Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:26
I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
26. Here again we have a series of simple sentences, the precise meaning of which and their connexion with one another cannot be determined with certainty. See on Joh 7:33. The following seems to be the drift of the verse: ‘I have very much to speak concerning you, very much to blame. But I keep to My immediate task of speaking to the world those truths which before the world was I heard from God that cannot lie, Who sent Me:’ i.e. Christ will not desist from teaching Divine truth in order to blame the Jews. It is as the Truth and the Light that He appears in these discourses.
which I have heard of him ] Better, what I heard from Him, these things I speak unto the world, i.e. precisely these and nothing else. Comp. Joh 8:39.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I have many things to say – There are many things which I might say to reprove and expose your pride and hypocrisy. By this he implied that he understood well their character, and that he was able to expose it. This, indeed, he had shown them in his conversations with them.
And to judge of you – To reprove in you. There are many things in you which I might condemn.
But he that sent we is true – Is worthy to be believed, and his declarations about men are to be credited. The meaning of this verse may be thus expressed: I have indeed many things to say blaming or condemning you. I have already said many such things, and there are many more that I might say; but I speak only those things which God has commanded. I speak not of myself I come to execute his commission, and he is worthy to be heard and feared. Let it not be thought, therefore, that my judgment is rash or harsh. It is such as is commanded by God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 26. I have many things to say and to judge of you] Or, to speak and to condemn, c. I could speedily expose all your iniquities-your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief of your hearts, and show that these are the reasons why I say you will die in your sins but these will appear in their true light: when, after you have crucified me, the judgments of God shall descend upon and consume you.
He that sent me is true] Whatever he hath spoken of you by the prophets shall surely come to pass; his word cannot fail.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Judging is not put here for judicial condemnation; but for reproving and accusing, which is one part of judging. You accuse and reprove me; I have many things of which I could also accuse and convince you; but let me say what I will, you will not believe me. But you will not escape the judgment of my Father, who is true, he will judge you. I speak unto men nothing but what it is his will that I should declare to them.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
26, 27. I have many things to sayand to judge of you; but he that sent me is true, &c.thatis, I could, and at the fitting time, will say and judge many thingsof you (referring perhaps to the work of the Spirit which is forjudgment as well as salvation, Joh16:8), but what I do say is just the message My Father hath givenMe to deliver.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I have many things to say, and to judge of you,…. Being God omniscient, he knew their persons and actions, their lives and conversations, and all their sins and transgressions, which he could justly have complained of, and charged them with, and proved against them, and judged and condemned them for; but this was not his present business, he came not to judge and condemn, but to save: wherefore he waved these things, and took no notice of them, leaving them to his Father, who would call them to an account, and punish them for them:
but he that sent me is true; as to his promises concerning the mission of his Son, to be the Saviour of sinners; so to his threatenings, to bring down vengeance on those that disbelieve him, and reject him:
and I speak to the world, or “in the world”,
those things which I have heard of him; as concerning his love, grace, and mercy to those that should believe in him, so of the destruction of the despisers and rejecters of him; which things he spoke not in secret, in a corner, but publicly and openly, before all the world, to Jews and Gentiles, and to as many as were in the treasury, in the temple at this time; see Joh 18:20.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you ( ). Instead of further talk about his own claims (already plain enough) Jesus turns to speak and to judge concerning them and their attitude towards him (cf. verse 16). Whatever they think of Jesus the Father who sent him is true (). They cannot evade responsibility for the message heard. So Jesus goes on speaking it from the Father.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I have many things, etc. The connection of thought seems to be as follows : “I being such as my words show me to be, I must declare the whole message of Him by virtue of my essential union with whom I speak. Many things I have to declare and judge, and you may turn a deaf ear to them; nevertheless, I must speak the whole truth, the things which I have heard from Him who sent me and who is true.”
I speak to the world [ ] . The best texts read lalw, which emphasizes not what Christ says (which would be legw), but the fact that He speaks. See on Mt 28:18. The use of the preposition eijv here is peculiar. Literally, “I speak into the world;” so that my words may reach and spread through the world. See for a similar construction 1Th 2:9; 1Th 4:8; Heb 2:3. So Sophocles, where Electra says, khrusse mj eijv apantav proclaim me to all : so that the report of me may reach all ears (” Electra, ” 606).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “I have many things to say and to judge of you:” (polla echo peri humon lalein kai krinein) “I hold in reserve many things to speak concerning you all, and to judge things concerning you all,” based on your opportunity, and therefore your accountability, for your decisions and deeds, Joh 8:21; Joh 8:24; Pro 1:20-31.
2) “But he that sent me is true;” (all’ ho pempsas me alethes estin) “But the one who sent me is true,” genuine, not a fake at all, Gal 4:4-5. They did not relate “Him that sent me,” or mandated me, with the Father, Joh 8:16; Joh 8:18; Joh 3:17.
3) “And I speak to the world,” (kago lalo eis ton kosmon) “And I speak with reference to the present world order of things,” and to and for the masses of mankind. He yet speaks to the world wherever His Gospel is preached, Luk 19:10; Joh 20:21; Act 1:8.
4) “Those things which I have heard of him.” (ha ekousa par’ autou tauta) “What I heard from alongside him, these things,” I speak forth, words of truth from God the Father, that I am come that all men might have salvation, life, and light, Joh 1:4-6; Joh 8:12; Joh 3:16-17; Joh 10:10; Joh 10:28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
26. I have many things to say and judge of you. Perceiving that he is in the position of one who sings to the deaf, he pursues his discourse no farther, but only declares that God will defend that doctrine, which they despise, because he is the Author of it. “If I wished to accuse you,” says he, “your malice and wickedness supply me with ample materials; but I leave you for the present. But my Father, who committed to me the office of a teacher, will not fail to fulfill his promise; for he will always vindicate his word against the wicked and sacrilegious contempt of men.” This saying of Christ is of the same import with that of Paul,
If we deny him, he remaineth faithful, he cannot deny himself, (2Ti 2:13.)
In short, he threatens the judgment of God against unbelievers, who refuse to give credit to his word; and he does so on this ground, that God must inevitably defend his truth. Now this is the true firmness of faith, when we believe that God is alone sufficient to establish the authority of his doctrine, though the world should reject it. All who, relying on this doctrine, serve Christ faithfully, may fearlessly accuse the whole world of falsehood.
And I speak to the world those things which I have heard from him. He says that he utters nothing which he has not received from the Father; and this is the only confirmation of a doctrine, when the minister shows that what he speaks has proceeded from the Father. Now we know that Christ sustained, at that time, the office of a minister; and, therefore, we need not wonder, if he demands that men listen to him, because he brings to them the commandments of God. Besides, by his example he lays down a general law for the whole Church, that no man ought to be heard, unless he speak from the mouth of God. But while he lays low the wicked arrogance of those men who take upon themselves to speak without the word of God, faithful teachers, who know well the nature of their calling, are fortified and armed by him with unshaken firmness, that, under the guidance of God, they may boldly bid defiance to all mortals.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) I have many things to say and to judge of you.The order of thought here is not certain, and will depend, in part, upon the interpretation we give to the previous verse. These words seem to arise from their judgment of Him as expressed in their scornful question, Who art thou? He has, indeed, immediately before (Joh. 8:23), spoken of them. He is about in this discourse to do so again. There are present to His mind now many things to say of them, and these, if said, would be in words of condemnation; but He refrains. There is present to His mind also the great work He had to doto speak to the world the eternal truth of God.
But he that sent me is true.The words express a marked contrast to the words and thoughts with which He would come in contact, if He said and judged concerning them. They refer to the calm repose of the divine life in heaven, as contrasted with the misunderstandings and objections with which the manifestation of that life on earth had been encompassed. He turns from them to the thought of Him who sent Him, and who is true.
And I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.Better, I speak unto the world the things which I heard from Him. It is the truth brought into and announced in the world, and which was heard during the pre-incarnate life with the Father. (Comp. Joh. 8:28; Joh. 8:38.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Many things to say Many a lesson would it require to correct the selfish feelings and expectations so deeply fixed in their hearts, in order to the appreciating and accepting the holy Son of God.
Judge of you To condemn and banish from your minds.
He that sent me By this he Jesus plainly means, as they might have known from previous explanations, his Father; but they are conjuring up hopes that some one else is meant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“I have much to say about you and much to pass judgment on. However he who sent me is true, and the things which I heard from him, these I speak to the world”.’
Jesus now no longer saw any hope that they would respond to His teaching, and He therefore wanted them to know that He was not blind to their failings. So He pointed out that, if He wished to do so, there was in fact a great deal that He could say about them which was not to their credit. There was much that He could show up about their attitudes and teaching (as He does in Matthew 23). However, He would not at present do so, although one day He would certainly do so. Meanwhile He wanted them to know that in contrast to what they were, He has brought the truth from the One Who is true, to pass on to those who will receive it.
Notice the way in which He makes clear, not only that He has been ‘sent’ (something which many prophets could say), but that He has previously heard from the Father the things which He is now speaking to the world. There is a continual recognition that He has come from the Father into this world as the One Who was in existence from the beginning.
‘But he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him’. In contrast to them in their hypocrisy and folly there is One Who is true. They might not be willing to listen, but the world was waiting for the truth, and what He would like to say about His antagonists must give place to His message to the world at large, coming from the One Who is true.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 8:26 . The question in Joh 8:25 was a reproach . To this (not to Joh 8:24 , as Godet maintains) refers the word , which is placed with full emphasis at the beginning of the verse; the antithetical , however, and the excluding word , inform us that He does not say the which He has to speak and judge of them (and which He has in readiness, in store); but merely that which He has heard from Him who sent Him. Comp. Joh 16:12 ; 2Jn 1:12 . Similarly Euth. Zigabenus, after Chrysostom and B. Crusius. After the question in Joh 8:25 , we must imagine a reproving pause . The paraphrase: “I have very much to speak concerning you, and especially to blame; but I refrain therefrom, and restrict myself to my immediate task, which is to utter forth to the world that which I have heard from God the True, who has sent me (namely, what I heard during my existence with God, before my mission; comp. on Joh 8:28 [20] ) in other words, to the communication of divine truth to the world.” For divergent views of the course of thought, see Schott, Opusc . I. p. 94 ff. After the example of older writers, Lcke and De Wette take the view that Jesus meant to say: “But, however much I have to judge concerning you, my is still ; for I speak to the world only what I have heard from my Father, who is true.” Comp. also Tholuck. In this way, however, the antithesis has to be artificially formed , whilst the expressed antithesis between that which Jesus has to speak ( ) and that which He actually says ( ) is neglected. This is in answer to Ewald also, who imports into ’ the meaning: “Yet I will not therefore be afraid, like a man;” and against Hengstenberg, who, after , supplies in thought: “This is the reason why you will not accept my utterances in relation to my person.”
] and I, for my part , in contrast to God; the word is connected with , etc.
] this and nothing else. As to the main point, Chrysostom aptly says: , .
. . ] See on Mar 1:39 . Comp. Soph. El . 596: . Not again (Lachmann, Tischendorf), but , because the notion has become by antithesis more definite: what He has heard, that it is which He says; He has something else to say to the world than to speak of the worthlessness of His opponents. The former He does; the latter, much occasion as He has for doing it, He leaves undone .
[20] So also vv. 38, 40. Not as Beyschlag maintains: immediately before my public appearance. Comp. on Joh 6:46 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
26 I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
Ver. 26. I have many things to say ] But I see I do but lose my sweet words upon you. I shall therefore turn you over to my Father with a non convertentur, not turn over that he may take an order with you, and make you hear the rod, since you would not the word, Mic 6:9 . Those that tremble not in hearing shall be ground to pieces in feeling, said blessed Bradford.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
26. ] He is, that which He speaks; and that, He has received from the Father; He has His definite testimony to give, and His work to do: and therefore, though He has much that He could speak and judge about the Jews, He does it not, but overlooks their malice, not answering it, that He may go forward with the , the revelation of Himself: the of which is all-important, and excludes less weighty things.
. ., out into the world , as , 1Co 14:9 ; see Mar 13:10 ; Luk 24:47 . This verse is in the closest connexion with the foregoing.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 8:26 . “many things have I to speak and to judge about you,” some of which are uttered in the latter part of this chapter. But however hard for you to receive these things are what are given me to say by Him that sent me, and therefore I must speak them; and not to you only but to the world .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
speak. Greek. lego. All the texts read “say”. Greek laleo.
to = unto. Greek. eis. App-104.
of = from [beside]. Greek. para. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
26.] He is, that which He speaks; and that, He has received from the Father;-He has His definite testimony to give, and His work to do: and therefore, though He has much that He could speak and judge about the Jews, He does it not, but overlooks their malice,-not answering it,-that He may go forward with the , the revelation of Himself: the of which is all-important, and excludes less weighty things.
. ., out into the world, as , 1Co 14:9; see Mar 13:10; Luk 24:47. This verse is in the closest connexion with the foregoing.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 8:26
Joh 8:26
I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world.-Jesus had come to make known the will of God to the world. He at all times held out that what he taught was not from himself, but was the will of God, and God was true.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
have many: Joh 16:12, Heb 5:11, Heb 5:12
to judge: Joh 8:16, Joh 5:42, Joh 5:43, Joh 9:39-41, Joh 12:47-50
but: Joh 8:17, Joh 7:28, 2Co 1:18
and I: Joh 8:40, Joh 3:32, Joh 7:16, Joh 15:15, Joh 17:8
Reciprocal: Joh 3:34 – he Joh 8:38 – speak Joh 12:49 – General Joh 14:24 – and Rev 1:1 – which God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
Jesus could have said many things truthfully against these Jews, that he knew from personal association among them; however, he was supported in all this by his Father. But the hardness of their hearts prevented the Jews from “catching on” to what Jesus meant.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
[But he that sent me is true.] “I have many things to say and judge of you; but he that sent me hath of old said and judged of you; ‘and he is true;’ and they are true things which he hath said of you.” Of this kind are those passages, Isa 11:10; “Make the heart of this people fat,” etc.; and Isa 29:10; “The Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep,” etc.: and from such kind of predictions it is, that Christ concludes this concerning them, Joh 8:21; “Ye shall die in your sins.”
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Joh 8:26. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. It is unavailing to speak to them, for they will not believe. Many things has He to speak concerning them, and (since every word regarding them in the condition they had chosen must be one of judgment) to judge also.
Nevertheless he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I speak unto the world. To all that He says they may turn a deaf ear; Nevertheless, Jesus adds, He that sent me is true, and the words which I have heard from Him, these and no others do I speak unto the world,the world, to which you belong (Joh 8:23). The Jews may disbelieve; His judgment may seem severe; but the words are Gods words, and they are true.
This seems the simplest view of this difficult verse; for the prominence which the second clause (Nevertheless . . . true) gives to the thought of truth seems to imply that the contrast is with the preceding thought of unbelief (Joh 8:24-25). Three other explanations are worthy of consideration(i) I have many things . . . but, many as they are, they are true. (2) I have many things . . . but I will not keep them back, for I faithfully declare the words which … (3) I have many things …. but I will not say them now: the things which I have heard from Him that sent me must be first declared. The first of these seems to miss the sharp emphasis of the Nevertheless; the second and third to miss (though in different degrees) the force of the middle clause, Nevertheless He that sent me is true.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Vv. 26, 27. I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you; but he who sent me is worthy of belief, and what I have heard from him, that do I speak to the world. 27. They understood not that he spoke to them of the Father.
Some interpreters, ancient and modern, have tried to connect this verse grammatically with the preceding, by making the last words of that verse: , a parenthetical clause, and the first words of Joh 8:26, , the continuation of the clause which was begun with (so Bengel, Hofmann, Baumlein): For the momentsince it is still the time when I am speaking with youI have many things to say to you (Hofmann); or: Certainly I havea thing which I am also doingmany things to say to you (Baumlein). But this sense of is absolutely idle; and no less so that of the parenthetical clause. The attempt has also been made to connect Joh 8:26 logically with Joh 8:25.
Thus Luthardt and Reuss introduce this antithesis: It is of yourselves(not of myself) that I have to speak to you, and this will be for you a much more important thought to occupy your minds. But what was there of more serious importance for them than to know who Jesus was? Weiss finds a contrast between the idea: that it was not worth while to speak to them any longer (Joh 8:25), and the idea of the multitude of things which He had to say to them (Joh 8:26). This explanation falls together with the sense which Weissgives to Joh 8:25. In my view, Joh 8:26 does not continue the thought of Joh 8:25. It is united with Joh 8:24. After having answered the question of the hearers in Joh 8:25, Jesus takes up again the course of His charges in Joh 8:21-24. In these verses he had uttered stern truths with reference to the moral state of the people; He simply continues in Joh 8:26 : Of these declarations and these judgments I have still many (, at the beginning of the clause) to pronounce with regard to you. What is to follow in this same chapter, Joh 8:34; Joh 8:37; Joh 8:40-41; Joh 8:43-44; Joh 8:49; Joh 8:55, gives us an idea of these many judgments which Jesus had in mind. But, He adds, painful as this mission may be for me, I cannot abstain from speaking to you as I do, for I only obey herein Him who dictates to me my message; now He is the truth itself, and my office here below can only be that of making the world hear what He reveals to me. From Chrysostom to Meyer, some explain the opposition expressed in the word but by this idea: I have much to say to you; but I refrain, and this because you are unwilling to receive the truth.
But with this sense, to what purpose make appeal to the divine truth which forces him to speak and to say to the world what He hears from above. And in what follows, does Jesus keep silence? Does He not, on the contrary, make the greatest number of charges and the most severe ones against His hearers that He has ever addressed to them? With reference to , I heard, comp. Joh 5:30. This past tense cannot, either in accordance with this parallel or with the context, refer to the pre-existent state. Jesus certainly cannot mean that He heard in heaven, before coming here below, the charges which He now addresses to the Jews.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
8:26 {10} I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
(10) God is the avenger of Christ’s despised doctrine.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus also claimed to have much more to reveal to His hearers. Part of that would involve judgment for their unbelief. However all of what He would say would be true because it would come from God. It would not be simply His own words spoken independent of the Father (cf. Joh 3:34; Joh 5:19-30; Joh 8:15-16).