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Joh_8:54-55. Justification against the charge of self-exaltation contained in the words τίνα σεαυτ . ποιεῖς . Jesus gives this justification a general form, and then proceeds to make a special declaration regarding Abraham, which makes it clear that He is really greater than Abraham.
ἐγὼ
ἐμαυτόν ] emphatic designation of self (comp. Joh_5:30-31, Joh_7:17); δοξάσω , however, is not the future [see the critical notes] (although ἐάν with the indicative is not absolutely to be condemned; see on Luk_19:40; Mat_18:19), but, according to regular usage, the Conj. Aor.: in case I shall have glorified myself.
ἔστιν ὁ πατήρ μου , etc.] my Father is the one who glorifies me, He is my glorifier. The Partic. Praes. with the article has a substantival force, and denotes habitual, continuous doing; hence it refers not merely to a particular mode and act of δοξάζειν exclusively, but to its whole course (in the works wrought, in the divine testimonies, and in His final glorification).
ὃν ὑμεῖς λέγετε , etc.] On the construction see Joh_10:36. Comp. on Joh_5:27, Joh_9:19; Act_21:29. Jesus unfolds to them why this activity of God, by which He is honoured, is hidden from them; notwithstanding, namely, their theocratic fancy, “it is our God,” they have not known God.[37] Jesus, on the contrary, is certain that He knows Him,[38] and keeps His word.
ὅμοιος ὑμῶν ψεύστης ] a liar like unto you. “Mendax est qui vel affirmat neganda, vel negat affirmanda,” Bengel. The charge points back to Joh_8:44; ὅμοιος with the Gen. as in Theophr. H. pl. ix. 11, also Xen. Anab. iv. 1. 17; see Bornemann, ad h. l.
ἀλλά ] but, far from being such a liar.
τὸν λόγ . αὐτ . τηρῶ ] exactly as in Joh_8:51. The entire life and work of Christ were in truth one continuous surrender to the counsel of God, and obedience (Php_2:8; Rom_5:19; Heb_5:8) to the divine will, whose injunctions He constantly discerned in His fellowship with the Father, Joh_4:34. Comp. as to the subject-matter, Joh_8:29.
[37] Not because they held another divine being, their own national god, to be the highest (Hilgenfeld); but because they had formed false conceptions of the one true God, who had manifested Himself in the Old Test., and had not understood His highest revelation in Christ, in consequence of their blindness and hardness of heart. Comp. ver. 19, and see Weiss, Lehrbegr. p. 60 f. In Hilgenfeld’s view, indeed, John teaches that the Jewish religion, as to its substance, was the work of the Demiurge, and it was only without his knowledge that the Logos hid in it the germs of the highest religion! By the same exegesis by which this doctrine is derived from John, one might very easily show it to be taught by Paul, especially in the sharp antagonism he assumes between νόμος and χάρις ,—if one desired, i.e. if one were willing to bring down this apostle to the period of transition from the Valentinian to the Marcionite Gnosis.
[38] Regarding Himself, Jesus does not say ἔγνωκα (although considered in itself He might have said it, comp. Joh_17:25), because He here speaks in the consciousness of His immediate, essential knowledge of the Father.—According to Ewald, the words, “It is our God,” contain an allusion to well-known songs and prayers which were constantly repeated. But the frequent occurrence of “our God” in the O. T. is quite sufficient to explain their import.