João 8
John Piper · Citado em PreceptAustin
João 8
Piper says "When this light comes, it not only makes sin plain as foreign and ugly, but it also makes everything good in the world shine with its full and true beauty." John Piper adds there is one other aspect whereby Jesus is the Light of the world - Jesus being “the light of the world” means that that one day this world will be filled with this light as the waters cover the sea, and all darkness, and all the works of darkness, and all the sons of darkness will be cast out. That’s why Jesus called hell “outer darkness” (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30). In that day, all will be light. Jesus, the radiance of the Father, will fill the world, and everything will be beautiful with the light of Christ. (I Am the Light of the World) Piper's comment reminds me of that glorious future day when "the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea." (Hab 2:14+) Will not His glory be His Shekinah glory, a glorious light for the world. In fact Piper apparently is reminded of the same thought as in Hab 2:14 writing that "Until His light fills the earth as the waters cover the sea—until it and banishes sin and sickness and pain and earthquakes to the outer darkness—until then, even now, His light will help you bear the sorrows of darkness. It will be a soft glow to comfort you in your lonely room after the devastating loss. It will be a lamp on your troubled path. It will reveal the wise and loving face of God behind every frowning providence." Ryle on why the world needs the Light - These words imply that the world needs light, and is naturally in a dark condition. It is so in a moral and spiritual point of view--and it has been so for nearly 6,000 years. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, in modern England, France, and Germany, the same report is true. The vast majority of men neither see nor understand the value of their souls, the true nature of God, nor the reality of a world to come! Notwithstanding all the discoveries of art and science, "darkness still covers the earth, and gross darkness the people." (Isaiah. 60:2.) Steven
João 8
Piper - the way Jesus is the light of the world is precisely by being one with the Father. Jesus is the light of the world because he comes from the Father and speaks for the Father and is going to the Father and is one with the Father (I Am the Light of the World) Bruce Barton - In the Bible, "light" symbolizes the holiness of God (see also Psalm 27:1; 36:9; Acts 9:3; 1 John 1:5). Jesus is not merely a light or another light, he is the one and only true Light. As the Light, Jesus illumines the truth, gives people spiritual understanding, and reveals to us God himself and what he has done for us. (BORROW John - Life Application Commentary) In Jn 8:20 we are told that Jesus spoke these words in the Treasury in the Court of the Women, the most public part of the temple. The center of the Court was surrounded by large sections of stadium-like seats. In the open space of the Court sat four huge candelabra, each with four golden bowls, each one filled from a pitcher of oil by a youth of priestly descent. These were lit on the 1st night of the Feast of Tabernacles at the first ceremony called “The Illumination of the Temple”. When darkness fell the candelabra were lit, and the elders danced and led the people in singing psalms before the Lord all night. The brilliance and glow from the burning flames of the huge candelabra were said to be so bright that the light could be seen throughout the whole city. It may have been against this background that Jesus cried out, “I am the Light of the world.” The CANDLESTICK was to be extinguished after the feast, but His light would remain. He who (present tense - as one's lifestyle continually) follows (akoloutheo) Me - Notice carefully that Jesus is not a Light to those that know about Him, that have an intellectual understanding of Who He is. No, this promise is ONLY for those who follow Him, a clear picture of becoming His disciple, one who walks with Him, obeys Him and remains with Him. These are the ones who receive the promise of the light of life. Note that follows in the present tense speaks of habitual practice, of one's lifestyle (not perfection, but direction!) Follows is also in the active voice, signifying we must make a decision of our will, a volitional choice to follow after Jesus! The only way we can continually follow Jesus is by daily jettisoning self-reliance (fallen flesh will not follow Jesus!) and relying wholly on the Holy Spirit Who gives us the desire and the power to follow Jesus (Php 2:13NLT+). As alluded to he who follows Me is a great description of a disciple as this verb essentially means going in the same way or direction (as Jesus)! Mark it down (in contrast to what some popular commentators like Thomas Constable teach - see his comment on Jn 8:31) EVERY believer is also a disciple! Believers are not subdivided into "have's" and "have not's" but are all equal at the foot of the Cross, as followers of Jesus Christ the Lord. Follows (akoloutheo) is a technical term in Hebrew and Greek that describes the relationship of a disciple to his teacher. The essence of Christianity in fact lies in those words "follow Jesus." The first thing involved in following Jesus is a cleaving to Him in genuine heart felt (not just head knowledge) trust (= obedience). Trust and obey, for there is no other way to be blessed in Jesus, then to trust and obey! Those cleaving to Him must also follow His leading and imitate His example (1Co 11:1+, 1Jn 2:6+, 1Pe 2:21+, Jn 13:15 - See the vitally important topic Walking Like Jesus Walked! As you study this topic, you may be surprised to learn how Jesus walked for those powerful 3+ years preceding the Cross!) When we walk with Him, He promised we would never walk in darkness!. He is our Lamp wherever we walk, always walking with us, His Spirit within us, filling (controlling) us (Eph 5:18+), enabling us to "Walk by the Spirit." (Gal 5:16+) When Jesus says go, I go. When He says stop, I stop. His sheep know His voice and follow Him (Jn 10:27). John MacArthur on He who follows Me - In that context, it (follows - akoloutheo) has the connotation of complete submission to Jesus as Lord. God does not accept a half-hearted following of Christ—of receiving Him as Savior, but not following Him as Lord. The person who comes to Jesus comes to Him on His terms, or he does not come at all—a truth Jesus illustrated in Matthew 8:18–22. An even more striking illustration of that principle is found in Jesus’ dialogue with the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18–27.... In a shocking contradiction of contemporary evangelistic principles, Jesus actually turned away an eager prospect (in Luke 18:18–27). But the Lord was not interested in making salvation artificially easy for people, but genuine. He wanted their absolute allegiance, obedience, and submission. In Luke 9:23–24 He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”...Following Christ is not burdensome, as walking in the light illustrates. It is far easier than stumbling around in the dark (cf. Jer. 13:16). (See John Commentary)
João 8
Piper - it says in John 8:30, "many believed." Now the question is: Did Jesus treat this belief as genuine? We've seen before that there is a kind of "belief" in this Gospel that is not real (for example, Jn 2:23–25). It doesn't embrace Jesus as satisfying water for the soul, or satisfying bread for the soul, or light for the path. It just follows him because of hope for some earthly benefit from his miracles (Jn 6:26, 36). Does Jesus treat this faith in John 8:30 as genuine? He leaves it open and tells them how they can know if it is genuine. John 8:31–32: "So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'" Now those two verses call for a whole sermon. And I hope to give it. But keep moving for now to get the big picture. Something is going to happen that makes Jesus say that some of these believers are not believing. Look at John 8:45: "But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me." So he begins this section by saying: If you abide in my word, you are the real deal. You really believe. You are really born again. You have passed from darkness to light. You will not die in your sins (Jn 8:24). You are no longer children of the devil, but children of God. That's what would be true if they "abide" in his word. This is what he came to do. For you and for me. What happened that makes him say in John 8:45, "You do not believe me"? What happened was a refusal to hear his words (let alone abide in them), and a desire to kill him (opposition to truth and desire to kill the truth-bearer), all the while claiming to be children of Abraham and children of God and free from slavery, when, in fact, murder and a refusal to receive the truth are the marks of slavery to sin and Satan. So what we have in John 8:33–47 (leaving John 8:31–32 for its own sermon) is a painful and precious warning how we human beings tend to justify ourselves before God on the basis of our ethnic or religious or moral pedigree. In other words, Jesus is digging into the real condition of the human heart behind self-justifications that we come up with when confronted with Jesus' absolute claims on our lives. And he is naming the condition we are in, and it is frightening. The realities here are not funny, they're not light, they're not easy. They are dreadful and weighty and overpowering apart from God's grace—which Jesus is full of (John 1:14). (From The Truth Will Set You Free) (Bolding added) Warren
João 8:12
Piper - the way Jesus is the light of the world is precisely by being one with the Father. Jesus is the light of the world because he comes from the Father and speaks for the Father and is going to the Father and is one with the Father (I Am the Light of the World) He who (present tense - as one's lifestyle continually) follows (akoloutheo) Me - Note that follows in the present tense speaks of our habitual practice. The only way we can continually follow Jesus is by continually jettisoning self-reliance and relying wholly on the Holy Spirit Who gives us the desire and the power to follow Jesus (Php 2:13NLT+). Note that he who follows Me is a great description of a disciple as this verb essentially means going in the same way or direction (as Jesus)! Mark it down (in contrast to what some popular commentators like Thomas Constable teach - see his comment on Jn 8:31) EVERY believer is also a disciple! Believers are not subdivided into "have's" and "have not's" but are all equal at the foot of the Cross, as followers of Jesus Christ the Lord. Follows (akoloutheo) is a technical term in Hebrew and Greek that describes the relationship of a disciple to his teacher. The essence of Christianity in fact lies in those words "follow Jesus." The first thing involved in following Jesus is a cleaving to Him in genuine heart felt (not just head knowledge) trust (= obedience). Those cleaving to Him must also follow His leading and act according to His example (See the vitally important topic Walking Like Jesus Walked! You may be surprised to learn how Jesus walked for those powerful 3+ years preceding the Cross!) When we walk with Him, He promised we would never walk in darkness!. He is our Lamp wherever we walk, always walking with us, His Spirit within us, filling (controlling) us (Eph 5:18), enabling us to "Walk by the Spirit." (Gal 5:16) When Jesus says go, I go. When He says stop, I stop. His sheep know His voice and follow Him (Jn 10:27). John MacArthur on He who follows Me - In that context, it (follows - akoloutheo) has the connotation of complete submission to Jesus as Lord. God does not accept a half-hearted following of Christ—of receiving Him as Savior, but not following Him as Lord. The person who comes to Jesus comes to Him on His terms, or he does not come at all—a truth Jesus illustrated in Matthew 8:18–22. An even more striking illustration of that principle is found in Jesus’ dialogue with the rich young ruler in Luke 18:18–27.... In a shocking contradiction of contemporary evangelistic principles, Jesus actually turned away an eager prospect (in Luke 18:18–27). But the Lord was not interested in making salvation artificially easy for people, but genuine. He wanted their absolute allegiance, obedience, and submission. In Luke 9:23–24 He said, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it.”...Following Christ is not burdensome, as walking in the light illustrates. It is far easier than stumbling around in the dark (cf. Jer. 13:16). (See John Commentary)