JOHN 8:1 – 59
Bible Study Notes Rev. Betsy Perkins
The Light of the World
o Recall a situation in which you were given a second chance. What did you learn from the experience?
Adultery and Hypocrisy (8:1-11):
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Gospel of John (RightNowMedia), 1:08:40-1:14:05
o Why is this passage printed in italics in many Bibles? What does that mean for the authenticity of the story?
o Read Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22. What is the Law regarding people who commit adultery?
o Why do the religious leaders bring the woman to Jesus and ask him what to do?
o How was Jesus’ attitude toward the woman different than the crowd’s attitude?
o What do you think Jesus might have been writing in the sand?
o Why do you think the older men were the first to leave the scene?
o How does Jesus address the woman’s sin? What does this story reveal about God’s view of sin?
The story certainly doesn’t mean – as some people have tried to make it mean – that adultery doesn’t matter. That’s not the point at all. Jesus’ last words to the woman are extremely important. If she has been forgiven – if she’s been rescued from imminent death – she must live by that forgiveness. Forgiveness is not the same thing as ‘tolerance’. Being forgiven doesn’t mean that sin doesn’t matter. On the contrary: ‘forgiveness’ means that sin does matter – but that God is choosing to set it aside. And the sin that matters even more, as the rest of the chapter makes clear, is the deep-rooted sin which uses the God-given law as a means of making oneself out to be righteous, when in fact it is meant to shine the light of God’s judgment into the dark places of the heart. By confronting this sin, Jesus has put himself, literally, in the firing line from which he has just rescued the woman. N. T. Wright
o What words would you use to describe how Jesus treated the guilty woman?
o How does this story challenge your attitude about people caught in various sins?
God loves with an informed passion. Jesus didn’t look at the woman caught in adultery as a stranger for whom he could practice mercy. In his look, she met someone who knew exactly who she was and what she had done. And yet, despite his awareness, Jesus did not treat her as an object to make a point or a pawn to manipulate. He spoke the truth – and he set her free to go and sin no more. No matter how often we come to Christ, burdened and fallen again, he is willing to say to us, “Go, and sin no more.” Max Lucado
o For what sinful attitudes or actions do you need to ask God’s forgiveness?
The Light of the World (8:12-20):
o What does it mean to you when Jesus says “I am the light of the world”?
o Read Exodus 13:20-21, Psalm 27:1, Psalm 119:105, Isaiah 9:2, and Isaiah 49:6. What does the metaphor of light mean to the Jews?
o Jesus and the Pharisees (religious lawyers) seem to be arguing about who can provide a valid witness in court against an accusation of breaking the law. What is the witness requirement?
o Who are the witnesses for Jesus? Would the Pharisee Nicodemus agree with this (John 3:1-2)?
o In a court or legal context, what does it mean to ‘shine light’? Who is the one ‘in darkness’?
o If Jesus has come to shine light on those in darkness, who then is on trial?
Gradually, we begin to realize that when the witnesses are brought in this case it is not Jesus who is really on trial. It is those who are opposing him. He and his father are giving evidence that he is the Messiah; but, if this is so, he is bringing the light that they cannot escape. As he has come to realize, at the heart of the Israel of his day there was a single great problem: they had forgotten who their God really was. Their behavior, their attitudes and their ambitions indicated that they didn’t know the one Jesus called ‘father’; and that was why they couldn’t recognize him as having come from this one true God. N.T. Wright
o Are there ways in which this continues today – that our behavior, attitudes and ambitions indicate we have forgotten who God really is? Do we ever try to turn God’s calling to be a light for the world, into a privilege for ourselves?
More Disputes and Accusations (8:21-47):
o How do the Jews misunderstand Jesus’ statement in verse 21? What did Jesus mean?
We would prefer to think of Jesus teaching, in a friendly fashion, people (like we imagine ourselves to be, perhaps) who simply want to listen and learn, who want truth and wisdom to live my, who are looking for the secret of the gospel of salvation. But this passage indicates that life was seldom if ever like that during Jesus’ public career. There was little time, especially in Jerusalem, for leisurely teaching, for pondering deep timeless truths. Things were urgent; the chief priests and Pharisees, and those whom they influenced, were either going to listen to him or they weren’t. And Jesus increasingly realized that they weren’t… they simply didn’t understand how the God of whom he spoke could be the same as the God they thought they knew. This is the tragedy at the heart of the story of Jesus. N.T. Wright
o Yet some Jews do start to believe what Jesus is saying. What does Jesus tell them in verse 31-32? Why are they offended by Jesus’ words?
o How does sin enslave individuals? How does sin enslave groups, families, and nations?
o What is the truth, and how could it set people free in Jesus’ time? What about in our time?
o Who do the Jews claim as their father? Who does Jesus say is their father? Why are they even arguing about this?
o Does church membership automatically make God that person’s Father?
o Who or what is the devil? (While this sounds like Jesus is being very harsh, remember that this chapter is about a man facing a mob that is set upon lynching him, and he is bravely speaking up against their hypocrisy. Unfortunately, this passage has been taken out of context by some Christians to justify anti-Semitism.)
o ‘Projection’ is a term coined by psychologist Carl Yung to explain why people accuse someone else of the very thing they are guilty of themselves. (Example in NT Wright, page 125) How are lies and half-truths a powerful weapon of the devil?
“I Am!” (8:48-59):
o What accusations do the Jews make against Jesus? (Add them to the chart)
o The Jews are hearing Jesus’ words on a literal level. What misunderstandings does that cause in this passage? What does Jesus really mean?
o How does the crowd react to Jesus’ statement, “Before Abraham was born, I am!”? Why? What does this reveal to us about Jesus?
In light of this passage and our discussion, what one truth about God and about yourself stand out as something to “take to heart” this week?
Are there steps you will take, by God’s grace, to more fully apply it to your life?
Resources: NIV Zondervan Study Bible, 2015
N.T. Wright, John for Everyone, 2002
Max Lucado, Life Lessons from John, 2018
Joe Boyd, Bible Experiment – Gospel of John (RightNowMedia), 2014
Add Your Comment