24  Verifying the Claims of Christ  (John 7:14–24)

But when it was now the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and began to teach. The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (7:14–24)

The most startling assertion Jesus made was His claim to be God (cf. chap. 15 of this volume). But He made many other statements that shocked those who heard Him. For example, He claimed

There are only three possible explanations for the amazing claims Jesus made. Either He was a deranged madman, a diabolicaldeceiver, or exactly who He claimed to be. He could not possibly havebeen merely a good moral teacher, for such people do not make the kindof claims Jesus made. As C. S. Lewis notes,

Jesus’ claims polarized those who heard them. On the one hand, some believed Him. For example, John the Baptist proclaimed Him to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). Philip said of Him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (1:45). Nathanael said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel” (1:49). Many in the Samaritan village of Sychar believed Him (4:39, 41), affirming, “[We] know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world” (v. 42). Even a Gentile royal official believed in Him along with his whole household (4:53). Speaking for the Twelve, Peter said to Jesus, “We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God” (6:69; cf. 1:49; Matt. 14:33; 16:16). Others, including Thomas (John 20:28), Zaccheus (Luke 19:8–9), Martha (John 11:27), a formerly blind man (9:35–38), Nicodemus (7:50–51; 19:39), and Joseph of Arimathea (19:38), also believed in Him.

The majority however, rejected Jesus’ claims. “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him,” John wrote in the prologue to his gospel, “and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (1:10–11). To Nicodemus (prior to Nicodemus’s conversion) Jesus declared, “Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?” (3:11–12). John the Baptist said of Christ, “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony” (3:32). To His Jewish opponents Jesus said, “You do not have His word abiding in you, for you do not believe Him whom He sent…. I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him” (5:38, 43). Christ rebuked His hearers in the Capernaum synagogue for their unbelief: “You have seen Me, and yet do not believe” (6:36). In Matthew 23:37 the Lord lamented, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” Even at His trial, as His earthly ministry came to a close, the Sanhedrin demanded, “’If You are the Christ, tell us.’ But He said to them, ‘If I tell you, you will not believe’” (Luke 22:67).

At the end of chapter 6, Jesus said to His followers, “’But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him” (6:64; cf. v. 66). Then, chapter 7 opens with the tragic report that “not even His brothers were believing in Him” (v. 5). Jesus was not deterred by the unbelief He encountered, but instead relentlessly continued to confront unbelievers with His claims and promises. As a result, the hostility of His hardened enemies steadily increased, until it culminated in His crucifixion.

The first thirteen verses of chapter 7 recount the Lord’s refusal to go openly to the Feast of Tabernacles and declare Himself to be the Messiah, despite the urgings of His brothers. After the crowds had left for Jerusalem, however, Jesus went up to the city privately (v. 10) in the midst of the feast; that is, the halfway point (the participle mesouses [midst] is from the verb mesoo, which literally means “to be in the middle,” or “to be half over”). On this occasion the escalating hostility became vocal as the crowd accused Him of being demonized.

Jerusalem would have been teeming with pilgrims from all over Israel and the Jewish settlements outside of the land. Fearlessly, Jesus went up into the temple (the customary location for rabbis to teach) and began to teach. His unexpected public appearance caught the Jewish authorities off guard, and thwarted any plans they might have made to seize Him quietly when He arrived in Jerusalem (cf. v. 11). Many still had a favorable view of Jesus (v. 12), which made it difficult for the authorities to arrest Him in public. (Their spur-of-the-moment attempt to do so in verse 32 proved utterly unsuccessful when His words stopped the temple police from arresting Him [vv. 44–46].)

Despite the mounting opposition He faced, Jesus fearlessly proclaimed the uncensored truth about His identity and mission. The ensuing dialog in verses 15–24 provides five features to lead doubters and skeptics to believe His astounding claims: His source of knowledge, His surety, His selflessness, His sentence, and His signs, all of which proved Him to be the Son of God.

HIS SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE

The Jews then were astonished, saying, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” So Jesus answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. (7:15–16)

As they listened to Jesus’ unequalled teaching, the Jews, as so many had been, were astonished. His mastery of Scripture surely amazed them, as it had earlier to those who heard the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 7:28–29), those in His hometown of Nazareth (13:54), and those in Capernaum (Mark 1:22). His preaching would even astound the temple police sent to arrest Him (vv. 45–46).

It was most likely the indignant and hostile Jewish authorities, who continually felt threatened by Jesus, who led the attack on Him by questioning His credentials. They exclaimed, “How has this man become learned, having never been educated?” (Later, they would be similarly stunned by the powerful preaching of the “uneducated and untrained” Peter and John [Acts 4:13].) Their point was not that Jesus demonstrated ignorance, but that He had received no formal training in the prescribed rabbinic schools. In today’s terms, He had not been to seminary or been ordained by any formal ecclesiastical body. Since they could not refute Jesus’ teaching, they questioned His credentials—challenging His authority to teach because He lacked an authorized education and legitimate right to teach. The implication was that His words should be disregarded as merely the opinion of a self-styled intruder who had no true connection to the established and authoritative fraternity of teachers.

The Lord’s reply was direct and devastating. He answered them and said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” It was true that His knowledge was not derived from any human institution and His teaching opposed that of the teachers in Judaism. But that did not mean that it was merely His own personal opinion, as the authorities implied; in fact, it came directly from God the Father who sent Him. (Jesus was always conscious of having been sent by the Father; cf. vv. 28–29, 33; 3:17; 4:34; 5:24, 30, 36, 37; 6:38–39, 44, 57; 8:16, 18, 26, 29, 42; 9:4; 11:42; 12:44–45, 49; 13:20; 14:24; 15:21; 16:5; 17:8, 18, 21, 23, 25; 20:21; Matt. 10:40; Mark 9:37; Luke 4:18; 10:16.) “When you lift up the Son of Man,” Jesus declared in John 8:28, “then you will know that I am He, and I do nothing on My own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught Me.” And in 12:49–50 He added, “For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me” (cf. 8:26, 38, 40; 14:10, 24; 17:8, 14). That Jesus’ teaching was directly and immediately from God was also an indictment of the Jewish leaders. By disagreeing with Him, they revealed that their teaching was not from God (8:47).

Since only Jesus has perfect knowledge of the Father (Matt. 11:27; cf. John 10:15), only He could speak directly from Him. The Lord’s teaching, being directly from God, was thus radically different from that of the rabbis, who generally drew their teaching from other rabbis as their source of authority. Matthew records that at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, “the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes” (Matt. 7:28–29). Jesus was also different from the Old Testament prophets, even though they, like Him, were sent from God and proclaimed His truth. But whereas they said, “Thus says the Lord” (e.g., Isa. 7:7; Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 2:4; Amos 1:3; Obad. 1:1; Mic.2:3; Nah. 1:12; Hag. 1:2; Zech. 1:3; Mal. 1:4), Jesus authoritatively declared, “I say to you” (e.g., John 5:24; 6:32, 53; 8:51, 58; Matt. 5:18, 20, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44; 6:2, 5; 8:11; 10:15; 11:22, 24; 17:12; 19:9; 21:43; 23:36; Mark 10:15; 11:24; Luke 13:35; 18:17, 29–30).

HIS SURETY

If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself. (7:17)

Throughout His ministry, Jesus was often asked to perform additional and unnecessary signs to prove His authenticity, as if it were open to honest question (cf. Matt. 16:1; John 2:18). Yet, He consistently denied such requests, because He knew that they came from hard-hearted unbelievers. No matter how many miracles He performed, the Lord understood that such people would refuse to believe.

Nonetheless, Jesus promised the person who honestly seeks the truth revealed by God, the one who is willing to do God’s will, that he will know the truth about Christ’s teaching, whether it is of God or whether it is not. The Lord’s challenge to the crowd was simple: If they would humble themselves before God’s Word (wherein His will is revealed) to know and obey it, they would come to a sure realization that His teaching was true. That challenge still stands two millennia later. The assurance promised in this verse is available to all genuine believers. Such confidence comes through the Holy Spirit, who confirms the truth about Christ to the willing heart (1 John 2:20, 27), both internally, through His testimony (1 Cor. 2:10–15; cf. Rom. 8:16), and externally, through manifestations that demonstrate the truth of the gospel (John 3:2; 5:36; 10:38; Acts 2:22).

Jesus’ challenge was bold, but it was not without precedent. Similar promises are given throughout the Old Testament. In the book of Deuteronomy, God promised Israel, “You will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul” (Deut. 4:29). David counseled Solomon, “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever” (1 Chron. 28:9). In Psalm 119:2 the psalmist wrote, “How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart.” “You will seek Me and find Me,” God said through the prophet Jeremiah, “when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer. 29:13).

The personification of wisdom in Proverbs 1:20–33 illustrates the clear-cut challenge Jesus made in this verse—one no false messiah would dare make. Those who heed wisdom’s call, who are willing to do God’s will, will receive further knowledge:

But verses 24–33 reveal the fate of those who harden their hearts and are unwilling to turn to God:

Accepting or rejecting the claims of Jesus Christ is never a purely intellectual decision; there are inescapable moral and spiritual implications that are also involved. Those who willingly seek and obey the truth will find it and will be set free from their slavery to ignorance and sin (John 8:32). But those who reject the truth prove themselves to be children of their “father the devil, [who] want to do the desires of [their] father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him” (v. 44). Unless they repent, they will share his fate.

HIS SELFLESSNESS

“He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” (7:18)

There are at least two characteristics of every false teacher and would-be messiah. First, he speaks from himself; that is, on his own authority, not God’s (cf. Jer. 14:14; 23:16, 21, 26, 32; 27:15; 28:15; 29:9, 31; Neh. 6:10–12; Ezek. 13:2, 6). And second, he seeks his own glory, not God’s. False prophets invariably proclaim their own musings to attract followers and secure personal gain. Their goal is not to feed the flock, but to fleece it. The prophet Micah graphically depicted the greedy false prophets of his day: “Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; when they have something to bite with their teeth, they cry, ‘Peace,’ but against him who puts nothing in their mouths they declare holy war” (Mic. 3:5). In verse 11 he denounced them as “prophets [who] divine for money.” Isaiah called them greedy dogs who are never satisfied (Isa. 56:11). And Ezekiel warned, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? You eat the fat and clothe your-selves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock’” (Ezek. 34:2–3). The apostle Paul characterized false teachers as “slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites” (Rom. 16:18), “whose god is their appetite” (Phil. 3:19), “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain” (1 Tim. 6:5), and who are guilty of “teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain” (Titus 1:11). Peter warned that they greedily exploit people (2 Peter 2:3; cf. Acts 8:18–19), because they have “a heart trained in greed, … having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness” (2 Peter 2:14–15; cf. Jude 11).

Instead of seeking to honor God, false teachers seek honor for themselves. Jesus castigated the scribes and Pharisees as those who “do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men” (Matt. 23:5–7), and “for appearance’s sake offer long prayers” (Luke 20:47). False teachers are “those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh” (Gal. 6:12) and “boast according to the flesh” (2 Cor. 11:18). Like Diotrephes, they love the place of prominence (3 John 9). But those whose goal is to “be honored by men. …have their reward in full” (Matt. 6:2; cf. vv. 5, 16).

Jesus, however, never sought His own glory (cf. 5:41; 8:50), since He “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28), for He is “gentle and humble in heart” (Matt. 11:29; cf. 2 Cor. 10:1).”Although He existed in the form of God,” Paul wrote, Jesus “did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:6–8; cf. 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24). False teachers are materialistic, but “the Son of Man ha[d] nowhere to lay His head” (Luke 9:58); false teachers are self-seeking and demanding, but Jesus “got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded” (John 13:4–5)—thus performing a menial task normally reserved for the lowliest slaves.

That Jesus came seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, instead of glorifying Himself, verified His claim to be the true Messiah, and showed that there was no unrighteousness in Him (cf. 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb.4:15; 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22). It is not surprising that the Jewish leaders rejected the One who sought God’s glory, since they were those who “receive[d] glory from one another and … [did] not seek the glory that is from the one and only God” (5:44).

HIS SENTENCE

“Did not Moses give you the Law, and yet none of you carries out the Law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill You?” (7:19–20)

Aware of the Jewish authorities’ venomous hatred and desire to kill Him (cf. 5:18; 7:1), Jesus pronounced judgment directly on the people with the rhetorical question, “Did not Moses give you the Law”—to which they would, of course, have answered emphatically, “Yes” (cf. Rom. 2:17–20)—“yet none of you carries out the Law?” That was the most accurate statement the Lord could make as to the truth of human sinfulness. No one can keep the Law; that is the reality in every human life. Though the Jews revered the Law of Moses, and sought to keep it and acquire their salvation by their careful efforts at obeying and honoring the Law, not one person has ever entered the kingdom by means of obeying the Law. That is the unmistakable teaching of the New Testament. Consider the following New Testament Scriptures that draw on the same teaching in the Old Testament:

The Law of Moses was made to reveal sin, not to save. The Jews had perverted it to be the means of salvation, and refused to be indicted by it and driven to the mercy of God in the Messiah Jesus. No matter how they studied and endeavored to apply the Law, it was clear they failed. They refused to allow the Law to do its intended work of convicting them and humbling them and driving them to repentance and faith in Jesus. He was the end of the Law (Rom. 10:4). But they were so far from understanding the Law’s purpose that they rejected the only One who could deliver them from the Law’s condemnation and sought to kill Him.

Our Lord’s sentence on them came in His question, Why do you seek to kill Me? They prided themselves on being disciples of Moses (9:28; cf. 5:45; Matt. 23:2), yet their treatment of Jesus was an outrage before the God who gave the Law and sent His Son to deliver them from its curse (cf. Matt. 23:2–4; Rom. 2:23–24). Specifically, they were seeking to murder the Lord, proving themselves to be blasphemous and unworthy descendants not only of Moses, but also of Abraham (8:40). They were blind to the truth of their own Scriptures, as Jesus indicated on several occasions (cf. John 5:39; Luke 16:29; 24:27).

The crowd affirmed the accuracy of the indictment by showing their graceless hearts. They answered with ignorant incredulity, “You have a demon! (cf. 8:48, 52; 10:20) Who seeks to kill You?” They resented His allegation, and accused Him of being possessed by an evil spirit and thus irrationally paranoid. Although the common people did not share the murderous intentions of their leaders at this time, they would ultimately reject Jesus with equal enthusiasm when manipulated by them—screaming out for His crucifixion (Mark 15:11). The sentence of guilt for violating the Law is confirmed by their hatred of the Son of God, who fulfilled the Law blamelessly (Matt. 3:17; Heb. 7:26).

HIS SIGNS

Jesus answered them, “I did one deed, and you all marvel. For this reason Moses has given you circumcision (not because it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man. If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath? Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” (7:21–24)

Ignoring the crowd’s insulting remark, Jesus went on to say, “I did one deed, and you all marvel.” As verses 22 and 23 make clear, Jesus was referring to His healing of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda (5:2–9). That miracle alone offered sufficient proof that He was who He claimed to be (cf. 3:2; 5:36; 7:31; 9:16, 30–33). But instead of responding to it with belief, the Jewish authorities reacted by plotting to kill Jesus (5:16, 18). John 12:37 records the tragic truth that “though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him.” Those who saw the signs but refused to believe merely compounded their guilt. “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did,” Jesus declared, “they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well” (15:24).

In His earlier dialogue with the Jewish leaders, Jesus had defended His right to heal the sick man on the Sabbath because of His absolute equality with the Father (5:16ff.). Now He defended that healing by pointing out their misinterpretation of the Sabbath regulations. The Lord began by reminding them that Moses (so they believed) had given them circumcision. Actually, as Jesus’ parenthetical remark indicates, circumcision predated Moses. It was instituted during the time of the fathers, the patriarchal period (Gen. 17:10–14), and later included in the Mosaic law. Every male Jewish child was circumcised when he was eight days old (Gen. 17:12; Lev. 12:3; Luke 1:59; 2:21). If the eighth day happened to fall on the Sabbath the Jews would circumcise the baby anyway—despite the injunction in the Law against working on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10). Thus, circumcision took precedence over the Law of Moses.

Now the absurdity of the Jews’ accusation against Jesus became clear. “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the Law of Moses will not be broken,” Jesus asked, why “are you angry with Me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?” His argument from the lesser to the greater was irrefutable. If they themselves broke the Sabbath law to circumcise children, how could they object to Him making an entire man well on the Sabbath? If they did not object to the ceremonial cleansing of one part of the body on the Sabbath, how could they object to His healing the entire body on the Sabbath? In this way, Jesus not only exposed their rank hypocrisy (cf. Matt. 12:11–12; Luke 13:10–16), but He also demonstrated that it was permissible to do good on the Sabbath.

The Lord’s concluding exhortation, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment,” was both an indictment of their utter lack of moral and theological discernment and a plea for it. The harsh, censorious judgment of self-righteous legalism is always unacceptable to God (Matt. 7:1), but so is superficial judgment according to appearance (cf. 1 Sam. 16:7). In the context, Jesus was urging His hearers to abandon their misconceptions regarding Him and judge His claims with righteous judgment. Those who do so will find Him to be exactly who He claimed to be, just as He promised they would (John 7:17).