John 12:43

Joh 12:43. Ἠγάπησαν, they loved) the Gospel demands, and produces[works] in men, a renunciation of human things.—τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων, the glory [praise] of men) such as is communion in the synagogue. [And of what worth is this, when it is compared with the right of fellow-citizenship with saints and the household of GOD?—V. g.] He who shrinks from ignominy [incurred for Christ’s sake] already loves the glory [praise] of men.—τὴν δόξαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, the glory [praise] of God) Glory from God falls to the portion of those, who believe and speak out: Joh 12:26, “If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour;” ch. Joh 1:12, “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God--"a severe remark, considering that several at least of these persons afterwards boldly confessed Christ. It indicates the displeasure with which God regarded their conduct at this time, and with which He continues to regard similar conduct" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 43. They loved the praise of men] δοξαν, the glory or honour that cometh from men.

How common are these four obstacles of faith! says Quesnel:

1. Too great a regard to men.

2. Riches and temporal advantages.

3. The fear of disgrace.

4. The love of the praise of men.

Abundance of persons persuade themselves that they love God more than the world, till some trying occasion fully convinces them of their mistake. It is a very great misfortune for a person not to know himself but by his falls; but it is the greatest of all not to rise again after he has fallen. This is generally occasioned by the love of the praise of men, because in their account it is more shameful to rise again than it was to fall at first.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

43. For they loved the glory of men. The Evangelist expressly states that those men were not guided by any superstition, but only endeavored to avoid disgrace among men; for if ambition had greater influence over them than the fear of God, it follows, that it was no vain scruple of conscience that gave them uneasiness. Now, let the reader observe how great ignominy is incurred before God, by the cowardice of those who, from the fear of being hated, dissemble their faith before men. Can any thing be more foolish, or rather, can any thing be more beastly, than to prefer the silly applause of men to the judgment of God? But he declares that all who shrink from the hatred of men, when the pure faith ought to be confessed, are seized with this kind of madness. And justly; for the apostle, in applauding the unshaken steadiness of Moses, says that

he remained firm, as if he had seen him who is invisible, (Hebrews 11:27.)

By these words he means that, when any person has fixed his eyes on God, his heart will be invincible, and utterly incapable of being moved.

Whence, therefore, comes the effeminacy , which causes us to give way to treacherous hypocrisy, but because, at the sight of the world, all our senses grow dull? For a true sight of God would instantly chase away all the mists of wealth and honors. Away with those who look upon an indirect denial of Christ as some trivial offense, or, as they call it, a venial sin! For, on the contrary, the Holy Spirit declares that it is more base and monstrous than if heaven and earth were mingled.

To love the glory of men means, in this passage, to desire to enjoy reputation among men. The Evangelist, therefore, means, that those men were so much devoted to the world, that they were more desirous to please men than to please God. Besides, when he accuses of this crime those who denied Christ, he, at the same time, shows that the excommunication, which the priests abused, contrary to all that was right and lawful, had no value or efficacy. Let us know, therefore, that all the excommunications which the Pope now mutters against us are mere bugbears to frighten children, since we are fully convinced, in our own consciences, that he aims at nothing else than to lead us away from Christ.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(43) For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.—For “praise” read in both instances glory. “The glory which comes from men more than the glory which came from God.” Comp. Note on Joh_5:44, where the truth is put in the form of a question by our Lord. Here it explains the fact that there were men who believed, and yet did not publicly confess their faith. There our Lord’s question goes deeper, and asserts that the seeking of the glory which comes from men is inconsistent with the existence of any true belief in God.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43. the praise of men &c.] Better, the glory (that cometh) from men rather than the glory (that cometh) from God (see on Joh_5:41; Joh_5:44). The word rendered ‘praise’ is the same as that rendered ‘glory’ in Joh_5:41. Moreover ‘more than’ is not strong enough; it should be rather than. Joseph and Nicodemus confessed their belief after the crisis of the Crucifixion. Gamaliel did not even get so far as to believe on Him.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jesus cried and said,.... Upon this occasion, on account of the prevailing hardness and unbelief of the Jewish nation, and the non-confession of him by those who did believe him to be the Messiah. He cried with a loud voice, that he might be heard, and his audience left inexcusable; it denotes the concern of his mind, the vehemence of his spirit, and that openness and freedom in which he discharged his ministry, by showing the nature, excellency, and usefulness of believing in him, and the dangerous consequences of unbelief:

he that believeth on me, believeth not on me; which is not to be understood simply and absolutely, for this would be a contradiction in terms: they that believe in Christ, do believe in him, and they do right to believe in him; Christ is the object of faith; he is proposed as such in the Gospel; and it is his Father's will, and his own advice, that his people should believe in him: but then those that truly believe in him, do not believe in him as a mere man, but as God, as the Son of God; and not as separate from, or to the exclusion of his Father: nor do they believe in him as a new, or another God, but as the one God with the Father, and the Spirit; for he and his Father are one: nor do they believe in him "only"; and so the Arabic version reads; but in God the Father also: nor does their faith rest in him, but it proceeds through him, as the Mediator unto God; see Pe1 1:21. Besides, he is here to be considered in his office capacity, as being sent of God; and he that believes on him as the sent of God, does not so much believe on him, as on the sender of him, as follows:

but on him that sent me; just as whatever honour or dishonour are done to an ambassador, sent by an earthly king to a foreign court, are not so much done to the ambassador that is sent, as to the king that sends him; for what is done to him, is all one as if it was personally done to his prince: so he that despises Christ, despises him that sent him; and he that receives Christ, receives him that sent him; and he that believes on Christ, believes on him that sent him; see Luk 10:16.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

43 For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

Ver. 43. They loved the praise of men] Which what is it else but a little stinking breath? These have their reward, Mercedem suam, non Dei, you have your reward not of God, saith Jerome. How much better Luther! Haud velim, Erasmi, gloria aut nomine vehi: Maior est mihi timor in laudibus, gaudium veto in maledictis et blasphemiis. Let me not wish by any means, Erasmus, to bear the fame or the reputation: To me, greater is the fear in praises, I do not have joy in insults or slanders. (Epist. ad Nic. Hansm.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The praise of men - The approval of human beings. It does not appear that they had a living, active faith, but that they were convinced in their understanding that he was the Messiah. They had that kind of faith which is so common among people - a speculative acknowledgment that religion is true, but an acknowledgment which leads to no self-denial, which shrinks from the active duties of piety, and fears man more than God. True faith is active. It overcomes the fear of man; it prompts to self-denying duties, Heb. 11. Nevertheless, it was no unimportant proof that Jesus was the Messiah, that any part of the great council of the Jews were even speculatively convinced of it: and it shows that the evidence could not have been slight when it overcame their prejudices and pride, and constrained them to admit that the lowly and poor man of Nazareth was the long expected Messiah of their nation.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For they loved the glory of men. This was one of the chief obstacles of their belief: yet many even of the chief of them believed in him; but durst not own it for fear of being disgraced, and turned out of their synagogues. Do not human considerations, and temporal advantages, hinder men from seeking out, and embracing the truth?

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

For they were not willing to part with their great places in the magistracy, which brought them respect, honour, and applause from men; they valued this more than God’s honouring and praising them. How hard it is for great men to enter into the kingdom of God!

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

43. Loved the praise of men—And hence, according to Joh_5:44, while this love filled their hearts, they could not believe. This was, properly speaking, no so-called “moral inability.” It was simply an incompatibility between the two things. Whilst they retained that worldly love, which they could and ought to have cast out from their hearts, belief in Christ was in itself impossible. The two opposites could not unite in the same mind. Thus does our Evangelist, in the spirit of sober sadness, account for the final unbelief of his race and nation. For that unbelief he had seen their downfall and their rejection of God. He had accepted those awful facts in pensive calmness, yet was cheered by the glorious future opened before his view in the Lord’s discourse before the Greeks, describing the overthrow of the prince of darkness in the heathen world, and the opening of an age of Christian triumph. He now proceeds to give a recapitulation of the great mission of Jesus by the Jews rejected.

Closing summary of Jesus’s public testimony to the Jews, Joh_12:44-50. This final summary consists mainly of memoranda collected from the various teachings of Jesus. We have, Joh_12:44-46, Christ identified with God as Testifier and Light; Joh_12:47-50, the rejection of him, being a rejection of the Father, shall be judged not by him now personally, but by his uttered word reproduced at the last day, being authenticated by the Father himself, by whose command and upon whose divine authority it is spoken.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The generalization is given as a reason, For they loved the glory (doxa , very nearly in the original Greek use of the word," opinion," "good reputation") of men, very much more (hper , another New Testament, apax legomenon , occurring in the narrative portion of John, and a mode in which the negative force of the h is heightened; see Meyer, Jelf, p. 779, and English edition of Wirier, p. 549) than the glory of God. The form of the expressions, "of God" and "of men," is different from the para tou monou Yeou and para allhlwn of Joh_5:44, and the statement is apparently inconsistent with the declaration that those in such a state of mind "could not believe." Moulton suggests that the glory here thought of by the apostle was the "glory" of ver. 41 the glory of the union of the Redeemer with his people, the glory of suffering and death. The reference to Isaiah 6. appears to be the true solution. The glory of God himself in his awful holiness was of less interest than the glory of the Sanhedrin and the approval of the world. Alas! this glory is nearer, more obvious and has more to do with tangible, sensuous, advantages, than the Divine approval.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43. τὴν δόξαν τ. ἀνθρ. The glory (that cometh) from men rather than the glory (that cometh) from God (see on Joh 5:41; Joh 5:44). Joseph and Nicodemus confessed their belief after the crisis of the Crucifixion. Gamaliel did not even get so far as to believe on Him.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

43. ἠγάπησαν γὰρ τὴν δόξαν τῶν ἀνθρώπων κτλ., “for they loved the honour that men bestow rather than the honour that God bestows” (see 5:44 and the note there). The genitives ἀνθρώπων … θεοῦ are both genitives of origin, the thought being similar to that in 5:44, where the same contrast is drawn. δόξα is used in the sense of “honour” (see on 1:14); it would be quite unfitting to speak of any one loving the glory of God, in the sense in which δόξα has been used above at v. 41.

The form of the sentence is like 3:19, ἠγάπησαν οἱ ἄνθρωποι μᾶλλον τὸ σκότος ἢ τὸ φῶς, except that here Jn. has ἤπερ for ἤ. ἤπερ occurs only here in the N.T. (cf. 2 Macc. 14:42), and is perhaps more emphatic than ἤ, μᾶλλον ἤπερ signifying “much more than.” אLW 1, 33, 69 have ὑπέρ, but ABDΓΔΘ give ἤπερ, which was altered to ὑπέρ as the more ordinary word.

This comment, in which Jn. attributes low motives to those of whom he writes, may be compared with what he says about Judas (12:6). A grave and austere judgment on the discipleship that prefers to be in secret (see on v. 42) is the last comment of the evangelist on the rejection of Jesus by the Jews, as described in Part II.

Jesus Reiterates His August Claims (vv. 44-50)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Praise [δοξαν] . Much better, Rev., glory, because suggesting a contrast with the vision of divine glory referred to in ver. 41. Compare Joh 5:44.

Than [ηπερ] The word cannot be rendered by a corresponding word in English The force is, "more than the glory of God, though He is so much more glorious." The word is found nowhere else in the New Testament. Some authorities read uper, above.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.