Coptic Orthodox Answers

In name the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive. We've seen that Christ was at the Feast of the Tabernacles and He proclaimed that He was the source of the life-giving water, this water that gives eternal life. And then He dealt with the adulterous woman, a beautiful story of mercy. And today, we'll resume with verse 12 of chapter 8.

So, we have seen that the Feast of Tabernacles is a commemoration of the 40 years in the wilderness, right?, where the Jews used to drink water from a rock. And during this commemoration, during the feast, they would have a priest go and grab some water from the pool of Siloam and bring it back. And at this point, Christ cried out and said: I am the living water, so all of this is symbolic of who I am.

Similarly, during this feast, they used to have, on a daily basis, light in the court of the women. But on the last day of the feast, they would not have these lights on. And therefore, on that last day, when the lights were off, Christ says this:

'' 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ''I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'' (John 8:12)

And this was done at the Feast of the Tabernacles, again, because they commemorate the 40 years in the wilderness. And during these years, God would appear to them as a pillar of fire during the night to guide them on their way. That's why also, in John, in the Gospel, chapter 1, verse 4, he would say:

'' 4 In Him was life [so, in Christ is the life], and [that life or] the life was the light of men.'' (John 1:4)

So, this source of life is the one that gives light to men. He now says that He is the light of the world. So, Christ profits from this occasion to send an important message to those who are lost, to those who are living in darkness that need guidance: Here I am. I am the light of the world. Follow Me. You will have life. You will have guidance. You will have security. You will find joy, purpose. You will find all that you need and more. You will find understanding on how to raise kids, you know, clarity on how, you know, to follow your career and so on and so forth. How to live life with friends, with neighbours, with my spouse. All of these things you will have, because I am the light of the world.

That phrase that Christ is the light of the world or the light of men is not taken, you know, as seriously today, in the sense that we take it for granted. Why is that? Because when we have

darkness, we just switch the light on, right? We have electricity today. But that was not the case at the time. At the time, darkness meant limitation, meant, you know, confinement, meant captivity, meant uncertainty, because people were stuck. They couldn't do much. And they would only be able to truly live life during the light, during the day, right? That's when they would get everything done.

So, Christ here is truly telling them: You know, I really wanna bring you life, and life in the meaning of the fullness of life. I wanna give you the true love and the true joy. That's why the psalm would say:

'' 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning.'' (Psalm 130:6)

My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. People were eager for the light of the day to come to be able to truly live. He says: here I am. I am giving you the real meaning of life. How beautiful is this!

So, before moving on to verse 13, in John 5:31, Christ has said that if He witnessed to Himself, then His witness is not true and the implication here was that the Father is witnessing that this Messiah is truly the Son of God, but the Pharisees understood this superficially, and therefore, they're about to attack Him here. So, in verse 13, they say:

'' 13 The Pharisees therefore said to Him, ''You bear witness of Yourself; Your witness is not true.'' 14 Jesus answered and said to them, ''Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going.'' '' (John 8:13-14)

So, His response to them is: well, I'm a divine being, right? I know where I come from and where I'm going, but you don't. So, He disassociates Himself from them, right?

'' 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. [So, you're currently judging Me, but I judge no one.] 16 And yet if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent Me. 17 It is also written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. [That's in Deuteronomy 19:15.] 18 I am One who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me.'' 19 Then they said to Him, ''Where is Your Father?'' [Here, they're mocking Him.] Jesus answered, ''You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.''

20 These words Jesus spoke in the treasury, as He taught in the temple; and no one laid hands on Him, for His hour had not yet come.'' (John 8:15-20)

And here, St. John wants to demonstrate that He is Almighty Pantocrator and nobody could touch, you know, touch Him and bring Him, you know, to die on the cross without His own permission, again, because he's writing at the end of the 1 st century, explaining how is it that we worship, you know, the Messiah who was crucified.

Let's dwell for a second on the question Where is Your Father? Christ responds to them and says: You know neither Me nor the Father. If you had known Me, you would have known the Father also, meaning I'm just telling you that I'm the light of the world, yet you remain willingly in darkness. I want to give you sight, but you reject Me. And therefore, I'm right in front of you, doing all of these signs, all of these miracles, yet you choose not to believe.

So, when you say where is Your Father? and think that you are mocking Me, telling Me that the Father does not support Me, I respond and I tell you no, I am the Son of the Father. I am the light of the world. All these miracles or these signs are evidence of who I am. Therefore, I want you to believe.

Moving on to verse 21. So, verse 21, here, introduces a new location, a new day potentially even, because verse 20 implies that Christ had left. So, verse 21 is a continuation of the conversation with the same enemies, but it did not necessarily happen on the same day. So, says:

'' 21 Then Jesus said to them again, ''I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I go you cannot come.'' '' (John 8:21)

So, anybody that rejects the Messiah, the one that is there to give life and to give love, that does not believe in Him and follow in His path ends up, you know, living in death, and therefore, die in the sins.

'' 21 (...) Where I go you cannot come.'' 22 So the Jews said, ''Will He kill Himself, because He says, 'Where I go you cannot come'?'' [again mocking Him] 23 And He said to them, ''You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. [Again, He's disassociating Himself from them, making Himself a heavenly being.] 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.'' '' (John 8: 21-24)

And obviously, we mentioned a few times how the word believe implies not merely a mental belief, but, you know, following in the footsteps of Christ. Also this passage, St. Cyril comments with the following:

''Here [Christ] clearly shows what he means by above and below. The Pharisees would have understood what he said in a bodily way [or a physical way], thinking the above and below were localities. That is why our Lord clarifies what he had previously said so obscurely. For he says, You are of this world, that is, from beneath; I am not of this world, speaking of what is from above. For God surpasses all that is created. His superiority is not a localized kind of exaltation (as if the incorporeal could be conceived in any way as local, except by the foolish and utterly uninstructed). Rather, he surpasses derivative beings because of his own most excellent and ineffable nature.'' (St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on John 8)

So, what St. Cyril is saying here is that we cannot physically point to a location where Christ is or God is, the Holy Trinity is. We cannot literally understand that God is coming down, as if God is physically above and now He's coming down. We say these things, but when we say these things, we don't mean them literally, because God is spirit, right?

And by the same token, it does not mean that heaven is above and hell is below. There are mainly spiritual states. Yes, they could... there could be a spiritual realm where the Church is gathered together somewhere, you know, but believing that hell is below, at the core, at the center of the earth, this is nonsense. Or if I believe that heaven is physically above, then the heaven in Australia is different, you know, locally speaking, from the heaven in the States or in Canada. Obviously, this is not how we see things.

They're written like that in Scripture for a reason, which I'm not gonna go through now, because it's not the place for it. So, Christ or God, that one Trinitarian God is spirit. And here, St. Cyril is emphasizing on this, that we should not be taking these terms literally.

Moving on to verse 25:

'' 25 Then they said to Him, ''Who are You?'' And Jesus said to them, ''Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you...'' '' (John 8:25-26)

Earlier, He mentioned to them that He does not judge. Here He speaks in the future saying in the Judgment Day, right?, in the second coming, I will be judging everybody, including yourselves, so...

'' 26 I have many things to say and to judge concerning you, but He who sent Me is true [again associating Himself with the Father]; and I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him.'' 27 They did not understand that He spoke to them of the Father.'' (John 8:26-27)

Here, did not understand or did not believe.

'' 28 Then Jesus said to them, ''When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.'' '' (John 8:28)

In other words, when you crucify Me and when I resurrect, you will know the truth.

'' 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.'' 30 As He spoke these words, many believed in Him.'' (John 8:29-30)

In these few verses, there are a few phrases that we need to clarify. So, for example, Christ says: I speak to the world those things which I heard from Him or from the Father. So, Christ speaks what He heard from the Father. He says also: I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me. So, He gets taught by the Father, and therefore, He says: He who sent Me is with Me, here again talking about the Father.

So, these phrases, you know, seem to imply that the Father is greater than the Son, but He's not. So, what St. Cyril says about this is that Christ has been saying that He is the light of the world, right? He is the water that provides life. He is the bread that came down from heaven. So, He's saying all of these things and throughout this chapter and others, He's been associating Himself with the Father over and over and over again. So, He's making Himself clearly divine.

However, again, He realizes that He's talking as a human being, in the form of a human being to humans. And they're not able to accept these words. They're difficult for them to swallow. So, He stoops down to their level, He speaks, you know, according to their own perceptions of things.

So, he's saying: yes, I understand that you see Me as a human and I keep on saying that I am God, I am the Son of God, so therefore, I will appease, you know, your conscience, in a sense. I will go down to your ways, to your language, and tell you yeah, okay, you know what, I speak, you know, from what I hear from the Father. He is the one who sent me, right? He is the one that teaches me, because I do not deny my humanity and that's very important.

He is both fully divine and fully human at the same time. And the fact that He did not deny His humanity makes Him capable of saving us, because He needs to have a humanity to be able to die with it. And that is very crucial, because there's another very important factor to all of this. I'll reread verse 29 and 30. It says:

'' 29 And He who sent Me is with Me [So, the Father is with the Son and this is important]. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.'' 30 [And] as He spoke these words, many believed in Him.'' (John 8:29-30)

So, even as a human, there's a big difference between us, as a humanity at the time, and Himself. What's that difference? It's that for us, as a humanity, we were not reconciled with God. There was a separation, a gap there. There was a need for salvation, because there is sin. But that was not His case. It says in verse 29: He who sent me is with me. The Father is with me. The Father has not left Me alone.

So, He's not a human like all other humans. He is a perfect human, because His humanity is united with His divinity, because He has no sin. And that is why He's able to come and redeem us and save us and recreate us. So, in other words, the other implication in all of this is: Although you see Me as a human, I'm a perfect human, because I'm also divine at the same time. And because of this, the Father has not left Me alone and He's always with me, because I always do those things that please Him. And therefore, I am different from you.

Like, the implications in these verses is that Christ is still the Son of God. He is truly divine, although He's saying all of these things in their own perception.

Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.

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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.