John 8:16

Joh 8:16. Ἡ κρίσις ἡ ἐμή, My judgment) The same principle holds good of judgment as of testimony: Joh 8:14; Joh 8:17, “Though I bear record of Myself, yet My record is true;—the testimony of two—is true;” ch. Joh 5:30, etc., “As I hear I judge; and My judgment is just, because I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father.—There is another that beareth witness of Me,” etc. The testimony is in reference to God and the Son of God; the judgment is in reference to men.—ἀληθής, true) not according to the flesh, Joh 8:15.—μόνος οὐκ εἰμί, I am not alone) even in judging. Comp. ch. Joh 5:19, “The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do; for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”—ὁ πέμψας με, He who hath sent Me) By this very expression He intimates whence He came.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And yet if I judge, my judgment is true, &c.--Ye not only form your carnal and warped judgments of Me, but are bent on carrying them into effect; I, though I form and utter My judgment of you, am not here to carry this into execution--that is reserved to a future day; yet the judgment I now pronounce and the witness I now bear is not Mine only as ye suppose, but His also that sent Me. (See on Joh 5:31-32). And these are the two witnesses to any fact which your law requires.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

16. And if I judge, He adds this correction, that he may not appear entirely to surrender his right. If I judge, says he, my judgment is true, that is, it is entitled to authority. Now the authority arises from this consideration, that he does nothing but according to the commandment of the Father.

For I am not alone. This phrase amounts to an affirmative, that he is not one of the ordinary rank of men, but that he must be considered along with the office which was assigned to him by the Father. But why does he not rather make an open assertion of his Divinity, as he might truly and justly have done? The reason is, that as his Divinity was concealed under the veil of the flesh, he brings forward his Father, in whom it was more manifest. Still, the object of the discourse is, to show that all that he does and teaches ought to be accounted Divine.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16) And yet if I judge, my judgment is true.—Though judgment was not the object of His mission, it was, as He had taught in Joh_3:19 (see Note there) the result of the manifestation of the Light. But in the cases in which the result followed, the judgment was not according to the flesh, but was in accord with the essential truth. The better reading here is, probably, the deeper word for ideally true, which we have had before. (Comp. Note on Joh_1:9.)

For I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.—Comp. Note on Joh_5:30. Here, as there. He identifies every act of judgment with the eternal and unchangeable truth of the Father.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. And yet if I judge] Or, But even if I judge, like ‘even if I bear witness’ (Joh_8:14). ‘I judge no man; not because I have no authority, but because judging is not what I came to do. Even if I do in exceptional cases judge, My judgment is a genuine and authoritative one (see on Joh_1:9), not the mock sentence of an impostor. It is the sentence not of a mere man, nor even of one with a Divine commission yet acting independently; but of One sent by God acting in union with His Sender.’ Comp. Joh_5:30.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am one that bear witness of myself,.... As he does of his sonship, in Jo1 5:7.

And the Father that sent me, beareth witness of me; as he did, by the descent of the Spirit upon him at his baptism, and by a voice from heaven, both at that time, and at his transfiguration, and by the miracles which he wrought; and particularly he bore testimony of him, long before, in prophecy, that he was the light of the world he now said he was, Isa 42:6; so that here were two testifiers, his Father and himself; which show them to be two distinct divine persons, and equal to each other: and now if the testimony of two men is true, firm, and authentic, and to be depended upon and received, then much more the testimony of two divine persons; see Jo1 5:9.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

16 And yet if I judge, my judgment is true: for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

Ver. 16. For I am not alone] But all one with the Father.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And yet, if I judge - If I should express my judgment of men or things. He was not limited, nor forbidden to do it, nor restrained by any fear that his judgment would be erroneous.

My judgment is true - Is worthy to be regarded.

For I am not alone - I concur with the Father who hath sent me. His judgment you admit would be right, and my judgment would accord with his. He was commissioned by his Father, and his judgment would coincide with all that God had purposed or revealed. This was shown by the evidence that God gave that he had sent him into the world.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

My testimony is not to be looked upon as a single testimony for myself; though I do judge, yet my judgment is true; for no act of mine is a single act: I and my Father are one; and what I do, my Father also doth, that sent me into the world as his ambassador. So as if the judgment of God be true, which you all own, grant, and acknowledge; then my judgment is true, because it is not mine only, but the judgment also of that God, whom you own, acknowledge, and worship, and who sent me into the world.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16. If I judge… true—Such is the rectitude and infallibility of my divine nature.

Not alone—My consciousness is illuminated by the divine consciousness of the Father.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And yet (the kai de , equivalent to atque etiam so Meyer, Luthardt, etc. is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light;" "The light shineth, and the darkness comprehendeth it not." The prince of this world is judged by the simple uplifting of the Son of God; and so, though he did not come to judge or condemn, yet judgments did, by the very necessity of his nature, proceed from him) even if I judge if by the mere contact of his purity and love and healing power with those who will not come to him for life, judgment is pronouncedmy judgment is true; i.e. trustworthy. The reading of Tischendorf, alhyinh , would mean that it "answers to the fundamental conception of a judgment." This thought would make the apparent paradox of the sentence more difficult to resolve. Because I am net alone, but (or, because, on the other hand) I and the Father who sent me, together deliver this judgment; i.e. it does not rest on my mere human consciousness, on what you who judge after the flesh might suppose it would rest, but on the eternal decisions of him who gave me my commission. The Father is in me and with me. I think the Father"s thoughts and do the Father"s will. Christ"s testimony concerning himself, his implicit judgments on human nature, his indirect condemnation of the whole crowd, by his gracious refusal to condemn the sinful woman to immediate doom, all issue forth with the sign manual of Almighty God, with whom and in whom he dwells as the only begotten Son.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I am not alone - No more in judging, than in testifying: but I and the Father that sent me - His Father is in him, and he is in the Father, chap. xiv, 10, 11; and so the Father is no more alone without the Son, than the Son is without the Father, Prov. viii, 22, 23, 30. His Father and he are not one and another God, but one God, (though distinct persons,) and so inseparable from each other. And though the Son came from the Father, to assume human nature, and perform his office as the Messiah upon earth, as God is sometimes said to come from heaven, for particular manifestations of himself; yet Christ did not leave the Father, nor the Father leave him, any more than God leaves heaven when he is said to come down to the earth.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

16. ἀληθινή (BDLTX) for ἀληθής (from Joh 8:13-14).

16. καὶ ἐὰν κρ. δὲ ἐγώ. But even if I should judge, like ‘even if I should bear witness’ (Joh 8:14). ‘I judge no man; not because I have no authority, but because judging is not what I came to do. Even if I do in exceptional cases judge, My judgment is a genuine and authoritative one (see on Joh 1:9), not the mock sentence of an impostor. It is the sentence not of a mere man, nor even of one with a divine commission yet acting independently; but of One sent by God acting in union with His Sender.’ Comp. Joh 5:30. For καὶ … δέ comp. Joh 8:17, Joh 6:51, Joh 15:27; 1Jn 1:3; Mat 16:18; Act 22:29; Heb 9:21; 2Pe 1:5. It is important to note which of the two conjunctions connects the clauses and leads: here and Joh 15:27 it is δέ, but in Joh 6:51 καί. See on Joh 8:31.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16.] There is no allusion to the foregoing history; the train of thought is altogether another.

‘The end of all testimony, is the forming, or pronouncing, of judgment. Ye do this by fleshly rules, concerning me and my mission: I judge no man, i. e. it is not the object nor habit of this My mission on earth; but even if I be called on to exercise judgment, my judgment is decisive:’ not exactly ἀληθής, but ἀληθινή, which rather means, genuine; which a judgment can only be by being true and final: see ch. 5:30 and note.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. For ἀληθινή (BDLTW 33) the rec. has ἀληθής (אΝΓΔΘ). For ἀληθινός, see on 1:9.

ἐὰν κρίνω δέ κτλ., “but if I judge, my judgment is sound,” i.e. not merely true, but soundly based and complete. Cf. ἡ κρίσις ἡ ἐμὴ δικαία ἐστίν (5:30, where see note).

The judgment of Christ is not that of a single individual, for μόνος οὐκ εἰμί, ἀλλʼ ἐγὼ καὶ ὁ πέμψας με. Cf. vv. 26, 29, for the same thought, and again 16:32 οὐκ εἰμὶ μόνος, ὅτι ὁ πατὴρ μετʼ ἐμοῦ ἐστίν. The consciousness of this perpetual association with the Father is explicitly claimed by the Christ of Jn.; but it is implied, too, in the bitterness of the cry “Why hast Thou forsaken me,” which is recorded only by Mk. and Mt. Herein was the anguish of the Cross, as they picture it.

The general principle to which the Pharisees appealed, sc. that judgment, like testimony, must not depend on one individual, is well illustrated in a Jewish saying (Pirke Aboth, iv. 12, quoted by Westcott), “Judge not alone, for none may judge alone save One.”

For the conception of Jesus as “sent” by the Father, see on 3:17, 4:34. After ὁ πέμψας με אcBLTΘW add πατήρ, but πατήρ is omitted by א*D, and it probably comes from v. 18.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

True [αληθης] . The best texts, however, read ajlhqinh, true to the perfect ideal of judgment.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.