Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 8:51
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
51. If a man keep my saying ] Better, if a man keep My word. This is important, to shew the connexion with Joh 8:31; Joh 8:43 and also with Joh 5:24. In all these the same Greek word is used, logos. The phrase ‘keep My word’ is one of frequent occurrence in this Gospel: Joh 8:52; Joh 8:55, Joh 14:23, Joh 15:20, Joh 17:6: as also the kindred phrase ‘keep My commandments:’ Joh 14:15; Joh 14:21, Joh 15:10: comp. 1Jn 2:3-5 ; 1Jn 3:22; 1Jn 3:24 ; 1Jn 5:2-3. ‘Keeping’ means not merely keeping in heart, but obeying and fulfilling. This is the way in which they may escape the judgment just spoken of. So that there is no need to suppose that while Joh 8:49-50 are addressed to His opponents, Joh 8:51 is addressed after a pause to a more friendly section, a change of which there is no hint.
shall never see death ] Literally, shall certainly not behold death for ever. But ‘for ever’ belongs, like the negative, to the verb, not to ‘death.’ It does not mean ‘he shall see death, but the death shall not be eternal:’ rather ‘he shall certainly never see death,’ i.e. he already has eternal life (Joh 5:24) and shall never lose it. This is evident from Joh 4:14, which cannot mean ‘shall thirst, but the thirst shall not be eternal,’ and from Joh 13:8, which cannot mean ‘shalt wash my feet, but the washing shall not be eternal.’ In all three cases the meaning is the same, ‘shall certainly never.’ Comp. Joh 10:28, Joh 11:26.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
If a man keep my saying – If he believes on me and obeys my commandments.
He shall never see death – To see death, or to taste of death, is the same as to die, Luk 2:26; Mat 16:28; Mar 9:1. The sense of this passage is, He shall obtain eternal life, or he shall be raised up to that life where there shall be no death. See Joh 6:49-50; Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 11:25-26.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 8:51
If any man keep My saying he shall never see death.
I. THE CHARACTER DESCRIBED.
1. The saying of Christ means the whole system of truth which He has taught, and includes
(1) All the doctrines and precepts publicly inculcated by Himself as reported by the Evangelists.
(2) Those which He taught more privately to His apostles, the meaning of which was disclosed after His departure. Reserve on certain points during His lifetime was necessary. Had He explicitly avowed His divinity, e.g., it is hard to conceive how those prophecies which foretold His sufferings and death would have received fulfilment. After Pentecost the apostles were guided into all the truth.
(3) The inspired sayings of the apostles, because dictated by the Spirit of Christ.
(4) The whole canon of Scripture, for the Old Testament was written under the influence of the Spirit of Jesus.
2. To keep this saying implies
(1) A knowledge and belief of the Divine truth by the understanding. A man cannot keep what he does not know. This involves careful study with the use of every help, and prayer for the illumination of the Spirit.
(2) Retention of it in the memory. Ye are saved, if ye keep in memory 2Pe 2:3). This is accomplished only by continuous and diligent study and meditation.
(3) Love of it. No knowledge of Christs doctrine is of any utility, unless the heart be interested.
(4) A practical attention to its requirements: its adoption as the rule of life.
(5) A stedfast adherence to the cause of truth, and a profession of it according to our opportunities. To keep is opposed to desertion. Hence we must abide in Christs word.
II. Never see THE PRIVILEGE ATTACHED TO THIS CHARACTER Never see death means
1. Negatively.
(1) Not exemption from natural death. This is appointed unto all men. Enoch and Elijah were exempted: so will those be who are alive at Christs coming. And God could easily have extended the benefit of translation, but there are good reasons why He has not
(a) Such a course would have involved a perpetual miracle, and so have involved a waste of Divine power.
(b) By death Christs people become more exactly conformed to their Head.
(c) Death maintains a constant memorial of the evil of sin.
(d) The present abolition of death would deprive Christs second advent of half its splendour, and render the last judgment practically useless.
(2) Not continued existence merely to good men in opposition to annihilation. In this sense none shall see death. Continued existence will be the curse of the ungodly. They shall seek death, but death shall flee away from them.
2. Positively. Christs faithful people shall not see death
(1) In its natural horrors. Apart from the gospel death is a fearful enemy; but grace transforms it into a blessing, and makes it one of the things which work together for good. Death is yours if ye are Christs–a friendly messenger of deliverance. Hence the happy deaths of many Christians.
(2) Inasmuch as the prospect of death is neutralized by that of a joyful resurrection. (Jabez Bunting, D. D.)
Christs saying and the reward of keeping it
I. WHAT IS CHRISTS SAYING?
1. The law, promulgated in spirit and effect in Paradise, republished at Sinai, and reinforced by the Sermon on the Mount. This law was given to create a sense of sin and of the necessity of a Saviour, and so prepared the way for
2. The gospel (Rom 8:2-3). The law is the storm that drives the traveller to the shelter, the condemnation that makes the criminal long for and use the means for securing a reprieve.
II. WHAT IS IT TO KEEP CHRISTS SAYING?
1. Reading it carefully and constantly.
2. Hearing it, Faith cometh by hearing.
3. Understanding it. What we thoroughly understand we do not easily forget.
4. Obeying it. This fixes it in the memory.
III. THE REWARD OF KEEPING CHRISTS SAYING. He shall never see
(1) Spiritual death. The word which is spirit and life is the seed of regeneration.
(2) Eternal death. Christs saying is a promise of a blessed immortality which the keeper thereof by faith has made his own. (I. Saunders.)
What saying is it to which our Lord refers?
Our Lord uttered multitudes of sayings while He was upon the earth. He was a great speaker; no man spake like Him. He was the greatest of talkers; and hence innumerable sayings dropped from His lips–parables, proverbs, criticisms, invitations, exhortations, warnings, commandments, remonstrances, encouragements, and exceeding great and precious promises. To which of His sayings, then, is it that He here refers? I would say in reply, that it is not to any single saying in particular, any detached or separate saying, that our Lord had reference. To hit at random on any one of His multitudinous sayings would indicate an utter ineptitude for the grasp of the Saviours ideas, or indeed for the grasp of anyones ideas. What then? The saying referred to is manifestly that grand multiple message from God to men which constituted the sum total of our Lords teaching. Or we might put it thus: It is the sum total or condensed essence of all the revelations that were divinely made by our Lord, in our Lord, and through our Lord. And what is that? It is evidently the glorious gospel of Gods grace, the good news and glad tidings coming from behind the veil of all terrestrial things, and manifesting to men a living, loving, compassionating, sin-hating, yet sin-forgiving God. It is, in short, the joyful announcement of free and full salvation for the chief of sinners. That, that is the saying, the life-giving saying, of Christ Jesus, which, if a man keeps, he shall never see death. Whosoever liveth, said our Lord to Martha, and believeth in Me shall never die. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Would you wish to be in the blissful condition depicted in our Saviours language? Then keep His saying. Keep His words. Keep His Word. Keep the truth about Himself; keep Himself, the living Word, the living gospel. Keep Him in your thoughts, affections, mind, heart. Let everything slip and pass away from you which you cannot keep side by side with Him. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Immunity from death
What means the Saviour? Death is. It is a reality. It exists far and wide over the length and breadth of this world, in which we are all tenants at will. But in the profounder and only awful acceptation of the term, death will never come nigh the man who keeps Christs saying.
1. The grave is dark: Death to the unbeliever is like a sky with neither sun, nor moon, nor stars overhead, and no prospect of a dawn on the morrow. Is it not so? Is not that the death that is looming over the impenitent? If it bet never shall the man who believes in Jesus, and who keeps the saying of Jesus, never shall he see death, never shall he die. The true believer of Christs gospel dwells in true light; and lives in it. Contact with Jesus insures his illumination; and all the way along lifes highways and byways he enjoys the light.
2. Many regard death as the total and final rupture and cessation of all further possibilities of sweet companionship and friendship. He who dies enters inevitably, according to their anticipation, into utter loneliness and dreariness. He is deserted forever. But, most assuredly, there is no such death to the believing. Their true life is not cut short at the end, or arrested midway, or otherwise impaired. It has no end and no interruption. It is life everlasting. And one of the many true elements that enter into the blessedness that is its nature is everlasting companionship with the holy and the happy in glory.
3. To multitudes death means violent removal from all their carefully accumulated treasures, all their most highly-prized possessions. Death to the unbeliever is the loss, not only of all these things, but likewise of all possibility of the enjoyment of them, and of the enjoyment of any possession whatsoever. But if so, if all this be death, then the believer in Jesus will never see it; for that which men call death, in their common parlance with one another, will only translate the believer into the possession of the fulness of life and joy. Neither things present, nor things to come, neither things below, nor things above, no depth, no height, no length, no breadth, will be able to separate the believer from that love of God and of Jesus which is the never-failing source and fountain of inextinguishable bliss. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The unimportance of death to a Christian
It is a matter of small importance how a man dies. If he is prepared, if he is a Christian, it matters not how he goes to his crown. There have been some triumphant deaths, some wonderful deaths, before which the gates of paradise seem to swing open and flood them with light, and the superior splendour of the invisible turned the dying hour into the souls nuptials. Such were the deaths of St. Stephen and Polycarp, of Latimer and Payson and Hervey, and of some known to you and to me. But such angels visits to the dying couch are few and far between. Most souls go out in clouds or storms; in unconsciousness or pain. But what does it matter? The only sinless soul that ever descended the valley of the shadow of death cried from the Stygian darkness and solitude, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? But in that hour He conquered! He vanquished death and robbed the grave of its victory. What does it matter, then, if we follow Him through the darkness to the light, through the battle to the triumph? What does it matter if I tremble? Underneath me are the everlasting arms. What does it matter if I cannot see? He is leading me through the ebon shades. What does it matter if I seem alone? He goes with me, as He has gone so often with others before, through what seems the untrod solitudes of death. The last hour of the labourers summer day may be hot and weary, but the rest of eventide will be sweet, and the night will be cool. The last mile of the homeward journey may burn the travellers bleeding feet, but love and welcome will soothe the pain and wipe the pilgrims brow. As we approach the land, the winds may be boisterous, and the waves break loud upon the rocky coast; but the harbour will throw its protecting arms around the home-bound ship, and we shall be safe. (R. S. Barrett.)
The antidote of death
I. THE ANTIDOTE ITSELF. The text suggests
1. The life-giving power of the Word of Christ. We all know something of the power of a word–of an orator on his audience, of a general on his army, of a friend on his tempted or afflicted associate. Hence, we may conceive how a saying of Christ may have power. He in fact is the Word, and His words are spirit and life. Thus we read that we are born again by it, and that it must dwell in us richly, which shows that the Word of Christ is the seed corn of the souls life, which sown in the heart germinates into the tree of righteousness.
2. The reception which the Word of Christ requires. It is necessary that it should be listened to, understood and remembered: but all this may be done without the experience of its life-giving virtue. It must as seed be hid in the soul accompanied by the energy of the Holy Ghost. We do not keep it unless we live in Christ, walk in Christ, and have our whole being fashioned after Him. Without this literary knowledge and controversial defence of it are worthless.
3. Here we see
(1) The proof of the conscious Divinity of our Lord. None else ever dared to say this.
(2) The extent of His life-giving power. This wonderful saying is confined to none.
(3) The necessity of a Christian life here. The antidote must be applied before the mischief has done its last and fatal work.
II. THE OPERATION OF THIS ANTIDOTE.
1. Negatively. Not exemption from the common lot.
(1) Constantly occurring facts forbid this. The righteous man dies as well as the sinner.
(2) The necessities and frailties of our own frame forbid this. We no sooner begin to live than we begin to die.
(3) Scripture forbids this.
2. Positively. The leading thought is brought out fully in Joh 5:24.
(1) The penalties of the second death will be avoided.
(2) The terrors of physical death will be mitigated.
(3) The consequences of physical death will be overcome.
(4) The souls highest life will be perfected.
Conclusion
1. See the power of Christianity. Nothing else can conquer death–no philosophy, morality, religion.
2. Hence the importance of keeping the saying of Christ–not admiring it merely.
3. What solace does this truth afford a dying world? (H. Gammidge.)
The undying
This is part of Christs answer to the charge of Joh 8:48. The latter portion of the charge was answered in Joh 8:49-50; the former, Thou art a Samaritan, answered here. The Samaritans held the Sadducees doctrine of annihilation. Christ proves that He is not a Samaritan, but He proves far more.
I. A DUTY OF THE PRESENT. If a man keep, etc.
1. The Word of Christ is a comprehensive term for the substance of His teaching: repentance; trust in the saving grace of God in Christ; response to the love of God; the practice of holiness, philanthropy, etc.
2. Keeping His Word implies that it is
(1) A revelation to be retained in the mind.
(2) A stay and comfort for the heart.
(3) A rule of conduct for the life.
3. If a man makes the statement universally applicable. Therefore its efficacy is essential, not accidental or arbitrary.
II. A DOCTRINE OF THE FUTURE. He shall never, etc. One interpretation is that certain persons mortal by nature are to be made immortal. The meaning to be preferred is that to such the earthly experience of dying will not be the same as to the unrighteous, that for them there is and will be the realization of a deathless life. Look at this
1. As a revelation. It is of the first magnitude. The Rig Veda–oldest of Hindoo sacred books–does not even hint this. Moses is silent, at least oracular. There gradually grew up in Judaism a hope of it. In Christs time Jewish opinion was divided. Christ speaks clearly, authoritatively. The words are best taken simply, and mean that what makes death truly death will be removed. The sting of death, and consequent separation from God will no longer exist. As this involves a continuity of experience from the present to the heavenly state, it is obvious that the believer is conceived of as at once entering into eternal life with the first act of faith that unites him to Christ. The life thus begun and continued is one life, and must signify, therefore, more than mere duration, viz., a spiritual relation and condition.
2. As a conditional promise. If a man keep, etc., discovers
(1) The basis of this life–a Word, or Christ Himself as the Word, i.e., a spiritual, intelligible entity (Is not this mortal life built upon and out of ideas?). My Words, they are spirit and life. The Divine life of the spirit of man is
(a) Word created.
(b) Word sustained and continued.
(c) Word enlarged and glorified.
(2) That it is a contingent and not an absolute possession. Keep. With what earnestness ought we to lay hold on this life, and so guard and cultivate it that we shall never lose it! He that keeps Christs word will be kept by it. (A. F. Muir, M. A.)
Death invisible to the Christian
He who follows the light of life which shines from the words of Jesus, does not see death, just as one who goes to meet the sun does not see the shadows behind him. (Rieger.)
Christians do not taste of death
A daughter of Mrs. Gov. Wright recently passed away amid Tabor splendour. As she approached death, she said, Im going up! Im going up! You see Im going up on the ineffable glory. What a glorious approach! To her husband she said, Oh! if you could only see what I see, you would know why I long to go. To her pastor, who was reading of the valley of the shadow of death, she said, There is no valley. The night preceding her death, she abode in the third heaven of rapture. Being informed that her feet were in the Jordan, she said, Oh, I am so glad! Her last words were, Jesus is peace. (C. D.Foss.)
Oh what has the Lord discovered to me this night! Oh the glory of God! the glory of God and heaven! Oh the lovely beauty, the happiness, of paradise! God is all love, He is nothing but love. Oh, help me praise Him! Oh, help me to praise Him! I shall praise Him forever! I shall praise Him forever. (Robert Wilkinson.)
Glory to God in the height of His Divinity! Glory to God in the depths of His humanity! Glory to God in His all-sufficiency. Into His hands I commend my spirit. (Edward Perronet.)
Believers never see death
His (John Wesleys) death scene was one of the most peaceful and triumphant in the annals of the Church. Prayer, praise, and thankfulness were ever on His lips. Many golden sentences, worthy to be had in everlasting remembrance, were uttered during his last hours. Our friend Lazarus sleepeth. He is all! He is all! There is no need for more than what I said in Bristol; my words then were–I the chief of sinners am, But Jesus died for me! We have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That is the foundation, the only foundation, and there is no other. How necessary it is for everyone to be on the right foundation! The Lord is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge. Never mind the poor carcase. The clouds drop fatness. He giveth His servants rest. Be causeth His servants to lie down in peace. Ill praise: Ill praise. Lord, Thou givest strength to those that can speak, and to those that cannot. Speak, Lord, to all our hearts, and let them know that Thou looseth the tongue. Jesus! Jesus! His lips are wetted, and he says his usual grace, We thank Thee, O Lord, for these and all Thy mercies. Bless the Church and king; and grant us truth and peace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, forever and ever. Those who look out of the windows are darkened, and he sees only the shadow of his friends around his bed: Who are these? We are come to rejoice with you: you are going to receive your crown. It is the Lords doing, he calmly replies, and marvellous in our eyes. I will write, he exclaims, and the materials are placed within his reach; but the right hand has forgotten her cunning, and the pen of the once ready writer refuses to move. Let me write for you, sir, says an attendant. What would you say? Nothing, but that God is with us. Now we have done all. Let us all go. And now, with all his remaining strength, he cries out, The best of all is, God is with us! And again, lifting up his fleshless arm in token of victory, and raising his failing voice to a pitch of holy triumph, he repeats the heart-reviving words, The best of all is, God is with us! A few minutes before ten oclock on the morning of the 2nd of March, 1791, he slowly and feebly whispered, Farewell! farewell!–and, literally, without a lingering groan, calmly fell on sleep, having served his generation by the will of God. (H. Moore.)
Happy dying
I am so far from fearing death, which to others is the king of terrors, exclaimed Dr. Donne, that I long for the time of dissolution. When Mr. Venn inquired of the Rev. W. Grimshaw how he did, As happy as I can be on earth, and at sure of glory as if I were in it: I have nothing to do but to step out of this bed into heaven. The fear of death destroyed:–Fox relates, in his Acts and Monuments, that a Dutch martyr, feeling the flames, said, Ah, what a small pain is this, compared with the glory to come! The same author tells us that John Noyes took up a faggot at the fire, and kissing it, said, Blessed be the time that ever I was born, to come to this preferment. When an ancient martyr was severely threatened by his persecutors, he replied, There is nothing visible or invisible that I fear. I will stand to my profession of the name and faith of Christ, come of it what will. Hilary said to his soul, Thou hast served Christ this seventy years, and art thou afraid of death? Go out, soul, go out! An old minister remarked, a little before his death, I cannot say I have so lived as that I should not now be afraid to die; but I can say I have so learned Christ that I am not afraid to die. A friend, surprised at the serenity and cheerfulness which the Rev. Ebenezer Erskine possessed in the immediate view of death and eternity, proposed the question, Sir, are you not afraid of your sins? Indeed, no, was his answer; ever since I knew Christ I have never thought highly of my frames and duties, nor am I slavishly afraid of my sins. (Religious Tract Society Anecdotes.)
Contrasts in death
One of our old Scottish ministers, two hundred years ago, lay dying. At his bedside were several of his beloved brethren, watching his departure. Opening his eyes, he spoke to them these singular words: Fellow passengers to glory, how far am I from the New Jerusalem? Not very far, was the loving answer; and the good man departed, to be with Christ. Im dying, said one of a different stamp, and I dont know where Im going. Im dying, said another, and its all dark. I feel, said another, as if I were going down, down, down! A great and a terrible God, said another, three times over; I dare not meet Him. Stop that clock! cried another, whose eye rested intently on a clock which hung opposite the bed. He knew he was dying and he was unready. He had the impression that he was to die at midnight. He heard the ticking of the clock, and it was agony in his ear. He saw the hands, minute by minute, approaching the dreaded hour, and he had no hope. In his blind terror he cried out, Stop that clock! Alas! what would the stopping of the clock do for him? Time would move on all the same. Eternity would approach all the same. The stopping of the clock would not prepare him to meet his God.
Realizations of the text
Throw back the shutters and let the sun in, said dying Scoville MCollum, one of my Sabbath school boys. (Talmage.)
Light breaks in! light breaks in! Hallelujah! exclaimed one when dying. Sargeant, the biographer of Martyn, spoke of glory, glory, and of that bright light; and when asked, What light? answered, his face kindling into a holy fervour, The light of the Sun of Righteousness. A blind Hindoo boy, when dying, said joyfully, I see I now I have light. I see Him in His beauty. Tell the missionary that the blind see. I glory in Christ. Thomas Jewett, referring to the dying expression of the English infidel, Im going to take a leap in the dark, said to those at his bedside, Im going to take a leap in the light. While still another dying saint said, I am not afraid to plunge into eternity. A wounded soldier, when asked if he were prepared to depart, said, Oh yes; my Saviour, in whom I have long trusted, is with me now, and His smile lights up the dark valley for me. A dying minister said, It is just as I said it would be, There is no valley, emphatically, repeating, Oh, no valley. It is clear and bright–a kings highway. The light of an everlasting life seemed to dawn upon his heart; and touched with its glory, he went, already crowned, into the New Jerusalem. A Christian woman lay dying. Visions of heaven came to her. She was asked if she really saw heaven. Her answer was, I know I saw heaven; but one thing I did not see, the valley of the shadow of death. I saw the suburbs. A young man who had but lately found Jesus was laid upon his dying bed. A friend who stood over him asked, Is it dark? I shall never, said he, forget his reply. No, no, he exclaimed, it is all light! light! light! and thus triumphantly passed away. (American Messenger.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 51. Shall never see death.] As Moses promised a long life, with abundance of temporal blessings, to those who should keep his statutes and ordinances, so he who keeps my doctrine shall not only have a long life, but shall never see death-he shall never come under the power of the death of the soul, but shall live eternally with me in glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To see death, in this text, signifieth to die, but in an apparently differing sense from what it is taken in Luk 2:26, where it is to be understood of a natural death; of which it cannot be understood here, for the holiest men shall die: the body is dead (that is, in dying) because of sin; or, shall die because of sin, Rom 8:10. It must therefore be understood of death eternal; and in that sense the proposition is certainly true, That a holy man that keepeth the sayings of Christ shall not see death, that is, shall have eternal life; which is no more than what we have often before met with, viz. the promise of life eternal to faith and holiness.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
51. If a man keep my saying, heshall never see deathPartly thus vindicating His lofty claimsas Lord of the kingdom of life everlasting, and, at the same time,holding out even to His revilers the scepter of grace. The word”keep” is in harmony with Joh8:31, “If ye continue in My word,” expressingthe permanency, as a living and paramount principle, of that faith towhich He referred: “never see death,” thoughvirtually uttered before (Joh 5:24;Joh 6:40; Joh 6:47;Joh 6:51), is the strongest andmost naked statement of a very glorious truth yet given. (In Joh11:26 it is repeated in nearly identical terms).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Verily, verily, I say unto you,…. This is truth, and may be depended upon, as coming from the “Amen”, and faithful witness:
if a man keep my saying; or doctrine, receives the Gospel in the love of it, obeys it from his heart, and cordially embraces and firmly believes it; and retains and holds it fast, having a spiritual and comfortable experience of the doctrines of Christ, and yielding a cheerful and ready obedience to his commands and ordinances, in faith and love:
he shall never see death; the second death, eternal death, which is an everlasting separation of a man, body and soul, from God: this death shall have no power on such a person, he shall never be hurt by it; and though he dies a corporeal death, that shall not be a curse, a penal evil to him; nor shall he always lie under the power of it, but shall rise again, and live in soul and body, for ever with the Lord: seeing and tasting death, as in Joh 8:52, are Hebraisms expressive of dying.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ’s Discourse with the Pharisees |
| |
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death. 52 Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. 53 Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? 54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God: 55 Yet ye have not known him; but I know him: and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I know him, and keep his saying. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad. 57 Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am. 59 Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.
In these verses we have,
I. The doctrine of the immortality of believers laid down, v. 51. It is ushered in with the usual solemn preface, Verily, verily, I say unto you, which commands both attention and assent, and this is what he says, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never see death. Here we have, 1. The character of a believer: he is one that keeps the sayings of the Lord Jesus, ton logon ton emon—my word; that word of mine which I have delivered to you; this we must not only receive, but keep; not only have, but hold. We must keep it in mind and memory, keep it in love and affection, so keep it as in nothing to violate it or go contrary to it, keep it without spot (1 Tim. vi. 14), keep it as a trust committed to us, keep in it as our way, keep to it as our rule. 2. The privilege of a believer: He shall by no means see death for ever; so it is in the original. Not as if the bodies of believers were secured from the stroke of death. No, even the children of the Most High must die like men, and the followers of Christ have been, more than other men, in deaths often, and killed all the day long; how then is this promise made good that they shall not see death? Answer, (1.) The property of death is so altered to them that they do not see it as death, they do not see the terror of death, it is quite taken off; their sight does not terminate in death, as theirs does who live by sense; no, they look so clearly, so comfortably, through death, and beyond death, and are so taken up with their state on the other side death, that they overlook death, and see it not. (2.) The power of death is so broken that though there is no remedy, but they must see death, yet they shall not see death for ever, shall not be always shut up under its arrests, the day will come when death shall be swallowed up in victory. (3.) They are perfectly delivered from eternal death, shall not be hurt of the second death. That is the death especially meant here, that death which is for ever, which is opposed to everlasting life; this they shall never see, for they shall never come into condemnation; they shall have their everlasting lot where there will be no more death, where they cannot die any more, Luke xx. 36. Though now they cannot avoid seeing death, and tasting it too, yet they shall shortly be there where it will be seen no more for ever, Exod. xiv. 13.
II. The Jews cavil at this doctrine. Instead of laying hold of this precious promise of immortality, which the nature of man has an ambition of (who is there that does not love life, and dread the sight of death?) they lay hold of this occasion to reproach him that makes them so kind an offer: Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead. Observe here,
1. Their railing: “Now we know that thou hast a devil, that thou art a madman; thou ravest, and sayest thou knowest not what.” See how these swine trample underfoot the precious pearls of gospel promises. If now at last they had evidence to prove him mad, why did they say (v. 48), before they had that proof, Thou hast a devil? But this is the method of malice, first to fasten an invidious charge, and then to fish for evidence of it: Now we know that thou hast a devil. If he had not abundantly proved himself a teacher come from God, his promises of immortality to his credulous followers might justly have been ridiculed, and charity itself would have imputed them to a crazed fancy; but his doctrine was evidently divine, his miracles confirmed it, and the Jews’ religion taught them to expect such a prophet, and to believe in him; for them therefore thus to reject him was to abandon that promise to which their twelve tribes hoped to come, Acts xxvi. 7.
2. Their reasoning, and the colour they had to run him down thus. In short, they look upon him as guilty of an insufferable piece of arrogance, in making himself greater than Abraham and the prophets: Abraham is dead, and the prophets, they are dead too; very true, by the same token that these Jews were the genuine offspring of those that killed them. Now, (1.) It is true that Abraham and the prophets were great men, great in the favour of God, and great in the esteem of all good men. (2.) It is true that they kept God’s sayings, and were obedient to them; and yet, (3.) It is true that they died; they never pretended to have, much less to give, immortality, but every one in his own order was gathered to his people. It was their honour that they died in faith, but die they must. Why should a good man be afraid to die, when Abraham is dead, and the prophets are dead? They have tracked the way through that darksome valley, which should reconcile us to death and help to take off the terror of it. Now they think Christ talks madly, when he saith, If a man keep my sayings, he shall never taste death. Tasting death means the same thing with seeing it; and well may death be represented as grievous to several of the senses, which is the destruction of them all. Now their arguing goes upon two mistakes:– [1.] They understood Christ of an immortality in this world, and this was a mistake. In the sense that Christ spoke, it was not true that Abraham and the prophets were dead, for God is still the God of Abraham and the God of the holy prophets (Rev. xxii. 6); now God is not the God of the dead, but of the living; therefore Abraham and the prophets are still alive, and, as Christ meant it, they had not seen nor tasted death. [2.] They thought none could be greater than Abraham and the prophets, whereas they could not but know that the Messiah would be greater than Abraham or any of the prophets; they did virtuously, but he excelled them all; nay, they borrowed their greatness from him. It was the honour of Abraham that he was the Father of the Messiah, and the honour of the prophets that they testified beforehand concerning him: so that he certainly obtained a far more excellent name than they. Therefore, instead of inferring from Christ’s making himself greater than Abraham that he had a devil, they should have inferred from his proving himself so (by doing the works which neither Abraham nor the prophets ever did) that he was the Christ; but their eyes were blinded. They scornfully asked, Whom makest thou thyself? As if he had been guilty of pride and vain-glory; whereas he was so far from making himself greater than he was that he now drew a veil over his own glory, emptied himself, and made himself less than he was, and was the greatest example of humility that ever was.
III. Christ’s reply to this cavil; still he vouchsafes to reason with them, that every mouth may be stopped. No doubt he could have struck them dumb or dead upon the spot, but this was the day of his patience.
1. In his answer he insists not upon his own testimony concerning himself, but waives it as not sufficient nor conclusive (v. 54): If I honour myself, my honour is nothing, ean ego doxazo—if I glorify myself. Note, Self-honour is no honour; and the affectation of glory is both the forfeiture and the defeasance of it: it is not glory (Prov. xxv. 27), but so great a reproach that there is no sin which men are more industrious to hide than this; even he that most affects praise would not be thought to do it. Honour of our own creating is a mere chimera, has nothing in it, and therefore is called vain-glory. Self-admirers are self-deceivers. Our Lord Jesus was not one that honoured himself, as they represented him; he was crowned by him who is the fountain of honour, and glorified not himself to be made a high priest, Heb 5:4; Heb 5:5.
2. He refers himself to his Father, God; and to their father, Abraham.
(1.) To his Father, God: It is my Father that honoureth me. By this he means, [1.] That he derived from his Father all the honour he now claimed; he had commanded them to believe in him, to follow him, and to keep his word, all which put an honour upon him; but it was the Father that laid help upon him, that lodged all fulness in him, that sanctified him, and sealed him, and sent him into the world to receive all the honours due to the Messiah, and this justified him in all these demands of respect. [2.] That he depended upon his Father for all the honour he further looked for. He courted not the applauses of the age, but despised them; for his eye and heart were upon the glory which the Father had promised him, and which he had with the Father before the world was. He aimed at an advancement with which the Father was to exalt him, a name he was to give him,Phi 2:8; Phi 2:9. Note, Christ and all that are his depend upon God for their honour; and he that is sure of honour where he is known cares not though he be slighted where he is in disguise. Appealing thus often to his Father, and his Father’s testimony of him, which yet the Jews did not admit nor give credit to,
First, He here takes occasion to show the reason of their incredulity, notwithstanding this testimony–and this was their unacquaintedness with God; as if he had said, “But why should I talk to you of my Father’s honouring me, when he is one you know nothing of? You say of him that he is your God, yet you have not known him.” Here observe,
a. The profession they made of relation to God: “You say that he is your God, the God you have chosen, and are in covenant with; you say that you are Israel; but all are not so indeed that are of Israel,” Rom. ix. 6. Note, Many pretend to have an interest in God, and say that he is theirs, who yet have no just cause to say so. Those who called themselves the temple of the Lord, having profaned the excellency of Jacob, did but trust in lying words. What will it avail us to say, He is our God, if we be not in sincerity his people, nor such as he will own? Christ mentions here their profession of relation to God, as that which was an aggravation of their unbelief. All people will honour those whom their God honours; but these Jews, who said that the Lord was their God, studied how to put the utmost disgrace upon one upon whom their God put honour. Note, The Profession we make of a covenant relation to God, and an interest in him, if it be not improved by us will be improved against us.
b. Their ignorance of him, and estrangement from him, notwithstanding this profession: Yet you have not known him. (a.) You know him not at all. These Pharisees were so taken up with the study of their traditions concerning things foreign and trifling that they never minded the most needful and useful knowledge; like the false prophets of old, who caused people to forget God’s name by their dreams, Jer. xxiii. 27. Or, (b.) You know him not aright, but mistake concerning him; and this is as bad as not knowing him at all, or worse. Men may be able to dispute subtly concerning God, and yet may think him such a one as themselves, and not know him. You say that he is yours, and it is natural to us to desire to know our own, yet you know him not. Note, There are many who claim-kindred to God who yet have no acquaintance with him. It is only the name of God which they have learned to talk of, and to hector with; but for the nature of God, his attributes and perfections, and relations to his creatures, they know nothing of the matter; we speak this to their shame, 1 Cor. xv. 34. Multitudes satisfy themselves, but deceive themselves, with a titular relation to an unknown God. This Christ charges upon the Jews here, [a.] To show how vain and groundless their pretensions of relation to God were. “You say that he is yours, but you give yourselves the lie, for it is plain that you do not know him;” and we reckon that a cheat is effectually convicted if it be found that he is ignorant of the persons he pretends alliance to. [b.] To show the true reason why they were not wrought upon by Christ’s doctrine and miracles. They knew not God; and therefore perceived not the image of God, nor the voice of God in Christ. Note, The reason why men receive not the gospel of Christ is because they have not the knowledge of God. Men submit not to the righteousness of Christ because they are ignorant of God’s righteousness, Rom. x. 3. They that know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put together, 2 Thess. i. 8.
Secondly, He gives them the reason of his assurance that his Father would honour him and own him: But I know him; and again, I know him; which bespeaks, not only his acquaintance with him, having lain in his bosom, but his confidence in him, to stand by him, and bear him out in his whole undertaking; as was prophesied concerning him (Isa 50:7; Isa 50:8), I know that I shall not be ashamed, for he is near that justifies; and as Paul, “I know whom I have believed (2 Tim. i. 12), I know him to be faithful, and powerful, and heartily engaged in the cause which I know to be his own.” Observe, 1. How he professes his knowledge of his Father, with the greatest certainty, as one that was neither afraid nor ashamed to own it: If I should say I know him not, I should be a liar like unto you. He would not deny his relation to God, to humour the Jews, and to avoid their reproaches, and prevent further trouble; nor would he retract what he had said, nor confess himself either deceived or a deceiver; if he should, he would be found a false witness against God and himself. Note, Those who disown their religion and relation to God, as Peter, are liars, as much as hypocrites are, who pretend to know him, when they do not. See 1Ti 6:13; 1Ti 6:14. Mr. Clark observes well, upon this, that it is a great sin to deny God’s grace in us. 2. How he proves his knowledge of his Father: I know him and keep his sayings, or his word. Christ, as man, was obedient to the moral law, and, as Redeemer, to the mediatorial law; and in both he kept his Father’s word, and his own word with the Father. Christ requires of us (v. 51) that we keep his sayings; and he has set before us a copy of obedience, a copy without a blot: he kept his Father’s sayings; well might he who learned obedience teach it; see Heb 5:8; Heb 5:9. Christ by this evinced that he knew the Father. Note, The best proof of our acquaintance with God is our obedience to him. Those only know God aright that keep his word; it is a ruled case, 1 John ii. 3. Hereby we know that we know him (and do not only fancy it), if we keep his commandments.
(2.) Christ refers them to their father, whom they boasted so much of a relation to, and that was Abraham, and this closes the discourse.
[1.] Christ asserts Abraham’s prospect of him, and respect to him: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad, v. 56. And by this he proves that he was not at all out of the way when he made himself greater than Abraham. Two things he here speaks of as instances of that patriarch’s respect to the promised Messiah:–
First, The ambition he had to see his day: He rejoiced, egalliasto—he leaped at it. The word, though it commonly signifies rejoicing, must here signify a transport of desire rather than of joy, for otherwise the latter part of the verse would be a tautology; he saw it, and was glad. He reached out, or stretched himself forth, that he might see my day; as Zaccheus, that ran before, and climbed the tree, to see Jesus. The notices he had received of the Messiah to come had raised in him an expectation of something great, which he earnestly longed to know more of. The dark intimation of that which is considerable puts men upon enquiry, and makes them earnestly ask Who? and What? and Where? and When? and How? And thus the prophets of the Old Testament, having a general idea of a grace that should come, searched diligently (1 Pet. i. 10), and Abraham was as industrious herein as any of them. God told him of a land that he would give his posterity, and of the wealth and honour he designed them (Gen. xv. 14); but he never leaped thus to see that day, as he did to see the day of the Son of man. He could not look with so much indifferency upon the promised seed as he did upon the promised land; in that he was, but to the other he could not be, contentedly a stranger. Note, Those who rightly know any thing of Christ cannot but be earnestly desirous to know more of him. Those who discern the dawning of the light of the Sun of righteousness cannot but wish to see his rising. The mystery of redemption is that which angels desire to look into, much more should we, who are more immediately concerned in it. Abraham desired to see Christ’s day, though it was at a great distance; but this degenerate seed of his discerned not his day, nor bade it welcome when it came. The appearing of Christ, which gracious souls love and long for, carnal hearts dread and loathe.
Secondly, The satisfaction he had in what he did see of it: He saw it, and was glad. Observe here,
a. How God gratified the pious desire of Abraham; he longed to see Christ’s day, and he saw it. Though he saw it not so plainly, and fully, and distinctly as we now see it under the gospel, yet he saw something of it, more afterwards than he did at first. Note, To him that has, and to him that asks, shall be given; to him that uses and improves what he has, and that desires and prays for more of the knowledge of Christ, God will give more. But how did Abraham see Christ’s day? (a.) Some understand it of the sight he had of it in the other world. The separate soul of Abraham, when the veil of flesh was rent, saw the mysteries of the kingdom of God in heaven. Calvin mentions this sense of it, and does not much disallow it. Note, The longings of gracious souls after Jesus Christ will be fully satisfied when they come to heaven, and not till then. But, (b.) It is more commonly understood of some sight he had of Christ’s day in this world. They that received not the promises, yet saw them afar off, Heb. xi. 13. Balaam saw Christ, but not now, not nigh. There is room to conjecture that Abraham had some vision of Christ and his day, for his own private satisfaction, which is not, nor must be, recorded in his story, like that of Daniel’s, which must be shut up, and sealed unto the time of the end, Dan. xii. 4. Christ knew what Abraham saw better than Moses did. But there are divers things recorded in which Abraham saw more of that which he longed to see than he did when the promise was first made to him. He saw in Melchizedek one made like unto the Son of God, and a priest for ever; he saw an appearance of Jehovah, attended with two angels, in the plains of Mamre. In the prevalency of his intercession for Sodom he saw a specimen of Christ’s intercession; in the casting out of Ishmael, and the establishment of the covenant with Isaac, he saw a figure of the gospel day, which is Christ’s day; for these things were an allegory. In offering Isaac, and the ram instead of Isaac, he saw a double type of the great sacrifice; and his calling the place Jehovah-jireh–It shall be seen, intimates that he saw something more in it than others did, which time would produce; and in making his servant put his hand under his thigh, when he swore, he had a regard to the Messiah.
b. How Abraham entertained these discoveries of Christ’s day, and bade them welcome: He saw, and was glad. He was glad of what he saw of God’s favour to himself, and glad of what he foresaw of the mercy God had in store for the world. Perhaps this refers to Abraham’s laughing when God assured him of a son by Sarah (Gen 17:16; Gen 17:17), for that was not a laughter of distrust as Sarah’s but of joy; in that promise he saw Christ’s day, and it filled him with joy unspeakable. Thus he embraced the promises. Note, A believing sight of Christ and his day will put gladness into the heart. No joy like the joy of faith; we are never acquainted with true pleasure till we are acquainted with Christ.
[2.] The Jews cavil at this, and reproach him for it (v. 57): Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Here, First, They suppose that if Abraham saw him and his day he also had seen Abraham, which yet was not a necessary innuendo, but this turn of his words would best serve to expose him; yet it was true that Christ had seen Abraham, and had talked with him as a man talks with his friend. Secondly, They suppose it a very absurd thing for him to pretend to have seen Abraham, who was dead so many ages before he was born. The state of the dead is an invisible state; but here they ran upon the old mistake, understanding that corporally which Christ spoke spiritually. Now this gave them occasion to despise his youth, and to upbraid him with it, as if he were but of yesterday, and knew nothing: Thou art not yet fifty years old. They might as well have said, Thou art not forty; for he was now but thirty-two or thirty-three years old. As to this, Irenus, one of the first fathers, with this passage supports the tradition which he says he had from some that had conversed with St. John, that our Saviour lived to be fifty years old, which he contends for, Advers. Hres. lib. 2, cap. 39, 40. See what little credit is to be given to tradition; and, as to this here, the Jews spoke at random; some year they would mention, and therefore pitched upon one that they thought he was far enough short of; he did not look to be forty, but they were sure he could not be fifty, much less contemporary with Abraham. Old age is reckoned to begin at fifty (Num. iv. 47), so that they meant no more than this, “Thou art not to be reckoned an old man; many of us are much thy seniors, and yet pretend not to have seen Abraham.” Some think that his countenance was so altered, with grief and watching, that, together with the gravity of his aspect, it made him look like a man of fifty years old: his visage was so marred, Isa. lii. 14.
[3.] Our Saviour gives an effectual answer to this cavil, by a solemn assertion of his own seniority even to Abraham himself (v. 58): “Verily, verily, I say unto you; I do not only say it in private to my own disciples, who will be sure to say as I say, but to you my enemies and persecutors; I say it to your faces, take it how you will: Before Abraham was, I am;” prin Abraam genesthai, ego eimi, Before Abraham was made or born, I am. The change of the word is observable, and bespeaks Abraham a creature, and himself the Creator; well therefore might he make himself greater than Abraham. Before Abraham he was, First, As God. I am, is the name of God (Exod. iii. 14); it denotes his self-existence; he does not say, I was, but I am, for he is the first and the last, immutably the same (Rev. i. 8); thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds,Joh 1:1; Pro 8:23. Secondly, As Mediator. He was the appointed Messiah, long before Abraham; the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Rev. xiii. 8), the channel of conveyance of light, life, and love from God to man. This supposes his divine nature, that he is the same in himself from eternity (Heb. xiii. 8), and that he is the same to man ever since the fall; he was made of God wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, to Adam, and Abel, and Enoch, and Noah, and Shem, and all the patriarchs that lived and died by faith in him before Abraham was born. Abraham was the root of the Jewish nation, the rock out of which they were hewn. If Christ was before Abraham, his doctrine and religion were no novelty, but were, in the substance of them, prior to Judaism, and ought to take place of it.
[4.] This great word ended the dispute abruptly, and put a period to it: they could bear to hear no more from him, and he needed to say no more to them, having witnessed this good confession, which was sufficient to support all his claims. One would think that Christ’s discourse, in which shone so much both of grace and glory, should have captivated them all; but their inveterate prejudice against the holy spiritual doctrine and law of Christ, which were so contrary to their pride and worldliness, baffled all the methods of conviction. Now was fulfilled that prophecy (Mal 3:1; Mal 3:2), that when the messenger of the covenant should come to his temple they would not abide the day of his coming, because he would be like a refiner’s fire. Observe here,
First, How they were enraged at Christ for what he said: They took up stones to cast at him, v. 59. Perhaps they looked upon him as a blasphemer, and such were indeed to be stoned (Lev. xxiv. 16); but they must be first legally tried and convicted. Farewell justice and order if every man pretend to execute a law at his pleasure. Besides, they had said but just now that he was a distracted crack-brained man, and if so it was against all reason and equity to punish him as a malefactor for what he said. They took up stones. Dr. Lightfoot will tell you how they came to have stones so ready in the temple; they had workmen at this time repairing the temple, or making some additions, and the pieces of stone which they hewed off served for this purpose. See here the desperate power of sin and Satan in and over the children of disobedience. Who would think that ever there should be such wickedness as this in men, such an open and daring rebellion against one that undeniably proved himself to be the Son of God? Thus every one has a stone to throw at his holy religion, Acts xxviii. 22.
Secondly, How he made his escape out of their hands. 1. He absconded; Jesus hid himself; ekrybe—he was hid, either by the crowd of those that wished well to him, to shelter him (he that ought to have been upon a throne, high and lifted up, is content to be lost in a crowd); or perhaps he concealed himself behind some of the walls or pillars of the temple (in the secret of his tabernacle he shall hide me, Ps. xxvii. 5); or by a divine power, casting a mist before their eyes, he made himself invisible to them. When the wicked rise a man is hidden, a wise and good man, Pro 28:12; Pro 28:28. Not that Christ was afraid or ashamed to stand by what he had said, but his hour was not yet come, and he would countenance the flight of his ministers and people in times of persecution, when they are called to it. The Lord hid Jeremiah and Baruch, Jer. xxxvi. 26. 2. He departed, he went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, undiscovered, and so passed by. This was not a cowardly inglorious flight, nor such as argued either guilt or fear. It was foretold concerning him that he should not fail nor be discouraged, Isa. xlii. 4. But, (1.) It was an instance of his power over his enemies, and that they could do no more against him than he gave them leave to do; by which it appears that when afterwards he was taken in their pits he offered himself, ch. x. 18. They now thought they had made sure of him and yet he passed through the midst of them, either their eyes being blinded or their hands tied, and thus he left them to fume, like a lion disappointed of his prey. (2.) It was an instance of his prudent provision for his own safety, when he knew that his work was not done, nor his testimony finished; thus he gave an example to his own rule, When they persecute you in one city flee to another; nay, if occasion be, to a wilderness, for so Elijah did (1Ki 19:3; 1Ki 19:4), and the woman, the church, Rev. xii. 6. When they took up loose stones to throw at Christ, he could have commanded the fixed stones, which did cry out of the wall against them, to avenge his cause, or the earth to open and swallow them up; but he chose to accommodate himself to the state he was in, to make the example imitable by the prudence of his followers, without a miracle. (3.) It was a righteous deserting of those who (worse than the Gadarenes, who prayed him to depart) stoned him from among them. Christ will not long stay with those who bid him be gone. Christ did again visit the temple after this; as one loth to depart, he bade oft farewell; but at last he abandoned it for ever, and left it desolate. Christ now went through the midst of the Jews, and none of them courted his stay, nor stirred up himself to take hold of him, but were even content to let him go. Note, God never forsakes any till they have first provoked him to withdraw, and will have none of him. Calvin observes that these chief priests, when they had driven Christ out of the temple, valued themselves on the possession they kept of it: “But,” says he, “those deceive themselves who are proud of a church or temple which Christ has forsaken.” Longe falluntur, cum templum se habere putant Deo vacuum. When Christ left them it is said that he passed by silently and unobserved; paregen houtos, so that they were not aware of him. Note, Christ’s departures from a church, or a particular soul, are often secret, and not soon taken notice of. As the kingdom of God comes not, so it goes not, with observation. See Judg. xvi. 20. Samson wist not that the Lord was departed from him. Thus it was with these forsaken Jews, God left them, and they never missed him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
If a man keep my word ( ). Condition of third class with and constative aorist active subjunctive of . Repeated in verse 52. See verse 43 about hearing the word of Christ. Common phrase in John (John 8:51; John 8:52; John 8:55; John 14:23; John 14:24; John 15:20; John 17:6; 1John 2:5). Probably the same idea as keeping the commands of Christ (14:21).
He shall never see death ( ). Spiritual death, of course. Strong double negative with first aorist active subjunctive of . The phrase “see death” is a Hebraism (Ps 89:48) and occurs with (see) in Luke 2:26; Heb 11:5. No essential difference meant between and . See Joh 14:23 for the blessed fellowship the Father and the Son have with the one who keeps Christ’s word.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Keep [] . See on 1Pe 1:4.
Saying [] . Better, word, as Rev. See on ver. 43.
He shall not see death [ ] . The phrase qewrein qanaton, to see death, occurs only here in the New Testament. The double negative signifies in nowise, by no means. Qewrhsh see, denoting steady, protracted vision, is purposely used, because the promise contemplates the entire course of the believer ‘s life in Christ. It is not, shall not die forever, but shall live eternally. Upon this life, which is essentially the negation and contradiction of death, the believer enters from the moment of his union with Christ, and moves along its entire course, in time no less than in eternity, seeing only life, and with his back turned on death. The reverse of this truth, in connection with the same verb, is painfully suggestive. The question is pertinent why the Revisers have retained see, and have not substituted behold, as in so many instances.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Verily, verily, I say unto you,” (amen amen lego humin) “Truly, truly, I tell you all,” certifying the absolute trustworthiness of what He said and taught, Psa 119:160.
2) “If a man keep my sayings,” (ean tis ton emon logon terese) ”If anyone keeps or guards my words,” teachings, sayings, o. “my words” as expressed Joh 5:24; Joh 14:15-23; Joh 15:10-20; He referred to the sayings His Father had taught” Him, Joh 8:28.
3) “He shall never see death.” (thanaton ou me theorese eis ton aiona) “He will not behold death into the age,” the new heaven age. The term “death” is used in the sense of separation from God, or cut off from union and fellowship with God. This is the same sense in which it was first used in the Bible, when God warned Adam and Eve “Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” Gen 2:17; Gen 3:23-24. Death is used here in the sense that the one who believes not shall not see life,” Joh 3:36; Joh 5:24; Joh 11:26.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
51. Verily, verily, I say to you. Christ unquestionably knew that some persons in that multitude were curable, and that others of them were not opposed to his doctrine. For this reason, he intended to terrify the wicked whose malice was desperate, but to do so in such a manner as to leave ground of consolation for the good, or to draw to him those who were not yet ruined. Whatever dislike of the word of God, therefore, may be entertained by the greatest part of men, yet the faithful teacher ought not to be wholly employed in reproving the wicked, but ought also to impart the doctrine of salvation to the children of God, and endeavor to bring them to sound views, if there be any of them who are not perfectly incurable. In this passage, therefore, Christ promises eternal life to his disciples, but demands disciples who shall not only prick up their ears, like asses, or profess with the mouth that they approve of his doctrine, but who shall keep his doctrine as a precious treasure. He says that they shall never see death; for, when faith quickens the soul of a man, death already has its sting extracted and its venom removed, and so cannot inflict a deadly wound.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(51) If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.Better, If a man keep My word. Our version obscures the close connection with the thought of continuing in His word in Joh. 8:31; and also that with He that heareth my word, in Joh. 5:24. This last passage is the key to the words before us. Here, as there, the thought of judgment and death leads to the opposite thought of coming not into judgment, but passing out of death into life. Here, as there, the believer is thought of as possessing the true spiritual life which cannot see death, but shall pass into the fuller spiritual life hereafter.
Another interpretation of the phrase rendered He shall never see death, is he shall not see death for everi.e., he shall indeed die, but that death shall only be in this world, it shall not be in the world which is for ever. This is the thought in the collect in The Order for the Burial of the Dead . . . our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the resurrection and the life; in whom whosoever believeth shall live, though he die; and whosoever liveth and believeth in him shall not die eternally.
The following are the only passages in St. John where exactly the same formula is used, and a comparison of them will make it clear that it means, as does the Hebrew formula on which it is based, that which we express by never, or certainly never. by no means ever, for the negative is in its strongest form (Joh. 4:14, Joh. 8:52 in this Joh. 10:28; Joh. 11:26; Joh. 13:8). The first and last of these passages refer to subjects (shall never thirst, shall never wash my feet), which do not admit any possibility of doubt. The others are all parallel to the present text, in thought as well as in word. In all there is the fuller meaning that for the believer who now has spiritual life, and continues to live in communion with God, there cannot be death. He shall never see death. What we think of as death is but a sleep. (See Note on Joh. 11:11.) Death has been swallowed up of life, and physical death is thought of, in its true sense, as an entering into life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
51. Verily Having asserted his own nature as God’s Son, Jesus now concentrates into one sentence the object of his mission as Son, eternal life to all who accept him.
Never see death Even in dying he shall not die but live. Death shall be swallowed up in victory. Eternal life shall rob the process of dissolution of real death, and transform it into a mere transition into higher existence.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘In very truth I tell you, if a man keeps my word he will never see death’.
The fact that they should recognise was that His words offered life. Those who fully responded to them would never die. Jesus was of course speaking about eternal death. The way to eternal life, He was telling them, was by studying Jesus’ words, receiving the truth about Him, believing in Him and responding to Him, and then obeying His teaching. The Pharisees taught that eternal life was obtainable by a constant study of the words of Moses, and a determined effort to obey them as they were expounded by the Rabbis, demonstrating their participation in the God’s covenant. Jesus was now replacing Moses and putting Himself in his place.
The Judaisers, probably mainly Pharisees, either could not understand, or probably preferred not to understand. They preferred to take His words literally.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 8:51. If a man keep my saying, Our Lord, having before observed that there is one who seeketh his glory, goes on to declare, that God the Father will not only finally glorify him as the Son ofman, but will confer the highest honours and rewards on all his faithful persevering servants. Verily, verily, I say unto you, if any one KEEP my word, he shall never see death, or shall not fall under eternal damnation. Christ is elsewhere said to have abolished death, having destroyed the works of the devil, and raised up the believer with himself, and made him fit with him in heavenly places. Death, being thus overcome by the Captain of ourfaith, cannot long retain his faithful persevering disciples: as for the second death, it can have no power over them. See 2Ti 1:10. Heb 2:14. Eph 2:6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
51 Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Ver. 51. Verily I say unto you ] This he speaketh for the comfort of the better sort among those refractory Jews whom he had so sharply handled. So Zuinglius, when in his sermons he had thundered out God’s judgments against the wicked, he would commonly conclude with these words, Probe vir, hoc nihil ad te: this is not spoken to thee, thou good soul.
He shall never see death ] That is, shall never taste of death, as the Jews interpret it, Joh 8:52 . Chrysostom distinguisheth between seeing and tasting death. Sed hallucinatur; eodem enim recidunt, saith Drusius. But Chrysostom is out here, for they are the same. And our Saviour meaneth that such a one shall die not eternally; he shall mori vitaliter, as one saith, live though he die. (See Mr Dugard’s Death and the Grave.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
51. ] There is no pause (De Wette) between Joh 8:50 and this. This is the direct carrying on of the discourse, arising out of in the last verse, and forming a “novum tentamen grati” (Lampe). ‘Ye are now children of the devil, but if ye keep My word ye shall be rescued from that .’
. . ., as , Joh 8:31 , is not only outward obedience, but the endurance in, and obedience of faith.
., as ., is a Hebraism for to die , see reff., and must not be pressed to mean, ‘shall not feel (the bitterness of) death,’ in a temporal sense, as has been done by Stier (iv. 433, edn. 2). The death of the body is not reckoned as death , any more than the life of the body is life , in our Lord’s discourses: see ch. Joh 11:25-26 , and notes. Both words have a deeper meaning.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 8:51 . Therefore the emphasis in the next verse, precisely as in Joh 8:24 of chap. 5, is on “ my word”. , “if any one keeps my word, he shall never see death”. For see Joh 14:15-23 , Joh 15:10-20 , Joh 17:6 , Joh 17:1 John and Rev. passim ; it is exactly equivalent to “keep”. occurs only here. It is probably stronger than the commoner (Luk 2:26 , Heb 11:5 ), “expressing fixed contemplation and full acquaintance” (Plummer); although in John this fuller meaning is sometimes not apparent.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
keep. Greek. area, implying watching rather than guarding. See notes on Joh 17:12.
saying = word. Greek. logos. See note on Mar 9:32.
never see death = by no means (Greek. ou me. App-105) see (App-133) death for ever (Greek. eis ton aiona. App-151): i.e. eternal death, because he will have part in the “resurrection unto life” as declared by the Lord in Joh 11:25. See notes there.
see death. The expression Occurs only here in N.T.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
51.] There is no pause (De Wette) between Joh 8:50 and this. This is the direct carrying on of the discourse, arising out of in the last verse, and forming a novum tentamen grati (Lampe). Ye are now children of the devil, but if ye keep My word ye shall be rescued from that .
. . ., as , Joh 8:31, is not only outward obedience, but the endurance in, and obedience of faith.
., as ., is a Hebraism for to die,-see reff.,-and must not be pressed to mean, shall not feel (the bitterness of) death, in a temporal sense, as has been done by Stier (iv. 433, edn. 2). The death of the body is not reckoned as death, any more than the life of the body is life, in our Lords discourses: see ch. Joh 11:25-26, and notes. Both words have a deeper meaning.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 8:51. , if any [if a man]) Jesus proves from the future effect, wherewith the Father is about to honour Him, that He and His word have nothing in common with the proud and murderous devil.-, will keep), as I keep My Fathers word, Joh 8:55, I know Him, and keep His saying. We ought to keep the doctrine of Jesus, by believing in it; His promises, by hoping for them; His injunctions, by obeying them.-, death) Jesus hereby shows, that He is not a Samaritan. The Samaritans were Sadducees, opposed to the doctrine of immortality, according to the testimony of Epiphanius. At least the Jews, who speak here, seem to have attributed that error to the Samaritans. Yet I will admit that it was the smaller portion of the latter, who laboured under that error.- , he shall not see) A most effectual argument against the maintainers of soul-annihilation.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 8:51
Joh 8:51
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death.-He makes these strong statements to draw their minds to the spiritual nature of his meaning. On account of their sensual nature, these Jews could not take in his meaning, so he made this strong statement referring to spiritual death.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
If: Joh 3:15, Joh 3:16, Joh 5:24, Joh 6:50, Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26
keep: Joh 8:55, Joh 15:20
see: Joh 8:12, Psa 89:48, Luk 2:26
Reciprocal: Psa 49:9 – see Mat 5:18 – verily Mar 9:1 – taste Luk 9:27 – taste Joh 1:51 – Verily Joh 3:36 – see Joh 5:26 – so hath Joh 8:18 – one Joh 8:58 – Verily Joh 14:6 – the life Act 13:35 – to see 1Co 2:14 – they Heb 11:5 – translated
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
HOW TO ESCAPE DEATH
Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep My saying, he shall never see death.
Joh 8:51
I. Christs antipathy to death.What a startling statement it is! There is nothing, I think, in all our Lords utterances more striking than the persistent aversion to death which breathes through them; so that it has been said with truth that death is the one natural fact, the one human experience, to which Christ showed antipathy. And why, we may ask, did He take up this attitude towards death, which is an incident as unfailing and as natural as the return of old age? If He declined to speak of death as death, it was because He saw through it, because He knew its true nature, and ever looked on beyond it to that higher and fuller life of which it is intended to be the portal. He is told that the daughter of Jairus is dead, but He declares that she is only asleep. And so again, when the news was brought to Him of the death of His friend at Bethany, He put the hated word from Him and declared that Lazarus was only sleeping; and He would not change the phrase till the dullness of the disciples compelled Him. It is clear enough that He aims at teaching a new mode of thought and speech in regard to the close of mans earthly life. The early believers, taught by the Resurrection of the Lord, treasured this new term with deepest gratitude and devotion. They always spoke of physical death as sleep. Now were this the only service which Jesus Christ had rendered, had He done no more for us than to give us the right to substitute this word sleep for death, would he not have been among the greatest benefactors of mankind?
II. He is the Life.But now let us go on to see what is it that ensures our right thus to think of death. In the words of the text, just as at the grave of Lazarus, our Lord sets Himself forth as the guarantee that death is not what it seems. How is it that union with Christ and obedience to Christ put us beyond the reach and power of death? Through Christ life has become a ruling power. He stands in the midst of humanity for an eternal reality, and He came that man might know it and embrace it. If they believe in Him, if they are grafted into Him and assimilated to Him, then they acquire His right to overlook death, to face it as an unreal experience, a transition not a state, a gain not a loss, an expansion not an extinction of power.
III. Life in Christ a present thing.And we need to be perpetually reminded that this life in and through Christ is a present thing. Men relegate it to the future. They talk about going to heaven or to hell as if the whole issue lay outside present experience. But Christ has set forth salvation as a life, an eternal thing which begins now and here. And does not this thought light up our Lords words? Already, through obedience to Him, the outer life may be quickened which will pass unscathed through the change of death day by day. If we are living unto Him, the seed of eternity and truth and love and purity may be sown within us, and bear fruits which will suffer no blight in the chill passage of the grave. Our Lord reminds us that the one thing that differentiates men both here and hereafter is obedience to His law. He knows who are His, who are keeping His sayings, who are living in His spirit, and who therefore have in them the charm of that life which shall endure, and over which the grave shall have no power. But some, perhaps, will say, Is this all real? Are you not making too light of that great fact of death? Did not Christ die, and do not we die even if we have believed in Him ever so truly, and served Him ever so faithfully? Yes. In one sense Christ did die. But He carried with Him that which lighted up the darkness. He bore into the other world a Divine principle of being which could not undergo dissolution, and He tells us that we shall do the same. On one condition He offers to make death as harmless a thing to you and me as it was to Him. He says, Come to Me, believe in Me, follow Me, feed upon Me, live by Me, and you shall be scatheless, you too shall have the secret of immortality, you shall see through the terrors of death and decay as I have done and shall defy them. In you, as in Him, spiritual life shall triumph gloriously over physical death.
Canon Duckworth.
Illustration
Is not this the characteristic of Christianity, that all that it implants and fosters of faith and obedience is summed up for us in the one great term of life? It is the keynote of that Gospel which has preserved for us our Lords deepest thought. He says of Himself, I am the Life. He says also of us, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. All that He taught, and all that He did here was for one end, that we might have life. This is the final all-embracing purpose of His Incarnation, to be the life of men.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
1
Shall never see death. The Bible recognizes two kinds of death, the physical and the spiritual. The man who accepts the words of Jesus and keeps them will never suffer the spiritual death. (See chapter 11:26.)
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 8:51. Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man have kept my word, he shall never behold death. The solemn introductory words indicate that the discourse is taking a higher strain: once before they have been used in this chapter, in Joh 8:34 (but to a part only of the Jews), and once again we shall meet with them (Joh 8:58). In Joh 8:34 Jesus is speaking of slavery from which He frees; here of death which He abolishes (2Ti 1:10). In the former case the means of deliverance is continuing in the word of Jesus and knowing the truth (see Joh 8:32); here He gives the promise to him that has kept His word,has received it, hidden it in his heart, and observed it in his life (see Joh 8:37, also chap. Joh 14:15, etc.). The thought here is substantially the same as in chap. Joh 6:50 (compare also chap. Joh 4:14, Joh 5:24, Joh 6:51), where we read of the living bread given that a man may eat of it and not die. That passage presents one side of the condition, the close fellowship of the believer with Jesus Himself, of which eating is the symbol; this presents another side, the believing reception of His word (which reveals Himself), and the practical and continued observance of the precepts therein contained. In chap. Joh 6:50, the words may not die do not seem to have been misunderstood,possibly because so near the promise of eternal life, which suggested a figurative meaning, possibly because of a difference in the mood and disposition of the hearers. In neither place did Jesus promise that they who are His shall not pass through the grave, but that to them death shall not be death,in death itself they shall live (see chap. Joh 11:26).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The blessed fruit and effect of observing our Saviour’s doctrine: He that keeps my sayings shall never see death; that is, shall be secured from eternal misery, and enjoy eternal life.
Observe, 2. How the Jews misunderstood our Saviour’s words. He that keeps my saying shall never see death; as if he meant a freedom from temporal death, and hereupon they looked upon him as beside himself, to promise a privilige which neither Abraham, nor the prophets did ever enjoy. Whereas it was not exemption from temporal death, but freedom from eternal destruction, which our Saviour promised to them that keep his saying.
Hence learn, That the misunderstanding of Christ’s doctrine, and taking it in a carnal sense, has given occasion for the many cavils and objections made against it.
Observe, 3. How Christ clears himself of all ambition in this matter, and shews that he did not make this promise of delivering his followers from death vain-gloriously, but that God, whom they called their father had honoured him with power, to make good whatever he had promised to them that keep his saying.
Learn hence, That as Christ entirely sought his Father’s glory; so the Father conferred all honour and glory upon Christ as Mediator: thereby testifying, how infinitely pleased he was with the redemption of mankind performed by him. If I honour myself, my honour is nothing; it is my Father that honoureth me.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.
Vv. 51-59.
1. In Joh 8:51 Jesus turns the discourse to the more positive side, and brings out one of the great thoughts presented in this Gospel, namely, that the eternal life, which begins in the soul at the moment of believing, has no experience of death forever. Physical death is a mere incidental event in the continuous progress of that life; death as the contrast to the life of the Messianic Kingdom (that is, in the spiritual sense), and thus the death of the future, is altogether excluded.
2. It is the misunderstanding and opposition of the Jews which leads Jesus away from the direct development of the thought of Joh 8:51, and brings Him again to set forth and defend His claims, and to carry forward His expressions to greater distinctness. The two special points of consideration in the verses which follow are those in Joh 8:56 and Joh 8:58.
3. The statement of Joh 8:56 is to be explained in view of the contrast between . and . No satisfactory account can be given of this contrast, except on the supposition of a vision given to Abraham during his earthly life, and the realization of the vision as he saw the fact from his heavenly abode. This verse is Jesus’ answer to the question of the Jews in Joh 8:53, Art thou greater than our father Abraham?
4. Joh 8:58 may be said to be, in a certain sense, His answer to their question, Whom makest thou thyself? That Joh 8:58 declares His pre-existence is placed beyond doubt, (a) by the contrast between and; (b) by the fact that, as distinguished from the other places in this Gospel where the phrase is found, no predicate is here suggested by the context, and that thus must have the meaning to exist; (c) by the reference to time in the words of the Jews in Joh 8:57; (d) by the fact that the whole thought of the context is that of His superiority to Abraham, as connected with having seen him and with freedom from death.
5. If we take into consideration the various points in this chapter:The uniting of Himself with the Father as the only two witnesses who can bear witness as to the one sent from heaven; the declaration that, if they knew Him, they would know God, and that their true relation to God was dependent on their true relation to Him; the claim that His words are the truth of God, and that He derives what He says from what He has seen with His Father; the making death in sins and exclusion from the Messianic Kingdom, on the one hand, and freedom from all real sight and experience of death, on the other, to rest upon the acceptance or rejection of Him; the affirmation of pre-existence, of a coming out from God, of a being from Him, of being all that is contained in His discoursing with respect to Himself from first to last;if we take all this into consideration, we may clearly perceive how closely related this chapter is to ch. 5, and how, here, as there, He makes Himself equal with Godonly there He calls the thoughts of His hearers to His life-giving power and the final judgment and resurrection as the proofs of this equality, while here He refers them to His pre-existence and His intimate knowledge of God and union with Him. In the natural order of presentation, as well as of impressiveness in the way of proof for the minds of the disciples, the thoughts of the fifth chapter belong before those of the eighth. Ch. 5 sets forth the fact of His life-giving power for the soul; ch. 6 explains this power as like that of food in the physical life; ch. Joh 7:37, Joh 8:14, present it as the quickening and enlivening spiritual force and the light of the soul; ch. 8 exhibits it as the Divine truth known by Jesus from His intimate union with the Father and revealed to the world by Him as sent from the Father.
6. The action of the Jews in Joh 8:59 is similar to that in Joh 8:18they were moved by the claims which they understood Him to make, to attempt to kill Him. When the progress and connection of the thought in the chapters are observed, this action on their part may be regarded as indicating that they still thought Him, in the eighth chapter, to be claiming for Himself equality with God. In this connection it is also noticeable that, while Jesus had in ch. 5 presented God only as the witness for His claims, in this chapter He places Himself with God, and demands recognition in view of the testimony of the two as fulfilling the requirement of the Mosaic law.
7. The discourses of chs. 5, 7, 8 were given to the Jews of Jerusalem, that of ch. 6 to a company of people in Galilee; but the condition of heart and will was alike in both. Though addressed to different audiences, the thoughts fall into a natural order, and they are presented by the author, according to his principle of selection, in the succession both of time and proof.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 51
Shall never see death; that is, shall enjoy eternal life and happiness.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
8:51 {16} Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never {r} see death.
(16) Only the doctrine of the gospel apprehended by faith is a sure remedy against death.
(r) That is, he will not feel it: for even in the midst of death the faithful see life.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The central purpose of Jesus’ mission was not glory for Himself but glory for His Father through salvation for humankind. Jesus’ introduction of this strong statement shows its vital importance. Keeping Jesus’ word is synonymous with believing on Him (cf. Joh 5:24; Joh 8:24). The death in view is eternal death (cf. Joh 11:25).
"The assurance relates to life which physical death cannot extinguish, and so to the death of the spirit; the believer receives eternal life, i.e., the life of the kingdom of God, over which death has no power and which is destined for resurrection." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 137.]