Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 7:22

διὰ τ. Μ. For this cause M. hath given you: the perfect indicates that the gift abides, the present result of a past act.

οὐκ ὅτι. Not that; the sentence is a parenthesis, and ὅτι does not answer to διὰ τοῦτο. The meaning is not, ‘For this cause M. hath given you circumcision, because it originated (ἐκ) not with him but with the fathers:’ which spoils the argument. Διὰ τοῦτο means, ‘in order to teach the same lesson as I do.’ It is not easy to determine the object of the parenthesis: whether it states (1) a mere matter of fact; or (2) the reason why circumcision on the eighth day (as being the older law, reaffirmed side by side with the later one) prevailed over the Sabbath; or (3) a reason why it might have been expected that the Sabbath (as being of Moses and in the Decalogue, whereas circumcision was not) would have prevailed over the law about circumcision. Anyhow the national conscience felt that it was better that the Sabbath should be broken, than that circumcision, the sign of the covenant and token of sanctification, should be postponed, and Jesus claims this right instinct as justifying Him. If then the Sabbath could give way to ceremonial ordinance, how much more to a work of mercy? The law of charity is higher than any ceremonial law. Ἐν σάββατῳ, on a Sabbath; any that fell on the eighth day.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

John 7:22

Old Testament

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