“Circumdederunt ergo eum Judæi, et dicebant ei : Quousque animam nostram tollis ? si tu es Christus, dic nobis palam.”
“Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. make: or, hold us in suspense”
“So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.””
“The Jews therefore came around him and said to him, “How long will you hold us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.””
“The Jews therefore came round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou hold us in suspense? If thou art the Christ, tell us plainly.”
If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. St. John the Baptist had told them several times who Jesus was. See John chap. i. He himself had not only owned it in plain terms to the Samaritan woman, (John iv. 26.) but he had frequently delivered this truth so openly to them, that he came from heaven, that he was sent into the world that all men should be saved by believing in him, that he was the Son of God, and one with the Father, that they easily perceived he made himself God: but these men would have him to declare it again, that they might accuse him. (Witham)
1. A weighty question put to him by the Jews, v. 24. They came round about him, to tease him; he was waiting for an opportunity to do them a kindness, and they took the opportunity to do him a mischief. Ill-will for good-will is no rare and uncommon return. He could not enjoy himself, no, not in the temple, his Father's house, without disturbance. They came about him, as it were, to lay siege to him: encompassed him about like bees. They came about him as if they had a joint and unanimous desire to be satisfied; came as one man, pretending an impartial and importunate enquiry after truth, but intending a general assault upon our Lord Jesus; and they seemed to speak the sense of their nation, as if they were the mouth of all the Jews: How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ tell us.
Verses 22-30 All who have any thing to say to Christ, may find him in the temple. Christ would make us to believe; we make ourselves doubt. The Jews understood his meaning, but could not form his words into a full charge against him. He described the gracious disposition and happy state of his sheep; they heard and believed his word, followed him as his faithful disciples, and none of them should perish; for the Son and the Father were one. Thus he was able to defend his sheep against all their enemies, which proves that he claimed Divine power and perfection equally with the Father.