John 7:19–22

Christ acknowledged, then, what we call the Old Testament, and acknowledged it as we and the Jews have it. But He goes further: He acknowledges these books as they stand, with the authors they name. "Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law." (John 7:19.)… "There is one who accuses you, even Moses, in whom you trust; for if you had believed Moses, you would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me."

Further, when men boast, they are sure to be wrong, not only in other things, but most where they are proudest. Did the Jews pride themselves on the law of Moses? How empty to boast of that law which none of them practised! Yet so it was, as the Lord pressed on their consciences here. They reasoned, but what was their walk? "Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill Me?" (verse 19). Jesus is always the touchstone. One might never have learned their murderous hatred but for Him Who brought God close and convicted them of sin. This they could not bear, so they sought to get rid of Him. In their zeal for the law they broke it completely… But is it uncommon now to glory in the law and hate the truth?

It is the revelation of the Father and the Son, Who works as man among men. This is the truth — yes, grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. Let the Jews vainly boast of the law given by Moses, which they did not keep; it could not be anything but a ministry of death and condemnation. But the veil of unbelief lay on their heart. They neither judged themselves nor believed on Him. Yet He did say that God was His own Father, making Himself equal with God. So those blindly religious yet wicked men sought all the more to kill Him.

Then He turns to them about what they have known. "Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keeps the law?" The question is not only whether they want to do God's will once it is known. They are not doing His will even in the things they already know. He turns, so to speak, the tables upon themselves. You speak of Me as untaught, and you are walking in sin. "Why do you seek to kill Me?" Where there is no will to go along with the truth, the heart will always hate it.

The verses that follow expose the terrible condition of the nation that left them incapable of receiving the truth. The people boasted in the law that none of them kept. Nothing showed their open disregard of the law more than this: they went about seeking to kill the One Moses wrote about. So they stand convicted of having no desire to do God's will, and of their ignorance of the Lord's teaching.

The people in general were not aware how far hatred was driving the leaders, and had no suspicion that they were set on the death of Jesus... In their ignorance the crowd spoke with rash irreverence and violence against the Lord, who does not stop to notice it. Instead He points out how absurd it was for them to quarrel, and to wonder at one work of His — the healing of the sick man at Bethesda on the Sabbath.

The crowd, who knew nothing of their evil, said, "You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?" Where the truth is not received, the very ignorance of the crowd about the wickedness of their rulers only plunges them deeper into rejection and confusion about Him who charges that wickedness on them. Notice the careful distinction Scripture keeps all the way through between the Jews who were deliberately blind and the crowd, who still perished in their unbelief.

They were strangers in Jerusalem themselves, and knew nothing of what the Jews were planning. They accuse the Lord, saying, "You have a devil" [rather, demon]: "who is seeking to kill you?" — an awful speech to make to the Son of God. But it was not the last time He would be attacked this way in Jerusalem. In the riches of His grace He passed it by.

A charge like that, if proved, would have made the Lord liable to the death sentence of the law. For the LORD had commanded through Moses, "A man or a woman who is a medium or a necromancer shall surely be put to death; they shall be stoned with stones" (Lev. 20:27). The Jews did, as we learn elsewhere, say of the Lord that He had a demon (John 7:20; John 8:48, 52; John 10:20), and they also sought to stone Him.

Moses had given them the standard of the law to live by, yet none of them kept it, He says. If they were righteous, why were they plotting His death (verse 19)? His words, however, serve to prove their hatred toward Him more fully; because He had seen through their evasion, they accuse Him of having a demon. They will use any trick to slip out of responsibility for their own deceit.

The Lord is silent in the presence of this violent and wicked charge. Still, He condemns them for their folly and hypocrisy. In condemning Him for a good work — making a man completely well on the Sabbath — they condemned themselves, since they do the work of circumcision on that day. Then the Lord exposes the rest of their false judgment. They had judged by appearances and without divine guidance. Righteous judgment comes only from seeking the will of God.

In the course of the chapter this rejection of Christ, by every class, becomes increasingly plain and definite. His brothers do not believe in Him (verse 5). The people charge Him with having a demon (verse 20). The Jews are amazed at Him, and try to seize Him (verses 15, 25, 30). The leaders of the nation send officers to arrest Him (verse 32).

The crowd spoke out of ignorance. Their words against the Lord were reckless, disrespectful and violent. He does not stop to notice it. Instead He points out how absurd their quarrelling is — and how absurd it is to wonder at one work of His, the cure of the disabled man at Bethesda on the Sabbath.

This was no slow recovery, getting better step by step. He took up his bed and walked. He had been disabled for thirty-eight years. Yet he could now do what he could have done before the illness struck — and he did it at once, in front of the whole crowd of sick people. He got up. He carried his bed. He walked.

News of the miracle caused a stir in the district. We read that everyone marvelled — as people always do at things they can neither understand nor copy. But that kind of feeling does not touch the heart or the conscience.

"I did one work, and you all marvel at it." They stayed in that state and perished, as Scripture had said before. Now the warning takes in all of them, and His works as well as His words: "Look, you scoffers, be astounded and perish; for I am doing a work in your days."

In many cases they rightly carried out this surgery on the Sabbath day, or else they would break the law of Moses. The Jews were careful about this. But when Christ, in pure grace, healed on the Sabbath day, they were angry enough to plot His death! Circumcision required real physical work. The Lord's healing mercy did not. How could the Jews justify their objection to such goodness?

They condemned Him for doing a good work — making a man completely well on the Sabbath day. In doing so they condemned themselves, for they did the work of circumcision on the Sabbath.

In the fifth chapter we are told, "My Father is working until now, and I am working." How could God rest in a world of sin — a world where evil ran wild, Satan ruled, death reigned, and people were miserable and wretched? How could God rest here? His nature of love made it impossible... You cannot shut up the compassion of God, you cannot stop the outflow of His grace and goodness.

Then the Lord exposes the rest of their false judgment. They had judged according to appearances and without divine guidance. Righteous judgment comes only by seeking the will of God.

They had not brought God in, and so they were wrong — not on the surface only, but altogether. If we are not to judge by appearance, we clearly need divine guidance. That is just what God is so willing to give His children: not teaching only, but direction and judgment.

The crowd did not know what they were saying. They spoke against the Lord with rash irreverence and violence. He does not stop to answer that. He points instead to how absurd their quarrelling is, and how absurd it is to wonder at one work of His — the cure of the sick man at Bethesda on the sabbath. Yet everyone took it as a matter of course to circumcise a male child on the eighth day, even when that day was a sabbath. They did this to honour the law of Moses, though circumcision in fact came from the fathers.

In many cases they rightly did this surgery on the sabbath day. Otherwise they would break the law of Moses. The Jews were careful about this. Yet when Christ, in pure grace, healed on the Sabbath day, they were angry enough to plot His death (v. 23)! Circumcision required real physical work. The Lord's healing mercy did not.

Moses did put circumcision into the law he gave. Yet it did not come from Moses. It came from the fathers. So it had a different character from law, because it was tied to the men through whom God in His grace gave them the promises. The apostle later shows that circumcision was the seal of the righteousness of faith in Abraham (Rom. 4:11). Abraham receives it when his body is already dead and children from him are impossible... So this circumcision belongs to a time before the law, and its meaning is the very opposite of law. Yet the law itself puts it above the law — that is, above the commandment about the sabbath. So the law itself gave grace first place.

They looked to Moses, and it was on the law of Moses that they rested — not on the promises or the covenant in it.

Let no one think that circumcision must be a legal thing. In the setting it is given here, it goes together with grace — it is the sign that the flesh is put to death. It was indeed taken into the law when that system came in later. But in itself, as our Lord Himself shows, it was not from Moses but from the fathers — from Abraham... It means flesh judged, and that is the true spiritual meaning of what God set up then.

The Lord stays silent in the face of this violent and wicked charge. Still, He condemns them for their folly and hypocrisy. They condemned Him for a good work — making a man completely whole on the Sabbath day. In doing so they condemned themselves, for they did the work of circumcision on the Sabbath... They had judged by appearances and without divine guidance. Only by seeking the will of God can anyone judge righteously.

Jesus constantly refers to facts recorded in the books of Moses... "Has not Moses given you the law? … Moses gave you circumcision," etc. (John 7:22). This is the steady teaching of Christ. So there is a shallow effort to deny that Moses really wrote these books, and to deny their inspiration — that God truly speaks to us through Moses (the law), the psalms and the prophets. That effort is a wicked attempt to make Jesus a liar and a deceiver.