John 7:25

John 7:25, in plain English

Some people from Jerusalem start asking: Wait, is this not the man they are trying to kill? Yet here He is, teaching in the open and nobody is stopping Him.

Why it's here

The locals know about the murder plot. They are putting two and two together and wondering if the leaders have secretly changed their minds about Jesus.

Who's speaking

Jerusalem residents start asking the question everyone is thinking.

Where it sits in the story

Something does not add up. Jesus is teaching publicly while the authorities do nothing. Could it be that even the leaders are starting to believe He might be the Messiah?

The scholarly reading

Some Jerusalemites (Hierosolumitōn) recognize the discrepancy between the known murder plot and Jesus' public teaching, questioning whether the authorities have perhaps secretly recognized Him as the Christ.

Language and setting

Unlike the festival pilgrims who denied any plot (v. 20), the Jerusalem residents are aware of the leaders' intentions, creating dramatic irony as their observation comes close to the truth.

Voice

Jerusalem residents, distinct from the festival crowd, begin questioning the authorities' inaction against Jesus.

Significance

The local Jerusalemites know what the pilgrims do not: there is a real plot against Jesus. His bold public teaching in the face of that threat raises an astonishing possibility in their minds.

23If a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, why are you angry with Me for making the whole man well on the Sabbath?

24Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”

25Then some of the people of Jerusalem began to say, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?

26Yet here He is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying anything to Him. Have the rulers truly recognized that this is the Christ?

27But we know where this man is from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from.”

Read all of John 7 — Jesus appears at the Festival of Tabernacles and divides the crowd. Some say he's a prophet, some say he's the Messiah, and some want him arrested.