Coptic Orthodox Answers

In name of the Father and Son, the Holy Spirit, One God. Amen.

Welcome to Coptic Orthodox Answers Deep Dive. We're currently studying together the Gospel of John. We saw last time, in the beginning of chapter 7, how Christ refused to go the Feast of the Tabernacles with His cousins in the beginning of the feast, because He rejected the idea of Him demonstrating His power through miracles for the sake of earthly fame and earthly kingdom. And therefore, as Christians, we ought to imitate Him. And today, we will continue with a portion of chapter 7 as well.

So, verse 14 says:

'' 14 Now about the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught.'' (John 7:14)

So, we see here that He avoided miracles, but went in the middle of the feast and taught. So, teaching or correct teaching for Him is much more important than the miracles themselves.

'' 15 And the Jews marveled, saying, ''How does this Man know letters, having never studied?'' (John 7:15)

Usually, people would study under a rabbi. But Christ was a carpenter. He didn't study under a rabbi. So, they're wondering why or how does He have all this information.

'' 16 Jesus answered them and said, ''My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. 17 If anyone [wants] to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.'' (John 7:16-17)

Every time they challenge Christ, He associates Himself with the Father and that's what He did here.

'' 18 ''He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. 19 Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?'' (John 7:18-19)

Like I said, every time the Pharisees would challenge Christ, Christ would associate Himself with the Father. We saw this on a few occasions in the previous chapters and it's the same here. So, when He was challenged, He told them: My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. And this does not mean that Christ was taught the doctrine from the Father, right?

That's... that would be an unusual sentence. But St. John Chrysostom, here, clarifies. He says:

''But the ''is not Mine'' [so, that phrase is not Mine], affords a strong proof that His doctrine and the Father's are one; as if He had said, It has nothing different, as though it were another's. For though My Person be different, yet so do I speak and do as not to be supposed to speak or do anything contrary to the Father, but rather the very same things that the Father says and does.'' (St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on John)

So, what he means here is that when Christ says My doctrine is not mine, but His who sent me, He's saying: I'm not independent from the Father that I teach independent things, but no, I am one with the Father, meaning we share the same divine essence. And therefore, whatever the Father teaches, I also teach. Whatever I teach, the Father teaches. Whatever the Father does, I do, right? So, we share in that one divine essence. So here, He's actually equating Himself with the Father, not putting Himself under the Father.

Going back to verse 17, here, in the middle of the screen. It says:

17 If anyone [wants] to do His will [the will of the Father, so, if anyone wants to do the will of the Father], he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.'' (John 7:16-17)

Meaning, anybody that, from within, wants to do God's will will know if Christ's teaching are according to the Father's or if they are independent from the Father's. And this is also a very crucial point for us today. Why? Because we find that when people truly want to know the truth, they become enlightened more and more. And this light changes how they think, how they perceive things, right?

So, God becomes the lens through which they see the entire world. Why? Because they want to know God's will. And we find the opposite true as well when someone does not want to know God's will. We find that their mind is being darkened, in the sense that they are not able to seek the truth. They're not able to discern right from wrong often.

As Christians, we're not saying that we're better than others, far from it. You know, we're all in the same boat in that sense. However, Christ is the light of the world, and therefore, when we follow Him, we become enlightened and we perceive things in a very, very different way.

This is the understanding of St. John Chrysostom, right? Here, he quotes Christ or paraphrases Christ and he says the following:

''What He says is this, Cast out from yourselves the malice and wrath and envy and hatred which has without cause been conceived against Me, then there is nothing to

hinder you from knowing that My words are indeed the words of God. For at present these things cast a darkness over you, and destroy the light of right judgment, while if you remove them this shall no longer be your case.'' (St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on John)

Now, going back to the idea that God the Son is not independent of the Father, this is also shown in verse 18. It says:

'' 18 ''He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him.'' '' (John 7:18)

In other words, He's saying: If I was seeking my own glory, I would try to please you as Jewish leaders. I would come early and do miracles, and so on and so forth. I would be ready to dispense the truth for the sake of, you know, the glory of men, to please men. But that's not what I'm doing. Says: He who seeks the glory of the One who sent Him is true.

But I seek the glory of God the Father who sent Me, even if that implies that you'll reject me. I still will carry on in my main message, which is to demonstrate who God is, the one Trinitarian God. And therefore, since I am the truth and I speak truth, no unrighteousness is in Me. That's the purpose of this verse.

Christ, then, tells them, in verse 19:

'' 19 ''Did not Moses give you the law, yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?'' (John 7:19)

The first point to understand is that Christ speaks positively of the Mosaic law in contrast with the sabbatical laws that were established by the Pharisees and they put as a huge burden on the people. But then He says: Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me? And the implication, here, is this: it's that He looks within them and He sees that they want to kill Him. And therefore, He says to them: None of you keeps the law. You know the law very well: You shall not kill... But you're still running and willingly wanting to kill me.

Moving on to verse 20:

'' 20 The people answered and said, ''You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?'' (John 7:20)

So, the Jews, here, are negating the fact that they want to kill Him. So, we have to understand that, again, this is the Feast of the Tabernacles, so there are many Jews coming from all over the place. Now, the Jews that wanted to kill Him were the Jews that lived in Jerusalem, that were close to the leaders and understood the plots being made against Christ. However, the Jews from Galilee had no idea. They'd just arrived for the Feast of the Tabernacles, and

therefore, they react and they say who's seeking to kill you? And this will become apparent later on in the text.

'' 21 Jesus answered and said to them, ''I did one work, and you all marvel. 22 Moses therefore gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. 23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, so that the law of Moses should not be broken, are you angry with Me because I made a man completely well on the Sabbath? 24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'' '' (John 7:21-24)

Notice how Christ never answers their question, but He goes on and addresses one of the main two contentions. So, the first contention is the fact that Christ is healing on the Sabbath and that's the one He addresses in this case. The second one is when He makes Himself equal to the Father.

So, obviously, this entire, you know, text or context is about the paralytic in John 5 who was healed on the Sabbath. And then, Christ addresses this and He says: You even circumcise on the Sabbath, because you do not want to break the law of Moses. So, He says: Well, let's judge righteously here! You circumcise on the Sabbath; I heal on the Sabbath. Which one is more important? And He says: Judge righteously. Healing the man that is paralytic for 38 years is of extreme importance. This is why I am here on earth: to recreate humanity; to heal humanity. And therefore, judge righteously!

Moving on to verse 25:

'' 25 Now some of them from Jerusalem said, ''Is this not He whom they seek to kill?'' (John 7:25)

As I said earlier, the Jewish people that lived in Jerusalem understood what the leaders of the Jews wanted to do to Christ, right? They wanted to kill him. So now, they see Christ publicly challenging these leaders and they see them doing nothing, so then, they wonder: Do these leaders now believe that He's truly the Messiah? And that's what verse 26 is saying.

'' 26 ''But look! He speaks boldly, and they say nothing to Him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is truly the Christ? 27 However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from.'' '' (John 7:26-27)

At the time, they had a misconception. They thought that the Christ or the Messiah would appear suddenly and nobody would understand where He is from. And because they knew the parents or St. Mary as a mother and they also knew Joseph in this case and knew that

Christ was from Nazareth (that's where He grew up), they thought that they knew where Christ was from. And therefore, that was a stumbling block for their belief. So, Christ's response to this misconception is to attack it full force. And that's why He says:

'' 28 Then Jesus cried out [He cried out], as He taught in the temple, saying, ''You both know Me, and you know where I am from [in other words, although you know where I am from physically, you still know who I am: I am the Messiah]; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. [So then, He says: the Father you don't know.] 29 But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.'' '' (John 7:28-29)

So, He's equating Himself with the Father. He says: You don't know the Father, but I, because I share of that same divine essence as the Father, I truly know Him. And therefore, they wanted to kill Him.

So, in... in verse 30:

'' 30 Therefore they sought to take Him; but no one laid a hand on Him, because His hour had not yet come. (John 7:30)

And St. John, here, wants to demonstrate that God is almighty. And because His hour that is picked or chosen from the beginning of time has not yet come, nobody could laid hands on Him.

'' 31 And many of the people believed in Him, and said, ''When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?'' '' (John 7:31)

Also, in verse 28, Christ speaks of the Father and He says: He who sent Me is true. This word, true, in Greek is αληθινός (alithinós). This word, αληθινός, implies an eternal and truly genuine truth, right?

So, when Christ says of Himself, earlier in chapter 6, I am the true bread, He means I am the genuine eternal bread, in the sense of I am the bread that really gives life, not like the transient earthly bread that you and eat and die. When you eat that true bread, αληθινός, you will live forever.

When He says I am the true light, it's the same concept. It's not like the sun that goes down or sets, right? But I am the light that abides forever. We go above, right?, the earthly, physical realm we are in and we step in the other realm where everything is true, according to God's knowledge.

Now, when certain people started to believe in Christ, the Pharisees had to react. So, in verse 32, it says:

'' 32 The Pharisees heard the crowd murmuring these things concerning Him [the fact that they believed], and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take Him. 33 Then Jesus said to them, ''I shall be with you a little while longer, and then I go to Him who sent Me. 34 You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come.'' '' (John 7:32-34)

So here, the Pharisees thought that they had authority and power over Him. And therefore, they wanted to go arrest Him before other people start believing in Him. But Christ's response is this: You think that you have authority and power over Me, but you have none. I will be escaping now and later on, you will try to find Me and you will, by no means, be able to do so. So, you think that you have authority over Me, but that authority is an illusion. It is not a true authority. And however, I will be giving Myself under the... your authority, by my own will for the sake of the salvation of humanity. But then, I'll be raised from the dead once again.

So then, in verse 35, it says:

'' 35 Then the Jews said among themselves, ''Where does He intend to go that we shall not find Him? [So obviously, they don't understand.] Does He intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach [to] the Greeks? 36 What is this thing that He said, 'You will seek Me and not find Me, and where I am you cannot come'?'' '' (John 7:35-36)

They're completely confused. They're not understanding the fact that He will ascend. And again, this is based on their understanding of the Messiah at the time that the Messiah is an earthly figure, right?, that has power to rule on earth, right?, that is equal to David, to Solomon, and so on and so forth.

Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith. And glory be to God forever and ever. Amen.

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Remember: Know your faith, live your faith, and teach your faith.