John 10:33

33 The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."

John 10:33 Meaning and Commentary

John 10:33

The Jews answered him, saying
As follows;

for a good work we stone thee not:
they could not deny, that he had done many good works; this was too barefaced to be contradicted; yet they cared not to own them; and though they industriously concealed their resentment at them, yet they were very much gravelled and made uneasy by them, but chose to give another reason for their stoning him:

but for blasphemy;
which required death by stoning, according to ( Leviticus 24:16 ) , and according to the Jews' oral law ^F17:

and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God;
which they concluded very rightly, from his saying, ( John 10:30 ) , that God was his Father, and that he and his Father were one; that is, in nature and essence, and therefore he must be God; but then this was no blasphemy, but a real truth, as is hereafter made to appear; nor is there any contradiction between his being man, and being God; he is truly and really man, but then he is not a mere man, as the Jews suggested; but is truly God, as well as man, and is both God and man in one person, the divine and human nature being united in him, of which they were ignorant: two mistakes they seem to be guilty of in this account; one that Christ was a mere man, the other that he made himself God, or assumed deity to himself, which did not belong to him, and therefore must be guilty of blasphemy; neither of which were true: the phrase is used by the Jews, of others who have taken upon them the name and title of God; as of Hiram king of Tyre, of whom they say, (hwla wmue hvev) , "that he made himself God" ^F18; the same they say of Nebuchadnezzar; and the modern Jews still continue the same charge against Jesus, as their ancestors did, and express it in the same language, and say of him, that he was a man, and set himself up for God ^F19.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 7. sect. 4.
F18 Bereshit Rabba, sect. 96. fol. 83. 4. & Tzeror Hammor, fol. 134. 4.
F19 Aben Ezra in Gen. xxvii. 39. & Abarbinel Mashmia Jeshua, fol. 5. 1.

John 10:33 In-Context

31 The Jews took up stones again to stone him.

32 Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?"

33 The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."

34 Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, "I said, you are gods'?

35 If those to whom the word of God came were called "gods'—and the scripture cannot be annulled—