John 8

Part of Light of the World and the Good Shepherd📖 John introduction

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¹But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. ✦ ²And early in the morning He came again into the temple area, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began teaching them. ✦ ³Now the scribes and the Pharisees *brought a woman caught in the act of adultery, and after placing her in the center of the courtyard, ⁴they *said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of committing adultery. ⁵Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” ✦ ⁶Now they were saying this to test Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. ✦ ⁷When they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” ✦ ⁸And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. ⁹Now when they heard this, they began leaving, one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman where she was, in the center of the courtyard. ✦ ¹⁰And straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” ✦ ¹¹She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on do not sin any longer.”]] ✦ ¹²Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; the one who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ✦ ¹³So the Pharisees said to Him, “You are testifying about Yourself; Your testimony is not true.” ✦ ¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, “Even if I am testifying about Myself, My testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ✦ ¹⁵You judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. ✦ ¹⁶But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and the Father who sent Me. ✦ ¹⁷Even in your Law it has been written that the testimony of two people is true. ✦ ¹⁸I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” ✦ ¹⁹So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.” ✦ ²⁰These words He spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple area; and no one arrested Him, because His hour had not yet come. ✦ ²¹Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will look for Me, and will die in your sin; where I am going, you cannot come.” ✦ ²²So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, will He, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” ✦ ²³And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. ✦ ²⁴Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.” ✦ ²⁵Then they were saying to Him, “Who are You?” Jesus said to them, “What have I even been saying to you from the beginning? ✦ ²⁶I have many things to say and to judge regarding you, but He who sent Me is true; and the things which I heard from Him, these I say to the world.” ✦ ²⁷They did not realize that He was speaking to them about the Father. ✦ ²⁸So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and I do nothing on My own, but I say these things as the Father instructed Me. ✦ ²⁹And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to Him.” ✦ ³⁰As He said these things, many came to believe in Him. ✦ ³¹So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly My disciples; ✦ ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” ✦ ³³They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free’?” ✦ ³⁴Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. ✦ ³⁵Now the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. ✦ ³⁶So if the Son sets you free, you really will be free. ✦ ³⁷I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you are seeking to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. ✦ ³⁸I speak of the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.” ✦ ³⁹They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus *said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham. ✦ ⁴⁰But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God; this Abraham did not do. ✦ ⁴¹You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born as a result of sexual immorality; we have one Father: God.” ✦ ⁴²Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came forth from God and am here; for I have not even come on My own, but He sent Me. ✦ ⁴³Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot listen to My word. ✦ ⁴⁴You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he tells a lie, he speaks from his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. ✦ ⁴⁵But because I say the truth, you do not believe Me. ✦ ⁴⁶Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me? ✦ ⁴⁷The one who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” ✦ ⁴⁸The Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not rightly say that You are a Samaritan, and You have a demon?” ✦ ⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; on the contrary, I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. ✦ ⁵⁰But I am not seeking My glory; there is One who seeks it, and judges. ✦ ⁵¹Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone follows My word, he will never see death.” ✦ ⁵²The Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets as well; and yet You say, ‘If anyone follows My word, he will never taste of death.’ ✦ ⁵³You are not greater than our father Abraham, who died, are You? The prophets died too. Whom do You make Yourself out to be?” ✦ ⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God’; ✦ ⁵⁵and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you; but I do know Him, and I follow His word. ✦ ⁵⁶Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see My day, and he saw it and rejoiced.” ✦ ⁵⁷So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and You have seen Abraham?” ⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” ✦ ⁵⁹Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and left the temple grounds. ✦

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In this chapter

Concept I AM Concept The Light of the World

Where this chapter connects

John 8 ·73 John 7 ·26 John 5 ·25 John 10 ·20 John 17 ·18 John 12 ·16 John 3 ·15 John 14 ·13

Christ at the center

John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.

How John 8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereDocumentaryFollowing the MessiahAppian Media · Free · evangelical
A free, beautifully shot 10-part series walking the lands of Jesus' life — Bethlehem, Galilee, Jerusalem, and more.
★ Start hereVideoBibleProject — video overviews & word studiesBibleProject · 5–10 min · Free · evangelical
Free animated overviews of every book of the Bible, plus themes and Hebrew/Greek word studies — the best visual on-ramp to any book. (Biblical-theology, broadly evangelical, not distinctly Reformed.)
★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.
DocumentaryHolyLandSiteHolyLandSite · Free · evangelical
Free on-location videos tying biblical events to the actual sites in Israel — the Temple Mount, Galilee, Capernaum, and more.
ApologeticsCold-Case Christianity (J. Warner Wallace)J. Warner Wallace · Free · evangelical
A cold-case homicide detective examines the Gospels' reliability — forensic faith for skeptics and seekers.

Pastoral

★ Start hereSermonMLJ Trust — Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonsMartyn Lloyd-Jones · Free · reformed
1,600+ free sermons from "the Doctor," including landmark verse-by-verse series (Romans, John, Ephesians, Acts) — a gold standard of expository preaching.
SermonGrace to You — John MacArthurJohn MacArthur · Free · reformed
Decades of careful verse-by-verse expository sermons, especially through the New Testament. (MacArthur, d. 2025; archive remains free.)
SermonGospel in Life — Tim KellerTim Keller · Free · reformed
Tim Keller's gospel-centered preaching — sermons stream free (the complete downloadable archive is paid).
ArticleRecommended NT commentaries (9Marks / Schreiner)Thomas R. Schreiner · Free · reformed
A trusted pastor-oriented guide to the best commentary on each New Testament book.
SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.
VideoVerse By Verse Ministry InternationalVerse By Verse Ministry Int'l · Free · evangelical
In-depth, verse-by-verse expository teaching book-by-book — strong for working straight through a whole New Testament book.
VideoLook at the Book — John PiperJohn Piper · Free · reformed
Watch Piper trace the logic of a passage phrase by phrase on screen — a model of close reading.

Seminary

★ Start hereApologeticsGary Habermas — the resurrectionGary Habermas · Free · evangelical
130+ free videos and lectures from the scholar behind the "minimal facts" method — the start-here on the historical evidence for the resurrection. (Only his books are paid.)
★ Start hereCommentaryThe Gospel According to John (Pillar NT Commentary)D. A. Carson · ~720 pp · Paid · reformed
The go-to mid-level exegetical commentary on John — rigorous and readable.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — John videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on John 8YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — John 8David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JohnMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — John 8Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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