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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Calvin Complete Commentary - John 8:59 - 8:59
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59.Then they took up stones. There is reason to believe that they did this, as if Christ ought to be stoned according to the injunction of the Law, (Lev_24:16.) Hence we infer how great is the madness of inconsiderate zeal; for they have no ears to know the cause, but they have hands ready to commit murder. I have no doubt that Christ rescued himself by his secret power, but yet under the appearance of a low condition; for he did not intend to make a clear display of his Divinity without leaving something for human infirmity. Some copies have the words, And so Jesus passed through the midst of them; which Erasmus justly considers to have been borrowed from the Gospel by Luk_4:30. It deserves notice also, that the wicked priests and scribes, after having banished Christ,
in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead,
|(Col_2:9,)
retain possession of the outward temple; but they are greatly deceived, when they think that they have a temple in which God does not dwell. Such is the course now pursued by the Pope and his followers. After having banished Christ, and in this manner profaned the Church, they foolishly glory in the false disguise of a Church.