John 8:16-18 - It is not I alone who judge

8:16

Jesus then immediately says that He will actually judge, and His judgements are true and will be true. This is in stark contrast to the judgements of the religious leaders. Why are Jesus’ judgements reliable? Because He does not judge on His own. He was sent by the Father, and it is He and the Father who judge. This is yet another audacious claim to equality with God.

8:17,18

Jesus then refers to the Law, which demanded that there are two or more witnesses (Deut 17:6). This is a very sensible provision, and in today’s terms might be referred to as corroborating evidence. Some jurisdictions have this provision, others don’t. This provision was fulfilled in Jesus’ case because there was the witness of Jesus and of the Father. As an aside, this is consistent with the Trinitarian doctrine of one God, three persons! However, the key point of all this is that the religious leaders, the people, and us, need to listen to the words of Jesus. Any argument for not listening to them is false. It is perhaps similar to arguments about the authenticity of Scripture. The arguments for the reliability of the New Testament are very convincing, but they are not the main point. They show that arguments for not trusting the Bible are without foundation, but the main thing is that when we read the Bible we should come to it as if it was the Word of God, looking to learn from the Lord.