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8:12 The context of the events in this paragraph continues to be the temple during the feast of Tabernacles (v. 20, cf. 7:14). Jesus was speaking to the Jews who had assembled there some of whom were residents of Jerusalem and others pilgrims from other parts of Palestine and the world.
Jesus here made the second of His "I am"claims (cf. 6:35). This time He professed to be the Light of the World (cf. 1:4). The water of life and the bread of life figures represent what satisfies and sustains life. The light of life figure stands for what dispels the darkness of ignorance and death. Jesus was claiming that whoever believes in Him will enjoy the light that comes from God's presence and produces life.
The light metaphor was ancient in Israel's history. The Jews associated light with God's presence. He had created light on the first day and lights on the fourth day of Creation (Gen. 1:3, 14-19). He had revealed Himself in a flame to Moses on the Midianite desert (Exod. 3). He had also protectively led the Israelites through the wilderness in a cloudy pillar of fire (Exod. 13:21-22; 14:19-25; Num. 9:15-23), and He had appeared to them on Mt. Sinai in fire. These are only a few instances in which God had associated His presence with fire and light (cf. Ps. 27:1; 36:9; 119:105; Prov. 6:23). Symbolically the light represented various characteristics of God, particularly His revelation, holiness, and salvation (cf. Ezek. 1:4, 13, 26-28; Hab. 3:3-4).
Isaiah had predicted that the Servant of the Lord would be a light to the nations (Isa. 49:6). God Himself would illuminate His people in the messianic age (Isa. 60:19-22; Zech. 14:5b-7; cf. Rev. 21:23-24). However in Jesus' day the light of righteousness was in mortal conflict with the darkness of sin (1:4, 9; 3:19-21). Many religions contain the light and darkness symbolism, but John presented Jesus as the true Light. It is particularly the aspect of light as revelation that constituted the focus of the controversy surrounding Jesus' claim. The Jews considered the Old Testament and their traditions as authoritative revelation, the true light. Now Jesus challenged that authority by claiming to be the true (final and full, cf. 1:9) revelation from God (cf. Heb. 1:1-3).
"More important to the immediate context, the theme of light is not unrelated to the question of truthfulness and witness in the following verses, for light cannot but attest to its own presence; otherwise put, it bears witness to itself, and its source is entirely supportive of that witness."302
Part of the feast of Tabernacles was the lamp-lighting ceremony. Every evening during the festival a priest would light the three huge torches on the menorah (lampstand) in the women's court (or treasury) of the temple. These lights would illuminate the entire temple compound throughout the night. People would bring smaller torches into the temple precincts, light them, and sing and dance sometimes all through the night. It was one of the happiest occasions of the entire Jewish year.303
"Now the brilliant candelabra were lit only at the beginning of the Feast of Tabernacles; there is dispute as to the number of nights on which the illumination took place, but none as to the fact that at the close of the feast it did not. In the absence of the lights Jesus' claim to the Light would stand out the more impressively."304
8:13 On another occasion Jesus had said that if He alone bore witness to His own identity His witness would not be admissible under the Mosaic Law (5:31). The Mosaic Law required at least two witnesses to guard against only one witness giving biased testimony (cf. Deut. 17:6; 19:15). The Pharisees now quoted Jesus' statement back to Him. However they implied that because Jesus was bearing witness about Himself, without a second corroborating witness, His witness could not be true.
8:14 Jesus corrected His critics' false conclusion. Even if Jesus was the only witness to His own identity, His witness would still be true. Frequently only one person knows the facts. Jesus' witness was not false because it stood alone even though it was insufficient under Mosaic Law. The Pharisees had misunderstood Him. Consequently He proceeded to review His former teaching in somewhat different terms (cf. 5:19-30, 36-37).
Jesus claimed to offer true (Gr. alethes, cf. 5:31) testimony because He knew His own origin and destiny (cf. 7:29, 33-34). His critics knew neither of these things.
8:15 The Pharisees were evaluating Jesus only by using the external facts about Him that they knew. They were going about the evaluation process in a typically human way (cf. 2 Cor. 5:16). Jesus used "flesh"(Gr. sarx) here in a metaphorical sense meaning human nature. His critics should have considered the spiritual teaching about Jesus' identity that the Father was providing through the witness of the Old Testament, John the Baptist, and Jesus' miracles too. Jesus did not judge (Gr. krino) anyone superficially, and they should not either.
Another interpretation is that Jesus meant that He did not come to condemn anyone but to save them (cf. 3:17).305However that view only involves Jesus playing with words to make a pun. He seems to have been contrasting His judging with the Pharisees' judging. Another unlikely view is that Jesus meant that when He did judge people it would not be He that was really judging. Rather He would only be executing the Father's will (cf. 5:27, 45).306The problem with this view is that the Father has committed all judgment to the Son (5:27-29), and Jesus will judge eventually.
8:16 Jesus was not judging anyone then. That aspect of His ministry lies in the future. However even if He did judge then His judgment would prove right (Gr. alethine, valid) because in that activity also He would be acting under and with the Father (cf. 5:30). As Jesus represented the Father faithfully by revealing Him, so He will represent the Father's will faithfully by judging. He did everything and will do everything with divine authority.
8:17-18 Therefore Jesus was not really testifying alone. There was a second witness that the law demanded, namely the Father.
Jesus' reference to "your law"is unusual since in one sense it was His law. However, Jesus was in the process of setting aside the Law of Moses. The revelation that He brought superseded it, so in another sense it belonged to the Pharisees but not to Him (cf. 7:19, 51).
"No human witness can authenticate a divine relationship. Jesus therefore appeals to the Father and Himself, and there is no other to whom He can appeal."307
8:19 Perhaps the Pharisees misunderstood Jesus. They were perhaps continuing to think on the physical level while He was speaking of spiritual realities. If so, we should not criticize them too much because Jesus' teaching that God was His Father was new (cf. 5:18). However their request was probably an intentional insult (cf. v. 41).
"In the East, to question a man's paternity is a definite slur on his legitimacy."308
The Pharisees virtually admitted that they did not know Jesus' origins, which they had claimed they knew earlier (7:27). Their inability to recognize Jesus as the Son of God showed that they really did not know God. If they had, they would have recognized Jesus as His Son. The rest of chapter 8 deals with the theme of fatherhood.
8:20 John concluded his narrative of this encounter by identifying its setting (cf. 6:59). The Jews apparently also called the court of the women the treasury because it contained 13 shofar (ram's horn) shaped receptacles for the Jews' monetary offerings (cf. Mark 12:41-42).309Each one bore an inscription showing how the priests would use the gifts desposited therein.
The last part of verse 20 makes the point that if they could these leaders would have arrested and executed Jesus immediately. However it was not yet God's time for His Son to die (cf. 2:4; 7:6, 30). Thus John stressed the Father's sovereign control over the events that shaped Jesus' ministry.
The main point of this section is the increasing animosity that the Jewish leaders felt toward Jesus.
