John 7:40

40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said , Of a truth this is 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 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said , out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive : for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified .)

40 Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said , Of a truth this is the Prophet.

41 Others said , This is the Christ. But some said , Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

42 Hath not the scripture said , That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was ?