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Joh_2:24-25. Αὐτὸς δὲ , κ . τ . λ .] But He on His part, though they on their part, on account of His miracles, believed on Him.
οὐκ ἐπίστ . ἑαυτόν ] an intentional antithesis to the preceding ἐπίστ . εἰς τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ . Observe the emphatic ἑαυτόν : it must not be taken as meaning “He kept back His doctrine from them” (Chrysostom, Kuinoel, and many), or “His work” (Ebrard); but He did not trust Himself, i.e. His own person, to them; He refrained from any closer personal intercourse with them. Without any such reserve on His part, rather with confident self-surrender, had He given Himself to His intimate Galilean friends. Towards the Jews in Jerusalem, on whom, from His knowledge of the human heart, He could not bestow this self-devotion, because there were wanting in them the inward moral conditions necessary thereto, His bearing was more strange and distant. Observe the imperfects ἐπίστευεν and ἐγίνωσκε .
διὰ τὸ αὐτὸν γινώσκ . πάντ .] because He Himself (as in the following αὐτός ) knew all men, universal. Respecting none did His personal knowledge fail Him with regard to the state of his moral feeling.
καὶ ὅτι , κ . τ . λ .] negative expression of the same thought in the popular form of a still further reason.
ἵνα ] not instead of the infinitive construction (Mat_3:14 al.), but the object of the need is conceived of in the form of a purpose which the person needing guidance entertains. Comp. Joh_16:30; 1Jn_2:27.
περὶ τοῦ ἀνθρ .] does not apply to Jesus Himself (“concerning Him as man,” Ewald), but concerning any man with whom He had at any time to do. See Bernhardy, p. 315; Winer, p. 109 [E. T. p. 143].
αὐτός ] of Himself, i.e. αὐτοδίδακτος , Nonnus. See Herm. ad Viger. p. 733; Krüger, Anab. ii. 3. 7; comp. Clementine Homil. iii. 13 : ἀπείρῳ ψυχῆς ὀφθαλμῷ .
τί ἦν ἐν τῷ ἀνθρ .] the inward, though not outwardly indicated capacity, character, disposition, and so on; τὸ κρυπτὸν τοῦ νοῦς , Origen. Comp. Nonnus: ὅσα φρενὸς ἔνδοθεν ἀνὴρ εἶχεν ἀκηρύκτῳ κεκαλυμμένα φάρεϊ σιγῆς . To this supernatural and immediate discernment, as possessed by Jesus, special prominence is often given by John. Comp. Joh_1:49-50, Joh_4:19; Joh_4:29, Joh_6:61; Joh_6:64, Joh_11:4; Joh_11:15, Joh_13:11, Joh_16:19, Joh_21:17. It is the life expression of His divine essence (Psa_7:10; Psa_139:2; Act_15:8), like the working of miracles.