Judæan · noun — nominative plural masculine, a people name
marvelled
ἐθαύμαζονethaumazon
G2296
to wonder · verb — imperfect active indicative, 3rd person plural
saying
λέγοντες·legontes
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
How
πῶςpōs
G4459
an interrogative particle of manner · particle — interrogative
knoweth
εἴδωeídō
G1492
used only in certain past tenses
man
οὗτοςhoutos
G3778
the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular masculine
letters
γράμματαgrammata
G1121
a writing · noun — accusative plural neuter
having
μεμαθηκώς;¶memathēkōs
G3129
to learn (in any way) · verb — perfect active participle, nominative singular masculine
never
μὴmē
G3361
(adverb) not · particle — negative
learned
μανθάνωmanthánō
G3129
to learn (in any way)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Luke 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
Matthew 7:28-29 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Matthew 13:54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this…
Acts 26:24 And as he thus spake for himself, Festus said with a loud voice, Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth make thee mad.
Matthew 22:22 When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.
Luke 2:47 And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
John 7:46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
Amos 7:14-15 Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was an herdman, and a gatherer of sycomore f…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 7:14-36
Here is, I. Christ's public preaching in the temple (Joh 7:14): He went up into the temple, and taught, according to his custom when he was at Jerusalem. His business was to preach the gospel of the kingdom, and he did it in every place of concourse. His sermon is not recorded, because, probably, it was to the same purport with the sermons he had preached in Galilee, which were recorded by the other evangelists. For the gospel is the same to the plain and to the polite. But that which is observable here is that it was about the midst of the feast; the fourth or fifth day of the eight. Whether he did not come up to Jerusalem till the middle of the feast, or whether he came up at the beginning…
How knoweth . . . letters--learning (Act 26:24).
having never learned--at any rabbinical school, as Paul under Gamaliel. These rulers knew well enough that He had not studied under any human teacher--an important admission against ancient and modern attempts to trace our Lord's wisdom to human sources [MEYER]. Probably His teaching on this occasion was expository, manifesting that unrivalled faculty and depth which in the Sermon on the Mount had excited the astonishment of all.
Adam Clarke on John 7:15
How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? - The Jewish learning consisted in the knowledge of their own scriptures, and the traditions of their elders. In this learning our blessed Lord excelled. No person ever spoke with more grace and dignity, or knew better how to make a more proper use, or a happier application, of Jewish allegories and parables; because none ever penetrated the sense of the Scriptures as he did; none ever cited them more successfully, or ever showed their accomplishment in so complete and satisfactory a manner. As these branches of learning were taught at the Jewish schools, and our Lord had never attended there, they were astonished to find him excelling in t…
(Tract. xxix. 2) All, it would appear, admired, but all were not converted. Whence then the admiration? Many knew where He was born, and how He had been educated; but had never seen Him learning letters. Yet now they heard Him disputing on the law, and bringing forward its testimonies. No one could do this, who had not read the law; no one could read who had not learnt letters; and this raised their wonder.
"How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?" Observest thou how the Evangelist showeth here also their marveling to be full of wickedness? for he saith not, that they admired the teaching, or that they received the words, but simply that they "marveled." That is, were thrown into a state of astonishment, and doubted, saying, "Whence hath this man these things"? when they ought from this very difficulty to have known that there was nothing merely human in Him. But because they would not confess this, but stopped at wondering only, hear what He saith.
But as He taught, "the Jews marvelled;" all indeed, so far as I think, marvelled, but all were not converted. And why this wondering? Because all knew where He was born, where He had been brought up; they had never seen Him learning letters, but they heard Him disputing about the law, bringing forward testimonies of the law, which none could bring forward unless he had read, and none could read unless he had learned letters: and therefore they marvelled. But their marvelling was made an occasion to the Master of insinuating the truth more deeply into their minds. By reason, indeed of their wondering and words, the Lord said something profound, and worthy of being more diligently looked into and discussed. On account of which I would urge you, my beloved, to earnestness, not only in hearing for yourselves, but also in praying for us.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
on John 7:15
And the Jews marvelled,.... Both at the matter, and manner of his doctrine; it was such, as never man spake; his words were so gracious, and there were such truth and evidence in them, and they were delivered with such power and authority, that they were astonished at them:
saying, how knoweth this man letters? or "the Scriptures", as the Arabic and Persic versions render it; which are called "holy letters", 2 Timothy 3:15; according to which, the sense is, that they were surprised at his knowledge of the Scriptures, that he should be conversant with them, and be able to interpret them, and give the sense and meaning of them, in so full and clear a manner, as he did: or else the sense is, h…
John 7:14-19
14. And about the middle of the feast, Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. 15. And the Jews wondered, saying, How doth this man know letters, since he did not learn them? 16. Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but that of him who sent me. 17. If any man wish to do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, if it be of God, or if I speak from myself. 18. He who speaketh from himself seeketh his own glory; but he who seeketh the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him. 19. Did not Moses give you the law, and not one of you keepeth the law? Why do you seek to kill me?
14. Jesus went up into the temple. We now see that Ch…
The leaders wanted Jesus to show his credentials. Jesus had not been trained under a rabbi but was taught by his heavenly Father (cp. Peter and John, Acts 4:13; contrast Paul, Acts 22:3).
