Heinrich Meyer Commentary - John 8:38 - 8:38

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - John 8:38 - 8:38


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Joh_8:38. That my word has thus failed to produce any effect in you, is due to the fundamentally different origin of my discourse on the one hand, and of your doings on the other.

ἑώρακα π . τ . πατρί ] by which Jesus means the intuition of the divine truth which He derived from His pre-human state (comp. on Joh_8:28), not from His intercourse with God in time (Godet, Beyschlag), as though this latter were involved in the parallel καὶ ὑμεῖς , whereas the difference in the analogous relation is already betrayed by the very difference of expression ( ἤκουσατε and παρὰ τοῦ πατρός ).

καὶ ὑμεῖς οὖν ] you also therefore, following my example of dependence on the Father. There is a stinging irony in the word οὖν .

ἠκούσατε ] i.e. what your father has commanded you. Note the distinction between the perf. and aor. Who their father is, Jesus leaves as yet unsaid; He means, however, the devil, whose children, ethically considered, they are; whereas He is the Son of God in the essential, metaphysical sense.

ποιεῖτε ] habitual doing (Joh_7:51), including, but not exclusively referring to, their wish to kill Him (Joh_8:37). It is indicative, and no more imperative (Hengstenberg, after Mat_23:32) than in Joh_8:41.