John 7:27 kjv
Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
John 7:27 nkjv
However, we know where this Man is from; but when the Christ comes, no one knows where He is from."
John 7:27 niv
But we know where this man is from; when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from."
John 7:27 esv
But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from."
John 7:27 nlt
But how could he be? For we know where this man comes from. When the Messiah comes, he will simply appear; no one will know where he comes from."
John 7 27 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Messiah's True, Divine Origin | ||
| Jn 8:14 | "Even if I do bear witness of Myself, My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from and where I am going." | Jesus declares His divine origin. |
| Jn 8:42 | "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I came forth from God and am come..." | Jesus clarifies He originates from God. |
| Jn 9:29 | "We know that God spoke to Moses; but as for this man, we do not know where He is from.” | Similar accusation from Pharisees, lacking knowledge. |
| Jn 6:42 | "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down out of heaven'?" | Questioning Jesus's heavenly origin based on His known family. |
| Mic 5:2 | "But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for Me one who will be ruler over Israel..." | Prophecy of Messiah's known earthly birthplace. |
| Mt 2:4-6 | "...'In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah...out of you shall come a Ruler...'" | Scribes confirm Bethlehem as Messiah's birthplace. |
| Jn 3:13 | "No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven." | Jesus affirms His descent from heaven. |
| Human Misconception & Blindness | ||
| Jn 7:41-42 | "Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Can the Christ come out of Galilee? Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the seed of David and from the town of Bethlehem..." | Crowd divided over Jesus's origin; some correctly cite Bethlehem prophecy. |
| Lk 4:22 | "And all spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. And they said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”" | Nazareth neighbors questioning His authority based on known humble background. |
| Mk 6:3 | "Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him." | Familiarity bred contempt, leading to rejection. |
| Isa 53:2-3 | "He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected of men, a Man of sorrows..." | Prophecy suggests a humble, unrecognized appearance of the Messiah. |
| Jn 1:10 | "He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him." | The world's general ignorance of their Creator. |
| Rom 1:21 | "Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God...and their foolish hearts were darkened." | Humans' capacity to suppress truth and remain spiritually ignorant. |
| Spiritual Understanding vs. Carnal Sight | ||
| 2 Cor 5:16 | "So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh..." | Urges spiritual discernment over physical appearance. |
| Jn 8:23 | "And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world." | Jesus clearly differentiates His origin. |
| 1 Cor 2:14 | "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him..." | Explains why spiritual truths are hidden from the unspiritual. |
| Matt 16:17 | "Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." | True revelation of Jesus's identity comes from God, not human insight. |
| Jn 7:17 | "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority." | The connection between willingness to obey and spiritual understanding. |
| Isa 55:8-9 | "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.'" | God's ways and thoughts are beyond human comprehension. |
| Deut 29:29 | "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us..." | God reveals what He desires; some truths remain mysterious. |
John 7 verses
John 7 27 Meaning
John 7:27 expresses a prevailing misunderstanding among some Jewish people concerning the Messiah's origin. The crowd asserts that they know Jesus's earthly roots (Nazareth, Galilee), which, in their minds, disqualifies Him as the Christ because they believed the Messiah's advent would be shrouded in mystery, His true origin unknown to humanity. This highlights their limited, human-centric perspective, contrasting their perceived knowledge with their actual ignorance of both Jesus's divine nature and the complete prophetic fulfillment regarding His birth in Bethlehem.
John 7 27 Context
John chapter 7 describes Jesus's presence and teaching at the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles) in Jerusalem. The city is bustling, and there's widespread discussion and division regarding Jesus's identity. Some believe He is the Christ, while others dismiss Him, seeking to arrest Him or questioning His authority because of His perceived background. Verses 25 and 26 show that the people of Jerusalem recognized Jesus and were surprised He was speaking publicly without being arrested. They observed that the authorities hadn't laid hands on Him, perhaps wondering if the rulers had secretly concluded He was the Christ. Verse 27, however, is a direct retort to such a notion, asserting a widely held popular belief that contrasted their "known" understanding of Jesus's earthly origin (from Nazareth) with what they thought was a prophetic characteristic of the Messiah – that His origin would be completely mysterious or unknown. This sets up Jesus's immediate response in John 7:28-29, where He challenges their perceived knowledge.
John 7 27 Word analysis
- However, (Δέ, De): A strong adversative conjunction, indicating a contrast or a new point of argument being introduced. It sets up a counter-argument to any notion that the authorities might be acknowledging Jesus.
- we know (ἡμεῖς οἴδαμεν, hemeis oidamen): "We" is emphatic, highlighting the crowd's collective and confident assertion. "Oidamen" signifies a complete, settled, personal knowledge, often implying understanding through experience or observation. Here, it reflects their conviction based on apparent facts about Jesus's family and upbringing.
- where (πόθεν, pothen): Means "from what place" or "whence." It probes the origin.
- this man (οὗτος, houtos): A somewhat dismissive or condescending way of referring to Jesus, implying a common, ordinary individual from their perspective.
- is from; (ἐστὶν, estin): "He is from," referring to His perceived earthly origin. The crowd is focused solely on Jesus's visible human background (Nazareth, carpentry) and his perceived ordinary family.
- but when (ὅταν δέ, hotan de): Again, a conjunction indicating a contrast, marking the transition to their expectation of the Messiah. "Hotan" implies a future possibility or condition.
- the Christ (ὁ Χριστὸς, ho Christos): The definite article "the" indicates their reference to the specific, expected Anointed One, the Messiah.
- comes, (ἔρχηται, erchetai): Refers to the Messiah's coming, His appearance on the scene.
- no one (οὐδεὶς, oudeis): Emphatically absolute; a strong statement implying universality of ignorance regarding the Messiah's origin.
- will know (γινώσκει, ginōskei): Different from "oidamen" ("we know"). "Ginōskei" implies knowledge gained through observation, learning, or experience. The implication is that His origins will be hidden, not discernible by common means.
- where He is from. (πόθεν ἐστίν, pothen estin): Repeats the earlier phrase, applying the expectation of a mysterious origin directly to the Messiah.
Words-group analysis:
- "However, we know where this man is from": This phrase encapsulates the crowd's human, limited, and overly confident perspective. They assert knowledge based on superficial observation of Jesus's earthly connections, presuming He is simply Joseph and Mary's son from Nazareth. This forms the basis of their disbelief. Their "knowing" ironically reveals their profound ignorance of His true divine and prophetic origins.
- "but when the Christ comes, no one will know where He is from": This represents a common, though not universally supported Rabbinic, popular Jewish expectation concerning the Messiah. The belief might have stemmed from certain messianic texts that speak of His sudden appearance or being revealed by God rather than His birth origin being publicly known, or perhaps conflated with the mysterious origins of figures like Melchizedek (Heb 7:3). It reveals their pre-conceived filter for identifying the Messiah, which Jesus directly challenges in the subsequent verses by highlighting that He truly is from God, and they don't know His ultimate origin.
John 7 27 Bonus section
The popular belief articulated in John 7:27 is not directly derived from clear Old Testament prophecies but seems to be a contemporary popular idea, possibly arising from the idea that the Messiah's full identity or exact appearance would be revealed by God at an opportune time, not from his early life being widely published. Some scholars suggest this idea might have emerged from interpreting certain Messianic passages related to God's revelation of Him (e.g., Dan 7:13-14), or it could be an expansion on the mystery of divine intervention. It is also an ironic statement given that Micah 5:2 clearly stated the Messiah would come from Bethlehem. The crowd confidently asserts a belief that works against both Jesus's known humble earthly ties and the specifics of messianic prophecy they should have known. Their "knowledge" was thus flawed on multiple levels.
John 7 27 Commentary
John 7:27 encapsulates the profound spiritual blindness and misplaced confidence of a segment of the Jewish crowd regarding Jesus's identity. They operated under a popular misconception that the Messiah's true origin would be entirely unknown, appearing suddenly and mysteriously, without earthly roots. Ironically, their confident assertion, "we know where this man is from" (referring to Jesus's Nazareth background), serves as their criterion for disqualifying Him. This highlights a fundamental flaw in their understanding: they prioritized a humanly-conceived, popular expectation over genuine prophetic fulfillment. While Bethlehem was the prophesied birthplace (Micah 5:2), which many apparently ignored or downplayed, the deepest truth was Jesus's divine origin from God Himself (Jn 8:14, 42), which no one truly "knew" without divine revelation. Their confident assertion of knowing only highlighted their ultimate ignorance of God's ways and Jesus's true, divine source. This verse is a powerful illustration of how preconceived notions and reliance on outward appearance can hinder spiritual discernment and acceptance of divine truth.