Is This the Christ? 'we know where this man is from' · 'you know me, and you know where I am from' · the hour not yet come · 'you will seek me and not find me'

Greek Text (SBLGNT)

The Greek text below is the Society of Biblical Literature Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes — © 2010 SBL and Logos, released CC BY 4.0. The paragraph divides into the Jerusalemites' puzzle (vv. 25–27), Jesus' cry in the temple (vv. 28–29), the failed seizure and the crowd's faith (vv. 30–31), and the sending of officers with Jesus' going-away saying (vv. 32–36).

Working Translation

An original literal rendering, not borrowed from any copyrighted translation. Brackets mark phrases added for English clarity.

Note on v. 26: μήποτε introduces a hesitant, almost incredulous question — "can it possibly be that…?" Note on v. 28: Κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί can be read as plain statement or, more probably, with concessive irony — "you do know me, and you do know where I am from [or so you suppose]" — see the v. 28 commentary. Note on v. 35: διασπορά ("Dispersion") names the Jews scattered among the nations; τῶν Ἑλλήνων ("of the Greeks") modifies it — the Jews living among the Greeks — while "teach the Greeks" raises the unwitting irony of a gospel for the Gentiles.

Passage Structure

The paragraph keeps the Tabernacles debate boiling. After the mid-feast teaching of 7:14–24, the focus narrows to the question that drives the whole chapter: is this man the Christ? Four movements carry it forward:

• vv. 25–27 — The Jerusalemites' puzzle. The local crowd recognizes Jesus as the wanted man, marvels that he teaches openly and unhindered, and floats the unthinkable possibility that the rulers have concluded he is the Christ — only to set it aside on a popular premise: the Messiah's origin will be unknown, but "we know where this man is from."
• vv. 28–29 — Jesus cries out in the temple. Jesus answers their certainty head-on: you know me and where I am from — yet you do not know the one who sent me. He did not come on his own; the Sender is true, and Jesus alone knows him, "because I am from him and he sent me." A claim of unique origin and unique knowledge.
• vv. 30–31 — The failed seizure and the divided crowd. "They sought to seize him" but "no one laid a hand on him" — the narrator gives the reason: "his hour had not yet come." Meanwhile many of the crowd believe, reasoning from the signs: could the Christ do more than this?
• vv. 32–36 — Officers sent, and the going-away saying. The Pharisees and chief priests dispatch officers to arrest him. Jesus responds with a veiled word — a little while longer, then he goes to the one who sent him; they will seek and not find him; where he is they cannot come. The hearers can only puzzle: does he mean to leave for the Dispersion and teach the Greeks?

Two motifs run through the whole. The first is knowing and origin: the repeated οἴδαμεν / οἴδατε / οἶδα ("we know / you know / I know") and the repeated πόθεν ἐστίν ("where he is from") set human certainty about Jesus' earthly provenance against his true origin "from him" (the Father). The second is the sovereign control of the timing of events: "his hour had not yet come" (οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ) explains why hostility cannot yet touch him. Over both hangs Johannine dramatic irony — the crowd speaks better than it knows, both about Jesus' "unknown" origin and about his going to "the Greeks."

Verse-by-Verse Notes

Key Greek Words and Phrases

Grammar and Syntax that Affect Interpretation

1. The repeated πόθεν ἐστίν ("where he is from") — vv. 27, 28. The same phrase carries two levels: the people's "knowledge" of Jesus' earthly origin and his true origin from the Father. The ambiguity is the engine of the dramatic irony.
2. The perfect-with-present-force οἶδα family — vv. 27–29. οἴδαμεν / οἴδατε / οἶδα all mean "know" as settled state. The contrast is not tense but subject: you claim to know; you do not know the Sender; I know him.
3. Concessive/ironic reading of Κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί — v. 28. Best taken with an ironic or concessive edge — "you do know me [or so you think]" — rather than as a flat concession that they truly know him; the very next clause exposes their ignorance of the one who sent him.
4. The emphatic pronouns ὑμεῖς and ἐγώ — vv. 28–29. "Whom you do not know" (v. 28) set against "I know him" (v. 29) sharpens the antithesis between the crowd's ignorance and the Son's unique knowledge of the Father.
5. The crasis Κἀμέ (= καὶ ἐμέ) and κἀκεῖνος (= καὶ ἐκεῖνος) — vv. 28–29. Both fronted for emphasis: "me, too, you know" and "and that one sent me" (the Father, emphatically).
6. ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ οὐκ ἐλήλυθα — v. 28. The perfect ἐλήλυθα ("I have come") with the abiding result, plus the recurring ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ ("on my own"), grounds Jesus' coming in the Father's sending, not his own initiative.
7. The pluperfect οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ — v. 30. "His hour had not yet come" gives the narrator's reason no hand could touch him: divine sovereignty over the timing of events, not chance or the enemies' incompetence.
8. The expected-answer particles μή and μήποτε — vv. 26, 31, 35. μήποτε (v. 26) frames a hesitant "surely not?"; μή (vv. 31, 35) expects "no" — but in v. 31 the "no" actually points toward Jesus, and in v. 35 the dismissive "no" is unwittingly true.
9. The indefinite ὅταν ἔρχηται / ὅταν ἔλθῃ — vv. 27, 31. ὅταν + subjunctive ("whenever he comes") frames the people's expectation of the Messiah's coming; the contrast of present (v. 27) and aorist (v. 31) subjunctive is stylistic, not doctrinally weighty.
10. The future verbs of the going-away saying — vv. 33–34. ὑπάγω (present with future sense), ζητήσετε, οὐχ εὑρήσετε, οὐ δύνασθε ἐλθεῖν: Jesus' departure to the Father and the unbelievers' too-late seeking and fixed inability to follow.
11. The verbatim repetition of the saying in v. 36. Quoting Jesus' words back exactly underscores the hearers' incomprehension; the repetition is a deliberate device sealing the irony of the scene.

Theological Significance

The true origin of the Christ. The whole scene turns on origin. The people reason: "we know where this man is from, therefore he cannot be the Messiah." Jesus answers that they know only the surface. His true provenance is the Father — "I am from him" (παρ’ αὐτοῦ εἰμι) — and to know him rightly is to know the one who sent him. The passage thus teaches that Jesus' identity cannot be read off his Galilean address; it is grasped only when one perceives that he comes from God. The Christ is the one whose deepest origin is "from above."

The unique knowledge of the Father. "Whom you do not know… I know him" (vv. 28–29). Jesus claims an intimate, immediate, unshared knowledge of God, grounded in his being "from beside" the Father. This is not the knowledge of a prophet about God but the knowledge of the Son who comes from God's own presence. It belongs with John's larger witness to the unique mutual knowing of Father and Son (10:15) and undergirds the claim that to know Jesus is to know God, and to refuse Jesus is to be ignorant of God however religious one is. (See Christology and Jesus Is God.)

The sovereignty of God over the hour. "No one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come" (v. 30). Jesus is not a victim of circumstance or a fugitive who narrowly escapes; he moves under the Father's appointed timetable. Hostility is real, arrest is attempted, officers are dispatched — and none of it can advance one minute before the hour fixed by God. The cross will come not by the triumph of his enemies but by the Father's plan and the Son's willing obedience. This is deep comfort and high doctrine: the events of the passion unfold under sovereign control.

Sign-faith and the question of true faith. "Many believed in him" on the strength of the signs (v. 31). John honors the signs as genuine pointers to Jesus' identity, and the crowd's reasoning is sound. Yet John's Gospel repeatedly distinguishes initial, sign-prompted believing from the abiding faith that holds fast to Jesus' word (8:31; cf. 2:23–25). The passage records real movement toward Jesus without yet pronouncing it settled saving faith — a sober reminder that interest awakened by evidence must deepen into persevering trust.

The going-away and the gospel to the nations. Jesus' veiled word — "I go to the one who sent me… where I am you cannot come" — points to his return to the Father, beyond the reach of unbelief. The hearers' uncomprehending guess about "the Dispersion" and "the Greeks" becomes, in John's hands, an unwitting prophecy: through Jesus' going to the Father, the gospel will indeed reach the scattered Jews and the Gentile world. The Christ who is untouchable until his hour, and who returns to the Father, is the one who draws even the seeking-but-uncomprehending toward the mystery of his origin and his mission.

Common Misreadings and Careful Corrections

1. Reading v. 28 as Jesus conceding that the people truly know him. The line "you know me and know where I am from" is best heard with concessive irony — granting the surface (Galilee) precisely to expose the depth they miss. The very next clause ("the one who sent me… whom you do not know") shows that their "knowledge" fails at the decisive point. It is not a flat affirmation that they have understood him.
2. Treating "his hour had not yet come" (v. 30) as mere luck or good timing. The "hour" texts teach God's sovereign control of the events of Jesus' life and death. Jesus is not lucky to escape; he is kept by the Father's appointed schedule. To reduce it to coincidence is to miss John's doctrine of divine sovereignty over the passion.
3. Taking the crowd's sign-faith (v. 31) as settled saving faith — or, conversely, dismissing it as worthless. John records genuine, evidence-prompted interest moving toward Jesus. But as elsewhere in his Gospel, such believing is not yet shown to be the abiding faith that perseveres in Jesus' word (8:31). It is neither nothing nor everything; the text leaves its outcome open.
4. Hearing the "unknown origin" belief (v. 27) as the Bible's own teaching about the Messiah. John reports a popular expectation of his day, not a divine pronouncement. He sets it in deliberate tension with the equally common Bethlehem/David expectation (7:41–42). The point is the people's confused certainty and the irony it produces, not an endorsement of the "hidden Messiah" notion.
5. Reading the going-away saying (vv. 33–34) as a threat of mere geographical absence. Jesus speaks of returning to the Father; the "seeking and not finding" is the too-late seeking of unbelief (cf. 8:21), and "where I am you cannot come" is the fixed exclusion of those who refuse him — not a travel itinerary. The hearers' geographical guess (v. 35) is precisely the misunderstanding John exposes.
6. Missing the irony of "teach the Greeks" (v. 35). The authorities mean it as an absurd impossibility. John means it as unwitting prophecy: the gospel will go to the Greeks. To read the line flatly is to miss the Evangelist's deliberate double meaning.

Cross-References

• John 7:41–42 — the Bethlehem/David expectation and the Galilee objection; the counter-tension to the "unknown origin" belief of v. 27.
• John 6:42 — "Is this not Jesus… whose father and mother we know?"; the same "we know where he is from" objection from earthly origin.
• John 8:14, 23 — "I know where I came from and where I am going… you are from below, I am from above"; the deeper origin behind πόθεν ἐστίν.
• John 5:30; 8:28, 42 — "I do nothing on my own (ἀπ’ ἐμαυτοῦ)"; the Son's dependence on and sending by the Father (v. 28).
• John 17:3 — "the only true (ἀληθινόν) God"; the Sender of v. 28 named as the true God whom they do not know.
• John 10:15; Matthew 11:27 — the unique mutual knowledge of Father and Son; background for "I know him" (v. 29).
• John 2:4; 8:20; 12:23; 13:1; 17:1 — the "hour" of Jesus; the appointed time that controls v. 30 and the whole passion.
• John 2:23–25; 6:60–66; 8:31 — sign-prompted believing and the test of abiding faith; the backdrop to v. 31.
• John 13:33, 36; 14:3 — "where I am going you cannot come" said to the disciples, with the "not yet" that distinguishes them from the unbelieving hearers of vv. 33–34.
• John 8:21 — "you will seek me and will die in your sin"; the too-late seeking of v. 34 made explicit.
• John 12:20–23 — "some Greeks" come seeking Jesus and the "hour" is declared to have come; the realization of the v. 35 irony about the Greeks.
• James 1:1; 1 Peter 1:1 — the διασπορά ("Dispersion"); the scattered people among whom, ironically, the gospel would spread.

Preaching / Teaching Summary

John 7:25–36 is a study in knowing and not-knowing, in certainty that is confident and wrong. Three lines preach.

First, you can know all about Jesus and still not know him. The Jerusalemites had the facts: this is the wanted man; this is the carpenter from Galilee; "we know where this man is from." Their data were correct and their conclusion was fatal. They knew his address and missed his origin. The same danger stalks every generation that masters information about Jesus — his sayings, his history, the shape of his story — while never reckoning with the one who sent him. To know the surface is not to know the Son; and to miss the Son is to be ignorant of God himself, however much religion one has. The question is never merely "what do you know about Jesus?" but "do you know the one he is from?"

Second, no hand can touch the Son before the hour. They sought to seize him; the officers were dispatched; and nothing happened — "because his hour had not yet come." Here is the steadying truth of the whole passion narrative: Jesus is not cornered, not unlucky, not finally overpowered. He moves under the Father's clock. When the cross comes, it will come not as the victory of his enemies but as the appointed obedience of the Son. For the believer this is bedrock comfort: the God who governed the timing of Calvary governs the timing of our days, and not one hostile hand can move before its appointed hour.

Third, he goes where they cannot follow — and the gospel goes to the world. Jesus' veiled word looked past the cross to his return to the Father. His enemies could only sneer: "Will he go and teach the Greeks?" They named, without knowing it, the very triumph of the gospel — the risen Christ proclaimed among the nations they despised. So the rejected Word becomes the world's salvation. The seeking that comes too late in unbelief (v. 34) is answered by the seeking that finds him in faith; and the one who "goes to the Father" sends his gospel out to the ends of the earth. Look at Jesus rightly, and you see not a riddle to be guessed but the Son sent from God, untouchable until his hour, returning to the Father, and drawing a world to himself.

Memory and Review Questions

1. What popular belief about the Messiah's origin lies behind v. 27, and how do the Jerusalemites use it?
   The belief that "when the Christ comes, no one knows where he is from" — his origin would be hidden until revealed. The people use it to rule Jesus out: since they "know where this man is from" (Galilee), he cannot be the Messiah.
2. What is the dramatic irony in "we know where this man is from" (v. 27)?
   They are right about his earthly origin (Galilee) but draw the wrong conclusion. His true origin — from the Father, "from above" — is exactly what they do not know. They grasp the surface and miss the depth.
3. How should Κἀμὲ οἴδατε καὶ οἴδατε πόθεν εἰμί ("you know me and know where I am from," v. 28) be read?
   Best with concessive irony — "you do know me [or so you suppose]" — granting the surface truth precisely to expose how little it amounts to, since the next clause shows they do not know the one who sent him. It is not a flat concession that they truly understand him.
4. What does Jesus mean by "the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know" (v. 28)?
   The Sender is God himself, the true and real one (ἀληθινός). The crowd's boasted knowledge collapses at the decisive point: they do not know God, the one Jesus is from. To miss the Sender is to miss everything.
5. On what does Jesus ground his unique knowledge of the Father (v. 29)?
   On his origin: "I know him, because I am from him (παρ’ αὐτοῦ εἰμι) and he sent me." His knowledge of God flows from his coming from God's very side and being commissioned by him.
6. Why could no one seize Jesus in v. 30, and what does the reason teach?
   "Because his hour had not yet come" (οὔπω ἐληλύθει ἡ ὥρα αὐτοῦ). It teaches God's sovereign control over the timing of events: Jesus moves by the Father's appointed schedule, not at the mercy of his enemies.
7. What prompted the faith of the "many" in v. 31, and how does John regard such faith?
   The signs: "When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than this man?" John honors sign-prompted interest as real and a possible beginning, but elsewhere distinguishes it from the abiding faith that holds to Jesus' word (8:31); the text leaves its outcome open.
8. Who acts in v. 32, and what does the coalition signify?
   "The chief priests and the Pharisees" — usually rivals — combine to send temple officers (ὑπηρέται) to seize Jesus. Their united hostility anticipates the formal opposition of the leadership, yet (per v. 30) cannot succeed before the hour.
9. What does the going-away saying (vv. 33–34) actually refer to, and what is the "seeking" that finds nothing?
   It refers to Jesus' return to the Father (ὑπάγω πρὸς τὸν πέμψαντά με). The "you will seek me and not find me" is the too-late seeking of unbelief (cf. 8:21); "where I am you cannot come" is the fixed exclusion of those who refuse him.
10. How do the hearers misunderstand the saying in v. 35, and where is the irony?
    They take it as a plan to travel — perhaps to "the Dispersion among the Greeks" to "teach the Greeks." They mean it as an absurd impossibility, but they unwittingly describe the gospel's future spread to the scattered Jews and the Gentiles (cf. 12:20–23).
11. Why does v. 36 repeat Jesus' saying word for word?
    The verbatim repetition is a Johannine device underscoring the hearers' incomprehension: they quote his words exactly and still cannot solve the riddle, because its meaning is open only to those who know where he is from and where he goes.