Bird's-eye view
In this brief but potent passage, the Lord Jesus Christ has become a walking schism. His words, particularly His great invitation on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, have acted as a spiritual fault line, causing the crowd to break apart into distinct theological factions. This is not a mere disagreement over fine points of doctrine; it is a fundamental division over the very identity of the man standing before them. The passage reveals three distinct responses: conviction that He is the promised Prophet, conviction that He is the Christ, and a skeptical objection based on a half-baked understanding of Scripture. The conflict escalates to the point where some desire to arrest Him, yet a sovereign paralysis prevents them. This scene is a microcosm of the world's reaction to Jesus ever since. He is the great divider of men, the rock of offense, and one cannot remain neutral about Him. His person and work force a choice, and the choice you make reveals the foundation upon which you stand, whether it be solid rock or shifting sand.
The central issue is the authority of Christ versus the authority of human tradition and incomplete knowledge. The crowd is a jumble of excitement, hope, and pedantic theological objection. They are wrestling with the evidence of their own eyes and ears against the scriptural checklist in their heads. And in the middle of it all, the sovereignty of God is quietly and absolutely supreme. Men wanted to seize Him, but they could not. His hour had not yet come. This is not because their resolve failed, but because an invisible hand restrained them. God the Father was orchestrating every event according to His perfect timetable, and no amount of human confusion or malice could rush it by a single second.
Outline
- 1. The Great Divider (John 7:40-44)
- a. The Crowd's Convictions (John 7:40-41a)
- i. He is "the Prophet" (John 7:40)
- ii. He is "the Christ" (John 7:41a)
- b. The Crowd's Confusion (John 7:41b-42)
- i. The Galilean Objection (John 7:41b)
- ii. The Bethlehem Requirement (John 7:42)
- c. The Resulting Schism (John 7:43)
- d. The Sovereign Restraint (John 7:44)
- a. The Crowd's Convictions (John 7:40-41a)
Context In John
This passage comes at the climax of Jesus' tumultuous visit to Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles. The entire chapter is marked by conflict and division. Jesus' own brothers disbelieve Him (7:5). The Jewish authorities are actively seeking to kill Him (7:1, 25). The crowds are muttering and debating about Him in secret, torn between thinking He is a good man and a deceiver (7:12). Jesus has taught openly in the temple, astonishing everyone with His wisdom and authority, and has directly challenged the leaders' murderous hypocrisy (7:14-29). Immediately preceding our text, on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and issued His magnificent call for all who are thirsty to come to Him and drink, promising rivers of living water, which John tells us is a reference to the Holy Spirit (7:37-39). It is these specific words, this gospel invitation, that precipitates the sharp division described in verses 40-44. This division then sets the stage for the official response of the authorities, who are baffled when their own officers return empty-handed, having been captivated by Jesus' teaching (7:45-52).
Key Issues
- The Identity of "the Prophet"
- The Nature of Messianic Expectation
- The Role of Scripture in Belief and Unbelief
- The Sovereignty of God in Divine Timing
- The Inevitability of Division over Christ
The Man Who Splits the World
Jesus once said that He did not come to bring peace, but a sword (Matt. 10:34). He is the great divider, the one who separates father from son, mother from daughter, and in this case, crowd member from crowd member. The word for "division" here is schisma, from which we get our word schism. It means a tear, a rip. Jesus' presence and His words literally tore the crowd in two. This is not an incidental byproduct of His ministry; it is central to it. The light has come into the world, and it forces a separation from the darkness. The truth has been spoken, and it cannot coexist peacefully with error. When the gospel is faithfully proclaimed, a schism is the necessary result. Some will believe and be saved, and others will harden their hearts and oppose. There is no middle ground, no demilitarized zone. You are either for Him or against Him. This crowd in Jerusalem is a picture of all humanity. When confronted with the person of Jesus Christ, everyone must pick a side.
Verse by Verse Commentary
40 Some of the crowd therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This truly is the Prophet.”
The "therefore" links their reaction directly to the words Jesus had just spoken, His offer of living water. For some, this was the clinching argument. Their response was immediate and positive. They identified Him as "the Prophet." This is a specific reference to the prophet like Moses whom God promised to raise up in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. This figure was expected to be a great teacher and miracle worker, a new Moses who would lead God's people. By identifying Jesus this way, these people were acknowledging His divine authority and the power of His teaching. They heard His words and recognized the ring of truth, the voice of God. It was a step in the right direction, a good confession, though perhaps not yet a full-orbed understanding of who He was.
41a Others were saying, “This is the Christ.”
A second group went a step further. They moved from identifying Him as the forerunner Prophet to identifying Him as the main event, the Christ, the Messiah. The title "Christ" (Greek Christos) is the equivalent of the Hebrew Mashiach, meaning "Anointed One." This was the promised King, the son of David who would deliver Israel and establish God's kingdom. These people heard Jesus' offer of living water and understood it not just as great teaching, but as the fulfillment of all the messianic promises of the Old Testament. They were putting the pieces together and arriving at the correct conclusion. This is the central confession of the Christian faith.
41b-42 Still others were saying, “No, for is the Christ going to come from Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
Here we have the third group, the objectors. Notice how their objection is framed. It is not based on Jesus' character or the substance of His teaching. It is based on a point of data, a biographical detail. They appeal to Scripture, which is a good instinct, but they do so with incomplete information. They correctly remembered two key prophecies about the Messiah: He must be a descendant of David (2 Sam. 7:12-16) and He must be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Their problem was not with their Bibles, but with their facts. They assumed Jesus was from Galilee because that is where He grew up and based His ministry. They were ignorant of His Davidic lineage and His Bethlehem birth. This is a classic example of how a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Their proud appeal to Scripture became the very reason they rejected the one to whom all the Scriptures point. They were using the wrapping paper to dismiss the gift.
43 So a division occurred in the crowd because of Him.
John states the result plainly. A schism happened. The crowd was ripped apart. This was not a quiet, polite disagreement. The language suggests a sharp, contentious split. And the cause of it all was Jesus. He is the fault line. His very being forces a decision. The presence of the incarnate Son of God on earth makes neutrality impossible. He is the catalyst that reveals the true state of men's hearts. The same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay, and the same words of Christ that drew some to faith drove others to opposition.
44 Some of them were wanting to seize Him, but no one laid hands on Him.
The division was not merely academic. For some, the disagreement escalated into a desire for violence. They wanted to seize Him, to arrest Him. This was the position of the religious authorities, and it had now trickled down into a faction of the crowd. But their desire was thwarted. A strange paralysis fell over them. "No one laid hands on Him." Why not? Was it fear of the rest of the crowd? Was it a sudden failure of nerve? John has already given us the answer multiple times in this chapter (7:30). They could not touch Him because "His hour had not yet come." This is a profound statement of God's absolute sovereignty over the affairs of men. The most powerful men in Jerusalem, backed by a faction of the crowd, were utterly impotent to act outside of God's predetermined timetable. Jesus was not a victim of circumstance; He was the Lord of history, moving inexorably toward the cross at the precise moment appointed by His Father.
Application
This scene in Jerusalem is replayed every day all over the world. Jesus Christ still divides humanity. His claims are too absolute, His person too magnificent, to be ignored or domesticated. Whenever the true Christ is preached, a schism will result.
First, we see the danger of a little theological knowledge. The objectors in the crowd knew their Bibles, but only in a superficial, checklist sort of way. They used Scripture as a club to beat back the claims of Christ, rather than as a lamp to lead them to Him. We must beware of the same temptation. It is possible to be "Bible-believing" in a way that is profoundly Christ-denying. Our knowledge of Scripture must lead us to worship the living Word, not to construct barriers to Him. We must handle the word of truth with humility, always ready to have our assumptions corrected by the text, and more importantly, by the God of the text.
Second, we are reminded that faith is not a matter of accumulating all the data points. Some in the crowd believed He was the Christ without knowing about His birth in Bethlehem. They saw and heard the glory of God in the man before them and they believed. God honors a faith that responds to the light it is given. We should not wait until every last intellectual objection is answered before we bow the knee. We must respond to the glorious person of Christ Himself.
Finally, we must rest in the absolute sovereignty of God. The world may rage, and authorities may plot, but they cannot move one inch beyond the boundaries God has set. Jesus was perfectly safe in the midst of His enemies until the appointed hour. And so are we. If we are in Christ, our times are in His hand. This should free us from fear and empower us for bold witness. We are to speak the truth of Christ, knowing that it will cause division, but also knowing that the results, and our ultimate safety, are entirely in the hands of our sovereign God.