John 10:24 Commentary and Bible Study

One reason Christ has appeared is to show that there is no spiritual light for the unwilling, because it is only the Spirit of God makes us willing. ‘Then came the Jews [the leaders that is] round about him.’ Our translation could perhaps be just a touch stronger. ‘Round about him’ is perfectly accurate. We might say today: Then the Jewish leaders surrounded him. That is the sense. They came round, all around him. This is really very menacing. They are now trying to bring him to judgement, to execution.But that is not how they present themselves, ‘How long dost thou make us to doubt?’ Now if you have a marginal reading, it will offer you the alternative – ‘How long will you keep us in suspense?’ And that is literally what the Greek says. How long will you suspend us, keeping us hanging in the air? What they are doing is they are feigning interest. They crowd around him, and then the worshippers in the temple soon see the knot of people, and Christ is there, they hear, Jesus of Nazareth is back, speaking in the temple. ‘Oh, master,’ they say, ‘teacher, rabbi, or something of that kind.’ I am expanding the passage. ‘How long do you keep us in suspense? Keep us waiting. We are longing for Messiah to come. We want to hear about Messiah. We want to hear from you. Tell us plainly – I am the Son of God.’ But of course, they want to hear that explicit response from Christ so that they can immediately charge him with blasphemy; that is the idea. They are trying to trap him into an explicit statement. But they feign interest and concern. But of course, he is the Son of God, and he sees right through them.