John 7 - CSB Tony Evans Study Bible

7:2-5 Matthew 13:55 identifies Jesus’s brothers as “James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas.” James believed in Jesus after his resurrection, became a leader in the early church, and authored the New Testament letter that bears his name (see, e.g., Acts 15:13; 21:18; 1 Cor 15:7; Gal 1:19; Jas 1:1). Judas (better known as Jude) is the author of the New Testament letter that bears his (see Jude 1).

7:6 My time has not yet arrived means it was not the moment for his public presentation as the Messiah (see 12:12-19). Jesus knew his death would follow soon after that open acknowledgment.

7:8-10 Jesus does things according to his Father’s ways and timetable, not ours. And God’s ways and timing are perfect (see Gal 4:4-5).

7:13 Interestingly, when a man eventually did speak favorably of Jesus in public, the religious leaders banned him from the synagogue (see 9:13-34).

7:15 The people were puzzled that Jesus was so learned because he hadn’t been trained by the religious leaders.

7:16 Jesus accurately represented the Father in everything he said.

7:22-23 Many of the Jews had become angry with Jesus because he healed a lame man on the Sabbath (7:23; see 5:1-13). Yet the Jews obeyed the law of Moses by performing circumcision on “the Sabbath” (7:22). So if the act of circumcision didn’t break the law, how could making a man entirely well break it? (7:23).

7:24 They were to use God’s standards for judgments and not their personal preferences.

7:27 They thought they knew all about Jesus. But though they assumed he was merely a preacher from Nazareth, he was much more. He was the Son of God from heaven.

7:30 An angry mob wanted to seize Jesus. He stood before them, alone and defenseless. But nothing happened, because their plans weren’t in God’s sovereign schedule. Similarly, no matter how bad your circumstances appear, nothing can harm you outside of God’s will and timing.

7:33-36 Approaching God’s Word at the purely physical level as these Jews did will inevitably result in confusion. We need our antennae tuned to God’s heavenly broadcast.

7:37 There is only one oasis for those who are in a spiritual desert. If you’re spiritually parched, go to Jesus.

7:39 In this case, glorified refers to Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection.

7:42 They didn’t realize that Jesus actually was born from the line of David (see Matt 1:1-17) in Bethlehem as Scripture had foretold (see Mic 5:2; Matt 2:1; Luke 2:1-7), but he grew up and ministered in Galilee—which Scripture had also foretold (see Isa 9:1-2; Matt 2:19-23; 4:14-15).

7:46 In other words, they said, “We intended to arrest him like you told us to, but then we heard him talk and changed our minds!” Jesus’s sermon was so mesmerizing that it prevented them from obeying wicked men.

7:47-51 Actually, there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus who had been captivated by Jesus’s teaching. But he had kept his interest under wraps by only visiting Jesus at night (see 3:1-13). Interestingly, though, when he heard these words, Nicodemus spoke up: Our law doesn’t judge a man before it hears from him . . . does it? (7:51). Thus, he wisely sought to calm everyone and to urge them against condemning someone without proper investigation.

7:52 Not only were they wrong about Jesus’s birthplace (see 7:41-42), but they also were wrong about no prophets coming from Galilee. Jonah’s hometown of Gath-hepher was located there (see 2 Kgs 14:25).