Jesus Teaches at the Festival

14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.(A) 15 The Jews(B) there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning(C) without having been taught?”(D)

16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.(E) 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out(F) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,(G) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law?(H) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”(I)

20 “You are demon-possessed,”(J) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

21 Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,(K) and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision(L) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),(M) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”(N)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?(O) 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities(P) really concluded that he is the Messiah?(Q) 27 But we know where this man is from;(R) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,(S) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.(T) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.(U) You do not know him, 29 but I know him(V) because I am from him and he sent me.”(W)

30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,(X) because his hour had not yet come.(Y) 31 Still, many in the crowd believed in him.(Z) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs(AA) than this man?”

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Teaching in the Temple

14 When the feast was half over, Jesus went up to the temple courts[a] and began to teach.[b] 15 Then the Jewish leaders[c] were astonished[d] and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?”[e] 16 So Jesus replied,[f] “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me.[g] 17 If anyone wants to do God’s will,[h] he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority.[i] 18 The person who speaks on his own authority[j] desires[k] to receive honor[l] for himself; the one who desires[m] the honor[n] of the one who sent him is a man of integrity,[o] and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19 Hasn’t Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps[p] the law! Why do you want[q] to kill me?”

20 The crowd[r] answered, “You’re possessed by a demon![s] Who is trying to kill you?”[t] 21 Jesus replied,[u] “I performed one miracle[v] and you are all amazed.[w] 22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision[x] (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child[y] on the Sabbath. 23 But if a male child[z] is circumcised[aa] on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken,[ab] why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well[ac] on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to external appearance,[ad] but judge with proper[ae] judgment.”

Questions About Jesus’ Identity

25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man[af] they are trying[ag] to kill? 26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly,[ah] and they are saying nothing to him.[ai] Do the ruling authorities[aj] really know that this man[ak] is the Christ?[al] 27 But we know where this man[am] comes from.[an] Whenever the Christ[ao] comes, no one will know where he comes from.”[ap]

28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts,[aq] cried out,[ar] “You both know me and know where I come from![as] And I have not come on my own initiative,[at] but the one who sent me[au] is true. You do not know him,[av] 29 but[aw] I know him, because I have come from him[ax] and he[ay] sent me.”

30 So then they tried to seize Jesus,[az] but no one laid a hand on him, because his time[ba] had not yet come. 31 Yet many of the crowd[bb] believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ[bc] comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?”[bd]

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Footnotes

  1. John 7:14 tn Grk “to the temple.”
  2. John 7:14 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.
  3. John 7:15 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.
  4. John 7:15 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.
  5. John 7:15 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).sn He has never had formal instruction. Ironically when the Jewish leaders came face-to-face with the Word become flesh—the preexistent Logos, creator of the universe and divine Wisdom personified—they treated him as an untaught, unlearned person, without the formal qualifications to be a teacher.
  6. John 7:16 tn Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”
  7. John 7:16 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
  8. John 7:17 tn Grk “his will.”
  9. John 7:17 tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”
  10. John 7:18 tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”
  11. John 7:18 tn Or “seeks.”
  12. John 7:18 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
  13. John 7:18 tn Or “seeks.”
  14. John 7:18 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
  15. John 7:18 tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”
  16. John 7:19 tn Or “accomplishes”; Grk “does.”
  17. John 7:19 tn Grk “seek.”
  18. John 7:20 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in 7:15).
  19. John 7:20 tn Grk “You have a demon!”
  20. John 7:20 tn Grk “Who is seeking to kill you?”sn Who is trying to kill you? Many of the crowd (if they had come in from surrounding regions for the feast) probably were ignorant of any plot. The plot was on the part of the Jewish leaders. Note how carefully John distinguishes between the leadership and the general populace in their respective responses to Jesus.
  21. John 7:21 tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”
  22. John 7:21 tn Grk “I did one deed.”
  23. John 7:21 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.)
  24. John 7:22 tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”
  25. John 7:22 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.
  26. John 7:23 tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
  27. John 7:23 tn Grk “receives circumcision.”
  28. John 7:23 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. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.
  29. John 7:23 tn Or “made an entire man well.”
  30. John 7:24 tn Or “based on sight.”
  31. John 7:24 tn Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”
  32. John 7:25 tn Grk “Is it not this one.”
  33. John 7:25 tn Grk “seeking.”
  34. John 7:26 tn Or “speaking openly.”
  35. John 7:26 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.
  36. John 7:26 tn Grk “the rulers.” In context this refers to the Jewish leaders.
  37. John 7:26 tn Grk “this one.”
  38. John 7:26 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
  39. John 7:27 tn Grk “this one.”
  40. John 7:27 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.
  41. John 7:27 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
  42. John 7:27 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.
  43. John 7:28 tn Grk “the temple.”
  44. John 7:28 tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”
  45. John 7:28 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.
  46. John 7:28 tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”
  47. John 7:28 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
  48. John 7:28 tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”
  49. John 7:29 tn Although the conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, the contrast is implied (an omitted conjunction is called asyndeton).
  50. John 7:29 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.
  51. John 7:29 tn Grk “and that one.”
  52. John 7:30 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.sn Here the response is on the part of the crowd, who tried to seize Jesus. This is apparently distinct from the attempted arrest by the authorities mentioned in 7:32.
  53. John 7:30 tn Grk “his hour.”
  54. John 7:31 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).
  55. John 7:31 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.
  56. John 7:31 tn Questions prefaced with μή () 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?”).