John 7:47

Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? THEN ANSWERED THEM THE PHARISEES, ARE YE ALSO DECEIVED? In their own servants this seemed intolerable....

47._And are you also seduced? _While they reprove their officers, they endeavor, at the same time, to keep them in subjection. For by these words they mean, that it would be unreasonable and unbecoming that they should not remain steady, though the whole people should revolt. But we must see on what argument they rest, when they so haughtily insult Christ....

40-53 The malice of Christ's enemies is always against reason, and sometimes the staying of it cannot be accounted for. Never any man spake with that wisdom, and power, and grace, that convincing clearness, and that sweetness, wherewith Christ spake. Alas, that many, who are for a time restrained, and who speak highly of the word of Jesus, speedily lose their convictions, and go on in their sins! People are foolishly swayed by outward motives in matters of eternal moment, are willing even to be damned for fashion's sake. As the wisdom of God often chooses things which men despise, so the folly of men commonly despises those whom God has chosen. The Lord brings forward his weak and timid disciples, and sometimes uses them to defeat the designs of his enemies....

ARE YE ALSO DECEIVED? - They set down the claims of Jesus as of course an imposture. They did not examine, but were, like thousands, determined to believe that he was a deceiver. Hence, they did not ask them whether they were convinced, or had seen evidence that he was the Messiah; but, with mingled contempt, envy, and anger, they asked if they were also deluded. Thus many assume religion to be an imposture; and when one becomes a Christian, they assume at once that he is deceived, that he is the victim of foolish credulity or superstition, and treat him with ridicule or scorn. Candor would require them to inquire whether such changes were not proof of the power and truth of the gospel, as candor in the case of the rulers required them to inquire whether Jesus had not given them evidence that he was from God....

EXPOSITION Ch. 7-10. contain the record of the conflict between faith and unbelief in the metropolis. At first the narrative indicates a vast amount of critical inquiry, of unsettled opinion, of angry disappointment and a certain readiness to be convinced on the part of one section or another. The secrecy of the Galilean village is contrasted with the broad arena of the temple courts. "The Jews," or leaders of opinion and authority in Judaea and Jerusalem, who were hostile, are seen in contrast with "the Jews who believed on him" (John 8:31). There are multitudes and multitudes (John 10:12, John 10:30, John 10:31), priests and Pharisees ...

THEN ANSWERED THEM THE PHARISEES, ARE YE ALSO DECEIVED?] As well as the common people; you that have been so long in our service, and should know better; or who, at least, should have taken the sense of your superiors, and should have waited to have had their opinion and judgment of him, and been determined by that, and not so hastily have joined with a deluded set of people. It was the common character of Christ, and his apostles, and so of all his faithful ministers in all succeeding ages, that they were deceivers, and the people that followed them deceived, a parcel of poor deluded creatures, carried aside by their teachers; when, on the other hand, they are the deceived ones, who live in sin, and indulge themselves in it; or who trust in themselves that they are righteous; who think they are something, when they are nothing; who imagine, that touching the righteousness of the law, th...

John 7:14. _Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught._ He was no coward, so he boldly showed himself in the midst of the throng in the temple. John 7:15. _And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?_ Or, «How knoweth he the Scriptures? How has he come to be an instructed man, having never learned of the Rabbis? He has never passed through our schools of learning, so what can he know?» John 7:16. _Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me._ «I am not the inventor of what I say; I am but a messenger, delivering the message of him that sent me.»...

CHAPTER 7 _ 1. My Time is not Yet Come. (John 7:1 .)_ 2. Departure from Galilee; Sought by the Jews. (John 7:10 .) 3. In the Temple Teaching. (John 7:14 .) 4. Opposition to Him. (John 7:30 .) 5. The Indwelling Spirit Promised. (John 7:37 .) 6. The Division Among the People Because of Him. (John 7:40 .) 7. The Returning Officers and the Defense of Nicodemus. (John 7:45 .)

THE LAST DAY OF THE FEAST. The Feast of Tabernacles, the feast of the ingathering at the end of summer, lasted seven days in early times (Deuteronomy 16:13). An eighth day was added later (Leviticus 23:36). The custom of bringing water from Siloah each day and only pouring it out before the altar, is known certainly for later times, but probably existed in Christ's time. It was held to commemorate the gift of water in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6), and was accompanied by the recitation of Isaiah 12:3; John 7:37 f. is best interpreted by taking He that bel

THEN ANSWERED THE PHARISEES..... HAVE ANY OF THE RULERS, ETC.? The Pharisees, always the bitterest foes of Christ, charge the officers in language of scorn. Have any of the rulers believed? By rulers are meant the Sanhedrim. In the matter of deciding on the claims of the Messiah they hold that the judgment of the "rulers" must be decisive. They were not probably aware that Nicodemus was really in secret. believer, and that another "senator," Joseph, would reveal himself at the proper time. At this time the Pharisees controlled the Sanhedrim....