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The Gospel According to John (American Standard Version, 1901) · 13 of 37 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)

7:25-7:51

[7:25] Some therefore of them of Jerusalem said, Is not this he whom they seek to kill? [7:26] And lo, he speaketh openly, and they say nothing unto him. Can it be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ? [7:27] Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when the Christ cometh, no one knoweth whence he is. [7:28] Jesus therefore cried in the temple, teaching and saying, Ye both know me, and know whence I am; and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. [7:29] I know him; because I am from him, and he sent me. [7:30] They sought therefore to take him: and no man laid his hand on him, because his hour was not yet come. [7:31] But of the multitude many believed on him; and they said, When the Christ shall come, will he do more signs than those which this man hath done? [7:32] The Pharisees heard the multitude murmuring these things concerning him; and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to take him. [7:33] Jesus therefore said, Yet a little while am I with you, and I go unto him that sent me. [7:34] Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come. [7:35] The Jews therefore said among themselves, Whither will this man go that we shall not find him? will he go unto the Dispersion among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? [7:36] What is this word that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, ye cannot come? [7:37] Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. [7:38] He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water. [7:39] But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believed on him were to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified. [7:40] Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. [7:41] Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? [7:42] Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was? [7:43] So there arose a division in the multitude because of him. [7:44] And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. [7:45] The officers therefore came to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why did ye not bring him? [7:46] The officers answered, Never man so spake. [7:47] The Pharisees therefore answered them, Are ye also led astray? [7:48] Hath any of the rulers believed on him, or of the Pharisees? [7:49] But this multitude that knoweth not the law are accursed. [7:50] Nicodemus saith unto them (he that came to him before, being one of them), [7:51] Doth our law judge a man, except it first hear from himself and know what he doeth?
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The Father is characterized by what he is not known to be ('whom ye know not'), pointing to a divine transcendence beyond the community's conceptual grasp.

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Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

Jesus declares of the Father 'whom ye know not,' explicitly stating the supreme God's concealment from the community's ordinary perception.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The repeated refrain 'his hour was not yet come' and 'the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified' express a divinely ordered timing governing the unfolding of salvation history.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

Jesus's cryptic declaration 'Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, ye cannot come' functions as an enigmatic utterance the crowd cannot interpret, concealing an inner meaning about his ascension and inaccessibility.

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Incarnationtheology

The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.

Jesus presents himself as the one who 'came' from the Father into a specific bounded human form, speaking from that embodied position while maintaining a distinct origin ('I am not come of myself, but he that sent me').

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

The promise that 'from within him shall flow rivers of living water' locates the divine Spirit's indwelling presence inside the believer, accessible without external mediation.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The statement 'Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me' uses apparent contradiction to destabilize the crowd's understanding and provoke deeper reflection.

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Prophetic Rejectionethics

The phenomenon where spiritual messengers or healers are rejected by their own community due to familiarity or lack of awe.

The entire passage dramatizes the rejection of Jesus by the religious establishment (Pharisees, chief priests) while the multitude is divided and the officers are moved but overruled — a textbook case of a spiritual messenger rejected by his own community.

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Related passages · 9 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1l
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Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
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Shared concept: Divine Hiddenness — The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father. (derived)
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Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
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Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XXVII-a
“Moreover, neither is it sufficient to assert, “ that nature, art, and the sympathy of things in the universe, as if they were the parts of one animal, contain premanifestations of certain 188 things with reference to each other; nor that bo…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity. (derived)