John 13:21-22

“ After having said this, Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. 22. The disciples therefore looked upon one another, not being able to understand of whom he was speaking. ”

Jesus' emotion does not spring from any personal impression, like the fear of death, the grief of wounded affection or pity for the traitor; there would, in that case, be the word ψυχή, soul, as in John 12:27. The limiting word τῷ πνεύματι, in his spirit, shows that this emotion has its seat in a higher region than that of the natural sensibility, even though the noblest. It is, as in John 11:33; John 11:38, a shock of a religious nature, a kind of horror which His pure heart feels at the contact with the instrument of this Satanic crime and the approach of its invisible author. On this difference between ψυχή, the soul, and πνεῦμα, the spirit, see on John 12:27.

The words: having said this, connect this emotion closely with the preceding words, in which Jesus had twice alluded to the treachery of Judas; the term: he testified contrasts the positive declaration which is to follow with the vague indications of John 13:10; John 13:18. The amen, amen, marks the divine certainty of the declaration in face of the difficulty in receiving it, which must have existed for the apostles. But the apostles (John 13:22) doubt rather respecting themselves and their own hearts, than respecting the Master's word. “ Is it I? ” they, each of them ask, with a humble docility. The Synoptics say the same thing. According to Matthew 26:25, Judas himself also addresses this question to Jesus. This fact has been thought incredible. But to be the only one to keep silence, when all ask such a question, would not this have been to betray oneself? As to the reply of Jesus: “ Thou hast said,” in Matthew 26:25, it is in reality only the summary of the following scene in the narrative of John; it is by the act related here, John 13:26, that Jesus made this reply to him.