I have many things to say - There are many things which I might say to reprove and expose your pride and hypocrisy. By this he implied that he understood well their character, and that he was able to expose it. This, indeed, he had shown them in his conversations with them.

And to judge of you - To reprove in you. There are many things in you which I might condemn.

But he that sent we is true - Is worthy to be believed, and his declarations about men are to be credited. The meaning of this verse may be thus expressed: "I have indeed many things to say blaming or condemning you. I have already said many such things, and there are many more that I might say; but I speak only those things which God has commanded. I speak not of myself I come to execute his commission, and he is worthy to be heard and feared. Let it not be thought, therefore, that my judgment is rash or harsh. It is such as is commanded by God."

I have many things to say and to judge of you - Or, to speak and to condemn, etc. I could speedily expose all your iniquities - your pride and ambition, your hypocrisy and irreligion, your hatred to the light, and your malice against the truth, together with the present obstinate unbelief of your hearts, and show that these are the reasons why I say you will die in your sins; but these will appear in their true light: when, after you have crucified me, the judgments of God shall descend upon and consume you.

He that sent me is true - Whatever he hath spoken of you by the prophets shall surely come to pass; his word cannot fail.

I have many things to say, and to judge of you,.... Being God omniscient, he knew their persons and actions, their lives and conversations, and all their sins and transgressions, which he could justly have complained of, and charged them with, and proved against them, and judged and condemned them for; but this was not his present business, he came not to judge and condemn, but to save: wherefore he waved these things, and took no notice of them, leaving them to his Father, who would call them to an account, and punish them for them:

but he that sent me is true; as to his promises concerning the mission of his Son, to be the Saviour of sinners; so to his threatenings, to bring down vengeance on those that disbelieve him, and reject him:

and I speak to the world, or "in the world",

those things which I have heard of him; as concerning his love, grace, and mercy to those that should believe in him, so of the destruction of the despisers and rejecters of him; which things he spoke not in secret, in a corner, but publicly and openly, before all the world, to Jews and Gentiles, and to as many as were in the treasury, in the temple at this time; see John 18:20.

I have many things, etc.

The connection of thought seems to be as follows: "I being such as my words show me to be, I must declare the whole message of Him by virtue of my essential union with whom I speak. Many things I have to declare and judge, and you may turn a deaf ear to them; nevertheless, I must speak the whole truth, the things which I have heard from Him who sent me and who is true."

I speak to the world (λέγω εἰς τὸν κοσμὸν)

The best texts read λαλῶ, which emphasizes not what Christ says (which would be λέγω), but the fact that He speaks. See on Matthew 28:18. The use of the preposition εἰς here is peculiar. Literally, "I speak into the world;" so that my words may reach and spread through the world. See for a similar construction 1 Thessalonians 2:9; 1 Thessalonians 4:8; Hebrews 2:3. So Sophocles, where Electra says, κήρυσσέ μ' εἰς ἅπαντας proclaim me to all: so that the report of me may reach all ears ("Electra," 606).

{10} I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.

(10) God is the avenger of Christ's despised doctrine.

8:26 I have many things to say and to judge of you - I have much to say concerning your inexcusable unbelief: but he that sent me is true - Whether ye believe or no. And I speak the things which I have heard from him - I deliver truly what he hath given me in charge.

Margin world

kosmos = mankind. See Scofield Note: "Mt 4:8".

26, 27. I have many things to say and to judge of you; but he that sent me is true, &c.-that is, I could, and at the fitting time, will say and judge many things of you (referring perhaps to the work of the Spirit which is for judgment as well as salvation, Joh 16:8), but what I do say is just the message My Father hath given Me to deliver.

8:21-29 Those that live in unbelief, are for ever undone, if they die in unbelief. The Jews belonged to this present evil world, but Jesus was of a heavenly and Divine nature, so that his doctrine, kingdom, and blessings, would not suit their taste. But the curse of the law is done away to all that submit to the grace of the gospel. Nothing but the doctrine of Christ's grace will be an argument powerful enough, and none but the Spirit of Christ's grace will be an agent powerful enough, to turn us from sin to God; and that Spirit is given, and that doctrine is given, to work upon those only who believe in Christ. Some say, Who is this Jesus? They allow him to have been a Prophet, an excellent Teacher, and even more than a creature; but cannot acknowledge him as over all, God blessed for evermore. Will not this suffice? Jesus here answers the question. Is this to honour him as the Father? Does this admit his being the Light of the world, and the Life of men, one with the Father? All shall know by their conversion, or in their condemnation, that he always spake and did what pleased the Father, even when he claimed the highest honours to himself.