Wednesday, October 22, 2008

John 7 (TNIV)

John 7
1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
6 Therefore Jesus told them, "My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the Festival. I am not going up to this Festival, because my time has not yet fully come." 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. 10 However, after his brothers had left for the Festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the Festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, "Where is he?"
12 Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. 14 Not until halfway through the Festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having been taught?" 16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?" 20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"
21 Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."
25 At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
28 Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me." 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?" 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.
33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." 35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"
37 On the last and greatest day of the Festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified. 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."
41 Others said, "He is the Messiah." Still others asked, "How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"
46 "No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards replied. 47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?" 52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee."


John 7: 1 After this, Jesus went around in Galilee. He did not want to go about in Judea because the Jewish leaders there were looking for a way to kill him. 2 But when the Jewish Festival of Tabernacles (Also called the 'feast of booths', was celebrated in September or October, two months prior to the Feast of Dedication. It is called the “Feast of Tabernacles” because people lived in leafy shelters to remember God's faithfulness to Israel during her wilderness wanderings [Lev 23:42-43; Matt 17:4]. It was also a time of celebration and thanksgiving for the harvest [Lev 23:39-41; Deut 16:13-15; Ex 23"16; 34:22]) was near, 3 Jesus' brothers said to him, "Leave Galilee and go to Judea, so that your disciples there may see the works you do. 4 No one who wants to become a public figure acts in secret. Since you are doing these things, show yourself to the world." (Jesus' brothers [Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3] are best understood to be other naturally born sons of Mary, for that is the ordinary and natural sense of the Greek adelphoi [“brothers”]. Jesus' brothers' advice stems from unbelief [John 7:5] and reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of Jesus' messianic identity [Matthew 4:5-7].) 5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.

6
Therefore Jesus told them, "My time is not yet here; for you any time will do. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify that its works are evil. 8 You go to the Festival. I am not going up to this Festival, because my time has not yet fully come." (Jesus' statement, “I am not going up to this feast,” should not be taken as a mistake by John or a falsehood by Jesus, even though John then records that Jesus did go up to the feast [verse 10]. The Greek present tense in verse 8 can legitimately have the sense, “I am not now going,” indicating that Jesus did not go up to the feast in the way the brothers suggested, for they wanted Jesus to manifest himself to his contemporaries for secular reasons. In fact, many of the oldest and best manuscripts have oupō (Gk. “not yet”) rather than simply ouk [Gk. “not”], and that might have been the original reading, though the reading “not” seems more likely to be original.
) 9 Having said this, he stayed in Galilee. 10 However, after his brothers had left for the Festival, he went also, not publicly, but in secret. 11 Now at the Festival the Jewish leaders were watching for Jesus and asking, "Where is he?"

12
Among the crowds there was widespread whispering about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others replied, "No, he deceives the people." 13 But no one would say anything publicly about him for fear of the leaders. 14 Not until halfway through the Festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, "How did this man get such learning without having been taught?" 16 Jesus answered, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?" 20 "You are demon-possessed," the crowd answered. "Who is trying to kill you?"


21
Jesus said to them, "I did one miracle, and you are all amazed. 22 Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs), you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. (This recalls Genesis 17:9-14 [fathers, ie, Abraham), Exodus 12:44, 48-49 and Lev 12:3 [Moses]. Jesus' argument is “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 the human body on the Sabbath was legitimate, how much more the healing of an entire person [the “greater” issue]
) 23 Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man's whole body on the Sabbath? 24 Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."

25
At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, "Isn't this the man they are trying to kill? 26 Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities (Sanhedrin) really concluded that he is the Messiah? 27 But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."


28
Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, "Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from. I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true. You do not know him, 29 but I know him because I am from him and he sent me." 30 At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come (Because his hour had not yet come shows Jesus' strong awareness of God's providential direction of the circumstances of his life; his enemies could not capture or harm him until “the hour” of his arrest, crucifixion, and death, as ordained by God. God the Father would not allow these things to happen until the earthly ministry of Jesus (God the Son) was complete.
). 31 Still, many in the crowd put their faith in him. They said, "When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man?" 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

33
Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come." 35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?"


37
On the last and greatest day of the Festival (While verse 14 makes reference to “the middle of the feast,” this is now the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles. Jesus' invitation refers back to OT prophetic passages like Isaiah 55:1 and Isaiah 12:3.
), Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty (That is, “thirsty” for God.) come to me and drink (To 'come' to Jesus and 'drink' means to believe in him, to enter into a trusting, ongoing personal relationship with him. Both the image of “coming” to Jesus as one would come to a person and the image of “drinking” imply not mere intellectual assent but a wholehearted personal involvement and participation). 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them." 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified (This does not mean that there was no work of the Holy Spirit in the world prior to Jesus' resurrection, for already in Gen. 1:2 the Holy Spirit was present in the world, “hovering over the face of the waters” [Gen. 6:3; 41:38; Ex. 31:3; Num. 11:25]. Some OT verses even speak of the Spirit of God at work within believers prior to the coming of Christ [Num. 27:18; Deut 24:9; Ezek 2:2; 3:24; Dan4:8-9, 18; 5:11; Mic 3:8, and cf with Luke 1:15, 41, 67]. This verse must therefore mean that “the Spirit had not been given” in the full and powerful sense that was promised for the new covenant age Ezek. 36:26-27; 37:14; Joel 2:28-29; John 20:22; Acts 2:1-13]). 40 On hearing his words, some of the people said, "Surely this man is the Prophet."

41
Others said, "He is the Messiah." Still others asked, "How can the Messiah come from Galilee? 42 Does not Scripture say that the Messiah will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived?" 43 Thus the people were divided because of Jesus. 44 Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. 45 Finally the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them, "Why didn't you bring him in?"


46
"No one ever spoke the way this man does," the guards replied. 47 "You mean he has deceived you also?" the Pharisees retorted. 48 "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed in him? 49 No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law—there is a curse on them." 50 Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, 51 "Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?" 52 They replied, "Are you from Galilee, too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee." (Contrary to the Pharisees' implication, prophets occasionally did arise from Galilee, such as Jonah [2 Kings 14:25], and possibly Elijah [1 Kings 17:1] and Nahum [Nahum 1:1]. The Pharisees may simply have been reflecting current bias against Galileans, or John may be reporting their willingness even to distort the facts in order to make their arguments against Jesus [John 8:44,55]
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