Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve

7 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee; for He did not want to walk in Judea, ^(A)because the ^[a]Jews sought to kill Him. ^2 (B)Now the Jews’ Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. ^3 (C)His brothers therefore said to Him, “Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. ⁴ For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” ⁵ For ^(D)even His ^(E)brothers did not believe in Him.

⁶ Then Jesus said to them, ^(F)“My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. ^7 (G)The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me ^(H)because I testify of it that its works are evil. ⁸ You go up to this feast. I am not ^[b]yet going up to this feast, ^(I)for My time has not yet fully come.” ⁹ When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee.

The Heavenly Scholar

¹⁰ But when His brothers had gone up, then He also went up to the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. ¹¹ Then ^(J)the Jews sought Him at the feast, and said, “Where is He?” ¹² And ^(K)there was much complaining among the people concerning Him. ^(L)Some said, “He is good”; others said, “No, on the contrary, He deceives the people.” ¹³ However, no one spoke openly of Him ^(M)for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴ Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and ^(N)taught. ^15 (O)And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”

^16 [c]Jesus answered them and said, ^(P)“My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. ^17 (Q)If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. ^18 (R)He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who ^(S)seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and ^(T)no unrighteousness is in Him. ^19 (U)Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? ^(V)Why do you seek to kill Me?”

²⁰ The people answered and said, ^(W)“You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”

²¹ Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. ^22 (X)Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, ^(Y)but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because ^(Z)I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? ^24 (AA)Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”

Could This Be the Christ?

²⁵ Now some of them from Jerusalem said, “Is this not He whom they seek to ^(AB)kill? ²⁶ But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. ^(AC)Do the rulers know indeed that this is ^[d]truly the Christ? ^27 (AD)However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.”

²⁸ Then Jesus cried out, as He taught in the temple, saying, ^(AE)“You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and ^(AF)I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me ^(AG)is true, ^(AH)whom you do not know. ^29 [e]But ^(AI)I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.”

³⁰ Therefore ^(AJ)they sought to take Him; but ^(AK)no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. ³¹ And ^(AL)many of the people believed in Him, and said, “When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?”

Jesus and the Religious Leaders

³² The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him, and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. ³³ Then Jesus said ^[f]to them, ^(AM)“I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I ^(AN)go to Him who sent Me. ³⁴ You ^(AO)will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you ^(AP)cannot come.”

³⁵ Then the Jews said among themselves, “Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? Does He intend to go to ^(AQ)the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? ³⁶ What is this thing that He said, ‘You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

^37 (AR)On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ^(AS)“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. ^38 (AT)He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ^(AU)out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” ^39 (AV)But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those ^[g]believing in Him would receive; for the ^[h]Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet ^(AW)glorified.

Who Is He?

⁴⁰ Therefore ^[i]many from the crowd, when they heard this saying, said, “Truly this is ^(AX)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(AY)the Christ.”

But some said, “Will the Christ come out of Galilee? ^42 (AZ)Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem, ^(BA)where David was?” ⁴³ So ^(BB)there was a division among the people because of Him. ⁴⁴ Now ^(BC)some of them wanted to take Him, but no one laid hands on Him.

Rejected by the Authorities

⁴⁵ Then the officers came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why have you not brought Him?”

⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(BD)“No man ever spoke like this Man!”

⁴⁷ Then the Pharisees answered them, “Are you also deceived? ⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”

⁵⁰ Nicodemus ^(BE)(he who came to ^[j]Jesus ^[k]by night, being one of them) said to them, ^51 (BF)“Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?”

⁵² They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for ^(BG)no prophet ^[l]has arisen out of Galilee.”

An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World

^53 [m]And everyone went to his own house.

The Wiles of a Harlot

The Crafty Harlot

Freed from the Law

7 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law ^[a]has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For ^(A)the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then ^(B)if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become ^(C)dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should ^(D)bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law ^(E)were at work in our members ^(F)to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve ^(G)in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Sin’s Advantage in the Law

⁷ What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, ^(H)I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, ^(I)“You shall not covet.” ⁸ But ^(J)sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For ^(K)apart from the law sin was dead. ⁹ I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. ¹⁰ And the commandment, ^(L)which was to bring life, I found to bring death. ¹¹ For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. ¹² Therefore ^(M)the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

Law Cannot Save from Sin

¹³ Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. ¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, ^(N)sold under sin. ¹⁵ For what I am doing, I do not understand. ^(O)For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. ¹⁶ If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. ¹⁷ But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. ¹⁸ For I know that ^(P)in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. ¹⁹ For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. ²⁰ Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.

²¹ I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. ²² For I ^(Q)delight in the law of God according to ^(R)the inward man. ²³ But ^(S)I see another law in ^(T)my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me ^(U)from this body of death? ^25 (V)I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.

The Great Apostasy

2 Now, brethren, ^(A)concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ^(B)and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ^2 (C)not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of ^[a]Christ had come. ³ Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come ^(D)unless the falling away comes first, and ^(E)the man of ^[b]sin is revealed, ^(F)the son of perdition, ⁴ who opposes and ^(G)exalts himself ^(H)above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[c]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵ Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶ And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷ For ^(I)the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸ And then the lawless one will be revealed, ^(J)whom the Lord will consume ^(K)with the breath of His mouth and destroy ^(L)with the brightness of His coming. ⁹ The coming of the lawless one is ^(M)according to the working of Satan, with all power, ^(N)signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰ and with all unrighteous deception among ^(O)those who perish, because they did not receive ^(P)the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹ And ^(Q)for this reason God will send them strong delusion, ^(R)that they should believe the lie, ¹² that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but ^(S)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Fast

¹³ But we are ^[f]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God ^(T)from the beginning ^(U)chose you for salvation ^(V)through ^[g]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴ to which He called you by our gospel, for ^(W)the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Therefore, brethren, ^(X)stand fast and hold ^(Y)the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our ^[h]epistle.

¹⁶ Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, ^(Z)who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and ^(AA)good hope by grace, ¹⁷ comfort your hearts ^(AB)and ^[i]establish you in every good word and work.