John 7:28

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. John 7:37; John 1:15; John 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 John 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 (John 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. John 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 John 7:30.

but he that sent me is true The word for -true" here is the same as occurs John 1:9 in -the trueLight" (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 Revelation 3:7; Revelation 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.