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More John commentaries
John 4:1-15
Jesus Meets the Samaritan Women
John 4:16-30
It is not Where You Worship But How
John 4:31-42
The Harvest is Ready
John 4:43-54
Jesus Heals the Nobleman’s Son
John 5:1-15
Man Healed at the Pool of Bethesda
John 5:16-23
Jesus Claims to be God
John 5:24-29
Four Types of Resurrections
John 5:30-38
Jesus’ Witnesses of his Diety
John 5:39-47
Blindness to the Truth of the Scriptures
John 6:1-15
Philip Fails the Exam
John 6:16-29
Jesus Calms Their Fears
John 6:30-44
What’s Your Motive for Following Jesus
John 6:56-71
Confussion of the Body and Blood of Christ
John 7:1-14
The Advice of Jesus’ Brothers
John 7:15-24
Judge Rightly
John 7:25-36
Blinded to the Truth
John 7:37-53
Divided Opinions About Jesus
John 8:1-7
Pharisees Condemn the Adulterous Woman
John 8:8-11
Jesus Forgives the Adulterous Women
John 8:12-20
Jesus is the Light of the World
John 8:21-30
Jesus Predicts His Death
John 8:48-59
Jesus’ Claims To His Identity
John 9:1-12
Contentment in Any Circumstance
John 9:13-23
Trouble with the Jewish Leaders
John 9:24-41
The Testimony of the Healed Man
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Judge Rightly
John 7:15–24
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
It was F.B. Meyer, I believe, who once said that when we see a brother or sister in sin, there are two things we do not know. First, we do not know how hard he or she tried not to sin, and second, we do not know the power of the forces that assailed him or her. We also do not kno … More
We learn from this passage why Jesus eventually went up to the feast. It was not to appear publicly as the Messiah (because He knew this was the wrong time), but it was an opportunity to teach the crowds the truth and invite men and women to Himself. What a marvelous teacher Jesus must have been. Have you ever wished, as I have, that you could have heard Him in person as he spoke with such authority to the people of His day? It says that the people questioned how Jesus knew the Scriptures so well and spoke with such authority when He had never been to a Seminary (v. 15).
It seems that the people of that day fell into the same trap that many people fall into today. That is that a person has to graduate from a seminary and have a degree after his name before he is qualified to preach or to teach. It is certainly good to get Bible training but sometimes God raises up people like D.L. Moody, who murdered the King’s English and only attended school to the third grade or a Jack Wyrtzen who didn’t graduate from high school. It is sad to see churches and organizations that will not accept God called men who do not have a degree after their name. I want to hear a man who knows God and has spent time with Him recently. I don’t want to listen to His press agent! Jesus replied: I am not teaching something that I thought up (vv. 16-18). What I teach comes from the one who sent me. If you really want to obey God, you will know if what I teach comes from God or from me.
The Pharisees spent their days trying to achieve holiness by trying to keep the rules they had added to God’s laws (v. 19). They did not even fulfill a legalistic religion, for they were living far below what the law of Moses required. “Do not judge by appearance, but judge with right judgement” (vv. 20-24). This means that we are to get our values straight and look at things from God’s point of view. Only then can we make a righteous judgment.
Application
The words of Jesus come home to our generation as strongly as they did in His day; “Do not judge by appearance, but judge with right judgment.” Lord help me to be this kind of person!
John 7:15-24 (English Standard Version)
The Jews therefore marveled, saying, "How is it that this man has learning, when he has never studied?" So Jesus answered them, "My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. If anyone's will is to do God's will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. The one who speaks on his own authority seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?" The crowd answered, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?" Jesus answered them, "I did one work, and you all marvel at it. Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment."
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »
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