John 8:18

8:17-20 If we knew Christ better, we should know the Father better. Those become vain in their imaginations concerning God, who will not learn of Christ. Those who know not his glory and grace, know not the Father that sent him. The time of our departure out of the world, depends upon God. Our enemies cannot hasten it any sooner, nor can our friends delay it any longer, than the time appointed of the Father. Every true believer can look up and say with pleasure, My times are in thy hand, and better there than in my own. To all God's purposes there is a time.

I am one that bear witness of myself,.... As he does of his sonship, in 1 John 5:7 . And the Father that sent me, beareth witness of me; as he did, by the descent of the Spirit upon him at his baptism, and by a voice from heaven, both at that time, and at his transfiguration, and by the miracles which he wrought; and particularly he bore testimony of him, long before, in prophecy, that he was the light of the world he now said he was, Isaiah 42:6; so that here were two testifiers, his Father and himself; which show them to be two distinct divine persons, and equal to each other: and now if the testimony of two men is true, firm, and authentic, and to be depended upon and received, then much more the testimony of two divine persons; see 1 John 5:9.

16. And yet if I judge, my judgment is true, &c.—Ye not only form your carnal and warped judgments of Me, but are bent on carrying them into effect; I, though I form and utter My judgment of you, am not here to carry this into execution—that is reserved to a future day; yet the judgment I now pronounce and the witness I now bear is not Mine only as ye suppose, but His also that sent Me. (See on [1806]Joh 5:31, 32). And these are the two witnesses to any fact which your law requires.

I (saith our Saviour) have two witnesses; I am one, I bear witness of myself; my Father is another, for he beareth witness of me. Our Saviour’s argumentation seemeth weak, unless we look upon him as exempt from the condition of ordinary men, and no mere man, by reason of the personal union of the Divine and human nature in his person. Nor must our Saviour be understood here to distinguish himself from his Father, in respect of his Divine being, for so he and his Father are one; but in respect of his office, as he was sent, and his Father was he who sent him. And indeed in the whole he seemeth to accommodate himself to the people’s apprehensions of him.

(18) I am one that bear witness of myself. —The Greek has no word to express the English “one.” It is more exactly, I am He who beareth witness. The twofold witness is (1) in His own individuality—I, who know whence I came and whither I go, testify of Myself to you who know neither; and (2) in the fact that the Father sent Him. He is the Ambassador from the Father, accredited by the Father’s works and the voice from heaven, and His word is official as well as personal. The thought is closely connected with that of John 8:16. His judgment is not individual judgment, because of the union with the Father. His witness is not only individual witness, but that of the Father also. The whole passage should be carefully compared with the close of John 5.

I am one that bear witness of myself - In human courts a man is not allowed to bear witness of himself, because he has a personal interest in the case, and the court could have no proof of the impartiality of the evidence; but in the case of Jesus it was otherwise. When one has no party ends to serve; when he is willing to deny himself; when he makes great sacrifices; and when, by his life, he gives every evidence of sincerity, his own testimony may be admitted in evidence of his motives and designs. This was the case with Jesus and his apostles. And though in a legal or criminal case such testimony would not be admitted, yet, in an argument on moral subjects, about the will and purpose of him who sent him, it would not be right to reject the testimony of one who gave so many proofs that he came from God. The Father ...beareth witness of me - By the voice from heaven at his baptism Matthew 3:17, and by the miracles which Jesus performed, as well as by the prophecies of the Old Testament. We may here remark: 1. that there is a distinction between the Father and the Son. They are both represented as bearing testimony; yet, 2. They are not divided. They are not different beings. They bear testimony to the same thing, and are one in counsel, in plan, in essence, and in glory.

Verse 18. - I am the ( one ) that bears witness concerning myself - I have said it, and abide by it, and I know what I say and how fully I am fulfilling these words - and the Father that sent me heareth witness concerning me . His words reflected his own Divine self-consciousness. They bore one witness to his unique position. They brought out the inner thoughts of Christ, and revealed the life that was light. The word, the speech, of Christ was a fire kindled which would never be extinguished - it was the formal utterance of the eternal reality but it did not stand alone. The Father that sent him, by a long chain of events and revelations, by miracles and mighty energies, by the conference of the spirit of conviction upon the minds that gave candid attention to his verbal testimony, by the providential concurrence of facts with prophetic anticipation, was bearing witness concerning him. The argument is sufficient, so soon as we admit the terms used by Jesus, so soon as we recognize the ideas of the Son of God and of the Father, both alike revealed in the Person of Christ. We can understand, and to some extent sympathize with, the perplexity of the Pharisees. Later experiences have made it easier for us to understand the testimony of the Father, the presence and witness of God over and above the testimony of men and coincident with it (cf. John 15:27 ; Hebrews 2:4 ).

We have not sinned (οὐχ ἡμαρτήκαμεν) Committed sins. Sin regarded as an act. The state is expressed by ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἔχομεν we have no (or not) sin (1 John 1:8). We make Him (ποιοῦμεν αὐτὸν) A phrase characteristic of John. See John 5:18; John 8:53; John 10:33; John 19:7, John 19:12. His word (ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ) Not the personal Word, as John 1:1, but the divine message of the Gospel. See Luke 5:1; Luke 8:11; Acts 4:31; Acts 6:2, Acts 6:7, etc. Compare "the truth is not in us" (1 John 1:8). The truth is the substance of the word. The word carries the truth. The word both moves the man (John 8:31, John 8:32) and abides in him (John 5:38; John 8:37). The man also abides in the word (John 8:31).

In the Gospel we have seven witnesses to Christ; scripture ( John 5:39-47 ), the Baptist ( 1 John 1:7 ), the Disciples ( John 15:27 , John 16:30 ), Christ’s works ( John 5:36 , John 10:25 ; John 10:38 ), Christ’s words ( John 8:14 ; John 8:18 , John 18:37 ), the Father ( John 5:37 , John 8:18 ), the Spirit ( John 15:26 ). Of these seven three are specially mentioned in the Epistle, the Disciples in 1 John 1:2 , the Father in 1 John 5:9-10 , and the Spirit here; but to these are added two more, the water and the blood . because the Spirit is truth ] It would be possible to translate ‘It is the Spirit that beareth witness that the Spirit is the truth’: but this self-attestation of the Spirit would have no relation to the context. It is the witnesses to Christ, to the identity of Jesus with the Son of God, that S. John is marshalling before us. It is because the Spirit is the Truth that His testimony is irrefragable: He can neither deceive nor be deceived. He is ‘the Spirit of Truth’ ( John 14:16 ; John 15:26 ), and He glorifies the Christ, taking of His and declaring it unto the Church ( John 16:14 ). There is a remarkable Latin reading, quoniam Christus est veritas , ‘It is the Spirit that beareth witness that the Christ is the Truth’, but it has no authority.