31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had faith in him, If you keep my word, then you are truly my disciples;
Anyone who goes on and does not keep to the teaching of Christ, has not God: he who keeps to the teaching has the Father and the Son.
But see that you keep to the teaching you have been given and the things of which you are certain, conscious of who has been your teacher;
Be in me at all times as I am in you. As the branch is not able to give fruit of itself, if it is not still on the vine, so you are not able to do so if you are not in me. I am the vine, you are the branches: he who is in me at all times as I am in him, gives much fruit, because without me you are able to do nothing. If a man does not keep himself in me, he becomes dead and is cut off like a dry branch; such branches are taken up and put in the fire and burned. If you are in me at all times, and my words are in you, then anything for which you make a request will be done for you. Here is my Father's glory, in that you give much fruit and so are my true disciples. Even as the Father has given me his love, so I have given my love to you: be ever in my love.
But the upright man will be living by his faith; and if he goes back, my soul will have no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who go back to destruction; but of those who have faith even to the salvation of the soul.
Because of what he said, a number of the disciples went back and would no longer go with him. So Jesus said to the twelve, Have you a desire to go away? Then Simon Peter gave this answer: Lord, to whom are we to go? you have the words of eternal life; And we have faith and are certain that you are the Holy One of God. Then Jesus said, Did I not make a selection of you, the twelve, and one of you is a son of the Evil One? He was talking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. It was he who was to be false to Jesus--one of the twelve.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false.
But he who goes through to the end will get salvation.
But as for you, keep in your hearts the things which were made clear to you from the first. If you keep these things in your hearts you will be kept in the Father and the Son.
Give attention to yourself and your teaching. Go on in these things; for in doing so you will get salvation for yourself and for those who give hearing to you.
If you keep yourselves safely based in the faith, not moved from the hope of the good news which came to you, and which was given to every living being under heaven; of which I, Paul, was made a servant.
If in the fear of the Lord you are his servants, hearing his voice and not going against the orders of the Lord, but being true to the Lord your God, you and the king ruling over you, then all will be well:
But he who goes on looking into the true law which makes him free, being not a hearer without memory but a doer putting it into effect, this man will have a blessing on his acts.
Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord.
Give honour to widows who are truly widows. But if any widow has children or children's children, let these see that it is right to take care of their family and their fathers and mothers: for this is pleasing in the eyes of God. Now she who is truly a widow and without family puts her hope in God, giving herself to prayer day and night.
See then that God is good but his rules are fixed: to those who were put away he was hard, but to you he has been good, on the condition that you keep in his mercy; if not, you will be cut off as they were.
And so, by God's help, I am here today, witnessing to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come about;
Making strong the souls of the disciples, saying to them that they were to keep the faith, and that we have to go through troubles of all sorts to come into the kingdom of God.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 8
Commentary on John 8 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 8
In this chapter we have,
Jhn 8:1-11
Though Christ was basely abused in the foregoing chapter, both by the rulers and by the people, yet here we have him still at Jerusalem, still in the temple. How often would he have gathered them! Observe,
Jhn 8:12-20
The rest of the chapter is taken up with debates between Christ and contradicting sinners, who cavilled at the most gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth. It is not certain whether these disputes were the same day that the adulteress was discharged; it is probable they were, for the evangelist mentions no other day, and takes notice (v. 2) how early Christ began that day's work. Though those Pharisees that accused the woman had absconded, yet there were other Pharisees (v. 13) to confront Christ, who had brass enough in their foreheads to keep them in countenance, though some of their party were put to such a shameful retreat; nay perhaps that made them the more industrious to pick quarrels with him, to retrieve, if possible, the reputation of their baffled party. In these verses we have,
This was the sum of the first conference between Christ and these carnal Jews, in the conclusion of which we are told how their tongues were let loose, and their hands tied.
Jhn 8:21-30
Christ here gives fair warning to the careless unbelieving Jews to consider what would be the consequence of their infidelity, that they might prevent it before it was too late; for he spoke words of terror as well as words of grace. Observe here,
Jhn 8:31-37
We have in these verses,
Jhn 8:38-47
Here Christ and the Jews are still at issue; he sets himself to convince and convert them, while they still set themselves to contradict and oppose him.
This is a high charge, and sounds very harsh and horrid, that any of the children of men, especially the church's children, should be called children of the devil, and therefore our Saviour fully proves it.
Jhn 8:48-50
Here is,
Jhn 8:51-59
In these verses we have,