John 7:31
in John 7Many in the crowd, however, believed in Him and said, “When the Christ comes, will He perform more signs than this man?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But of the multitude many believed on him; and they said, When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done?
KJV
And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
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This verse in John 7
Commentary
16 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Will he do more miracles? - It was a common expectation that the Messiah would work many miracles. This opinion was founded on such passages as Isa 35:5-6, etc.: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; then shall the lame man leap as an hart,” etc. Jesus had given abundant evidence of his power to work such miracles, and they therefore believed that he was the Messiah.
This site's exposition
no one laid a hand on Him
on John 7:30-31
They tried to seize Him, and no one laid a hand on Him. His hour holds back theirs as well. Many in the crowd believed, and their reason is put as a question, whether the Christ will do more signs than this man has done.
This site's exposition
will He perform more signs
Albert Barnes traces the hope of a Christ who would perform many signs to Isaiah 35:5 and 6, the blind seeing and the lame leaping. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hear friendly voices in the crowd, held down by hostile superiors and unable to keep quiet.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
"But many of the people believed on Him." The Lord made whole the humble and the poor. The rulers were mad, and therefore they not only did not acknowledge the Physician, but even were eager to slay Him. There was a certain crowd of people which quickly saw its own sickness, and without delay recognized His remedy. See what that very crowd, moved by His miracles, said: "When Christ cometh will He do more signs than these?" Surely, unless there will be two Christs, this is the Christ. Consequently, in saying these things, they believed on Him.
(Tract. xxxi. 7) And many of the people believed on Him. Our Lord brought the poor and humble to be saved. The common people, who soon saw their own infirmities, received His medicine without hesitation.
"When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles than these which this man hath done?" How many were the miracles? In truth, there were three, that of the wine, that of the paralytic, and that of the nobleman's son; and the Evangelist hath related no more. From which circumstance it is plain, as I have often said, that the writers pass by most of them, and discourse to us of those alone on account of which the rulers ill-treated Him. "Then they sought to take Him," and kill Him. Who "sought"? Not the multitude, who had no desire of rule, nor could be made captives by malice; but the priests. For they of the multitude said, "When Christ cometh, will He do more miracles?" Yet neither was this sound faith, but, as it were, the idea of a promiscuous crowd; for to say, "When He cometh," was not the expression of men firmly persuaded that He was the Christ. We may either understand the words thus, or that they were uttered by the multitudes when they came together. "Since," they may have said, "our rulers are taking every pains to prove that this man is not the Christ, let us suppose that he is not the Christ; will the Christ be better than he?" For, as I ever repeat, men of the grosser sort are led in not by doctrine, nor by preaching, but by miracles.
A commentator
Cyril of AlexandriaCommentary on the Gospel of John, Book 5 · Written before 444.
proposed
How great the economy herein, and how fitly it hath followed after those things, is meet to see. For having before said that the Jews were seeking to take Him and to enclose Him by the meshes of their senselessness, into so cruel and unseasonably contrived danger, he shows the multitudes of them that believe, that the ill machinations of their rulers against Him may at length be acknowledged.
"The Pharisees heard the people murmuring, and sent servants to take Him." Seest thou that the violation of the Sabbath was a mere pretense? and that what most stung them was this murmuring? For here, though they had no fault to find with Him for anything said or done, they desired to take Him because of the multitude. They dared not do it themselves, suspecting danger, but sent their hired servants. Alas! for their tyranny and their madness, or rather, I should say, for their folly. After having often attempted themselves, and not prevailed, they committed the matter to servants, simply satisfying their anger.
8 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church3 voices
Many believed in Him, saying: "Will the Christ perform more signs than this Man has done?" They speak of the wine at Cana, of the nobleman's son, of the paralytic, of the loaves, and generally of all the other signs which, on account of their …
"But many of the crowd believed in him." Here the building up of faith in the little ones is noted, whence he says: "But many of the crowd believed in him," not from the leaders and the greater ones; Matthew 11: "You have hidden these …
Then he mentions the effect his teaching had on those who were favorable. First, he shows their faith: Many of the people, however, believed in him. He does not say, "of the leaders," because the higher their rank, the further away they were from him. …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And many of the people believed on him,.... Whilst some were displeased at his doctrine, others were induced by his miracles to believe on him, as an extraordinary person, if not the Messiah; and these were the common people, especially those that came out of the country; for the city Jews, and above all the rulers, were very averse to him: and it is easy to observe, that faith in Christ, and true religion, spread and flourish most among the meaner sort of people.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
We see in these verses, the obstinate blindness of the unbelieving Jews. We find them defending their denial of our Lord's Messiahship, by saying, "But we know where this man comes from. Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." And yet in both these assertions they were wrong! They were wrong in saying that they "knew where our Lord came from." They meant no doubt to say that He was born at Nazareth, and belonged to Nazareth, and was therefore a Galilean.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
When Christ cometh, will he, &c.--that is, If this be not the Christ, what can the Christ do, when He does come, which has not been anticipated and eclipsed by this man? This was evidently the language of friendly persons, overborne by their spiteful superiors, but unable to keep quite silent.
A commentator
J.C. Ryle1816–1900
Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition) (1869)
proposed
We see in these verses, the obstinate blindness of the unbelieving Jews. We find them defending their denial of our Lord's Messiahship, by saying, "But we know where this man comes from. Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." And yet in both these assertions they were wrong! They were wrong in saying that they "knew where our Lord came from." They meant no doubt to say that He was born at Nazareth, and belonged to Nazareth, and was therefore a Galilean. Yet the fact was, that our Lord was born at Bethlehem, that He belonged legally to the tribe of Judah, and that His mother and Joseph were of the house and lineage of David. It is incredible to suppose that the Jews could not have found this out, if they had honestly searched and inquired. It is notorious that pedigrees, genealogies, and family histories were most carefully kept by the Jewish nation. Their ignorance was without excuse. They were wrong again in saying, "Whenever the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from." There was a well-known prophecy, with which their whole nation was familiar, that Christ was to come out of the town of Bethlehem. (Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:5; John 7:42.) It is absurd to suppose that they had forgotten this prophecy. But apparently they found it inconvenient to remember it on this occasion. Men's memories are often sadly dependent on their wills. The Apostle Peter, in a certain place, speaks of some as "willingly ignorant." (2 Pet. 3:5.) He had good reason to use the expression. It is a sore spiritual disease, and one most painfully common among men. There are thousands in the present day just as blind in their way as the Jews. They shut their eyes against the plainest facts and doctrines of Christianity. They pretend to say that they do not understand, and cannot therefore believe the things that we press on their attention, as needful to salvation.
Will he do more miracles - It was the belief of the Jews, and they founded it upon Isa 35:5, that, when the Messiah came, he would do all kinds of miracles; and, in order that they might have the fullest proof of the Divine mission of Christ, it had pleased God to cause miracles to cease for between four and five hundred years, and that John the Baptist himself had not wrought any. His miracles, therefore, were a full proof of his Divine mission.
How the passage was read
On John 7:1-53On John 7:1-53
The water ceremony He interrupted
“The Feast of Booths” is Tabernacles, in Hebrew Sukkot: the autumn week when Israel lived (and Jewish families still eat) in leafy shelters remembering the wilderness. In Temple times each morning of the feast a priest carried water in gold from the pool of Siloam up to the altar and poured it out, praying for the year's rain, while the crowds sang: the Mishnah calls it the Rejoicing at the Place of the Water-Drawing, and the Talmud says whoever never saw it “has never seen rejoicing in his life” (Sukkah 51a).
That is the scene on “the last day of the feast, the great day,” when Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink”: a claim staged inside the feast's own ceremony, at the moment all Jerusalem was thinking about water from God.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Sukkah 4:9 (the water-drawing rite) · Sukkah 51a (“has never seen rejoicing”)
The words behind it
21 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐκ | ek | Out of | G1537 → | 911 times |
| τοῦ | tou | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ὄχλου | ochlou | crowd | G3793 → | 175 times |
| δὲ | de | now | G1161 → | 2765 times |
| πολλοὶ | polloi | many | G4183 → | 367 times |
| ἐπίστευσαν | episteusan | believed | G4100 → | 237 times |
| εἰς | eis | in | G1519 → | 1755 times |
| αὐτὸν | auton | Him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἔλεγον | elegon | were saying | G3004 → | 1325 times |
| ὁ | ho | The | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| χριστὸς | christos | Christ | G5547 → | 523 times |
| ὅταν | hotan | When | G3752 → | 123 times |
| ἔλθῃ, | elthe | He may come, | G2064 → | 628 times |
| μὴ | me | Surely not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| πλείονα | pleiona | more | G4119 → | 45 times |
| σημεῖα | semeia | signs | G4592 → | 75 times |
| ποιήσει | poiesei | will He do | G4160 → | 569 times |
| ὧν | hon | than | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| οὗτος | houtos | this [man] | G3778 → | 1381 times |
| ἐποίησεν; | epoiesen | has done? | G4160 → | 569 times |
ἐκOut of
ekG1537 →911 times
τοῦthe
touG3588 →19766 times
ὄχλουcrowd
ochlouG3793 →175 times
δὲnow
deG1161 →2765 times
πολλοὶmany
polloiG4183 →367 times
ἐπίστευσανbelieved
episteusanG4100 →237 times
εἰςin
eisG1519 →1755 times
αὐτὸνHim
autonG846 →5565 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἔλεγονwere saying
elegonG3004 →1325 times
ὁThe
hoG3588 →19766 times
χριστὸςChrist
christosG5547 →523 times
ὅτανWhen
hotanG3752 →123 times
ἔλθῃ,He may come,
eltheG2064 →628 times
μὴSurely not
meG3361 →1066 times
πλείοναmore
pleionaG4119 →45 times
σημεῖαsigns
semeiaG4592 →75 times
ποιήσειwill He do
poieseiG4160 →569 times
ὧνthan
honG3739 →1405 times
οὗτοςthis [man]
houtosG3778 →1381 times
ἐποίησεν;has done?
epoiesenG4160 →569 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
John 12:42Nevertheless, many of the leaders believed in Him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue.
it leads to
- John 7:13
Yet no one would speak publicly about Him for fear of the Jews.
- Isaiah 51:7
Listen to Me, you who know what is right, you people with My law in your hearts: Do not fear the scorn of men; do not be broken by their insults.
- John 9:22
His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
- Matthew 10:32
Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father in heaven.
- Proverbs 29:25
The fear of man is a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is set securely on high.
- John 7:13
Through
Matthew 12:23The crowds were astounded and asked, “Could this be the Son of David?”
it leads to
- Matthew 9:27
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
- Matthew 9:27
Through
Acts 8:13Even Simon himself believed and was baptized. He followed Philip closely and was astounded by the great signs and miracles he observed.
it leads to
- Acts 8:6–7
The crowds gave their undivided attention to Philip’s message and to the signs they saw him perform.
- John 5:20
The Father loves the Son and shows Him all He does. And to your amazement, He will show Him even greater works than these.
- Acts 8:6–7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies21
On this verse
On this chapter
- Bethlehem
- Brit milah: circumcision on the eighth day
- The Words Chazaq, Amats and Parrhesia
- The Fall Feasts
- Jesus
- Jesus on the Holy Spirit
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About John
This page draws on 14 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Gospels; Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on John 31; Augustine of Hippo, Catena Aurea by Aquinas; Bonaventure, Commentary on John, Chapter 7; Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, Book 5; J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John (lightly modernized text, Grace Gems edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Homily on the Gospel of John 50; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on John and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on John.