Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and you say, If a man keeps my saying, he shall never taste of death.
All Commentaries on John 8:52 Go To John 8
Theophilus of Antioch
AD 184
As if to say, you a person of no account, a carpenter’s son of Galilee, to take glory to Yourself! .
For had they known the Father really, they would have reverenced the Son. But they even despise God, who in the Law forbade murder, by their clamors against Christ. Wherefore He says, You have not known Him.
Having that knowledge by nature; for as I am, so is the Father also; I know Myself, and therefore I know Him. And He gives the proof that He knows Him: And I keep His saying, i.e. His commandments. Some understand, I keep His saying, to mean, I keep the nature of His substance unchanged; for the substance of the Father and the Son is the same, as their nature is the same; and therefore I know the Father. And here has the force of because: I know Him because I keep His saying.
As if to say, He regarded My day, as a day to be desired, and full of joy; not as if I was an unimportant or common person.