John 7:40

40 After some of the crowd heard Jesus say these words, they said, "This man is certainly the prophet."

John 7:40 Meaning and Commentary

John 7:40

Many of the people therefore
Of the common people, and it may be chiefly those that came out of the country:

when they heard this saying;
or discourse of Christ, on the last and great day of the feast, relating to the large measure of grace, and the effusion of the Spirit on him, that believed:

said, of a truth this is the prophet;
spoken of in ( Deuteronomy 18:15 ) , which some understood not of the Messiah, but of some extraordinary prophet distinct from him, who should come before him, or about the same time; or they imagined he was one of the old prophets raised from the dead, whom they also expected about the times of the Messiah: or their sense might only be, that he was a prophet, which was true, though not all the truth; they had some knowledge, though but small; and they spake of him, though but as children in understanding.

John 7:40 In-Context

38 As Scripture says, 'Streams of living water will flow from deep within the person who believes in me.'"

39 Jesus said this about the Spirit, whom his believers would receive. The Spirit was not yet evident, as it would be after Jesus had been glorified.

40 After some of the crowd heard Jesus say these words, they said, "This man is certainly the prophet."

41 Other people said, "This man is the Messiah." Still other people asked, "How can the Messiah come from Galilee?

42 Doesn't Scripture say that the Messiah will come from the descendants of David and from the village of Bethlehem, where David lived?"