John 7 Study Notes

7:1-8:59 On the heels of the unbelief of many disciples (6:60-66), chap. 7 opens with the unbelief of Jesus’s brothers and closes with the unbelief of the Jewish leaders (7:45-52). Chaps. 7 and 8 convey Jesus’s teaching at the Festival of Shelters in Jerusalem. Jesus’s teaching is given in two cycles (7:10-24,37-39; 8:12-30), climaxing in his invitation to all who are thirsty to come to him and drink. Once the Spirit was given, believers conveyed “streams of living water” (7:37-38). The second cycle begins with Jesus’s startling affirmation that he is the “light of the world” (8:12).

7:1 Galilee (under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas) was safer than Judea (under the Roman prefect) for Jesus since the Jews were trying to kill him.

7:2 The Jewish Festival of Shelters was celebrated in September or October, two months before the Festival of Dedication (see note at 10:22). People temporarily lived in shelters to remember God’s faithfulness during Israel’s wilderness wanderings (Lv 23:42-43; cp. Mt 17:4). See note at 2:13.

7:3-5 Jesus’s brothers were naturally born sons of Mary. Their names were James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon (Mt 13:55 and Mk 6:3). Their poor advice stemmed from unbelief (Jn 7:5) and revealed a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus’s messianic identity (Mt 4:5-7).

7:6-10 On my time has not yet arrived, see note at 2:4. In 7:8, Jesus stated, I’m not going up to this festival. In v. 10, we learn that he also went up, not openly but secretly (see note at v. 1). It surprises many readers to realize that Jesus used craft and subterfuge to combat opposition and false expectations.

7:11 Particularly those who hadn’t seen Jesus were eager to find him at the festival.

7:12 The charge that Jesus was deceiving the people may hark back to Dt 13:1-11 (cp. Mt 27:63; Lk 23:2). Later Jewish literature called Jesus a deceiver.

7:13 The phrase for fear of the Jews (cp. 9:22; 19:38; 20:19) refers to Jerusalem authorities represented by the Sanhedrin (see note at 3:1).

7:14-15 The Jews may include Judean crowds and Jewish authorities. Jesus lacked formal rabbinic training (as did his disciples; Ac 4:13), but his teaching and authority came from God (Jn 7:16; 8:28; cp. Mt 5:21-26; 7:28-29).

7:16 Unlike other rabbis, Jesus claimed direct knowledge from God (8:28).

7:17 Only true believers, who are committed to following God’s will, could rightly discern Jesus’s teaching.

7:18-19 Jesus as authoritative source contrasted himself with vain, false prophets (Dt 18:9-22). The Jews were proud of the fact that Moses had given them the law (cp. 9:28; Rm 2:17; 9:4).

7:20 This is one of several instances where Jesus was charged with demon possession (8:48; 10:20; Mt 12:24); the same charge was leveled against John the Baptist (Mt 11:18). Other charges against Jesus included breaking the Sabbath (Jn 5:16,18; 9:16), blasphemy (5:18; 8:58-59; 10:31,33,39; 19:7), deceiving the people (7:12,47), being a Samaritan (i.e., apostate, 8:48), madness (10:20), and criminal activity (18:30).

7:21 The one work Jesus referred to was probably the healing in 5:1-15.

7:22-23 Circumcision was given by the fathers (i.e., Abraham; Gn 17:9-14) and Moses (Ex 12:44,48-49; Lv 12:3). Jesus’s argument was “from the lesser to the greater.” The Jews were to circumcise their males on the eighth day even if that day fell on the Sabbath (the “lesser” issue). If “perfecting” one part of a human body on the Sabbath was legitimate, how much more the healing of an entire person?

7:24 Jesus’s statement about judging may allude to Lv 19:15 (cp. Dt 16:18-19; Is 11:3-4; Zch 7:9).

7:25-44 The next three scenes (vv. 25-31,32-36,37-44) center on the question, “Is Jesus the Christ?” Representative queries (in some cases involving misunderstanding) from the crowd serve as foils for dealing with this issue (vv. 27,31,42), in turn focusing on the supposedly unknown origins of Messiah, his performance of signs, and Bethlehem as Messiah’s birthplace.

7:26 The authorities probably refers to the Sanhedrin (v. 48; 12:42; see notes at 3:1; 7:13).

7:27 Some rabbis taught that Messiah would be wholly unknown until he set out to procure salvation for Israel. Others felt his birthplace was foreknown (v. 42; cp. Mt 2:1-6).

7:28-29 Telling the Jews that they didn’t know God got a strong reaction.

7:30 On Jesus’s ability to elude his enemies, see note at 2:4.

7:31 Since Messiah would be a prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15,18) and Moses performed many miraculous signs at the exodus (Ex 7-11), Messiah was expected to perform miracles as well (see notes at Jn 6:30,31). It would have been natural for people to wonder, after witnessing Jesus’s miracles, if he was the Messiah.

7:32 The chief priests and the Pharisees, representing the Sanhedrin, deployed servants to arrest Jesus. His arrest implied that he was a criminal (but see note at vv. 45-52). The leaders hoped this would discourage people from following him.

7:33-34 Six months after Jesus issued this prediction, he was crucified.

7:35-36 People misunderstood Jesus’s statement in v. 34. Ever since the exile, many Jews had not returned to Palestine but continued to live dispersed among the Greeks (synonymous with “Gentiles”).

7:37 While v. 14 referred to the festival being “already half over,” this was now the last and greatest day of the Festival of Shelters. Jesus’s invitation harks back to OT prophetic passages such as Is 55:1 (cp. Is 12:3).

7:38-39 Streams of living water flowing from deep within Jesus’s followers fulfill the end-time blessings predicted in the OT. John noted in v. 39 that these streams are emblematic of the Spirit, who would be given after Jesus’s exaltation with the Father (20:22).

7:40-41 The Prophet is the figure referred to in Dt 18:15-18 (see note at Jn 1:19-21; cp. 6:14). This “Prophet” and the Messiah were thought to be different persons by some first-century Jews, but Jesus turned out to be both.

7:42 Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem in the heart of Judea, was foretold as Messiah’s birthplace in Mc 5:2 (cp. Mt 2:5-6; see note at Jn 7:27). As David’s city (1Sm 16:1,4; 20:6), Bethlehem had important messianic implications. In this verse the irony is apparent. Some people, knowing that Jesus hailed from Galilee, objected that Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem, not realizing that Bethlehem was in fact Jesus’s birthplace.

7:43-44 On the right time for Jesus’s death and resurrection, see note at 2:4.

7:45-52 The Sanhedrin’s meeting highlighted the increasing threat that Jesus’s popularity represented for the Jewish leadership. But Nicodemus’s plea for fairness shows that the Sanhedrin was not yet united in opposition against Jesus.

7:45 On the attempt to arrest Jesus, see note at v. 32.

7:46 The servants (see v. 32) heard many people teach in the temple courts, but they recognized Jesus’s teaching as unique (Mt 7:28-29; see note at Jn 7:14-15).

7:48 Rulers probably refers to members of the Sanhedrin (see note at 3:1).

7:49 The disparaging reference to this crowd, which doesn’t know the law reveals the arrogant contempt many rabbis had for the unschooled masses.

7:50 Jesus’s previous encounter with Nicodemus is described in 3:1-15.

7:51 Old Testament law charged judges to investigate accusations fairly (Dt 1:16) and thoroughly (Jn 17:4; 19:18). Nicodemus’s plea for fairness was later duplicated by the rabbi Gamaliel (Ac 5:34-39).

7:52 Contrary to the Pharisees’ implication, prophets occasionally did arise from Galilee. These included Jonah (2Kg 14:25), possibly Elijah (1Kg 17:1), and Nahum (Nah 1:1).

7:53-8:11 The story of Jesus and the adulteress may be authentic, but it is doubtful that the account is part of John’s original Gospel. Reasons include: (1) the account is absent from all the oldest copies of John; (2) where it does occur in later manuscripts, it is found at various places (after Jn 7:36,44,52; at the end of John’s Gospel; or after Lk 21:38); (3) virtually every verse from 8:1-11 (except for v. 5) features words not elsewhere found in John’s Gospel, and standard vocabulary used in John is conspicuously absent; (4) the account appears to interrupt the narrative flow from 7:52 to 8:12, breaking the literary unit 7:1-8:59; and (5) the account was virtually unknown by early church fathers before the fourth century.