In the second half of chapter eight of John, Jesus is chatting with the "Jews who had believed in him". They then go on to argue - it reads like a slanging match!
- "we were not born of sexual immorality"
- "are we not right saying you are a samaritan and have a demon"
- "you are of your father, the devil"
Why does Jesus do this? Please comment. All I can think is that he really dislikes lukewarm "disciples" (Revelation 3:14-21).
Piper is going through John atm and he commented on something similar in John 2.
ReplyDelete"23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man."
Why did Jesus not entrust Himself to those who had "believed", - why does it matter that He knows man is evil?
I think the most logical explanation is there is believing in Jesus' signs and true believing. One is saving. The other is just after the thrill of signs and wonders, or light hearted truth.
it might not be so much a case of lukewarm disciples, but a case of lukewarm gospel.
Jesus wants His people to know His truth, because this honours Him. He doesn't want followers who will play pick and mix with His Gospel, - if people will follow Him they must follow Him as the God who judges sin in hell, and who declares all men to be sinful.
That would be my stab at it.
Or to phrase that a lot better. He wants people to follow Him and not follow false pretensions of Him.
ReplyDeleteIt says that the Jews believed, yet this can't quite mean that they put their trust in him as lord and saviour. This is demonstrated straight away as they object to what he says. They reject his teaching that they need to be set free from punishment and power of sin and simply think they are acceptable to God because of their blood.
ReplyDeleteOnce Jesus is truly revealed and the gospel fully proclaimed who shouldn't be surprised that people get offended.
Doesn't a similar thing happen in John 6:60-70? They find Jesus' teaching hard and start grumbling about it (v61) and many turned away from him (v66). Yet, to those who are called (v37, 44), they respond: "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God."