What does John 8:16 mean?
A common claim of those who reject Jesus' divine nature is that "He never claimed to be God." Verses such as this show that to be false. When a person claims to do what only God can do, or to know what only God can know, that is the same as claiming to be God. Jesus' enemies know this all too well, and it's the reason He is accused of blasphemy by those who seek to have Him killed. Here, Jesus claims to speak with divine authority—that His judgment is identical to that of God the Father, and that He was in fact sent by God the Father.According to the prior verse, this makes Jesus' judgment, and His moral authority, far superior to that of the religious leaders who are opposing Him. Even by human standards, they are using the wrong kind of discernment: they are judging "by the flesh." Jesus is not only using "right judgment" (John 7:24), He has access to judgment based in the very will of God.