Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of John Chapter 8
Metaphysically Interpreting John 8:1-11
8:1but Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. 8:2And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. 8:3And the scribes and the Pharisees bring a woman taken in adultery; and having set her in the midst, 8:4they say unto him, Teacher, this woman hath been taken in adultery, in the very act. 8:5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such: what then sayest thou of her? 8:6And this they said, trying him, that they might have whereof to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 8:7But when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8:8And again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground. 8:9And they, when they heard it, went out one by one, beginning from the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the midst. 8:10And Jesus lifted up himself, and said unto her, Woman, where are they? did no man condemn thee? 8:11And she said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said, Neither do I condemn thee: go thy way; from henceforth sin no more.
Metaphysically Interpreting John 8:12-20
8:12Again therefore Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life. 8:13The Pharisees therefore said unto him, Thou bearest witness of thyself; thy witness is not true. 8:14Jesus answered and said unto them, Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true; for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye know not whence I come, or whither I go. 8:15Ye judge after the flesh; I judge no man. 8:16Yea and if I judge, my judgment is true; for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me. 8:17Yea and in your law it is written, that the witness of two men is true. 8:18I am he that beareth witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness of me. 8:19They said therefore unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye know neither me, nor my Father: if ye knew me, ye would know my Father also. 8:20These words spake he in the treasury, as he taught in the temple: and no man took him; because his hour was not yet come.
February 7, 1943: John 8:12
How did Jesus become the “light of the world”? Through expressing fully the Christ wisdom and understanding and teaching others to express these divine qualities through the I AM.
What is the “light of life”? It is spiritual understanding, or divine intelligence.
[Transcriber's Note: This lesson is found in the PDF for John 7]
February 16, 1947: John 8:12-16
In a metaphysical sense what is the light of the world? Divine wisdom, which finds expression through us as intelligence or understanding.
How is the claim of divine wisdom substantiated by us? We claim wisdom through the medium of the I AM, the divine agent by means of which we identify ourselves with whatever we wish to make our own.
How do we follow Jesus Christ so as to have the light of life? By learning to observe the law of life, and by increasing our understanding of life as an expression of the divine creative power and living creatively or constructively. When we follow the way of the Christ, we have true wisdom and intelligence.
Is understanding indispensable to a full life? It is, for without it we become narrow and visionless. Lacking vision, we can have no initiative and no original plan for our life, but must follow blindly the lead of someone else.
Is understanding of ourselves essential to a clear understanding of life? We must understand ourselves first of all; otherwise we have no adequate grasp of life in general. “I know whence I came, and whither I go.” '“Even if I bear witness of myself, my witness is true.” When we understand life, we make no idle boasts but use good judgment in all things.
What is it to be the “light of the world”? This is another term for leadership, since those who see and understand the mainsprings of life, its trends, and its ultimates are fitted to lead others. Enlightened leadership is the great need of the world at the present time.
Besides wisdom, intelligence, and understanding, what other forms of mental and spiritual light may we make our own and give out to others? Sympathy and love are spiritual lights that illumine life in superlative degree. No greater light than the light of love exists or is known to us. Therefore we identify love with God.
Metaphysically Interpreting John 8:21-30
8:21He said therefore again unto them, I go away, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sin: whither I go, ye cannot come. 8:22The Jews therefore said, Will he kill himself, that he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come? 8:23And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 8:24I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. 8:25They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning. 8:26I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you: howbeit he that sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these speak I unto the world. 8:27They perceived not that he spake to them of the Father. 8:28Jesus therefore said, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself, but as the Father taught me, I speak these things. 8:29And he that sent me is with me; he hath not left me alone; for I do always the things that are pleasing to him. 8:30As he spake these things, many believed on him.
Metaphysically Interpreting John 8:31-38
8:31Jesus therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, If ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples; 8:32and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 8:33They answered unto him, We are Abraham's seed, and have never yet been in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
8:34Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin. 8:35And the bondservant abideth not in the house for ever: the son abideth for ever. 8:36If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. 8:37I know that ye are Abraham's seed: yet ye seek to kill me, because my word hath not free course in you.8:38I speak the things which I have seen with my Father: and ye also do the things which ye heard from your father.
March 12, 1905: John 8:31-40
The superconscious mind dwelling constantly as the oversoul of every man is the perfect guide into Truth. When the intellectual and sense minds give way to this higher principle, and let it form itself in them, they are disciples of Jesus the Christ, and his “word,” or thought abides in them.
This reveals and demonstrates the Truth of Being. The Century Dictionary defines Truth as “conformity to thought; conformity of a judgment, statement or belief with the reality.” This definition leaves open the question as to the character of fact and reality. Facts are hard things to locate in a world of illusions. Yet the usual citation of a fact is to some relation in the phenomenal universe. This is not the reality which Jesus referred to, when he said, “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” The truth referred to by Jesus is the understanding of the character of the ideas that constitute Divine Mind, and man's relation thereto. This understanding sets us free from ignorance and materiality, sin, sickness and death, when we let it form itself in our minds, and express itself in our lives.
Those who think of themselves as descended from human ancestors are in bondage to all the limitations of those ancestors, regardless of their claims to the contrary. It is a falling short of the full stature of man to regard himself as descended from the human family. This is a sin that keeps the majority of men in bondage to sense consciousness. The Jews were proud of their ancesters, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who did things that in our day would make them candidates for the penitentiary. As a single example, polygamy might be mentioned. We see this tendency in men and women who eagerly search the records of royalty for a family coat of arms, or trace their ancestry back to William the Conqueror, or some other old reprobate. This practice keeps them in the thought-current of those primitive, uncultivated and uncivilized ancestors, and they do over and over again the unrighteous things which those old pirates, tyrants and brigands did.
The one and only way to get free from this burden of race heredity is to proclaim your Divine Sonship. If you believe that God is your Father, acknowledge Him, and He will acknowledge you.
A short definition of sin is ignorance. If you know your spiritual origin, and all the purity and power which it includes, you would not be subject to the race tendencies that sway the mind of the flesh. This is the freedom of the Son of God; the shackles of false thought are loosed, and there is the open light of heaven, instead of the darkness of sense consciousness.
It seems incredible that men should seek to destroy and kill out of their thoughts this superconscious mind, but such is the self-sufficiency of ignorance identified with human lineage. Mortality has failed generation after generation, yet men cling to it as the sumum bonum of existence, and antagonize the ideals held out by the spiritual nature.
This is a good proclamation for everyone to make who wishes to prove Divine Sonship. “I no longer commit the sin of thinking that I am descended from mortality or human ancestry. I am the Son of God, and I inherit from my Father freedom from sin, sickness and death, and all the fears and ignorant beliefs which mortal thought has tried to load upon me. I am free! Praise God, I am free!”
Sunday, November 11, 1917: John 8:31-40
What in consciousness are the Jews referred to in this lesson? The Jews are the illumined or quickened thoughts in consciousness: those thoughts that associate themselves with the Christ Principle within.
What attitude of mind characterizes the disciple of Christ? The disciple of Christ constantly abides in the Word, that is, keeps his ideas related to the ideas of the Superconious or Christ Mind.
What is the result of abiding in the Word? Through abiding in the Word or Christ Mind, the truth of Being is revealed to man and he is set free from the limitations of ignorant thought. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”
Metaphysically, what is ignorance? Ignorance is failure to relate harmoniously the ideas of mind to Divine Ideas. Ignorance is the root of all sin.
What is the first step necessary in breaking the bonds of ignorance? The first step necessary in breaking the bonds of ignorance is the realization that man is spiritual being, a descendant of the Heavenly Father, and a corresponding denial of human ancestors.
What, in consciousness, does Abraham symbolize? Abraham symbolizes the soul quickened of the Spirit through faith in God, not yet having come into the fullness of spiritual understanding.
How can spiritual freedom be realized? Spiritual freedom is realized only through the Son, through declaring allegiance to God, and God alone, allowing none of the thoughts of the race to sway the mind. “If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
Sunday, February 7, 1932: John 8:31-36
What is the Word of Jesus in which we are to abide? The Word that made Jesus the visible Christ is the Logos, in which is epitomized God's idea of man.
How do we abide in the Word? We abide in the Word by constantly identifying ourselves with the mind of Christ, by letting that same mind that was in Christ Jesus be formed in us.
From what will Truth free us? The fact is that in Spirit we are already free. The realization, in Truth, that the spiritual man is not in bondage to the sins of the flesh will set the mind of the flesh free from the bondage of sin.
When the Jews claimed that they were Abraham's seed, and had never been in bondage to any man, were they free? The very fact that the Jews claimed to be descendants of Abraham put them in bondage to the sins of the descendants of Adam, the first sinner.
Jesus said, “Every one that committeth sin is the bondservant of sin.” What has this to do with intemperance? Intemperance is the belief that satisfaction can be attained through material life, which is sin, or missing the mark. Intemperance is the soul's search for satisfaction in material things; for example, alcohol.
When the desire of the soul for more life through matter is indulged in, what results? The senses form habits that hold them in bondage to the mind of the flesh. A Japanese saying goes something like this, “The man took a drink, then the drink took a drink, and then the drink took the man.”
Jesus said of the bondservant (that is, the false appetite) that it did not abide in the house (the body) forever, but that “the son” (Christ) would abide forever. Explain. The house is the body, which the false appetite finally destroys; but “the son,” the constructive idea of man and his body, will make the body immortal; that is, it will abide forever.
February 7, 1937: John 8:31-32
How are we freed from inhibitions that hinder the expression of our better nature? Knowing the truth about ourselves and about life frees us from these inhibitions.
February 7, 1943: John 8:25-36
How does a man prepare his mind to perceive Truth? By becoming willing to accept it.
How do we first perceive Truth? By perceiving that life is essentially divine, and that we are meant to express divinity in our daily living.
Is it easy to express the divine habitually? Only as we abide in the “word,” the Christ consciousness.
What is the immediate result when our spiritual perception is quickened? We begin at once to see life in a new way. We no longer acknowledge that problems are beyond our ability to solve, for we know that all things are possible with God, and that we are with God in the Christ Spirit.
February 16, 1947: John 8:31-36
How do we learn true freedom and experience it? By coming into understanding of Truth and striving to express it as clearly as we are able.
“The son abideth for ever.” What is the meaning of this statement? The Christ consciousness is enduring, and by remaining in it and living as Jesus lived, we learn to know life eternal.
Metaphysically Interpreting John 8:39-59
8:39They answered and said unto him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 8:40But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. 8:41Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 8:42Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I came forth and am come from God; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. 8:43Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. 8:44Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father thereof. 8:45But because I say the truth, ye believe me not. 8:46Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe me? 8:47He that is of God heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God.
8:48The Jews answered and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a demon? 8:49Jesus answered, I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and ye dishonor me. 8:50But I seek not mine own glory: there is one that seeketh and judgeth. 8:51Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my word, he shall never see death. 8:52The Jews said unto him, Now we know that thou hast a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my word, he shall never taste of death. 8:53Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: whom makest thou thyself? 8:54Jesus answered, If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifieth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God; 8:55and ye have not known him: but I know him; and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be like unto you, a liar: but I know him, and keep his word. 8:56Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad. 8:57The Jews therefore said unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? 8:58Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was born, I am. 8:59They took up stones therefore to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple.
December 4, 1938: John 8:42-47
To a Truth student what is the “Devil”? The Devil is the mass of negative thoughts that have been built into the individual or race consciousness through generations of earthly experiences.
Can one keep one's thought processes secret? Not for long. When they become habitual one's thought processes reveal themselves in one's facial expression and in what one does, despite all efforts at concealment.
When Jesus Christ called the Devil “a murderer from the beginning,” what was His meaning? By this statement Jesus meant the state of mind that is hostile to Truth and destructive of it.
Why did not Jesus' hearers believe Him, when He spoke the truth? Conscious of falseness in themselves, those who contended with Jesus did not recognize the truth, when He spoke it, and therefore did not believe Him.
Who is able to hear the words of God? He who is true understands or hears true words, which are the words of God.
November 28, 1943: John 8:42-45
What do we need to make it easy and natural for us to love the Christ? A recognition of ourselves as children of God. “If God were your Father, ye would love me” (the Christ), which is the expression of God-likeness.
What did Jesus mean by saying to the Jews, “Ye cannot hear my word”? Jesus knew that the Jews heard the sound of His words, because they replied to Him in discussion and argument. What they could not hear was the undertone of universal truth that His words conveyed. They did not understand what He was trying to say to them; therefore they could not accept it. They heard the literal speech, but not the word of Truth.
Why is it not always easy to believe the truth, when it is heard? Because the truth is often directly opposed to the appearance, and the personal consciousness causes anyone to accept the appearance as true.
What affirmation helps us to overcome the habit of judging by appearances or by hearsay? We may affirm: “Because you speak the truth as it is in Christ, I believe you” or “I hear the inner word of Truth, and as I hear I judge.”
February 7, [19??]: John 8:56-59
What phase of Truth did Jesus stress in today's lesson? He showed that the I AM, or Christ, is the perfect-man idea of God, the pattern that we can use to identify ourselves with Him.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 01-13-2014
