Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 4:43 - 4:45

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Bob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - John 4:43 - 4:45


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Joh_4:43-45

43After the two days He went forth from there into Galilee. 44For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country. 45So when He came to Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did in Jerusalem at the feast; for they themselves also went to the feast.

Joh_4:43 This verse shows that Jesus moved more freely and more often between Judea and Galilee than one might assume from the Synoptic Gospels.

Joh_4:44 This is a very unusual verse because it does not fit the preceding context. It may refer to the Galilean ministry that was about to begin (cf. Joh_4:3). This proverb is also found in Mat_13:57; Mar_6:4; Luk_4:24. In the Synoptics it refers to Galilee, but here it refers to Judea.



Joh_4:45 "the Galileans received Him" They had already experienced Jesus' teachings and miracles during an earlier Passover visit to Jerusalem.

The Galileans are also said to have "received" Jesus, but many of them did not follow through on that reception and later abandoned Him. "Believe" (cf. Joh_3:16) and "receive" (cf. Joh_1:17) involve more than an initial reception (cf. the Parable of the Soils in Mat_13:18-23; Mar_4:12-20; Luk_8:11-15). See Special Topic: The Need to Persevere at Joh_8:31.

"for they themselves also went to the feast" The NET Bible marks this as another parenthetical comment of the author, as they do all of Joh_4:44 (cf. NRSV, NIV).