Chapter Seven

1–13. Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths. – 14–53. Christ’s appearance in the temple and his discourses.

John 7:1. After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him. At the Passover, about which John mentioned in the previous chapter (John 6:4), Christ apparently did not attend. He was traveling at that time and during the summer months following that Passover through Galilee, because at that time it was dangerous for him to go to Judea in view of the hostile intentions of the Jews. During this Galilean journey fall the events described in the Gospel of Matthew (Matt 15) and Mark (Mark 7:1-8:10): the dispute with the Pharisees about the traditions of the elders (Matt 15:1-20), Christ’s journey through upper Galilee to the borders of Phoenicia, where he healed the daughter of a Canaanite woman, return from there to the northeastern region of the Sea of Galilee and the second feeding of the people, after which Christ with his disciples crossed the sea to the region of Dalmanoutha, which was in the area of Gennesaret (Matt 15:21-39; Mark 7:24-8:10), where Pharisees and Sadducees then demanded of him a sign from heaven. It was precisely at this time, between the return to the region of Gennesaret and this demand for a sign, that Christ’s departure to Jerusalem for the Feast of Booths most likely occurred.

John 7:2. Now the Jewish feast of Booths was at hand. Regarding the Feast of Booths, see the comments to Lev 23:33 and following.

John 7:3. His brothers said to him: Leave here and go to Judea so that your disciples also may see the works you are doing; John 7:4. for no one who wants to be known acts in secret. If you do these things, show yourself to the world. From the words of Christ’s brothers (regarding Christ’s brothers see the comments to Matt 1:25) it is clear that they were aware, on the one hand, of the decrease in Christ’s followers in Galilee (John 6:66), on the other hand, of the fact that when he was in Jerusalem the Lord gathered a large number of listeners around him (John 3:26; cf. John 2:23). “There, in Jerusalem,” say Christ’s brothers to him, “is where you can now find disciples for yourself, if you have any disciples at all!” It is precisely in front of these disciples that Christ should perform his works, because the inhabitants there are more reliable than the frivolous Galileans. Christ should also go to Judea because he claims the title of Messiah, for only in Jerusalem are people able to properly appreciate Christ’s activity. There, in Jerusalem, the Messiah should announce the opening of his kingdom and from there rule over all the land of Israel and the whole world. “If you do these things,” that is, miraculous deeds, which may justify your claims, then you should not remain in provincial obscurity, but come forward before the whole Jewish world, and in the appropriate place.

John 7:5. For neither did his brothers believe in him. In explanation of his brothers’ proposal to the Lord, the evangelist says that at that time they did not believe in him. They really could not recognize in him the one he claimed to be, and follow him as the 12 apostles did. They saw the signs he performed, but still did not come to faith in him such as he wished to see from them. In this they agreed with the other Jews (cf. John 12:7). But on the other hand, they did not break off communion with their adoptive brother; they valued his honor and wanted the world to soon recognize him in his dignity, and then they would follow him.

John 7:6. Jesus said to them: My time has not yet come, but your time is always here. John 7:7. The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its deeds are evil. John 7:8. You go to the feast; I am not going to this feast, for my time has not yet fully come. The Lord does not respond to his brothers substantially, because they were not in a position at that time to understand his words as they should. He tells them only what is quite comprehensible to them, namely that he would expose himself to dangers if he were to set out for Jerusalem now. His “time,” that is, the time for the full manifestation of his dignity, has not yet come. Of course, this time of manifestation of Messianic dignity for Christ must come, but this will take place not at the Feast of Booths, but at the next Passover.

John 7:9. After saying this, he remained in Galilee. John 7:10. But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in secret. However, the Lord, after his brothers had left for the feast, also went to Jerusalem himself, though alone, as if secretly. This change in the decision he had made gave even the pagan Porphyry occasion to reproach Christ with inconsistency, with infidelity to his word. But to this objection, repeated even now by rationalists, it must be said that Christ told his brothers that he would not go to the Feast of Booths openly, with triumph, as a Messiah-king, but he did not say that he would not go to Jerusalem at all even as an ordinary pilgrim. Thus as an ordinary pilgrim he now goes to the feast, not attracting anyone’s attention to himself.

John 7:11. The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying: Where is he? John 7:12. And there was considerable complaining about him in the crowd. Some were saying: “He is a good man,” while others were saying: “No, he is deceiving the crowd. John 7:13. Yet no one would speak openly about him for fear of the Jews. Christ’s absence from the feast – probably in the beginning, in the first days of the feast – was noticed by the Jews, who evidently expected to seize Christ in their hands now. And in the crowd of people there was talk about Christ. Some called him “good,” that is, as we would say, an honest public figure, while others called him a popular agitator. But people were afraid to express the first opinion openly before all the people, because the Jews, Christ’s enemies, could declare those holding such an opinion to be disciples of Christ and subject them to arrest.

John 7:14. But when it was already the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach. It is not known exactly on which day the Lord arrived in Jerusalem. But he “went up” (more precisely, “ascended”; the temple was indeed at some height compared to the city buildings) into the temple “in the middle,” that is, around the fourth day of the seven-day Feast of Booths. “Taught.” This time the Lord appears in Jerusalem not as a simple pilgrim as he had gone to Jerusalem and as he had come to Jerusalem at last year’s Feast of Booths, but as a teacher of his people, as a preacher. If the previous time he had to engage in dispute with the Jews, this was provoked by accusations made against him by his enemies. Now he comes forward in the temple on his own initiative.

John 7:15. The Jews were astonished and said: “How does this man have such learning, when he has never been taught? The Jews marvel at the knowledge of the law and sacred books generally displayed by Christ. “He met and refuted the opinions of the rabbis with the finest and extremely original references to Scripture. He penetrated beyond the letter – to the very spirit” (Geikie). Since in this astonishment expressed by the Jews there was a hint that the education Christ received not in a rabbinical school could not be fully reliable as a guarantee of his orthodoxy or religious correctness, did not provide assurance in the truth of Christ’s teaching, Christ speaks a whole discourse in defense of the truth of his teaching and generally of his divine mission. Christ’s discourse is divided into three parts. In the first (verses 16–24) the Lord defends his teaching as having divine origin. In the second (verses 25–30) he proves his own origin from God. In the third (verses 31–34) he predicts to his opponents his coming departure to the Father.

John 7:16. Jesus answered them: “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me; In response to the malicious remark of the Jews concerning the unknown origin of Christ’s teaching, Christ here asserts, first, that his teaching really is his teaching, teaching not borrowed from any rabbi (this is indicated by the expression ἡ ἐμὴ διδαχή, much more strongly expressing the idea of the teaching’s belonging to Christ than the other, parallel expression ἡ διδαχή μου). Second, he says that he himself received his teaching from “the one who sent” him, that is, from God.

John 7:17. if anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. How, however, can one be assured that Christ is telling the truth about the origin of his teaching from God? This is very simple. It is necessary only for the very evaluators of teachings themselves to do or at least to want, to strive to do God’s will expressed in Scripture, and then they will soon and easily be assured that Jesus Christ’s teaching is from God. So close is this teaching to all that God in the Old Testament proclaimed to Israel! “To assimilate religious truth, one must have a heart desiring to be taught by God, a heart that loves God and desires to know his will, however it may contradict each person’s own will. He whose soul does not love truth and seeks no harmony with God cannot recognize truth even when he hears it” (Geikie).

John 7:18. “One who speaks on his own seeks the glory for himself; but the one who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no deceit in him. However, most people do not have this quality – do not follow the path indicated by God in the Old Testament. How can such a majority be assured of the truth of Christ’s teaching? It must turn to plain common sense. This says: “if any preacher does not seek honor for himself, but cares only for the glory of the one who sent him, then obviously such a person deserves complete trust.” But Christ acts precisely thus, from which it must be concluded that his teaching is true.

John 7:19. “Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me? Since those standing before Christ had accused him earlier, namely at his previous visit to Jerusalem, of violating the law of the Sabbath (John 5:10-18) and now continued to harbor malicious intentions against Christ (John 7:1), the Lord now takes advantage of the opportunity to show the groundlessness of their attacks on him. This was the first meeting of Christ with the Jerusalem Jews after the confrontation that occurred on the occasion of the healing of the paralyzed man at Bethesda. He now directly accuses the Jews of the murderous intent they have formed against him as against a violator of the law, and shows that they themselves are guilty of not keeping the law. “None of you.” Here one cannot see an indication of universal sinfulness with respect to God’s law, because if universal sinfulness were meant here and if Christ referred to this fact in proof that sinners have no right to judge him for an alleged violation of the law, then by this same token he would have given occasion for denying the legitimacy of any judges. No, here the Lord has in mind a special case, about which he speaks below (verse 22).

John 7:20. “The crowd answered: “You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you? “The crowd,” that is, the throng of pilgrims who came from different distant regions and were not familiar with the position taken by the hierarchy toward Christ, rudely interrupts Christ, pointing to the groundlessness of his accusations against the Jews.

John 7:21. Jesus answered: “I did one deed, and all of you are astonished. John 7:22. “Moses gave you circumcision – though it is not from Moses but from the patriarchs – and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. The Lord, ignoring the words of the crowd, continues his discourse, addressing himself chiefly to the Jews. He reminds them of one deed he performed, namely the healing of the paralyzed man at Bethesda. Because of this one case of violation of the Sabbath by Christ, the Jews became so enraged at Christ that they began to seek his death. Yet they themselves constantly violate the Sabbath – namely when they circumcise a child on the Sabbath, which according to the law should be done without fail on the eighth day after birth (Lev 12:3; cf. Gen 17:12).

John 7:23. “If a male child receives circumcision on a Sabbath in order that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? The difference between the violation of the law that Christ committed and those that the Jews permit themselves does not consist in the fact that he violated the law in one case while they do so constantly. More important is that through violation of the law they achieved only the introduction of the child into external communion with God, made him a member of the theocratic community, while Christ at Bethesda gave the paralyzed man complete – both external and internal – salvation (the expression “a man’s whole body” contains the idea of the special importance of the miracle of healing compared with the act of circumcision of a child, which is not “wholly” sanctified by this act). And by giving the paralyzed man such a blessing, Christ, so to speak, did not violate but fulfilled the higher divine commandment of love toward one’s neighbor, which constituted the central point of the teaching of the law and the prophets (cf. Matt 5:43 and others).

John 7:24. “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment. If now for this deed Christ is accused of violating the law, this is already a judgment based on outward appearance, not on the substance of the act, a formal judgment that takes into account only the fact that Christ performed such a violation of the law, which others have not performed. After all, these “others” also violated the law, and in even more important cases. Why then should we not judge them?

John 7:25. Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying: “Is not this the man whom they are trying to kill? John 7:26. “And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities have really come to believe that this is the Messiah? John 7:27. “Yet we know where this man is from; but when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from. Christ’s words evidently caused his enemies to hide themselves in the crowd. Indeed, they could not fail to realize that their attitude toward Christ appeared nitpicking to the point of obvious injustice. And rabbis, for example, Elazar ben-Azariah, compared circumcision with the healing of a whole body to prove that to save a human life on the Sabbath is as good as to perform circumcision, and the law of Sabbath holiness is not thereby violated (treatise Tosefta). Then some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who were certainly well aware of the hierarchy’s attitude toward Christ, express their astonishment at such an inexplicable change in the attitude of their leaders toward him. “If one assumes,” the Jerusalemites thought, “that the leaders have also come to believe in Christ’s Messianic dignity, this is hindered by the fact that everyone knows about Christ’s origin, while according to Jewish belief, the Messiah was to appear suddenly and from an unknown land.” Indeed, the rabbis taught that the Messiah, after his birth in Bethlehem, would be taken away by spirits and winds, and when he returns the second time, no one will know where he comes from.

John 7:28. Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying: “You know me, and you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. John 7:29. “I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me. The cold and indifferent remarks that the Jerusalemites exchanged among themselves moved Christ to address them with a bitter reproach (which Christ “cried out” or, properly, “shouted” in the temple – ἔκραξεν). The thought contained in this reproach is as follows: “You think that you know exactly the origin of myself, but meanwhile I am not at all a simple inhabitant of Nazareth who only imagined himself to be the Messiah. No, I come from God, and from God received my authority. God is the one who sent me, and this is his right, a completely legitimate right (he is “true,” sending me). Unfortunately, you do not know God, who sent me, and of course therefore do not accept me. Only I know him, because I am from him (παρ´ αὐτοῦ), and he sent me.”

John 7:30. Then they tried to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him because his hour had not yet come. The Jerusalemites were offended by these words of Christ and wished to seize him in order to hand him over to the authorities as a blasphemer who ascribed to himself a coming from God. But no one did this, since the hour of Christ’s suffering had not yet come.

John 7:31. Yet many in the crowd believed in him and were saying: “When the Messiah comes, will he do more signs than this man has done? John 7:32. The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him. In contrast to the Jerusalemites, many from the crowd of pilgrims who came from far away believed in Christ as the Messiah. Although during this visit to Jerusalem Christ did not perform miracles here, it is undoubtedly true that rumors of his miracles in Galilee (“signs” is what the people call miracles, evidently following the view of miracles that Christ himself established, cf. John 6:26) had reached the ears of these pilgrims. The Pharisees, of course, listened carefully to what the people were saying about Christ, and since they, along with the chief priests, formed the membership of the Sanhedrin (Matt 2:4), they and the chief priests together tried to put an end to the popular unrest by sending temple police to seize Christ.

John 7:33. Jesus then said: “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me; John 7:34. “you will search for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come. In the crowd surrounding him, Christ noticed these temple police and therefore, equating all his listeners with these envoys of the Sanhedrin, he addresses the whole crowd with an announcement that he will soon leave to go to the one who sent him, where the listeners cannot follow him if they wish. “You will search for me” – of course, in order to bring repentance for their disobedience to Christ (cf. John 8:28).

John 7:35. The Jews said to one another: “Where does he intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? John 7:36. “What does he mean by saying, ‘You will search for me and you will not find me’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’? Christ’s words about his departure to the one who sent him were not understood by the people, who thought that Christ might go to some famous rabbi living in the Dispersion, that is, outside the boundaries of Palestine. “The Dispersion” – this refers to Jews scattered in various regions of Greece. “There,” the people suppose, “in Jewish synagogues Christ could come forward as a wandering preacher, and then move on to preaching his teaching among actual Greeks.” Thus the apostles later did (Acts 11:19 and following; Acts 13:14 and following). But certainly in the words of the Jews there is mockery of Christ. “Yes,” they seem to say, “you were unsuccessful in spreading your teaching here among true Israelites, and now you want to try your luck abroad, where Jews, less familiar with the truths handed down by the fathers and therefore more susceptible to all kinds of innovations, live. Well? You won’t gain much honor if you succeed there somewhere...”

John 7:37. On the last day of the festival, the great day, Jesus stood and cried out: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. John 7:38. “Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ The evangelist reports yet another saying of Christ, which he spoke to the people on the last day of the Feast of Booths. Since the evangelist calls this day “great,” it was undoubtedly the seventh day. It is true that according to the law of Moses (Lev 23:35 and following; Num 29:35; cf. Nehem 8:18) and according to the Jewish custom of the time of Christ, an eighth day – also of a festive character, called a festival gathering (“atzeret”) – was added to the seven days of the Feast of Booths, but this day did not resemble the preceding days. Thus dwelling in booths ended on the seventh day; the ceremonial processions to the Siloam spring for water also ended then. And besides, on the seventh day this procession with the singing of psalm 117 (hosanna!) was performed seven times, which is why this day later received the name “great hosanna.” On this day too branches were removed from the altar with which it had been decorated at the beginning of the festival. In short, the seventh day was the closing day of the festival, a day of special festive excitement. That is why the Lord on this day did not wait, as other teachers did, for the people themselves to gather around him, while he sat (preachers among the Jews usually taught sitting, cf. Matt 23:2), but on the contrary, he himself called to the people, standing in the gallery of the temple. Through the noise of the crowd that moved from the altar to the Siloam spring through the temple court, his call rang out: “Whoever is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.” The pilgrims who were in the temple court, singing the hymn of the prophet Isaiah “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isa 12:3), should have understood that Christ was calling to himself as the “source of salvation” of which the prophet speaks. It should be noted that Christ here says something greater than he once said to the Samaritan woman: there (John 4:10) he depicted himself only as a dispenser of living water; here he is the very living water itself. He thus applies to himself those words with which the Psalmist addressed the Lord: “With you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light” (Ps 35:10). “Whoever is thirsty.” These are people who are aware of the insufficiency of their own powers to obtain salvation (cf. Matt 5:6). They will find complete satisfaction of their desires by believing in Christ, just as once the Hebrews found water for themselves during their wandering in the Arabian desert from the miraculous rock. Here Christ appears, therefore, as the fulfillment of the idea that was contained in this Old Testament prototype: he is the true rock that flows forth the miraculous water, actually satisfying the thirst of mankind. The other promise: “whoever believes in me...” has independent significance: it is new both in content and in form. It concerns not the satisfaction of the needs of the one who comes to Christ in faith, but the results that the person who has believed in Christ will achieve in relation to the surrounding environment. And the image here is different from that in verse 37. There the Holy Spirit is spoken of as water from a source satisfying the thirst of man, but here the Holy Spirit is compared to channels and streams that in a dry season irrigate a field or an entire country, protecting vegetation from destruction. This comparison places the believer in Christ on one level with Christ as the source of living water. But still not the man himself, not his heart or mouth, but his “belly” (ἡ κοιλία) is named as the source from which streams of living water will flow over the parched land. This expression – belly – with respect to a person means the body of a person, chiefly in relation to its designation as an organ of nutrition and reproduction (Deut 28:4 according to the translation of the Seventy; Judg 16:17; Job 1:21; cf. Luke 1:15; John 3:4). Consequently, not in the future, but in this earthly life believers in Christ will become for many other people a source that sanctifies and gives life. Such were, for example, the apostles, who watered the universe with the waters of their teachings, the “nourishers of the whole world,” as the Orthodox Church sings about them (hymn for the feast of apostles Peter and Paul). “As the scripture has said.” In Sacred Scripture there is no such saying, but there is something resembling it. Namely, in the book of Isaiah it says: “The Lord will guide you always, and will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. And you will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail” (Isa 58:11; cf. Zech 14:8). What the prophets said about the significance that the Israeli people, themselves being enlightened by God, would have for the pagan nations, the Lord now applies to believers in him. Of course, this was to be fulfilled on believers when the Holy Spirit should come upon them, sent into the world by the merits of Christ (John 16:13-14).

John 7:39. Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet upon them, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Since the readers of the 4th Gospel were little acquainted with the customs of the Feast of Booths and their mystical meaning, as well as with Christ’s promises concerning the sending of the Holy Spirit, which are found only in John, the evangelist now finds it necessary to note that in this instance Christ was speaking about the Holy Spirit, whom believers in Christ were to receive and whom, before Christ’s glorification, believers did not have. “There was no Spirit.” According to the ancient manuscripts, this place is read in the Slavonic translation as: “the Spirit was not,” that is, the Holy Spirit did not yet exist. This, of course, does not show that the Holy Spirit did not exist then. No, he always existed and the evangelist himself says that the Holy Spirit was in the prophets (John 3:34), in Jesus (John 6:63), in godly people (John 4:23) and in all creation (John 6:63). Here what is meant is the action of the Holy Spirit in the Church, among believers in Christ. Such a Spirit is therefore called the Spirit of the risen and glorified Christ (John 20:22). This was indeed a new mode of manifestation of the Spirit, about whom the prophets had foretold (Ezek 11:19), although in essence it was always, at all times, one and the same Spirit of God.

John 7:40. When they heard these words, some in the crowd said: “This is really the prophet. John 7:41. Others said: “This is the Messiah.” But some asked: “Surely the Messiah does not come from Galilee, does he? John 7:42. “Does not the scripture say that the Messiah is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was? John 7:43. So there was a division in the crowd because of him. John 7:44. Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him. Christ’s words affected differently those gathered around him. Some recognized him as a prophet, although they could hardly have associated a definite concept with this word (cf. John 6:14). Others called him the Messiah. But there were also those opposed to such an opinion – those who believed that Christ was not descended from the line of David and was not from Bethlehem, the city of David. Some considered Christ to be a deceiver, harmful to Israeli society, and tried, though unsuccessfully, to seize him and hand him over to the authorities.

John 7:45. The temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them: “Why did you not bring him? John 7:46. The officers answered: “Never has anyone spoken like this! John 7:47. The Pharisees said to them: “Have you also been deceived? John 7:48. “Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? John 7:49. “But this crowd, which does not know the law – they are accursed. The temple police sent by the Sanhedrin were unable to seize Christ. Returning to the Sanhedrin, they declared that Christ’s discourse had an irresistible influence on his listeners and that they themselves had been overcome by this influence. The Pharisees present in the Sanhedrin were irritated by this declaration and pointed out to the officers that none of the authorities recognized Christ. Only the simple, uneducated masses follow Christ. “Accursed.” In this pronouncement of the Pharisees on the common people can be seen all the arrogance of those proud of their knowledge of the law, all their contempt for people of different education and worldview.

John 7:50. Nicodemus, who had come to him by night and who was one of them, said to them: John 7:51. “Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing and learning what they do, does it? John 7:52. On this they said to him: “Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee. John 7:53. And they all went home. Amid the universal agitation in the Sanhedrin, only the calm voice of Nicodemus is heard (see John 3:1), who by virtue of his position as a member of the Sanhedrin was also present at the interrogation of the servants. He, for his part, also points to the law, which the members of the Sanhedrin should have known but which they now forget. “The law,” says Nicodemus, “requires that a judgment be rendered about anyone only after the defendant has been heard personally and at the same time evidence about him has been gathered” (see Exod 23:1; Deut 1:16). Irritated by this unexpected protest, the Pharisees express suspicion that Nicodemus himself is not from Galilee, since he is so defending the Galilean teacher! Let him recall that no prophet came from Galilee (or more precisely, “a prophet does not arise”; according to more reliable texts, the verb ἐγείρεται is read here). What Nicodemus said to this—whether he pointed to the prophet Jonah, who came from a city of the tribe of Zebulun (2 Sam 14:25; see Jonah 1:1), and to the fact that the origin of many prophets is unknown, and what was the overall outcome of the whole discussion—the Evangelist does not tell us. Probably no decision was made to take Christ into custody; Christ continued to appear in the Temple as a teacher even after that (John 8:20). “And they all went home.” As is clear from John 8:1, the Evangelist is speaking here of the listeners of Christ, not of the members of the Sanhedrin.