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John 7:25-36

Context
Questions About Jesus’ Identity

7:25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem 1  began to say, “Isn’t this the man 2  they are trying 3  to kill? 7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, 4  and they are saying nothing to him. 5  Do the rulers really know that this man 6  is the Christ? 7  7:27 But we know where this man 8  comes from. 9  Whenever the Christ 10  comes, no one will know where he comes from.” 11 

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, 12  cried out, 13  “You both know me and know where I come from! 14  And I have not come on my own initiative, 15  but the one who sent me 16  is true. You do not know him, 17  7:29 but 18  I know him, because I have come from him 19  and he 20  sent me.”

7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, 21  but no one laid a hand on him, because his time 22  had not yet come. 7:31 Yet many of the crowd 23  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ 24  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” 25 

7:32 The Pharisees 26  heard the crowd 27  murmuring these things about Jesus, 28  so the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers 29  to arrest him. 30  7:33 Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, 31  and then 32  I am going to the one who sent me. 7:34 You will look for me 33  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”

7:35 Then the Jewish leaders 34  said to one another, “Where is he 35  going to go that we cannot find him? 36  He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed 37  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? 38  7:36 What did he mean by saying, 39  ‘You will look for me 40  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

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[7:25]  1 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[7:25]  2 tn Grk “Is it not this one.”

[7:25]  3 tn Grk “seeking.”

[7:26]  4 tn Or “speaking openly.”

[7:26]  5 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]  6 tn Grk “this one.”

[7:26]  7 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:27]  8 tn Grk “this one.”

[7:27]  9 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]  10 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:27]  11 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]  12 tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  13 tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  14 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]  15 tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  16 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  17 tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”

[7:29]  18 tn Although the conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, the contrast is implied (an omitted conjunction is called asyndeton).

[7:29]  19 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]  20 tn Grk “and that one.”

[7:30]  21 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:30]  22 tn Grk “his hour.”

[7:31]  23 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  24 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  25 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]  26 sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[7:32]  27 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the Pharisees).

[7:32]  28 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:32]  29 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]  30 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]  31 tn Grk “Yet a little I am with you.”

[7:33]  32 tn The word “then” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

[7:34]  33 tn Grk “seek me.”

[7:35]  34 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]  35 tn Grk “this one.”

[7:35]  36 tn Grk “will not find him.”

[7:35]  37 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]  38 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?”).

[7:36]  39 tn Grk “What is this word that he said.”

[7:36]  40 tn Grk “seek me.”



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