John 7:14-24

Context

Teaching in the Temple

7:14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts¹ and began to teach.² 7:15 Then the Jewish leaders³ were astonished⁴ and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?”⁵ 7:16 So Jesus replied,⁶ “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me.⁷ 7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will,⁸ he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.⁹ 7:18 The person who speaks on his own authority¹⁰ desires¹¹ to receive honor¹² for himself; the one who desires¹³ the honor¹⁴ of the one who sent him is a man of integrity,¹⁵ and there is no unrighteousness in him. 7:19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps¹⁶ the law! Why do you want¹⁷ to kill me?”

7:20 The crowd¹⁸ answered, “You’re possessed by a demon!¹⁹ Who is trying to kill you?”²⁰ 7:21 Jesus replied,²¹ “I performed one miracle²² and you are all amazed.²³ 7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision²⁴ (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child²⁵ on the Sabbath. 7:23 But if a male child²⁶ is circumcised²⁷ on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken,²⁸ why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well²⁹ on the Sabbath? 7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance,³⁰ but judge with proper³¹ judgment.”

[7:14] ¹tn Grk “to the temple.”

[7:14] ²tn Or “started teaching.” An ingressive sense for the imperfect verb (“began to teach” or “started teaching”) fits well here, since the context implies that Jesus did not start his teaching at the beginning of the festival, but began when it was about half over.

[7:15] ³tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:15] ⁴tn Or “began to be astonished.” This imperfect verb could also be translated ingressively (“began to be astonished”), but for English stylistic reasons it is rendered as a simple past.

[7:15] ⁵tn Grk “How does this man know learning since he has not been taught?” The implication here is not that Jesus never went to school (in all probability he did attend a local synagogue school while a youth), but that he was not the disciple of a particular rabbi and had not had formal or advanced instruction under a recognized rabbi (compare Acts 4:13 where a similar charge is made against Peter and John; see also Paul’s comment in Acts 22:3).

[7:16] ⁶tn Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:16] ⁷tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:17] ⁸tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17] ⁹tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[7:18] ¹⁰tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”

[7:18] ¹¹tn Or “seeks.”

[7:18] ¹²tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”

[7:18] ¹³tn Or “seeks.”

[7:18] ¹⁴tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”

[7:18] ¹⁵tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”

[7:19] ¹⁶tn Or “accomplishes”; Grk “does.”

[7:19] ¹⁷tn Grk “seek.”

[7:20] ¹⁸tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in 7:15).

[7:20] ¹⁹tn Grk “You have a demon!”

[7:20] ²⁰tn Grk “Who is seeking to kill you?”

[7:21] ²¹tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:21] ²²tn Grk “I did one deed.”

[7:21] ²³sn The “one miracle” that caused them all to be amazed was the last previous public miracle in Jerusalem recorded by the author, the healing of the paralyzed man in John 5:1-9 on the Sabbath. (The synoptic gospels record other Sabbath healings, but John does not mention them.)

[7:22] ²⁴tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”

[7:22] ²⁵tn Grk “a man.” While the text literally reads “circumcise a man” in actual fact the practice of circumcising male infants on the eighth day after birth (see Phil 3:5) is primarily what is in view here.

[7:23] ²⁶tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

[7:23] ²⁷tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

[7:23] ²⁸sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

[7:23] ²⁹tn Or “made an entire man well.”

[7:24] ³⁰tn Or “based on sight.”

[7:24] ³¹tn Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”