John 7:48-53

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - John 7:45-53

The chief priests and Pharisees are here in a close cabal, contriving how to suppress Christ; though this was the great day of the feast, they attended not the religious services of the day, but left them to the vulgar, to whom it was common for those great ecclesiastics to consign and turn over the business of devotion, while they thought themselves better employed in the affairs of church-policy. They sat in the council-chamber, expecting Christ to be brought a prisoner to them, as they had... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 7:45-52

7:45-52 So the officers came to the chief priests and the Pharisees. They said to them: "Why did you not bring him here?" The attendants answered: "Never did a man speak as he speaks." So the Pharisees answered: "Surely you too have not been led astray? Has anyone from the authorities believed in him? Or anyone from the Pharisees? They have not; but the mob which is ignorant of the law and which is accursed believes in him!" Nicodemus (the man who came to him before) said to them, for he was... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 7:53

7:53 And each of them went to his own house; but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he was again in the Temple precincts, and all the people came to him. He sat down and went on teaching them. The scribes and Pharisees brought a woman arrested for adultery. They set her in the midst and said to him: "Teacher, this woman was arrested as she was committing adultery--in the very act. In the law Moses enjoined us to stone women like this. What do you say about her?" They were... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 7:53

This passage shows us two things about the attitude of the scribes and the Pharisees. (i) It shows us their conception of authority. The scribes and the Pharisees were the legal experts of the day; to them problems were taken for decision. It is clear that to them authority was characteristically critical, censorious and condemnatory. That authority should be based on sympathy, that its aim should be to reclaim the criminal and the sinner, never entered their heads. They conceived of their... read more

William Barclay

William Barclay's Daily Study Bible - John 7:53

Further, this incident tells us a great deal about Jesus and his attitude to the sinner. (i) It was a first principle of Jesus that only the man who himself is without fault has the right to express judgment on the fault of others. "Judge not," said Jesus, "that you be not judged" ( Matthew 7:1 ). He said that the man who attempted to judge his brother was like a man with a plank in his own eye trying to take a speck of dust out of someone else's eye ( Matthew 7:3-5 ). One of the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 7:48

Have any of the rulers ,.... In the sanhedrim, or of the synagogues; or the civil magistrates, the noble, rich, and wealthy: or of the Pharisees, believed on him ; men famous for wisdom, learning, and holiness. It must be owned, there were but very few of this sort, and perhaps not an instance of this kind had as yet occurred to them; there was Nicodemus, who is mentioned in the context, who was both a ruler and a Pharisee; and Joseph of Arimathea, a rich counsellor; but they neither of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 7:49

But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed. With great contempt they style the followers of Jesus "this people"; the common people, the dregs of them, the refuse of the earth; and whom they call, עם הארץ , "the people of the earth", in distinction from the wise men, and their disciples: and when they speak the best of them, their account is this F16 Maimon. in Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 5. & c. 5. sect. 7. ; "one of the people of the earth is one that has moral... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 7:50

Nicodemus saith unto them ,.... To the Jewish sanhedrim, who were running down Christ, and his followers, in great wrath and fury: he that came to Jesus by night ; see John 3:1 ; being one of them ; a member of the sanhedrim. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 7:51

Doth our law judge any man ,.... Or condemn any man; or can any man be lawfully condemned: before it hear him : what he has to say for himself; is this the usual process in our courts? or is this a legal one to condemn a man unheard? and know what he doth ? what his crimes are. This he said, having a secret respect for Christ, though he had not courage enough openly to appear for him. read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - John 7:52

They answered and said unto him ,.... Being displeased with him, and as reproaching him, though they could not deny, or refute what he said: art thou also of Galilee ? a follower of Jesus of Galilee, whom, by way of contempt, they called the Galilean, and his followers Galilaeans, as Julian the apostate after them did; for otherwise they knew that Nicodemus was not of the country of Galilee; search and look ; into the histories of former times, and especially the Scriptures: for... read more

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