John 7:40-52

Context

Differing Opinions About Jesus

7:40 When they heard these words, some of the crowd¹ began to say, “This really² is the Prophet!”³ 7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ!”⁴ But still others said, “No,⁵ for the Christ doesn’t come from Galilee, does he?⁶ 7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant⁷ of David⁸ and comes from Bethlehem,⁹ the village where David lived?”¹⁰ 7:43 So there was a division in the crowd¹¹ because of Jesus.¹² 7:44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.¹³

Lack of Belief

7:45 Then the officers¹⁴ returned¹⁵ to the chief priests and Pharisees,¹⁶ who said to them, “Why didn’t you bring him back with you?”¹⁷ 7:46 The officers replied, “No one ever spoke like this man!” 7:47 Then the Pharisees answered,¹⁸ “You haven’t been deceived too, have you?¹⁹ 7:48 None of the rulers²⁰ or the Pharisees have believed in him, have they?²¹ 7:49 But this rabble²² who do not know the law are accursed!”

7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus²³ before and who was one of the rulers,²⁴ said,²⁵ 7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn²⁶ a man unless it first hears from him and learns²⁷ what he is doing, does it?”²⁸ 7:52 They replied,²⁹ “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you?³⁰ Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet³¹ comes from Galilee!”

[7:40] ¹tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:40] ²tn Or “truly.”

[7:40] ³sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[7:41] ⁴tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:41] ⁵tn An initial negative reply (“No”) is suggested by the causal or explanatory γάρ (gar) which begins the clause.

[7:41] ⁶tn 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 “does he?”).

[7:42] ⁷tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42] ⁸sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42] ⁹sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42] ¹⁰tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[7:43] ¹¹tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:43] ¹²tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44] ¹³sn Compare John 7:30 regarding the attempt to seize Jesus.

[7:45] ¹⁴tn 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).

[7:45] ¹⁵tn Grk “came.”

[7:45] ¹⁶sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[7:45] ¹⁷tn Grk “Why did you not bring him?” The words “back with you” are implied.

[7:47] ¹⁸tn Grk “answered them.”

[7:47] ¹⁹tn 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 “have you?”).

[7:48] ²⁰sn The chief priests and Pharisees (John 7:45) 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. Likewise the term ruler here denotes a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in John 3:1, and Nicodemus also speaks up in this episode (John 7:50).

[7:48] ²¹tn 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 “have they?”).

[7:49] ²²tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

[7:50] ²³tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:50] ²⁴tn Grk “who was one of them”; the referent (the rulers) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:50] ²⁵tn Grk “said to them.”

[7:51] ²⁶tn Grk “judge.”

[7:51] ²⁷tn Grk “knows.”

[7:51] ²⁸tn 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 “does it?”).

[7:52] ²⁹tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[7:52] ³⁰tn 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 “are you?”).

[7:52] ³¹tc At least one early and important ms (Ì^66*) places the article before “prophet” (ὁ προφήτης, Jo profhths), making this a reference to the “prophet like Moses” mentioned in Deut 18:15.