14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority. 18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?” 20 The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
Commentary
Vs. 14 “Now about the
middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.”
Now Jesus around the middle of the feast now goes up into the Temple and teaches, for had He tried to do so at the start of the seven day feast they likely would’ve sized Him, but with the leadership now being occupied with it, and the people being fully engaged in it, it was the perfect time to show Himself once again and begin teaching God’s Word to them.
Vs. 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?”
When the Jews heard Jesus expounding the Word of God, they marveled that the supposed carpenter’s “son” could have such insights and understanding, for they said, “How does this Man know letters, having never studied?” For all those who take that “religion” is something to be studied and learned like earning a university degree, likewise only miss that it is God who teaches and instructs everyone one of us who believe in His Son (1 John 2:27)!
Vs. 16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.
Having heard the Jews wonderings about Jesus and His insights and skill in expounding the Word of God, Jesus now tells them that what He is speaking is not of Himself, but His doctrine is the very Word of God (i.e. doctrine from God) who sent Him.
Vs. 17 “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.”
The Lord Jesus Christ now makes it clear that anyone, Jews or otherwise, who wish to do God’s Will, that God will reveal to them that what the Lord Jesus Christ is speaking is not from His own Will, but God’s Will.
Vs. 18 “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.”
Here the Lord Jesus Christ makes it clear that He is not like those who speak from themselves, (who only gather words and reasonings and ideas from inside themselves to impress people) for they only seek their own glory. Rather His sole motivation in what He speaks and what He does is to glorify God who sent Him, for Jesus is true; for He alone not only lives and speaks the truth from God, but He alone is truly motivated by only wanting to glorify God in heaven, something that can be said of no one except Him. Therefore, of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, it can and must be said that there is no unrighteousness in Him!
Vs. 19 “Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?”
Now the Jews prided themselves on having been given by God the Law through Moses, and yet as Jesus now says to them, none of them keeps the law, for if they did, they would not already be plotting (behind the scenes) to kill Him.
Vs. 20 The people answered and said, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?”
When the people heard Jesus say that to them, they got really mean and nasty and said to Him, “You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?” Thus, they harken back to the blasphemy that their scribes had already spoken against Him (see Mark 3:22-30). The people then of Jerusalem and Judea (i.e. the “Jews”) though centered in the religious capital of God sadly were some of the most ardent and fiercest opponents of the Lord Jesus Christ because He constantly challenged them by not keeping their commandments of men, but rather He taught and obeyed the commandments of God!
Vs. 21 Jesus answered and said to them, “I did one work, and you all marvel.
Here the one work that Jesus did was His healing the crippled man at the pool of Bethsaida in Jerusalem, which then brought about their great consternation and wrath at Him for doing so on he Sabbath, so much so that from that point forward they were now seeking an opportunity to “legally” seize and kill Him!
Vs. 22-24 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
In defense of His doing so the Lord Jesus Christ now recalls to them that their circumcision that was commanded from God was first given to Abraham and all his descendants after him to keep so as to remain in a covenant relationship with God Himself. And thus, it came down to them through their fathers, i.e. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not Moses. And so, with the giving of the Law through Moses this act of circumcision came with it, and was still required of them to remain in a covenant relationship with God; but now through the law; and was when necessary performed on the Sabbath on a male child on the eighth day after his birth, so that the law of Moses should not be broken by any of them. Therefore, Jesus says, “If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath?” vs. 23 Therefore, if a man can receive circumcision on the Sabbath (which was a minor operation that removed the foreskin of the male flesh) and not be charged with violating it, how much more can (and should) a man receive complete healing of his body on the Sabbath by the Son of Man! The Jews anger then at Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath was then utterly and completely unjustified! Therefore, in closing Jesus rebukes them by saying, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.” Thus if you see someone “working” on the Sabbath, but what they are doing is totally beneficial to that persons well being and welfare are they really violating it, for the Sabbath law was in one sense given to give rest to God’s people, and not be ruthlessly and heavy handedly applied against those who are only doing good towards others on it! For do doctors and nurses break the Sabbath when they are working on it, I think not! That all said, in the New Covenant there is neither circumcision required nor Sabbath observances commanded, and thus we as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not commanded nor required to do, nor observe, any of those things. For in Christ we have our circumcision and Sabbath rest (Col. 2:11-16).
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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