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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 7:17 - 7:17
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
17. ἐάν τις θέλῃ. If any man willeth to do His will; see on Joh 1:44, Joh 6:67, Joh 8:44. The mere mechanical performance of God’s will is not enough; there must be an inclination towards Him, a wish to make our conduct agree with His will; and without this agreement Divine doctrine cannot be recognised as such. There must be a moral harmony between the teaching and the taught, and this harmony is in the first instance God’s gift (Joh 6:44-45), which each can accept or refuse at will. Comp. Joh 14:21. Doing the will of God means personal holiness, not mere belief: it is the ποιεῖν τὴν ἀλήθειαν of Joh 3:21.
γνώσεται. He will come to know, recognise; comp. Joh 7:26, Joh 8:32. No time is stated; but sooner or later the knowledge will come. ‘Will’ rather than ‘shall’; the words are partly a promise, partly a statement of fact. The test would be a strange one to men who were always seeking for ‘signs,’ i.e. miraculous proofs.
πότερον ἐκ τ. Θ. Whether it proceeds from God (as its Fount), or I speak from Myself. Note the change from ἐκ to ἀπό and comp. Joh 5:19; Joh 5:30, Joh 15:4.