“Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51)
This verse remains in the dialogue that Jesus is having with these religious leaders (beginning back in John 8:12). Earlier in this dialogue, they reject His claim to be Messiah, and believe that being a child of Abraham is enough to get them into heaven. Jesus spoke against that belief and argued that salvation is only found by believing He is the Christ. This is a common paradigm in the Gospels, during Jesus’ interactions with the spiritual leaders of Israel. They believe in their heritage for salvation while Jesus challenges that and says salvation is only found in Him.
Keeping this immediate context in mind, and the fact these people rejected Christ, He quite plainly states that they will die if they don’t “keep” His sayings. To understand what Jesus means here, first we must understand what does “die” mean? It is apparent from the immediate context, the reference to death is not a physical death (though the Pharisees mistakenly believe that to be the case, cf 8:52). Instead, Jesus is speaking of the second death (possibly an allusion to Daniel 12:2). Again, this would be blasphemy to the spiritual leaders as they believed Abraham stood at the gates of hell to pull all Jews from its grip. However, Jesus says that it’s not heritage but rather it’s faith in Him which pulls them from hell. Therefore, the “death” Jesus is speaking of in verse 51 is the second death that the apostle John (same author) would write about in Revelation 20:14.
Now, what is meant by the phrase “keep my saying”? The Greek word for “keep” (tereo) has various meanings such as: retain in custody/guard, to observe, to cause a state or condition to continue/preserve, or to persist in obedience. And just like English words with multiple definitions (i.e., the semantic range), it’s the context which dictates which meaning is meant. Because we know that salvation (e.g., eternal life) is a free gift, not of works (Eph 2:8-9), and faith is the only necessary requisite to obtain eternal life, we know that “persisting in obedience” would contradict to countless Gospel presentations in the New Testament. Also, Jesus earlier in this passage states they would die in their sins (i.e., go to hell), not if they don’t keep His saying, but if they don’t believe in Him.
John 8:24
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.”
This is within the same exchange Jesus is having with these religious leaders. Again, John 8:24 doesn’t say they’ll die in their sins if they believe not and do not. Nor does Jesus say they’ll die in their sins if they believe but don’t do. Instead, again, quite plainly, Jesus states that them having life is predicated upon one thing, and one thing alone….believing that Jesus is “he”.
So, who is the “he” Jesus is saying He is? It goes back to the beginning of the conversation, the first verse which prompted this entire dialogue…John 8:12. Jesus is stating that He is the “light of the world” (i.e., the visible manifestation of God in flesh). He is Emmanuel, God with us, the God-man, the Christ…their promised and prophesied Messiah.
Because of this, when Jesus mentions in 8:51, “keep my saying”, out of the range of meanings for the Greek “tereo”, Jesus means that if one “observes”, or in other words, believes in His saying, His teaching, His message….that He is the Messiah. If one places their faith in Jesus being the Messiah during His earthly ministry, they will never see spiritual death. Those that do believe in His Messiahship will receive everlasting life. The only way to go heaven is to believe in Jesus alone for salvation.
コメント