John 7:40

40 Many, therefore out of the multitude, having heard the word, 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 he who is believing in me, according as the Writing said, Rivers out of his belly shall flow of living water;'

39 and this he said of the Spirit, which those believing in him were about to receive; for not yet was the Holy Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

40 Many, therefore out of the multitude, having heard the word, said, `This is truly the Prophet;'

41 others said, `This is the Christ;' and others said, `Why, out of Galilee doth the Christ come?

42 Did not the Writing say, that out of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem -- the village where David was -- the Christ doth come?'