John 7:41

Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(41) Others said this is the Christ.—The Messiah is distinguished from the Prophet in the words of the multitude there, as in the question of the legates of the Sanhedrin, John 1:20-21.

Shall Christ come out of Galilee?—The answer “No” is expected, and the tense is present—Surely the Messiah cometh not out of Galilee?

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:40-53 The malice of Christ's enemies is always against reason, and sometimes the staying of it cannot be accounted for. Never any man spake with that wisdom, and power, and grace, that convincing clearness, and that sweetness, wherewith Christ spake. Alas, that many, who are for a time restrained, and who speak highly of the word of Jesus, speedily lose their convictions, and go on in their sins! People are foolishly swayed by outward motives in matters of eternal moment, are willing even to be damned for fashion's sake. As the wisdom of God often chooses things which men despise, so the folly of men commonly despises those whom God has chosen. The Lord brings forward his weak and timid disciples, and sometimes uses them to defeat the designs of his enemies.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 2:4-6.

Where David was - 1 Samuel 16:1-4.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

41. Others said, This is the Christ—(See on [1802]Joh 1:21).

Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The people were divided in their opinions about Christ. Some of them were very well inclined to believe that he was the promised Messiah; but they stumbled at the country where alone they took notice of him. For though he came not out of Galilee, but was born in Bethlehem, Luke 2:4, according to the prophecy of him, Micah 5:2, suitable to which was their tradition, Matthew 2:5; yet they had seen nothing of this, though possibly they had heard some relation of it, it being two and thirty years since his birth: but he was ordinarily called Jesus of Nazareth, and of Galilee, there he had lived and been educated; so as they knew no better, probably, than that he came out of Galilee, which was contrary to the prophecy, Micah 5:2.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Others said, this is the Christ,.... The true Messiah, which they concluded, not only from the miracles, John 7:31, but from his speaking of rivers of living water flowing from him that believes in him; for the same prophecy that speaks of miracles to be performed in the times of the Messiah, speaks also of waters breaking out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert, of the parched ground becoming a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water, Isaiah 35:5.

But some said, shall Christ come out of Galilee? as they supposed Jesus did; and because he was educated at Nazareth, and Capernaum was his city, and he chiefly conversed, preached, and wrought his miracles in these parts, they concluded that he was born there; and therefore object this to his being the true Messiah. For if they did not mean this, according to their own accounts, the Messiah was to be in Galilee, and to be first revealed there; for they affirm (i) this in so many words, that , "the King Messiah shall be revealed in the land of Galilee"; accordingly Jesus, the true Messiah, as he was brought up in Galilee, though not born there, so he first preached there, and there wrought his first miracle; here he chiefly was, unless at the public feasts; and here he manifested himself to his disciples after his resurrection.

(i) Zohar in Gen. fol. 74. 3. & in Exod. fol. 3. 3. & 4. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 7:41. But others, either honestly perplexed, or hostile to Christ, and glad to find Scripture on their side, objected, μὴ γὰρ ἐκ τῆς Γαλιλαίας ὁ Χριστὸς ἔρχεται; “But does the Christ come out of Galilee?” [Hoogeveen explains the γάρ by resolving the sentence into a double statement: “Others said this is not the Christ: for Christ will not come out of Galilee”. The γάρ assigns the reason for the denial already hinted in the ἄλλοι δὲ introducing a contrary opinion to that already expressed.] They knew that Jesus was a Galilean, and this clashed with their idea that the Christ was to be born of the seed of David and in Bethlehem; an idea founded on Micah 5:2; Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5. Bethlehem is here called the κώμη ὅπου ἦν Δαβίδ [or Δαυείδ, which gives the same pronunciation], because there David spent his youth; 1 Samuel 16:1; 1 Samuel 16:4, etc.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

41. Others said … some said] Both verbs, as in John 7:40, are imperfects of repeated action; kept saying, used to say.

Shall Christ come out of Galilee] We have here an instance how little attention our translators paid to the Greek article: in the same verse they translate the article in one place and ignore it in another. In the next verse they ignore it again. In all three places it should be ‘the Christ’ (see on John 1:20). Why, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? It is quite inadmissible to infer, because S. John does not correct this mistake of supposing that Jesus came from Galilee, that he is either ignorant of the truth or indifferent to it. He knew that his readers would be well aware of the facts. On the other hand, could a Greek of the second century invent these discussions of the Jewish multitude?

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 41. - Others said, This is the Christ. These must have pressed the argument further. The Lord must have seemed to them to combine the yet more explicit signs, not only of the Prophet that should come into the world, but of the anointed King and Priest - the Christ of their current expectation. But some said, Both the Christ come out of Galilee? Here criticism was at once at work upon obvious appearances, but misunderstood facts. Was he not called "Jesus of Nazareth"? His life had been spent there, his ministry in the main restricted to the northern province. These questions give a vivid scene and portray a great emotion. The people are resting on the letter of prophecy (Micah 5:2), where the Messiah, as understood by their own teachers (see Matthew 2:5), was to proceed from Bethlehem; but they overlook the remarkable prediction in Isaiah 9:1, where Galilee is spoken of as the scene of extraordinary illumination. John 7:41

Vincent's Word Studies

Shall Christ, etc. (μὴ γὰρ ὁ Χριστός)

The Rev. gives better the force of the interrogative particle with γὰρ, for: What, doth the Christ come, etc. The idea in full is, "you cannot (μὴ) say that, for (γὰρ) doth the Christ, etc."

Shall - come (ἔρχεται)

The present tense. Rev., rightly, doth - come.