Some credit Edgar Allen Poe with the saying: “Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see”[1] (emphasis mine). Yet, according to John, Jesus claimed of himself: “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father, which hath sent me. (John 5:30; emphasis mine). While Poe’s saying may not be universally true, it has great value in terms of not permitting rumor to guide one’s way. The question, then, arises is Jesus’ saying of himself: “as I hear, I judge” universally true, or does he have something else in mind?
Later Jesus told his enemies: “You judge after the flesh; I judge no man” (John 8:15). So, in John 5:30 Jesus says he judges as he hears, but in John 8:15 he says he judges no man. How can we reconcile these statements and know Jesus’ heart? Well, the key seems to be not the words themselves but the context in which they appear. If we interpreted John 8:15 to say: “You judge after the flesh; I judge no man after the flesh,” we would come to the truth. Jesus doesn’t judge according to what he hears from man, but rather according to what he hears from the Father. From John 5:19 to verse-30 Jesus had been speaking of his communication with the Father and how he, Messiah, has sought to reveal the father in what he (Jesus) says and does – “I can of my own self do nothing..” What Jesus is saying is, he is the Image of the unseen Father. No man has seen God at any time (John 1:18), but Jesus has come in the flesh to be seen by men (John 1:1, 14), so that he who resides in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; 1Timothy 6:15-16), reveals him to men. How? Jesus images the Father by what he (Jesus) says and does (Hebrews 1:3).
“I can of my own self do nothing…” (John 5:30). At first this seems Jesus is the slave of the Father, but this isn’t so. The whole purpose of Jesus coming was to unveil the Father. How could this be done, if Jesus spoke and lived according to the desires of the flesh (viz. of my own self)? If Jesus wished to show mankind what the Father is like, he couldn’t do it by acting according to the five gates of the flesh. Therefore, “I can of my own self do nothing…” if I wish to unveil the Father to man, because the Father is Spirit and doesn’t live according to the flesh. Therefore, Jesus must live out in the flesh, what the Father is like, so man could understand with his five senses. Later, speaking of Adam, Jesus told the Jewish authorities:
“You are of your father the devil (the slanderer, Adam), and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44; parenthesis mine).
Men were created to be image bearers (Genesis 1:26-27). Adam rebelled, not wanting to be like God, because he wished to decide for himself what was good and what was evil (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-6). Jesus came in the flesh (John 1:1, 14) in order to unveil what the Father was like (John 1:18), because mankind, being in the state of rebellion, had no idea what God was like. They, like Adam, whom they image, believed they could see (cp. John 9:41), and they judged according to their own sight (understanding). Nevertheless, Jesus didn’t judge according to the flesh (John 8:15), but rather according to what he saw (perceived) of his Father (John 5:30; cp. verse-19).
____________________________________________________
[1] First published in the short story “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe in the November 1845 issue of Graham’s Magazine. Still others believe it comes from an earlier source, dating it to the Proverbs of Alfred (c. 1300).
Smoodock's Blog 