(54) If I honour myself, my honour is nothing.--The word rendered "honour" is not the same as that in John 8:49. It is better to read glorify here. Following all the better MSS. the tense is past. We have then, If I shall have glorified Myself, My glory is nothing. Stress is to be laid upon the pronoun. "If I, for My part, as distinct from the Father, shall have glorified Myself."
It is my Father that honoureth me.--Better, as before, . . . glorifieth Me. This is the answer to their question, "Whom makest Thou Thyself?" The attribute of life in Himself, and the power to communicate this to those who kept His word, was the gift of the Father to the Son. (See Note on John 5:26.)
Of whom ye say, that he is your God.--Some of the better MSS., and most modern editors, read . . . "He is our God." The identification of the Father with the God of Israel is important. It may be, as some have supposed, that the phrase, "He is our God," belonged to common liturgical forms or hymns, and was thus frequently on their lips.
Verse 54. - Our Lord does not immediately or directly reply to their question. He was not making himself to be anything. He was simply declaring the fact. He does not return on the astounding assertion of ver. 51, but confirms it by reaffirming his own relation to the Father, and that sense of absolute and perfect union with the Father on which his entire ministry was based. Jesus answered, If I glorify myself - if I, from the ground of my own human consciousness, and apart from the Father who is with me and in me, and who "seeketh my glory" (ver. 50), if I have no unique relation and access to the Father, as you Jews seem to imply - then my glory - the glory of giving eternal life, of conferring perfect freedom and sonship upon those who continue in and keep my word; then all this glory which I claim - is nothing. But neither is the hypothesis one of fact, nor is the conclusion (fair enough on that hypothesis) a truth. "I am not glorifying myself, making myself anything other than I am." It is my Father who is glorifying me (cf. ver. 50, both for construction and sense); of whom ye say, that he is our [your] God. They claimed for themselves that they were "of God," and that the Father of whom he spake was no other than their God and Father as well as his. But they have not comprehended their own Scriptures nor God's providence, nor all the revelation which the Father was making of himself in the Son; while their special and monopolizing claim concealed from them the face of the Father.
8:54-59 Christ and all that are his, depend upon God for honour. Men may be able to dispute about God, yet may not know him. Such as know not God, and obey not the gospel of Christ, are put together, 2Th 1:8. All who rightly know anything of Christ, earnestly desire to know more of him. Those who discern the dawn of the light of the Sun of Righteousness, wish to see his rising. Before Abraham was, I AM. This speaks Abraham a creature, and our Lord the Creator; well, therefore, might he make himself greater than Abraham. I AM, is the name of God, Ex 3:14; it speaks his self-existence; he is the First and the Last, ever the same, Re 1:8. Thus he was not only before Abraham, but before all worlds, Pr 8:23; Joh 1:1. As Mediator, he was the appointed Messiah, long before Abraham; the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, Re 13:8. The Lord Jesus was made of God Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption, to Adam, and Abel, and all that lived and died by faith in him, before Abraham. The Jews were about to stone Jesus for blasphemy, but he withdrew; by his miraculous power he passed through them unhurt. Let us stedfastly profess what we know and believe concerning God; and if heirs of Abraham's faith, we shall rejoice in looking forward to that day when the Saviour shall appear in glory, to the confusion of his enemies, and to complete the salvation of all who believe in him.
Jesus answered, if I honour myself, my honour is nothing,.... It is empty and vain, and will not continue; see 2 Corinthians 10:18;
it is my Father that honoureth me: by a voice from heaven, both at his baptism, and transfiguration, declaring him to be his beloved Son, and by the works and miracles he did by him; as he afterwards also honoured him by raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand, by pouring forth his Spirit on his disciples, and succeeding his Gospel in every place:
of whom ye say that he is your God; your covenant God and Father, being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of this the Jews boasted. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and all the Oriental versions read, "our God".
It is my Father that honoureth me.--Better, as before, . . . glorifieth Me. This is the answer to their question, "Whom makest Thou Thyself?" The attribute of life in Himself, and the power to communicate this to those who kept His word, was the gift of the Father to the Son. (See Note on John 5:26.)
Of whom ye say, that he is your God.--Some of the better MSS., and most modern editors, read . . . "He is our God." The identification of the Father with the God of Israel is important. It may be, as some have supposed, that the phrase, "He is our God," belonged to common liturgical forms or hymns, and was thus frequently on their lips.
it is my Father that honoureth me: by a voice from heaven, both at his baptism, and transfiguration, declaring him to be his beloved Son, and by the works and miracles he did by him; as he afterwards also honoured him by raising him from the dead, and setting him at his own right hand, by pouring forth his Spirit on his disciples, and succeeding his Gospel in every place:
of whom ye say that he is your God; your covenant God and Father, being the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; of this the Jews boasted. The Alexandrian copy, and some others, and all the Oriental versions read, "our God".