John 7 is the seventh chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It recounts Jesus' visit to Jerusalem for the feast of Tabernacles, the possibility of his arrest and debate as to whether he is the Messiah. The gospel identifies an unnamed "disciple whom Jesus loved" as its source and possible author.Harris, Stephen L., Understanding the Bible. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "John" pp. 302–10 Early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel. Alfred Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, describes this chapter as "very important for the estimate of the fourth Gospel. In it the scene of the Messianic crisis shifts from Galilee to Jerusalem; and, as we should naturally expect, the crisis itself becomes hotter. The divisions, the doubts, the hopes, the jealousies, and the casuistry of the Jews are vividly portrayed."Plummer, A. (1902), Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. on John 7, accessed 25 April 2016 to is sometimes referred to as the "Tabernacles Discourse". Raymond E. Brown describes the Tabernacles Discourse as "a polemic collection of what Jesus said in replies to attacks by the Jewish authorities on his claims".
Text The original text was written in Koine Greek. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter are: Papyrus 75 (AD 175–225) Papyrus 66 ( 200) Codex Vaticanus (325–350) Codex Sinaiticus (330–360) Codex Bezae ( 400) Codex Alexandrinus (400–440) Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus ( 450; extant verses 1–2)
Old Testament references
Sub-divisions This chapter is divided into 53 verses. The New King James Version includes sub-headings within the chapter as follows: = Jesus’ Brothers Disbelieve = The Heavenly Scholar = Could This Be the Christ? = Jesus and the Religious Leaders = The Promise of the Holy Spirit = Who Is He? = Rejected by the Authorities = An Adulteress Faces the Light of the World (referring to John 7:53-8:12)
The unbelief of Jesus’ brothers (verses 1–9) The evangelist states that Jesus' brothers (or "brethren" in some translations) did not believe in Him () but they suggest that he goes to Jerusalem for the forthcoming Feast of Tabernacles, which was one of the three feasts which the Book of Deuteronomy prescribes that all Jewish men should attend (). They suggest that Jesus wants to publicise his works and that in Galilee his activities are hidden from the view of his Judean disciples (); instead, Jesus suggests that his brothers attend the feast but he will remain in Galilee. The Feast of Tabernacles began on 'the fifteenth day of the seventh month' (), i.e., the 15th of Tishri, which corresponds to September, so the interval from Passover to Tabernacles is about five months.Watkins, H. W., in Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers on , accessed 18 April 2016 Jesus says that it is always "their time" to go to Jerusalem, but that "his time" has not yet come.
Verse 1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.: KJV Chapter 7 opens in Galilee, where the events and discourses of the previous chapter have taken place. In Galilee, Jesus had taught in the synagogue at Capernaum, but many people including many of his own disciples, had refused to believe. implies that nevertheless Jesus felt safe in Galilee, whereas in Judea or "Jewry" (e.g. King James Version), the Jews (or the Jewish ruling authorities)Footnote in New King James Version wanted to kill Jesus. He probably did not go to Jerusalem for the Passover mentioned in , although theologian John Gill suggested that "he went to Jerusalem, to keep the passover; and finding that the Jews still sought to take away his life, he returned to Galilee, and 'walked' there".Gill, John. Exposition of the Entire Bible on John 7, accessed 17 April 2016
Chapters 5, 6 and 7 all commence with the words μετα ταυτα (meta tauta), "after these things", "a typical Johannine transition" (chapter 7: and after these things).
Verse 3 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".: NKJV The "brothers", unlike the "disciples", are still unbelievers. Plummer notes that He observes the bluntness of the suggestion in verse 3, Depart from here, "given almost as a command", which "shews that they presumed upon their near relationship. It would be more natural in the mouths of men older than Christ, and therefore is in favour of their being sons of Joseph by a former marriage".
Verse 4 People don't hide what they are doing if they want to be well known. Since you are doing these things, let the whole world know about you!”: Good News Translation Johann Bengel describes the brothers' reasoning as a use of the rhetorical device diasyrmus.Bengel, Johann, Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament on John 7, accessed 13 November 2020 Irish Archbishop John McEvilly sees "selfish motives" in their pressing Jesus to go south.MacEvilly, J. (1879), An Exposition of the Gospel of St. John consisting of an analysis of each chapter and of a Commentary critical, exegetical, doctrinal and moral, Dublin: Gill & Son
Verse 6 Then Jesus said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready".: NKJV "My time" (, ho kairos ho emos) : Tyndale House Greek New Testament equates to "my hour" (, hē ōra mou) in John 2:4, which had also at that point "not yet come".Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote d at John 7:6 The Jerusalem Bible notes that "this 'hour', the hour of his glorification and his return to his Father, is determined by the Father and can be anticipated".Jerusalem Bible (1966), Footnote e at John 2:4 See also verse 8:
Verse 8 [Jesus said to His brothers:] "You go up to the [or this] feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.": NKJV Plummer suggests that "'this' is wanting in authority; we should read, 'go ye up unto the feast'".
Feast of Tabernacles (verses 10–52) Jesus does then go to Jerusalem for the feast. The evangelist unfolds his attendance in three steps: He initially directs that his brothers will attend but He will remain in Galilee () Afterwards he does go to Jerusalem, "not openly, but as it were in secret" (, NKJV translation) () "But when the middle feast day came, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught" (, Wycliffe Bible).
H. W. Watkins supposes that the main party travelling from Galilee to Jerusalem would have taken the route to the east of the River Jordan, and that Jesus took the alternative route through Samaria, as he had done when he travelled back from Jerusalem to Galilee in chapter 4, and the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary agrees that He may have travelled "perhaps by some other route".Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary on John 7, accessed 20 April 2016
Verses 15-17 When Jesus began to teach in the Temple, he was perceived as being uneducated and yet learned,: NKJV not having received rabbinical, priestly or Sadduceean training, but "knowing his letters" (οὗτος γράμματα οἶδεν, houtos grammata oiden),: Westcott-Hort New Testament γράμματα not meaning "the scriptures" as such but what theologian Heinrich Meyer calls "scriptural erudition". Jesus was known not to have learned through contemporary routes of Jewish learning such as the House of Hillel or the House of Shammai, and it is likely that both the content and the style of his teaching were seen as distinct from the teaching of the "Jews" of these schools, to whom the evangelist refers.Edward B. Pollard, "Aesthetic and Imaginative Elements in the Words of Jesus" in The Biblical World, Vol. 30, No. 5 (Nov., 1907), pp. 339-345 "His teaching on this occasion was expository", based on the Hebrew Bible: Albert Barnes writes that "Jesus exhibited in his discourses such a profound acquaintance with the Old Testament as to excite [the] amazement and admiration"Barnes, Albert. Notes on the Bible on John 7, accessed 21 April 2016 of other learned scholars, but He explains that His teaching is not His own, "but His who sent Me" (). Jesus does not disown His teaching, but He does not claim to be its originator or its authority: "The 'my' refers to the teaching itself, the 'mine' to the ultimate authority on which it rests. I am not a self-taught Man, as though out of the depths of my own independent human consciousness I span it ... 'He who sent me' gave [it] to me. I have been in intimate communion with HIM. All that I say is Divine thought."Exell, Joseph S.; Spence-Jones, Henry Donald Maurice (Editors). On John 7 In: The Pulpit Commentary. 23 volumes, accessed 22 April 2016 The evangelist has already referred to four witnesses to the validity of Jesus' testimony (), and now adds that anyone who wants to do God's will know the authority of His teaching ().
Learned discussion on Laws In a discussion which demonstrates this point to the learned Jews, Jesus then refers to the Mosaic law, and to the law and tradition of the patriarchs. The law of circumcision prescribed by Moses () originated with God's covenant with Abraham and required every male child to be circumcised on his eighth day. If this day was a Sabbath, the obligation to circumcise that day overrode the obligation to rest on the Sabbath (). Jews familiar with both laws would also have been familiar with the rule of precedence between them.Rabbi Naftali Silberberg, Can a circumcision be conducted on Shabbat?, accessed 23 April 2016 But Jesus then refers to the healing at the Temple on the Sabbath day of a man who had had an infirmity for thirty-eight years (), on account of which the Jews wanted to kill Jesus (): "Are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?" ()
The responses to Jesus' teaching identified in this section are: Some people were impressed: "He is good" (, a) Others said, "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people" (, b) Discussion is restricted: "no one spoke openly of Him for fear of the Jews" () Some people marveled, saying, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" () Some wanted to kill Him () Some suggested He was "crazy and perhaps paranoid":David Guzik Commentary on the Bible on John 7, accessed 24 April 2016 "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?" () Some were angry with Him () Some recognized Him as the Messiah and believed in Him () Some denied that He could be the Messiah: "We know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from" () No one laid a hand on Him, because (according to the evangelist), "His hour had not yet come". ()
The debate English Standard Version translation or "murmurings" King James Version translation about whether Jesus could be the Messiah came to the attention of the Pharisees, and they and the Chief Priests "sent officers in order to take him into custody".(). In this verse and in verse , "the reader is for the first time informed that the Pharisees and the chief priests try to arrest Jesus but do not succeed. This anticipates their new initiatives in chapters 9 to 12, where they finally achieve their plans.Kieffer, R., 60. John in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001), The Oxford Bible Commentary , p. 974
Jesus' impending departure