Commentary - John 10:19-21

Bird's-eye view

In John 10:19-21, we come to the predictable and necessary fallout from one of Jesus’ most profound declarations. He has just finished His discourse on the Good Shepherd, culminating in the staggering claims that He and the Father are one (John 10:30) and that He has the authority to lay down His life and take it up again (John 10:18). Such words do not land softly in a fallen world. They are not intended to. Divine truth is a sword, and here we see it doing its work, dividing the hearers right down the middle. This is not an unfortunate misunderstanding; it is the great antithesis in action. Christ’s words force a choice, and the choice reveals the heart. The response is polarized: one side resorts to slander and worldly psychology, dismissing Jesus as a madman, while the other side begins to apply basic, sanctified logic. The conflict is not over rhetoric, but over reality. Is Jesus who He says He is, or is He a demon-possessed lunatic? There is no middle ground, and John wants us to see that there never has been.

This short passage serves as a microcosm of the world's reaction to the gospel. Faced with the exclusive claims of Christ, humanity divides into two camps. One camp, blinded by sin and refusing to submit to the truth, must explain away the evidence. They must label the truth as insanity and the Savior as a demon. The other camp, with eyes beginning to open, cannot ignore the raw power and goodness of Christ's works. The question they pose, "Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?", is the fundamental question of apologetics. It is an appeal to the manifest glory of God in the works of Christ. The division is sharp, the stakes are ultimate, and the choice is before every man.

Outline

Context In John

This passage doesn't occur in a vacuum. It is the direct result of Jesus' "Good Shepherd" sermon in John 10. Jesus has just claimed to be the exclusive gate for the sheep (10:7), the Good Shepherd who lays down His life (10:11), and, most blasphemously to His hearers, to be one with God the Father (10:30). These are not the words of a mere moral teacher. These are claims of absolute deity. The Jewish leadership had a grid for dealing with prophets and teachers, but Jesus shatters that grid entirely.

The division mentioned here is a recurring theme in John's Gospel. Jesus' words and works consistently polarize His audience. After He feeds the five thousand, many disciples turn back and no longer walk with Him (John 6:66). His very presence forces a judgment, a separation of light from darkness (John 3:19-21). This schism among "the Jews" is therefore not a new development, but an intensification of a conflict that has been brewing since the beginning of His ministry. It sets the stage for the escalating hostility that will ultimately lead to the cross.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

19 A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words.

The first thing to notice is the cause of the division: it was "because of these words." The modern impulse is to seek unity at all costs, which usually means sanding down the sharp edges of doctrine. But Jesus is the Word made flesh, and His words have weight. They are not suggestions; they are revelations of reality. And when reality is declared to a world in rebellion against it, division is the only possible outcome. It is not an unfortunate side effect; it is part of the design. The truth acts as a spiritual watershed. Water that falls on one side of the peak flows to the Pacific, and water that falls inches away on the other side flows to the Atlantic. So it is with the words of Christ. There is no neutrality.

The text says this division occurred "again." John is reminding us that this is a pattern. Every time Jesus reveals more of who He is, the sorting process continues. The line is drawn and redrawn, getting sharper each time. And the division is "among the Jews," which is to say, among the covenant people of God. This is not a conflict between the insiders and the outsiders. This is a civil war within the visible people of God. The presence of Christ reveals who truly belongs to the covenant and who is an heir of the promise merely by flesh.

20 And many of them were saying, “He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?”

Here we have the world's reaction to divine claims it cannot control. When men are confronted with a truth they are determined to reject, they do not engage it with reason. They pathologize it. They move immediately to an ad hominem attack. The first charge is that He has a demon. This is the ultimate slander, attributing the work of the Holy Spirit to the prince of demons. This was not a new charge (cf. John 7:20, 8:48), but it is their go-to explanation for supernatural power that does not submit to their authority.

The second charge is that He is "insane." The Greek word is mainetai, from which we get our word mania. He is raving, out of His mind. This is what the world must conclude about the incarnate Son of God. His claims are so immense, so reality-altering, that if they are not true, they must be the ravings of a lunatic. C.S. Lewis famously articulated this trilemma: Jesus is either a liar, a lunatic, or Lord. The unbelieving Jews here opt for lunatic, with a demonic twist. Having made their diagnosis, they offer their counsel: "Why do you listen to Him?" This is the voice of the world in every age. Stop thinking. Stop considering. Dismiss Him, because we have put a label on Him. Unbelief is always intellectually lazy at its root. It is easier to slap on a label than to wrestle with the truth.

21 Others were saying, “These are not the words of someone demon-possessed. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”

But the truth always finds a foothold. Not everyone is swept away by the mob's diagnosis. This second group represents the beginnings of true faith. They are not yet making a full-throated confession of Christ's deity, but they are engaging in basic spiritual reasoning. Their argument is twofold.

First, they evaluate His words. "These are not the words of someone demon-possessed." They had heard Him. They had heard the wisdom, the authority, the grace, the coherence. The words of a demoniac are typically chaotic, destructive, and full of darkness. The words of Jesus were full of life and light. They simply did not fit the diagnosis offered by the authorities. This is a crucial first step: they listened for themselves instead of accepting the approved label.

Second, they appeal to His works. "Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?" This is a direct reference to the healing of the man born blind in the previous chapter, a miracle that had thoroughly flummoxed the Pharisees (John 9). Their question is devastatingly simple and powerful. It cuts through all the slander. Demons are agents of chaos and destruction. They bind, they blind, they torment. They do not give sight to the blind. That is an act of creation, of restoration, of goodness. The character of the work testifies to the character of the worker. This is the logic of faith. It looks at the evidence, the words and the works, and draws the necessary conclusion. The fruit is good, therefore the tree must be good. This is the simple, powerful apologetic that the Holy Spirit uses to open eyes, both physically and spiritually.

Application

We live in an age that despises division and loves a diagnosis. When the church speaks with biblical clarity on issues of sexuality, the sanctity of life, or the exclusive claims of Christ, the world does not engage the arguments. It affixes a label: hateful, bigoted, phobic, insane. The tactics have not changed in two thousand years. The world must explain away the truth because to accept it would require submission, and the unregenerate heart will not submit.

We must learn from this. First, we should expect division. If our message is never causing a stir, if it is comfortably at home in the world, it is very likely not the message of Christ. The gospel is an offense. It confronts, it challenges, and it divides. We should not seek division for its own sake, but we must not flee from it when it comes as a result of faithfulness to the truth.

Second, we must be prepared for the world to call us insane. When we say that a man rose from the dead, that marriage is between a man and a woman, or that salvation is found in no other name than Jesus, we are making claims that are utterly mad from a secular perspective. We must not be surprised when we are treated accordingly. Our response should not be to water down the truth, but to point, as the saner heads in this passage did, to the works of God. Does the gospel open the eyes of the blind? Does it heal broken lives? Does it bring order out of chaos? Does it produce love, joy, peace, and patience? The fruit of the Spirit is the ultimate apologetic against the charge of insanity. Let the world bring its labels. We will bring transformed lives.