Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of John 7:14
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
14. about the midst of the feast ] Literally, But now, when the feast was at the middle, or was half way past; i.e. about the fourth day. But the expression is a vague one, so that we cannot be certain which day.
went up into the temple ] Whether He had been in Jerusalem or not since the beginning of the Feast, is uncertain: see on Joh 7:10. This is perhaps the first occasion of His publicly teaching in the Temple; when He cleansed it (Joh 2:13-17) He delivered no discourse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
About the midst – Or about the middle of the feast. It continued eight days.
The temple – See the notes at Mat 21:12.
And taught – Great multitudes were assembled in and around the temple, and it was a favorable time and place to make known his doctrine.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Joh 7:14-16
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the Temple and taught
Christ as a teacher
Whatever theory men hold respecting Christs person and work, all regard Him as an unparalleled teacher.
Four things distinguish Him from all His competitors.
I. HE POPULARIZED RELIGION. The common people heard Him gladly. What audiences He drew I When He began to teach religion had lost its hold on the world. People were wearied of the parodies which went by the name. Christ taught that it was not a doctrine but a life; not a speculation, but a love; not conversion to a sect, but change of heart; and that teaching was at once a revelation and a revolution. What, in despair, the people had come to regard as dreary and repulsive, He made them feel was bright and beautiful, and so popularized religion.
II. HE REVOLUTIONIZED THINKING. It is more important to make men think aright than to teach them what is right. You cannot ensure their believing or obeying your instruction, but if you can start them in conscientious search of what is good, you do them enduring service. Christ did both, but pre-eminently He liberated the intellect and rationalized its operations. There was plenty of colossal thinking before Christ, but it was simply constructive speculation or destructive criticism. And when He came, it was not as another philosopher, to build another stagey system. Men complain that His thinking is defective because fragmentary; but this is its strength. When men asked for His principles He threw in a simple sentence, You must be born again, Love your neighbour, some terse, pregnant phrase which has become the current mental coin of the leading people of the earth. Any other teacher would have said, Come into my class-room and take my lectures; the curriculum is seven years. Christ could settle it in seven minutes.
1. He initiated spontaneous judgment. Instead of sending people to books, He sent them to their own hearts.
2. He introduced liberty of conscience. Whoever heard of men demanding freedom to think and judge for themselves before He came? And yet that freedom has been a ruling maxim of society since. Out of these two changes have grown infinite results, and are quite sufficient to prove that He revolutionized thinking.
III. HE REORGANIZED SOCIETY. The liberty He vindicated involved equality and fraternity. It is fashionable to denounce Socialism, and when it becomes Nihilism or Communism it is a senseless burlesque. He meant that men should serve each other, and not that the lazy should share with the diligent; that as there was a common Fatherhood in God there must be a common brotherhood among men. So He reconstructed society on the basis of mutual respect and reciprocal love. This reconstruction meant
1. That He recruited our hopes. He came to a weary world. Then a few proud, petrified men ruled, and the heart of the crowd was crushed and despairing. The Beatitudes fell on their sad hearts like rain on a drooping flower, and they looked up and felt that a new chance was open to them all. So it is wherever Christ comes now.
2. That He verified our aspirations. Men sighed for another world, but they scarcely knew whether or not to look for it. He came and said, If it were not so I would have told you; I go to prepare a place for you.
IV. HE DIGNIFIED PASSION. Passion, whether good or bad, is the greatest power in the world. When He came it was everywhere disordered. He purified and released and transformed it into affection. Up to that time men knew not exactly what to make of the emotions implied by such words as sorrow, pain, suffering. He gave them at once a status and vindicated their place in the economy of God. The tendency previously was to stifle pathos, and sneer at sentiment. He sanctified and employed them for the noblest ends. (W. R. Attwood.)
Characteristics of Christs teaching
Wherein did its peculiar power consist? The secret of its influence lies in no peculiar excellence of diction. Jesus was no poet, orator, or philosopher. It is not the charm of poetry that attracts us, not the ingenious application which surprises, not flights of eloquence which carry us away, not bold speculation which evokes our astonishment. No one could speak with more simplicity than Jesus, whether on the Mount, in the parables, or in the high priestly prayer. But this is the very reason of His influence, that He utters the greatest and most sublime truths in the present words, so that, as Pascal says, one might almost think He was Himself unconscious what truths He was propounding, only He expressed them with much clearness, certainty, and conviction, that we see how well He knew what He was saying. We cannot fail to see that the world of eternal truth is His home, and that His thoughts have constant intercourse therewith. He speaks of God and of His relation to Him, of the super- mundane world of spirits, of the future world and the future life of man; of the kingdom of God upon earth, of its nature and history; of the highest moral truths, and of the supreme obligations of man; in short, of all the greatest problems and deepest enigmas of life–as simply and plainly, with such an absence of mental excitement, without expatiating upon His peculiar knowledge, and even without that dwelling upon details so usual with those who have anything new to impart, as though all were quite natural and self-evident. We see that the sublimest truths are His nature. He is not merely a teacher of truth, but is Himself its source. He can say I am the Truth. And the feeling with which we listen to His words is, that we are listening to the voice of truth itself. Hence the power which these have at all times exercised over the minds of men. (Prof. Luthardt.)
Though criticised and ridiculed we must go on with our work
Suppose a geometrician should be drawing lines and figures, and there should come in some silly, ignorant fellow, who, seeing him, should laugh at him, would the artist, think you, leave off his employment because of his derision? Surely not; for he knows that he laughs at him out of his ignorance, as not knowing his art and the grounds thereof. (J. Preston.)
And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, never having learned.
This testimony of enemies to a fact well known to them strongly confirms what we otherwise must know or must conjecture concerning Christs education, or rather the absence in His case of the ordinary ways and means by which other men receive their knowledge. He was neither school-taught, nor self-taught, nor even God-taught (like inspired prophets), in the usual sense of those terms. No doubt He learned from His mother, went to the synagogue, heard and read the Scriptures, studied nature and man, and the Holy Ghost descended upon Him: yet the secret fountain of His knowledge of God and man must be found in His mysterious and unique relation to the Father, and derived from direct intuition into the living fountain of truth in God. He was and continued to be in the bosom of the Father, and explained Him to us as no philosopher or prophet could do. He spent His youth in poverty and manual labour, in the obscurity of a carpenters shop; far away from universities, academies, libraries, and literary or polished society; without any help, as far as we know, except that mentioned above. Christ can be ranked neither with the school trained, nor with the self.trained or self-made men; if by the latter we understand, as we must, those who, without the regular aid of living teachers, yet with the same educational means, such as books, the observation of men and things, and the intense application of their mental faculties, attained to vigour of intellect, and wealth of scholarship–like Shakespeare, Boeme, Franklin and others. All the attempts to bring Jesus into contact with Egyptian wisdom, or the Essenic theosophy, or other sources of learning, are without a shadow of proof, and explain nothing after all. He never quotes from books except the Old Testament. He never refers to any of those branches of knowledge which make up human learning and literature. He confined Himself strictly to religion. But from that centre, He shed light over the whole world of man and nature. In this department, unlike other great men, even the prophets and apostles, He was absolutely original and independent. He taught the world as one who had learned nothing from it, and was under no obligation to it. He speaks from divine intuition, as one who not only knows but is the Truth; and with an authority that commands absolute submission or provokes rebellion, but can never be passed by with contempt or indifference. (P. Schaff, D. D.)
The originality of Christ as a teacher
We have a great many men who are original in the sense of being originators, within a certain boundary of educated thought. But the originality of Christ is uneducated. That He draws nothing from the stores of learning can be seen at a glance. Indeed, there is nothing in Him that belongs to His age or country–no one opinion, taste, or prejudice. The attempts that have been made to show that He borrowed His sentiments from the Persians and the Eastern forms of religion, or that He had been intimate with the Essence and borrowed from them, or that He must have been acquainted with the schools and religions of Egypt, deriving His doctrine from them–all attempts of the kind have so palpably failed, as not even to require a deliberate answer. If He is simply a man, as we hear, then He is most certainly a new and singular kind of man, never before heard of, as great a miracle as if He were not a man. Whatever He advances is from Himself. Shakespeare, e.g., probably the most creative and original spirit the world has ever produced, and a self-made man, is yet tinged in all His works with human learning. He is the high-priest, we sometimes hear, of human nature. But Christ, understanding human nature so as to address it more skilfully than he, never draws from its historic treasures. Neither does He teach by human methods. He does not speculate about God like a school professor. He does not build up a frame of evidence from below by some constructive process, such as the philosophers delight in; but He simply speaks of God and spiritual things as one who has come out from Him to tell us what He knows. At the same time He never reveals the infirmity so commonly shown by human teachers. When they veer a little from their point or turn their doctrine off by shades of variation to catch the assent of multitudes, He never conforms to an expectation even of His friends. Again, Christ was of no school or party, and never went to any extreme, words could never turn Him to a one-sided view of anything. This distinguishes Him from every other known teacher. He never pushes Himself to any extremity. He is never a radical, never a conservative. And further, while advancing doctrines so far transcending all the deductions of philosophy, and opening mysteries that defy all human powers of explication, He is yet able to set His teachings in a form of simplicity that accommodates all classes of minds. No one of the great writers of antiquity had even propounded, as yet, a doctrine of virtue which the multitude could understand. But Jesus tells them directly, in a manner level to their understandings, what they must do and be to inherit eternal life, and their inmost convictions answer to His words. (H. Bushnell, D. D.)
The teaching of Christ the marvel of unbelief
The wisdom of Christs teaching has proved a hard problem to infidels for 1,800 years. To this day it stands above the efforts of the mightiest and most trained minds. (W. H. Van Doren, D. D.)
And Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me
The teaching of Christ
I. ITS CONTENTS.
1. Concerning God.
(1) His nature–spirit (Joh 4:24).
(2) His character–love (Joh 3:16).
(3) His purpose–salvation (Joh 3:17).
(4) His requirement–faith (Joh 6:29).
2. Concerning Himself,
(1) His heavenly origin–from above (Joh 6:38).
(2) This higher being–the Son of the Father (Joh 6:17).
(3) His Divine commission–sent by God (Joh 5:37).
(4) His gracious errand–to give life to the world (Joh 5:21; Joh 6:51).
(5) His future glory–to raise the dead (Joh 5:28).
3. Concerning man
(1) Apart from Him, dead (Joh 5:24) and perishing (Joh 3:16).
(2) In Him possessed of eternal life.
4. Concerning salvation
(1) Its substance–eternal life (Joh 5:24).
(2) Its condition–hearing His word (Joh 5:24), believing in Joh 5:24), coming to Him (Joh 5:40).
II. ITS DIVINITY. Three sources possible for Christs teaching.
1. Others. He might have acquired it by education. But this Christs contemporaries negatived. He had never studied at a rabbinical school (Joh 5:15).
2. Himself. He might have evolved it from His own religious consciousness. But this Christ here repudiates.
3. God. This He expressly claimed, and that not merely as prophets had received Divine communications, but in a way that was unique (Joh 5:19-20; Joh 8:28; Joh 12:49), as one who had been in eternity with God (1:1, 18; 3:11).
III. ITS CREDENTIALS.
1. Its self-verifying character: such as would produce in the mind of every sincere person who desired to do the Divine will a clear conviction of its divinity (Joh 5:17).
2. Its God-glorifying aim. Had it been human it would have followed the law of all such developments; its Publisher would have had a tendency to glorify Himself in its propagation. The entire absence of this in Christs case was a phenomenon to which He invited observation. The complete.absorption of the messenger and the message in the Divine glory was proof that both belonged to a different than human category.
3. Its sinless bearer. This follows from the preceding. A messenger whose devotion to God was perfect as Christs was could not be other than sinless. But if the messenger were sinless there could be no unveracity in His message or in what He said concerning it. Lessons:
1. The marvellous in Christianity.
2. The insight of obedience.
3. The danger of high intellectual endowments.
4. The connection between truth and righteousness.
5. The sinlessness of Jesus an argument for His divinity. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 14. The midst of the feast] Though the canons required him to be there on the first day, for the performance of a great variety of rites, yet, as these were in general the invention of their doctors, he might think it very proper neither to attend nor perform them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
About the third or fourth day of the feast (which continued seven days) our Lord, being (as was said before) come up privately and by stealth, as it were, to Jerusalem, first appears in the temple preaching. What our Saviour at this time discoursed about the evangelist doth not tell us; but doubtless it was the things of the kingdom of God, which were the usual themes or arguments of his discourse, as we may also understand by the latter part of it. Our Lord probably deferred his preaching to the middle of the feast, partly, because the Pharisees heat in hunting after him was now a little over; and that there might be a fuller concourse of people to hear him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14, 15. about the midst of thefeastthe fourth or fifth day of the eight, during which itlasted.
went up into the temple andtaughtThe word denotes formal and continuousteaching, as distinguished from mere casual sayings. Thiswas probably the first time that He did so thus openly inJerusalem. He had kept back till the feast was half through, to letthe stir about Him subside, and entering the city unexpectedly, hadbegun His “teaching” at the temple, and created a certainawe, before the wrath of the rulers had time to break it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now about the midst of the feast,…. About the fourth day of it, for it lasted eight days; this might be on the sabbath day, which sometimes was , “in the middle of the feast” n; and the rather, since it follows,
Jesus went up into the temple; as the Lord and proprietor of it, and as was his usual method; he had for some reasons kept himself retired till now, and now he appeared publicly:
and taught the people his doctrine; he expounded the Scriptures, gave the true sense of them, and instructed the people out of them.
n Misa. Succa, c. 5. sect. 5.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| Christ at the Feast of Tabernacles. |
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14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. 15 And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? 16 Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? 20 The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? 21 Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. 23 If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? 24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. 25 Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill? 26 But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? 27 Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. 28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. 29 But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. 30 Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. 31 And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? 32 The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. 33 Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. 34 Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. 35 Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? 36 What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
Here is, I. Christ’s public preaching in the temple (v. 14): He went up into the temple, and taught, according to his custom when he was at Jerusalem. His business was to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and he did it in every place of concourse. His sermon is not recorded, because, probably, it was to the same purport with the sermons he had preached in Galilee, which were recorded by the other evangelists. For the gospel is the same to the plain and to the polite. But that which is observable here is that it was about the midst of the feast; the fourth or fifth day of the eight. Whether he did not come up to Jerusalem till the middle of the feast, or whether he came up at the beginning, but kept private till now, is not certain. But, Query, Why did he not go to the temple sooner, to preach? Answer, 1. Because the people would have more leisure to hear him, and, it might be hoped, would be better disposed to hear him, when they had spent some days in their booths, as they did at the feast of tabernacles. 2. Because he would choose to appear when both his friends and his enemies had done looking for him; and so give a specimen of the method he would observe in his appearances, which is to come at midnight, Matt. xxv. 6. But why did he appear thus publicly now? Surely it was to shame his persecutors, the chief priests and elders. (1.) By showing that, though they were very bitter against him, yet he did not fear them, nor their power. See Isa 50:7; Isa 50:8. (2.) By taking their work out of their hands. Their office was to teach the people in the temple, and particularly at the feast of tabernacles,Neh 8:17; Neh 8:18. But they either did not teach them at all or taught for doctrines the commandments of men, and therefore he goes up to the temple and teaches the people. When the shepherds of Israel made a prey of the flock it was time for the chief Shepherd to appear, as was promised. Eze 34:22; Eze 34:23; Mal 3:1.
II. His discourse with the Jews hereupon; and the conference is reducible to four heads:
1. Concerning his doctrine. See here,
(1.) How the Jews admired it (v. 15): They marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Observe here, [1.] That our Lord Jesus was not educated in the schools of the prophets, or at the feet of the rabbin; not only did not travel for learning, as the philosophers did, but did not make any use of the schools and academies in his own country. Moses was taught the learning of the Egyptians, but Christ was not taught so much as the learning of the Jews; having received the Spirit without measure, he needed not receive any knowledge from man, or by man. At the time of Christ’s appearing, learning flourished both in the Roman empire and in the Jewish church more than in any age before or since, and in such a time of enquiry Christ chose to establish his religion, not in an illiterate age, lest it should look like a design to impose upon the world; yet he himself studied not the learning then in vogue. [2.] That Christ had letters, though he had never learned them; was mighty in the scriptures, though he never had any doctor of the law for his tutor. It is necessary that Christ’s ministers should have learning, as he had; and since they cannot expect to have it as he had it, by inspiration, they must take pains to get it in an ordinary way. [3.] That Christ’s having learning, though he had not been taught it, made him truly great and wonderful; the Jews speak of it here with wonder. First, Some, it is likely, took notice of it to his honour: He that had no human learning, and yet so far excelled all that had, certainly must be endued with a divine knowledge. Secondly, Others, probably, mentioned it in disparagement and contempt of him: Whatever he seems to have, he cannot really have any true learning, for he was never at the university, nor took his degree. Thirdly, Some perhaps suggested that he had got his learning by magic arts, or some unlawful means or other. Since they know not how he could be a scholar, they will think him a conjurer.
(2.) What he asserted concerning it; three things:–
[1.] That his doctrine is divine (v. 16): My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. They were offended because he undertook to teach though he had never learned, in answer to which he tells them that his doctrine was such as was not to be learned, for it was not the product of human thought and natural powers enlarged and elevated by reading and conversation, but it was a divine revelation. As God, equal with the Father, he might truly have said, My doctrine is mine, and his that sent me; but being now in his estate of humiliation, and being, as Mediator, God’s servant, it was more congruous to say, “My doctrine is not mine, not mine only, nor mine originally, as man and mediator, but his that sent me; it does not centre in myself, nor lead ultimately to myself, but to him that sent me.” God had promised concerning the great prophet that he would put his words into his mouth (Deut. xviii. 18), to which Christ seems here to refer. Note, It is the comfort of those who embrace Christ’s doctrine, and the condemnation of those who reject it, that it is a divine doctrine: it is of God and not of man.
[2.] That the most competent judges of the truth and divine authority of Christ’s doctrine are those that with a sincere and upright heart desire and endeavour to do the will of God (v. 17): If any man be willing to do the will of God, have his will melted into the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God or whether I speak of myself. Observe here, First, What the question is, concerning the doctrine of Christ, whether it be of God or no; whether the gospel be a divine revelation or an imposture. Christ himself was willing to have his doctrine enquired into, whether it were of God or no, much more should his ministers; and we are concerned to examine what grounds we go upon, for, if we be deceived, we are miserably deceived. Secondly, Who are likely to succeed in this search: those that do the will of God, at least are desirous to do it. Now see, 1. Who they are that will do the will of God. They are such as are impartial in their enquiries concerning the will of God, and are not biassed by any lust or interest, and such as are resolved by the grace of God, when they find out what the will of God is, to conform to it. They are such as have an honest principle of regard to God, and are truly desirous to glorify and please him. 2. Whence it is that such a one shall know of the truth of Christ’s doctrine. (1.) Christ has promised to give knowledge to such; he hath said, He shall know, and he can give an understanding. Those who improve the light they have, and carefully live up to it, shall be secured by divine grace from destructive mistakes. (2.) They are disposed and prepared to receive that knowledge. He that is inclined to submit to the rules of the divine law is disposed to admit the rays of divine light. To him that has shall be given; those have a good understanding that do his commandments, Ps. cxi. 10. Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.
[3.] That hereby it appeared that Christ, as a teacher, did not speak of himself, because he did not seek himself, v. 18. First, See here the character of a deceiver: he seeketh his own glory, which is a sign that he speaks of himself, as the false Christs and false prophets did. Here is the description of the cheat: they speak of themselves, and have no commission nor instructions from God; no warrant but their own will, no inspiration but their own imagination, their own policy and artifice. Ambassadors speak not of themselves; those ministers disclaim that character who glory in this that they speak of themselves. But see the discovery of the cheat; by this their pretensions are disproved, they consult purely their own glory; self-seekers are self-speakers. Those who speak from God will speak for God, and for his glory; those who aim at their own preferment and interest make it to appear that they had no commission form God. Secondly, See the contrary character Christ gives of himself and his doctrine: He that seeks his glory that sent him, as I do, makes it to appear that he is true. 1. He was sent of God. Those teachers, and those only, who are sent of God, are to be received and entertained by us. Those who bring a divine message must prove a divine mission, either by special revelation or by regular institution. 2. He sought the glory of God. It was both the tendency of his doctrine and the tenour of his whole conversation to glorify God. 3. This was a proof that he was true, and there was no unrighteousness in him. False teachers are most unrighteous; they are unjust to God whose name they abuse, and unjust to the souls of men whom they impose upon. There cannot be a greater piece of unrighteousness than this. But Christ made it appear that he was true, that he was really what he said he was, that there was no unrighteousness in him, no falsehood in his doctrine, no fallacy nor fraud in his dealings with us.
2. They discourse concerning the crime that was laid to his charge for curing the impotent man, and bidding him carry his bed on the sabbath day, for which they had formerly prosecuted him, and which was still the pretence of their enmity to him.
(1.) He argues against them by way of recrimination, convicting them of far worse practices, v. 19. How could they for shame censure him for a breach of the law of Moses, when they themselves were such notorious breakers of it? Did not Moses give you the law? And it was their privilege that they had the law, no nation had such a law; but it was their wickedness that none of them kept the law, that they rebelled against it, and lived contrary to it. Many that have the law given them, when they have it do not keep it. Their neglect of the law was universal: None of you keepeth it: neither those of them that were in posts of honour, who should have been most knowing, nor those who were in posts of subjection, who should have been most obedient. They boasted of the law, and pretended a zeal for it, and were enraged at Christ for seeming to transgress it, and yet none of them kept it; like those who say that they are for the church, and yet never go to church. It was an aggravation of their wickedness, in persecuting Christ for breaking the law, that they themselves did not keep it: “None of you keepeth the law, why then go ye about to kill me for not keeping it?” Note, Those are commonly most censorious of others who are most faulty themselves. Thus hypocrites, who are forward to pull a mote out of their brother’s eye, are not aware of a beam in their own. Why go ye about to kill me? Some take this as the evidence of their not keeping the law: “You keep not the law; if you did, you would understand yourselves better than to go about to kill me for doing a good work.” Those that support themselves and their interest by persecution and violence, whatever they pretend (though they may call themselves custodes utriusque tabul–the guardians of both tables), are not keepers of the law of God. Chemnitius understands this as a reason why it was time to supersede the law of Moses by the gospel, because the law was found insufficient to restrain sin: “Moses gave you the law, but you do not keep it, nor are kept by it from the greatest wickedness; there is therefore need of a clearer light and better law to be brought in; why then do you aim to kill me for introducing it?”
Here the people rudely interrupted him in his discourse, and contradicted what he said (v. 20): Thou has a devil; who goes about to kill thee? This intimates, [1.] The good opinion they had of their rulers, who, they think, would never attempt so atrocious a thing as to kill him; no, such a veneration they had for their elders and chief priests that they would swear for them they would do no harm to an innocent man. Probably the rulers had their little emissaries among the people who suggested this to them; many deny that wickedness which at the same time they are contriving. [2.] The ill opinion they had of our Lord Jesus: “Thou hast a devil, thou art possessed with a lying spirit, and art a bad man for saying so;” so some: or rather, “Thou art melancholy, and art a weak man; thou frightenest thyself with causeless fears, as hypochondriacal people are apt to do.” Not only open frenzies, but silent melancholies, were then commonly imputed to the power of Satan. “Thou art crazed, has a distempered brain.” Let us not think it strange if the best of men are put under the worst of characters. To this vile calumny our Saviour returns no direct answer, but seems as if he took no notice of it. Note, Those who would be like Christ must put up with affronts, and pass by the indignities and injuries done them; must not regard them, much less resent them, and least of all revenge them. I, as a deaf man, heard not. When Christ was reviled, he reviled not again,
(2.) He argues by way of appeal and vindication.
[1.] He appeals to their own sentiments of this miracle: “I have done one work, and you all marvel, v. 21. You cannot choose but marvel at it as truly great, and altogether supernatural; you must all own it to be marvellous.” Or, “Though I have done but one work that you have any colour to find fault with, yet you marvel, you are offended and displeased as if I had been guilty of some heinous or enormous crime.”
[2.] He appeals to their own practice in other instances: “I have done one work on the sabbath, and it was done easily, with a word’s speaking, and you all marvel, you make a mighty strange thing of it, that a religious man should dare do such a thing, whereas you yourselves many a time do that which is a much more servile work on the sabbath day, in the case of circumcision; if it be lawful for you, nay, and your duty, to circumcise a child on the sabbath day, when it happens to be the eighth day, as no doubt it is, much more was it lawful and good for me to heal a diseased man on that day.” Observe,
First, The rise and origin of circumcision: Moses gave you circumcision, gave you the law concerning it. Here, 1. Circumcision is said to be given, and (v. 23) they are said to receive it; it was not imposed upon them as a yoke, but conferred upon them as a favour. Note, The ordinances of God, and particularly those which are seals of the covenant, are gifts given to men, and are to be received as such. 2. Moses is said to give it, because it was a part of that law which was given by Moses; yet, as Christ said of the manna (ch. vi. 32), Moses did not give it them, but God; nay, and it was not of Moses first, but of the fathers, v. 22. Though it was incorporated into the Mosaic institution, yet it was ordained long before, for it was a seal of the righteousness of faith, and therefore commenced with the promise four hundred and thirty years before, Gal. iii. 17. The church membership of believers and their seed was not of Moses or his law, and therefore did not fall with it; but was of the fathers, belonged to the patriarchal church, and was part of that blessing of Abraham which was to come upon the Gentiles, Gal. iii. 14.
Secondly, The respect paid to the law of circumcision above that of the sabbath, in the constant practice of the Jewish church. The Jewish casuists frequently take notice of it, Circumcisio et ejus sanatio pellit sabbbatum–Circumcision and its cure drive away the sabbath; so that if a child was born one sabbath day it was without fail circumcised the next. If then, when the sabbath rest was more strictly insisted on, yet those works were allowed which were in ordine ad spiritualia–for the keeping up of religion, much more are they allowed now under the gospel, when the stress is laid more upon the sabbath work.
Thirdly, The inference Christ draws hence in justification of himself, and of what he had done (v. 23): A man-child on the sabbath day receives circumcision, that the law of circumcision might not be broken; or, as the margin reads it, without breaking the law, namely, of the sabbath. Divine commands must be construed so as to agree with each other. “Now, if this be allowed by yourselves, how unreasonable are you, who are angry with me because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day!” emoi cholate. The word is used only here, from choge—fel, gall. They were angry at him with the greatest indignation; it was a spiteful anger, anger with gall in it. Note, It is very absurd and unreasonable for us to condemn others for that in which we justify ourselves. Observe the comparison Christ here makes between their circumcising a child and his healing a man on the sabbath day. 1. Circumcision was but a ceremonial institution; it was of the fathers indeed, but not from the beginning; but what Christ did was a good work by the law of nature, a more excellent law than that which made circumcision a good work. 2. Circumcision was a bloody ordinance, and made sore; but what Christ did was healing, and made whole. The law works pain, and, if that work may be done on the sabbath day, much more a gospel work, which produces peace. 3. Especially considering that whereas, when they had circumcised a child, their care was only to heal up that part which was circumcised, which might be done and yet the child remain under other illnesses, Christ had made this man every whit whole, holon anthropon hygie—I have made the whole man healthful and sound. The whole body was healed, for the disease affected the whole body; and it was a perfect cure, such as left no relics of the disease behind; nay, Christ not only healed his body, but his soul too, by that admonition, Go, and sin no more, and so indeed made the whole man sound, for the soul is the man. Circumcision indeed was intended for the good of the soul, and to make the whole man as it should be; but they had perverted it, and turned it into a mere carnal ordinance; but Christ accompanied his outward cures with inward grace, and so made them sacramental, and healed the whole man.
He concludes this argument with that rule (v. 24): Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. This may be applied, either, First, In particular, to this work which they quarrelled with as a violation of the law. Be not partial in your judgment; judge not, kat opsin—with respect of persons; knowing faces, as the Hebrew phrase is, Deut. i. 17. It is contrary to the law of justice, as well as charity, to censure those who differ in opinion from us as transgressors, in taking that liberty which yet in those of our own party, and way, and opinion, we allow of; as it is also to commend that in some as necessary strictness and severity which in others we condemn as imposition and persecution. Or, Secondly, In general, to Christ’s person and preaching, which they were offended at and prejudiced against. Those things that are false, and designed to impose upon men, commonly appear best when they are judged of according to the outward appearance, they appear most plausible prima facie–at the first glance. It was this that gained the Pharisees such an interest and reputation, that they appeared right unto men (Mat 23:27; Mat 23:28), and men judged of them by that appearance, and so were sadly mistaken in them. “But,” saith Christ, “be not too confident that all are real saints who are seeming ones.” With reference to himself, his outward appearance was far short of his real dignity and excellency, for he took upon him the form of a servant (Phil. ii. 7), was in the likeness of sinful flesh (Rom. viii. 3), had no form nor comeliness, Isa. liii. 2. So that those who undertook to judge whether he was the Son of God or no by his outward appearance were not likely to judge righteous judgment. The Jews expected the outward appearance of the Messiah to be pompous and magnificent, and attended with all the ceremonies of secular grandeur; and, judging of Christ by that rule, their judgment was from first to last a continual mistake, for the kingdom of Christ was not to be of this world, nor to come with observation. If a divine power accompanied him, and God bore him witness, and the scriptures were fulfilled in him, though his appearance was ever so mean, they ought to receive him, and to judge by faith, and not by the sight of the eye. See Isa 11:3; 1Sa 16:7. Christ and his doctrine and doings desire nothing but righteous judgment; if truth and justice may but pass the sentence, Christ and his cause will carry the day. We must not judge concerning any by their outward appearance, not by their titles, the figure they make in the world, and their fluttering show, but by their intrinsic worth, and the gifts and graces of God’s Spirit in them.
3. Christ discourses with them here concerning himself, whence he came, and whither he was going, v. 25-36.
(1.) Whence he came, v. 25-31. In the account of this observe,
[1.] The objection concerning this stated by some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who seem to have been of all others most prejudiced against him, v. 25. One would think that those who lived at the fountain-head of knowledge and religion should have been most ready to receive the Messiah: but it proved quite contrary. Those that have plenty of the means of knowledge and grace, if they are not made better by them, are commonly made worse; and our Lord Jesus has often met with the least welcome from those that one would expect the best from. But it was not without some just cause that it came into a proverb, The nearer the church the further from God. These people of Jerusalem showed their ill-will to Christ,
First, By their reflecting on the rulers, because they let him alone: Is not this he whom they seek to kill? The multitude of the people that came up out of the country to the feast did not suspect there was any design on foot against him, and therefore they said, Who goes about to kill thee? v. 20. But those of Jerusalem knew the plot, and irritated their rulers to put it into execution: “Is not this he whom they seek to kill? Why do they not do it then? Who hinders them? They say that they have a mind to get him out of the way, and yet, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing to him; do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?” v. 26. Here they slyly and maliciously insinuate two things, to exasperate the rulers against Christ, when indeed they needed to spur. 1. That by conniving at his preaching they brought their authority into contempt. “Must a man that is condemned by the sanhedrim as a deceiver be permitted to speak boldly, without any check or contradiction? This makes their sentence to be but brutem fulmen–a vain menace; if our rulers will suffer themselves to be thus trampled upon, they may thank themselves if none stand in awe of them and their laws.” Note, The worst of persecutions have often been carried on under colour of the necessary support of authority and government. 2. That hereby they brought their judgment into suspicion. Do they know that this is the Christ? It is spoken ironically, “How came they to change their mind? What new discovery have they lighted on? They give people occasion to think that they believe him to be the Christ, and it behoves them to act vigorously against him to clear themselves from the suspicion.” Thus the rulers, who had made the people enemies to Christ, made them seven times more the children of hell than themselves, Matt. xxiii. 15. When religion and the profession of Christ’s name are out of fashion, and consequently out of repute, many are strongly tempted to persecute and oppose them, only that they may not be thought to favour them and incline to them. And for this reason apostates, and the degenerate offspring of good parents, have been sometimes worse than others, as it were to wipe off the stain of their profession. It was strange that the rulers, thus irritated, did not seize Christ; but his hour was not yet come; and God can tie men’s hands to admiration, though he should not turn their hearts.
Secondly, By their exception against his being the Christ, in which appeared more malice than matter, v. 27. “If the rulers think him to be the Christ, we neither can nor will believe him to be so, for we have this argument against it, that we know this man, whence he is; but when Christ comes no man knows whence he is.” Here is a fallacy in the argument, for the propositions are not body ad idem–adapted to the same view of the subject. 1. If they speak of his divine nature, it is true that when Christ comes no man knows whence he is, for he is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, who was without descent, and his goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting, Mic. v. 2. But then it is not true that as for this man they knew whence he was, for they knew not his divine nature, nor how the Word was made flesh. 2. If they speak of his human nature, it is true that they knew whence he was, who was his mother, and where he was bred up; but then it is false that ever it was said of the Messiah that none should know whence he was, for it was known before where he should be born,Mat 2:4; Mat 2:5. Observe, (1.) How they despised him, because they knew whence he was. Familiarity breeds contempt, and we are apt to disdain the use of those whom we know the rise of. Christ’s own received him not, because he was their own, for which very reason they should the rather have loved him, and been thankful that their nation and their age were honoured with his appearance. (2.) How they endeavoured unjustly to fasten the ground of their prejudice upon the scriptures, as if they countenanced them, when there was no such thing. Therefore people err concerning Christ, because they know not the scripture.
[2.] Christ’s answer to this objection, Joh 7:28; Joh 7:29.
First, He spoke freely and boldly, he cried in the temple, as he taught, he spoke this louder than the rest of his discourse, 1. To express his earnestness, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. There may be a vehemency in contending for the truth where yet there is no intemperate heat nor passion. We may instruct gainsayers with warmth, and yet with meekness. 2. The priests and those that were prejudiced against him, did not come near enough to hear his preaching, and therefore he must speak louder than ordinary what he will have them to hear. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear this.
Secondly, His answer to their cavil is, 1. By way of concession, granting that they did or might know his origin as to the flesh: “You both know me, and you know whence I am. You know I am of your own nation, and one of yourselves.” It is no disparagement to the doctrine of Christ that there is that in it which is level to the capacities of the meanest, plain truths, discovered even by nature’s light, of which we may say, We know whence they are. “You know me, you think you know me; but you are mistaken; you take me to be the carpenter’s son, and born at Nazareth, but it is not so.” 2. By way of negation, denying that that which they did see in him, and know of him, was all that was to be known; and therefore, if they looked no further, they judged by the outward appearance only. They knew whence he came perhaps, and where he had his birth, but he will tell them what they knew not, from whom he came. (1.) That he did not come of himself; that he did not run without sending, nor come as a private person, but with a public character. (2.) That he was sent of his Father; this is twice mentioned: He hath sent me. And again, “He hath sent me, to say what I say, and do what I do.” This he was himself well assured of, and therefore knew that his Father would bear him out; and it is well for us that we are assured of it too, that we may with holy confidence go to God by him. (3.) That he was from his Father, par autou eimi—I am from him; not only sent from him as a servant from his master, but from him by eternal generation, as a son from his father, by essential emanation, as the beams from the sun. (4.) That the Father who sent him is true; he had promised to give the Messiah, and, though the Jews had forfeited the promise, yet he that made the promise is true, and has performed it. He had promised that the Messiah should see his seed, and be successful in his undertaking; and, though the generality of the Jews reject him and his gospel, yet he is true, and will fulfil the promise in the calling of the Gentiles. (5.) That these unbelieving Jews did not know the Father: He that sent me, whom you know not. There is much ignorance of God even with many that have a form of knowledge; and the true reason why people reject Christ is because they do not know God; for there is such a harmony of the divine attributes in the work of redemption, and such an admirable agreement between natural and revealed religion, that the right knowledge of the former would not only admit, but introduce, the latter. (6.) Our Lord Jesus was intimately acquainted with the Father that sent him: but I know him. He knew him so well that he was not at all in doubt concerning his mission from him, but perfectly assured of it; nor at all in the dark concerning the work he had to do, but perfectly apprized of it, Matt. xi. 27.
[3.] The provocation which this gave to his enemies, who hated him because he told them the truth, v. 30. They sought therefore to take him, to lay violent hands on him, not only to do him a mischief, but some way or other to be the death of him; but by the restraint of an invisible power it was prevented; nobody touched him, because his hour was not yet come; this was not their reason why they did it not, but God’s reason why he hindered them from doing it. Note, First, The faithful preachers of the truths of God, though they behave themselves with ever so much prudence and meekness, must expect to be hated and persecuted by those who think themselves tormented by their testimony, Rev. xi. 10. Secondly, God has wicked men in a chain, and, whatever mischief they would do, they can do no more than God will suffer them to do. The malice of persecutors is impotent even when it is most impetuous, and, when Satan fills their hearts, yet God ties their hands. Thirdly, God’s servants are sometimes wonderfully protected by indiscernible unaccountable means. Their enemies do not do the mischief they designed, and yet neither they themselves nor any one else can tell why they do not. Fourthly, Christ had his hour set, which was to put a period to his day and work on earth; so have all his people and all his ministers, and, till that hour comes, the attempts of their enemies against them are ineffectual, and their day shall be lengthened as long as their Master has any work for them to do; nor can all the powers of hell and earth prevail against them, until they have finished their testimony.
[4.] The good effect which Christ’s discourse had, notwithstanding this, upon some of his hearers (v. 31): Many of the people believed on him. As he was set for the fall of some, so for the rising again of others. Even where the gospel meets with opposition there may yet be a great deal of good done, 1 Thess. ii. 2. Observe here, First, Who they were that believed; not a few, but many, more than one would have expected when the stream ran so strongly the other way. But these many were of the people, ek tou ochlou—of the multitude, the crowd, the inferior sort, the mob, the rabble, some would have called them. We must not measure the prosperity of the gospel by its success among the great ones; nor much ministers say that they labour in vain, though none but the poor, and those of no figure, receive the gospel, 1 Cor. i. 26. Secondly, What induced them to believe: the miracles which he did, which were not only the accomplishment of the Old-Testament prophecies (Isa 35:5; Isa 35:6), but an argument of a divine power. He that had an ability to do that which none but God can do, to control and overrule the powers of nature, no doubt had authority to enact that which none but God can enact, a law that shall bind conscience, and a covenant that shall give life. Thirdly, How weak their faith was: they do not positively assert, as the Samaritans did, This is indeed the Christ, but they only argue, When Christ comes will he do more miracles than these? They take it for granted that Christ will come, and, when he comes, will do many miracles. “Is not this he then? In him we see, though not all the worldly pomp we have fancied, yet all the divine power we have believed the Messiah should appear in; and therefore why may not this be he?” They believe it, but have not courage to own it. Note, Even weak faith may be true faith, and so accounted, so accepted, by the Lord Jesus, who despises not the day of small things.
(2.) Whither he was going, v. 32-36. Here observe,
[1.] The design of the Pharisees and chief priests against him, v. 32. First, The provocation given them was that they had information brought them by their spies, who insinuated themselves into the conversation of the people, and gathered stories to carry to their jealous masters, that the people murmured such things concerning him, that there were many who had a respect and value for him, notwithstanding all they had done to render him odious. Though the people did but whisper these things, and had not courage to speak out, yet the Pharisees were enraged at it. The equity of that government is justly suspected by others which is so suspicious of itself as to take notice of, or be influenced by, the secret, various, uncertain mutterings of the common people. The Pharisees valued themselves very much upon the respect of the people, and were sensible that if Christ did thus increase they must decrease. Secondly, The project they laid hereupon was to seize Jesus, and take him into custody: They sent officers to take him, not to take up those who murmured concerning him and frighten them; no, the most effectual way to disperse the flock is to smite the shepherd. The Pharisees seem to have been the ringleaders in this prosecution, but they, as such, had no power, and therefore they god the chief priests, the judges of the ecclesiastical court, to join with them, who were ready enough to do so. The Pharisees were the great pretenders to learning, and the chief priests to sanctify. As the world by wisdom knew not God, but the greatest philosophers were guilty of the greatest blunders in natural religion, so the Jewish church by their wisdom knew not Christ, but their greatest rabbin were the greatest fools concerning him, nay, they were the most inveterate enemies to him. Those wicked rulers had their officers, officers of their court, church-officers, whom they employed to take Christ, and who were ready to go on their errand, though it was an ill errand. If Saul’s footmen will not turn and fall upon the priests of the Lord, he has a herdsman that will, 1Sa 22:17; 1Sa 22:18.
[2.] The discourse of our Lord Jesus hereupon (Joh 7:33; Joh 7:34): Yet a little while I am with you, and then I go to him that sent me; you shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, thither you cannot come. These words, like the pillar of cloud and fire, have a bright side and a dark side.
First, They have a bright side towards our Lord Jesus himself, and speak abundance of comfort to him and all his faithful followers that are exposed to difficulties and dangers for his sake. Three things Christ here comforted himself with:– 1. That he had but a little time to continue here in this troublesome world. He sees that he is never likely to have a quiet day among them; but the best of it is his warfare will shortly be accomplished, and then he shall be no more in this world, ch. xvii. 11. Whomsoever we are with in this world, friends or foes, it is but a little while that we shall be with them; and it is a matter of comfort to those who are in the world, but not of it, and therefore are hated by it and sick of it, that they shall not be in it always, they shall not be in it long. We must be awhile with those that are pricking briars and grieving thorns; but thanks be to God, it is but a little while, and we shall be out of their reach. Our days being evil, it is well they are few. 2. That, when he should quit this troublesome world, he should go to him that sent him; I go. Not, “I am driven away by force,” but, “I voluntarily go; having finished my embassy, I return to him on whose errand I came. When I have done my work with you, then, and not till then, I go to him that sent me, and will receive me, will prefer me, as ambassadors are preferred when they return.” Their rage against him would not only not hinder him from, but would hasten him to the glory and joy that were set before him. Let those who suffer for Christ comfort themselves with this, that they have a God to go to, and are going to him, going apace, to be for ever with him. 3. That, though they persecuted him here, wherever he went, yet none of their persecutions could follow him to heaven: You shall seek me, and shall not find me. It appears, by their enmity to his followers when he was gone, that if they could have reached him they would have persecuted him: “But you cannot enter into that temple as you do into this.” Where I am, that is, where I then shall be; but he expressed it thus because, even when he was on earth, by his divine nature and divine affections he was in heaven, ch. iii. 13. Or it denotes that he should be so soon there that he was as good as there already. Note, It adds to the happiness of glorified saints that they are out of the reach of the devil and all his wicked instruments.
Secondly, These words have a black and dark side towards those wicked Jews that hated and persecuted Christ. They now longed to be rid of him, Away with him from the earth; but let them know, 1. That according to their choice so shall their doom be. They were industrious to drive him from them, and their sin shall be their punishment; he will not trouble them long, yet a little while and he will depart from them. It is just with God to forsake those that think his presence a burden. They that are weary of Christ need no more to make them miserable than to have their wish. 2. That they would certainly repent their choice when it was too late. (1.) They should in vain seek the presence of the Messiah: “You shall seek me, and shall not find me. You shall expect the Christ to come, but your eyes shall fail with looking for him, and you shall never find him.” Those who rejected the true Messiah when he did come were justly abandoned to a miserable and endless expectation of one that should never come. Or, it may refer to the final rejection of sinners from the favours and grace of Christ at the great day: those who now seek Christ shall find him, but the day is coming when those who now refuse him shall seek him, and shall not find him. See Prov. i. 28. They will in vain cry, Lord, Lord, open to us. Or, perhaps, these words might be fulfilled in the despair of some of the Jews, who possibly might be convinced and not converted, who would wish in vain to see Christ, and to hear him preach again; but the day of grace is over (Luke xvii. 22); yet this is not all. (2.) They should in vain expect a place in heaven: Where I am, and where all believers shall be with me, thither ye cannot come. Not only because they are excluded by the just and irreversible sentence of the judge, and the sword of the angel at every gate of the new Jerusalem, to keep the way of the tree of life against those who have no right to enter, but because they are disabled by their own iniquity and infidelity: You cannot come, because you will not. Those who hate to be where Christ is, in his word and ordinances on earth, are very unfit to be where he is in his glory in heaven; for indeed heaven would be no heaven to them, such are the antipathies of an unsanctified soul to the felicities of that state.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
But when it was now in the midst of the feast ( ). Literally, “But feast being already midway.” Genitive absolute, present active participle, of , old verb from , in LXX, here only in N.T. The feast of tabernacles was originally seven days, but a last day (verse John 7:37; Lev 23:36) was added, making eight in all.
And taught ( ). Imperfect active of , probably inchoative, “began to teach.” He went up (, effective aorist, arrived). The leaders had asked (verse 11) where Jesus was. There he was now before their very eyes.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
About the midst of the feast [ ] . A peculiar form of expression found only here. The midst is expressed by a participle from the verb mesow, to be in the middle. Literally, the feast being midway. Taught [] . Or began to teach. Imperfect tense.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now about the midst of the feast,” (ede de tes heortes mesouses) “Then in the midst of the feast,” the midst of the period of the feast, about the middle of that feast of the tabernacles week, on the fourth day, Joh 7:2; Lev 23:34; Neh 8:14; Neh 8:18.
2) “Jesus went up into the temple, and taught,” (anebe lesous eis to heiron kai edidasken) “Jesus ascended (went up the stairs) into the temple and taught,” openly, publicly, as a mature Jewish man was permitted to do, Joh 18:20. He did not go up there to worship in private, but to teach in His and His Father’s temple, Joh 2:15-16.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
14. Jesus went up into the temple. We now see that Christ was not so much afraid as to desist from the execution of his office; for the cause of his delay was, that he might preach to a very large assembly. We may sometimes, therefore, expose ourselves to dangers, but we ought never to disregard or omit a single opportunity of doing good. As to his teaching in the temple, he does so according to the ancient ordinance and custom; for while God commanded so many ceremonies, he did not choose that his people should be occupied with cold and useless spectacles. That their usefulness might be known, it was necessary that they should be accompanied by doctrine; and in this manner, external rites are lively images of spiritual things, when they take their shape from the word of God. But almost all the priests being at that time dumb, and the pure doctrine being corrupted by the leaven and false inventions of the scribes, Christ undertook the office of a teacher; and justly, because he was the great High Priest, as he affirms shortly afterwards, that he attempts nothing but by the command of the Father.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES
Joh. 7:14. Now about the midst, etc.The middle of the feast, or the lesser feast. It was the fourth day of the feast most likely. Taught.For the first time (of which mention is made, but see Joh. 2:13-25) openly in the temple. The excitement caused by His non-appearance at the beginning of the feast had died away; and the ruling powers seem to have taken no concerted action against Him.
Joh. 7:15. Letters.I.e. He showed Himself to be well acquainted with the rabbinical learning and literary methods, and yet He had not studied in any of their schools. This fact might surely have led them to make a dispassionate inquiry regarding Him.
Joh. 7:16. Doctrine., teaching.
Joh. 7:17. If any man, etc. ( ).If any man willeth to do His willi.e. not only desires, but makes a distinct voluntary effortseriously endeavours to do the will of God.
Joh. 7:18. He that speaketh, etc.The Jewish teachers had always in view for the most part their own glory and aggrandisement. This, and not doing the divine will, was their ruling motive. But our Lord never dissociated Himself from His Father. He never swerved from that highest aim in the universethe divine will and the divine glory. His works, His teaching, proved that, and demonstrated His truth and righteousness. Thus all their charges against Him fell to the ground (Joh. 7:12).
Joh. 7:19. They professed to be jealous for the law, and yet they broke one of its cardinal statutes.
Joh. 7:20. The people.The multitude ( ). The mass of the people, especially those from Galilee and the provinces, did not know of the designs of the rulers against Jesus. The people of the city, however, seem to have been cognisant of the fact (Joh. 7:25).
Joh. 7:21. One work ( ).Our Lord did not notice the unseemly interruption of the people, as He knew it was made in haste and ignorance. But He continued His argument to bring home to them the inconsistency of their conduct, at the same time thus indirectly replying to the charge in Joh. 7:20. He had done one work at which they were indignantly surprised, at which they marvelledi.e. the healing of the impotent man on the Sabbath day (Joh. 5:1 seq.)and that not because He healed the man, but that He did so on the Sabbath. He therefore proceeded to point out (Joh. 7:22) that they on the Sabbath violated the Sabbath law, or set it aside, when they circumcised children on that day. (Therefore [on this account], , belongs to Joh. 7:21, Ye all marvel on this account.) Moses gave the Sabbath law; but it was he also who was commanded to ordain that circumcision. which was a patriarchal rite, should be performed on the eighth day even when that day was a Sabbath. Moses himself acknowledged even a ceremonial (how much more a moral?) commandment (that of Circumcision) to be superior to the law of the Sabbath as those Jews understood it, and I have done something superior and better than Circumcision, i.e. I have made a man every whit whole (Wordsworths Greek Testament).
Joh. 7:23. Circumcision.Circumcision makes the Sabbath give way, said the Rabbis. For circumcision is the sign of the covenant of promise which precedes the law. By means of circumcision the man is received into that covenant within which alone the blessing of the Sabbath rest can be imparted to him (Besser). The law of Moses might not be broken.The rite of circumcision (Gen. 17:12) was incorporated by Moses, or rather given its due place, in his economy (Lev. 12:3). Are ye angry, etc.I healed the whole man, not only a part; whereas circumcision inflicts a wound. And that is to be performed on the Sabbath. Which work is the more sabbatical of the two? (Wordsworths Greek Testament). The reference is evidently to the idea of the cleansing and consecration symbolised by circumcision, contrasted with the complete healing of the impotent man.
Joh. 7:24. Judge judge ( ).The habit of hastily and superficially judging is condemned strongly by our Lord (Mat. 7:1). Judge the righteous judgment means, Give an honest, straightforward judgment founded on the truth.
Joh. 7:25. Them of Jerusalem.The Jerusalemites. They were acquainted with the evil intentions of the rulers (see Joh. 7:20).
Joh. 7:26. But, lo, He speaketh boldly, etc.The turn events had taken surprised them. Now that Christ had appeared in Jerusalem the rulers unaccountably left Him undisturbed, in spite of former threatenings. Was this to be taken to mean that the rulers know indeed, etc.?
Joh. 7:27. They knew something about the earthly life of Jesus (Mat. 13:55-56). The most of the people thought of Him as from Nazareth. Probably some of those in Jerusalem knew of His lineal descent from David, and of His being born in Bethlehem. This would account for their falling back on the rabbinical interpretations of such passages as Isaiah 53, who shall declare His generation? Justin, about the middle of the second century, puts these words in the mouth of the Jew Trypho: The Christ is, even after His birth, to remain unknown, and not to know Himself, and to be without power, until Elias appears, anoints Him, and reveals Him to all (Godet). Does not this idea strangely coincide with Jesus hidden life until His baptism by John (Elias who was to comeJoh. 1:29-34; Mat. 11:14; Mat. 17:12)?
Joh. 7:28. Then cried Jesus, etc.Jesus concedes to them a certain degree of knowledge concerning Him. But no one judges a man merely from the knowledge of certain facts of his life-history. He must be judged by His character, His true self, the manifestations of the Spirit that is in Him. Had they looked with unprejudiced eye on this revelation, they must have known whence He came in reality. But by their blind unbelief they exemplified their own tradition (No man knoweth, etc.Joh. 7:27). The reason for this unbelief lay in their misconception of God. Traditionalism and formalism had shut out from them the true knowledge and love of God. Not knowing the Father, how could they know the Son?
Joh. 7:29. But I know, etc.In contrast to their ignorance is His knowledge. One in essence with the Father, He is ever in closest communion with Him, as sent by Him.
Joh. 7:30. They sought to take Him.The Jews again, on the putting forth of this claim, tried to silence Him (Joh. 7:25-26). But no one laid hands, etc.Considerations of prudence (Mar. 11:32), and perhaps also qualms of conscience, withheld them. But doubtless also a higher Power restrained them. His hour, etc.It was not His will to be then taken. Our hour is His will: what is His hour but His own will? He means the time when He deigned to be slainnot any time when He was compelled to die (Aug. in Wordsworth).
Joh. 7:31. The facts mentioned in Joh. 7:30, and our Lords calm assertion of His origin, backed by His miracles, led many to advance from the position they took up earlier to an approximation to belief in Him as the Messiah.
Joh. 7:32. Murmured.Our Lords appearance at the feast had aroused more keenly the undercurrent of excitement among the multitudes described in Joh. 7:12. The Pharisees and chief priests, etc.The Sanhedrin is meant probably. Here those, many of whom were mutually inimicalSadducees and Phariseesare seen uniting against a supposed common danger. The chief priests were those who had held the highest office in the priesthood, and also, it may be, the chief members of priestly families.
Joh. 7:33-34. Yet a little while, etc.A timealthough shortwas to be granted to them for repentance. Ye shall seek Me, etc.The time was near when He should withdraw to His Father; and then their time of grace would be past (Luk. 19:42; Mat. 23:39), and their long, dreary search for Him, which still continues to this hour, would begin.
Joh. 7:35-36. Whither will He (this man, ) go, etc. The dispersed among the Gentiles (Greeks ) were those Jews who were scattered among Greek-speaking peoples, e.g. in Alexandria, Antioch, etc. The Palestinian Jews looked down to some extent on those brethren scattered abroad (1Pe. 1:1). But the chief point in their contemptuous exclamation lies in the phrase and teach the Greeks. Rejected of the Jews, the chosen people: will this would-be Messiah make the dispersion a means of gaining the Gentiles as His disciples? Their incredulous question, however, received afterward an affirmative answer (Act. 13:46; Act. 26:18; Act. 26:20). (See Westcott, etc.)
Joh. 7:38. As the Scripture hath said, etc.The general sense of many passages is here crystallised in this expression: see Joe. 3:18; Zec. 14:8; Eze. 47:1-12. The latter passage especially is parallel to this thought. As the spiritual temple, of which Christ is the chief corner-stone, is composed of living stones (1Pe. 2:4-9), so from each believer flows the heavenly stream. Belly. = from within him (, comp. Exo. 17:6 and Num. 20:11). (See Reynolds, etc.)
Joh. 7:39. But this spake He of the Spirit, etc.This is the inspired Evangelists interpretation of our Lords words in Joh. 7:38; and they are by him referred to the pentecostal out pouring of the Spirit. (Holy) Spirit not yet (given), etcThe words holy and given are omitted by many of the best authorities; but the sense of the passage is not thereby altered.
Joh. 7:40. People.Multitude, the general body of the people (see Joh. 7:20). When they heard this saying, or these words ( ).The phrase indicates all the utterances of Jesus at the festival. The Prophet predicted of old (Deu. 18:15), whom God had promised to raise up to them (Act. 3:22). See also notes on Joh. 1:21 and Joh. 6:14.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Joh. 7:14-40
Joh. 7:14-31. The divine authority of Christs teaching and working.Our Lords teaching not only astonished the unlearned multitudes (Mat. 7:28-29), but also filled the accredited teachers of Israel with amazement. He had not appeared in the temple before as a teacher. He had, it is true, stood once as a lad of twelve in those sacred precincts among the doctors of the law, hearing them, and asking them questions (Luk. 2:46). Did any of them remember the wonderful child? and had any hopes been then awakened that He might come forth as leader of the nation? and did those hopes lead to all those endeavours, from the Temptation onward, to entice Him to become a prophet after their own hearts? It may have been, for Jesus was not unknown to many (Joh. 7:27; Joh. 6:42). But now that He came into the temple as a teacher of righteousness, although they marvelled, they would not listen sincerely; and their emphasis on the fact that Jesus had not been trained in the schools as a teacher was perhaps partly designed with a view to discredit His teaching. But even in their rejection and opposition to it they showed that
I. Our Lords teaching was with authority, because of its contents and the manner in which He taught.
1. It was so in its manner, not being marked by the subtilties and conceits of the rabbinical teaching. It was simple, straightforward, direct from the heart and to the heart.
2. He did not appeal to select coteries, to the learned few; it was one of the wonders of His gospel that to the poor it was preached. And men listened with eager intentness to the sublime thoughts enshrined in allegory, metaphor, simile, etc., and brought home in simple and telling fashion to mind and heart.
3. But the matter of Christs teaching also stamped it with authority. He did not teach for doctrines the commandments of men (Mat. 15:9). He taught the law in its spiritual fulness (Joh. 7:22-24). He led men back and up to the first principles of spiritual and moral life and activity.
4. But His teaching was, above all, distinguished by the presence of eternal truth in it all. It is this that has led to the great teachers of the race being remembered. The truth in their teaching has kept it alive among men. But in Christ all the half-truths and fragments of truth are gathered up and concentrated into one clear, beautiful beam. Thus He could say confidently, appealing to all He had spoken, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me (Joh. 7:16). But it is further declared that
II. Our Lords working was with authority.
1. It was evident that the miracle wrought on the impotent man at Bethesda, on the Lords former visit to Jerusalem, had not been forgotten. The fact that Jesus, in His beneficent activity, had brushed aside impatiently the dust and cobwebs of tradition from the Sabbath law had thoroughly enraged the rulers. For was not this a distinct setting aside of their authority, since it set aside their teaching as to the law of the Sabbath?
2. But our Lord showed them that they in reality misinterpreted the law by their traditions, and showed them that even by their own action they justified what He had done. The law was intended for mans welfare. The Sabbath law was a special instance of this. But here was a religious rite with a great spiritual signification which was permitted on the Sabbath; for the Sabbath yields to circumcision, said the Rabbis. And if it was thus permissible to set aside the Sabbath law so that he who was circumcised might be admitted into the ancient covenant with its rights and privileges, much more may that law be set aside when the healing of the whole man is concerned. Nay, to act otherwise would be contrary to the spirit of the law of the Sabbath; for the Sabbath was made for man (Mar. 2:27).
3. So ran our Lords arguments, and they were unanswerable (Joh. 7:26). Had not those leaders been blinded by prejudice and hatred, they must have seen that Christs working was with authority, and must have confessed with Nicodemus, No man can do these miracles, etc. (Joh. 3:2).
III. The causes and danger of the rejection of truth.
1. The prejudices of the Jews led them to shut their eyes to the truth of Christs teaching and the evidently divine authority of His activity; and thus pride and passion led to their rejection of Him who came to save themled them to indulge in feelings of hate, which terminated in awful transgression of the law they professed to revere (Joh. 7:19), and a weary curse upon their race.
2. The same causes still are powerful among men, leading them to turn a deaf ear to the voice of truth. The idols of the tribe and the cave still attract manystill keep many from doing homage to truth. Too many still continue to judge according to the appearance (Joh. 7:24), and passing by truth, as she stands with modest mien by the way, are lured by and follow the meretriciousness of error.
Joh. 7:19-24. Keeping the law.The limits of obedience to the divine will are too often marked simply by individual prejudices and predilections. Too many are content with what is merely an outward and formal adhesion to that will as revealed, or written on the conscience. Too few strive after that perfect righteousness and perfect keeping of the divine will manifested by Jesus in all His works and ways.
I. The observance of the letter of the law was
1. By the scribes, etc., considered the chief end to be aimed atthe knowledge of that law and of the traditional interpretations of it. They followed the letter and lost the spirit, making the law a heavy yoke, in place of a delight, a burden grievous to be borne, instead of a cause of joy (Psa. 1:2-3, etc.).
2. So do many nominal Christians pride themselves on their knowledge of the truths of revelation. But how many misinterpret them! how many are entirely unaffected by them in life and conduct! (Rom. 2:27).
II. Ritual observance was
1. The Pharisaic method of keeping Gods law and doing His will. Their prayers, almsgivings, fastings, tithings, etc., were to them the be-all and end-all of religion (Luk. 18:12); but they forgot the weightier matters of the law in their zeal for ritual and formal devotion (Mat. 23:23).
2. They are emulated by many who bear the Christian name. They are outwardly devout. The forms and ceremonies of religion have their zealous attention. But these are all observed in so formal and perfunctory a fashion, without the heart being engaged, that the life is altogether unaffected. Love does not rule in their heartsthey serve, actuated by some other motive, superstition or fear. Hence their religion is a form; and their so-called religious and their secular life may be (as it was in the case of the Pharisees in our Lords day) far apart to outward view, although in reality they are not. A merely formal religion is indeed, as Christ called it, an hypocrisy (Mat. 23:24-28).
III. The true method of observing the divine law.
1. We are not to bind ourselves to the letter merely (2Co. 3:6), but to live according to the spirit of the law.
2. And this men do when, following the precept and example of Jesus (Mat. 20:27; Rom. 13:10), they serve in the spirit of love. Jesus had shown those Jews, in the miracle wrought on the impotent man, how love is the fulfilling of the law. But their minds were warped by prejudice, and their hearts filled with hatred. Hence they did not, could not, in that state keep that very law which they accused our Lord of breaking (Joh. 7:19; 1Jn. 5:1-3).
Joh. 7:17. The human will.Our Lord taught His disciples to pray that the Fathers will might be done on earth perfectly, as it is in heaven (Mat. 6:10); for that will is the peace of earth, as it is of heaven.
Thus of lifes essence tie in this blest home
To be conformd to the will divine,
Whereby our wills one with His will become.
So that as all from grade to grade forth shine
Throughout this realmthus is it pleasing to all
As to the King, to whose will we incline.
In His will is our peace. Toward it all
Things baste. It is the sea toward which flow
What it creates and nature makes.Dante, Par., iii. 7787.
There can be no nobler effort for man and no higher service than to know and do the divine will. It is only when created beings live in harmony with that will that they attain to highest happiness and peace. There is eternal blessedness where the divine will expresses itself through all and in all, in love, righteousness, goodness, truth, etc. So is it in the heavenly seats; but not so is it on earth. From our Lords words, therefore, we learn that
I. Mans will is free.
1. Fatalism and necessitarianism find no place in the gospel of Christ. Man is not there regarded as a machine, very wonderful indeed and moved by most complex mechanism, but still a machine without volition and freedom of action. Such an idea is opposed to all human experience, and ignores to a great extent the facts of mental experience, of psychology. For what does it virtually amount to but thisthat man is not a morally responsible being, but a waif acted upon by forces external to himself, without power of resistance, like a leaf hurried helplessly down the current of human destiny?
2. But this is not the doctrine of Scripture. It recognises mans responsibility even without an external law; for the law is (more or less clearly in individuals) written on mens consciences. And according to Scripture, to him that knoweth to do good, etc. (Jas. 4:17). Unless this were so indeed, the precepts and commands of Scripture, as well as all other laws, human or divine, would be meaningless and vain. All Scripture precepts and promises imply mans freedom of choice, and it is plain that our Lord acted on this view.
II. But mans will is perverted by sin.
1. This truth also is evidently recognised by our Lord (Joh. 5:40). The fact that men do not always choose what is right and good is not the result of their being necessitated to do otherwise, but from the nature being depraved through sin.
2. This leads them often (even when they see what is good, and are convinced that it is for their best interests) to follow what is evil. Video meliora proboque deteriora sequor (Ovid). The moral judgment has been perverted, and the will so far weakened by sinweakened, that is, on the side of good. Hence men often choose the evil and reject the good.
3. But it is a deliberate choice. They yield voluntarily. The voices of reason and conscience are frequently deliberately stifled or disregarded. And although the right and good are recognised, evil is followed.
4. In doing this men also frequently deceive themselves as to the consequences of their action. They think God will not be strict to reckon. They interpose good actions, which they imagine will wipe out or balance the bad, and thus they attempt to excuse themselves for not doing the divine will.
5. And what are the consequences? Happiness, peace, progress in good in any measure or fashion? Let the history of those Jewish rulers, among countless examples, bear witness!
III. How are men to attain to the knowledge of the divine will?
1. How are they to know what His will is amid the perplexities of life and the conflicting opinions of men of leading, if not of lightamid the strifes of sects and apparently irreconcilable statements of doctrine?
2. There is a talisman which will bear us safely over these troubled waters, when we look to Christs example and hear His word, If any man will to do His will, etc. It is in the yielding up of our wills to do unreservedly whatever the divine will requires, and whenever it is revealed, that our voyage amid the perplexities of our time will be safe and certain.
3. But that is just the difficultyto yield our wills wholly to Godto be what He would have us be, do what He would have us do, bear unmurmuringly all He send upon usand to say, whether in health or sickness, in success or adversity, in life or death, as Christ did, Not My will but Thine be done. Here is the difficulty. Self-will, pride, selfishness, lead to rebellion and murmuring, in place of loyal obedience.
4. But this is just what an earnest man will seek most earnestly to do. Realising that there can be no higher service, he will desire with all his heart to do that holy will.
Our wills are ours, we know not why;
Our wills are ours to make them Thine.
Tennyson.
Oh, be my will so swallowed up in Thine
That I may do Thy will in doing mine.
Hannah More.
IV. To the earnest desire to do His will God will give the power to know and do it.
1. For what is that will toward men? It is, e.g., our sanctification. Be ye holy, for I am holy, says the Lord. And when a man sincerely desires to escape from sin and attain to holiness, then the revelation of Jesus in all its brightness, as the express image of Gods person, is borne in upon him. He sees in Christs Gospel his need, the goal to be attained and the way thither.
2. And yet again the will of God toward men is love; and all who would perform that will must obey the command of love (Mat. 22:37).
3. But this love is here chiefly evidenced in love to our neighbour. In this is the true fulfilling of the law (Rom. 13:8; 1Jn. 2:10, etc.). And it was their sinful transgression of this supreme law which condemned the Jewish rulers (Joh. 7:19), who, in thought and action, were opposed to the divine will. It was this that lay at the root of their unbelief and their opposition to Jesus (Joh. 1:5). They had not the submissive, filial spirit so conspicuous in the life of Jesus.
4. But how shall the earnest desire, the heart prepared to do Gods will, be attained to? Here we come again on the mystery of the interaction of the divine and human in redemption. But this desire and preparedness may be cultivated. Whence come men and women of most earnest Christian life? whence the majority of active labourers in the vineyard? Is it not from among those trained in pious homes, whose young minds and hearts have been filled with heavenly knowledge and love? (2Ti. 1:5; 2Ti. 3:14-15).
Joh. 7:24. Judge not according to the appearance.As human nature is now constituted, this is one of the most difficult commands to keep. Men continually express judgment on their fellows and their actions; and those judgments are swayed by various influencesprejudices, prepossessions, self-interest, etc. In this age of criticism, judging of others seems to be a custom of many from youth up. Accusation, censure, condemnation, are indulged in often without mercy; faults of others are magnified and intensified; good characteristics are diminished in proportional degree. Such a spirit will not find place in the heavenly world. But the gospel does not leave the attainment of the spirit of right judgment to the eternal future. The germs of that perfect state are implanted here. The more we progress in love to our neighbour, the more will the fault of judging others pass away. Besides, mens attempts at judgment of others are often an infringement of the divine prerogative. It is an endeavour with beclouded judgment, imperfect or erroneous information, and biassed minds, to do what the great Creator, who reads mens hearts and thoughts, alone can do. But
I. Are we never to judge of actions or character?
1. Not so; for our Lord warns men that they must discriminate between false teaching and true, false assumptions and true. As we judge a tree by its fruits, so we must judge the prophets who claim our adherence.
2. Nor, of course, does our Lord in any way reflect on the province of human justice, although it must be inferred that in it also judgment must be according to righteousness. Human rights and equity must be enforced. The laws for the commonweal, of morality and social order, must be maintained; and men chosen for their character and learning are appointed to carry out the judgments of the law. Human justice has its source in the divine; and all codes and institutes of human law are attempts to bring us into harmony with eternal justice.
3. But the crown of justice is love; and here often human judgments fail and are imperfect, a fact shown by the continual shifting and changing of human laws. And the more the peoples approximate to the spirit of the gospel, the more humane, etc., do their laws become.
II. It is irresponsible and ill-founded judgments that our Lord commands us to avoid.
1. We are to avoid rash and unthinking judgmentsjudgments founded plausibly on appearances, such as those passed on Christ by the Jews (Joh. 7:23). We cannot enter into the hidden circle of motive and feeling in the life of another.
2. Nor are we to judge others without careful consideration of the meaning of their words and actions. Careful consideration may often bring to light an entirely different signification.
3. How often and mournfully this sinful habit has wrought havoc is evident in the history of the Church! True, men who become members of and teachers in the Church are not to be permitted to hold and promulgate opinions utterly subversive of the faith. But how frequently are subjects of dubious import, speculations on matters not directly bearing on the great fundamentals of the faith, made the occasion of harsh judgments and irretrievable wrongdoing! How terribly was this exemplified in the relations of the Jewish rulers, etc., to our Lord, as, hurried on by mistaken zeal for the law, and bitter enmity, they misjudged and condemned Him! And how fatally was this spirit perpetuated in the persecutions of the early Christians and in the horrors of the Inquisition!
III. Judge righteous judgment.
1. It is essential to our higher life that we should be able to distinguish between good and evil, between wicked men and just men, so that we may not walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
2. But we are not left to our own unaided judgment here. There is a rule laid down for us here. We are to judge men by their fruits. There is an unerring standard given usthe revealed will of God; and in judging by this standard we are not following the fallible opinions of men, but the word of God.
3. It was just here that the Jewish rulers erred. They did not conform to the law God had given them (Joh. 7:22-23). Even here too, then, we must discriminate, lest we fall into their error. It is not our duty to judge finally; so that even whilst we testify firmly against wrong and evil, our testimony must be given in the spirit of love. And in that case it will not be we who judge, but God by His word and law.
4. How often do men judge others by appearances, which are deceptive, and thus lead to much unhappiness and wrong! Men are not always what they seem to be. How often does it happen, when people have passed away, a chain of hidden circumstances may have come to light, overturning entirely the good or evil name they bore! How frequently the rough casket contains a precious jewel! How many rashly and harshly judged of men are accepted of God! Therefore, whilst discriminating between the evil and the good, we are to be careful to act in the spirit of love, and to obey the injunction of our MasterJudge not according to the appearance, etc.
Joh. 7:37-40. The spiritual fountain.The thirty-ninth verse gives the key to the deeper meaning of this passage. For the meaning of Joh. 7:37 see pp. 216, 217. The thirty-eighth verse is an advance beyond Joh. 7:37. In the latter we have the source of the spiritual stream; in the former that spring of life, accepted and received, becomes in turn, in those who drink, also a living fountain, flowing forth in refreshing streams to men. That spiritual stream is the Holy Spirit. But it could not come down to men to dwell in them with power until Christ had been glorified. But what is the meaning of Joh. 7:39? Had not the Holy Spirit come to men before this, to a Simeon, a Zacharias, an Anna, and many another godly man and woman? Yes; but to them individually and specially, and not in the way in which it would flow from heart to heart after Pentecost, in accordance with the old prophetic promise (Act. 2:16-18; Joe. 2:28-32). That could not be then, till Christ was glorified, till He had ascended, leading captivity captive, etc., His atoning work all completed and accepted by the Father, so that He was ready to be communicated to men in all His life-giving fulness by the Spirit, whom He was to send down to His waiting Church. Consider the fountain-head, the reservoirs and cisterns, the vitalising energy of this spiritual stream.
I. The fountain-head.
1. This need not long detain us. Its rise, its mysterious depths, are hidden from human view. Its waters issue from that land which human eye hath not seen, of which the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. The prophet saw the stream issuing from under the right side of the temple; and John, in the apocalyptic vision, saw it proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb (Eze. 47:1; Rev. 22:1).
2. This stream rises indeed from the unfathomable and eternal deeps of the divine wisdom, power, and love. We cannot go further; we lose ourselves in the infinite.
3. But when this stream of life, in all its fulness, appears among men, it is seen to flow to them through the Saviour. God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him (Joh. 3:34). It pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell (Col. 1:19). And out of this fulness all His people receive grace, etc. (Joh. 1:16).
II. The reservoir and cisterns for the distribution of the spiritual, life-giving Stream.
1. The great reservoir is the Church of Christ, and the cisterns the hearts of believers. The stream must be spread by irrigation, if the desert is to be fertilised and the fruits of righteousness to grow on what was erewhile a barren waste. And through the communities and lives of believers the Redeemer spreads His spiritual blessings among men.
2. And here we are privileged to see how this blessed promise could be given. He that believeth on Me, from within Him [, Exo. 17:6] shall flow, etc. (Joh. 7:38). Christ and His Church are one body. He is the head, and they are the members of His body. The same spiritual life that is in Him flows to them, now full, free, and uninterruptedly, since He has been glorified, His redeeming work completed. It needed first that the Rock should be smitten (1Co. 10:4), and then the streams of salvation flowed forth for all the children of men.
3. But more wonderful than the ancient miracle is the miracle of grace wrought in Christ. For not only do those who drink have their thirst quenched, they in turnhearts that have been hard and stony as the granitic ribs of Horebmelted by the power of divine love and grace, become fountains of blessing to all around. See how gloriously this was exemplified at Pentecost, when the disciples were all filled with the Holy Ghost (Act. 2:4). With what joy they bore witness of Christ, with what power His word was preached, with what tokens of success were their hearts gladdened! See how the relentless persecutor was met on the way to Damascus, and from that heart stony-proud, smitten by grace, there flowed to. Europe and the West the life-giving message of salvation.
4. These times are gone now! Truly they are. There was need in those early days of the Church for such special and wonderful gifts as were given by the Spirit to the apostles and early ministers of the word. But the gifts of the Spirit in His wonted manner of working are still given to whomsoever will. And the whole of Christendom to-day is a wonderful proof of that mighty spiritual influence that is working among men.
5. The special promise of this verse also is evidently fulfilled in many a consecrated life. It is quite true the majority of those called by the name of Christ are not distinguished by the full stream of blessed influence here promised to those who believe; and the reason is that their faith is small: there is some obstruction, some sinworldliness, selfishness, etc.shutting the channels which unite them to Christ, and hindering the inflow of His spiritual power. Hence it is not wonderful that only droplets, instead of streams of heavenly influences, flow from their lives to the world around. For this is the purpose and end of this life-giving stream which flows from the Father and the Son through the Church and its members into the world.
III. The vitalising energy of this spiritual stream.
1. It is a stream of living water; and not alone shall it be in those who receive it a living fountain springing up into everlasting life (Joh. 4:14); its vitalising energy does not cease there, but flows on from heart to heart, from life to life.
2. The reservoir and cistern are not intended to absorb the stream, but to be the channels of distribution. Just as in an Eastern garden there are not only fresh greenery, flowers, and fruit by the banks of the stream which passes by or through it, but where every tiny irrigating stream is turned, there too the ground becomes fruitful, so when the love and grace of God are shed abroad in mens hearts by the Holy Spirit, how great becomes their power to comfort and strengthen others! And how does the Lord give to those who seek thus to spread His spiritual blessings ability to receive more for themselves! To those who do not selfishly conceal and bury their spiritual gift out of sight, where it can benefit no man, but put it forth and circulate it among men, to them shall be the reward. To those who thus have shall be given, and they shall have abundance (Mat. 25:29).
3. But alas! how often among men are those streams retarded in their flow. The days of sultry heat, of burning temptation, love of the worlds pleasures, come, and the stream dries up; or the cold frosts of worldliness and a practical materialism seal up the fountain of the heart, so that the soul-garden yields no fruit, the flowers of grace and beauty of the Christian character wither and die, and only an arid enclosure meets the gazers view.
4. Ah! it is in ourselves, it is by our unbelief, that the flow of this heavenly, vitalising stream is often so meagre and its influence so feeble. Think of what Christ intended this gift to be, and what might be the result of its bestowal, did we look for it and pray for it in all its fulness. Would we be such feeble witnesses for Christ as we are? would we do so little for the advance of His kingdom? Were the love of God shed abroad in mens hearts in all its fulness by the Holy Ghost (Rom. 5:5), would the world stand where it does to-day, with its crimes, its wars and fightings, its dishonesty, its hatreds and strifes between man and man, even among those nations who nominally accept Christ as their spiritual king? Do not too many plume themselves on being and doing all that Christ requires? (Rev. 3:17-18). And if any should say, We know that we are spiritually poor, very deficient in spiritual possession and power, etc., even here is their condemnation. For to them, as to all, the Saviour cries, as He cried of old in the temple, If any man, etc. (Joh. 7:37); He that believeth on Me out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (Joh. 7:38).
Joh. 7:37. Satisfaction for the soul.In the East, during the long rainless summer, the wadies, in which during winter there is usually a copious supply of water, are dried up. It is only where a perennial stream or fountain exists that human habitations are reared. Every village has its perennial springevery habitation must be near one. Water is everywhere precious. Thus we find it, as might be expected, frequently referred to in Scripture. It is used as an emblem of freshness and fertility, of comfort and blessing. It is quite in keeping with the prominence of this natural element, and the universal recognition of its indispensableness, that the Saviour calls men to Himself, as the source of the living waters of salvation. In our Saviours words we are reminded of
I. The passing away of the types and shadows of which He is the antitype and substance.
1. Here again Jesus lays His hand on the great thoughts and facts of the old order, and claims to be what they shadowed (Maclaren).
2. All that prophets promised is fulfilled in Him (Isa. 55:1; Psa. 23:2, etc.).
3. He alone can satisfy the spiritual needs of humanity. The longings of the soul, the soul-thirst of the race, manifested in their eager though blind search after God, their greedy resort to broken cisterns, etc. (Jer. 2:13), in the vain attempt to attain to that satisfaction, He alone can give (Psa. 42:1; Psa. 63:1, etc.). Those needs of the race and that consuming soul-thirst are met and satiated in His gospel, which comes to them with
II. Refreshing and strengthening power.
1. Water is absolutely essential to life; and although in well-watered lands the need is not felt so much, still it is universally recognised. In the East, however, for reasons just stated, its preciousness is realised.
2. In the hot noonday, with the blazing sun looking down from the cloudless Syrian summer sky, how refreshing it is to sit by some cool, refreshing spring, and quaff the fresh, sparkling water! No wonder the people call some of those fountains by beautiful names: Fountain of milk, of honey, etc. How thereby is the labourer refreshed for his work and the traveller for his onward journey!
3. And on the arid and dusty desert, where often there is a march of twelve to eighteen hours between indifferent springs, how precious does every drop of even inferior water become! And when all the sinews are unstrung, and life is languishing and dying, how does the draught of fresh water strengthen and infuse new life! In the East, when drought comes, all nature languishes, etc. (1Ki. 18:1-6; Gen. 21:12-21).
4. There is nothing which causes a mans name to be remembered more with blessing in the Orient than to erect a fountain for general use.
5. So Christ comes to quench mans spiritual thirst. Men seek satisfaction in the worlds pleasures, ambitions, pursuits, prizes, intellectual gains, and so forth. Many of these things may be good in themselves, but are insufficient for the needs of the soul. In so far as that is concerned, they are like the mirage, which deceives the traveller with the hope that soon he will stand on the shores of the pleasant lake and quench his burning thirst, when lo! the vision vanishes and he despairs. But Christ never deceives! Who come to Him drink and are satisfied. The gospel comes to men also with
III. Cleansing, health-giving power.
1. Though not specially referred to here, these properties of the living water should not be overlooked. The cleansings of the Jews were all symbolical of the cleansing power of Christs gospel; they were a testimony to mans sinfulness and his need of cleansing. So under the gospel, baptism is symbolical of the same need, and of the way in which it may be met. Ye are washed, etc. (1Co. 6:11); Now ye are clean (Joh. 15:3, etc.).
2. Good water is essential to health. In the East in some quarters the supply of water is not only indifferent but actually bad, and its use in such cases leads often to serious and lasting disease. Thus the joy of men when they have a pure, good water-supply.
3. The streams of the worlds pleasures are poisoned; they cause spiritual and moral disorder. But who so drinks of the life-giving stream of Christs gospel, that water shall be in him as a well of water springing up unto eternal life (Joh. 4:14). Our thoughts are further directed in Joh. 7:38 to
IV. Spiritual hydrodynamics.
1. The power of water needs no demonstration. It is a scientific dream, which may yet become a reality, that the ocean and mighty rivers may yet be harnessed to electric engines, and drive the machinery of the world. Give water a sufficient head, and see how great, how destructive a force it often becomes. How beneficial also, irrigating and fertilising, like the Nile, a mighty empire for millennia.
2. So, too, is it with the living water. When Church machinery is driven by this power, the Church will indeed move and revolutionise the whole race of men.
3. If the reservoir and cisterns are freely united to the great living Fountain, then through millions of channels the streams of grace will How to thirsty, sinful, fainting souls, bringing satisfaction, cleansing, quickening (see also Joh. 7:37-40).
HOMILETIC NOTES
Joh. 7:37-40. The feast of tabernacles.
1. The feast of tabernacles (from a hut or booth) was held in autumn, and was indeed called the feast of ingathering (Exo. 23:16), as it signalised the completion of the labours of the husbandmen, when the corn, the vintage, and olive harvest were past. In the fourteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruits of the land, ye shall keep the feast of the Lord seven days (Lev. 23:39; Deu. 16:13, etc.). It was followed also by a special holy convocation on the eighth day, in the morning of which the people broke up their booths and returned to their houses. By some this eighth day was regarded as a part of the feast (Lev. 23:36; Neh. 8:18).
2. It was to the Israelites a special memorial of the wilderness march of their fathers toward Canaan, when they tabernacled in the wilderness, and when the altar of God and the ark of the covenant were sheltered by a tent, under whose roof the priests fulfilled their holy service. And in remembrance of this the people lived for seven days in huts or booths constructed of branches of olive, pine, and other trees, covered over with boughs and reeds or reed mats. In the East these huts are set up now, as they were in the time of our Lord, in the courts of the houses, on the flat roofs, or in the fields.
3. When a sabbatical year came round, during this festival, part of the law was daily read in public. And as the year on which these events took place seems, without doubt, to have been a sabbatical year, part of the law that would be read was that written in Deu. 1:1 to Deu. 6:3. There is no doubt reference to this in Joh. 7:19-23especially to Deu. 5:20, which command the Jews were deliberately setting at defiance in their murderous intentions against Jesus.
4. There is one ceremony not mentioned in the Old Testament, but observed in later times, which seems to emerge prominently here. During the seven days of the feast properperhaps on the eighth day as wellthe people assembled in the temple before the time of the morning sacrifice, each bearing in the one hand a bunch of twigs, and in the other a citron (in attempted literal conformity with Lev. 23:40). One of the priests meanwhile went to the Pool of Siloam with a golden vessel, which he filled with water, and, returning to the temple, poured out the water into a silver basin, with perforated bottom, which stood on one side of the altar of sacrifice; and wine was at the same time poured into a similar basin on the other side, both being connected by pipes with the Kidron. Then the Hallel (Psalms 113-118) was sung by all present, and the sacrifices of the day offered. This interesting ceremony called to the remembrance of the people that miracle of divine mercy when from the smitten rock in Horeb refreshing streams flowed to satisfy the thirst of emancipated Israel (Exo. 17:6-7, etc.). But the Jewish rabbinical teachers gave to the ceremony a spiritual signification as well. Maimonides (note in Succah) applies it to the very passage which appears to be referred to by our Lord (Isa. 12:3). The two meanings are of course perfectly harmonious, as is shown by the use St. Paul makes of the historical fact (1Co. 10:4): They drank of that spiritual Rock which followed them, etc. (Smiths Dictionary of the Bible).
5. Another interesting feature of this festivalthe lighting of the great lamps at nightfall in the temple areamay be more appropriately referred to at Joh. 8:12. This festival was one which was celebrated with great and even abounding rejoicing. There is a proverb in Succah (vi.), He who has never seen the rejoicing at the pouring out of the water of Siloam has never seen rejoicing in his life. Maimonides says that he who failed at the feast of tabernacles in contributing to the general rejoicing according to his means incurred especial guilt (Carpzov, p. 14) (Smiths Dictionary of the Bible).
6. One cannot wonder at all this rejoicing when it is remembered what the festival signified to that people, and what it called up, to mind and heart, of the divine mercy and goodness in the past to their race. It reminded them of the first halt they made after leaving Egypt at Succoththe place of booths or leafy hutsthe last spot where they could have found the luxuriant foliage of tamarisk and sycamore and palm, branches of thick trees to make booths, as it is written (A. P. Stanley). It reminded them also of the smitten rock, of the long wilderness sojourn, of the promises that had been all fulfilled. And in the hearts of all true Israelites these remembrances would awake the feeling of hopeas they do among that people at the present day.
7. But all that this great and joyful feast meant to the Jews we can rejoice in, in a spiritual sense, when we look to Christ. In Him we are delivered from a greater bondage than that of Egypt; in Him our pilgrimage is an assured and certain course to the heavenly Canaan; in Him we drink of living water from the smitten rock; in Him no more are we shut out from the immediate divine presence dwelling between the cherubim, nor need priestly mediators to supplicate for us; for now the Tabernacle of God is with men in Christ our EmmanuelGod is with us; and the ancient promises are all fulfilled (Lev. 26:11; Eze. 37:27).
Joh. 7:37-38. Christ the smitten rock.What was this rite? A simple emblem intended to recall one of the great theocratic favours, the springing of water from the rock in the wilderness. Why, then, should not Jesus, instead of stopping at the emblem, go back to the divine fact which this rite commemorated? And if this is the case, it is to the rock itself, whence God made the water to spring for the people, that He compares Himself. He had in chap. 2 represented Himself as the true temple, in chap. 3 as the true brazen serpent, in chap. 6 as the bread of heaven; in chap. 7. He is the true rock; in chap. 8. He will be the true light-giving cloud; and so on till chap. 19, when He will at length realise the type of the Paschal Lamb. It was thus that Jesus, according to the Fourth Gospel, made use of each festival to show the old covenant realised in His person, so entirely did He know and feel Himself to be the essence of all the theocratic types. So much for the opinion of those who represent this book as a writing either foreign or even opposed to the old covenanta book in which, on the contrary, every root of Christian truth is planted in the soil of the Old Testament.Dr. F. Godet.
Joh. 7:39. All earlier manifestations of the Spirit overshadowed by Pentecost.Our Lord Himself has thrown most light upon this perplexing saying when, on promising the Paraclete, He said, He shall not speak of [or, from] Himself: He will take of Mine, and show unto you (Joh. 16:13-14); and when He declared (Joh. 16:7-10) that He must Himself go to the Father, resume His antenatal glory, carry our nature, dishonoured by man, but now clothed with an infinite majesty, to the very throne of God, as the condition of the gift of the Paraclete. There was, in the constitution of nature, in the order of providence, in the revelations of the prophets, in the person of the Son of man, that wherewith the blessed Spirit was ever and ceaselessly working; but not until the atonement was made, till God had glorified His Son Jesus, not until the person of the God-man was constituted in its infinity of power and perfection of sympathy, were the facts ready, were the truths liberated for the salvation of men, were the streams of living water ready to flow from every heart that received the divine gift. In comparison with all previous manifestation of the Spirit, this was so wonderful that John could say of all that had gone before, Not yet, not yet.Dr. H. R. Reynolds.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Joh. 7:37. Streams from the smitten rock.In the case of each of the main supports of the Israelites, there have been memorials preserved down to our own time of the hold acquired on the recollections of the Jewish and the Christian Church. The flowing of the water from the rock has been localised in various forms by Arab traditions. The isolated rock in the valley of the Leja, near Mount St. Catherine, with the twelve months, or fissures, for the twelve tribes, was pointed out as the monument of the wonder at least as early as the seventh century. The living streams of Feiran, of Shuk Msa, of Wady Msa, have each been connected with the event by the names bestowed upon them. The Jewish tradition, to which the apostle alludes, amplified the simple statement in the Pentateuch to the prodigious extent of supposing a rock or ball of water constantly accompanying them. The Christian image, based upon this, passed on into the Catacombs, when Peter, under the figure of Moses, strikes the rock, from which he takes his name; and it has found its final and most elevated application in one of the greatest of English hymns,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.
A. P. Stanley.
Joh. 7:38. Believers blessed in order to become the medium of blessing to other.The result of real communion with Jesus Christ is not terminated in the rest, as of satisfied desires, which it brings, bat passes on further to make us the medium of bringing blessings to others. The end of personal religion is not personal reception, but communication, for which reception is the indispensable prior requisite. If a professing Christian has no impulse to impart, he had better examine himself whether he has drunk of the water of life. The paradox is true that we slake our own thirst by giving others to drink. In England we have in some places what we call swallow holes, where a river plunges into the ground and is lost. Too many professing Christians are like these. But we are meant to be water-carriers, not water-drinkers only.Dr. A. Maclaren.
Joh. 7:38. The Church is too much a silent Church.There was never so much public and official witness-bearing as there is at the present day, but it needs to be supplemented by private individual testimony. The Church is too much a silent Church. She ought to be a witnessing Church. There are hundreds of thousands of people in this land, with Christian men and women on every side of them, who have never had a word of direct testimony addressed to them. There is a morbid, unnatural silence among professed Christians which requires to be broken. They are the truest patriots and the most effective social reformers who most truly live the Christian life; and they are rendering the best service to the community to which they belong who are seeking to set up the kingdom of God, which is the empire of Christ, over the hearts and consciences of men.Morris.
Joh. 7:38-39. Water a type of the gospel.Water typifies the gospel because of its abundance. When we pour the water from the pitcher into the glass we have to be careful or the glass will overflow, and we stop when the water has come to the rim. But when God, in summer, pours out His showers, He keeps pouring on, and pouring on, until the grassblades cry, Enough! and the flowers, Enough! and the trees, Enough! but God keeps pouring on and pouring on until the fields are soaked, and the rivers overflow, and the cisterns are all filled, and the great reservoirs are supplied, and there is water to turn the wheel, water to slake the thirst of the city, water to cleanse the air, water to wash the hemisphere. Abundance! and so with this glorious gospel. Enough for one; enough for all. Thousands have come to this fountain, and have drunk to the satisfaction of their souls. Other thousands will come; and yet the fountain will not be exhausted.Dr. T. De Witt Talmage.
Joh. 7:38-39. Religious activity should not absorb the contemplative life.[An] earnest address in English, delivered by Protap Chunder Mazoondar, of the Brahmosomaj faith, had the remarkable sequel of his immense audience rising to their feet and singing Nearer, my God, to Thee, as he was recalled at its close to receive the hearers thanks. Yet he bad given utterance as fearlessly as the Buddhist [who had formerly spoken] to the feelings shared by every thoughtful member of the religions among whom our missions work, when they come to Europe or America, and see how far Western nations are from Christianity. Your activities are so manifold that you have little time to consider that the sanctification of your own souls is the question of all importance. What is religion without morality? Moral attainments do not mean holiness: living and moving in God is the secret of personal holiness. Could words be more true or better timed than these? Surely the very stones are crying out against the selfish counterfeit of Christianity in which so many of us live to-day. These words were from a speaker who claimed, like so many others, that his religion embodied the best of all religions, and that in its services the best was culled from all of the so-called sacred writings. He has indeed learned much truth somewhere, and the view he presented of his teachings undoubtedly owes great things to Christianity, and leads one to suspect it to be an attempted compromise between a tottering heathendom and conquering Christ. This Indian declaimed against caste, and foretold its abolition, related gleefully the crusade against widow-burning, and urged an increase of public sentiment against child marriage, and in favour of other moral reforms. Were these ever heard of before the Christian missionary entered India? Oh for such a man as this to be Indias Paul! Was not Lather such a one, and were not many of the brightest pioneers of Christianity? Should not all Christendom join in prayer that men like this, so near the light, should taste of it fully and bear it forth?Council of Creeds at Chicago. From The Christian, October 5th, 1893.
Joh. 7:39. Christian influence.No one is entirely without influence. If not a stone can be cast into the sea on one coast without the ripple formed touching the opposite coast, though unseen by human eye, so no human being is entirely indifferent to his fellows. We are either useful or hurtful to each other, we make others joyful or miserable, we forward Gods kingdom or stay its progress, we lead or mislead. Either rivers of living waters or pestilential streams flow from us, from the moment when we open or shut our hearts to or against the word of God, the cross of Jesus, the Holy Spirit. Even from the last and least of those who are Jesus disciples shall streams of living water flow. Yonder is a sick and weakly member of the family who fears that he or she is a burden to others. But it is a believing soul, and streams of heavenly peace, of genuine patience, flow in blessing through that home and surroundings. Who is usually less in evidence and so inconspicuous as a mother, who teaches her children to pray and labour? No history of the world or of the Church seems to take account of this. But when a mother brings her children quietly and gently to the Saviour, in spite of the inconspicuous position she occupies she is influencing the communityis influencing the centuries. To use the well-known proverb, The world is ruled from the nursery. By our own power we can do nothing. The Holy Spirit is the stream of living water. He it is who gives to drink, who impels, who streams through and from us without constraint or subtlety, without leaving men to faint after His sudden inflow. Around all is dry: who can turn the desert into a garden? Around are drooping souls: who can raise them up? Around is a lying, deceitful, mocking world: whose mouth can duly reprove them of sin, of righteousness, of judgment, so that whoever will permit themselves to be saved may be saved? Against us are Satan and his emissaries: who will overthrow them? After us comes a waiting, hoping generation: who will leave it a rich inheritance? Before us is a Saviour who desires that men should pray for labourers for His harvest: who will pray for this, who will offer themselves? Give Thy Church men of prayer and confessors, give her soldiers and pastors, heroes and physicians; let us seek our brethren until we find them and confirm them. O Holy Spirit, come and visit us! Amen.Translated from Dr. R. Kgel.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
THE OLD SABBATH CONTROVERSY RENEWED
Text 7:14-53
14
But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
15
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
16
Jesus therefore answered them, and said, My teaching is not mine, but his that sent me.
17
If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself.
18
He that speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh the glory of him that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
19
Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you doeth the law? Why seek ye to kill me?
20
The multitude answered, Thou hast a demon: who seeketh to kill thee?
21
Jesus answered and said unto them, I did one work, and ye all marvel because thereof.
22
Moses hath given you circumcision (not that it is of Moses, but of the fathers); and on the sabbath ye circumcise a man.
23
If a man receiveth circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken; are ye wroth with me, because I made a man every whit whole on the sabbath?
24
Judge not according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
Queries
a.
What is the test Jesus proposes for His teaching in Joh. 7:17?
b.
How does Jesus interpret the law of Moses here?
c.
What is righteous judgment?
Paraphrase
But when the feast was already half over, Jesus went up to the temple and began to teach. The Jewish rulers were filled with incredulity, saying, How can this man know anything about literature or the Scriptures, never having been a scholar in our schools? Jesus answered the rulers and said, My teaching is not the philosophy of mere mortal men, but comes from Jehovah God who sent Me. If any man is willing to surrender his will to Gods will and do the will of the Father, he will be able to discern whether I teach the doctrines of God or whether I speak philosophies of men. Anyone who teaches on his own authority is seeking honor for himself. The teacher who seeks only to honor and glorify the one who sent him, this one is trustworthy, and there is nothing false in him. Moses gave you the law, did he not? Yet none of you are keeping the law for you are seeking to kill meand why do you seek to kill me? The multitude cried in astonishment, You are demon possessed. Who is trying to kill you? Jesus answered, One deed I did, and you are all taken aback and want to kill me. And for this reason I now say to you, Moses gave you the rite of circumcision (not that it originated with Moses but with the fathers) and on the sabbath you perform the work of circumcising a man. Why then, if you go to work and circumcise a man on the sabbath to avoid breaking the law of Moses, are you seeking to kill me for healing a mans body on the sabbath? Do not judge by superficial appearances, but judge justly, fairly and according to reality.
Comment
In Joh. 7:14 we are told that Jesus did not appear at the feast until it was about half over. Evidently He spent two or three days in Samaria (Luk. 9:51 ff). The priests and rulers would be occupied with services in the temple and the crowd would be concerned with the observances of the many rites midway in the feast. This diversion afforded Jesus a certain degree of safety, momentarily, from the anger of the rulers who were seeking to kill Him (cf. Joh. 5:18). A part of the great multitude was sympathetic to Jesus (Joh. 7:12) and so He was able to go on with His teaching. Jesus went boldly into the very courts of the temple and began to teach. As He began to speak as never man so spake, the crowd around Him grew larger. Soon many of the rulers would join the listeners. The incredulity of the rulers (Joh. 7:15) is to be found in their amazement at the liberties this Galilean is taking. The audacity of someone like this Nazarene teaching publicly, a prerogative reserved only for those Rabbis with accredited degrees, is causing them no small amount of amazement.
According to their records the Nazarene had never attended any of their official theological schools. They derisively scorned, How can this fellow know theology, having never attended our accredited schools? To know letters was to be trained by Rabbinical schools in the science of interpreting the law and the prophets. In other words, Jesus was not expounding the accepted and orthodox interpretations of the Rabbinical schools.
Jesus answers the amazement of the Jewish Rabbis. His wisdom is divineit comes from God the Father. Jesus, Himself a member of the Godhead, knew the Scriptures because the Scriptures were His words given centuries ago by the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to Moses and the prophets. What Jesus was teaching, therefore, was not the theological interpretations and opinions of a man about the Scriptures, but His words were in fact the words of God. This is another of Jesus many claims to equality with God.
Joh. 7:17 is one of the many plain, yet profound, utterances of the Saviour. Being a follower of God is more than mere knowledge of what the Scriptures say. There must be that surrender of ones stubborn will to the point where we desire to do Gods will. It is a disposition to do Gods will. The man who willeth to do His will is the man of a good and honest heart (Luk. 8:15).
The New Testament teaches that, fundamentally, doing Gods will is a result of knowing Christ. In other words, as Hendriksen says, The fundamental relationship . . . is therefore, (a.) knowledge, (b.) love, (c.) obedience, (cf. Joh. 14:15; Joh. 17:26). (The N.T. Commentary, Gospel of John, Vol. II, p. 11, pub. Baker Book House.) Yet each of these three principles complement one another so that there is always an interaction between them. Knowledge of Jesus leads to love and obedience, while on the other hand, obedience leads to a full-grown knowledge and love (cf. Eph. 4:11-16). We never quite grasp the full significance and import of some of the more profound passages of Scripture until we have obeyed them or experienced them.
A lifetime of studying the Bible is of no avail if a mans will and desire is out of harmony with Gods will. Paul said the same thing in 1Co. 2:6 through Joh. 3:9. The rebellious, carnal-minded man cannot discern the things of the Spirit, because the worldly-minded man has no desire to do Gods will. These Jewish rulers, to whom Jesus spoke, had studied the Old Testament from their youth uphour upon hour, year after yearbut they did not comprehend that Jesus spoke Gods word for they had no desire to do Gods word.
It is the man who humbles himself and has, as it were, the mind of a child (receptive, willing, pure) that understands the wisdom of an Omniscient Godwhile the prideful, rebellious man who is puffed up with his worldly knowledge can never understand God (cf. Mat. 11:25-30; also Isa. 1:18-20).
As one writer has expressed it, Joh. 7:17 is the proper disposition for man and Joh. 7:18 is the follow-up of that, or the proper ideal.
If Jesus was only expressing His own views He would be sure to toot His own horn like other self-appointed wisemen and prophets, But to the contrary, Jesus always sought to give the glory unto His Father, the One Who sent Him (cf. Joh. 5:41-44). These Jewish rulers, who were supposed to sit in Moses seat and teach the Word of God so that God might be glorified, rather taught and practiced religion in such a manner that they might be glorified. It was, in fact, their envy of the honor the people paid to Jesus that drove them to crucify Him (Mat. 27:18; Joh. 11:47-50; Joh. 12:17-19).
Joh. 7:19-23 are still part of Jesus efforts to get these Jews to receive His word as that which comes from God. They are judging His teaching superficially. Their judgment is prejudiced and Jesus continues by showing just how unrighteous their judgment is. They were supposed to be upholders of the Law of Moses. They pretended great reverence for the Law. Yet, in their hearts they were plotting to kill Jesus. Murder violates every moral principle given by God. He penetrated the outward sham of their righteousness and looked upon their heart (cf. Mat. 5:21-23).
The multitudes, of course, could see no outward signs of such drastic action. There were no soldiers, no one carrying weapons, no angry mobs as yet. This man from Galilee was beside himself, they reasoned.
But Jesus shows the inconsistency of their judgment. He had made a man whole on the Sabbath over a year ago (cf. Joh. 5:1-18) and for this they sought to kill Him. Now in view of the fact that the rulers had determined to kill Him for healing on the Sabbath, for this reason, He is going to show how they themselves set aside Sabbath regulations for much lesser expediencies.
The Pharisees were fond of making Sabbath rules (not legislated by Mosaic law) for the people to be burdened with, while they themselves used all sorts of devious means to get around their own traditions. Sabbath regulations were not for the rulers. They enforced a tradition that no one was to travel over seven-eighths of a mile on the Sabbath. But the rulers could not afford to be bound by this tradition. They built little palm-leaf booths all over the countryside and on the roads between the villages every seven-eighths of a mile apart. If business or some other reason demanded it, they could travel from city to city just by going seven-eighths of a mile, abiding in the booth for a while, and then traveling seven-eighths of a mile farther toward their destination.
So Jesus, the accused, now puts them on the defensive and shows them their unjust judgment by illustrating their regulations regarding circumcision (ceremonial rite).
According to the Law of Moses, every male child had to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth. Even if that eighth day fell on the Sabbath, the priests performed the rite of circumcision.
The argument of Jesus is, if they permit this work of circumcision to be done on the Sabbath that the Law of Moses be not brokenhow can they be so unrighteous and prejudiced as to prohibit the healing of a mans body and soul on the Sabbath? God did not create man merely to keep Sabbath regulations, but the Sabbath was given for mans benefit. There are principles and actions which are higher and must supercede Sabbath regulations. God works on the Sabbath; He sends rain, sunshine, life and many other necessary things on the seventh day. So it was proper that the Son of God heal and teach on the Sabbath.
In Joh. 7:24 Christ makes the application. Judge righteouslyjudge according to truth. Consider the real substance of the situation (cf. 1Sa. 16:7). How different the atmosphere of many churches today if Christian people were not so quick to condemn others in those things which they themselves do. Consistency, thou art indeed a gem!
Incidentally, Joh. 7:24 is a positive command by Jesus that men judge! So often we are told that we must not judge, yet here our Lord requires it of us. There is, however, no contradiction between Mat. 7:1, Judge not, that ye be not judged, and Joh. 7:24 here. In Mat. 7:1 Jesus condemns censorious judgmentunfair, hypocritical judgment motivated by an evil desire to hurt anothers character. But in Joh. 7:24 He commands that men use wisdom, discretion and honesty in their judgments of both men and doctrines. Followers of Christ, must judge religious doctrines and religious teachers (cf. Mat. 7:15-20; Joh. 10:4-5; Rom. 16:17-18; Thess. Joh. 3:14; 1Jn. 4:1-3; 2Jn. 1:7-11).
Quiz
1.
Why were the rulers amazed at Jesus teaching?
2.
Why is it necessary to have a desire to do Gods will in order to understand the truth of His word?
3.
What is the natural tendency of the teacher who seeks to glorify himself?
4.
What attitude of heart by the Jewish rulers violated the Law of Moses?
5.
How did the Jews, out of necessity, violate the Sabbath regulations?
6.
Explain the principle laid down by Jesus in Joh. 7:24 concerning righteous judgment.
7.
Have we a right to judge religious teachers?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(14) Now about the midst of the feast.Better, But now, when it was the middle of the feast. (Comp. Joh. 7:8.) This was the technical Chl Md or Md Katn, the Middle of the Feast, or the Lesser Feast. He had taken no part in the greater festival itself, and now He appears in the Temple, as far as we know, for the first time as a public teacher, probably (Joh. 7:19) as an expounder of some Scripture which had been read.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Jesus into the temple, and taught Jesus himself is suddenly found in the temple, and teaching! There is no proof of anything miraculous about it. But it is his hour now to brave the commotion, to proclaim the truth, and to make a show of the weakness of human power against God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘But when it was now the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up into the Temple and taught.’
The Temple was the place where religious teachers would regularly go to pass on their teachings. They would sit to teach, and their disciples would gather round them while they sat and taught, whilst interested onlookers were welcome to listen and to ask questions (compare Luk 2:46).
So Jesus waited until half way through the week, and then Himself went up to the Temple to teach. Although He was aware of the constant threat against Him He knew that He must do the Father’s will and fulfil His destiny. It was an act that brought out His great courage.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus Teaches Openly In The Temple And Pleads For Right Judgment ( Joh 7:14-24 ).
But whilst Jesus was taking every precaution He knew that He could not allow His own safety to hinder the proclamation of His message, with the result that, once He was in Jerusalem He waited awhile to lull the authorities into inactivity, and then went openly to the Temple in order to teach the people. He knew that they would not dare to arrest Him whilst He was preaching in the Temple because he was popular with the masses who gathered there, especially the Galileans. And there He called on men to be righteous when making their judgments about Him, and about the things of God.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The appearance of Jesus at the festival:
v. 14. Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the Temple and taught.
v. 15. And the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
v. 16. Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me.
v. 17. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.
v. 18. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but He that seeketh His glory that sent Him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.
v. 19. Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you keepeth the Law? Why go ye about to kill Me?
Since the atmosphere was now cleared of any danger of a carnal uprising, Jesus felt no hesitation about going up to the Temple about the middle of the festival-week and doing His work as Teacher, attending to the duties of His prophetic office. He did this in the face of Jewish hostility, because it was part of the labor of love which He had come to perform, though His human nature may have had scruples and fears. “St. John describes this for consolation, that no one should concern himself about it and worry, if God gives Himself the semblance of weakness and the world glories and boasts; you must get used to it; also, if the Christians, but especially the preachers, are weak and shy, and their adversaries, the great, powerful men, paw and threaten. That is nothing new, and it does not happen only to us, but the prophets and apostles had the same experience that they seemed weak before the tyrants, but in their weakness they were strongest; yea, it happened thus even to Christ the Lord, who is a Lord of all prophets and apostles. He feigns weakness, just as though He wanted to give up His office of preaching and not be obedient to God, and as though He were badly terrified; while He, in that same weakness, went directly forward. ” Not only the fact that Jesus taught, but especially the content of His teaching surprised the Jews. They asked one another where this man had gotten His knowledge. He had not taken the course which was prescribed for the regular scribes and rabbis, and yet He could teach. “The Jewish learning consisted in the knowledge of their own Scriptures and the traditions of their elders. In this learning our blessed Lord excelled. No person ever spoke with more grace and dignity, or knew better how to make a more proper use, or a happier application, of Jewish allegories and parables; because none ever penetrated the sense of the Scriptures as He did; none ever cited them more successfully, or ever showed their accomplishment in so complete and satisfactory a manner. As these branches of learning were taught at the Jewish schools, and our Lord had never attended there, they were astonished to find Him excelling in that sort of learning, of which they themselves professed to be the sole teachers. ” Jesus gave the Jews an explanation of this wonderful feat. The teaching which He delivered before them had its source not in His own knowledge, but in Him that sent Him. He was not giving them a summary of human ideas and philosophy, but the eternal truth of His heavenly Father. Note the careful way in which Christ expresses Himself: it is His doctrine, and yet it is not His doctrine. What He was teaching was the truth, and He delivered it with the firm conviction of its eternal truth; and incidentally it was the revelation of the innermost essence of God. This same conviction must live in the heart of every true preacher of the Gospel. “In the same manner I say also: The Gospel is mine, to distinguish it from the doctrine of all other preachers that otherwise do not hold my doctrine. Therefore I say: This is mine, Luther’s, doctrine; and yet I say also: It is not my doctrine, it is not in my hand, but it is the gift of God. For I did not invent it out of my head, it did not grow in my garden, nor bubble up out of my fountain, nor was it born out of me; but it is God’s gift, and not an invention of men. Thus both sayings are true: The doctrine is mine, and yet it is not mine, for it is God’s, the heavenly Father’s, and yet I preach and teach such doctrine.”
Jesus now suggests to the Jews a test by which they may try out the truth of His doctrine. The Jews were always boasting of the Law, of the will of God. Here was a chance to put the claims of Jesus to a test. They should take the will of God and earnestly begin the practice of it, they should bend all their efforts toward fulfilling the Law. The first result of such endeavor would be that they must realize their utter inability to keep it properly. Every one that tries to merit salvation by keeping the will of God in the Law will soon come to the conclusion that it is beyond human ability. Only the doctrine of Jesus, the Gospel, will give strength to fulfill the will of God. And there from will follow the second conclusion, that. the doctrine of Jesus must be from God, that He has divine authority for His teaching and does not present His own philosophy. Jesus here places Himself in direct contrast to preachers that preach their own wisdom. There are such that preach their own mind, teach their own ideas, and they have only one aim: they strive after their own glory. That is true of all the modern so-called preachers that feed the people the husks of their own religious systems, that, have discourses on every question under the sun but that which has reference to the salvation of their hearers. There is no honor and glory before men in preaching the old-fashioned Gospel of the forgiveness of sins through the merits of Christ, and therefore these preachers select such topics as will give them opportunity to display their wit or their learning, or the absence of both. They want a great name before men, and cheap notoriety they usually achieve. But with Christ (and with all true Christian preachers) it is different. Christ is seeking the glory of God, therefore He is true, sure, faithful, dependable, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Only one that leads a morally blameless life is properly a preacher of divine truth, only he will work in the right manner for the glory of God. But the Jews, far from practicing the will of God and living up to its injunctions, did not keep the Law. Their leaders were even then making plans to remove Jesus, to put Him out of the way by murdering Him. The Jews are a picture of all self-righteous people in the world. They insist upon outward order, piety and right moral living, but they are opposed to the doctrine of Christ. But this attitude proves that they are not sincere in their pretensions. If they would make an honest effort to fulfill the entire Law in all its mandates and implications, they would find out how utterly helpless they are, and would turn to the Gospel as the one means of salvation. It is only he that accepts the Gospel and believes its glorious message that can hope in any way to fulfill the will of God.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Joh 7:14-15. Now about the midst of the feast, &c. About the middle of the feast (which lasted eight days) Jesus came into the temple, and preached many important doctrines with such strength of reason, clearness of method, and elegance of expression, that his enemies themselves were astonished, knowing that he had never had the advantage of a liberal education. What is here more particularly meant by letters, appears from the Greek word , whence is derived that which signifies a scribe. The learningof the scribes consisted in the explication of the sacred writings of the Old Testament; so that these words most probably refer to our Lord’s great acquaintance with the scriptures, and the judicious and masterly manner in which he taught the people out of them, with far greater majesty and nobler eloquence than the scribes could attain to by a learned education. Compare Mat 7:29 and Mar 1:22.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Joh 7:14 . . .] when the feast was half way advanced , (or thereby): (yet see on Joh 7:37 ), , Euthymius Zigabenus. Jesus was already, before this, in the city (Joh 7:10 ), but in concealment; now He goes up into the temple . The text does not say that He had only now come into Jerusalem . (comp. Exo 12:29 ; Jdt 12:5 ; 3Ma 5:14 ) only here in the N. T., but very common in the classics. That the day was just the Sabbath of the feast (Harduin, Bengel, Kuinoel, Wieseler, Synopse , pp. 309, 329) is uncertain, as is only an approximate expression. For the rest, the discourses which follow, and the discussions onwards to chap. 10, are not (with Weizscker) to be ranked as parallel with the synoptical accounts of proceedings in Jerusalem, but are wholly independent of them, and must be attributed to the vivid recollections of the evangelist himself regarding a time unnoticed by the Synoptics. Over and above this, we must, as an historical necessity, expect to find many points of resemblance in the several encounters of Jesus with His Jewish opponents.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
14 Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
Ver. 14. About the midst of the feast ] That he might have the better audience.
Went up into the temple and taught ] Sacerdotum tunc fere muta officia, populi caeca obsequia, ut iam apud Pontificios.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
14 39. ] Jesus testifies to Himself in the Temple .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
14, 15. ] . . ., about the middle of the feast. Probably on a sabbath (see Wieseler, Chron. i. 309). It appears to have been the first time that He publicly at Jerusalem; whence ( ) the wonder of the Jews, i.e. the rulers of the hierarchy.
generally letters; but also particularly, scripture-learning perhaps because this was all the literature of the Jews: see reff. Probably His teaching consisted in exposition of the Scripture .
. , never having been the scholar of any Rabbi. He was . These words are spoken in the true bigotry and prejudice of so-called ‘learning.’
These words of His enemies, testifying to matter of fact well known to them, are, as Meyer observes, decisive against all attempts of unbelievers to attribute our Lord’s knowledge to education in any human school of learning. Such indications are not without their value in these times.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Joh 7:14-36 . He teaches, and discussions regarding Him are evoked . Joh 7:37 -end. His manifestation on the last day of the Feast, and the consequent action of the Sanhedrim .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 7:14-36 . The teaching of Jesus at the Feast of Tabernacles . [Spitta supposes that the original place of paragraph Joh 7:15-24 was at the end of chap. 5] So far as reported this teaching is found in three short statements: (1) in justification of His authority as a teacher; (2) in assertion of His Divine origin; and (3) of His approaching departure. This threefold teaching elicited expressions of opinion from three parties: (1) from “the Jews” (Joh 7:15-24 ); (2) from inhabitants of Jerusalem (Joh 7:25-31 ); (3) from the officers sent to apprehend Him (Joh 7:32-36 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Joh 7:14 . . “But when it was now mid-feast,” i.e. , the fourth day. is commonly used in this sense: , midday; , midsummer. . “Jesus went up to the temple and taught”; see Joh 18:20 ; He did not go to Jerusalem to seclude Himself and worship in private, nor did He go to proclaim Himself explicitly as Messiah. He went and taught. His teaching astonished the Jews, and they asked ; It is not His wisdom that astonishes them, for even uneducated men are often wise; but His learning or knowledge. (Act 26:24 ) “included the whole circle of rabbinical training, the sacred Scriptures, and the comments and traditions which were afterwards elaborated into the Mishna and Gemara” (Plumptre, Christ and Christendom ). But it cannot be supposed that Jesus made Himself acquainted with these comments. His skill in interpreting Scripture and His knowledge of it is what is referred to. What the scribes considered their prerogative, He, without their teaching, excelled them in.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh 7:14-18
14But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. 15The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” 16So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. 18He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
Joh 7:14 “But when it was now the midst of the feast” The exact reason for Jesus waiting until this moment is uncertain, but one could speculate that this allowed time for the pilgrims and towns people to discuss Him and His ministry. It also allowed time for the Jewish leaders to openly reveal their hostilities (cf. Joh 7:13).
“teach” Jesus’ speaking events are characterized by
1. teaching, Mat 4:23; Mat 5:2; Mat 5:19; Mat 7:29, etc.; Joh 6:59; Joh 7:14; Joh 7:28; Joh 7:35; Joh 8:20; Joh 8:28
2. preaching, Luk 4:18; Luk 7:22; Luk 9:6; Luk 20:1
These seem to be used synonymously to refer to Jesus imparting the truths of God to His human creation. The revelation was always meant to inform and reform. It demanded a decision accompanied by a change of lifestyle priorities. Truth changes everything!
Joh 7:15 “How has this man become learned, having never been educated” This simply means that He had not attended one of the official rabbinical schools, nor had He been a disciple of one of the noted rabbis. The use of the phrase “this man” has a connotation of disrespect (cf. Joh 18:17; Joh 18:29).
Jesus’ teaching often surprised His hearers (cf. Mar 1:21-22; Luk 4:22) because of (1) the content and (2) the form. Other rabbis quoted one another; Jesus claimed to quote God!
Joh 7:16 Jesus again drew attention not only to His submission (see note at Joh 5:19) to the Father, but also to His unique knowledge of the Father. They had earthly teachers; He had the heavenly Teacher.
Joh 7:17 “If” This is a third class conditional sentence which means potential or possible action. This is the paradox of the universal offer of the gospel (cf. Joh 1:12; Joh 3:16) and the sovereignty of God (cf. Joh 6:44; Joh 6:65). The Spirit must open the heart (cf. Joh 16:8-13).
Joh 7:18 Jesus asserts His own uniqueness in contrast with fallen mankind: (1) He does not seek His own glory; (2) He seeks the Father’s glory; (3) He is true; and (4) He is sinless.
“the glory of the One” See note at Joh 1:14.
“there is no unrighteousness in Him” Jesus could die in our place because He did not need to die for His own sin (2Co 5:21). Jesus’ sinlessness is a crucial theological issue. The issue is expressed often and in different ways.
1. Luk 23:41
2. Joh 6:69; Joh 7:18; Joh 8:46; Joh 14:30
3. 2Co 5:21
4. Heb 4:15; Heb 7:26; Heb 9:14
5. 1Pe 1:19; 1Pe 2:22 (Isa 53:9)
6. 1Jn 2:29; 1Jn 3:5; 1Jn 3:7
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
about the midst, &c. Expression Occurs only here. temple. Greek. hieron. See note on Mat 23:16.
taught = began to teach (Imperf. tense).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
14-39.] Jesus testifies to Himself in the Temple.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Joh 7:14. Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
He was no coward, so he boldly showed himself in the midst of the throng in the temple.
Joh 7:15. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?
Or, How knoweth he the Scriptures? How has he come to be an instructed man, having never learned of the Rabbis? He has never passed through our schools of learning, so what can he know?
Joh 7:16. Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
I am not the inventor of what I say; I am but a messenger, delivering the message of him that sent me.
Joh 7:17. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
Any man, who is seeking after that which is right, and labouring to do that which is right, is a good judge of the truth. A practical life of godliness makes a man a far better critic as to what truth is than all the learning of the schools can do.
Joh 7:18. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
If you ever hear a man speaking about the priesthood, meaning himself and his brethren; and about the Church, again meaning himself and his brethren; and about the sacraments, meaning certain performances by himself and his brethren; you may know at once that God did not send him. But he who speaks to the glory of God, and does not say, Behold me; but, Behold the Lamb of God, he it is whom God has sent.
Joh 7:19. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
Did not Moses say, Thou shalt not kill? Then, you do not keep his law, though you profess such reverence for him, for, if you did, you would not go about to kill me.
Joh 7:20-21. The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.
I did it on the Sabbath day, and you are all stumbling at that.
Joh 7:22-23. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day?
Surely, there was never a more triumphant answer than that.
Joh 7:24-25. Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
Perhaps some of the same people who had asked Christ, Who goeth about to kill thee? now enquired, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?
Joh 7:26-27. But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
They had a notionperhaps derived from that passage in Isaiah, who shall declare his generation? that the birth of Christ would be hidden in mystery. At any rate, there was some cloudy idea floating about that it would be concealed.
Joh 7:28. Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am:
And yet you do not know me.
Joh 7:28-30. And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come.
Something seemed to hold them back. Enraged as they were against him, a mysterious and mighty awe was upon them, so that they dared not touch him.
Joh 7:31-33. And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them,
As they came to take him;perhaps to the very officers sent by the Pharisees, Jesus said,
Joh 7:33. Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me.
You may well let me alone now, for it will only be a little while, and then I shall be delivered into your hands, and you will no more be troubled with me.
Joh 7:34-35. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles?
That was always their fear. Is he going to the Greeks? Will he be a teacher to them? Will he try to introduce them into the mysteries of our faith?
Joh 7:36-37. What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come? In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried,
I think I see him standing up in the midst of the great throng. That congregation would soon be scattered, never to come together again; so he stood up in the most prominent place he could find, and, notwithstanding all their anger, and their desire to kill him, he cried,
Joh 7:37-38. Saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly-
Or, out of the very midst of him
Joh 7:38. Shall flow rivers of living water.
What a glorious gospel sermon that was! It comes to us down through the ages, and is as true now as when Jesus spake it. Ho, thirsty ones, come ye to him, and drink; and he will slake your thirst, and create in you a well of living water which shall bubble up for ever and ever.
Joh 7:39-40. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
The Prophet about whom Moses spoke.
Joh 7:41. Others said, This is the Christ.
The Messiah.
Joh 7:41-42. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?
This was blessed testimony even out of the mouth of Christs enemies. They objected against Christ what was indeed the fact, for he did come of the seed of David, and from the town of Bethlehem. There was he born; and though they called him the Nazarene,and he refused not the title,though over his head Pilate wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, yet is he the Son of David, and his birthplace was at Bethlehem, though some of them knew it not.
Joh 7:43-44. So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him.
He was immortal till his work was done. The hour for his death had not yet struck, and he must live on till the appointed time.
Joh 7:45-46. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
The charm of his eloquence, the dignity of his person, his awe-inspiring demeanour, and a singular something,they knew not what,that Divinity that doth hedge about such a King as he was,restrained their hands. They said, Never man spake like this man.
Joh 7:47. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived?
You sheriffs officers are generally hard-hearted enough; are you also deceived?
Joh 7:48. Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
This was as much as to say, If we have not believed on him,we who are the great dons of the nation,the rulers and the Pharisees,why, then, there cannot be anything in his claims. Just as some people seem to think that, unless there is a lord in a Society, unless there is an honourable somebody or other in the chair, there is nothing in it.
Joh 7:49. But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
They regarded the poor, common people as ignorant and accursed, whereas they, probably, knew as much about the law and the real spirit of it as these learned teachers did.
Joh 7:50. Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
Being a member of the council,
Joh 7:51. Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
He only asked a question, that was all; and, timid Christian, if you are placed where you cannot say much for Christ, if you have too great a fear upon you to vindicate your Master at any considerable length, yet say what you can; and, perhaps, the simple asking of a question may suffice to defend him. Nicodemus did but rise, and ask, Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?
Joh 7:52. They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Which was a lie, for prophets had come out of Galilee. Still, they denied it; and they were indignant at having such a question put to them by Nicodemus.
Joh 7:53. And every man went unto his own house.
It was like a bombshell exploding in the midst of them; and often, a few brave words dropped into the midst of an assembly of bad men will explode among them, and scatter them hither and thither. Nicodemus had accomplished what, perhaps, he thought he should never do. He was indeed like his name on that occasion,one of the conquering people,for every man went unto his own house. Nicodemus had scattered them all by his startling question. May each of us as bravely witness for Christ as we have opportunity!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Joh 7:14. , in the middle) This Feast of Tabernacles is described at large: The beginning of it at Joh 7:10, etc., the middle of it in this verse, and the end of it, Joh 7:37, In the last day, that great day of the feast. The feasts were good opportunities for edification.-, He went up) The first day of the feast had been the 11th day of October, as I have observed in the Harmon. Evang. p. 85 (Ed. ii. p. 140), and so the third day of the week [Tuesday]; for on that twenty-ninth year of Dion, the Sunday letter was [178]. Therefore the Sabbath fell in the middle of the feast; and on a Sabbath day the audience was a crowded one, beyond that on all the other days of the middle of the feast, and His speech concerning the Sabbath was seasonable, Joh 7:22, Ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath, etc., are ye angry with Me because, etc.- , into the temple) straightway, so as that He did not turn aside anywhere else first.[179]
[178] the Vatican MS., 1209: in Vat. Iibr., Rome: fourth cent.: O. and N. Test. def.
[179] He made straight for the temple first of all.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Joh 7:14
Joh 7:14
But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.-About the third day of it. Jesus threw off all secrecy or privacy and went into the temple and began openly to teach the people.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
How to Know the Truth of Jesus Word
Joh 7:14-24
Jesus now went up to the feast, not because he was prompted by the worldly policy suggested by His brethren, but because He was led by His Fathers will. We must be on our guard against unspiritual advisers, and must wait till the hour and the minute-hands of the clock have reached the precise moment of the Fathers appointment.
Here is an easy method of ascertaining whether our Lords words about God, Himself, and the future are merely the words of a human teacher, or are really Gods. Be willing to do as He says! Stand prepared to fulfill whatever is revealed to your mind and witnessed to by the inner voice! Live with your face toward the dawn, for though it tarry long it will certainly break. See Joh 3:21. Faith in the gospel does not come by logic, but as the result of obeying the highest truth that you know. Follow on and your path will lead you out to where Jesus stands, the revealed Son of God and the Savior of men. The old quarrel as to the miracle wrought at Bethesda on the Sabbath was still alive, Joh 7:22-23. His critics did not hold that the Mosaic law was violated if a childs submission to the Jewish initiatory rite was performed on the Sabbath. How foolish, then, to blame Jesus for an act of mercy and healing!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the midst: Joh 7:2, Joh 7:37, Num 29:12, Num 29:13, Num 29:17, Num 29:20, 23-40
the temple: Joh 5:14, Joh 8:2, Joh 18:20, Hag 2:7-9, Mal 3:1, Mat 21:12, Luk 19:47
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
The feast was about four days along when Jesus came out of his “hiding” and appeared first in the temple. It being the capitol of the Jewish religious system, it was proper for Jesus to show up there in order to do his teaching, which was the main purpose he had all the time he was among the people. Taught is from DIDASKO, which Thayer defines at this place, “To hold discourse with others in order to instruct them, deliver didactic [instructive] discourses.” So Jesus did not merely utter some single sentences, but continued his speech to the extent of displaying a general knowledge of important subjects pertaining to the salvation of man in the kingdom of heaven.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
[About the midst of the feast.] On some work-day of the feast. But was he not there on the first or second day of the feast, to perform those things that ought to have been performed, making ready the Chagigahs, and appearing in the court? If he was there the second day, he might be well enough said to be there about the midst of the feast; for that day was not a festival; unless perchance at that time it might have been the sabbath: and for absence the first day, there were certain compensations might be made.
“The compensations that might be made for the first day were these: if any one was obliged to offer on the first day, and did not do it, he compensated by offering upon any other day.”
But that which is here said, that “he went up into the Temple and taught, about the midst of the feast;” need not suppose he was absent from the beginning of it: nor ought we rashly to think that he would neglect any thing that had been prescribed and appointed in the law. But if may be reasonably enough questioned, whether he nicely observed all those rites and usages of the feast that had been invented by the scribes. That is, whether he had a little tent or tabernacle of his own, or made use of some friend’s, which was allowed and lawful to be done. Whether he made fourteen meals in that little booth, as is prescribed. Whether he carried bundles of palms and willows about the altar, as also a citron; whether he made his tent for all those seven days his fixed habitation, and his own house only occasional; and many other things, largely and nicely prescribed in the canons and rules about this feast.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
WE learn first in this passage, that honest obedience to God’s will is one way to obtain clear spiritual knowledge. Our Lord says, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.”
The difficulty of finding out “what is truth” in religion is a common subject of complaint among men. They point to the many differences which prevail among Christians on matters of doctrine, and profess to be unable to decide who is right. In thousands of cases this professed inability to find out truth becomes an excuse for living without any religion at all.
The saying of our Lord before us is one that demands the serious attention of persons in this state of mind. It supplies an argument whose edge and point they will find it hard to evade. It teaches that one secret of getting the key of knowledge, is to practice honestly what we know, and that if we conscientiously use the light that we now have, we shall soon find more light coming down into our minds.-In short, there is a sense in which it is true, that by doing we shall come to knowing.
There is a mine of truth in this principle. Well would it be for men if they would act upon it. Instead of saying, as some do, “I must first know everything clearly, and then I will act,”-we should say, “I will diligently use such knowledge as I possess, and believe that in the using fresh knowledge will be given to me.” How many mysteries this simple plan would solve! How many hard things would soon become plain if men would honestly live up to their light, and “follow on to know the LORD”! (Hos 6:3.)
It should never be forgotten that God deals with us as moral beings, and not as beasts or stones. He loves to encourage us to self-exertion and diligent use of such means as we have in our hands. The plain things in religion are undeniably very many. Let a man honestly attend to them, and he shall be taught the deep things of God.
Whatever some may say about their inability to find out truth, you will rarely find one of them who does not know better than he practices. Then if he is sincere, let him begin here at once. Let him humbly use what little knowledge he has got, and God will soon give him more.-“If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.” (Mat 6:22.)
We learn, secondly, in this passage, that a self-exalting spirit in ministers of religion is entirely opposed to the mind of Christ. Our Lord says, “He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory; but he that seeketh His glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.”
The wisdom and truth of this sentence will be evident at once to any reflecting mind. The minister truly called of God will be deeply sensible of his Master’s majesty and his own infirmity, and will see in himself nothing but unworthiness. He, on the other hand, who knows that he is not “inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost,” will try to cover over his defects by magnifying himself and his office. The very desire to exalt ourselves is a bad symptom. It is a sure sign of something wrong within.
Does any one ask illustrations of the truth before us? He will find them, on the one side, in the Scribes and Pharisees of our Lord’s times. If one thing more than another distinguished these unhappy men, it was their desire to get praise for themselves.-He will find them, on the other side, in the character of the Apostle Paul. The keynote that runs through all his Epistles is personal humility and zeal for Christ’s glory:-“I am less than the least of all saints-I am not meet to be called an Apostle-I am chief of sinners-we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” (Eph 3:8; 1Co 15:9; 1Ti 1:15; 2Co 4:5.)
Does any one ask for a test by which he may discern the real man of God from the false shepherd in the present day? Let him remember our Lord’s weighty words, and notice carefully what is the main object that a minister loves to exalt. Not he who is ever crying, “Behold the Church! behold the Sacraments! behold the ministry!” but he who says,-“Behold the Lamb!”-is the pastor after God’s own heart. Happy indeed is that minister who forgets self in his pulpit, and desires to be hid behind the cross. This man shall be blessed in his work, and be a blessing.
We learn, lastly, in this passage, the danger of forming a hasty judgment. The Jews at Jerusalem were ready to condemn our Lord as a sinner against the law of Moses, because He had done a miracle of healing on the Sabbath day. They forgot in their blind enmity that the fourth commandment was not meant to prevent works of necessity or works of mercy. A work on the Sabbath our Lord had done, no doubt, but not a work forbidden by the law. And hence they drew down on themselves the rebuke, “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
The practical value of the lesson before us is very great. We shall do well to remember it as we travel through life, and to correct our estimate of people and things by the light which it supplies.
We are often too ready to be deceived by an appearance of good. We are in danger of rating some men as very good Christians, because of a little outward profession of religion, and a decent Sunday formality,-because, in short, they talk the language of Canaan, and wear the garb of pilgrims. We forget that all is not good that appears good, even as all is not gold that glitters, and that daily practice, choice, tastes, habits, conduct, private character, are the true evidence of what a man is.-In a word, we forget our Lord’s saying,-“Judge not according to the appearance.”
We are too ready, on the other hand, to be deceived by the appearance of evil. We are in danger of setting down some men as no true Christians, because of a few faults or inconsistencies, and “making them offenders because of a word.” (Isa 29:21.) We must remember that the best of men are but men at their very best, and that the most eminent saints may be overtaken by temptation, and yet be saints at heart after all. We must not hastily suppose that all is evil, where there is an occasional appearance of evil. The holiest man may fall sadly for a time, and yet the grace within him may finally get a victory. Is a man’s general character godly?-Then let us suspend our judgment when he falls, and hope on. Let us “judge righteous judgment.”
In any case let us take care that we pass fair judgment on ourselves. Whatever we think of others, let us beware of making mistakes about our own character. There, at any rate, let us be just, honest, and fair. Let us not flatter ourselves that all is right, because all is apparently right before men. “The LORD,” we must remember, “looketh on the heart.” (1Sa 16:7.) Then let us judge ourselves with righteous judgment, and condemn ourselves while we live, lest we be judged of the Lord and condemned for ever at the last day. (1Co 11:31.)
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Notes-
v14.-[About…midst of…feast.] This would be about the fourth day of the week, as the feast lasted seven days. Some who consider the feast of tabernacles a type of Christ’s incarnation, think this circumstance is typical of our Lord’s earthly ministry lasting three years and a half, answering to the three days and a half during which our Lord taught publicly here in Jerusalem. I doubt myself whether the circumstance is typical at all. If the feast of tabernacles is typical, I believe it points to the second advent of Christ much more than to the first.
[Jesus went up…temple.] This means the outer court of the temple, where pious Jews were in the habit of assembling in order to hear the doctors of the law and others, and to discuss religious subjects. This is the place where our Lord was, when Joseph and Mary found Him, at twelve years of age, “in the temple.” (Luk 2:46.) It was probably a large open court yard, with piazzas or verandas around it, for shelter against heat and cold.
[Taught.] What our Lord taught we are not told. Expositions of Scripture, as Luk 4:17-21, and such lessons as those contained in the Sermon on the Mount, and the parables, were most likely the kind of things that He “taught” first, on such occasions as this. It admits of doubt whether He taught such deep things as those contained in the 5th and 6th chapters of John, unless publicly attacked, or put on His defense.
Alford thinks that this was “the first time” that our Lord “taught publicly at Jerusalem.” Yet this seems at least questionable when we consider the 2nd and 5th chapters of John.
v15.-[The Jews marveled.] The wisdom and knowledge of Scripture which our Lord showed must have been the principle cause of wonder. Yet, we may well believe, there was something wonderful in His manner and style of speaking.
[How knoweth this man letters?] The word rendered “letters” here, must probably be taken in the sense of “learning.” It is so used in Act 26:24. In Joh 5:47 it is rendered “writings.” In 2Ti 3:15 it is “Scriptures.” The original idea is a “written character,” a letter of an alphabet. It is thus used in Luk 23:38 of the inscription on the cross, written “in letters of Greek,” etc.
[Having never learned.] The Jews must have meant by this, that our Lord had never attended any of the great theological schools which the scribes and Pharisees kept up in Jerusalem,-to which Paul refers, when he says, He was “brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel.” (Act 22:3.) They did not of course mean that any one brought up at Nazareth must necessarily have been totally ignorant. That our Lord could read and write is clear from Luk 4:16, and Joh 8:6. But the Jerusalem Jews, in their pride and self-conceit, set down any one as comparatively ignorant who had not been trained in their great metropolitan schools. People are very apt to condemn any one as “ignorant” who disagrees with them in religion.
According to Tholuck, it was a rule of the Talmud, “that no man could appear as a teacher, who had not for some years been a colleague of a Rabbi.”
v16.-[My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent Me.] Our Lord meant by these words, “My doctrine is not mine only. The teaching that I am proclaiming is not a thing of my own private invention, and the product of my own isolated mind. It is the doctrine of my Father who sent me. It deserves attention because it is His message. He that despiseth it, despiseth not only Me, but him whose messenger I am.”-The great truth of His own inseparable and mysterious union with God the Father, is here once more pointed at. It is like, “I can of my own self do nothing,” (Joh 5:30,) and “as my Father hath taught me I speak these things,” (Joh 8:28,) and “I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak.” (Joh 12:49.)
Some think that our Lord only meant, “The sense of Scripture which I give is not my own, but the sense in which God at first gave it.” But this is a very meager view of the sentence, though an Arian or Socinian may like it.
Cyril remarks: “In saying that He was sent by the Father, He does not show Himself inferior to the Father. For this mission is not that of a servant, though it might be called so, as he ‘took on Him the form of a servant.’ But He is ‘sent,’ as a word is out of the mind, or a sunbeam out of the sun.”
Augustine remarks: “This sentence undoeth the Sabellian heresy. The Sabellians have dared to say that the Son is the same as the Father: the names two, the reality one. If the names were two, and the reality one, it would not be said, ‘My doctrine is not mine.’ If Thy doctrine be not Thine, Lord, whose is it, unless there be another whose it may be?”
Hengstenberg thinks that our Lord had in view the famous prophesy of Moses in which God says of Messiah,-“I will put my words in His mouth.” (Deu 18:18.)
Let us carefully note with what peculiar reverence we should receive and study every word that fell from our Lord’s lips. When He spoke, He did not speak His own mind only, as one of His Apostles or prophets did. It was God the Father speaking with and through Him. No wonder when we read such expressions as this that John calls our Lord “the Word.”
v17.-[If any man will do His will.] The English language here fails to give the full force of the Greek. It is literally, “If any man is willing to do,-has a mind and desire and inclination to do God’s will.” It is not the simple future of the verb “do.” There are two distinct verbs. The stress, therefore, in reading the sentence, must not be laid entirely on “doing” God’s will. It is “if any man is willing to do.”
[He shall know the doctrine.] This means he shall know “concerning and about” the doctrine I am proclaiming.
[Whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.] This means “whether the doctrine is from God, as I say it is,-the doctrine of God the Father, which He has commissioned and sent Me to proclaim to man,-or whether I speak from myself, of my own isolated responsibility, without any license or commission.” The translation “speak of myself,” is unfortunately equivocal. The expression does not mean “about and concerning” myself, but “from” myself.
By “doing the will of God,” our Lord must mean, “obeying and performing, as far as in us lies, that will of God,” which we have expressly declared to us in the Word of God.” (17th Article.) Such “doing” He declares is the way of knowledge. It is the same idea as the “doing truth” of Joh 3:21.
The principle here laid down is one of immense importance. We are taught that clear knowledge depends greatly on honest obedience, and that distinct views of Divine truth cannot be expected, unless we try to practice such things as we know. Living up to our light we shall have more light. Striving to do the few things we know, we shall find the eyes of our understanding enlightened, and shall know more. Did the Jews profess to feel perplexed, and not to know whether our Lord was sent from God? Let them honestly do God’s will, and seek knowledge in the path of sincere obedience in such matters as were clear and plain.-So doing they would be guided into all truth, and find their doubts removed.
We learn from these words how greatly they err who profess to be waiting till their mental difficulties are removed before they become decided Christians. They must change their plan. They must understand that knowledge comes through humble obedience as well as through the intellect. Let them begin by honestly doing God’s will as far as they know that will, and in so doing they will find their minds enlightened.
We learn, furthermore, that God tests men’s sincerity by making obedience part of the process by which religious knowledge is obtained. Are we really willing to do God’s will so far as we know it? If we are, God will take care that our knowledge is increased. If we are not willing to do His will, we show clearly that we do not want to be God’s servants. Our hearts and not our heads are in fault.
We learn, finally, the great principle on which many will be condemned at the last day. They did not live up to their light. They did not use such knowledge as they possessed, and so were left dark and dead in sins. There is probably not one in a thousand among unconverted people, who does not know far better than he practices. Such men surely, if lost, will have none to blame but themselves!
In interpreting this verse, I believe we must be careful not to lay more meaning on the expression “do His will,” than our Lord meant it to bear. I say this because I observe many respectable commentators place such a very wide and comprehensive sense upon “doing God’s will,” that they miss entirely our Lord’s purpose in speaking the words. They start with saying, that to “do God’s will,” we must have faith in Christ, new hearts, grace reigning within us, and the like, and thus represent our Lord as saying in effect, “If any man will become a true believer, and a converted man, he shall ‘know of the doctrine,’ ” etc. I venture to think that such interpretation completely misses the mark, and is going round in a circle. Of course any true believer knows true doctrine. I believe that our Lord’s object was simply to encourage the honest-minded, sincere, single-eyed inquirer after truth. To such a man, though at present very ignorant, He says, “If you really have a desire to do God’s will, to please Him, and to follow any light He gives you, you will be taught of Him, you will find out the truth. My doctrine may be hid from the wise and prudent, but it is revealed to babes.” (Mat 11:25.) I hold, in short, that we should take as simple a view as possible of the sentence, “If any man will do His will,” and be very careful that we do not mar its usefulness by putting more meaning on it than our Lord intended.
Bishop Hall thus paraphrases the text: “If any man shall, with a simple and honest heart, yield himself over to do the will of my Father, according to the measure of that he knows, God shall encourage and bless that man with further light; so as he shall fully know whether my doctrine be of God, or of myself.”
Burgon remarks: “The perception of truth depends on the practice of virtue. It is a favourite maxim of the present day, that increased knowledge will bring with it growth in godliness. Scripture at all events entirely reverses the process. The way to know of the doctrine whether it be of God, is to do His will.” (See Joh 5:44; Joh 8:12.)
Hengstenberg remarks: “Whosoever would lead souls to Christ, should not tarry long about the specious arguments with which the natural man seeks to disguise the hateful perversion of his state of will, but should above all things try to excite willingness to do the will of God.”
v18.-[He that speaketh of himself, etc.] In this verse, as in the preceding verses, “He that speaketh of himself” would be more literally rendered “speaketh from himself.” The verse contains a general principle, applicable not only to our Lord’s own case, but to teachers of religion in every age. The meaning seems to be as follows:-“He that undertakes on his own responsibility, and without being sent by God, to speak to men about religion, will naturally seek to advance his own importance, and get honor for himself. Speaking from himself, he will speak for himself, and try to exalt himself. He, on the contrary, who is a true messenger of God, and in whom there is no dishonesty or unrighteousness, will always seek first the glory of the God who sent him.” In short, it is one mark of a man being a true servant of God, and really commissioned by our Father in heaven, that he ever seeks his Master’s glory more than his own.
The principle here laid down is a very valuable one. By it we may test the pretensions of many false teachers of religion, and prove them to be unsound guides. There is a curious tendency in every system of heresy, or unsound religion, to make its ministers magnify themselves, their authority, their importance, and their office. It may be seen in Romanism and Brahminism to a remarkable extent.
Alford’s remark, however, is very true: that in the highest and strictest sense, “the latter part of the sentence is only true of the Holy One Himself, and that owing to human infirmity, purity of motive is no sure guarantee for correctness of doctrine;” and therefore in the end of the verse it is not said, “he who seeketh God’s glory,” but “he who seeketh His glory that sent him,”-specially indicating Christ Himself.
Burgon thinks that “true” is a word used intentionally, in contrast with the expression, “He deceiveth the people.”
v19.-[Did not Moses give you the law?] Our Lord here appeals to the well-known reverence with which all Jews regarded Moses and the law. But it is highly probable that He had in view the practice of publicly reading the law of Moses to the people during the seven days of the feast of tabernacles, which was observed once in every seven years at that feast. (Deu 31:10-11.) If, as is possible, this was one of the seventh years in which the law was so read, there would be a singular significance and aptness in His appeal. “This very day you have been hearing that law, which you profess to honor so much. But do you honor it in your lives?”
[None of you keepeth the law, etc.] This would be more literally rendered, “none of you doeth the law.” It is the same word that is used in the expression, “if any man will do His will,” (Joh 7:17.) The meaning seems to be, “You reject me and my doctrine, and profess to be zealous for the honor of Moses and the law. And yet none of you really obey the law in heart and in spirit. for instance: why do you seek to kill Me? You are full of hatred of Me, and want to put Me to death unjustly, in the face of the sixth commandment. This is not keeping the law.”
The Greek word rendered “go about,” is the same that is rendered “seek” in verse 1 of this chapter (Joh 7:1,) and Joh 5:16, Joh 5:18.
v20.-[The people answered and said, etc.] It seems probable that those who said this were the common people, the multitude of Jews gathered from all parts of the world, to many of whom our Lord was a stranger. We can hardly suppose that the rulers and leaders of Jerusalem would have spoken in this way.
The expression “Thou hast a devil,” may possibly be a repetition of the old charge, that our Lord wrought His miracles by Beelzebub, and was in league with the devil, as Joh 8:48. In that sense it would be the strongest form of reproach, blasphemy, and contempt. But considering who the speakers were, it is more likely that it simply means, “Thou art beside Thyself, and mad.” (So Joh 10:20.)
The expression, “who goeth about to kill Thee,” can easily be understood, if we suppose the speakers to be the common people, and not the rulers. The common people probably knew nothing about the intention of the rulers to put Jesus to death, and would think Him beside himself to say that any one wanted to kill Him.
v21.-[Jesus answered…I have done one work.] Our Lord can only refer here to the miracle He had wrought on a former occasion at the pool of Bethesda. (Joh 5:1-9.) This was at present the only great miracle that had been publicly performed in Jerusalem: and from its having led to our Lord being brought before the Sanhedrim, or great Council of the Jews, and to His defense made before them, it would be a miracle that all would know.
[Ye all marvel.] This strong present tense seems to mean, “Ye are all still wondering,” not only at the greatness of the miracle, but also at my working it on the Sabbath day. Schleusner maintains that the Greek word rendered “marvel” means here, “Ye are indignant, ye take amiss.” He thinks the word is used in this sense in Mar 6:6, Joh 5:28, and Gal 1:6.
v22.-[Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision.] There is a difficulty in this verse in the expression we translate “therefore.” It is literally, “on this account,-for this reason,-on account of this.” It is not easy to say how the expression comes in, and with what it is connected. (1) Some, as Theophylact, Beza, Poole, Whitby, Hammond, Maldonatus, Pearce, Doddridge, Bloomfield, Olshausen, Tholuck, Hengstenberg, and Stier, propose to alter the stopping, and to connect it with the end of the preceding verse,-“Ye all marvel because of this one work.” (Compare Mar 6:6.) But it is doubtful whether the Greek language will fairly admit this.-(2) Some would connect “therefore” with “are ye angry,” in the following verse:-“Are you really angry with me on account of this one work, when you yourselves break the Sabbath, in a sense, by circumcising on the Sabbath day?”-But this connection seems very distant indeed.-(3) Some, as Grotius, Calovius, Jansenius, and Webster, think the expression altogether elliptical, and would fill up the sense after “therefore,” by supposing some such connection as this:-“On account of this work and your anger at it, let me remind you of your own practice about circumcision.” (See Mat 18:22; Mat 12:30; Luk 12:22.)-(4) Some, as Chemnitius, Musculus and De Dieu, interpret “therefore” as “because,” and make the sentence mean, “Because Moses gave you circumcision, you circumcise a man on the Sabbath day,” etc. But it seems a violent strain to make the Greek word we render “therefore” mean “because.”-(5) Some, finally, as Alford, Burgon, Barradius, Toletus, and Lyranus, would connect “therefore” with the middle of this verse, and would have it mean, “For this reason Moses gave you circumcision, viz., not because it was an ordinance appointed first by him, but because it was given to the Fathers,”-i.e., Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This last is perhaps as tenable a view as any. But it is undeniably a difficulty, and must remain so. Adopting this view, the whole verse must be paraphrased as follows:-“Moses, whose name and law you highly reverence, gave you among other things the ordinance of circumcision. He gave it, remember, for this reason: because it was an old ordinance, handed down to him by your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and not an ordinance first communicated to him like the Levitical law. Now you, in obedience to the ordinance of circumcision, which ought to be administered on the eighth day after a child’s birth, think it no breach of the fourth commandment to circumcise a child on the Sabbath day. In fact, you postpone the law of the Sabbath to the law of circumcision. You admit that a work of piety and necessity may be done on the Sabbath day. You admit that the fourth commandment which was given on Mount Sinai was not so important as the older law of circumcision.”
Burgon shows that “therefore” is used just in the same way as here, at the beginning of a sentence, and pointing forward, in Joh 5:16, Joh 5:18; Joh 8:47; Joh 10:17; Joh 12:18, Joh 12:39.
We should note how here, as elsewhere, our Lord refers to Moses as a real person, and to the Old Testament history as real true history.
v23.-[If a man, etc.] The argument in this verse is as follows:-“Even among yourselves you circumcise a child on the Sabbath day, when it happens to be the eighth day after his birth, in order that the law of circumcision, which your great lawgiver, Moses, sanctioned and re-ordained, should not be broken. You thus admit the whole principle that there is some work which may be done on the Sabbath day. Is it then just and fair to be angry with Me, because I have done a far greater work to a man on the Sabbath, than the work of circumcision? I have not wounded his body by circumcision, but made him perfectly whole. I have not done a purifying work to one particular part of him, but have restored his whole body to health and strength. I have not done a work of necessity to one single member only, but a work of necessity and benefit to the whole man.”
I cannot see any ground for the idea suggested by Alford, that our Lord implies in this verse, that the law of the Sabbath is a mere Judaical practice and comparatively a modern ordinance, and that as such it properly gave way to the older and higher law of circumcision, which was “of the Fathers.”-It might be replied, firstly, that the Sabbath is so far from being a Judaical institution, that it is actually older than circumcision, and was appointed in Paradise.-It might be replied, secondly, that our Lord seems purposely to guard against the idea by speaking of circumcision as “given by Moses,” and as a part of “the law of Moses.” In fact, He does this twice with such curious particularity, that one might think He meant to guard against any one wresting this passage into an argument against the perpetual obligation of the Sabbath day. He is pleased for the occasion to speak both of circumcision and the Sabbath as part of “the law of Moses.” He did this purposely, because the minds of His hearers were full of Moses and the law at this particular period. And His argument amounts to this,-that if they themselves allowed the Mosaic law of the Sabbath must give way in a case of necessity to the Mosaic law of circumcision, they admitted that some works might be done on the Sabbath day; and therefore His work of healing an entire man on the Sabbath day could not be condemned as sinful.
The marginal reading, “without breaking the law of Moses,” instead of, “that the law of Moses should not be broken,” appears to me inadmissible and unnecessary. It is inadmissible, because it is a forced and unnatural interpretation of the Greek words. It is unnecessary, because our Lord is evidently speaking of circumcision as part of “the law of Moses.”
The idea of some commentators, as Trapp, Rollock, Hutcheson, Beza, and Stier, that “every whit whole” means “wholeness” of soul as well as body, and implies conversion of heart as well as restoration to entire health and strength of the physical man, appears to me unlikely and far-fetched. It is a pious thought, but not apparently in our Lord’s mind. Moreover, it is not quite certain that the man healed at Bethesda was healed in soul as well as body. There is no clear proof of it.
v24.-[Judge not according to the appearance, etc.] The sense of this verse must be sought in connection with the subject of which our Lord has just been speaking. The Jews had condemned our Lord and denounced Him as a sinner against the fourth commandment, because He had done a work on the Sabbath day. Our Lord refers to this, and says,-“Judge not the deed I did according to the appearance. I did a work on the Sabbath unquestionably. But what kind of a work was it? It was an act of necessity and mercy, and therefore an act as lawful to be done as circumcision, which you yourselves perform on the Sabbath day. In appearance the Sabbath was broken. In reality it was not broken at all. Judge fair and just and righteous judgment. Do not hastily condemn an action, such as this, without looking below the surface.”
There is perhaps a reference here to Isaiah’s prophecy about Messiah, “He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes.” (Isa 11:3.)
The principle here laid down is one of vast importance. Nothing is so common as to judge too favourably or too unfavourably of characters and actions, from merely looking at the outward appearance of things. We are apt to form hasty opinions of others, either for good or evil, on very insufficient grounds. We pronounce some men to be good and others to be bad,-some to be godly and others to be ungodly, without anything but appearance to aid our decision. We should do well to remember our blindness, and to keep in mind this text. The bad are not always so bad, nor the good so good as they appear. A potsherd may be covered over with gilding, and look bright outside. A nugget of gold may be covered with dirt, and look worthless rubbish. One man’s work may look good at first, and yet turn out, by and by, to have been done from the basest motives. Another man’s work may look very questionable at first, and yet at last may prove Christ-like and truly godly. From rashly “judging by appearances” may the Lord deliver us!
Whether our Lord meant “judge not persons,” or “judge not actions,” according to appearance, is a point on which commentators do not agree. If we take the application to be to “persons,” the sentence means, “Do not hastily suppose that Moses and I are at variance, and that, therefore, I must be wrong, because Moses, the great lawgiver, must be right.” But it seems far simpler and more natural to apply the expression to “actions,”-“Judge not the thing done by the appearance only. Look below the surface and weigh it justly.”
Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels
Joh 7:14. And when it was already the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple-courts, and taught. It is evident that the Evangelist means to impress us with the suddenness of this appearance of Jesus in the temple-courts. The Lord suddenly comes to His temple, and, at this feast of peculiar joy and hope, He brings with Him a special message and promise of the new covenant (Joh 7:38; Mal 3:1). His teaching during the latter half of the sacred week is to prepare for His words on the last day of the feast.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Observe here, 1. Though Christ went up to Jerusalem privately, lest he should stir up the jealousy of the Pharisees against himself unseasonably; yet went he into the temple and taught publicly; his example teaches us thus much, “that although the servants of Christ may for a time, and in some cases, withdraw themselves from apprehended danger: yet, when God calls them to appear openly; they must do it courageously, without shrinking, though the danger be still impending.” Jesus went up to Jerusalem, entered the temple and taught.
Observe, 2. So admirable was our holy Lord’s doctrine, that the Jews marvel how he should come to the knowledge of such divine mysteries, considering the meanness of his education. They were struck with admiration, but they wanted faith; whereas the least degree of saving faith is beyond all admiration without it.
Observe, 3. Our Lord vindicates his doctrine, telling the Jews, That the doctrine he delivered was not his own; that is, not of his own inventing and devising; it was no contrivance of his, nor was it taught him by men: but received immediately from the Father, whose ambassador and great prophet he was.
Again, when Christ says, My doctrine is not mine, that is, not only mine, but my Father’s and mine. For as he was God equal with the Father, so he naturally knew all his counsels; and as man had knowledge thereof by communication from his godhead.
Learn hence, That the doctrine of the gospel is a doctrine wholly from God; he contrived it, and sent his own Son into the world to publish and reveal it. Christ was sent, and his doctrine was not his own, but his that sent him.
Observe, 4. A double rule given by our Saviour, whereby the Jews might know, whether the doctrine he preached, were the doctrine of God.
First, If a man walk uprightly, and doth the will of God in the best manner according to his knowledge; If any man will do his will, he shall know of my doctrine whether it be of God. There is no such way to find out truth, as by doing the will of God.
The second rule by which they might know that his doctrine was from God was this. Because he sought his Father’s glory, and not his own in the delivery of it. He that seeketh his glory that sent him, that same is true.
Hence learn, That the nature and scope of that doctrine which Christ delivered, eminently tending not to promote his own private glory, but the glorifying of his Father, is an undoubted proof and evidence that his doctrine was of God.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Joh 7:14-18. Now about the midst of the feast Which lasted eight days; Jesus went up into the temple and taught Probably on the sabbath day. His business was to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and he readily did it in every time and place of concourse: and doubtless vast multitudes would be assembled in the temple on this occasion. And the Jews who heard him marvelled Were amazed, both at the excellence and importance of the doctrines which he delivered, and at the clear, convincing, and forcible manner in which he declared them: saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned How comes he to be so well acquainted with sacred literature, as to be able thus to expound the Scriptures with such propriety and gracefulness; having never learned Seeing he hath never learned this at any place of education? Jesus answered, My doctrine is not mine It is not the product of human wisdom: I have neither been taught it by masters, nor have I acquired it by my own study: but his that sent me It is the doctrine of God, who has inspired me with it because I am his messenger. If any man will do his will , if any man be willing, especially if he be also desirous and determined, in dependance on divine grace, to do Gods will, as far as he is acquainted with it; he shall know of the doctrine, &c. A universal rule this with regard to all persons and doctrines. They that are thoroughly willing and desirous to comply with the will of God, shall certainly have his will made known to them. Observe here, reader, who these are: they are such as are impartial and sincere in their inquiries concerning it, and are not biased by any carnal inclinations or interests; they are such as are convinced of the infinite importance of knowing and doing his will, in order to their eternal salvation, being persuaded that only those that know and do it shall enter the kingdom of heaven: Mat 7:21. They are such as carefully and diligently use the means which God has appointed to be used in order thereto; especially the means of prayer, for supernatural light, and of hearing, reading, and meditating on the word of God. Such shall know the doctrine of Christ, and the will of God; 1st, Because Christ has promised to give them that knowledge, namely, by opening the eyes of their understanding, which he is well able to do. Those who improve the light they have, and carefully walk according to it, shall, by divine grace, have that light increased, and be thereby secured against all destructive and hurtful errors. 2d, Because they are prepared to receive that knowledge. Those that are inclined to submit to the rules of the divine law, are disposed to admit the rays of the divine light. Those whose desire and care it is to resemble God, are in the fittest disposition to become acquainted with him. Whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself Pious and good men can easily judge of any teacher, whether he and his doctrine come from God; not only because the divine wisdom and goodness are interested to secure such from capital errors, but because they themselves have no predominant evil inclinations to prejudice them against the truth when it appears; and because they can discern how far any doctrine is conformable to the principles of piety and virtue which they possess. He that speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory If one teaches what makes for the advancement of his own worldly interest, or for the gratification of his pride, or any other evil passion, the doers of the will of God will immediately know that such a teacher is an impostor. But he that seeketh his glory that sent him, &c. Whereas, if a teacher proposes doctrines which have a tendency to reform men, and to advance the glory of God, without regard to the opinion of the world, or to his own temporal interest; the same is true He must certainly be sent of God, and should not by any means be suspected of imposture; and no unrighteousness is in him No falsehood, no design to deceive the world. See Macknight.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
II. During the Feast: 7:14-36.
The first agitation had subsided; every one was quietly attending to the celebration of the feast, when all at once Jesus appears in the temple and sets Himself to the work of teaching. The authorities had not taken any measures against Him; and there was still time enough remaining for Him before the end of the feast to accomplish His work and to invite to faith the people who had come from all the regions of the world.
This passage includes three teachings of Jesus, interrupted and in part called forth by the remarks of His hearers. The first is an explanation respecting the origin of His doctrine and a justification of the miracle which was performed in chap. 5 and which was made a means of attack upon His divine mission (Joh 7:14-24); the second is an energetic declaration of His divine origin called forth by an objection (Joh 7:25-30); the third contains, on occasion of a step taken by the rulers, the announcement of His approaching end and calls the attention of the Jews to the consequences which this departure will have for them (Joh 7:31-36). Following upon each of these discourses, John describes the different impressions which manifested themselves in the multitudes.
The difference of tone in these three testimonies is observable: in the first, defense, in the second, protestation, finally, in the third, warning.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
7:14 {4} Now about the {d} midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught.
(4) Christ uses goodness to strive against the wickedness of the world: in the meanwhile most men are offended even by that fame by which they ought to have been stirred up to embrace Christ.
(d) About the fourth day of the feast.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
2. Jesus’ ministry at the feast of Tabernacles 7:14-44
John presented this occasion of Jesus’ teaching ministry as consisting of three emphases: Jesus’ authority, His origin and destiny, and the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Jesus’ authority 7:14-24
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Toward the middle of the week Jesus began teaching publicly in the temple. This verse sets the scene for what follows immediately.
". . . all along the inside of the great wall which formed the Temple-enclosure ran a double colonnade-each column a monolith of white marble, 25 cubits high, covered with cedar-beams." [Note: Edersheim, 2:151.]