Discovery BoxJohn 7:11-36
Context7:11 So the Jewish leaders 1 were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” 2 7:12 There was 3 a lot of grumbling 4 about him among the crowds. 5 Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” 6 7:13 However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders. 7
7:14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts 8 and began to teach. 9 7:15 Then the Jewish leaders 10 were astonished 11 and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 12 7:16 So Jesus replied, 13 “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. 14 7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, 15 he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. 16 7:18 The person who speaks on his own authority 17 desires 18 to receive honor 19 for himself; the one who desires 20 the honor 21 of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, 22 and there is no unrighteousness in him. 7:19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps 23 the law! Why do you want 24 to kill me?”
7:20 The crowd 25 answered, “You’re possessed by a demon! 26 Who is trying to kill you?” 27 7:21 Jesus replied, 28 “I performed one miracle 29 and you are all amazed. 30 7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision 31 (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child 32 on the Sabbath. 7:23 But if a male child 33 is circumcised 34 on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, 35 why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well 36 on the Sabbath? 7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance, 37 but judge with proper 38 judgment.”
7:25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem 39 began to say, “Isn’t this the man 40 they are trying 41 to kill? 7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, 42 and they are saying nothing to him. 43 Do the rulers really know that this man 44 is the Christ? 45 7:27 But we know where this man 46 comes from. 47 Whenever the Christ 48 comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 49
7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, 50 cried out, 51 “You both know me and know where I come from! 52 And I have not come on my own initiative, 53 but the one who sent me 54 is true. You do not know him, 55 7:29 but 56 I know him, because I have come from him 57 and he 58 sent me.”
7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, 59 but no one laid a hand on him, because his time 60 had not yet come. 7:31 Yet many of the crowd 61 believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ 62 comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” 63
7:32 The Pharisees 64 heard the crowd 65 murmuring these things about Jesus, 66 so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers 67 to arrest him. 68 7:33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, 69 and then 70 I am going to the one who sent me. 7:34 You will look for me 71 but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”
7:35 Then the Jewish leaders 72 said to one another, “Where is he 73 going to go that we cannot find him? 74 He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed 75 among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? 76 7:36 What did he mean by saying, 77 ‘You will look for me 78 but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”
[7:11] 1 tn 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.
[7:11] 2 tn Grk “Where is that one?”
[7:12] 3 tn Grk “And there was.”
[7:12] 5 tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in the previous verse).
[7:13] 7 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See also the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.
[7:14] 8 tn Grk “to the temple.”
[7:14] 9 tn 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] 10 tn 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] 11 tn 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] 12 tn 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] 13 tn Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”
[7:16] 14 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
[7:17] 16 tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”
[7:18] 17 tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”
[7:18] 19 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
[7:18] 21 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
[7:18] 22 tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”
[7:19] 23 tn Or “accomplishes”; Grk “does.”
[7:20] 25 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in 7:15).
[7:20] 26 tn Grk “You have a demon!”
[7:20] 27 tn Grk “Who is seeking to kill you?”
[7:21] 28 tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”
[7:21] 29 tn Grk “I did one deed.”
[7:21] 30 sn 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] 31 tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”
[7:22] 32 tn 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] 33 tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
[7:23] 34 tn Grk “receives circumcision.”
[7:23] 35 sn 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.
[7:23] 36 tn Or “made an entire man well.”
[7:24] 37 tn Or “based on sight.”
[7:24] 38 tn Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”
[7:25] 39 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[7:25] 40 tn Grk “Is it not this one.”
[7:26] 42 tn Or “speaking openly.”
[7:26] 43 sn They are saying nothing to him. Some people who had heard Jesus were so impressed with his teaching that they began to infer from the inactivity of the opposing Jewish leaders a tacit acknowledgment of Jesus’ claims.
[7:26] 45 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
[7:27] 47 sn We know where this man comes from. The author apparently did not consider this objection worth answering. The true facts about Jesus’ origins were readily available for any reader who didn’t know already. Here is an instance where the author assumes knowledge about Jesus that is independent from the material he records.
[7:27] 48 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
[7:27] 49 sn The view of these people regarding the Messiah that no one will know where he comes from reflects the idea that the origin of the Messiah is a mystery. In the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 97a) Rabbi Zera taught: “Three come unawares: Messiah, a found article, and a scorpion.” Apparently OT prophetic passages like Mal 3:1 and Dan 9:25 were interpreted by some as indicating a sudden appearance of Messiah. It appears that this was not a universal view: The scribes summoned by Herod at the coming of the Magi in Matt 2 knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. It is important to remember that Jewish messianic expectations in the early 1st century were not monolithic.
[7:28] 50 tn Grk “the temple.”
[7:28] 51 tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”
[7:28] 52 sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.
[7:28] 53 tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”
[7:28] 54 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
[7:28] 55 tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”
[7:29] 56 tn Although the conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, the contrast is implied (an omitted conjunction is called asyndeton).
[7:29] 57 tn The preposition παρά (para) followed by the genitive has the local sense preserved and can be used of one person sending another. This does not necessarily imply origin in essence or eternal generation.
[7:29] 58 tn Grk “and that one.”
[7:30] 59 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:31] 61 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).
[7:31] 62 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
[7:31] 63 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “will he?”).
[7:32] 64 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.
[7:32] 65 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the Pharisees).
[7:32] 66 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[7:32] 67 tn Or “servants.” The “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive term for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26. As “servants” or “officers” of the Sanhedrin their representatives should be distinguished from the Levites serving as temple police (perhaps John 7:30 and 44; also John 8:20; 10:39; 19:6; Acts 4:3). Even when performing “police” duties such as here, their “officers” are doing so only as part of their general tasks (see K. H. Rengstorf, TDNT 8:540).
[7:32] 68 tn Grk “to seize him.” In the context of a deliberate attempt by the servants of the chief priests and Pharisees to detain Jesus, the English verb “arrest” conveys the point more effectively.
[7:33] 69 tn Grk “Yet a little I am with you.”
[7:33] 70 tn The word “then” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
[7:35] 72 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase is understood to refer to the Jewish authorities or leaders, since the Jewish leaders are mentioned in this context both before and after the present verse (7:32, 45).
[7:35] 74 tn Grk “will not find him.”
[7:35] 75 sn The Jewish people dispersed (Grk “He is not going to the Diaspora”). The Greek term diaspora (“dispersion”) originally meant those Jews not living in Palestine, but dispersed or scattered among the Gentiles.
[7:35] 76 tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “is he?”).
