John 7:40

Division over Jesus

40 On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly 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 Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

39 He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

40 On hearing these words, some of the people said, “This is truly the Prophet.”

41 Others declared, “This is the Christ.” But still others asked, “How can the Christ come from Galilee?

42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Christ will come from the line of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived? ”