John 10:19 - Meaning and Application

Here we read about the different opinions people had about Christ after his words to them. There was a split among them, a division, because they disagreed about him and it stirred up strong feelings and separate sides. They had already been stirred up this way before, (John 7:43; John 9:16), and where a split has happened once, it is often made again. Breaks are easier to make than to heal.

This division came from the things Christ said. One might think his words should have gathered them all to him as their center, but instead they set people against each other, as Christ had warned, (Luke 12:51). Yet it is better for people to be divided over Christ’s teaching than joined together in sin’s service, (Luke 11:21). Now let us see what the argument was.

Some people spoke badly of Christ and his words. They may have done this openly before the crowd, since his enemies were bold, or they may have said it among themselves. They said, “He has a demon and is crazy. Why do you listen to him?” First, they insulted him as if he were demon-possessed. The worst labels are often thrown at the best people. They treated him as a madman, someone talking wildly and not worth hearing, like a person in an insane asylum. Even now, if someone speaks earnestly and seriously about the life to come, people may call him an enthusiast and say his actions come from a fevered mind or a wild imagination.

Second, they made fun of those who listened to him: “Why do you hear him? Why do you keep giving him attention?” Satan ruins many people by making them dislike the word of God and the ordinances of worship, as if these were weak and foolish things to attend to. People would not let themselves be mocked out of food they need for their bodies, yet they often let themselves be mocked out of what their souls need even more. Those who hear Christ and trust what they hear will soon be able to give a good reason for listening to him.

Others defended him and what he said. Even though the crowd was against them, they dared to stand the other way. They may not yet have believed in him as the Messiah, but they could not bear to hear him treated so shamefully. If they could say nothing else, they would at least say this, that he was sane, not demon-possessed, not foolish, and not wicked. Harsh and unfair attacks on Christ and his gospel have often pushed even those with little personal affection for either to speak up for them.

They gave two reasons. First, they pointed to the goodness of his teaching: “These are not the words of someone with a demon.” His words were not empty. A troubled mind does not usually speak like this. These were not the words of someone under the control of a demon or in partnership with one. If Christianity were false, it would be the greatest deception ever placed on the world, and then it would have to come from the devil, the father of lies. But Christ’s teaching is clearly not the teaching of devils, because it attacks the devil’s kingdom directly, and Satan is too wise to work against himself. There is so much holiness in Christ’s words that we can tell they are not the words of someone with a demon. So they are the words of one sent by God, not from hell, but from heaven.

Second, they pointed to his miracles: “Can a demon, or a man who has a demon, open the eyes of the blind?” Neither mad people nor evil people can do miracles. Devils are not rulers over the power of nature in a way that lets them work such wonders. And even if they could, they would not be friends of mankind and would not choose to do such good. The devil is more likely to blind people than to open their eyes. Therefore, Jesus had not a demon.