Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 7:6
Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is always ready.
6. Then Jesus said ] Better, Jesus therefore saith.
My time is not yet come ] i.e. My time for manifesting Myself to the world; with special reference to the Passion. It is inadequate to interpret it of the time for going up to the Feast. Moreover, what sense would there be in ‘Your time for going up to the Feast is always ready?’ Whereas ‘You can always manifest yourselves’ makes excellent sense. See last note on Joh 2:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
My time … – The proper time for my going up to the feast. We know not why it was not yet a proper time for him to go. It might be because if he went then, in their company, while multitudes were going, it would have too much the appearance of parade and ostentation; it might excite too much notice, and be more likely to expose him to the envy and opposition of the rulers.
Your time … – It makes no difference to you when you go up. Your going will excite no tumult or opposition; it will not attract attention, and will not endanger your lives. Jesus therefore chose to go up more privately, and to remain until the multitude had gone. They commonly traveled to those feasts in large companies, made up of most of the families in the neighborhood. See the notes at Luk 2:44.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 6. My time is not yet come] It is probable our Lord meant no more than this, that he had some business to transact before he could go to Jerusalem; but his brethren, having nothing to hinder them might set off immediately. Others think he speaks of his passion: My time of suffering is not yet come: as ye are still in friendship with the world, ye need not be under any apprehension of danger: ye may go when ye please. The first sense I think is the best.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
My time is not yet come; the time of my death, say some; of my manifestation to the world, say others: but questionless our Saviour intends no more than his time for going up to this feast, for we shall read that he did go up afterward; but, saith he, as yet I cannot go up.
Your time is alway ready; you may go when you please: and this he further openeth, saying, .(See Joh 7:7)
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6-10. My time is not yet comethatis, for showing Himself to the world.
your time is alwaysreadythat is “It matters little when we go up, for yehave no great plans in life, and nothing hangs upon your movements.With Me it is otherwise; on every movement of Mine there hangs whatye know not. The world has no quarrel with you, for ye bear notestimony against it, and so draw down upon yourselves none of itswrath; but I am here to lift up My voice against its hypocrisy, anddenounce its abominations; therefore it cannot endure Me, and onefalse step might precipitate its fury on its Victim’s head before thetime. Away, therefore, to the feast as soon as it suits you; I followat the fitting moment, but ‘My time is not yet full come.'”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then Jesus said unto them,…. In answer to their solicitations and arguments used with him, to go up to the feast:
my time is not yet come; meaning, not the time of his death, or of his exaltation and glorification, or of the showing of himself forth unto the world; though all this was true; but of his going up to this feast; as appears from Joh 7:8;
but your time is always ready; intimating, they might go at any time; their lives were not in any danger, as his was, and had nothing to consult about the preservation of them; it was all one to them when they went up, whether before the feast, that they might be ready for it, or at the beginning, middle, or end of it, as to any notice that would be taken of them, unless they should be guilty of an omission of their duty; but not on any other account; which was not his case.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
My time is not yet come ( ). Only use with verse 8 of in this Gospel, elsewhere (Joh 5:6) or more often (2:4) “the predestined hour” (Bernard). Here is the fitting or proper occasion for Christ’s manifesting himself publicly to the authorities as Messiah as in verse 8. At the feast of tabernacles Jesus did make such public claims (John 7:29; John 7:33; John 8:12; John 8:28; John 8:38; John 8:42; John 8:58). is present active indicative of , old compound, to be by, to be present. The brothers of Jesus had the regular Jewish obligation to go up to the feast, but the precise day was a matter of indifference to them.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Time [] . See on Mt 12:1; Luk 1:20; Act 12:1. The appropriate season or juncture.
Alway ready. The disciples might at any time associate with the world, with which they were still in sympathy. Not so Jesus, who was in essential antagonism to the world.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Then Jesus said unto them,” (legei oun autois ho lesous) “Then says Jesus directly to them,” in response to their urgent arguments.
2) “My time is not yet come: (ho kairos ho emos oupo parestin) “My time (season) is not yet arrived,” Joh 8:20; a thing that He repeatedly stated on various occasions; His time of full manifestation to His own nation had not fully arrived; It is much as He spoke to His mother, Isa 30:18; Luk 9:51; Joh 17:1.
3) ”But your time is alway ready.” (ho de kairos ho humerteros pantote estin hetoimos) “Yet your time season is alway ready,” to go to Jerusalem or anywhere else. You are always at liberty to show yourselves to the world, as fruit-bearers, nor restricted by any particular prophecy that must be fulfilled in your activities, or you are not in any fixed time-frame, in your witnessing, light-bearing, walking before the world, Mat 5:15-16; Act 1:8; Eph 5:15-17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
6. My time is not yet come. There are some who erroneously interpret this as referring to the time of his death, for it denotes the time of his setting out on the journey to go to the feast. (181) He assures them that, in this respect, he differs from his relations. They may freely and without danger appear, at all hours, before the world, because the world is friendly and favorable to them; but he is in dread of his person, and justly, because the world is his mortal enemy. By these words he means that they do wrong in giving advice on a matter which they do not understand.
(181) “ De se mettre en chemin pour aller a la feste.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) My time is not yet come.Comp. Note on Joh. 2:4. Here, as there, He regards the events of life as marked out by divinely-ordered seasons. There is for Him a time for solemnly entering Jerusalem with a throng of pilgrims going up to a feast, and in a few months it will have come; but it has not come yet. It is at the feast of the Paschal Lamb, already set apart, and not with the joyous shouts of harvest-tide.
Your time is alway ready.They may go now as then. Of the nation, their thoughts and feelings are in sympathy with the national feasts. They can join in the festive throng keeping holiday, and take their part in the Temple service. For Him present events have another meaning. Desertion of disciples, threatenings of Jews, unbelief of brethrenall this means that the end is approaching, and that His time is at hand.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. My time My time for challenging the nation at the metropolis. The word time here has no doubtful meaning. See note on John 2. It has not the slightest reference, as some suppose, to his death. Jesus goes not up to this feast, because the divinely appointed and divinely signified time for going to it has not yet come. When that comes he will go.
Your time Is your own, and acknowledges no divine regulation.
Alway ready When you please.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Jesus therefore says to them, ‘My time is not yet come, but your time is always ready.’
But what they failed to realise was that Jesus’ life was directed by God. ‘My time has not yet come’, He declared. Others were free to do what they liked, ‘your time is always here’, but not He. As He had said to His mother earlier (Joh 2:4), He must not be rushed into acting before the time. His times were in God’s hands. Jesus was still in firm control of His destiny. The word used here for ‘time’ is a different one than that used elsewhere in the Gospel. It is not referring to His time of destiny.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The refusal of Jesus:
v. 6. Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come, but your time is alway ready.
v. 7. The world cannot hate you; but Me it hateth because I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
v. 8. Go ye up unto this feast; I go not up yet unto this feast; for My time is not yet full come.
v. 9. When He had said these words unto them, He abode still in Galilee. Jesus refused to listen to the proposals of His brothers. His time for revealing Himself publicly, especially in the manner which their suggestion implied, had not yet come. In the sense of their words He never wanted to become King of Israel, a temporal, earthly ruler. In His own way and at His own time He wanted to reveal Himself as the Son of God and the Savior of the world. But for His brothers it was always time to show themselves before the world. In the disposition which they exhibited at that time, they fitted in very well with the other mockers and scoffers. They were in no danger, for they were among friends in Jerusalem. The world, the wicked, hostile Jewish leaders, could not hate the brothers, for they shared the same opinion, they adhered to the same idea. But the testimony of Jesus concerning the works of this same world branded Him in their eyes as an enemy, whom they therefore hated with all the intensity of the hatred of darkness for the light. If Jesus had merely referred to notorious sins, blasphemy, murder, robbery, adultery, the leaders of the Jews would have agreed with Him readily, holding up, at the same time, pious hands in sanctimonious horror over the depravity of the rabble. But since Jesus points a revealing finger at them and rebukes their hypocrisy and lack of true charity, they are scandalized at His insinuations, and all the more, since their own consciences could not gainsay His words. As long as a preacher speaks in general terms of depravity and sin, the assenting nods come from all directions, but when he makes the application to the individual, hidden sins and holds forth on the personal responsibility, the situation changes very quickly. But Jesus urged His brothers to go up to Jerusalem, to attend to their duty as members of the Jewish Church. His time for manifesting Himself publicly had not yet come, and He did not wish to go up for the display which they believed He should make in establishing His claims. For the time being, He stayed in Galilee.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 7:6-7. Then Jesus saidMy time is not yet come, &c. Jesus, knowing the malice of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, did not incline to be among them longer than was absolutely necessary, knowing that they would take every opportunity to persecute and destroy him; but the time for his death was not yet come. “It is not proper for me,” says he, “to go up yet to this feast; but you may go up at any time you please, since you have done nothing to make the Jews unfriendly to you, as I have done, who, by the purity of my doctrine and the freedom of my reproofs, have provoked their malice to the highest pitch.” The words, the world cannot hate you, contain a most awful insinuation, that these kinsmen of our Lord were persons governed entirely bycarnal views, and therefore destitute of the love of God, and all well-grounded hope from him.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6 Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
Ver. 6. My time is not yet come ] sc. My time of journeying to Jerusalem; I must take my best opportunity, when I may go up with most safety. You may take your own time: you can hardly take amiss, since the world loveth his own, Joh 15:19 ; and huggeth them to death, as the ape doth her young.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
6 9. ] . . can hardly be taken as directly meaning ‘ the time of my sufferings and death,’ but as in ch. Joh 2:4 : ‘My time for the matter of which you speak, viz. manifestation to the world.’ That (ch. Joh 12:32 ) was to take place in a very different manner. But they , having no definite end before them, no glory of God to shew forth, but being of the world, always had their opportunity ready of mingling with and standing well with the world. Then ( Joh 7:7 ), ‘ you have no hatred of the world in your way: but its hatred to Me on account of my testimony against it, causes me to exercise this caution which you so blame.’
In Joh 7:8 , it is of little import (see var. readd.) whether we read or : the sense will be the same, both on account of the present, (not , which would express the disavowal of an intention to go up), and of afterwards. . would mean, I am not (at present) going up . Meyer attributes to our Lord change of purpose, and justifies his view by the example of His treatment of the Syrophnician woman, whom He at first repulsed, but afterwards had compassion on. Mat 15:26 ff. The same Commentator directs attention to the emphatic , as implying that our Lord had it in His mind to go up to some future feasts, but not to this one .
., is not yet fully come : see Luk 9:51 and note.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 7:6 . His answer was . The time for my manifestation to the authorities as Messiah is not yet come; but no time is inappropriate or unsafe for you to show yourselves.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Then = Therefore. Not the same word as in Joh 7:10.
time = seasonable moment.
not yet. Greek. oupo. A compound of ou (App-105). The Lord’s death was accomplished by Himself. See Joh 10:17, Joh 10:18. Luk 9:31. Until that hour (the right hour) came, He was immune (verses: Joh 7:8, Joh 7:30, Joh 7:20) At length it was “at hand “(Mat 26:45); and came, according to His word (Joh 12:23, Joh 12:27; Joh 13:1; Joh 17:1. Compare Mar 14:41).
your = your own. Greek humeteros. Emph.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
6-9.] . . can hardly be taken as directly meaning the time of my sufferings and death,-but as in ch. Joh 2:4 : My time for the matter of which you speak, viz. manifestation to the world. That (ch. Joh 12:32) was to take place in a very different manner. But they, having no definite end before them, no glory of God to shew forth, but being of the world, always had their opportunity ready of mingling with and standing well with the world. Then (Joh 7:7), you have no hatred of the world in your way: but its hatred to Me on account of my testimony against it, causes me to exercise this caution which you so blame.
In Joh 7:8, it is of little import (see var. readd.) whether we read or : the sense will be the same, both on account of the present, (not , which would express the disavowal of an intention to go up), and of afterwards. . would mean, I am not (at present) going up. Meyer attributes to our Lord change of purpose, and justifies his view by the example of His treatment of the Syrophnician woman, whom He at first repulsed, but afterwards had compassion on. Mat 15:26 ff. The same Commentator directs attention to the emphatic , as implying that our Lord had it in His mind to go up to some future feasts, but not to this one.
., is not yet fully come: see Luk 9:51 and note.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 7:6.[164] , always) There is no need that your time should come at last.
[164] , not yet) Jesus was aware that at the commencement of the feast, the hatred would be besides more violent than after an interval of some days.-V. g.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 7:6
Joh 7:6
Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet come;-His time for fully manifesting himself to the world had not yet come, so he could not then go up to the feast. [He had by slow degrees and in different ways manifested himself to the people, but the time for the great and final lesson of the cross, the grave, the resurrection, and ascension had not come. His full and complete manifestation to the world will be at his second coming when every eye shall see him.]
but your time is always ready.-They with no special mission save to follow the world could go to the feast at any time. [He who has a mission must make ready for it. He who has a message for the world must educate it to receive it.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
My time: Joh 7:8, Joh 7:30, Joh 2:4, Joh 8:20, Joh 13:1, Joh 17:1, Psa 102:13, Ecc 3:1-15, Act 1:7
Reciprocal: 2Sa 19:41 – Why have Psa 31:15 – My times Psa 75:2 – receive the congregation Mat 26:18 – My time Luk 12:50 – and 1Jo 4:5 – are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
6
Jesus explained his plans on the ground that it was not time yet for him to come out entirely in the open. Jesus was never afraid of man
as far as his own comfort was concerned, but in his wisdom he never did anything prematurely. The brethren were not in any danger, hence their time (to appear in the gathering) would be whenever they wished to go, without waiting for the feast even to get started.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 7:6. Jesus therefore saith unto them, My time is not yet present, but your time is alway ready. The answer is remarkably akin to that addressed to His mother in chap. Joh 2:4. Very different, probably, were the mother and the brethren in their measure of faith and in the motive of their words; but in each case there betrayed itself a conviction that Jesus might be influenced by human counsel in the manifestations of Himself. Here as there His time was at hand, but not yet present; and until the moment appointed by the Father He whose will is one with that of the Father can do nothing. Such limitation did not apply to His brethren; they were not separated from the world, and with that world they might at any time associate.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Here we have Christ’s answer and refusal returned to his brethren’s desire: he tells them, That they might go up to the feast of Jerusalem, when they pleased, and as publicly; but it was not fit for him to appear so publicly, because the doctrine which he taught was odious to the pharisees, and the prevailing power at Jerusalem: he therefore resolves to go up privately, that he might not stir up the jealousy of the sanhedrim: but for them, they were out of danger of the world’s hatred: for, being the children of it, the world would love its own; but him it hated because he reproved its sins.
Where we may remark, That though our Lord Jesus Christ was most freely willing, and ready, to lay down his life for sinners, when the time was come that God the Father called for it; yet he would not expose his life to hazard and danger unseasonalby. Teaching us by his example, as not to decline sufferings when God calls us to them: so not to tempt God by running into them, when we may inoffensively avoid them. Your time is always ready, mine is not yet come.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Vv. 6-8. Jesus therefore says to them: My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. 7. The world cannot hate you; but it hates me, because I bear testimony concerning it that its works are evil. 8. Go ye up to the feast, I go not up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.
The meaning of the demand of the brethren of Jesus was that He should present Himself at last at Jerusalem as the Messiah, and obtain there the recognition of that dignity, which could not be refused Him, if He was really what He claimed to be. Jesus could not explain to His brethren the reasons which prevented Him from deferring to their wish. If He had wished to answer altogether openly, He would have said to them: What you ask of me would be the signal of my death; but it is not yet time for me to leave the earth. Of this explanation, into which Jesus does not wish to enter, He gives a hint. The words: The world hates me, sufficiently express the prudence which is required of Him. The term , favorable moment, must be understood in a manner sufficiently broad to make it possible to apply it both to Jesus (Joh 7:6 a) and to His brethren (Joh 7:6 b). It denotes therefore the moment of showing oneself publicly as one is: for the brethren, as faithful Jews, by going up to this feast; for Jesus, as Messiah, by manifesting Himself as such at one of the great feasts of His people, at Jerusalem.
The seventh verse explains this contrast between His position and theirs. There is a certain irony in the reason alleged by Jesus: Your works and your words are not sufficiently out of harmony with those of the world to make it possible for you to provoke its hatred. It is otherwise in His case, who by His words and His life does not cease to unveil its deep depravity concealed under the outward show of Pharisaic right-eousness (Joh 7:42; Joh 7:44; Joh 7:47).
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Verse 6
Your time is always ready. The meaning is, that they might go in safety at any time, as they were not, like him, objects of hate and conspiracy.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
7:6 {2} Then Jesus said unto them, My time is not yet come: but your time is alway ready.
(2) We must not follow the foolish desires of our friends.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus replied that it was not the right time (Gr. kairos) for Him to go to Jerusalem, the Father’s time (cf. Joh 2:4). However, they could go to the feast at any time (Gr. kairos). They were not on a mission and timetable from God as He was.
"John’s picture of Jesus is of one steadily moving on to meet his divinely appointed destiny." [Note: Morris, p. 352.]
Another interpretation is that Jesus meant that the time of His death was not yet at hand. However the Greek word that Jesus used when referring to His death and its consequences in John’s Gospel is always hora elsewhere, not kairos (Joh 2:4; Joh 7:30; Joh 8:20; Joh 12:23; Joh 12:27; Joh 13:1; Joh 17:1).