John 7:28

Joh 7:28. Then cried Jesus — Probably with a loud and earnest voice, and with allusion to the words which they had just spoken in a private manner to each other, and which they imagined he could not have heard, as he taught in the temple at some distance from them; Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am — Or, as it seems the clause should rather be rendered, Do you know both me, and know whence I am? Thus it is read by Doddridge, Wesley, Wynne, and also by Campbell, who observes upon it, “As the words are plainly capable of being read as an interrogation, it is, in every respect, most eligible to translate them so in this place. In the way they are commonly rendered they contain a direct contradiction to what our Lord says, Joh 8:14; Joh 8:19. Nor does it satisfy that both may be true in different senses, since these different senses do not appear from the context. Nay, in effect, he contradicts them in the same breath, inasmuch as he tells the people, that they know not him who sent him. When they said, We know whence this man is, the same thing was evidently meant as when they said, (Joh 6:42,) Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? Now our Lord tells them plainly, that they did not know his father, and consequently could not tell whence (that is, of what parentage) he was. And I am not come of myself — With vain and false pretences to a divine mission; but he that sent me — And gives daily proof thereof, by the miracles which I perform in his name; is true — And therefore will not bear witness to a deceiver. Or, as the words may be paraphrased, “Though you pretend to know me and whence I am, it does not follow that I am destitute of the prophetical characters of the Messiah, and an impostor, come to you of my own accord. I am really sent to you by God, who is true in all the prophecies he uttered by his servants concerning the Messiah, for they are all fulfilled in me.” But him you know not — On the contrary, “You are wholly ignorant of his blessed perfections and gracious counsels, and have no inclination to obey his will.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 7:28. Ἔκραξεν, cried) with great earnestness, for the salvation of men; also on account of the great number of His auditors. Christ cried by no means often; Mat 12:19, “He shall not strive, nor cry, neither shall any man hear His voice in the streets:” For which reason the cries, which He did utter, had a weighty cause in each instance. See presently after Joh 7:37, “In the last day—of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink;” Joh 11:43, “He cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth;” Joh 12:44, “Jesus cried and said, “He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me;” Heb 5:7, “When He had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto Him that was able to save Him from death;” Mat 27:50, “Jesus, when He had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.”—κἀμέ, both me) There are persons, who suppose irony to be employed here: but you will never find an instance of our Lord having employed irony. The speech of the Jews had had two parts, this man and the Christ: in reply to which at Joh 7:27, the speech of our Lord has also two parts, the “both Me” “and [I am not come] of Myself.” The former makes a concession, and leaves the question of knowledge concerning Jesus and His birth, regarded from an external point of view, in some measure where he found it; for His wont is never Himself to bring it forward; comp. 2Co 5:16, “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more;” but He denies that they have a just [correct] knowledge of Himself as sent by the Father; comp. Joh 7:33, etc., “I go unto Him that sent Me;” and Joh 7:36, “What manner of saving is this that He said, Ye shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and where I am, thither ye cannot come;” chap. Joh 8:14, “Ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go.”—καὶ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ) and yet I am not come of Myself, as ye suppose.—ἀληθινός, true) This truth is of more consequence than that truly; “Do the rulers know truly that this is the Christ?”—ὅν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε, whom ye know not) We must understand after this the clause which follows, that I am from Him, and that He has sent Me. The very demand of the Jews concerning Christ, expressed at Joh 7:27, was realized in Jesus, “When Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence He is.”

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

Joh_7:28-29. The statement in Joh_7:27, which showed how utterly Christs higher nature and work were misunderstood by these people in consequence of the entirely outward character of their judgments, roused the emotion of Jesus, so that He raised His voice, crying aloud (ἔκραξεν, comp. Joh_1:5, Joh_7:37, Joh_12:44, Rom_9:27; κράζειν never means anything but to cry out; clamores, quos edidit, magnas habuere causas, Bengel), and thus uttered the solemn conclusion of this colloquy, while He taught in the temple, and said: κἀμὲ οἴδατε, κ.τ.λ. The ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων is in itself superfluous (see Joh_7:14), but serves the more vividly to describe the solemn moment of the ἔκραξεν, and is an indication of the original genuineness of the narrative.

κἀμὲ οἴδατε, κ.τ.λ.] i.e., ye know not only my person, but ye also know my origin. As the people really had this knowledge (Joh_6:42), and as the divine mission of Jesus was independent of His human nature and origin, while He Himself denies only their knowledge of His divine mission (see what follows; comp. Joh_8:19), there is nothing in the connection to sanction an interrogatory interpretation (Grotius, Lampe, Semler, Storr, Paulus, Kuinoel, Luthardt, Ewald), nor an ironical one (Luther, Calvin, Beza, and many others; likewise Lücke, Tholuck, Olshausen, B. Crusius, Lange, and Godet, who considers the words légèrement ironique, and that they have certainement [?] une tournure interrogative), nor the paraphrase: Ye think that ye know (Hengstenberg). Least of all can we read it as a reproach, that they knew His divine nature and origin, yet maliciously concealed it (Chrysostom, Nonnus, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Maldonatus, and most). No; Jesus allows that they have that outward knowledge of Him which they had avowed in Joh_7:27, but He furtherin the words καὶ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ, κ.τ.λ.sets before them the higher relationship, which is here the main point, and which was unknown to them.

καὶ ἀπʼ ἐμ. οὐκ ἐλήλ.] andthough ye think that, on account of this knowledge of yours, ye must conclude that I am not the Messiah, but have come by self-appointment merelyof myself (αὐτοκέλευστος, Nonnus) am I not come; comp. Joh_8:42. This καί, which must not be regarded as the same with the two preceding, as if it stood for καὶ ὅτι (Baeumlein), often in John connects, like atque, a contrasted thought, and yet. See Hartung, Partikell. I. 147. We may pronounce the and with emphasis, and imagine a pause after it. Comp. Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol. p. 29 B; Wolf, ad Leptin. p. 238.

ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ἀληθινὸς] but it is a real one who hath sent me, whom ye (ye people!) know not.[266] Ἀληθινὸς is not verax (Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Luther, Stolz, Kuinoel, Klee, B. Crusius, Ewald, and most), but, according to the invariable usage of John (see on Joh_1:9), a real, genuine one, in whom the idea is realized. The substantive belonging to this adjective is not πατήρ, which Grotius gets out of πόθεν; but, according to the immediate context, it is to be inferred from ὁ πέμψας με, namely πέμπων, a real sender, a sender in the highest and fullest sense (comp. Matthiae, p. 1533; Kühner, II. 602). We cannot take ἀληθ. by itself as absolutely denoting the true essential God (Olshausen, Lange, Hengstenberg; comp. Kling: one whose essence and action is pure truth), because ἀληθινός in the Johannean sense is not an independent conception, but receives its definite meaning first from the substantive of which it is predicated.

Joh_7:29. I (antithesis to ὑμεῖς) know Him, for I am from Him, have come forth from Him (as in Joh_4:46); and no other than He (from whom I am) hath sent me. This weighty, and therefore independent κἀκεῖνός με ἀπέστ., not to be taken as dependent upon ὅτι, comprehends the full explanation of the πόθεν εἰμί in its higher sense, which was not known to the Ἱεροσολυμιταῖς, and, with the ἐγὼ οἶδα … εἰμί, bears the seal of immediate certainty. Comp. Joh_8:14.

[266] Of course in a relative sense, as in Joh_4:22. If they had possessed the true and full knowledge of God, they would then have recognised the Interpreter of God, and not have rejected Him for such a reason as that in ver. 27. Comp. Joh_8:54-55; Mat_11:27.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The truth of Christ doth not hang upon the judgment of man.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

cried Jesus--in a louder tone, and more solemn, witnessing style than usual.

Ye both, &c.--that is, "Yes, ye know both Myself and My local parentage, and (yet) I am not come of Myself."

but he that sent me is true, &c.--Probably the meaning is, "He that sent Me is the only real Sender of any one."

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 28. Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am] Perhaps they should be read interrogatively: Do ye both know me, and know whence I am? Our Lord takes them up on their own profession, and argues from it. Since you have got so much information concerning me, add this to it, to make it complete; viz. that I am not come of myself; am no self-created or self-authorized prophet; I came from God:- the testimony of John the Baptist, the descent of the Holy Ghost, the voice from heaven, the purity and excellence of my doctrine, and the multitude of my miracles, sufficiently attest this. Now, God is true who has borne testimony to me; but ye know him not, therefore it is that this testimony is disregarded.

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

28. Jesus therefore exclaimed in the temple. He bitterly reproaches them for their rashness, because they arrogantly flattered themselves in a false opinion, and in this manner excluded themselves from a knowledge of the truth; as if he had said, “You know all things, and yet you know nothing.” And, indeed, there is not a more destructive plague than when men are so intoxicated by the scanty portion of knowledge which they possess, that they boldly reject every thing that is contrary to their opinion.

You both know me, and you know whence I am. This is ironical language. With the false opinion which they had formed concerning him, he contrasts what is true; as if he had said, “While you have your eyes fixed on the earth, you think that every part of me is before your eyes; and therefore you despise me as mean and unknown. But God will testify that I have come from heaven; and though I may be rejected by you, God will acknowledge that I am truly his own Son.”

But he who hath sent me is true. He calls God true in the same sense that Paul calls him faithful

If we are unbelievers, says he, he remaineth faithful, he cannot deny himself, (2 Timothy 2:13.)

For his object is to prove, that the credit due to the Gospel is not in the smallest degree diminished by the utmost exertions of the world to overthrow it; that though wicked men may attempt to take from Christ what belonged to him, still he remains unimpaired, because the truth of God is firm and is always like itself. Christ sees that he is despised; but so far is he from yielding, that, on the contrary, he boldly repels the furious arrogance of those who hold him in no estimation. With such unshaken and heroic fortitude all believers ought to be endued; nay, more, our faith will never be solid or lasting, unless it treat with contempt the presumption of wicked men, when they rise up against Christ. Above all, godly teachers, relying on this support, ought to persevere in maintaining sound doctrine, even though it should be opposed by the whole world. Thus Jeremiah appeals to God as his defender and guardian, because he is condemned as an impostor:

Thou hast deceived me, O Lord, says he, and I was deceived, (Jeremiah 20:7.)

Thus Isaiah, overwhelmed on all sides by calumnies and reproaches, flies to this refuge, that God will approve his cause, (Isaiah 50:8.) Thus Paul, oppressed by unjust judgments, appeals against all to the day of the Lord, (1 Corinthians 4:5,) reckoning it enough to have God alone to place against the whole world, however it may rage and storm.

Whom you knew not. He means that it is not wonderful that he is not known by the Jews, because they do not know God; for the beginning of wisdom is, to behold God.

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.

(28) Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught.—The word rendered “cried,” implies always an elevation of voice answering to the intensity of the speaker’s feeling. (Comp. in this Gospel Joh_1:15; Joh_7:37; Joh_12:44.) Here this feeling has been roused by another instance of their misapprehension, because they think of the outward appearance only, and therefore do not grasp the inner truth. They know whence He is; they had been taught that no man should know the Messiah’s origin, and therefore they think He is not the Christ. And this technical reason, the meaning of which they have never fathomed, is enough to stifle every growing conviction, and to annul the force of all His words and all His works! St. John is impressed with the fact that it was in the very Temple itself, in the presence of the priests and rulers, in the act of public teaching, that He uttered these words, and he again notices this, though he has told us so before (Joh_7:14; Joh_7:26).

Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am.—He takes up their objection in order to refute it. There is, indeed, a sense in which it is true. Those features were well known alike to friend and foe. With minds glowing with the fire of love or of hate, they had gazed upon Him as He walked or taught, and His form had fixed itself on the memory. They knew about His earthly home and early life (Joh_7:27), but all this was far short of the real knowledge of Him. It is but little that the events of the outer life tell of the true life and being even of a brother man. Little does a man know even his bosom friend; how infinitely far were they, with minds which did not even approach the true method of knowledge, from knowing Him whom no mind can fully comprehend!

And I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true.—Once again He asserts that He claims no position of independence. He is the first great Apostle (comp. Heb_3:1), but He is not self-commissioned. Had He not been the Christ, their objection that they knew His origin might have had force. But sent by Him who is the really existent One, and whom they knew not, His origin is unknown to them, and their technical test is fulfilled. In the fullest sense, they neither knew Him nor from whence He came.

For the meaning of the word “true,” see Note on Joh_1:9. It is almost impossible to give the sense of the original except in a paraphrase. We must keep, therefore, the ordinary rendering, but bear in mind that it does not mean, “He that sent Me is truthful,” but “He that sent Me is the ideally true One.” “You talk of person, and of origin, of knowing Me, and from whence I came, but all this is knowledge of the senses, and in the region of the phenomenal world. Being is only truly known in relation to the Eternal Being. He that sent Me to manifest His Being in the world is the truly existent One. In Him is My true origin, and Him ye know not.”

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

28. Then cried Jesus] Better, Jesus therefore cried aloud. The word translated ‘cried’ signifies a loud expression of strong emotion. He is moved by their gross misconception of Him, a fact which the weakening of ‘therefore’ into ‘then’ obscures. Comp. Joh_7:37, Joh_1:15, Joh_12:44.

in the temple] S. John well remembers that moving cry in the Temple; the scene is still before him and he puts it before us, although neither ‘in the Temple’ nor ‘as He taught’ is needed for the narrative (see Joh_7:14).

Ye both know me, &c.] Various constructions have been put upon this: (1) that it is a question; (2) that it is ironical; (3) a mixture of the two; (4) a reproach, i.e. that they knew His Divine nature and maliciously concealed it. None of these are satisfactory. The words are best understood quite simply and literally. Christ admits the truth of what they say: they have an outward knowledge of Him and His origin (Joh_6:42); but He has an inner and higher origin, of which they know nothing. So that even their self-made test, for the sake of which they are willing to resist the evidence both of Scripture and of His works, is complied with; for they know not His real immediate origin.

and I am not come of myself] ‘Of Myself’ is emphatic; and (yet) of Myself I am not come. Comp. Joh_8:42. The ‘and’ introduces a contrast, as so often in S. John: ‘ye know My person, and ye know My parentage; and yet of the chief thing of all, My Divine mission, ye know nothing. See on Joh_7:30.

but he that sent me is true] The word for ‘true’ here is the same as occurs Joh_1:9 in ‘the true Light’ (see note there): the meaning, therefore, is not ‘truthful’ but ‘real, perfect;’ He that sendeth Me is a real sender, One who in the highest and most perfect sense can give a mission But perhaps here and in Rev_3:7; Rev_19:11 the distinction between the two words for ‘true’ is not very marked. Such refinements (the words being alike except in termination) have a tendency to become obscured.

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.

But I know him,.... His nature and perfections, his purposes and promises, his council and covenant, his mind and will; and indeed none knows him but he, and those to whom he pleases to reveal him; and there is good reason why he should have intimate and perfect knowledge of him:

for I am from him; being the only begotten of him, and as such lay in his bosom, and knew him, and his whole heart, and was privy to all of him, and that that is within him;

and he hath sent me; in an office capacity to redeem his people. This is the original descent of Christ, which the Jews knew not, though they pretended to know him, and whence he was.

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

28 Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not.

Ver. 28. Ye both know me] Either this is an irony, or else a heavy aggravation of their sin; a proof that they sinned that sin unto death, 1Jn 5:16, for which there remains no more sacrifice, Heb 10:26. Two sorts of men in our times are in danger of this sin: 1. Hypocritical professors. 2. Those they call the wits of the world, your most knowing men.

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.

Ye know whence I am - You have sufficient evidence of my divine mission, and that I am the Messiah.

Is true - Is worthy to be believed. He has given evidence that I came from him, and he is worthy to be believed. Many read this as a question - Do ye know me, and know whence I am? I have not come from myself, etc.

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

You both know me; i.e. you know me as man, and where I have been educated. --- But him that sent me, from whom I proceeded, and who sent me into this world to be its Redeemer, you know not; because you know not, that he was always, and from all eternity, my eternal Father, and I his eternal Son. (Witham)

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).

Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am; you might have known me by the doctrine which I have taught, and the miracles which I have wrought among you; and you had known me, if you had not shut your eyes against the light, which shone in your face: or, you say and think that you know me. Others think that it is an irony, or as a question, Do you know me so well? If you did, you would know that I came not of myself, but was sent by my Father; and he that sent me is truth itself: but you know not the Father, and therefore cannot know me as indeed I am.

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

28. Cried Jesus—Over the murmur and mutual disputation of the mixed multitude the voice of Jesus peals in one bold testimony to his own mission.

Ye both know me—We do not here (like Stier and Alford) find any “irony;” but a firm affirmation that they knew his human, but not his divine origin. That during the testimony of John to Jesus, the parentage, descent, and birthplace of the latter should be made matter of inquiry and information we cannot doubt. Humanly, then, he was known to them. He… whom ye know not—God, indeed, they knew; but God as the Father and fountain of Christ they knew not.

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

Jesus therefore cried lifted up his voice in such a way as to cause wide astonishment. (The word is found in Joh_1:15 of Johnthe Baptist, and ver. 37 and Joh_12:44; but frequently in the synoptists and Acts, and very frequently in the LXX) The trumpet peal sounded through the courts of the temple, and the crowds rushed in the direction from which it proceeded. He cried in the temple. This clause is added, notwithstanding the statement of ver. 14, and it intimates a break in the discourse, a sudden and trenchant response to certain loudly uttered murmurs of the Jerusalem multitude. Ye both know me, and know whence I am. Surely (with De Wette, Meyer, Westcott, Moulton) the Lord distinctly concedes to the men of Jerusalem a certain amount of superficial knowledge. It is lamentably defective in respect of that for which they imagine it all-sufficient; and yet this knowledge was highly significant and important as far as it went. Such knowledge of his birthplace and his family, his provincial training, his Galilaean ministry, were all proofs to them of his humanity that he belonged to their race, was bone of their bone, and sympathizing in their deepest sorrows, understood their noblest aspirations. Such a concession, moreover, repudiates the supposed docetic character of the Christ of the Fourth Gospel. Many commentators regard the exclamation its ironical and interrogatory (Grotius, Lampe, Calvin, Lucke, and even Godet), without sufficient warrant. Our Lord, however, soon shows that, though they are rightly informed about certain obvious facts, there were others of stupendous importance which could go a long way towards rcconciling their many-sided and conflicting ideas of Messiah, of which they were yet in ignorance. And yet (all commentators show that there is a certain adversative force about this third kai ; see also ver. 30; Joh_8:20 Mar_12:12) I am not come from myself. (see Joh_5:30) I have not risen upon the wings of my own ambition. It is not my mere human whim and purpose, or my desire for self-glorification, which brings me before you. You may know the home of my childhood; and watched as I have been by your eager spies, as you had full right to do, you may know all my public proceedings, and yet you have not fathomed the fact that I have not come on my own errand, nor does my humanity as you have grasped it cover the whole of the facts about me. There is a peculiarity, a uniqueness, about my coming that you have yet to learn. I have been sent to you; but he that sent me is real a reality to me, which makes it an absolute reality in itself. The use of alhyinov is somewhat peculiar, and, unless with some commentators and Revisers we make it equal to alhyhv , and thus disturb the uniform usage of St. John, we must either imagine under the word a real "Sender," or one really answering to the idea already announced as of One competent to send. "He that sent me, the Father," of whom I spoke (Joh_5:37) when last we conversed together, is the overwhelming Reality in this case. Whom ye know not. The Jerusalem multitudes were suffering grievously from the superstitious limitations of their own faith, from the traditions, the symbolism, the letter, the form, which had well nigh strangled, suffocated, the underlying truths. They had in many ways lost the God whose great Name they honoured. They failed to apprehend his awful nearness to them, his love to every man, his compassion to the world, the demand of his righteousness, the condition of seeing him, the way to his restHim ye know not. This was a serious rebuke of the entire system which prevailed at Jerusalem. Not understanding nor knowing the Father, they were unable to see the possibility of his having sent to them, through the life and lips of a Man whom they knew, his last and greatest message.

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

Then cried Jesus - With a loud and earnest voice. Do ye both know me, and know whence I am? - Ye do indeed know whence I am as a man. But ye know not my Divine nature, nor that I am sent from God.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

cried out

"spoke in a loud voice"

in the temple

Jesus and the people were actually in the courtyard of the temple. AT: "in the temple courtyard" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

You both know me and know where I come from

John uses irony in this statement. The people believe that Jesus is from Nazareth. They do not know that God sent him from heaven and that he was born in Bethlehem. AT: "You all know me and you think you know where I come from" (See: Irony)

of myself

"on my own authority." See how you translated "of himself" in John 5:19.

he who sent me is true

"God is the one who sent me and he is true"

translationWords

Jesus

temple

send

true

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

28. ἔκραξεν οὗν. Jesus therefore (moved by their gross misconceptions) cried aloud. The word expresses loud expression of strong emotion; comp. Joh 7:37, Joh 1:15, Joh 12:44. S. John well remembers that moving cry in the midst of Christ’s teaching in the Temple. The scene is still before him and he puts it before us, although neither ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ nor διδάσκων is needed for the narrative (Joh 7:14).

κἀμὲ οἴδ. κ.τ.λ. Various constructions have been put upon this: (1) that it is a question; (2) ironical; (3) a mixture of the two; (4) a reproach, i.e. that they knew His Divine nature and maliciously concealed it. None of these are satisfactory. The words are best understood quite simply and literally. Christ admits the truth of what they say: they have an outward knowledge of Him and His origin (Joh 6:42); but He has an inner and higher origin, of which they know nothing. So that even their self-made test, for which they are willing to resist the evidence both of Scripture and of His works, is complied with; for they know not His real immediate origin.

καὶ ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ. Καί introduces a contrast, as so often in S. John (Joh 7:30); ἀπ. ἐμ, is emphatic; and (yet) of Myself I am not come (Joh 8:42). ‘Ye know My person, and ye know My parentage; and yet of the chief thing of all, My Divine mission, ye know nothing.’

ἀληθινὸς ὁ π.] He that sent Me is a true Sender, One who in the most real and perfect sense can give a mission; or possibly, a really existing Sender, and not a fiction. In either case the meaning is ‘I have a valid commission.’

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.

28. ἔκραξεν. κράζειν is used only once in the Synoptists of Christ’s utterances, viz. Mat 27:50, where it is applied to the cry from the Cross. Jn. does not so apply it, but it is used by him three times to describe public and solemn announcements of doctrine by Jesus (7:37, 12:44; cf. also 1:15, where it is used of the Baptist’s proclamation). Cf. ἐκραύγασεν, 11:43.

ἐκραξεν οὖν ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ διδάσκων …, “So then (οὖν, in reply to the scepticism displayed by His audience) Jesus cried aloud, as He was teaching in the temple” (cf. v. 14). There was nothing secret about this teaching (cf. 18:20 and Mat 26:55).

κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί. This is not ironical or interrogative, but affirmative. It was true that they knew Him and His family (v. 27), but there was more to know. There is no inconsistency with 8:14, where see note.

καὶ ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλήλυθα, “and yet I have not come of myself.” καί is used for καίτοι as it is in v. 30 below, in accordance with an idiom frequent in Jn. (see on 1:10). The phrase ἀπʼ ἐμαυτοῦ αὐκ ἐλήλυθα is repeated 8:42 (where see note). Cf. 5:30, 8:28, 12:49, 14:10.

ἀλλʼ ἔστιν ἀληθινὸς ὁ πέμψας με, “but He that sent me is genuine” (see on 1:9 for ἀληθινός as distinct from ἀληθής). The mission of Jesus was a genuine mission; He did not come to earth of Himself, but was sent by the Father (see on 3:17). The Father was genuinely His Sender.

ὅν ὑμεῖς οὐκ οἴδατε. Despite the fact that the Jews “knew what they worshipped” (4:22), they did not know God’s character and purposes, and this scathing rebuke is addressed to them again (8:19, 55). That it might be said of heathen was not surprising (Gal 4:8, 1Th 4:5, 2Th 1:8), and the persecutions of Christians in the future were mainly to spring from this ignorance (cf. 15:21); but here the sting of the words “whom ye know not,” is that they were addressed to Jews, the chosen people.

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

Then [ουν] . Rev., rightly, therefore, giving the reason for the succeeding words in Jesus ' emotion awakened by the misconceptions of the people.

Cried [εκραξεν] . See on Mr 5:5; Joh 9:24.

As He taught [διδασκων] . Better, Rev., teaching. The expression cried teaching implies speaking in a peculiarly solemn manner and with an elevation of voice.

Me - whence I am. Conceding the truth of the people's statement in ver. 27, we know this man whence he is, so far as His outward person and His earthly origin were concerned. He goes on to show that they are ignorant of His divine relationship.

True [αληθινος] . True to the ideal of a sender : a genuine sender in the highest sense of the term. See on 1 9.

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

Vv. 28, 29. “Jesus cried therefore, teaching in the temple and saying: You both know me and you know whence I am: and yet I am not come of myself; but he who sent me is competent, whom you know not. 29. As for me, I know him; for I come from him and he sent me.”

Jesus taking this objection as a starting-point (therefore), pronounces a new discourse which relates, no longer to the origin of His doctrine, but to that of His mission and of His person itself. The term ἔκραξεν, he cried, expresses a high elevation of the voice, which is in harmony with the solemnity of the following declaration. The words: in the temple, call to mind the fact that it was under the eyes and even in the hearing of the rulers that Jesus spoke in this way (comp. Joh 7:32). Jesus enters here, as in Joh 7:16, into the thought of His adversaries; He accepts the objection in order to turn it into a proof in His favor. In the first place, He repeats their assertion. The repetition of their own words, as well as the two καί which introduce the first two clauses, give to this affirmation an interrogative and slightly ironical turn: “You both know me, and you know...?” This form of expression reveals an intention of setting forth a false claim on their part, for the purpose of afterwards confuting it. The third καί, and, forms an antithesis to the first two and begins the reply of Jesus.

This is, with shades of difference, the sense given by most of the interpreters. Meyer and Weiss think that it is better to see in the first two clauses a concession: “Yes, no doubt you do know my person and my origin up to a certain point; but this is only one side of the truth; there is a higher side of it which you do not know and which is this.” But it would have been difficult for His hearers to get this idea: “You know me; but you do not know me.” Jesus rejects the very premises of their argument; and to the fact alleged by them He opposes a directly contrary one: “You think you know me, but you do not know me, either as to my mission or as to my origin (Joh 7:29).” And as they seem to suppose that He has given Himself His commission, He adds: “I have one sending me, and this one is the veritable sender, that is to say, He who alone has the power to give ‘divine’ missions.”

The adjective ἀληθινός has not here, any more than elsewhere, the sense of ἀληθής, true, as a large number of interpreters from Chrysostom to Baumlein have thought. Jesus does not mean to say that the Being who sends Him is morally true; no more does He mean that He is real (see my 2d ed.), that is, that He is not imaginary, and consequently that His mission is not fictitious and a matter purely of the imagination; this is not whatἀληθινός signifies. But the sense is: “The one sending me is the true sender.” The last words: whom you know not, are very severe. How can Jesus charge Jews with not knowing Him of whom they make it their boast to be the only worshipers? But this strange ignorance is nevertheless the true reason why they cannot discern the divine origin of His mission. At the same time He shows them thereby, with much acuteness, that the very criterion by which they intend to deny Him, as Messiah, is precisely that which marks Him as such. In fact the postulate which is laid down by the Jews themselves, in Joh 7:27, is found thereby to be only too fully realized! It is an argument ad hominem, which Jesus allows Himself because He finds thus the means of presenting to this company of people the notion of the Messiah in its most exalted light, as He does in the following verses.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.