Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 7:4 - 7:4
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
4. οὐδεὶς γ. For no man doeth anything in secret and himself seeketh to be in openness: or, according to BD1, and seeketh it (αὐτό) to be in openness. They imply that He works miracles to prove His Messiahship and hides them from those who would be convinced by them. To conceal His miracles is to deny His Messiahship; the Messiah must assert His position. Winer, p. 786.
ἐν παῤῥησίᾳ. Here and Joh 16:29 only with a preposition; see on Joh 7:13.
εἰ ταῦτα ποιεῖς. If Thou doest these things, not ‘If Thou do these things;’ no doubt as to the fact of His miracles is expressed. ‘If Thou doest miracles at all, do them before the whole nation, instead of in obscure parts of Galilee.’
φανέρωσον σ. Manifest Thyself; see on Joh 1:31 and Joh 21:1.
οὐδὲ γ. Evidence of the Evangelist’s candour; he admits that those who were thus closely connected with Jesus did not put their trust in Him: For not even did His brethren (as one would certainly expect) believe on Him. It is marvellous that in the face of this verse any one should have maintained that three of His brethren (James, Simon, and Judas) were Apostles. This verse is also fatal to the common theory, that these ‘brethren’ are really our Lord’s cousins, the sons of Alphæus. Certainly one of the sons of Alphæus (James) was an Apostle; probably a second was (Matthew, if Levi and Matthew are the same person, as is almost universally admitted); possibly a third was (Judas, if ‘Judas of James’ means ‘Judas, brother of James,’ as is commonly supposed). By this time the company of the Twelve was complete (Joh 6:67; Joh 6:70-71); so that we cannot suppose that some of the Twelve have still to be converted. If then one, two, or three sons of Alphæus were Apostles, how could it be true that the sons of Alphæus ‘did not believe on Him?’ ‘His brethren’ cannot be the sons of Alphæus. They seem to have been converted by the Resurrection. Immediately after the Ascension we find them with the Apostles and the holy women (Act 1:14; comp. 1Co 9:5; Gal 1:19).