(32) Jesus answered them--i.e., answered the thought which He read in their hearts, and the intention which was expressed by their act.
Many good works have I shewed you from my Father.--For the idea of "good" expressed here, comp. Note on John 10:14. We have no better word in English; but "excellent," "distinguished," approach the sense. It is not the nature of the works as beneficent that is made prominent, but their moral excellence. They are works from the Father manifested in the visible world by the Son. (Comp. Notes on John 5:19-20.) Jesus speaks of "many" such works. John has recorded but few, but he has given hints that many more were done (John 2:23; John 3:2; John 5:36), and he afterwards expressly asserts this (John 20:30).
For which of those works do ye stone me?--Again there is a fulness of meaning in the Greek which it is difficult to convey in translation. The word rendered "which" marks, not simple distinction, but quality. (Comp. "What kind of commandment," Note on Matthew 22:36.) "What is the character," our Lord would ask, "of that one of these works on account of which ye are about to stone Me?" If they had thought out this question they must have been led to see that the quality of the works proved that they were from God, and that therefore He by whom they had been wrought, was also from God. This thought of the quality of the works had been in the minds of some of them (John 9:16). Its true issue would have been to worship Him as God; they are preparing to stone Him as a blasphemer.
Verse 32. - Jesus answered them, Many good (καλά) works have I shown you from the (my) Father. The works of Christ were lovely and radiant with Divine beneficence; they were revelations of the Father. "I showed you many of them," says he; "I gave you signs thus of the intimate relation between the whole of the self-revelation I am making and the Father" (cf. John 6:65; John 7:17; John 8:42). For which work of these (works) are ye stoning me?i.e. preparing by your gesture to carry this into effect. By these words, uttered with smiting irony and terrific though quiet indignation, Jesus answered their threat.
10:31-38 Christ's works of power and mercy proclaim him to be over all, God blessed for evermore, that all may know and believe He is in the Father, and the Father in Him. Whom the Father sends, he sanctifies. The holy God will reward, and therefore will employ, none but such as he makes holy. The Father was in the Son, so that by Divine power he wrought his miracles; the Son was so in the Father, that he knew the whole of His mind. This we cannot by searching find out to perfection, but we may know and believe these declarations of Christ.
Jesus answered them, many good works,.... Such as healing the sick, and all manner of diseases; dispossessing devils, cleansing lepers, giving sight to the blind, causing the dumb to speak, the deaf to hear, and the lame to walk; which were not only works of power, but of mercy and beneficence; and therefore are called good works, as well as they were great and miraculous ones:
have I showed you from my Father; which Christ did in the name, and by the command and authority of the Father; who gave him them to do, and did them by him; and which were evident and notorious, and were done so openly and publicly, that they could not be denied:
for which of these works do ye stone me? suggesting, that his public life had been a continued series of such kind actions to the sons of men, and it could be for nothing else surely, that they took up stones to stone him; wherefore the part they acted, was a most ungrateful, cruel, and barbarous one.
Many good works have I shewed you from my Father.--For the idea of "good" expressed here, comp. Note on John 10:14. We have no better word in English; but "excellent," "distinguished," approach the sense. It is not the nature of the works as beneficent that is made prominent, but their moral excellence. They are works from the Father manifested in the visible world by the Son. (Comp. Notes on John 5:19-20.) Jesus speaks of "many" such works. John has recorded but few, but he has given hints that many more were done (John 2:23; John 3:2; John 5:36), and he afterwards expressly asserts this (John 20:30).
For which of those works do ye stone me?--Again there is a fulness of meaning in the Greek which it is difficult to convey in translation. The word rendered "which" marks, not simple distinction, but quality. (Comp. "What kind of commandment," Note on Matthew 22:36.) "What is the character," our Lord would ask, "of that one of these works on account of which ye are about to stone Me?" If they had thought out this question they must have been led to see that the quality of the works proved that they were from God, and that therefore He by whom they had been wrought, was also from God. This thought of the quality of the works had been in the minds of some of them (John 9:16). Its true issue would have been to worship Him as God; they are preparing to stone Him as a blasphemer.
have I showed you from my Father; which Christ did in the name, and by the command and authority of the Father; who gave him them to do, and did them by him; and which were evident and notorious, and were done so openly and publicly, that they could not be denied:
for which of these works do ye stone me? suggesting, that his public life had been a continued series of such kind actions to the sons of men, and it could be for nothing else surely, that they took up stones to stone him; wherefore the part they acted, was a most ungrateful, cruel, and barbarous one.