Jn. 8:51. Truly, truly, I say to you: whoever keeps My word will never see death.
"What then did He say to them? 'If anyone keeps My word,' that is, joins to faith a pure life as well (for only he truly keeps the Lord's teaching who also has a pure life), such a person shall not see the death by which sinners die, being delivered in the age to come to endless torment and falling away from the true life."
At the same time, He lets them know that if the one who keeps My word does not die, then all the more so do I not die. Why then do you want to kill Me, over Whom death has so little power that I even grant true life to others? For although believers die bodily, they are alive in God.
Jn. 8:52. The Jews said to Him: now we know that You have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets, yet You say: whoever keeps My word shall never taste death.
What then do the Jews say to this? They consider Him to be demon-possessed, as if He were speaking some strange things due to a derangement of mind. Abraham and the prophets, who heard the words of God, died, so how will Your listeners not die? "Now," they say, "we truly know, that is, fully and firmly, that You, in saying this, are demon-possessed."
Jn. 8:53. Are You greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died:
The foolish ones, not understanding what kind of death the Lord was speaking of — that it would not touch those who believe in Him — say something senseless and foolish to Him. See how they answer: "Are You greater than our father Abraham?" They should have said: "Are You greater than God? Those who heard the word of God died, yet those who hear Yours will not die?" But they do not say this. Wishing to show that He is less even than Abraham, they say: "Are You greater than our father Abraham?"
The Lord Himself does not reveal to them what kind of death He spoke of. And that He is greater than Abraham, He demonstrates shortly after.
Jn. 8:53. "what do You make Yourself out to be?"
They say this as an insult. You, unworthy of a single word, Son of a carpenter, Galilean, whom do You make Yourself? Neither deeds, nor truth, nor the Scriptures, but You Yourself—whom do You make Yourself? For You Yourself appropriate glory to Yourself.
Jn. 8:54. Jesus answered: If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing. It is My Father who glorifies Me, of Whom you say that He is your God.
The Lord says to this: "If I glorify Myself, then My glory is nothing, as you also think. But the One who now glorifies Me is another, namely My Father."
The Father glorified Him in every way, both through prophecies about Him, and through testimony from heaven, and through countless and immeasurable miracles. Of this Father you say that He is your God. But you acknowledge Him neither as My Father nor as your God. If you acknowledged Him as Father, you would honor His Son. But now you do not honor His Son. It is evident that you do not acknowledge Him as My Father. But you do not acknowledge Him simply as God either. Otherwise you would fear His words as God's. But now you utterly disregard Him. He established as law: "Thou shalt not kill." You seek to kill Me, and that when you cannot convict Me of sin.
Jn. 8:55. And you have not known Him, but I know Him;
From this it is clear that you do not know Him at all. But I know Him by nature, I have perfect knowledge of Him. For, as I am, so also is the Father. And as I know Myself, so I also know Him.
Jn. 8:55. And if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you.
"For you lie, boasting that you know Him; but I would deny the truth if, knowing Him, I said that I do not know."
Jn. 8:55. But I know Him and keep His word.
How then will You prove that You know Him? "By this," He says, "that I keep His word, that is, His commandments." For I am not an adversary to Him, otherwise I would boast as one who opposes God, nor do I break His commandments. But you, transgressors of His commandments, are held captive, giving yourselves over to evil desires, you thirst for murder, and many other things forbidden by the law you commit with passion, and thereby you clearly reveal that you do not know Him. For if you knew Him, you would keep His word, that is, His commandments.
Others understand the words "I keep His word" thus: I know Him because I have within Myself the unchanging image of His Essence, that is, of His being, and whatever image of Nature the Father has, the same is also in Me. For the Father and the Son have one and the same Nature and one and the same mode of being. Therefore I know the Father, for I keep the unchanging image of His Essence.
Such a turn of speech is customary in Scripture. For example, in Slavonic it says, "Give us help from trouble: and vain is the salvation of man" (Ps. 59:13). Here the particle "and" is used instead of "for," and the meaning is: give us help, for salvation from man is unreliable. So also in these words, "I know Him, and keep His word," the particle "and" is placed instead of "for." "For," He says, "I keep His word."
Jn. 8:56. Abraham, your father, rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad.
Here He affirms that He is greater than Abraham. Above they were saying to Him: "Are You greater than our father Abraham?" Here He answers: "Yes, I am greater."
He "was glad to see My day," that is, he considered it pleasant, desirable, and joy-creating, as a day most beneficial and as the day not of someone small, not of an ordinary man, but of the Great One. By "day" He means the Cross, for Abraham prefigured it in the offering of Isaac and in the slaying of the ram. As Isaac carried the wood, so the Lord carried the cross, and as Isaac was spared while the ram was slain, so He, as God, remained beyond suffering, yet suffered in His Humanity and flesh. Foreseeing this day of the Cross as the day of universal salvation, Abraham rejoiced. He also shows that He goes to His sufferings voluntarily, since He praises the one who rejoiced over the Cross, for through it is the salvation of the world.
Others understand "day" to mean the entire time of Christ's appearance in the flesh, which Abraham foresaw and rejoiced that from him and his descendants the Savior would come. And perhaps not Abraham alone rejoiced, but all, as David says: "This is the day which the Lord has made: let us rejoice and be glad in it!" (Ps. 118:24).