26 And here he is talking openly and they say nothing to him! Is it possible that the rulers have knowledge that this is truly the Christ?
Have any of the rulers belief in him, or any one of the Pharisees?
I have given news of righteousness in the great meeting; O Lord, you have knowledge that I have not kept back my words. Your righteousness has not been folded away in my heart; I have made clear your true word and your salvation; I have not kept secret your mercy or your faith from the great meeting.
The evil man goes running away when no man is after him, but the upright are without fear, like the lion.
His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.
For the Lord God is my helper; I will not be put to shame: so I have made my face like a rock, and I am certain that he will give me my right. He who takes up my cause is near; who will go to law with me? let us come together before the judge: who is against me? let him come near to me.
And they sent to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we see that you are true, and that you are teaching the true way of God, and have no fear of anyone, because you have no respect for a man's position.
But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were against the purpose of God for themselves, not having had his baptism.)
Then the high priests and the Pharisees had a meeting and said, What are we doing? This man is doing a number of signs. If we let him go on in this way, everybody will have belief in him and the Romans will come and take away our place and our nation. But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, You have no knowledge of anything; You do not see that it is in your interest for one man to be put to death for the people, so that all the nation may not come to destruction. He did not say this of himself, but being the high priest that year he said, as a prophet, that Jesus would be put to death for the nation; And not for that nation only, but for the purpose of uniting in one body the children of God all over the world. And from that day they took thought together how to put him to death.
However, a number even of the rulers had belief in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not say so openly for fear that they might be shut out from the Synagogue:
And for me, that words may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make clear without fear the secret of the good news, For which I am a representative in chains, and that I may say without fear the things which it is right for me to say.
And most of the brothers in the Lord, taking heart because of my chains, are all the stronger to give the word of God without fear.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 7
Commentary on John 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
In this chapter we have,
Jhn 7:1-13
We have here,
Jhn 7:14-36
Here is,
Here the people rudely interrupted him in his discourse, and contradicted what he said (v. 20): Thou has a devil; who goes about to kill thee? This intimates,
He concludes this argument with that rule (v. 24): Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. This may be applied, either,
Jhn 7:37-44
In these verses we have,
Jhn 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 issued out warrants for apprehending him, v. 32. Now here we are told,