John 7

Joh 7:1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee, purposely staying away from Judea because the Jews there were waiting to take his life.

The chapter records a number of different attitudes towards Jesus:

1. The teasing contempt of his brothers, 1-5
2. The hatred of the Pharisees and chief priests
3. The arrogant contempt of the Jews, v15, 47-49
4. The fascinated debate of the crowd, vv11f, 43

Then, a number of verdicts are possible:

1. He is a good man, v12
2. He is a prophet, v40
3. He is a deluded madman, v20
4. He is the Christ

John 7:2  But when the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near,

Joh 7:3 Jesus’ brothers said to him, “You ought to leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples may see the miracles you do.”

As v5 will make clear, this advice was flippant and insincere. ‘It was really a reaction of half-amused and teasing contempt. They did not really believe in him; they were really egging him on, as you might egg on a precocious boy. We still meet that attitude of tolerant contempt to Christianity. George Bernanos in The Diary of a Country Priest tells how the country priest used sometimes to be invited to dinner at the big aristocratic house of his parish. The owner would encourage him to speak and argue before his guests, but he did it with that half-amused, half-contemptuous tolerance with which he might encourage a child to show off or a dog to display his tricks. There are still people who forget that Christian faith is a matter of life and death.’ (DSB)

John 7:4  No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”

Joh 7:5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

John 7:6  Therefore Jesus told them, “The right time for me has not yet come; for you any time is right.

Joh 7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that what it does is evil.

John 7:8  You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, because for me the right time has not yet come.”

John 7:9  Having said this, he stayed in Galilee.

Joh 7:10 However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly, but in secret.

What did Jesus look like? ‘Greco-Roman biographers often liked to describe their subjects’ appearances, flattering or not. That none of the Gospels does so suggests that Jesus’ appearance may have been average enough to allow him to pass unnoticed in a crowd: probably curly black hair, brown skin, perhaps a little over five feet in height-unlike the Aryan pictures of him that circulate in some Western churches. (The Shroud of Turin, which is purported to be Jesus’ burial cloth, makes him taller, in the epic Hebrew tradition-1 Sam 9:2. But its authority is disputed.) Although Diaspora Jewish men, like Greek and Roman men, were normally clean-shaven, coins portray Palestinian Jews in this period with full beards and hair down to their shoulders.’ (NTBC)

John 7:11  Now at the Feast the Jews were watching for him and asking, “Where is that man?”

Joh 7:12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others replied, “No, he deceives the people.”

Whispering – goggusmos, pronounced ‘gongusmos’: an onomatopoeic word which imitates the sound it decribes – a dull murmuring, a discontented undertone. The crowd were afraid to talk to loud, because they were afraid. ‘It is the word used for the grumbling of the children of Israel in the wilderness when they complained against Moses. They muttered the complaints they were afraid to utter out loud. Fear can keep a man from making a clarion call of his faith and can turn it into an indistinct mutter. The Christian should never be afraid to tell the world in ringing tones that he believes in Christ.’ (DSB)

See v 43. In the attitude of the crowds, there is both value and danger (DSB). ‘The value is that nothing helps us clarify our own opinions like pitting them against someone else’s. Mind sharpens mind as iron sharpens iron. The danger is that religion can so very easily come to be regarded as a matter for argument and debate and discussion, a series of fascinating questions, about which a man may talk for a lifetime-and do nothing. There is all the difference in the world between being an argumentative amateur theologian, willing to talk until the stars go out, and a truly religious person, who has passed from talking about Christ to knowing him.’

“He deceives the people” – This was ‘a serious charge, applied to those who led other Jews to idolatry or apostasy. Deuteronomy 13 prescribes death as the penalty, and some rabbis even felt that such persons should be given no chance to repent, lest they be able to secure forgiveness though their followers had perished. Some Jewish sources as early as the second century charged Jesus with this crime.’ (NTBC)

Joh 7:13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the Jews.

The Jews – The Jewish authorities.

John 7:14  Not until halfway through the Feast did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.

Joh 7:15 The Jews were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having studied?”

Some scholars think that Joh 7:15-24, with its reference to healing (vv23) has been displaced, and should follow Joh 5:47.

“How did this man get such learning without having studied?” – ‘Most children in the Greco-Roman world could not afford even a primary education. But Palestinian Jewish children, except perhaps from the poorest homes (which a carpenter’s family was not), would learn how to read and recite the Bible, whether or not they could write. The issue here is not that Jesus is illiterate (he is not), but that he has never formally studied Scripture with an advanced teacher, yet he expounds as well as any of the scholars without citing earlier scholars’ opinions.’ (NTBC)

See also Joh 7:47-49. Here is the attitude of academic snobbery, and a similar accusation was made against Peter and John, Ac 4:13. ‘Jesus had been to no rabbinic school. It was the practice that only the disciple of an accredited teacher was entitled to expound scripture, and to talk about the law. No Rabbi ever made a statement on his own authority. He always began: “There is a teaching that…” He then went on to cite quotations and authorities for every statement he made. And here was this Galilaean carpenter, a man with no training whatever, daring to quote and to expound Moses to them.’ (DSB)

Joh 7:16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from him who sent me.”

There is possibly an allusion here to De 18:18.

‘Jesus could very well have walked straight into a trap here. He might have said: “I need no teacher; I am self-taught; I got my teaching and my wisdom from no one but myself.” But, instead, he said in effect: “You ask who was my teacher? You ask what authority I produce for my exposition of scripture? My authority is God” Jesus claimed to be God-taught. It is in fact a claim he makes again and again. “I have not spoken on my own authority. The Father who sent me has himself given me commandment what to say and what to speak.” {Joh 12:49} “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority”.’ {Joh 14:10} (DSB)

Joh 7:17 If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own.

‘Only the man who does God’s will can truly understand his teaching. That is not a theological but a universal truth. We learn by doing. A doctor might learn the technique of surgery from textbooks. He might know the theory of every possible operation. But that would not make him a surgeon; he has to learn by doing. A man might learn the way in which an automobile engine works; in theory he might be able to carry out every possible repair and adjustment; but that would not make him an engineer; he has to learn by doing. It is the same with the Christian life. If we wait until we have understood everything, we will never start at all. But if we begin by doing God’s will as we know it, God’s truth will become clearer and clearer to us. We learn by doing. If a man says: “I cannot be a Christian because there is so much of Christian doctrine that I do not understand, and I must wait until I understand it all,” the answer is: “You never will understand it all; but if you start trying to live the Christian life, you will understand more and more of it as the days go on.” In Christianity, as in all other things, the way to learn is to do.’ (DSB)

‘The point is not that a seeker must attain a certain God-approved level of ethical achievement before venturing an assessment as to whether or not Jesus’ teaching comes from God, but that a seeker must be fundamentally committed to doing God’s will. This is a faith commitment. God then fills the seeker’s horizon. God’s will is not simply to be thought about and assessed, as if God is the object we may politely examine, dissect and discuss, picking an dchoosing what we like of him. The faith commitment envisaged here, this moral choice, is properly basic, and renders impossible any attitude that sets us up as judges of God’s ways. This means that the truth is self-authenticating – not with vicious circularity, as if it has no meshing-points with the external, examinable world (Does not Jesus himself invite us to believe on the evidence of the sings, 10:38?), but in the sense that finite and fallen human beings cannot set themselves up on some sure ground outside the truth and thus gain the vantage from which they may assess it. Divine revelation can only be assessed, as it were, from the inside. From that perspective the person who chooses to do God’s will discovers that Jesus’ teaching articulates it, that Jesus does not speak on his own but as the Word of God.’ (Carson)

‘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 111:10. Those who resemble God are most likely to understand him.’ (MHC)

‘The true notion of holy evangelical truths will not live, at least not flourish, where they are divided from a holy conversation. As we learn all to practise, so we learn much be practice…And herein alone can we come unto the assurance, that what we know and learn is indeed the truth. So our Saviour tells us, that “if any man do the will of God, he shall know of the doctrine whether it be of God”…And {Joh 7:17} hereby will they be led continually into farther degrees of knowledge. For the mind of man is capable of receiving continual supplies in the increase of light and knowledge whilst it is in this world, if so be they are improved unto their proper end in obedience unto God. But without this the mind will be quickly stuffed with notions, so that no streams can descend into it from the fountain of truth.’ (Owen)

John 7:18  He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

Joh 7:19 “Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”

Joh 7:20 “You are demon-possessed,” the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

‘Demoniacs were often thought to act insanely; in this case the crowd thinks Jesus is paranoid.’ (NTBC)

Joh 7:21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle, and you are all astonished.”

Joh 7:22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a child on the Sabbath.

Joh 7:23 Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath?

Healing the whole man – ‘Jesus asks the crowd to reason consistently (sound and fair judgment was paramount in Jewish teaching): why is it wrong for him to heal supernaturally on the sabbath, when circumcision (which wounds) is permitted on the sabbath? A later first-century rabbi argued similarly: If circumcising on the eighth day takes precedence over the sabbath (and it does), saving a whole life also does (as was commonly agreed). Some practices at the festivals (such as killing the Passover lamb and waving the palm branch, at the Feast of Tabernacles) likewise took precedence over the sabbath.’ (NTBC)

Morris quotes the Rabbinic saying, ‘If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the two hundred and forty-eight members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall (the saving of) the whole body suspend the Sabbath?’

Commenting on the use of words for ‘healing’ in the NT, ‘Health is thought of in terms of wholeness, well-being, soundness, life, strength and salvation…What modern man confines to the body, the Bible extends to the whole of man’s being and relationships. It is only when man’s being is whole and his relationships right that he can be truly described as healthy.’ (John Wilkinson) This ‘holistic’ view is, however, rather stretching the meaning of the present verse. The meaning of this verse would seem to be, “If it is acceptable for a righteous act performed on just one part of the body to take place on the Sabbath, why is it not acceptable to you for a righteous act which involves the whole person to be performed on that day?” (He had been an invalid for 38 years, Joh 5:5) Thus, the contrast is not between physical healing and holistic healing, but between healing of one part of the body and the whole of the body.

Joh 7:24 “Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment.”

‘In an age when Mt 7:1 (“Do not judge, or you too will be judged”) has displaced Joh 3:16 as the only verse in the Bible the man in the street is likely to know, it is perhaps worth adding that Mt 7:1 forbids judgementalism, not moral discernment. By contrast, Joh 7:24 demands moral and theological discernment in the context of obedient faith (7:17), while excoriating self-righteous legalism and offering no sanction for censorious heresy-hunting.’ (Carson)

John 7:25  At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

John 7:26  Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Christ ?

Joh 7:27 “But we know where this man is from; when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from.”

Note the attempted logic:

1.  Nobody knows where the Christ comes from.

2.  We know where Jesus of Nazareth came from.

3.  Conclusion: Jesus cannot be the Messiah.

Joh 7:28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him,”

“He who sent me” – and commissioned and authorised me.

John 7:29  but I know him because I am from him and he sent me.”

John 7:30  At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his time had not yet come.

Joh 7:31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, “When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this man?”

Many in the crowd put their faith in him – The chapter records many different attitudes and responses to Jesus. Happily, some believed.

Joh 7:32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

The chief priests and the Pharisees – ‘did not hate him for the same reason, because in point of fact they hated each other. The Pharisees hated him because he drove through their petty rules and regulations. If he was right, they were wrong; and they loved their own little system more than they loved God. The Sadducees were a political party. They did not observe the Pharisaic rules and regulations. Nearly all the priests were Sadducees. They collaborated with their Roman masters, and they had a very comfortable and even luxurious time. They did not want a Messiah; for when he came their political set-up would disintegrate and their comfort would be gone. They hated Jesus because he interfered with the vested interests which were dearer to them than God.’ (DSB)

Joh 7:33 Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me.”

“I go to the one who sent me” – A reference to his ascension.

John 7:34  You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

Joh 7:35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?”

Note the crass literalism of the Pharisees. The reference is to the Jews of the dispersion. ‘The question which they asked was whether he would leave an ungrateful country, and go into those distant nations and teach them.’ (Barnes)

“The Greeks” – The Gentiles.

‘It is remark able that Jesus returned no answer to these inquiries. He rather chose to turn off their minds from a speculation about the place to which he was going, to the great affairs of their own personal salvation.’ (Barnes)

John 7:36  What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and’ Where I am, you cannot come’?”

Joh 7:37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”

The last and greatest day of the Feast – ‘The “last day” of the Feast of Tabernacles {Joh 7:2} probably refers to the eighth day. For at least the first seven days of the feast, priests marched in procession from the Pool of Siloam to the temple and poured out water at the base of the altar. Pilgrims to the feast watched this ritual, which Jews throughout the Roman world thus knew; it was even commemorated on souvenir jars they could take home with them.’ (NTBC)

‘The controversies are laid aside for a moment as Jesus opens his heart in this impassioned appeal. It is deeply moving to visualize the Saviour standing in the temple among the crowds of pilgrims, probably in the proximity of the altar where the water from the Pool of Siloam was poured each morning, calling on all who would to come to him and to receive the life-giving blessing of the Spirit.’ (Milne)

‘I doubt not he read their hearts. He saw them going away with aching consciences and unsatisfied minds, having got nothing from their blind teachers the Pharisees and Sadducees, and carrying away nothing but a barren recollection of pompous forms. He saw and pitied them and cried aloud, like a herald, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” (Ryle, Holiness)

“If anyone is thirsty” – ‘If bodily thirst is painful, how much more painful is thirst of soul? Physical suffering is not the worst part of eternal punishment. It is a light thing, even in this world, compared to the suffering of the mind and inward man. To see the value of our souls and find out they are in danger of eternal ruin; to feel the burden of unforgiven sin and not to know where to turn for relief; to have a conscience sick and ill at ease and to be ignorant of the remedy; to discover that we are dying, dying daily, and yet unprepared to meet God; to have some clear view of our own guilt and wickedness, and yet to be in utter darkness about absolution; this is the highest degree of pain-the pain which drinks up soul and spirit and pierces joints and marrow! And this no doubt is the thirst of which our Lord is speaking. It is thirst after pardon, forgiveness, absolution and peace with God. It is the craving of a really awakened conscience, wanting satisfaction and not knowing where to find it, walking through dry places, and unable to get rest.’ (Ryle, Holiness)

‘Nothing proves so conclusively the fallen nature of man as the general, common want of spiritual appetite! For money, for power, for pleasure, for rank, for honour, for distinction-for all these the vast majority are now intensely thirsting. To lead forlorn hopes, to dig for gold, to storm a breach, to try to hew a way through thick-ribbed ice to the North Pole, for all these objects there is no lack of adventurers and volunteers. Fierce and unceasing is the competition for these corruptible crowns! But few indeed, by comparison, are those who thirst after eternal life. No wonder that the natural man is called in Scripture ‘dead’, and ‘sleeping’, and ‘blind’, and ‘deaf’. No wonder that he is said to need a second birth and a new creation. There is no surer symptom of mortification in the body than the loss of all feeling. There is no more painful sign of an unhealthy state of soul than an utter absence of spiritual thirst. Woe to that man of whom the Saviour can say, ‘Thou knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked’.’ {Re 3:17} (Ryle, Holiness)

“Let him come to me” – ‘Let him not go to the ceremonial law, which would neither pacify the conscience nor purify it, and therefore could not make the comers thereunto perfect, Heb 10:1. Nor let him go to the heathen philosophy, which does but beguile men, lead them into a wood, and leave them there; but let him go to Christ, admit his doctrine, submit to his discipline, believe in him; come to him as the fountain of living waters, the giver of all comfort.’ (MHC)

‘On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles there was a water ritual, and this clearly formed the background to the saying of Jesus about the Spirit. The ritual was connected with the need for rain during the following year. When Jesus said ‘If anyone is thirsty’ (37), he may have been thinking of Isa 55:1, but it is more likely he was offering a better alternative to the water ritual. The idea of thirst is given a spiritual sense, as so often in his teaching.’ (NBC)

‘Experiencing the blessings of the kingdom is like drinking new wine, for which the Jews were reluctant to abandon the old ways. {Lu 5:39} It was in this respect that Jesus appealed to the spiritually thirsty to come to him and drink.’ {Joh 4:9-14 7:37-39 Re 21:6} (DBI)

‘How ironic that his unrecognized voice was a disturbing presence in the festivities that had for so long been celebrated to welcome his presence!’ (DBI)

‘No prophet or apostle ever took on himself to use such language as this. ‘Come with us,’ said Moses to Hobab; {Nu 10:29} ‘Come to the waters,’ says Isaiah; {Isa 55:1} ‘Behold the Lamb,’ says John the Baptist; {Joh 1:29} ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,’ says St. Paul. {Ac 16:31} But no one except Jesus of Nazareth ever said, ‘Come to me.’ That fact is very significant. He that said, ‘Come to me,’ knew and felt when he said it that he was the eternal Son of God, the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world.’ (Ryle, Holiness)

Neither the number of our sins, nor the seriousness of them, nor the length of time spent sinning, provide any exception to this invitation.

We must note the differing responses to this gracious invitation: ‘The people were divided: some defended him and some wanted to arrest him. Is he a “good man” or “a deceiver?” {Joh 7:12} Is he “the Christ?” {Joh 7:31} Is he the promised “Prophet?” {Joh 7:40 De 18:15} If only they had honestly examined the evidence, they would have discovered that, indeed, he was the Christ, the Son of God.’ (Wiersbe)

‘What an offer! The deepest cravings of the human spirit are here, as in the Old Testament, expressed by the figure of “thirst,” and the external satisfaction of them by “drinking.” To the woman of Samaria he had said almost the same thing, and in the same terms. {Joh 4:13-14} But what to her was simply affirmed as a fact is here turned into a worldwide proclamation; and whereas there, the gift by him of the living water is the most prominent idea-in contrast with her hesitation to give him the perishable water of Jacob’s well-here the prominence is given to himself as the Well-spring of all satisfaction. He had in Galilee invited all the WEARY AND HEAVY-LADEN of the human family to come under his wing and they should find REST, {Mt 11:28} which is just the same deep want, and the same profound relief of it, under another and equally grateful figure. He had in the synagogue of Capernaum (John 6), announced himself, in every variety of form, as “the BREAD of Life,” and as both able and authorized to appease the “HUNGER,” and quench the “THIRST,” of all that apply to him. There is, and there can be, nothing beyond that here. But what was on all those occasions uttered in private, or addressed to a provincial audience, is here sounded forth in the streets of the great religious metropolis, and in language of surpassing majesty, simplicity, and grace. It is just Yahweh’s ancient proclamation now sounding forth through human flesh, “Ho, EVERY ONE THAT THIRSTETH, COME YE TO THE WATERS, AND HE THAT HATH NO MONEY!” {Isa 55:1} In this light, we have but two alternatives; either to say with Caiaphas of him that uttered such words, “He is guilty of death,” or, falling down before him, to exclaim with Thomas, “MY LORD AND MY GOD!”‘ (JFB)

‘Patience had her perfect work in the Lord Jesus, and until the last day of the feast he pleaded with the Jews, even as on this last day of the year he pleads with us, and waits to be gracious to us. Admirable indeed is the longsuffering of the Saviour in bearing with some of us year after year, notwithstanding our provocations, rebellions, and resistance of his Holy Spirit. Wonder of wonders that we are still in the land of mercy!

Pity expressed herself most plainly, for Jesus cried, which implies not only the loudness of his voice, but the tenderness of his tones. He entreats us to be reconciled. “We pray you,” says the Apostle, “as though God did beseech you by us.” What earnest, pathetic terms are these! How deep must be the love which makes the Lord weep over sinners, and like a mother woo his children to his bosom! Surely at the call of such a cry our willing hearts will come.

Provision is made most plenteously; all is provided that man can need to quench his soul’s thirst. To his conscience the atonement brings peace; to his understanding the gospel brings the richest instruction; to his heart the person of Jesus is the noblest object of affection; to the whole man the truth as it is in Jesus supplies the purest nutriment. Thirst is terrible, but Jesus can remove it. Though the soul were utterly famished, Jesus could restore it.

Proclamation is made most freely, that every thirsty one is welcome. No other distinction is made but that of thirst. Whether it be the thirst of avarice, ambition, pleasure, knowledge, or rest, he who suffers from it is invited. The thirst may be bad in itself, and be no sign of grace, but rather a mark of inordinate sin longing to be gratified with deeper draughts of lust; but it is not goodness in the creature which brings him the invitation, the Lord Jesus sends it freely, and without respect of persons.

Personality is declared most fully. The sinner must come to Jesus, not to works, ordinances, or doctrines, but to a personal Redeemer, who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree. The bleeding, dying, rising Saviour, is the only star of hope to a sinner. Oh for grace to come now and drink, ere the sun sets upon the year’s last day! (Spurgeon)

1. A Need – If anyone is thirsty.

All kinds of need: oxygen, pleasure, achievement, adventure, excitement; for meaning, purpose, a sense of belonging, peace of mind and peace with God.

What it is to have a need and not realise it.

To hunger and thirst after something better is the first step to finding it, Mt 5:6.

2. A Remedy – Come to me and drink.

If your thirst is not satisfied, you will die.

“Come to me” – bold statement! Not to a set of ideas, but to a person.

3. A Promise – Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within.

The promise is to ‘whoever’. Think of the different people and their reactions in this passage: Jesus’ brothers (sceptical), the crowds (excitable), the Pharisees (proud), the chief priests (jealous), Nicodemus (sympathetic), the Jews who believed in him.

This is explained as referring to the Holy Spirit.

Joh 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Bearing in mind the lack of punctuation in the original, a possibel translation would be: “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me; and let whoever believes in me drink. As the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” The ‘streams of living water’ would then flow from Christ, rather than from the believer. This makes excellent sense, especially in the light of the teaching of v39, which relates the gift of the Spirit to the work of Christ.

“As the Scripture has said” – ‘not so much to any particular passage as to the general strain of Messianic prophecy, as Isa 58:11 Joe 3:18 Zec 14:8 Eze 47:1-12; in most of which passages the idea is that of waters issuing from beneath the Temple, to which our Lord compares himself and those who believe in him.’ (JFB)

‘The public reading of Scripture at this feast included the one passage in the Prophets that emphasized this feast, Zechariah 14, which was interpreted in conjunction with Ezekiel 47. Together these texts taught that rivers of living water would flow forth from the temple (in Jewish teaching, at the very center of the earth, from the foundation stone of the temple), bringing life to all the earth. The water-drawing ceremony (7:37) (originally meant to secure rain) pointed toward this hope.

Because the water of verse 38 flows to and not from the believer, {Joh 7:39} 7:37-38 may be punctuated to read: “If anyone thirsts, let this one come to me; and let whoever believes in me drink. As the Scripture says….” (The original manuscripts had no punctuation.) Verse 38 may thus declare that Jesus fulfills the Scriptures read at the feast, as the foundation stone of a new temple, the source of the water of life (cf. 19:34; Rev 22:1).’ (NTBC)

“Living water” – As an Hebraism, flowing water is referred to as ‘living water’, because still in motion.

‘The reception of the Holy Spirit is clearly the special reception that was going to come after Jesus had been glorified at the Father’s right hand and happened on the Day of Pentecost as described in Acts 2. Two times in Jeremiah Yahweh is metaphorically identified as “the spring of living water.” {Jer 2:13 17:13} In both instances Israel is rebuked for having forsaken the Lord for other cisterns that could in no way satisfy their “thirst.”‘ (EDBT)

Water is an apt symbol of the Holy Spirit, because of its characteristics of cleansing, reviving, satisfying, fertilising, freeness, and abundance.

“From within him” – ‘The question arises whether this is a reference to either Christ or the believer. Since the living water is identified with the Spirit, in what sense can it be said that a believer communicates the Spirit? This can hardly be the meaning, and it is best to understand it to mean that Christ communicates the Spirit, a thought underlined by the latter part of v 39.’ (NBC)

Hendriksen gives the following as the general sense of this passage: ‘Not only do those who drink from the Fountain, Christ, receive lasting satisfaction for themselves – everlasting life, salvation full and free, but in addition, life in a bounteous manner communicates itself to others. The blessed one becomes, by God’s sovereign grace, a channel of abundant blessings to others. The church proclaims the message of salvation to the world, so that the elect from every clime and nation are gathered in.’

Joh 7:39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.

Up to that time the Spirit had not been given – ‘The Spirit of God was from eternity, for in the beginning he moved upon the face of the waters. He was in the Old-Testament prophets and saints, and Zacharias and Elisabeth were both filled with the Holy Ghost. This therefore must be understood of the eminent, plentiful, and general effusion of the Spirit which was promised, Joe 2:28, and accomplished, Ac 2:1, etc. The Holy Ghost was not yet given in that visible manner that was intended. if we compare the clear knowledge and strong grace of the disciples of Christ themselves, after the day of Pentecost, with their darkness and weakness before, we shall understand in what sense the Holy Ghost was not yet given; the earnests and first-fruits of the Spirit were given, but the full harvest was not yet come. That which is most properly called the dispensation of the Spirit did not yet commence. The Holy Ghost was not yet given in such rivers of living water as should issue forth to water the whole earth, even the Gentile world, not in the gifts of tongues, to which perhaps this promise principally refers.’ (MHC)

‘John 7:39 and 14:17 make plain that the full future outpouring of the Spirit is not yet present even with Jesus but awaits his glorification. Then his followers will be emboldened to testify even under hostile circumstances.’ {Mt 10:19-20} (EDBT)

‘It is promised to all that believe on Christ that they shall receive the Holy Ghost. Some received his miraculous gifts; {Mr 16:17,18} all receive his sanctifying graces. The gift of the Holy Ghost is one of the great blessings promised in the new covenant, {Ac 2:39} and, if promised, no doubt performed to all that have an interest in that covenant.’ (MHC)

Joh 7:40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”

“Surely this man is the Prophet” – ‘The OT prophet was one who proclaimed the word of God and was called by God to warn, to encourage, to comfort and to teach. The prophet was responsible directly to God and did not receive authority from any human appointment. Jesus was popularly acclaimed as a prophet by his contemporaries {Lu 24:19 Joh 4:19 6:17 7:40 9:17} and seemed to regard himself as a prophet, {Lu 4:24 Mr 6:4 Mt 13:57} though he was, like John, “more than a prophet”.’ {Mt 12:38-41 Lu 11:29-32} (DBI)

‘In this chapter there is a whole series of verdicts on Jesus.

(i) There is the verdict that he was a good man. {Joh 7:12} That verdict is true, but it is not the whole truth. It was Napoleon who made the famous remark: “I know men, and Jesus Christ is more than a man.” Jesus was indeed truly man; but in him was the mind of God. When he speaks it is not one man speaking to another; if that were so we might argue about his commands. When he speaks it is God speaking to men; and Christianity means not arguing about his commands, but accepting them.

(ii) There is the verdict that he was a prophet. {Joh 7:40} That too is true. The prophet is the forth-teller of the will of God, the man who has lived so close to God that he knows his mind and purposes. That is true of Jesus; but there is this difference. The prophet says: “Thus saith the Lord.” His authority is borrowed and delegated. His message is not his own. Jesus says: “I say unto you.” He has the right to speak, not with a delegated authority, but with his own.

(iii) There is the verdict that he was a deluded madman. {Joh 7:20} It is true that either Jesus is the only completely sane person in the world or he was mad. He chose a Cross when he might have had power. He was the Suffering Servant when he might have been the conquering king. He washed the feet of his disciples when he might have had men kneeling at his own feet. He came to serve when he could have subjected the world to servitude. It is not common sense that the words of Jesus give us, but uncommon sense. He turned the world’s standards upside down, because into a mad world he brought the supreme sanity of God.

(iv) There is the verdict that he was a seducer. The Jewish authorities saw in him one who was leading men away from true religion. He was accused of every crime against religion in the calendar-of being a Sabbath-breaker, of being a drunkard and a glutton, of having the most disreputable friends, of destroying orthodox religion. It is quite clear that, if we prefer our idea of religion to his, he will certainly appear a seducer-and it is one of the hardest things in the world for any man to do to admit that he is wrong.

(v) There is the verdict that he was a man of courage. {Joh 7:26} No one could ever doubt his sheer courage. He had the moral courage to defy convention and be different. He had the physical courage that could bear the most terrible pain. He had the courage to go on when his family abandoned him, and his friends forsook him, and one of his own circle betrayed him. Here we see him courageously entering Jerusalem when to enter it was to enter the lions’ den. He “feared God so much that he never feared the face of any man.”

(vi) There is the verdict that he had a most dynamic personality. {Joh 7:46} The verdict of the officers who were sent to arrest him and came back empty-handed was that never had any man spoken like this. Julian Duguid tells how he once voyaged on the same Atlantic liner as Sir Wilfred Grenfell, and he says that when Grenfell came into a room you could tell it even if you had your back to him, for a wave of vitality emanated from him. When we think of how this Galilaean carpenter faced the highest in the land and dominated them until it was they who were on trial and not he, we are bound to admit that he was at least one of the supreme personalities in history. The picture of a gentle, anaemic Jesus will not do. From him flowed a power that sent those despatched to arrest him back in empty-handed bewilderment.

(vii) There is the verdict that he was the Christ, the Anointed one of God. Nothing less will do. It. is the plain fact that Jesus does not fit into any of the available human categories; only the category of the divine will do.’ (DSB)

John 7:41  Others said, “He is the Christ.” Still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee?

Joh 7:42 “Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?”

“Does not the Scripture say that the Christ will come from David’s family?” – It does, indeed. On Christ as the Son of David, See JEM “Mt 1:1″.

“Bethlehem, the town where David lived” – Cf. 1Sa 17:12,58. ‘When Joh 7:42 is taken as indicating that the Fourth Evangelist knew nothing of Jesus’ birth in the city of David, the intentional ambiguity found throughout John’s Gospel is being misunderstood.’ (DJG)

‘If we infer from this passage that the fourth Evangelist either did not know or did not accept Jesus’ Davidic descent or nativity in Bethlehem, we expose our own failure to appreciate his delicate handling of this situation.’ (F.F. Bruce)

‘The irony was, of course, that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. His origins were not in Galilee as these people supposed. More important than this, of course, is that Jesus’ real origins were in heaven, from when he had been sent by the Father.’ (Kruse)

For other examples of Johanine irony, see Joh 7:35 11:48 13:38.

John 7:43  Thus the people were divided because of Jesus.

John 7:44  Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

John 7:45  Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why didn’t you bring him in?”

John 7:46  “No one ever spoke the way this man does,” the guards declared.

John 7:47  “You mean he has deceived you also?” the Pharisees retorted.

Joh 7:48 “Has any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him?”

Verse 48f well represetns the typical attitude of the Pharisee. The Pharisee began from an excellent starting-point – the OT doctrine concerning the relationship between God and his people. The returning exiles, keen to be holy and distinctive, tended forget their call to be ‘a light to the nations’ and withdrew from the heathen altogether. And so Pharisaism was born. The very word means ‘separated ones’. They were the separatists, the exclusivists, of their day. They held themselves aloof from all contact which they thought might ‘defile’ them. They shunned contact not only with Gentiles and with hellenised Jews, but also with the ‘common people’ which in their ignorance were habitual law-breakers. They were thus disturbed at the early popularity of Jesus, whom the common people heard gladly, Joh 7:48-49 Lu 5:29-32.

Joh 7:49 “No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law-there is a curse on them.”

As part of the answer to the question, Why or in what respects is the Gospel a mystery? Gurnall answers, ‘It is a mystery in regard of the sort of men to whom it is chiefly imparted-such as are, in reason, most unlikely to dive into any great mysteries; those who are despised by the wise world, and the great states of it, as poor and base. ‘Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,’ 1Co 1:26,27. If we have a secret to reveal, we do not choose weak and shallow heads to impart it unto; but here is a mystery which babes understand and wise men are ignorant of: ‘I thank thee, O Father,…because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.’ The people who were so scorned by the proud Pharisees, as those who knew not the law, Joh 7:49, to them was the gospel revealed, while these doctors of the chair were left in ignorance. It is revealed to the poor many times, and hid from kings and princes. Christ passeth often by palaces to visit the poor cottage. Herod could get nothing from Christ-who out of curiosity so long desired to see him, Lu 23:8; whereas the poor woman of Samaria with a pitcher in her hand, Christ vouchsafeth her a sermon, and opens to her the saving truths of the gospel. Pilate missed of Christ on the bench, while the poor thief finds him, and heaven with him, on the cross. Devout women are passed by and left to perish with their blind zeal, while harlots and publicans are converted by him.’

John 7:50  Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked,

Joh 7:51 “Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?”

The reaction of Nicodemus was to speak up for Jesus. What opportunities do we have to speak a good word for Jesus Christ?

Joh 7:52 They replied, “Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

“Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee” – This is one of the first recorded salvos in a debate the raged ever since about whether, and how, the OT scriptures are fulfilled in Christ.

John 7:53  Then each went to his own home.