24 Then the Jews came round him, saying, how long are you going to keep us in doubt? If you are the Christ, say so clearly.
To say to him, Are you he who is to come, or are we waiting for another?
If you are the Christ, say so. But he said, If I say so you will not have belief; And if I put a question to you, you will not give an answer. But in the future the Son of man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God. And they all said, Are you then the Son of God? and he said, You say that I am.
And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go on balancing between two opinions? if the Lord is God, then give worship to him; but if Baal, give worship to him. And the people said not a word in answer.
And while the people were waiting, and all men were questioning in their hearts about John, if he was the Christ or not,
Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead: who do you say that you are?
They said this because of their fear of the Jews: for the Jews had come to an agreement that if any man said that Jesus was the Christ he would be put out of the Synagogue.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on John 10
Commentary on John 10 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 10
In this chapter we have,
Jhn 10:1-18
It is not certain whether this discourse was at the feast of dedication in the winter (spoken of v. 22), which may be taken as the date, not only of what follows, but of what goes before (that which countenances this is, that Christ, in his discourse there, carries on the metaphor of the sheep, v. 26, 27, whence it seems that that discourse and this were at the same time); or whether this was a continuation of his parley with the Pharisees, in the close of the foregoing chapter. The Pharisees supported themselves in their opposition to Christ with this principle, that they were the pastors of the church, and that Jesus, having no commission from them, was an intruder and an impostor, and therefore the people were bound in duty to stick to then, against him. In opposition to this, Christ here describes who were the false shepherds, and who the true, leaving them to infer what they were.
Jhn 10:19-21
We have here an account of the people's different sentiments concerning Christ, on occasion of the foregoing discourse; there was a division, a schism, among them; they differed in their opinions, which threw them into heats and parties. Such a ferment as this they had been in before (ch. 7:43; 9:16); and where there has once been a division again. Rents are sooner made than made up or mended. This division was occasioned by the sayings of Christ, which, one would think, should rather have united them all in him as their centre; but they set them at variance, as Christ foresaw, Lu. 12:51. But it is better that men should be divided about the doctrine of Christ than united in the service of sin, Lu. 11:21. See what the debate was in particular.
Jhn 10:22-38
We have here another rencounter between Christ and the Jews in the temple, in which it is hard to say which is more strange, the gracious words that came out of his mouth or the spiteful ones that came out of theirs.
Jhn 10:39-42
We have here the issue of the conference with the Jews. One would have thought it would have convinced and melted them, but their hearts were hardened. Here we are told,