Every Sunday morning, I attend what we call a Connect Group at church. It’s a small group of believers who gather together to study the Word. This last week, we were walking through John 8, and we came upon John 8:30-59. As we were walking through the text, a question struck me, “who is Jesus speaking to?” The context shows the importance of the question.
The context found in John 8:12-29 establishes that Jesus is in discussion with a group of people in the Temple in Jerusalem. John 8:13, 22 establishes the Pharisees and the Jews as the audience present during Jesus’ interaction. Jesus begins the interaction by making the claim, “I am the Light of the world…”; an identity claim. John 8:28-29 concludes this section with Jesus making a deity claim, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am…” Jesus is making it clear who He is; namely, the Messiah.
In John 8:30, John reveals that throughout the discussion between Jesus and His audience, “many came to believe in Him.” It’s an important phrasing. John doesn’t say that many believed what He said, but that they believed in Him (ἐπίστευσαν εἰς αὐτόν). Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6 make it clear that the requirement for righteousness is to believe in God. This, coupled with the content of Jesus’ discussion, would seem to warrant the idea that those who had believed in Him would be considered righteous. It’s also important to note, not all believed in Him, but many.
John 8:31 makes a shift as Jesus now makes a statement to “those Jews who had believed Him…” Jesus turns from discussing His identity to making a statement regarding abiding or remaining in Him. He concludes the statement with the result of abiding in Him, “…you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” The audience responds to this statement by saying “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘you will become free’?” But who is the audience? Is it still those who believed in Jesus, or is it the broader audience who is certainly still present?
Here’s John 8:31-33:
31 So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine;
32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
33 They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” [1]
Who is “They” is John 8:33? It’s an important question because of the content that follows this discussion. Jesus will accuse them of many things:
- Jesus’ words have no place in them. (37)
- They are seeking to kill Jesus. (37)
- They are sons of the devil. (44)
- They do not believe Him. (45)
- They are not of God. (47)
So, again the question remains, who is Jesus talking to? Based on the English, it would seem the closest antecedent is found in John 8:31; namely, “those Jews who had believed Him.” The Greek construction, however, shows an absence of the independent personal pronoun “they” in John 8:33. Instead, the “they” which is translated in English is part of the verb translated “answered.” Answered is a third person, plural construction. While this construction is common in the Greek (the lack of an independent personal pronoun), is does allow for a change in referent. The context requires a change of referent. Jesus states three times in the following context that the audience He is addressing doesn’t believe Him; John 8:45 being the most explicit. This is in direct contradiction to John 8:30, if the referent is to remain the same in John 8:33. It seems in John 8:33 Jesus shifts from addressing those who believe in Him to the unbelieving Jews who are still present.
There are a lot of implications to however you answer this question, but there are also some interesting hermeneutical principles that can be seen here.
Context is King
The context surrounding a passage defines the meaning of the passage. Context, context, context.
Original Languages Matter
The language that the Bible was written in often helps provide clarity to the English translation. Having awareness of the original languages and knowing how to use particular tools matters.
Context is King
Oh… I already said this one. But, it’s worth repeating!
[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 8:31–33.
