Verse 25
They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? Jesus said unto them, Even that which I have also spoken unto you from the beginning.
Scholars will be aware of various renditions of this difficult verse; but it is interpreted here with the meaning, "I am the same as I have been telling you from the beginning."
Who art thou ...? could indicate some hesitation in their headlong rush to destruction, as if they had said, "Wait, maybe we are overlooking something; who are you anyway?" Jesus did not condescend to elaborate further. His witness of his Messiahship and his absolute oneness with God had been so overwhelming that the most insensible among them should have known long before this conversation that Jesus was God come in the flesh. If he had plainly said so, it would only have given them a chance to denounce him as a blasphemer; in fact, that opportunity was what they sought by the question. See Jesus' manner of handling an identical situation under John 10:24,25.
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