John 7:45-53 (WEL) Then the temple police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why haven’t you brought him?” 46 The temple police answered, “No man ever spoke like this man.” 47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “You haven’t been deceived, too, have you? 48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him? 49 “But this crowd, not knowing the law, is cursed.” 50 Nicodemus (the one who came to Jesus at night, being one of them) said to them, 51 “Our law does not condemn the person before hearing from him and knowing what he did.” 52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet arises from Galilee.” 53 Then each one went to his own home.
V45 Then the temple police returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said to them, “Why haven’t you brought him?”
The Temple Police are:
(Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary) “After A.D. 6 the official authority of the Sanhedrin extended only to the province of Judea in southern Palestine. Still, Jews living elsewhere respected the Sanhedrin highly and would often be guided by its decisions. Within the province of Judea, which included the city of Jerusalem, the Romans left most of the business of governing the Jews to the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin even had its own police force, or temple police, so it could make arrests on its own. This is the force that arrested Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:43; Acts 4:1–3).”
V46 The temple police answered, “No man ever spoke like this man.”
Even though they were impressed by His teaching, they did not believe in Him. Nevertheless, they were impressed enough that they just didn’t want to arrest Him, especially with a favorable crowd around Jesus.
Is it just his speech or his delivery? It is neither; it is the amazing wisdom, truth, skill, and conviction that only God can deliver. See Matthew 7:28-29.
V47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “You haven’t been deceived, too, have you?
They get gaslighted when the so-called spiritual guides of the faith (Pharisees) accuse them of being deceived. It is either their way or no way. They hated Jesus for various reasons but were united together to destroy Him.
Three major reasons:
They wanted the honor: John 5:44 “How is it possible for you to believe when you get praise from one another and are not seeking praise from the only God?
They did not like having their sin exposed: John 3:19 “This is the reason for the condemnation because light has come into the world and people loved darkness instead of light because their actions were evil.”
Envy because of Jesus receiving honor, praise, and large crowds: Matthew 27:18 For he knew full well that because of envy they had handed him over.
The main methods of destroying one’s personality and ministry (of any type from government to pulpit) are lies (without facts or sources and usually anonymously), misquoting, twisting a person’s words), dismissing a person’s education, offices, etc., suppressing a person’s accomplishments and actions, and distorting a person’s history, education, etc. The bottom line is they lie in many different forms. Their motive is to destroy a person in every area of life so others will hate that person.
V48 “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him?
In reality, the people should have said, “So, who cares if you do or don’t?” But the Jewish religious leaders were all controlling, artificially elevated in society, and received praise from the peers. When in reality, they are practically worthless.
There were very few believers while Jesus lived and ministered. Two of them were Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, but both were secret followers because of the Jews loving the praise of men more than God’s and fearing they could not worship God by not being allowed into the Temple. Later, they both came out boldly (John 19:38-39).
After the ascension of Jesus, more believed. See Acts 6:7.
V49 “But this crowd, not knowing the law, is cursed.”
If the crowd didn’t know the law, it was because they didn’t teach it. The priests were to teach the people. Compare: 2 Chronicles 15:3 and Leviticus 10:8-11.
Only God can curse, but the priests did have authority.
This saying is pure manipulation and brow beating.
Barclay (beware) writes:
“The reaction of the chief priests and Pharisees was contempt. The Pharisees had a phrase by which they described the ordinary, simple people who did not observe the thousands of regulations of the ceremonial law. They called them the People of the Land; to them they were beneath contempt. To marry a daughter to one of them was like exposing her bound and helpless to a beast. “The masses who do not know the law are accursed.” The rabbinic law said: “Six things are laid down about the People of the Land: entrust no testimony to them, take no testimony from them, trust them with no secret, do not appoint them guardians of an orphan, do not make them custodians of charitable funds, do not accompany them on a journey.” It was forbidden to be a guest of one of the People of the Land, or to entertain such a person as a guest. It was even laid down that, wherever it was possible, nothing should be bought or sold from one of them. In their proud aristocracy and intellectual snobbery and spiritual pride, the Pharisees looked down in contempt on the ordinary man. Their plea was: “Nobody who is spiritually and academically of any account has believed on Jesus. Only ignorant fools accept him.” It is indeed a terrible thing when a man thinks himself either too clever or too good to need Jesus Christ–and it happens still.”
V50 Nicodemus (the one who came to Jesus at night, being one of them) said to them,
This is about as bold as Nicodemus gets until the death of Jesus on the Cross.
V51 “Our law does not condemn the person before hearing from him and knowing what he did.”
This is what the law commanded. See Deuteronomy 17:8-11.
V52 They answered and said to him, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet arises from Galilee.”
O, what about Jonah?
Joseph Benson writes:
“They knew Jonah arose out of Gath-hepher; and Nahum from another village in Galilee. Yea, and Thisbe, the town of Elijah the Tishbite, was in Galilee also. They might, likewise, have known that Jesus was not born in Galilee, but at Bethlehem, even from the public register there, and from the genealogies of the family of David. Add to this, that many of the people had heard the shepherds declare, on the testimony of the angel, that he was born at Bethlehem, and had wondered at the words which had been told them by the shepherds, Luke 2:15-18. Nay, and the chief priests and Pharisees were not ignorant that the wise men from the East went to Bethlehem to worship him soon after he was born, as king of the Jews: the memory of which facts could not be lost in the space of thirty years. Here, then, we have a striking instance of the power of prejudice to shut men’s eyes against the clearest truth.”
V53 Then each one went to his own home.
This belongs to the next chapter.
We learn:
- People judge by the standards they like.
- If a person cannot find a law, they will either invent one or twist and redefine Scripture.
- Of an example of willful ignorance in the Temple leaders.
Questions:
- How do you handle those who lie about the obvious truth?
- What do you do when falsely accused?