John 7 - NLT Study Bible

7:1-52 This chapter is another account of Jesus during a Jewish festival, the Festival of Shelters. Jesus used elements of the festival to reveal his true identity to his Jewish compatriots and to show that he had fulfilled the festival’s essential meaning (see John 7:37-39; 8:12).

7:2 Jewish men were required to come to the Temple for the Festival of Shelters (Exod 23:14-17; Deut 16:16), an annual seven-day autumn harvest festival in Jerusalem six months after Passover (6:4). People lived in temporary shelters for the seven days as a reminder of the tents Israel used for forty years in the wilderness.

7:3-5 Jesus’ brothers (see also Mark 3:31) reminded him of his religious obligation to celebrate the festival. Their words were cynical because at this time they didn’t believe in him (7:5).

7:6-8 Jesus said that it was not the right time for him to go publicly to Jerusalem, although he later went secretly (12:1-19; see note on 12:23).

7:8 not going: Some manuscripts read not yet going.

7:15 people: Literally Jewish people. • The leaders wanted Jesus to show his credentials. Jesus had not been trained under a rabbi but was taught by his heavenly Father (cp. Peter and John, Acts 4:13; contrast Paul, Acts 22:3).

7:17 Those who truly want to do the will of God receive and accept Jesus and his teaching (see also 5:42-47). Those who focus on the world, by contrast, are not receptive to Christ.

7:19 Moses gave you the law, but none of you obeys it! The Jewish leaders were proud of the law of Moses, but ironically, in trying to kill Jesus, they were breaking the law (Exod 20:13).

7:20 You’re demon possessed! See also John 8:48-52; 10:20-21.

7:22 The law required circumcision on the eighth day (Lev 12:3) and permitted a boy to be circumcised even if that day fell on the Sabbath. Jesus argued as a rabbi would, from “the lesser to the greater,” using circumcision as a precedent for healing, both of which are religious works.

7:27 Some of the crowd thought that since they could trace Jesus’ earthly origins, he could not be the Messiah. They believed that the Messiah would simply appear.

7:29 I come from him: Jesus sidestepped the speculation (John 7:27, 40-44) about his earthly origins and focused on his heavenly origins. His astounding claim provoked the religious leaders to try to arrest him for blasphemy (John 7:30; cp. John 10:30-33).

7:30 Jesus’ opponents failed to arrest him because in God’s sovereign plan, his time (literally his hour), when he would be glorified on the cross, had not yet come (see note on 12:23; see also John 10:17-18; 18:6-8). All four arrest scenes in John 7:1–8:59 stress that Jesus was in control, not the Jewish leaders.

7:32-36 Jesus announced his return to the one who sent him, the Father in heaven (17:1-7). However, the Pharisees misunderstood, thinking he was leaving Judea to go among Gentiles (whom Pharisees would never visit). • The leaders would not find Jesus after his ascension. • you cannot go where I am going: These Pharisees, still in darkness, could not enter heaven, so Jesus would be beyond their reach there.

7:35 the Jews in other lands?Or the Jews who live among the Greeks?

7:37-38 living water: See “Living Water” on 4:10-14. A water ceremony was held each day during the Festival of Shelters, with prayer for God to send rain in the late autumn. The final day, called “the great day,” was the climax of the festival, when the ceremony was repeated seven times. Water was poured over the altar as Levites sang Isa 12:3 (see Zech 14:8; see also Mishnah Sukkah ch 4). • Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Jesus fulfilled an essential element in the Festival of Shelters. He himself is the source of living water, available to anyone who believes. • Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart’: Or “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from the heart of anyone who believes in me.’” The syntax of the Greek allows for either interpretation.

7:39 In Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection, his life and the Spirit were poured out (see John 19:34; 20:22). • But the Spirit had not yet been given: Some manuscripts read But as yet there was no Spirit. Still others read But as yet there was no Holy Spirit.

7:40 Surely this man is the Prophet we’ve been expecting: See Deut 18:15, 18; Mal 4:5-6.

7:41-42 These Jews, different from the crowd (7:25-27) who thought the Messiah would appear mysteriously, believed the prophecy that the Messiah would be from Bethlehem of Judea (see Mic 5:2). However, they stumbled over the fact that Jesus seemed to be from Galilee, where he grew up.

7:45-52 The story concludes with the Jewish leaders frustrated and the world divided over Jesus (cp. John 7:25-27, 31-32). • guards returned: See John 7:32.

7:49-51 Nicodemus (ch 3) was probably in the process of coming to faith (see 19:39). Contrary to the implication of 7:48, some of the Pharisees—not just the ignorant crowd—believed in Jesus.

7:52 no prophet ever comes (some manuscripts read the prophet does not come) from Galilee! The Jewish leaders were apparently unaware that Jesus had been born in Bethlehem of Judea, not in Galilee (see Matt 2:1; Luke 2:1-7).

7:53–8:11 This story, a later addition to the Gospel of John, does not appear in the earliest Greek manuscripts. However, it is likely an authentic story from Jesus’ life.