John 7:1–30

Footnotes

1. 1 Again, the transition is indicated by the imprecise temporal indicator After this. Clearly, though, the author has left out much of the events of Jesus’ ministry, because chap. 6 took place near the Passover (6:4). This would have been the Passover between winter/spring of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion (assuming a date of a.d. 33 for the crucifixion), or the Passover of winter/spring a.d. 29, assuming a date of a.d. 30 for the crucifixion.
2. 2 Grk “Jesus was traveling around in Galilee.”
3. 3 Grk “For he.” Here γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated.
4. 4 Grk “he did not want to travel around in Judea.”
5. 5 Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term Ἰουδαῖοι (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,” 26 [1975]: 401–9.) Here the phrase should be restricted to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents.
6. 6 Grk “were seeking.”
7. 7 Or “feast of the Tents” (the feast where people lived in tents or shelters, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skēnopēgia) for the feast of Tabernacles constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.
8. 8 Since the present verse places these incidents at the feast of Tabernacles (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1–47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1–9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.
9. 9 Grk “his brothers.” Jesus’ brothers. Jesus’ brothers (really his half-brothers) were mentioned previously by John in 2:12 (see the note on brothers there). They are also mentioned elsewhere in Matt 13:55 and Mark 6:3.
10. 10 Grk “your deeds that you are doing.” Should the advice by Jesus’ brothers, Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing, be understood as a suggestion that he should attempt to win back the disciples who had deserted him earlier (6:66)? Perhaps. But it is also possible to take the words as indicating that if Jesus is going to put forward messianic claims (i.e., through miraculous signs) then he should do so in Jerusalem, not in the remote parts of Galilee. Such an understanding seems to fit better with the following verse. It would also indicate misunderstanding on the part of Jesus’ brothers of the true nature of his mission—he did not come as the royal Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation, to be enthroned as king at this time.
11. 11 Or “seeks to be well known.”
12. 12 No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)
13. 13 This is a parenthetical note by the author.
14. 14 Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”
15. 15 Or “my opportunity.”
16. 16 Or “is not yet here.”
17. 17 Grk “your time is always ready.”
18. 18 One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.
19. 19 Most (𝔓66, 75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 f1, 13 𝔐 sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupō) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw ΟΥΠΩ wrote ΟΥΚ. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.
20. 20 Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (hōra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father—the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.
21. 21 Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”
22. 22 Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
23. 23 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. .
24. 24 Grk “Where is that one?”
25. 25 Grk “And there was.”
26. 26 Or “complaining.”
27. 27 Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in the previous verse).
28. 28 Or “the crowd.”
29. 29 Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See also the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. .
30. 30 Grk “to the temple.”
31. 31 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.
32. 32 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. .
33. 33 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.
34. 34 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). 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.
35. 35 Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”
36. 36 The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
37. 37 Grk “his will.”
38. 38 Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”
39. 39 Grk “who speaks from himself.”
40. 40 Or “seeks.”
41. 41 Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
42. 42 Or “seeks.”
43. 43 Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
44. 44 Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”
45. 45 Or “accomplishes”; Grk “does.”
46. 46 Grk “seek.”
47. 47 Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in 7:15).
48. 48 Grk “You have a demon!”
49. 49 Grk “Who is seeking to kill you?” 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.
50. 50 Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”
51. 51 Grk “I did one deed.”
52. 52 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.)
53. 53 Grk “gave you circumcision.”
54. 54 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.
55. 55 Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.
56. 56 Grk “receives circumcision.”
57. 57 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 ( Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah ( 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 Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.
58. 58 Or “made an entire man well.”
59. 59 Or “based on sight.”
60. 60 Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”
61. 61 For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
62. 62 Grk “Is it not this one.”
63. 63 Grk “seeking.”
64. 64 Or “speaking openly.”
65. 65 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.
66. 66 Grk “this one.”
67. 67 Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). See the note on Christ in .
68. 68 Grk “this one.”
69. 69 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.
70. 70 Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). See the note on Christ in .
71. 71 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 ( 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.
72. 72 Grk “the temple.”
73. 73 Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”
74. 74 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.
75. 75 Grk “And I have not come from myself.”
76. 76 The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
77. 77 Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”
78. 78 Although the conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, the contrast is implied (an omitted conjunction is called asyndeton).
79. 79 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.
80. 80 Grk “and that one.”
81. 81 Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity. 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.
82. 82 Grk “his hour.”