John 12:30

Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(30) This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.—More exactly, not for My sake did this voice come, but for your sakes. These words are an answer to the thoughts, spoken and unspoken, of the multitude. Jesus Himself knew that the Father heareth Him always, but this answer is a sign to others. (Comp. John 11:41-42.) He calls it a voice in answer to those who said it thundered, or that an angel had spoken. There was that, then, which seemed to them but the thunder’s sound or an angel’s word, which, coming in answer to His prayer and after His teaching. should have been, to ears ready to hear and minds willing to receive, the voice of God witnessing to the mission of His Son.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:27-33 The sin of our souls was the troubled of Christ's soul, when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an offering for our sin. Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed to be saved from suffering. Prayer against trouble may well agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of God in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour, and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Father from heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming that He had both glorified his name, and would glorify it. Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his death, broke the power of death, and cast out Satan as a destroyer. Christ, bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross, broke the power of sin, and cast out Satan as a deceiver. The soul that was at a distance from Christ, is brought to love him and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he would draw men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospel that which exalts free grace, and we have heard also that which enjoins duty; we must from the heart embrace both, and not separate them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Came not because of me - Not to strengthen or confirm me; not that I had any doubts about my course, or any apprehension that God would not approve me and glorify his name.

For your sakes - To give you a striking and indubitable proof that I am the Messiah; that you may remember it when I am departed, and be yourselves comforted, supported, and saved.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

30. Jesus … said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes—that is, probably, to correct the unfavorable impressions which His momentary agitation and mysterious prayer for deliverance may have produced on the by-standers.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

This voice came not to instruct me, I very well knew, before it came, that my Father had glorified his own name, and would do it again; it came not principally nor solely for me, but chiefly to confirm you in this great truth, that I am the Son of God, and he whom he hath sent into the world, by and in whom he designs to glorify his own great name.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Jesus answered and said,.... To the people that stood by, and were disputing among themselves about what they heard, whether it was thunder, or the voice of an angel:

this voice came not because of me; at least not only and chiefly; it was not so much in answer to his prayer, or in order to comfort him under the apprehensions he had of his sufferings and death, or to assure him of his future glorification, though all this was true:

but for your sakes; to convince them that he was the Messiah, and engage them to believe in him, or to leave them without excuse; since not only miracles were wrought before their eyes, but with their ears they heard God speaking to him, and which is the rule that they themselves prescribe; for according to them, no man is to be hearkened to, though he should do as many signs and wonders as Moses, the son of Amram, unless they hear with their ears, that the Lord speaks to him as he did to Moses (c).

(c) R. Mosis Kotsensis praefat. ad Mitzvot Tora, pr. Affirm.

Geneva Study Bible

{7} Jesus answered and said, This voice came not because of me, but for your sakes.

(7) Christ foretells to the deaf the manner of his death, the overcoming of the devil and the world, and in conclusion his triumph.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

John 12:30-31. Ἀπεκρίθη] not to the disciples (Tholuck), but, according to John 12:29, with reference to these two expressions of opinion from the people. He lets their opinions, as to what and whose the voice was, alone, but recognises in their hearts the more dangerous error, that they do not put the voice (this thunder or this angelic speech, according to their supposition) in any relation to themselves.

διʼ ἐμέ] to assure me that my prayer has been heard; “novi patris animum in me,” Erasmus.

διʼ ὑμᾶς] in relation to you to overcome unbelief, and to strengthen faith. Comp. John 11:42.

νῦν κρίσις, κ.τ.λ.] Not an interpretation of the voice (Hengstenberg), but also not without reference to διʼ ὑμᾶς (Engelhardt), which is too weighty an element. Rather: how the crisis of this time presses for the use of that διʼ ὑμᾶς!

νῦν … νῦν] with triumphant certainty of victory, treating the near future as present; now, now, is it gone so far! He speaks “quasi certamine defunctus,” Calvin.

κρίσις] Now is judgment, i.e. judicial (according to the context: condemnatory) decision passed upon this world, i.e. on the men of the αἰὼν οὗτος who reject faith. This judgment is an actual one; for in the victory of the Messianic work of salvation, which was to be brought about by the death of Jesus, and His exaltation to the heavenly glory connected therewith,[112] the κόσμος was to be set forth in the entire sinfulness and weakness of its hostility towards Christ, and thereby in fact judged.[113] Comp. John 16:9-10; John 16:33. This victory the ruler of this world in particular (τ. κόσμ. τ. solemnly repeated), the devil, was to submit to;[114] his dominion must have an end, because the death of Jesus effected the reconciliation of humanity, by which reconciliation all were to be drawn away from the devil by becoming believers, and were to be placed under the spiritual power of the Christ exalted to glory, John 12:32, Romans 5:12 ff.; Php 2:9-11. He is called the ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, as the ruler of the unbelieving, Christ- opposing humanity (comp. 2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12), as in the writings of Rabbins, he, as ruler of the Gentiles, in opposition to God and His people, bears this as a standing name (שר העולם). See Lightfoot and Schoettgen, also in Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenthum, I. p. 647 ff. Here he is so called, because the very ΚΡΊΣΙς of his dominium, the κόσμος, was declared.

ἐκβληθήσεται ἔξω] The necessarily approaching removal of the power of the devil through the death and the exaltation of Jesus is vividly represented as a casting out from his empire, namely from the ΚΌΣΜΟς ΟὟΤΟς. Only this supplement is yielded by the context, not Τῆς ἈΡΧῆς (Euth. Zigabenus, Beza), nor ΤΟῦ ΔΙΚΑΣΤΗΡΊΟΥ (Theophylact), nor out of the kingdom of God (Ewald), and least of all ΤΟῦ ΟὐΡΑΝΟῦ (Luke 10:18; Revelation 12:8, so Olshausen; hence the reading ΚΆΤΩ). The indefinite rendering: he is repulsed (De Wette; comp. Plat. Menex. p. 243 B; Soph. Oed. R. 386), or to be removed from the presence of the judge (Hofmann, Schriftbew. I. p. 449), is not sufficient, on account of the appended ἔξω.

Note further, that the victory here announced over this world and over the reign of the devil was indeed decided, and commenced with the death and the exaltation of Christ, but is in a state of continuous development onwards to its consummation at the last day (comp. Revelation 20:10); hence the passages of the N. T. on the continuing power and influence of the devil (2 Corinthians 4:4; Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 6:12; Romans 16:20; 1 Peter 5:8, and many others) do not stand in contradiction to the present passage. Comp. Colossians 2:15.

[112] There lies in it, accordingly, no opposition to the belief in the last judgment (against Hilgenfeld, Lehrbegr. p. 274), as has been supposed from a misinterpretation also of John 3:19-20, in spite of the repeated mention of the last day, and in spite of v. 27, against which here the very absence of the article should have been a warning. Again, what is subsequently said of the devil (as also the passages John 14:30-31, John 16:11) is not to be explained from the Gnostic idea, that the devil, through his having contrived the death of Christ, but having after His death recognised Him as the Son of God, had been cheated, and so forfeited his right (Hilgenfeld). Of such Gnostic fancies the N. T. knows nothing. The conquest of the devil is necessarily granted along with the atoning effect of the death of Jesus, and through the operation of the Spirit of the exalted one it is in process of completion until the Parousia.

[113] As hereafter the devil is the subject which is cast out, so here the κόσμος is the subject which is judged. This in answer to Bengel: “judicium de mundo, quis posthac jure sit obtenturus mundum.” Grotius explains κρίσις simply of the vindicatio in libertatem; humanity is to be freed from its unjust possessor; consequently as regards the material contents, substantially as Bengel, comp. also Beza.

[114] Schleiermacher, indeed (L. J. p. 343), interprets the ἄρχ. τ. κ. τ. of “open force” in its conflict against the activity of Jesus. In reference to the declarations of Jesus regarding the devil, it is most markedly apparent with what difficulty Schleiermacher subordinated himself to exegetical tests.

Expositor's Greek Testament

John 12:30. Ἀπεκρίθη ὁ Ἰησοῦς. Jesus, hearing these conjectures, explained to them that not on His account but on theirs this voice had been uttered. It was of immense importance that the disciples, and the people generally, should understand that the sudden transition from the throne offered by the triumphal acclamation of the previous day to the cross, was not a defeat but a fulfilment of the Divine purpose. The voice furnished them against the coming trial.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

30. Jesus answered] He answered their discussions about the sound, and by calling it a voice He decides conclusively against those who supposed it to be thunder. But those who recognised that it was a voice were scarcely less seriously mistaken; their error consisted in not recognising that the voice had a meaning for them. Not for My sake hath this voice come, but for your sakes, i.e. that ye might believe. Comp. John 11:42.

Bengel's Gnomen

John 12:30. Οὐ δἰ ἐμέ, not on account of Me) Himself and the Father are one; wherefore He needs not external testimonies whereby His Divine mission may be confirmed. It is probable that, at the time of Jesus’ retirements, there were no miracles wrought in secrecy. So also, in the case of bright examples of a happy departure from life, the incidents which occur do not occur for the sake of the departing, but for the sake of the survivors,—δἰ ὑμᾶς, for your sakes) ch. John 11:15, “I am glad for your sakes that I was not there (with Lazarus at Bethany), to the intent ye may believe,” 42, “I knew that Thou nearest me always; but because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.” [This was truly a remarkable testimony, not inferior to those which were perceived (heard) at Jordan and on the holy mount (of transfiguration).—V. g.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 30. - Jesus answered to the confused murmur of remark, and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes. This surely establishes, on the authority of Jesus, the objective character of the revelation. "It was necessary that you should hear and know and feel who and what I am." Ever thinking of others, living in them, he thinks of their spiritual advantage now. Thoma says that whereas the whole scene corresponds with the synoptic account of Gethsemane, it is idealized on the basis of the Johannine idea of the Divine Lamb and the Logos in flesh, and that Jesus here shows that he needed no strengthening, as the objective revelation was entirely for the sake of others, and not for his own consolation. This ingenious criticism of Thoma rests on the unjustifiable hypothesis that the scene before us did not precede the agony of the garden, but was a bare invention of the evangelist, because the latter ruled that Gethsemane needed "idealization." Why should not the two scenes be equally true, revealing the fundamental identity of character and personality, the one, moreover, preparing for the other? (See notes on John 19.) John 12:30

Vincent's Word Studies

For my sake

Emphatic in the Greek order. It is not for my sake that this voice hath come.