NOTES for Joh 7:14-30

Perhaps the most important and astonishing words of Christ in today’s Gospel passage are: “If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God.” A simple conclusion clearly follows from these words: if you have doubts about the truth and divine origin of the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, then you simply do not want to do the will of the Heavenly Father.

History has given us many examples of intense “anti-religious propaganda” and struggles against Christianity being caused by people simply not wanting to obey one commandment or another. There are so many such examples that statistically supported conclusions can be drawn. This is important to understand because Christians often take anti-Christian polemics too seriously. Yet, as the saying goes, the explanation was simple all along...

Likewise, the words of Christ about Moses and the law that we read today also confirm that Christ’s teaching possesses an inner persuasiveness for a person, grounded in that person’s spiritual experience and relationship with God and His commandments.