- Jesus claims messiahship (24-25a)
- Cp. his word to John the Baptist’s followers in Matthew 11
- He would make this explicitly clear when riding into Jerusalem, in direct, deliberate fulfillment of Zech. 9:9
- Jesus claims divine prerogative (28-29)
- I give my sheep eternal life
- They will never perish because no one can snatch them out of My hand
- Jesus claims equality with God (30)
- I and the Father are one
- “The” Father; Whom they would (and did) clearly understand to be referring to God
- Pharisees understand His claims to divinity (31-33)
- A helpful evidence to verify this claim is His opponent’s reaction
- It’s as though Jesus asked them just to make it clear that they understood His claim!
- Ultimately the charge of blasphemy would be the reason for Jesus’ crucifixion (from their perspective)
- Jesus further emphasizes His claim to Divinity (34-38)
- Jesus is at least able to use the term that is used of Israel’s judges (Psalm 82:6)
He points to His words, and His works to demonstrate that He also transcends that meaning, and that as judges themselves, they should be able to judge this as being true