John 7:18

Ver. 18. “ He that speaks from himself, seeks his own glory; but he that seeks the glory of him that sent him, this one is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. ”

The messenger who seeks only the glory of the master who sends him, and does not betray any personal interest in his communications, gives, in this very fact, proof of the fidelity with which he delivers his message; as certainly as he does not say anything with a view to himself, so certainly also he does not say anything as self-moved. The application to Jesus which is to be made of this evident and general truth is left to the mind of the hearers. The teaching of Jesus presents a characteristic which is particularly fitted to strike the man who is eager for holiness: it is that it tends altogether to glorify God, and God alone. From the aim one can infer the origin; since everything in the Gospel is with a view to God, everything in it must also proceed from God. Here is one of the experiences by means of which the moral syllogism is formed, through which the soul eagerly desirous of good discerns God as the author of the teaching of Christ. There is, at the same time, in this saying, a reply to the accusation of those who said: He leads the people astray. He who abuses others, certainly acts thus for himself, not with a view to God. In order thoroughly to understand this reasoning, it is sufficient to apply it to the Bible in general: He who is glorified in this book, from the first page to the last, to the exclusion of every man, is God; man is constantly judged and humbled in it. This book, therefore, is of God. This argument is the one which most directly affects the conscience.

The last words of John 7:18: And there is no unrighteousness in him, contain the transition from the teaching of Jesus (His λαλεῖν, John 7:17-18) to His conduct (His ποιεῖν John 7:19-23), but this not in a general and commonplace way. If Jesus comes to speak here of His moral conduct, it is because there was thought to be discovered in it a certain subject of reproach which was alleged against the divinity of His teaching and His mission, and with reference to which He had it in mind, by this argument, to justify Himself.

Without the following verses, we might think that these last words: And there is no unrighteousness in him, apply only to the accusation stated in John 7:12: He is an impostor. But the argument contained in John 7:19-23 shows clearly, in spite of the denials of Meyer, Weiss and Keil, that Jesus is already thinking especially of the accusation which was still hanging over Him as violating the Sabbath, since His previous visit to Jerusalem (chap. 5). This was the the offense by which the summary judgment: He deceives the people, was justified in presence of the multitude. The term ἀδικία, unrighteousness, therefore, does not here signify, as some think: falsehood: but, as ordinarily: unrighteousness, moral disorder. Jesus passes to the accusation of which He was the object in chap. 5, because He is anxious to take away with reference to this point every pretext for unbelief.