Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 11:27
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
27. I believe ] Literally, I have believed, i.e. I have convinced myself and do believe.
that thou art the Christ ] She cannot have known the full import of her confession. With the Apostles she shared her countrymen’s imperfect views of the character and office of the Messiah. See on Joh 9:38.
which should come ] Literally, that cometh. Comp. Joh 6:14; Mat 11:3; Luk 7:19; Deu 18:15. She believes that He has the powers mentioned in Joh 11:25-26, because He is the Messiah. How these powers will affect her own case she does not know, but with a vague hope of comfort in store for them all she returns to the house. See on Joh 1:9 and Joh 18:37.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Yea, Lord – This was a noble confession. It showed her full confidence in him as the Messiah, and her full belief that all that he said was true. See Mat 16:16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 27. Yea, Lord: I believe] , I have believed. Either meaning that she had believed this for some time past, or that, since he began to teach her, her faith had been considerable increased; but verbs preter, in Greek, are often used to signify the present. Martha here acknowledges Christ for the Messiah promised to their fathers; but her faith goes no farther; and, having received some hope of her brother’s present resurrection, she waited for no farther instruction, but ran to call her sister.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This is the nearest to the confession of Peter, Mat 16:16, which our Saviour calleth, the rock upon which he would build his church, of any that we have in Scripture; yea, and more full than that, for those words, which should come into the world, are not in Peters confession. The sum of this is, Martha doth here profess a full assent to our Saviour as the Messias, the Son of God; he who was prefigured, prophesied of, promised, as he who should come into the world.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. Yea, . . . I believe that thouart the Christ, the Son of God, &c.that is, And havingsuch faith in Thee, I can believe all which that comprehends.While she had a glimmering perception that Resurrection, in everysense of the word, belonged to the Messianic office and Sonship ofJesus, she means, by this way of expressing herself, to cover muchthat she felt her ignorance ofas no doubt belonging to Him.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
She saith unto him, yea, Lord,…. That is, she firmly believed all that he said concerning himself, and the happiness of those that believed in him: and for the confirmation of it adds,
I believe: or “I have believed”, as the Vulgate Latin version renders it; that is, long ago, ever since she knew him:
that thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world; that he was the true Messiah, and the proper and natural Son of God, of the same nature with God, equal to him, having the same perfections with him; and who was long promised, much prophesied of, and greatly expected to come into the world; and was now come into the world by the assumption of human nature, to work out salvation for his people, and therefore, since she believed all this of him, she must believe that he was able to raise the dead to life, and to secure those that believe in him from dying eternally.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Yea, Lord (, ). Martha probably did not understand all that Jesus said and meant, but she did believe in the future resurrection, in eternal life for believers in Christ, in the power of Christ to raise even the dead here and now. She had heroic faith and makes now her own confession of faith in words that outrank those of Peter in Mt 16:16 because she makes hers with her brother dead now four days and with the hope that Jesus will raise him up now.
I have believed (). Perfect active indicative of . It is my settled and firm faith. Peter uses this same tense in 6:69.
That thou art the Son of God ( ). The Messiah or the Christ (1:41) was to be also “the Son of God” as the Baptist said he had found Jesus to be (1:34), as Peter confessed on Hermon for the apostles (Mt 16:16), as Jesus claimed to be (Joh 11:41) and confessed on oath before Caiaphas that he was (Mt 26:63f.), and as John stated that it was his purpose to prove in his Gospel (20:31). But no one said it under more trying circumstances than Martha.
Even he that cometh into the world ( ). No “even” in the Greek. This was a popular way of putting the people’s expectation (John 6:14; Matt 11:3). Jesus himself spoke of his coming into the world (John 9:39; John 16:28; John 8:37).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
I believe [] . Literally, I have believed. The perfect tense. So Rev. Martha goes back to her previous belief, which consists in the recognition of Christ as her Lord. Whatever faith she has in this new revelation of Christ rests upon the truth that He is the Anointed, the Son of God, even He that cometh into the world.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “She saith unto him, Yea, Lord,” (legei auto nai, kurie) “She replied to him, yes Lord, or Master,” I accept this fully, though I may not really know all that it involves, I have full trusted in you, what you say and what you do, Pro 3:5-6.
2) “I believe that thou art the Christ,” (ego pepisteuka hoti su ei ho Christos) “I have already believed or trusted that you are the Christ,” the anointed one, the Messiah, Redeemer, or Deliverer, Mat 16:16; Joh 6:68-69, as expressed Heb 2:9; Heb 2:15; To trust or believe in Christ is The Article of Faith sustaining all hope and assurance, Act 10:43; Act 13:39; 1Jn 5:13.
3) ”The Son of God,” (ho huios tou theou) “The Son of God,” the heir of God, Luk 19:10; Gal 4:4-5; Joh 1:14; Joh 3:16-17.
4) “Which should come into the world.” (ho eis ton kosmon erchomenos) “The one who should come into the world,” as afore prophesied, Gen 49:10; Deu 18:15; Deu 18:19; Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6; Isa 53:1-11; certified Joh 5:30; Joh 5:34; Act 10:43; Gal 4:4-5.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
27. Yes, Lord. To prove that she believes what she had heard Christ say about himself, that he is the resurrection and the life, Martha replies, that she believes that he is the Christ, and the Son of God; and indeed this knowledge includes the sum of all blessings; for we ought always to remember for what purpose the Messiah was promised, and what duty the prophets ascribe to him. Now when Martha confesses that it was he who was to come into the world, she strengthens her faith by the predictions of the prophets. Hence it follows, that we ought to expect from him the full restoration of all things and perfect happiness; and, in short, that he was sent to erect and prepare the true and perfect state of the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(27) She saith unto him, Yea, Lord.This is her assent to the question He asked. She believed all that He had told her. It is not that she expresses her belief, in answer to His question, in the remainder of this verse. The answer is simply Yea, Lord. Then she proceeds to give the foundation on which that answer rested.
I believe that thou art the Christ.The word means, I have believed, and do now; I have convinced myself, and do believe. But this being so, convinced that He is the Messiah, she has in that conviction the ground for believing all that He has now taught her of Resurrection and Life.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Yea thou art the Christ The even-minded Jewess can hardly ascend the height of these lofty hopes; but she believes in Christ, and all he promises is sure. The quiet and consoled confessor leaves and returns to her sister and her cares.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘’She says to him, “Yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, even he who comes into the world”.’
Martha’s faith is up to His challenge. ‘Yes, Lord’. The use of Lord here, something rarely found in John’s Gospel outside chapter 11, must bear its full significance. He is ‘the Lord’. And what is this faith founded on? ‘I believe that you are the Messiah, God’s anointed Son, who is coming into the world’. Martha had still probably not yet come to a full understanding of His deity. But she did know that He was uniquely favoured by God, and sent as God’s ambassador to fulfil His promises. She knew that He was the Promised One. Thus she had no doubt of what He could do. She had, however, stated her case and would not press Him any further. She did not dream that her quiet request would one day illuminate the world.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Joh 11:27. I believe that thou art the Christ, By replying that she believed him to be the promised and expected Messiah, Martha insinuated, that she confided implicitly in every thing he said; and that there was no instance of power whatsoever which he was pleased to claim, that exceeded her belief. She began, it seems, to entertain some confused expectations of her brother’s immediate resurrection: afterwards, when the considered the greatness of the thing more deliberately, many doubts arose; Joh 11:39.At present however, having some hope, she did not invite Jesus to go home with her; but, leaving him in the place where she had met him, she ran, and called her sister to come out, as it appears from the latter part of Joh 11:28 he had ordered her; for he designed that Mary and her companions should likewise have the honour, pleasure, and profit of being present at this stupendous miracle.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 11:27-28 . Martha’s answer affirms the question, and gives the reason for the affirmation; for to Messiah alone could and ought thanks to be due for that which is mentioned in Joh 11:25 f. [83]
] With the emphasis of conscious assurance.
] I have convinced myself, and believe. Comp. Joh 6:69 .
, ] The second predicate, although conceived by Martha still in the popular theocratic sense, and not yet understood in its essentially divine import (comp. on Joh 1:50 ), satisfactorily expresses her faith in the divinely-conferred of her friend, and is correlative to the . . , and to be connected with it. The present is employed because she looks for the advent of the Messiah as close at hand. Compare on Mat 11:3 ; Luk 2:25 ; Luk 2:38 .
Joh 11:28 . That Martha called her sister at the bidding of Jesus , is clear from ; and any doubt as to whether He actually commissioned her to do so is baseless (Brckner, compare Tholuck; Hengstenberg, after Chrysostom).
] not , that is, whispering these words to her secretly , so that the in Joh 11:31 who were present these men so hostilely disposed towards the beloved Teacher might not observe what she should say to her, in order that they might not disturb the further consolation and elevation which she now, with the faith in her heart that she had just so decidedly expressed, expected for her sister and herself from Jesus.
.] This designation, which had probably been customary in the family, was sufficiently intelligible to her sister; she did not need to mention His name, nor does she mention it, for the sake of secrecy. Compare Mar 14:14 .
[83] The simple and full affirmation of what was asked is contained therefore in , , and is not a Confiteor in response to the question freely formed by Martha (Godet, after Lange); on the contrary, her Confiteor is contained in the words , , and the further words , etc., express the holy foundation on which her rested in her heart.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Ver. 27. I believe that thou art the Christ ] What could Peter say more? Mat 16:16 . Damaris may be as dear to God as Dionysius, a woman (of no note otherwise) as an Areopagite, Act 17:34 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
27. ] Her confession, though embracing the great central point of the truth in the last verse, does not enter fully into it. Nor does she ( Joh 11:40 ) seem to have adequately apprehended its meaning. , , , , Euthym [156]
[156] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
, I, for my part: , have convinced myself, and firmly believe.’
. ] Who should come: see reff.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 11:27 . Martha believed this, as implicitly included in her belief in Jesus as the Messiah, , . Resurrection and life were both Messianic gifts, but it is doubtful whether Martha fully understood what our Lord had said. Rather she falls back on what she did understand and believe. She will not claim to believe more than she is sure of; but if His statement is only an elaboration of His Messianic function, then she can truly say: , . , I have come to believe, I have reached the belief.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
John
CHRIST’S QUESTION TO EACH
For the Young
Joh 11:26 – Joh 11:27
As each of these annual sermons which I have preached for so long comes round, I feel more solemnly the growing probability that it may be the last. Like a man nearing the end of his day’s work, I want to make the most of the remaining moments. Whether this is the last sermon of the sort that I shall preach or not, it is certainly the last of the kind that some of you will hear from me, or possibly from any one.
So, dear friends, I have felt that neither you nor I can afford to waste this hour in considering subjects of secondary interest, appropriate as some of them might be. I wish to come to the main point at once, and to press upon you all, and especially on the younger portion of this audience, the question of your own personal religion.
The words of my text, as you will probably remember, were addressed by our Lord to Martha, as she was writhing in agony over her dead brother. Christ proclaims, with singular calmness and majesty, His character and work as the Resurrection and the Life, and then seeks to draw her from her absorbing sorrow to an effort of faith which shall grasp the truths He proclaims. He flashes out this sudden question, like the swift thrust of a gleaming dagger. It is a demand for credence to His assertion-on His bare word-tremendous as that assertion is. And nobly was the demand met by the as swift, unfaltering answer, ‘Yea, Lord,’ I believe in Thee, and so I believe in Thy word.
Now, friends, Jesus Christ is putting the same question to each of us. And I pray that our answers may be Martha’s.
I. Note, first, the significance of the question.
Turn, then, but for a moment, to what immediately precedes my text. Our Lord says three things. First, He asserts His supernatural character and divine relation to life: ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life.’ Next, He declares that it is possible for Him to communicate to dying and to dead men a life which triumphs over death, and laughs at change, and persists through the superficial experience which we christen by the name of Death, unaffected, undiminished, as some sweet spring might gush up in the heart of a salt, solitary sea. And then He declares that the condition on which He, the Life-giver, gives of His immortal life to dying men, is their trust in Him. These three-His character and work, the gifts of which His hands are full, and the way by which the gifts may be appropriated by us men-these three are, as I take it, the central facts of Christianity. ‘Believest thou this?’
The question comes to us all; and in these days of unsettlement it is well to have some clear understanding of what is the ‘irreducible minimum’ of Christian teaching. I take it that it lies here. There are two opposite errors which, like all opposite errors, are bolted together, and revolve round a common centre. The one of them is the extreme conservative tendency which regards every pin and bolt of the tabernacle as if it were equally sacred with the altar and the ark. And the other is the tendency which christens itself ‘liberal and progressive,’ and which is always ready to exchange old lamps, though they have burnt brightly in the past, for new ones that are as yet only glittering metal and untried. In these days, when it is a presumption against any opinion, that our fathers believed it an error into which young people are most prone to fall, and when, by the energy of contradiction, that error has evoked, and is evoking, the opposite exaggeration that adheres to all that is traditional, to all that has been regarded as belonging to the essentials of the Christian faith, and so is fearful, trembling for the Ark of God when there is no need, let us fall back upon these great words of the Master, and see that the things which constitute the living heart of His message and gift to the world are neither more nor less than these three: the supernatural Christ, the life which He imparts, and the condition on which He bestows it. ‘Believest thou this?’ If you do, you need take very little heed of the fluctuations of contemporary opinion as to other matters, valuable and important as these may be in their place; and may let men say what they will about disputed questions-about the method by which the vehicle of revelation has been created and preserved, about the regulation of the external forms of the Church, about a hundred other things that men often lose their tempers and spoil their Christianity by fighting for, and fall back upon the great central verity, a Christ from above, the Giver of Life to all that put their trust in Him.
Let me expand this question for you. ‘We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God’-’believest thou this?’ ‘We must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ’-’believest thou this?’ ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish’-’believest thou this?’ ‘The Son of Man came . . . to give His life a ransom for many’-’believest thou this?’ ‘Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ’-’believest thou this?’ ‘Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept’-’believest thou this?’ ‘I go to prepare a place for you’-’believest thou this?’ ‘Where I am there shall also My servant be’-’believest thou this?’ ‘So shall we ever be with the Lord’-’believest thou this?’ That is Christianity; and not theories about inspiration, and priesthood, and sacramental efficacy, or any of the other thorny questions which have, in the course of ages, started up. Here is the living centre; hold fast, I beseech you, by it.
Then, again, the significance of this question is in the direction of making clear for us the way by which men lay hold of these great truths. The truths are of such a sort as that merely to say, ‘Oh yes, I believe it; it is quite true!’ is by no means sufficient. If a man tells me that two parallel lines produced ever so far will never meet, I say, ‘Yes, I believe it’; and there is nothing more to be done or said. If a man says to me, ‘Two and two make four,’ I say, ‘Yes’; and there my assent ends. If a man says, ‘It is right to do right,’ it is quite clear that the attitude of intellectual assent, which was quite enough for the other order of statements, is not enough for this one; and to merely say, ‘Oh yes, it is right to do right,’ is by no means the only attitude which we ought to take in regard to such a truth. And if God comes to me and says, ‘Thou art a sinful man, and Jesus Christ has died for thee; and if thou takest Him for thy Saviour thou shalt be saved in this life, and saved for ever,’ it is just as clear that no mere acceptance of the saying as a verity exhausts my proper attitude in reference to it. Or to come to plainer words, no man will really, and out and out, and adequately, believe this gospel unless he does a great deal more than assent to it or refrain from contradicting it.
So I desire to urge this form of the question on you now. Dear brethren, do you trust in ‘this,’ which you say you believe? There is no greater enemy of the Christian faith than the ordinary lazy-what the philosophers call otiose, which is only a grand word for lazy-assent of the understanding, because men will not take the trouble to contradict it or think about it.
That is the sort of Christianity which is the Christianity of a good many church and chapel-goers. They do not care enough about the subject to contradict the ordinary run of belief. Of all impotent things there is nothing more impotent than a creed which lies idly in a man’s head, and never has touched his heart or his will. Why, I should get on a great deal better if I were talking to people that had never heard anything about the gospel than I have any chance of getting on with you, who have been drenched with it all your days, till it goes over you and runs off like water off a duck’s back. The shells that were hurled against the earthworks of Sebastopol broke away the front surface of the mounds, and then the rubbish protected the fortifications; and that is what happens with many of my hearers. You have heard the gospel so often that the debris of your old hearings is raised between you and me, and my words cannot get at you. ‘Believest thou this?’-not in the fashion in which people stand up in church or chapel and look about them and rattle off the Creed every Sunday of their lives, and attach not the ghost of an idea to a single clause of it; but in the sense that the conviction of these truths is so deep in your hearts that it moves your whole nature to cast yourselves on Jesus Christ as your Saviour and your all. That is the belief to which alone the life that is promised here will come. Oh! brethren, I have no business to ask you the question, and you have no need to answer it to me! Sometimes good, well-meaning people do a mint of harm by pushing such questions into the faces of people unprepared. But take the question into your own hearts, and remember what belief is, and what it is that you have to believe, and answer according to its true significance, and in the light of conscience, the solemn question that I press upon you.
II. Now, secondly, let me ask you to think of what depends upon the answer.
And what does it bring? I said, all for which a man trusts Christ. All is summed up in that one favourite word of our Lord as revealed in this fourth Gospel, which includes in itself everything of blessedness and of righteousness-life, life eternal. Dear brethren, you and I, apart from Jesus Christ, are dead in trespasses and sins. The life that we live in the flesh is an apparent life, which covers over the true death of separation from God. And you young people, fix this in your minds at the beginning, it will save you many a heartache, and many an error-there is nothing worth calling life, except that which comes to a quiet heart submissive and enfranchised through faith in Jesus Christ. And if you will trust yourselves to Him, and answer this question with your ringing ‘Yea, Lord!’ then you will get a life which will quicken you out of your deadness; a life which will mould you day by day into more entire beauty of character and conformity with Himself; a life which will shed sweetness and charm over dusty commonplaces, and make sudden verdure spring in dreary, herbless deserts; a life which will bring a solemn joy into sorrow, a strength for every duty; which will bring manna in the wilderness, honey from the rock, light in darkness, and a present God for your sufficient portion; a life which will run on into the dim glories of eternity, and know no change but advancement, through the millenniums of ages.
But, dear brethren, whilst thus, on condition of their faith, the door into all divine and endless blessedness and progress is flung wide open for men, do not forget the other side of the issues which depend on this question. For if it is true that Jesus Christ is Life, and the Source of it, and that faith in Him is the way by which you and I get it, then there is no escape from the solemn conclusion that to be out of Christ, and not to be exercising faith in Him, is to be infected with death, and to be shut up in a charnel-house. I dare not suppress the plain teaching of Jesus Christ Himself: ‘He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son hath not life.’ The issues that depend upon the answer to this question of my text may be summed up, if I may venture to say so, by taking the words of our Lord Himself and converting them into their opposite. He said, ‘He that believeth . . . though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on Me shall never die.’ That implies, He that believeth not in Christ, though he were living, yet shall he die, and whosoever liveth and believeth not shall never live. These are the issues-the alternative issues-that depend on your answer to this question.
III. And now, lastly, let me ask you to think of the direct personal appeal to every soul that lies in this question.
Now that suggests the thought on which I do not need to dwell, but which I seek briefly to lay upon your hearts and consciences-viz., the intensely personal act of your own faith, by which alone Jesus Christ can be of any use to you. Do not be led away by any vague notions which people have about the benefits of a Church or its ordinances. Do not suppose that any sacraments or any priest can do for you what you have to do in the awful solitude of your own determining will-put out your hand and grasp Jesus Christ. Can any person or thing be the condition or channel of spiritual blessing to you, except in so far as your own individual act of trust comes into play? You must take the bread with your own hands, you must masticate it with your own teeth, you must digest it with your own organs, before it can minister nourishment to your blood and force to your life. And there is only one way by which any man can come into any vital and life-giving connection with Jesus Christ, and that is, by the exercise of his own personal faith.
And remember, too, that as the exercise of uniting trust in Jesus Christ is exclusively your own affair, so exclusively your own affair is the responsibility of answering this question. To you alone is it addressed. You, and only you, have to answer it.
There was once a poor woman who went after Jesus Christ, and put out a pale, wasted, tremulous finger to touch the hem of His garment. His fine sensitiveness detected the light pressure of that petitioning finger, and allowed virtue to go out, though the crowd surged about Him and thronged Him. No crowds come between you and Jesus Christ. You and He, the two of you, have, so to speak, the world to yourselves, and straight to you comes this question, ‘Believest thou?’
Ah! brethren, that habit of skulking into the middle of the multitude, and letting the most earnest appeal from the pulpit go diffused over the audience is the reason why you sit there quiet, complacent, perhaps wholly unaffected by what I am trying to make a pointed, individual address. Suppose all the other people in this place of worship were away but you and I, would not the word that I am trying to speak come with more force to your hearts than it does now? Well, think away the world and all its millions, and realise the fact that you stand in Christ’s presence, with all His regard concentrated upon you, and that to thee individually this question comes from a gracious, loving heart, which longs that you answer, ‘Yea, Lord, I believe!’
Why should you not? Suppose you said to Him, ‘No, Lord, I do not’; and suppose He said, ‘Why do you not?’ what do you think you would say then? You will have to answer it one day, in very solemn circumstances, when all the crowds will fall away, as they do from a soldier called out of the ranks to go up and answer for mutiny to his commanding officer. ‘Every one of us shall give an account of himself,’ and the lips that said so lovingly at the grave of Lazarus, ‘Believest thou this?’ and are saying it again, dear friend, to you, even through my poor words, will ask it once more. For this is the question the answer to which settles whether we shall stand at His right hand or at His left. Say now, with humble faith, ‘Yea, Lord!’ and you will have the blessing of them who have not seen, and yet have believed.
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the Christ = the Messiah (App-98). the Son of God (App-98). Compare Peter’s confession in Mat 16:16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
27.] Her confession, though embracing the great central point of the truth in the last verse, does not enter fully into it. Nor does she (Joh 11:40) seem to have adequately apprehended its meaning. , , , , Euthym[156]
[156] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116
, I, for my part: , have convinced myself, and firmly believe.
.] Who should come: see reff.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Our Lords greatest miracles were ever the reward of faith.
Joh 11:27. She saith unto him, Yea, Lord I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come unto the world.
By which she as good as said, I believe that, and I believe everything else. I have an implicit faith in thee. Whatever thou sayest, whatever thou hast said or shalt say, I am prepared to believe it all. for I believe in thee. I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Joh 11:28. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly,
Because she knew that the Jews hated the Saviour, she could not tell what would come of it if they knew of his coming, so she whispers to her:
Joh 11:28-30. Saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was at that place where Martha met him.
Their cemeteries were outside the town, and probably the Saviour was near the very grave where Lazarus slept.
Joh 11:31-32. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died
Her thought was just the same as the thought of Martha, but she did not say so much as Martha. She never did. Martha had a dialogue with the Saviour, but Mary bowed at his feet.
Joh 11:33. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord. come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave.
Many have asked why Christ groaned. Why, brethren, it is the way in which he gives life by his own death. We say sometimes of one who does a great action, It took so much out of him. So it did out of the Saviour. He must groan that Mary, and Martha, and Lazarus may rejoice. It is not without the stirring of his very life that he gives life to the dead.
Joh 11:38-39. It was a cave and the stone lay upon it. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone, Martha, the sister of him that was dead, said unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
It were a pity to roll away the stone.
Joh 11:40-41. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou has heard me.
That is grand praying, is it not? Sometimes we ought to say, Just so. Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42-44. And I knew that thou hearest me always. but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he had thus spoken he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin.
He probably slipped himself off from the ledge in the tomb upon which he been laid, and there he appeared before them bound so that he could not move farther.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Joh 11:27. , I have believed and do believe) Martha replies with ready mind, I have taken up this faith.-) Thou, who art come into the world, art the Son of God. This knowledge of the truth concerning Jesus Christ includes all the rest. [She testifies that she has faith in the word of Jesus, even though she did not fully understand it. This forms the analogue to the faith of Peter; ch. Joh 6:68-69, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life: and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.-A faith much more serene, than if one were to say, I believe whatever the Church believes.-V. g.]-) Present; Mat 11:3.[299] For as yet He was only becoming known.
[299] ; the Comer: He that should come.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 11:27
Joh 11:27
She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, even he that cometh into the world:-She confesses her faith in him as the Christ, but evades the expression of her faith in the resurrection. She accepted the theory, but found it difficult to accept the reality.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
world
kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Yea: Joh 1:49, Joh 4:42, Joh 6:69, Joh 9:36-38, Joh 20:28-31, Mat 16:16, Act 8:37, 1Jo 5:1
which: Joh 6:14, Mal 3:1, Mat 11:3, Luk 7:19, Luk 7:20, 1Ti 1:15, 1Ti 1:16, 1Jo 5:20
Reciprocal: Mat 14:33 – Of Mar 8:29 – Thou Luk 9:20 – The Joh 1:34 – this Joh 9:35 – Dost
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7
In answer to the question of Jesus, Martha made the good confession of the divinity of him as the Son of God. She coupled her confession of faith with the fact that it had been predicted of him as the one to come into the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Joh 11:27. She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I have believed that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, he that cometh into the world. The substitution of I have believed for I believe is striking. It seems to imply that she goes back on her previous belief,securely founded, never shaken,in which she knows that all He requires must be contained. His last words have been in some measure new and unfamiliar, and in her present state of mind she is incapable of comparing the old and the new. But that which she has believed and still believes contains the fullest recognition of her Lord. She has received Him as the fulfilment of Messianic hope, the revelation of the Divine to man, the long-expected Redeemer of the world.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. The full confession which Martha makes of her faith in Christ: Thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into world. A confession which comes nearest to that of St. Peter (Mat 16:16.) of any that we meet with in scripture: nay, it seems more full than Peter’s confession; for those additional words, Which should come into the world, are not in his confession; the sum is, she believed Christ to be the very Messias who was typified and prefigured, prophesied of, and promised to, the Old Testament saints, as the person that in the fulness of time should come into the world for the redemption and salvation of it. Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.
Hence learn, That Christ is never rightly believed in, nor regularly depended upon, for salvation, except he be owned and acknowledged to be the eternal Son of God. Martha was now fully persuaded of Christ’s divine nature, of which the best of the disciples, till after our Saviour’s resurrection, had but a faint and uncertain persuasion.
Observe, 2. How earnest and intent our Saviour was to dispatch the errand he came upon, namely, to raise Lazarus from the grave, and to comfort the two mournful sisters: he would not so much as enter the house, till he had effected his work: and therefore he goes straight to the grave, which probably was the place where Mary met him: Lord! It was thy meat and drink to do the will of thy Father: it was thy meat and drink by day, thy rest and repose by night. How unlike are we to thyself, if we suffer either our pleasures or our profits to divert us from our duty!
Observe, 3. What haste and speed Mary makes to attend upon our Saviour: she arose quickly, and came unto him. Mary’s love added wings to her motion. The Jews observing her hasty motion, have a loving suspicion that she is gone to the grave to weep there; but their thoughts were too low; for whilst they supposed that she went to a dead brother, she was waiting upon a living Saviour. And she that used to sit at Jesus’s feet, now falls at his feet, with an awful veneration: the very gesture was supplicatory. And her humble prostration was seconded with a doleful lamentation, Lord, hadst thou been here, any brother had not died: full of affection, but not free from frailty and infirmity; however Christ takes no notice of her errors and infirmity; but all the reply we hear of, is a compassionate groan, which the following verses acquaint us with.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 11:27. She saith, Yea, Lord I am fully persuaded of the truth of thy declaration; for I believe that thou art the Christ, &c. Here we have Marthas good confession, the same with that for which Peter was commended, Mat 16:16-17, where see the notes. Dr. Campbell reads, I believe that thou art the Messiah, the Son of God, he who cometh into the world; observing that the passage contains three titles, which should be distinctly marked as three different denominations, or descriptions, by which the same great personage was distinguished; and that the last two of them are improperly compounded into one in our translation. He observes, also, that the last-mentioned title is not properly, he who should come, but, he who cometh. By replying, that she believed him to be the promised Messiah, Martha intimated that she confided implicitly in every thing he said, and that there was no instance of power whatsoever, which he was pleased to claim, that exceeded her belief. Probably she began to entertain some confused expectation of her brothers immediate resurrection; although afterward, when she considered the greatness of the thing more deliberately, many doubts arose in her mind concerning it, Joh 11:39.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Ver. 27. She says to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.
To see in this confession of Martha, as some have done, only a simple avowal of a want of understanding with reference to the preceding words of Jesus: I do not comprehend all these profound things of which thou art speaking to me, but I hold thee to be the Messiah, is strangely to depreciate its significance. This meaning would give to this scene which is of so grave import a character almost ridiculous. By her answer: Yes, Lord, Martha certainly appropriates to herself all that which Jesus has just affirmed respecting His person. Only, she does not feel herself in a condition to formulate spontaneously her faith in the things which are so new for her, and she makes use of terms which are familiar to her in order to express the thought that Jesus is to her all that which is greatest, and that, whatever He may affirm respecting His person, He will never say too much for the faith of her who speaks to Him. The Christ: the end of the theocratic revelations and dispensations; the Son of God:evidently something else than the Christ, unless there is an idle tautology here: the personage in whom God manifests Himself as in no other, and who is in an intimate and mysterious relation with God. The expression: who comes into the world, is not a third title, but an apposition explanatory of the two others. The present participle, who comes, is the present of idea: the one who, according to the divine promise, should come, and in fact comes. The world: the foreseen theatre of his Messianic activity. There is a great psychological truth in this reply of Martha: by designating Him thus, she implicitly acknowledges that He is indeed all that which He has said:the resurrection and the life. : I whom thou art questioning; (perfect): this is a conviction which I have gained.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
Martha confessed that she did indeed believe that Jesus was the resurrection and the life. Her answer focused on His person, not just on the teachings of Judaism (cf. Joh 20:28; Joh 20:30-31). That she truly understood and believed what Jesus revealed about Himself is clear from her reply. She correctly concluded that if Jesus was the One who would raise the dead and impart spiritual life He must be the Messiah. She clarified that what she meant by "Messiah" was not the popular idea of a revolutionary leader but the biblical revelation of a God-man whom God promised to send from heaven (cf. Joh 1:9; Joh 1:49; Joh 6:14). This saving faith rested on facts about Jesus that were true but went on to place personal trust in Him to fulfill His claims.
Martha’s confession of faith is a high point in the fourth Gospel, as Peter’s was in the first Gospel (cf. Mat 16:16). This is the clearest expression of saving faith thus far in this book. Doubtless John recorded it because it advances his major purpose of convincing his readers that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, so they might obtain eternal life by believing in Him (Joh 20:31).