John 8:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet, though they present no irrefutable ground at all, they think they must contradict. They eagerly seize upon the one thing they know well, I mean their evil inclination to censure.

They reproach Him by saying that He is not the light of the world. Thus they accuse His words and assert that His testimony is not true. For "they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge," Jer 4:22.

In a very wicked way they think to overturn His testimony. They try to reject it on the basis of a simple custom accepted among us, not on the basis of the statutes of the Law.

Indeed, let them teach us where the Law says that a person's testimony concerning himself is invalid. It is certainly burdensome and intolerable for anyone to testify about his own excellences. Therefore the wise composer of Proverbs says: "Let your neighbor praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips," Prov 27:2.

Nevertheless, a person's word concerning himself is by no means false. Otherwise, let some Pharisee come forward and teach us what to do with blessed Samuel, who gave most excellent testimony about himself.

For once he is found answering the Israelites in this way: "The Lord is witness between you, and His anointed is witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand," 1 Sam 12:5.

If the Law forbade everyone to testify about himself, tell me, how did Samuel utterly disregard it? Yet divine Scripture says of him: "Moses and Aaron were among His priests, and Samuel among those who call upon His name. They called upon the Lord, and He heard them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept His testimonies and the statutes that He gave them," Ps 98:6-7.

Do you see that he is closely joined with blessed Moses, as possessing the same virtue, and is witnessed by the Spirit as a careful observer of the Law? Then, one might ask, did he transgress the Law by testifying about himself? He did not transgress.

On the contrary, he testified as an observer of the Law, and he testified concerning himself. Therefore the Law does not forbid anyone to testify about himself. What shall we say, moreover, when we hear the words of blessed David: "O Lord my God, if I have done this, if I have repaid evil to those who repaid me," Ps 7:4-5?

Blessed Jeremiah says something similar: "O Lord Almighty, I did not sit in the assembly of those who make merry, but I was reverent before Your hand," Jer 15:17.

Likewise the most wise Paul, though "instructed exactly in the ancestral Law," as he once testified about himself, Acts 22:3, nevertheless openly cries: "I am conscious of nothing against myself," 1 Cor 4:4.

Let the Pharisee now say of each of these: "You bear witness about yourself; your testimony is not true." For those who do not hesitate to censure even the Master of all have an entirely open road toward committing the worst things against others.

Returning, however, to the beginning of the discourse, we shall say that the Pharisees' objection is not a necessary statute of the Law. It rests only on common custom and on the demand of good manners and propriety.

On the contrary, this objection allowed by legal proceedings against a witness's testimony is rather an accusation or slander against Him. It craftily steals away from Him those who already hold Him in honor and are inclined to faith.

They defame Him as not speaking the truth. In order to destroy the faith of those just mentioned, they say that He is not the true light. Thus by their blasphemies the wretched men bring destruction upon their own heads.

After our Lord Jesus Christ had said this, the Jews answered Him: "You bear witness about Yourself; Your testimony is not true."

Before our Lord Jesus Christ came, He lit and sent before Himself many prophetic lamps. Among them was John the Baptist, concerning whom the great Light Himself, the Lord Jesus, gave such testimony as He gave to no other man.

For He said: "Among those born of women there has not arisen one greater than John the Baptist," Mt 11:11. And the one greater than whom none had arisen among those born of women said of the Lord Jesus Christ: "I baptize with water, but He Who comes after me is greater than I, the thong of Whose sandal I am not worthy to untie," cf. Jn 1:26-27.

See how greatly the lamp of the Day humbles himself. The Lord Himself testifies that John was a lamp: "He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light," Jn 5:35.

When the Jews said to the Lord, "Tell us, by what authority do You do these things?" cf. Mt 21:24, the Lord knew that they regarded John the Baptist as a great man. He also knew that the very one they regarded as great had given them testimony about the Lord.

He answered them: "I also will ask you one thing. Tell Me, the baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?" see Mt 21:24-25.

They were troubled and reasoned among themselves. If they said it was from men, the people, who considered John a prophet, might stone them. If they said it was from heaven, He would answer: "The one whom you acknowledge as having prophecy from heaven testified about Me. You heard from him by what authority I do these things."

They saw that whatever answer they gave, they would fall into a snare. Therefore they said: "We do not know," see Mt 21:25-27. And the Lord said to them: "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things," Mt 21:27.

"I do not tell you what I know, because you do not wish to acknowledge what you yourselves know." Thus they were certainly troubled and confounded. And what God the Father said in the psalm through the prophet was fulfilled: "I have prepared a lamp for My Christ, that is, John himself; His enemies I will clothe with shame," cf. Ps 131:17-18.

So the Lord Jesus Christ had the testimony of the prophets, sent before Him as heralds going before the Judge. He had the testimony of John, but He Himself was the still greater testimony that He gave concerning Himself.

Those Jews, however, sought a lamp with weak eyes, for they could not bear the radiance of the Day. The Apostle John himself, whose Gospel we hold in our hands, speaks at the beginning of his Gospel about John the Baptist.

"There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness to the Light. The true Light, which enlightens every man, was coming into the world," Jn 1:6-9.

If every man, then John also. Therefore John himself says: "Of His fullness we have all received," Jn 1:16. Distinguish this, then, so that your minds may make progress in the faith of Christ.

Do not remain forever infants seeking the breast and refusing solid food, cf. 1 Cor 3:2. You must be nourished by the Holy Mother, the Church of Christ, and, being weaned from the breast, come to more solid food in mind, not in belly.

Distinguish, then, that one thing is the Light that enlightens, and another thing is what is enlightened. Our eyes also are called lights, and everyone who swears touches his eyes and swears by his lights: "May my lights live." Such is the common oath.

If these lights are true light, let them be opened in your closed room, where there is no light, and let them shine. They certainly cannot do this.

Likewise the eyes that we have on our face, which we call lights, need the help of light coming from outside when they are healthy and open. When that light is removed and does not enter them, they do not see, though they are healthy and open.

So too our mind, which is the eye of the soul, cannot attain either wisdom or righteousness unless it is filled with the light of truth. It must be wondrously illumined by Him Who enlightens and Who Himself receives no light from outside.

For our proper way is to live righteously. How can he who has no light shining for him avoid stumbling? Therefore we need to see on this way. It is important to see on this way.

Tobit had closed eyes, and his son gave his father his hand. Yet the father, while instructing, pointed out the way to the son, see Tob 2:10; 4:3-21.

Therefore the Jews answered Him: "You bear witness about Yourself; Your testimony is not true." Let us see what they heard. Let us also hear it, but not as they did.

They heard while despising Him; we hear while believing in Him. They heard while wishing to kill Christ; we hear while striving to live through Christ. Let this difference remain between our ears and our minds. Let us hear what the Lord answered the Jews.

Therefore I am altogether trustworthy, as Truth itself. “But you do not know where I come from and where I am going.”

“You do not know” means: as you think, as you show, and as you pretend. In reality, you do know. Therefore earlier Jesus Christ said, “You both know Me, and you know where I am from” (Jn 7:28).

If you wish to judge Me, then it would be fitting for you to hear My witnesses. Your law requires two or three witnesses. I present to you two.

The first witness is I Myself. Here the divine nature of Jesus is clearly distinguished, bearing witness to what is accomplished through the mediation of His human nature. The second is My Father.

“If I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, because I have the most perfect knowledge of Myself, My origin, My mission, and the purpose of My coming into the world.

I alone know this, and you do not know it and cannot know it by yourselves. Therefore you must receive the testimony concerning Me from Me Myself.

What you say about testimony does not apply to My self-testimony. It has significance only for earthly relations.

You judge according to the flesh, according to fleshly motives. Therefore your judgment is false in its very foundation, whether it is judgment about yourselves or about others.

Thus you judge Me to be an untrue witness about Myself, because you judge according to the flesh and strive to condemn.

But I judge no one, that is, I do not judge according to the flesh with the aim of condemning.

Yet if I do judge, whether about Myself or about others, My judgment is just, because it is at the same time the judgment of God the Father Himself.

Thus, in every judgment and testimony of Mine, there are two witnesses: I and the Father. And your law also recognizes the testimony of two as true” (Deut 17:6; 19:15).

They did not understand their meaning then, and they apply them to Him in this sense: if He Himself bears witness of Himself as the Messiah, the light of the world, His testimony lacks convincing force and reliability.

They imply that He may be mistaken in His judgment about Himself.

The enemies of Jesus demanded outside witnesses for events accessible only to self-consciousness, and did not understand what they were demanding.

They could have tested the testimony of self-consciousness by the witness of the prophets and by the life of Jesus. But for this, their mind and soul needed to be healthy.

They despised Jesus because they judged according to the flesh, according to the whims of a disordered soul.

In thoughts and desires they had sunk into the interests of earthly life alone. They sought only earthly happiness and expected only earthly glory.

For them, the Messiah of the prophets was only an earthly king, and the spiritual greatness of Jesus was inaccessible to their soul.

In such a state, what could they expect from themselves except falsehood, error, and sins?

The words, “I judge no one,” were completed either with the phrase “according to the flesh,” as Cyril of Alexandria says, or with the word “now,” as Chrysostom and Augustine say.

The first addition is justified by the context, while the latter cannot be reconciled with it.

In support of the testimony of His self-consciousness about Himself, the Savior says that in all cases and about all men He judges not according to the flesh, but according to the eternal laws of the spirit.

For this reason His judgments are true judgments.