Art thou greater than our father Abraham, who died? and the prophets died: whom makest thou thyself?
Verse 53. Whom makest thou thyself? Or, who dost thou pretend to be? Although the greatest of the prophets have died, yet thou--a Nazarene, a Samaritan, and a devil--pretendest that thou canst keep thy followers from dying! It would have been scarcely possible to ask a question implying more contempt and scorn.
53. Art thou greater than our father Abraham? This is another offense, that they endeavor to obscure the glory of Christ by the splendor of Abraham and of the saints. But as all the stars are thrown into the shade by the brightness of the sun, so all the glory that is to be found in all the saints must fade away before the incomparable brightness of Christ.
Amid the blazing golden lamps of the treasury at tabernacles, when all Jerusalem danced in joy, Christ proclaims in the most absolute sense: I am the Light of the World. The Baptist was a burning lamp sent to witness to that Light; but He alone is the true Light that lightens every man coming into the world, the Messiah promised of old.
AI summary
Commenting on John 8:12-59