16 Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them.



Ver. 16. This man is not of God] True, if he had indeed made no conscience of keeping the sabbath. Sanctifying the Lord’s day in the primitive times was a badge of Christianity. When the question was propounded, Servasti Dominicum? Protect the Sabbath? Hast thou kept the sabbath? the answer was returned, I am a Christian, and may not do otherwise. Christianus sum, intermittere non possum. The enemies and hinderers of sanctifying the sabbath are called unbelievers, vagabonds, and wicked fellows, Act_17:2; Act_17:5. That late great Antisabbatarian prelate (Bp White), so much cast off by the rest after he had served their turns, might well have cried out with Cardinal Wolsey, Surely, if I had been as careful to serve God as I was to please men, I had not been at this pass. Semetipsum detestatus est, quod Regi potius quam Deo studuisset placere. (Scultet.)



How can a man that is a sinner] Yes, that he may, by divine permission, or at least he may do something like a miracle; as the false prophets and Antichrist. Suetonius tells us that Vespasian cured a blind man by spitting upon his eyes. And Dio testifieth that he healed another that had a weak and withered hand, by treading upon it. And yet Vespasian lived and died a pagan. This therefore was no convincing argument that the Jews here used.