Commentary on the Gospel of John

                               Chapter Eight

                                                                                                                                              Verses 48-51

The evil in these unbelievers then caused their hatred of Jesus to sink to its lowest level. Evil always desires to completely destroy goodness. They accused Jesus of being a Samaritan and of having a devil. They knew that Jesus was good, but evil can become so depraved that it will believe that even those who seem to be good secretly practice evil. Isaiah 5:20; Titus 1:15-16; II Timothy 3:3.

The Jews hated the Samaritans and thought they were evil. These Jews had learned that Jesus had visited the Samaritans, had preached to them, and had brought many of them to faith in Him as their Messiah and Savior. John 4:40-42. They thus assumed that Jesus had to be a Samaritan and that He had a devil. Those who adhere to their evil natures always practice hatred and make false accusations.

Jesus flatly denied that He had a devil. His flat denial demonstrated that He had become a little angry with them for allowing themselves to sink so low. Jesus explained His flat denial by pointing out to these Jews that He had honored His Father by showing His love and compassion for all humans, including the Samaritans. If these unbelievers would not honor their God of love and compassion, they then dishonored Jesus who had demonstrated that love and compassion. All evil humans, even atheists, believe in some form of god. These unbelievers had the wrong god because they believed that their god supported their self-righteous attitudes and their lust for power over others.

Jesus then told them that He did not seek to glorify Himself in the way that they understood self glory. Jesus had no desire to become a great, earthly king who would liberate the Jews from the Romans. Jesus sought only to honor His Father who sought to liberate His living humans from spiritual slavery to the Devil and to judge them accordingly. These unbelievers could not understand that spiritual liberty was of the utmost importance.

Jesus then made one of His most profound statements. Jesus taught that those who would believe in the spiritual truths that He preached would "never see death." John 5:24; John 11:26. Jesus never taught that physical death would be a punishment for sin and evil. If a person comes to faith in Christ as his Savior and immediately passes from death to life, then physical death cannot be a punishment for sin and evil. Jesus had to have spoken about passing from spiritual death into everlasting life. John 5:24; Psalm 116:15.  Jesus and the Apostle Paul often spoke about believers who were physically dead as being asleep, not dead. Mark 5:39; John 11:11; I Corinthians 15:51; I Thessalonians 4:13-14.

When Jesus, who is God, spoke to Adam and Eve in the garden, He warned them that He would apply two temporary punishments for sin and evil. He warned them that they would die on the same day that they sinned. After they sinned, He sentenced them to a temporary punishment for sin and evil by allowing them to suffer pain and sorrow while still alive in the flesh. God had to have meant spiritual death because they did not physically die that same day. God told them that they would suffer pain and sorrow until their physical deaths, but He did not say that physical death would be a punishment for sin and evil. God cursed the Devil and all evil, but He did not curse Adam and Eve. God clearly meant that a curse would be a permanent punishment for sin and evil. That can only mean that spiritual death had to be a temporary punishment. In fact, God told Eve that she would be "the mother of all living." Genesis 3:20. In the light of Genesis 3:15, Genesis 3:20-21, and Luke 20:38, God could only have meant by these pronouncements that He will purge the Devil and all evil from His creations, and He will eventually provide a way to save all of His living humans that He creates and loves from an eternal death. Revelation 21:5; I Corinthians 15:22; I Timothy 4:10. John the Baptist said that Jesus "taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. He did not say that Jesus would only take away the sins of humans saved by grace.