This may be similar to the incident in Samaria when the woman brought many to Jesus but they believed because of the words of Jesus, not due to the words of the woman (John 4:42), but her words were what brought the people to Him. Here, the testimony of John has brought the people to seek Jesus, but their faith in Him is based upon their personal experience of Him. So it is with us today. Our testimony brings men to Jesus, but it is their personal experience of Him that is the basis of their faith. If their faith is based solely on our words, they will soon fall away. They need to develop a personal relatiosnhip with Jesus.

John 4:42  They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world.”

“in that place” = the word sets the location in contrast with Judea. Jesus was rejected and persecuted where it would be thought that He would be most accepted, and instead He was welcomed in despised Perea. Someone once said that it is easier to save a drug addict than a church-goer. Look for opportunities to share about Christ this week and be sure to look in the most unsuspecting places, for it is “in that place” that God’s work is most often done.

There was a difference between Jesus and John. Here we see John praised but at the same time, his subordination to Jesus is stressed. John came proclaiming, but Jesus brought power. “John could diagnose the situation; Jesus brought the power to deal with the situation.” (Barclay)

“They had held John to be a prophet,  yet when he searched for his credentials as a prophet, they found them inextricably intertwined with the claims of Jesus. John had failed to prove himself a prophet by miracles and signs—the accustomed credentials. But he had done so by his predictions which had come true, and all of these predictions related to Jesus.” McGarvey

When we know Christ by faith in our hearts, we find, like these people, all that the Scripture says of him is true.

The Jews drive Jesus away and He goes back to the place where He was baptized and received the earthly commission of God. This seems to be a time of rest, peace, and preparation for Jesus. Sometimes it is good for us to return to the place where we had a great experience with God.

His arguments have cooled the Jews and they have dropped their stones to the ground, but their intentions are still the same; their methods of achieving them are all that have changed. They now try to seize Him in order to put Him on trial and legally kill Him, but God’s timing can not be subverted by anyone.

Matthew Henry rightly notes that “He who knew how to deliver himself, knows how to deliver the godly out of their temptations, and to make a way for them to escape.” If we are walking in the will of God, we need have no fear.

words vs. works = Barclay notes that, “A word is something about which a man can argue; but a deed is something about which there is no argument.”

“know” = ginosko = to learn to know, to get a knowledge of, to understand.

” that ye may know, and believe” (KJV) in most manuscripts reads “that ye may know, and understand”. The verb for “know” and for “understand” is the same, but the tense is different. The first is in the aorist tense and would read “may come to know” while the second is in the present and would read “and keep on knowing”. “Jesus is looking for them to have a moment of insight and then to remain permanently in the knowledge that that moment has brought them.” (Morris)

Jesus’ method of teaching was not one of haste nor one of aggressiveness. He was content to sow the seed and wait for it to grow. He trusted faith to work in the hearts of men to produce a crop and did not try to coerce men to believe. Jesus generally allows men to gradually find their own way to right conclusions. He guides them and gives them enough evidence along the way so that they can come to know Him, but He allows the evidence to do its work.

Jesus is not playing word games with the Jews and He is not in fear for His life and trying to work His way out of danger. What He is trying to accomplish here is the conversion of these men. He is not condemning them; His heart is saddened by their failure to recognize the works of God and receive the salvation He is holding out to them.

Jesus tells them to make his life the acid test. If He doesn’t live a God-like life, then don’t believe Him. How many of us are able to make this statement? Is our life so much a reflection of God’s life that people will recognize it and put their trust in what we say?

“set apart” = hagiazo = to be separated from profane things and dedicated to God, to be sanctified.

“sent” = apostello = to be ordered to go to a place appointed by the sender. This is the root word for “apostle”. Jesus did not come to earth of His own volition; He was appointed by the Father to come.

Jesus uses scripture to form an argument in the exact manner of the scribes and Pharisees. He is not classing Himself with men; His argument is of the “how much more” variety. He is meeting them on their own ground. He is saying that if those who received an  indirect commission from God were so much His representatives as to be called “gods,” then how much more should one who has received a direct and personal commissioning from the Father be allowed to call himself the “Son of God”. McGarvey states it thus: “If it was not blasphemy to call those gods who so remotely represented the Deity, how much less did Christ blaspheme in taking unto himself a title to which he had a better right than they, even in the subordinate sense of being a mere messenger.” (TFG)

“broken” =  luo = to loose any person (or thing) tied or fastened, such as shoes, chains, or bonds. Thus to loose what has been built together; to dissolve, to destroy or do away with.

“the scripture cannot be broken” = Morris makes the observation that Jesus does not make this statement about one of the great declarations of the Old Testament, but about this rather insignificant verse (in relation to some other passages). The point is that all scripture is God-breathed and cannot be done away with, no matter how insignificant we may consider it to be, nor due to how it may conflict with our own doctrines. It retains all of its power even in the face of being supposedly “proven” to be in error.

Jesus is quoting (Psalm 82:6). Strictly speaking, “the Law” refers to the Pentateuch, the first 5 books of the Bible, but the term was widely used to refer to the entire Old Testament.

Psalms 82:6  “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’

“gods” = elohim in the Hebrew in Psalms 82. The passage refers to the judges of Israel who were the commissioned representatives of God, acting on His behalf and by His delegated authority to bring help and justice to men. Since they had been commissioned by God’s word to them (compare Luke 3:2 where God commissions John), and are His representatives (cf. 1Sam 24:6-7), they are often referred to as “gods” (Ex 21:6, 22:9, 28). (Elohim is translated as “judges” in the first 2 of these verses.) Edersheim notes that “The comparison made was not with prophets, because they only told the word and message from God, but with Judges, who, as such, did the very act of God.” The judges were supposed to be God’s representatives to the extent that men could look at their judgments and acts and see how God would act in such a circumstance.

Luke 3:2  during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the desert.

1 Samuel 24:6-7  He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the LORD’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the LORD.”  With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Exodus 21:6  then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the door-post and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

Exodus 22:9  In all cases of illegal possession of an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any other lost property about which somebody says, ‘This is mine,’ both parties are to bring their cases before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty must pay back double to his neighbour.

Exodus 22:28  “Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

“blasphemy” = blasphemia = slander, detraction, speech injurious to another’s (especially God’s) good name. The English definition is “profane or mocking speech, writing, or action concerning God or anything regarded as sacred.” (Webster’s New Universal Unabridged Dictionary) The Jews thought Jesus to be blaspheming God by declaring himself to be equal with God and thus lowering God’s status to that of a mere man. What they didn’t stop to consider was that His claims might be true. As McClymont points out, “In reality He, being God, had become man.” Jesus was not a man trying to make himself God; in fact, the very reverse was true.

The penalty for blasphemy was death by stoning (Lev 24:15-16) but these Jews were taking the Law into their own hands by their attempt to judge and execute Jesus without a trial.

Leviticus 24:15-16  Say to the Israelites: ‘If anyone curses his God, he will be held responsible;  anyone who blasphemes the name of the LORD must be put to death. The entire assembly must stone him. Whether an alien or native-born, when he blasphemes the Name, he must be put to death.

Blasphemy was ultimately the crime for which the Jews condemned Jesus (Mt 26:63-66).

Matthew 26:63-66  But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”  “Yes, it is as you say,” Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”  Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.  What do you think?” “He is worthy of death,” they answered.