John 7:37-52

1. The True Source: 7:37-52.

John reports the discourse of Jesus and gives the explanation of it (John 7:37-39); he describes the different impressions of the multitude (John 7:40-44); he gives an account of the meeting of the Sanhedrim, after the return of the officers (John 7:45-52).

ADDITIONAL NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR.

Vv. 37-52.

1. The explanation given by Godet of the reference to the living water in John 7:37 and the light in John 8:12 as connected with the two great Divine gifts to the Israelites in their life in the wilderness, which was commemorated in this feast, seems to the writer of this note to be the best one which has been offered. At the end of the feast, and when all minds were naturally turned toward the experiences in the desert, it was natural that Jesus should represent Himself and the new life under these figures, as He had done under the figure of the water of the well, at Sychar, and of the bread, in the sixth chapter.

2. The remark of the evangelist in John 7:39, though not having precisely the same form as those in John 2:21-22, etc., may not improbably be regarded as, like them, indicating an understanding of the meaning of Jesus' words which was obtained only after His ascension. The last clause of the verse declares simply what was the fact with regard to the coming of the Spirit. It does not affirm any absolute necessity in the case. If the Divine plan, however, was to reveal the truth at first by the incarnation of the Logos in the person of a man, with the necessary limitations of a single human life, we can easily understand how the wider and greater spiritual influence should have been introduced only after the glorification of Jesus.

3. The interruption on the part of the people breaks off this discourse, and hence we are unable to determine as confidently as might otherwise be the case what the precise meaning of John 7:38 is. But there is evidently an advance here beyond the thought of John 4:14. In that passage, it is the internal life of the believer which is referred to, but here the outgoing of this internal life in its blessing influence for others is set forth. This working of the interior life outward was, of course, dependent for its fulness on the greater outpouring of the Spirit which began with the Day of Pentecost. It was to be one means by which that glorification of Jesus on earth was to be accomplished, which is alluded to in John 12:23 and John 17:1, and which was to be connected with and follow upon His glorification in heaven.

4. With reference to John 7:41-42 two points may be noticed: (a) that the supposition on the part of the people here spoken of, that Jesus came from Galilec, may easily be explained in connection with the fact that His life had been passed there almost from its very beginning, and (b) that John does not state his own view, but theirs. The conclusion that he did not know of the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem is simply an inference drawn from the fact that he does not insert here a correction of this error. But his object in the narrative is clearly to give the accurate statement of the condition and progress of opinion in the minds of the people and their rulers, and not to show how far that opinion was correct or incorrect. The critics everywhere demand that the evangelist should follow a plan in accordance with their own preconceived ideas, but he was writing from a different standpoint and with a different purpose.

5. The conduct of Nicodemus here is certainly far from that moral cowardice which has been so generally charged upon him because he came to Jesus at first by night. It is worthy of remark that the oldest and best authorities mostly omit the word νυκτός here. The author makes no reference in this passage, therefore, to his coming by night. But, whether he alludes to this fact or not, he does not give any indication of any disapproval of his course.

6. The last clause of John 7:52 may be best explained by supposing that the persons opposing Nicodemus were not speaking of ordinary prophets, but of a great prophet, like ὁ προφήτης of John 7:40, or the Christ. Galilee was not the region, they thought, from which such a prophet could be expected to come. If this was their meaning, the difficulty supposed to arise from the case of Jonah is removed.