Quote:
Originally Posted by bearbear
In John 8, Jesus performs a separation among Jewish believers. John 8:31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” Jesus encourages the Jewish believers to continue abiding in His word, similar to His message in John 15:1-18. However, just two verses later, their belief begins to waver, and they start to question His teachings.
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No neccesarily. It was a complex audience, composed of different kinds of people. When the text says "they answered", we donīt really know exactly
who or
how many answered. It is better to look at the context: Jesus is talking openly in the temple courts to many people. For example, they are described as "people", Jews, Pharisees,
many that believed in Him, those who were trying to kill Him, those who did not understand Him, those unable to accept His message, sons of the devil,
those who do not believe Him, those who do not belong to God, those who dishonor Him, those who picked up stones to throw at Him.
According to context, it makes no sense that some,
those who believed in Him would also be those who did not believe Him. Would those that believed in Him also be those who were trying to kill Him? Makes no sense. There are different kinds of reactions based on different kinds of conditions, diffent kinds of people. It does not follow that those that beleived in Him were now suddenly those that are waivering or those who had been wanting to kill Him. So most likely some believed, some just listened, some opposed Him, some had been planning to kill Him, etc. Generally speaking, it was the Pharisees who were jealous out of their minds, opposing, asking testing questions and those who wanted to kill Him, not all the people.