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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_10:19-21
19A division occurred again among the Jews because of these words. 20Many of them were saying, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to Him?" 21Others were saying, "These are not the sayings of one demon-possessed. A demon cannot open the eyes of the blind, can he?"
Joh_10:19 As there were divided opinions about Jesus in Joh_6:52; Joh_7:12; Joh_7:25; Joh_7:43; Joh_9:16; Joh_10:19-21; Joh_11:36-37, this theme continues through John. The mystery of some receiving the gospel and others rejecting it is the tension between predestination and human free will!
Joh_10:20 "He has a demon and is insane" This was a common charge made against Jesus from two different perspectives.
1. in this verse, as in Joh_7:20, it was used to say that Jesus had a mental illness
2. this same charge is used by the Pharisees to try to explain the source of Jesus' power (cf. Joh_8:48; Joh_8:52)
Joh_10:21 There are two questions in Joh_10:21.
1. Joh_10:21 a has ouk, which expects a "yes" answer
2. Joh_10:21 b has mç, which expects a "no" answer
See James Hewett, New Testament Greek, p. 171. This verse shows, however, how difficult hard and fast rules are in Koine Greek. Context, not grammatical form, is the final determiner.
The healing of the blind was a Messianic sign (cf. Exo_4:11; Psa_146:8; Isa_29:18; Isa_35:5; Isa_42:7). There is a sense in which the blindness of Israel (cf. Isa_42:19) is being shown here as it was in chapter 9.