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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - John 8:25 - 8:25
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Who art thou? (Su tis ei). Proleptic use of su before tis, “Thou, who art thou?” Cf. Joh 1:19. He had virtually claimed to be the Messiah and on a par with God as in Joh 5:15. They wish to pin him down and to charge him with blasphemy.
Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning (tēn archēn hoti kai lalō humin). A difficult sentence. It is not clear whether it is an affirmation or a question. The Latin and Syriac versions treat it as affirmative. Westcott and Hort follow Meyer and take it as interrogative. The Greek fathers take it as an exclamation. It seems clear that the adverbial accusative tēn archēn cannot mean “from the beginning” like ap' archēs (Joh 15:27) or ex archēs (Joh 16:4). The lxx has tēn archēn for “at the beginning” or “at the first” (Gen 43:20). There are examples in Greek, chiefly negative, where tēn archēn means “at all,” “essentially,” “primarily.” Vincent and Bernard so take it here, “Primarily what I am telling you.” Jesus avoids the term Messiah with its political connotations. He stands by his high claims already made.