Feast of the Dedication. The Jews Attempt to Stone Jesus and He Retires to Peræa.

  32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from the Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

  33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

[Jesus, conscious that he was living the divine life, endeavored to arouse the Jews to a consciousness of that life by asking them to point out what part of it offended them. It was a demand that his claim to be divine be tested and judged by his life. But the Jews insisted upon judging him by his words without in any way taking his life into account. Jesus urged that a divine claim was made good by a divine life, but they replied that a divine claim issuing from a human body was blasphemy.]

  33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

  34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law [ Psalms 82:6 . The whole Old Testament not infrequently is thus designated as the "law"], I said, Ye are gods?

  35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken),

  36 say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

[Since the civil rulers of a land are ordained of God ( Romans 13:1-7 they were regarded as God's delegates or ministers, and as such the inspired Psalmist addresses them, calling them gods. Compare also Exodus 22:28 . If it was not blasphemy to call those gods who so remotely represented the Deity, how much less did Christ blaspheme in taking unto himself a title to which he had a better right than they, even in the subordinate sense of being a mere messenger. The expression "word of God" is equivalent to "commission from God." Compare Luke 3:2 , where John was commissioned. The Jews regarded the Scripture as final authority. Jesus asserted this view by stating that the Scripture could not be broken; that is, could not be undone or set aside. We may regard Jesus as here ratifying their view, since he elsewhere concurred in it--see Matthew 5:19 .]

  37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

  38 But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

[Having set aside their false judgment which was based upon his mere words, Jesus again bids them to consider his works or manner of life.]

  39 They sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand. [The calm reasoning of Jesus cooled their violence, and so far changed their evil designs that they now sought to arrest him that they might bring him before the Sanhedrin. The word "again" refers back to John 7:30 John 7:32 John 7:44 .]

  40 And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at first baptizing; and there he abode. [The word "again" either refers to John 1:28 , or else it refers to some former escape beyond the Jordan not recorded by John, but by one of the other evangelists. The supplementary nature of John's Gospel makes this latter view somewhat plausible.]

  41 And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true. [John at first baptized "in the wilderness of Judæa" and afterwards at Bethany and minds of the people the work of the Baptist and his testimony concerning Jesus. They had held John to be a prophet, yet when they searched for his credentials as a prophet, they found them inextricably intertwined with the claims of Jesus. John had failed to prove himself a prophet by miracles and signs--the accustomed credentials. But he had done so by his predictions which had come true, and all of these predictions related to Jesus.]

  42 And many believed on him there. [The word "there" stands in contrast to Jerusalem, which rejected Jesus.]

  35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken),

  36 say ye of him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

  37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

  38 But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

[Having set aside their false judgment which was based upon his mere words, Jesus again bids them to consider his works or manner of life.]

  38 But if I do them, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.

  39 They sought again to take him: and he went forth out of their hand. [The calm reasoning of Jesus cooled their violence, and so far changed their evil designs that they now sought to arrest him that they might bring him before the Sanhedrin. The word "again" refers back to John 7:30 John 7:32 John 7:44 .]

  40 And he went away again beyond the Jordan into the place where John was at first baptizing; and there he abode. [The word "again" either refers to John 1:28 , or else it refers to some former escape beyond the Jordan not recorded by John, but by one of the other evangelists. The supplementary nature of John's Gospel makes this latter view somewhat plausible.]

  41 And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true. [John at first baptized "in the wilderness of Judæa" and afterwards at Bethany and minds of the people the work of the Baptist and his testimony concerning Jesus. They had held John to be a prophet, yet when they searched for his credentials as a prophet, they found them inextricably intertwined with the claims of Jesus. John had failed to prove himself a prophet by miracles and signs--the accustomed credentials. But he had done so by his predictions which had come true, and all of these predictions related to Jesus.]

  42 And many believed on him there. [The word "there" stands in contrast to Jerusalem, which rejected Jesus.]