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14 Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” 16 Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me. 17 Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 19 Has not Moses given you the law? Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?” ~ John 7:14-18
In our text we learn the Lord Jesus went to Jerusalem in the middle of the feast of Tabernacles, privately, not "out there" as his brothers had suggested in the previous verses. Instead of performing miracles, He goes into the temple and begins to teach which prompted the Jews to ask, "How did this man get such learning without having been taught?"
In Jesus' day a Jewish boy went through a process that qualified him to be a disciple and then maybe a Rabbi. The first step to becoming a disciple involved the memorization of the first five books of the bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The second step involved the memorization of the rest of the Old Testament from Joshua to Malachi. The third step, the budding disciple would seek out a Rabbi who would grill the fourteen year old and find out what he knew because the Rabbi wanted to know if he had what it took to follow him. Many would be turned down. Only the best of the best of the best were invited to come and follow the Rabbi. Those chosen would leave EVERYTHING behind, his family, trade, home and village, to be taught by the Rabbi.
It appeared to those who asked the question in v.15 that the Lord Jesus had not gone through this process. Of course, He qualified because His Father wrote the whole Old Testament and He was intimately familiar with it. He was/is the word, the truth, and had the people known His identity, they would have not asked such a question. They asked the question, in part, because every Jewish Rabbi began his teaching with words such as, "the sages say," or, "the Talmud teaches," or, "the Mishnah explains." But Jesus never quoted an authority other than the Scriptures.
According to v.16, the Lord Jesus responded with, "My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me." Then in v.17, the Lord Jesus gives the key to understanding His words: "Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own." This is to say, "when we have trouble understanding what the Lord is saying, He tells us to obey his words, to walk in His truth. Then we will know from this inside knowledge that no one can take away that which He says is true, because His teaching is in line with reality. In actuality, reality is in line with the truth.
This underscores a principle that serves us in every area of life: we learn by doing. When we do what Jesus says, we begin to understand with a deep conviction that He knows what life is all about and what is best for us. Intimacy with the truth is dependent upon deciding to be intimate with the truth. When truth defines us, we are granted more truth.
Have you ever wondered why some people who have been exposed to the truth for years and years never seem to grow? We grow and become strong in the faith after we have given the faith/truth safe haven in our souls.
According to v.18 we learn the mark of an authentic follower of Christ: "Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him." If someone is seeking to advance himself, much of what he says is to be questioned. Self advancement is always be an alarm of someone who is not following the will of the Father, such was the case of the Lord Jesus. This is why the favor of the Father was upon Him.
According to v.19, the Lord highlights the fact that they who cannot uphold truth are trying to undermine the truth. The truth will break us one way or another. Either our volition will be broken to the point of surrendering our definition to the truth or our unbroken volition will discover the ultimate consequence. It is better to be broken now while we have a choice in the matter rather than later when our unbroken volition will render the worse outcome for us for eternity.
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