp. Joh 14:9, Joh 16:3; and for the construction comp. Joh 8:42.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Where is thy Father? – This question was asked, doubtless, in derision. Jesus had often given them to understand that by his Father he meant God, Joh 5:6; They professed to be ignorant of this, and probably looked round in contempt for his Father, that he might adduce him as a witness in the case.
If ye had known me … – If you had listened to my instructions, and had received me as the Messiah, you would also, at the same time, have been acquainted with God. We may here observe,
- The manner in which Jesus answered them. He gave no heed to their cavil; he was not irritated by their contempt; he preserved his dignity, and gave them an answer worthy of the Son of God.
- We should meet the cavils and sneers of sinners in the same manner. We should not render railing for railing, but in meekness instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, 2Ti 2:25.
- The way to know God is to know Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him, Joh 1:18. No sinner can have just views of God but in Jesus Christ, 2Co 4:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 19. Ye neither know me, c.] Ye know neither the Messiah, nor the God that sent him.
If ye had known me] If ye had received my teaching, ye would have got such an acquaintance with the nature and attributes of God as ye never could have had, and never can have any other way. That is a true saying, No man hath seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, who lay an the bosom of the Father. he hath DECLARED him. The nature and perfections of God never can be properly known, but in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is worthy of remark that, in all this discourse, our blessed Lord ever speaks of the Father and himself as two distinct persons. Therefore, the Father is not the Son, nor the Son the Father, as some persons vainly imagine though it is plain enough that the completest unity and equality subsists between them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou talkest much of thy Father, where is he? We know no father which thou hast but the carpenter, Joseph; we do not look upon him as so credible a witness in the case, as to take his testimony in such a matter as this is. Christ tells them, that the reason why they did not know the Father, was because they did not know and acknowledge, receive and believe him; for if they had received and believed him, they would not then have been at such a loss to have known where his Father was, or who he was. The eternal Father is not to be known but in, and by, and through the Son.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then said they unto him, where is thy Father?…. The Persic version adds, “show [him] unto us”: produce this witness boasted of, let us see him; this they said in a sneering, taunting, and insulting manner; where is thy Father? what! he is in Galilee; fetch him from thence; it is Joseph the carpenter you mean; a goodly witness indeed!
Jesus answered, ye neither know me nor my Father; if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also; they did not know the divine original of Christ, that he was the Son of God, and that God was his Father; they greatly boasted of their knowledge of God, but they knew him not; their ignorance of Christ showed it: the knowledge of both go together, and which is life eternal; nor can any truly know the one, without the other: and where the one is known, the other will be also; Christ is the brightness of his Father’s glory, and the express image of his person: so that he that has seen the one, must know the other; and indeed, no one can know the Father, but he to whom the Son reveals him: this was a severe mortification to these men of knowledge.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Where is thy Father? ( ;). “The testimony of an unseen and unheard witness would not satisfy them” (Vincent). Bernard understands the Pharisees to see that Jesus claims God the Father as his second witness and so ask “where,” not “who” he is. Augustine has it: Patrem Christi carnaliter acceperunt, Christ’s human father, as if the Pharisees were “misled perhaps by the Lord’s use of (verse 17)” (Dods). Cyril even took it to be a coarse allusion to the birth of Jesus as a bastard according to the Talmud. Perhaps the Pharisees used the question with double entendre, even with all three ideas dancing in their hostile minds.
Ye would know my Father also ( ). Conclusion of second-class condition determined as unfulfilled with and second perfect active of used as imperfect in both condition and conclusion. See this same point made to Philip in 14:9. In 14:7 Jesus will use in the condition and in the conclusion. The ignorance of the Pharisees about Jesus proves it and is due to their ignorance of the Father. See this point more fully stated in 5:36-38 when Jesus had his previous controversy in Jerusalem. In 7:28 Jesus said that they knew his home in Nazareth, but he denied then that they knew the Father who sent him. Jesus will again on this occasion (8:55) deny their knowledge of the Father. Later he will deny their knowledge of the Father and of the Son (16:3). The Pharisees are silenced for the moment.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Where. The testimony of an unseen and unheard witness would not satisfy them.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father?” (elegon oun auto pou estin ho pater sou) “Then they replied directly to him where is (exists) your Father?” in anger and with sarcasm and irony they said it, like gnostics today, they insinuated that the accounts of His virgin birth were a farce, and He was simply born illegitimate, of fornication, Joh 8:41.
2) “Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: (apekrithe lesous oute eme oidate oute ton patera mou) “Jesus answered, you all know neither me nor my Father,” You all really do not perceive who either I am or the Father really is, Joh 5:37; Joh 16:3; Joh 17:25.
3) “If ye had known me,” (ei eme edeite) “If you all really knew me,” and honored me, Joh 5:23. They would not know Him because of their willful, spiritual blindness, by the god of this world, 2Co 4:3-4; They would not know or recognize Him. It was not that they could not know Him, Joh 7:17; Mat 23:37.
4) “Ye should have known my Father also.” (kai ten patera mou an edeite) “You would also have known or perceived my Father,” who sent me, Joh 5:23; Joh 5:26-27; Joh 5:30; Joh 5:38; Joh 5:43; Joh 14:7; Joh 14:9. Because He is one with the Father and the way to the Father, Joh 6:44, whom to know is eternal life, Joh 17:3.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
19. Where is thy father ? There can be no doubt whatever, that it was in mockery that they inquired about his Father For not only do they, with their wonted pride, treat contemptuously what he had said about the Father, but they likewise ridicule him for talking loftily about his Father, as if he had drawn his birth from heaven. By these words, therefore, they mean that they do not value so highly Christ’s Father, as to ascribe any thing to the Son on his account. And the reason why there are so many in the present day who, with daring presumption, despise Christ, is, that few consider that God has sent him.
You neither know me nor my Father. He does not deign to give them a direct reply, but in a few words reproaches them with the ignorance in which they flattered themselves. They inquired about the Father; and yet when they had the Son before their eyes, seeing, they did not see, (Mat 13:13.) It was therefore a just punishment of their pride and wicked ingratitude, that they who despised the Son of God, who had been familiarly offered to them, never approached to the Father For how shall any mortal man ascend to the height of God, unless he be raised on high by the hand of his Son? God in Christ condescended to the mean condition of men, so as to stretch out his hand; and do not those who reject God, when he thus approaches to them, deserve to be excluded from heaven?
Let us know that the same thing is spoken to us all; for whoever aspires to know God, and does not begin with Christ, must wander — as it were — in a labyrinth; for it is not without good reason that Christ is called the image of the Father, as has been already said. Again, as all who, leaving Christ, attempt to rise to heaven, after the manner of the giants, (219) are destitute of all right knowledge of God, so every man who shall direct his mind and all his senses to Christ, will be led straight to the Father. For on good grounds does God declare that,
by the mirror of the Gospel, we clearly behold God in the person of Christ, (2Co 3:18.)
And certainly it is an astonishing reward of the obedience of faith, that whosoever humbles himself before the Lord Jesus, (220) penetrates above all the heavens, even to those mysteries which the angels behold and adore.
(219) See page 223, n. 1.
(220) “ Quiconque s’humilie devant le Seigneur Jesus.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(19) Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father?The words seem to be asked in scorn. You speak of two witnesses. We accept you as one. Where is the other? He should be present before us if his evidence is to be accepted. They must have known well from the earlier discourse that He claimed God as His Father, and the recurring phrase, the Father that sent Me, must have now made this clear. We are not to read in these words, then, any reference to a father in the flesh, though this interpretation is that of many ancient and modern expositors. The question, moreover, is not, Who is Thy Father? but Where is Thy Father? The question is asked in another spirit in Joh. 14:8.
It may be that to their scorn is added the desire to draw from Him express words on which to base an accusation. They perhaps expect an answer such as My Father who is in heaven. (Comp. the direct question in Joh. 10:24, and the adjuration of the high priest, Mat. 27:64.) But the time has not yet come. His answer contains no words which they could lay hold of as a technical ground for blasphemy.
Ye neither know me, nor my Father.He traces their ignorance of the Father to its true cause, i.e., to their neglect of the only means by which God could be known. This thought has met us already in Joh. 1:18 (see Note there), and will meet us again in Joh. 14:9; Joh. 16:3. Here the Pharisees think they know Him, and ask Where is Thy Father? The answer is. that if they really knew the witness of one, they would know the witness of both.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. Where is thy Father? If thy Father is thy witness, let him be produced. To this demand Jesus asserts his own identity with the Father.
He is Deity manifest, as the Father is Deity essential. In seeing him they see God in humanity. So uncompromising were the claims that the Son of God asserted!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘They therefore said to him, “Where is your Father?” ’
They responded to His challenge by putting the question, ‘where is your father?’. It may well be that they had mistaken His meaning and were genuinely confused. He kept speaking of His Father. Well, where was his father? Surely his father was dead? How then could he be a source of information? On the other hand it is possible that they were merely trying to blur the issue by speaking in terms of an earthly father because they did not want to accept His claim that God was His Father. Either way it enabled Him to press home His message.
This is another example of how, throughout the Gospel, John constantly uses the misunderstanding of men to act as a platform to bring out the truth. Their reply is that if as He says he has two witnesses, let Him produce the other one. Let them see Him so that they can judge for themselves.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘You do not know either me or my Father, if you knew me you would know my Father also’.
Jesus’ simple reply was that it was not possible for them to see the Father because they were spiritually blind. That is why they did not know the Father, nor recognise Him. In fact their failure to see what He meant was itself significant. They possibly thought they were being clever but they were really indicating that they did not know either Who He was or Who His Father was. They were demonstrating their spiritual blindness, and proving that they did not know God.
For the truth was that the fact that they did not recognise Him for what He was, demonstrated that they did not really know what God was like. For had they really known the Father and what He was like, they would have recognised His Father in Him and in what He was doing. How then can He tell them of the Father? Of what use would it be? Their minds are equally closed to knowledge of the Father.
This made clear that they were really spiritually blind. In spite of all He was saying and doing, which revealed the glory of God, their minds would not or could not grasp it. If then they could not recognise the truth when it was revealed by the Father through Him on earth, how could they claim to know the Father?
It simply demonstrated that with all their claim to special knowledge they actually did not know God. This was indeed the real reason why they failed to recognise Him. They were still in darkness. For as the light of the world He had come to reveal the Father, and if they would but come to see Him for what He was, by considering His words and His activities, and what He was in Himself, and would respond to Him, then they would really come to know the Father too (compare Joh 14:7-9). But they did not do so because they were in darkness.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 8:19. If ye had known me, &c. “If you had any just notions of me, you would know who it is that I call my Father; that is to say, if you knew me to be the Messiah, you would know that my Father is God.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 8:19 . The question of the Pharisees, who only pretend not to understand what Jesus means by the words , between which and Joh 8:27 there is no inconsistency, is frivolous mockery . “Where is, then, this second witness, thy Father?” He has no actual existence! He ought, surely, to be here on the spot, if, as thou hast said, He were a witness with thee on thy behalf! To regard their question as the expression of a veritable material apprehension on their part, that He referred to a physical father (Augustine, Bede, and several; also De Wette, Olshausen, Brckner, and, doubtfully, Lcke), some also having found in it a blasphemous allusion to bastardy (Cyril, Ammon), is irreconcilable with the circumstance that Jesus had already so frequently and unmistakeably pointed to God as His Father; the questioners themselves also betray their dissimulation by the word ; they do not ask . Totally different is the relation of the question put by Philip in Joh 14:8 .
The reply of Jesus unveils to them with clear composure whence it arose that they put so wicked a question. To take the words as far as as a question is less appropriate (Ewald), as it is scarcely likely that Jesus was taken by surprise . , etc., rest on the fact that the Father reveals Himself in Him. Comp. Joh 14:9 , Joh 16:3 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
19 Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
Ver. 19. If ye had known me, &c. ] For milk is not so like milk as Christ is like his Father.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
19. ] Augustine (in Joan. Tract. xxxvii. 2, vol. iii. pt. ii.) and others imagine that the Jews thought of a human father , in thus speaking. But surely before this, as Stier remarks (iv. 370, edn. 2), the Jews must have become accustomed to too well to mistake its meaning. It is rather a question asked in mere scorn, by persons who know, but will not recognize, the meaning of a word uttered by another.
] See ch. Joh 14:9 ff. and note.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
neither . . . nor. Greek. oute, compound of ou. App-105.
My Father. See note on Joh 2:16.
if. A true hypothesis. App-118.
should = would.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
19.] Augustine (in Joan. Tract. xxxvii. 2, vol. iii. pt. ii.) and others imagine that the Jews thought of a human father, in thus speaking. But surely before this, as Stier remarks (iv. 370, edn. 2), the Jews must have become accustomed to too well to mistake its meaning. It is rather a question asked in mere scorn, by persons who know, but will not recognize, the meaning of a word uttered by another.
] See ch. Joh 14:9 ff. and note.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 8:19. [221] , where) They ask, where, in order that they may know whence Jesus has come, having been sent by the Father.- , neither Me) Jesus does not at once answer directly to the Jews interrogatory, where is Thy Father? but follows up the line of discourse He began, and at the same time, however, prepares the way for making a reply. For He shows the perversity of their interrogation, and teaches them, that they must first know the Son, whom they see and hear in the flesh, if they wish to know the Father. For when the Son is known, the Father is known: comp. Joh 8:16, I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent Me; Joh 8:18, I am one that bear witness, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me, wherein the Son is named before the Father. Add Mat 11:27, Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him; and below, ch. Joh 14:9, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? He shows plainly where the Father is, at Joh 8:23, I am from above. And also in this passage, when asked as to the Father, He answers as to Himself; presently after, in turn, when asked Himself, He answers as to the Father; Joh 8:25; Joh 8:27, They said, Who art Thou? Jesus saith-Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning;-they understood not that He spake to them of the Father; because Himself and the Father are one.-, also) Comp. ch. 14. [Joh 8:7] If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye both know Him and have seen Him.- , ye should have known) So that there should be no need for you to inquire, where He is. This passage contains a most clear testimony concerning the unity of the Father and of the Son: wherefore at Joh 8:20 [27?] it is described as something wonderful, that they did not understand Jesus.
[221] Ver. 18, , and) Here the two that bear witness are mentioned expressly: there is to be added the testimony of a third, the Holy Spirit.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 8:19
Joh 8:19
They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father?-[This question shows on its face that it is full of a scornful spirit, and therefore not asked for information. Because they could not see the Father they, therefore, disputed his word.]
Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father:-His claim was that God was his Father and that they did not know God, although they claimed to be his people. [The Pharisees clearly demonstrated that they knew not God by rejecting his Son.]
if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also.-If they knew Jesus as the Messiah who came from God they would know his Father. [Men who reject Christ prove by that act that they know not God, for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. (Col 2:9).]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Ye neither: Joh 8:54, Joh 8:55, Joh 1:10, Joh 7:28, Joh 10:14, Joh 10:15, Joh 15:21, Joh 16:3, Jer 22:16, Jer 24:7, 1Co 15:34, Gal 4:9, Col 1:10, 1Jo 5:20
if: Joh 1:18, Joh 14:6-9, Joh 17:3, Joh 17:25, Joh 17:26, Mat 11:25, Luk 10:21, Luk 10:22, 2Co 4:4-6, Eph 1:17, Col 1:15, Heb 1:3, 2Jo 1:9
Reciprocal: Joh 1:26 – whom Joh 6:46 – any Joh 14:7 – ye 1Co 2:8 – for 2Th 1:8 – that know 1Jo 2:13 – because 1Jo 2:23 – denieth 1Jo 4:6 – he that knoweth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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The Pharisees would not deny the principle that Jesus just uttered, but thought to weaken it by pretending to be unacquainted with one of his witnesses, hence they asked, where is thy Father? To know a person in the practical sense, meant to acknowledge him and give full consideration to all his claims. This the Pharisees refused to do with Jesus, consequently they did not know him nor his Father.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 8:19. They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? If He is to add His witness to Thine, let Him appear and bear His testimony. The words are those of men who will not seek to enter into the meaning of the Speaker. As they judge men according to the flesh, they will go no farther than the literal import of the words. But after what they have heard and seen in Jesus, such action cannot consist with sincerity: it is not only to enemies but to hypocrites that He speaks.
Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also. They professed not to know who is His Father. In truth they were without any real knowledge, not of the Father only, but of Jesus Himself. Had they, through receiving and believing His words, attained such knowledge of Him, they would have attained in Him the revelation of the Father also.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Ver. 19. They said to him therefore, Where is thy father? Jesus answered, You know neither me nor my Father; if you knew me, you would know my Father also.
Therefore: In consequence of this declaration. These discourses of Jesus are of so lofty import, that they sometimes produce upon us the effect of monologues, in which Jesus lays hold anew upon Himself and displays the treasures which He discovers in the centre of His being. The disciples themselves could only get glimpses of their meaning. John gathers them together as enigmas which the future would have to solve. But is not the same thing true at this hour, in the midst of the Christian Church, with reference to many of the words of the apostles? How many baptized persons comprehend what St. Paul said of the inner witness of the Spirit (Rom 8:16)? Thus the question of the hearers of Jesus has nothing inadmissible in it, asReuss asserts. Jesus spoke of a second witness; but a witness must be seen and heard. Otherwise, what purpose does he serve? And how can we fail to suppose, in that case, that he who invokes such testimony is a dreamer or an impostor? Luthardt: It is as if they wished to intimate that every liar can also appeal to God. The meaning of the question seems to me to be this: If it is of God that thou art speaking, let Him make Himself heard; if it is of some one else, let him show himself. The answer of Jesus means that it is impossible for Him to satisfy their demand. The living presence of God in a human being is a fact which cannot be perceived by the senses; but if they possessed the spiritual organ necessary for understanding this Jesus who manifests Himself to them, they would soon discern in Him the God who is in intimate communion with Him; and they would not ask: Where is He? Comp. Joh 14:10.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
8:19 {6} Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
(6) No man can know God except in Christ alone.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Perhaps the Pharisees misunderstood Jesus. They were perhaps continuing to think on the physical level while He was speaking of spiritual realities. If so, we should not criticize them too much because Jesus’ teaching that God was His Father was new (cf. Joh 5:18). However their request was probably an intentional insult (cf. Joh 8:41).
"In the East, to question a man’s paternity is a definite slur on his legitimacy." [Note: Tenney, "John," p. 93.]
The Pharisees virtually admitted that they did not know Jesus’ origins, which they had claimed they knew earlier (Joh 7:27). Their inability to recognize Jesus as the Son of God showed that they really did not know God. If they had known Him, they would have recognized Jesus as His Son. The rest of chapter 8 deals with the theme of fatherhood.