The Unbelief of the People - {Interlinear <Greek>}
12:37 - Though → • {δὲ<de>} he {αὐτοῦ<autos>} had → done {πεποιηκότος <poieō>} so many {Τοσαῦτα<tosoutos>} signs {σημεῖα<sēmeion>} before {ἔμπροσθεν <emprosthen>} them, {αὐτῶν<autos>} they → still • → {οὐκ<ou>} believe {ἐπίστευον <pisteuō>} in {εἰς<eis>} him, {αὐτόν,<autos>}
12:38 - so that {ἵνα<hina>} the {ὁ<ho>} word {λόγος<logos>} spoken {εἶπεν·<legō>} by → the {τοῦ<ho>} prophet {προφήτου<prophētēs>} Isaiah {Ἡσαΐου<Hēsaias>} might → be → fulfilled: {πληρωθῇ<plēroō>} • {ὃν<hos>} “Lord, {κύριε,<kyrios>} who {τίς<tis>} has → believed {ἐπίστευσεν<pisteuō>} what {τῇ<ho>} he • heard {ἀκοῇ<akoē>} from → us, {ἡμῶν;<egō>} and {καὶ<kai>} to → whom {τίνι<tis>} has → the {ὁ<ho>} arm {βραχίων<brachiōn>} of → the → Lord {κυρίου<kyrios>} been → revealed?” {ἀπεκαλύφθη;<apokalyptō>}
12:39 - Therefore {διὰ τοῦτο<dia houtos>} they → could {ἠδύναντο<dynamai>} not {οὐκ<ou>} believe. {πιστεύειν,<pisteuō>} For {ὅτι<hoti>} again {πάλιν<palin>} Isaiah {Ἡσαΐας· <Hēsaias>} said, {εἶπεν<legō>}
12:40 - “He → has → blinded {τετύφλωκεν<typhloō>} their {αὐτῶν<autos>} eyes {τοὺς ὀφθαλμοὺς<ho ophthalmos>} and {καὶ<kai>} hardened {ἐπώρωσεν<pōroō>} their {αὐτῶν<autos>} heart, {τὴν καρδίαν,<ho kardia>} lest {ἵνα μὴ<hina mē>} they → see {ἴδωσιν<horaō>} with → their • eyes, {τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς<ho ophthalmos>} and {καὶ <kai>} understand {νοήσωσι<noeō>} with → their • heart, {τῇ καρδίᾳ<ho kardia>} and {καὶ<kai>} turn, {στραφῶσι<strephō>} and {καὶ<kai>} I → would → heal {ἰάσομαι<iaomai>} them.” {αὐτούς.<autos>}
12:41 - Isaiah {Ἡσαΐας<Hēsaias>} said {εἶπεν<legō>} these {Ταῦτα<houtos>} things ← because {ὅτι<hoti>} he → saw {εἶδεν<horaō>} his {αὐτοῦ<autos>} glory {τὴν δόξαν <ho doxa>} and {καὶ<kai>} spoke {ἐλάλησεν<laleō>} of {περὶ<peri>} him. {αὐτοῦ.<autos>}
12:42 - Nevertheless, {ὅμως μέντοι<homōs mentoi>} many {πολλοὶ<polys>} even {καὶ<kai>} of {ἐκ<ek>} the {τῶν<ho>} authorities {ἀρχόντων<archōn>} believed {ἐπίστευσαν<pisteuō>} in {εἰς<eis>} him, {αὐτόν,<autos>} but {ἀλλὰ<alla>} for fear of {διὰ<dia>} the {τοὺς<ho>} Pharisees {Φαρισαίους<Pharisaios>} they → did → not {οὐχ<ou>} confess {ὡμολόγουν,<homologeō>} it, • so that {ἵνα<hina>} they would → not {μὴ<mē>} be put {γένωνται.<ginomai>} out of the synagogue; {ἀποσυνάγωγοι <aposynagōgos>}
12:43 - for {γὰρ<gar>} they → loved {ἠγάπησαν<agapaō>} the {τὴν<ho>} glory {δόξαν<doxa>} that • comes • from → man {τῶν ἀνθρώπων<ho anthrōpos>} more {μᾶλλον<mallon>} than {ἤπερ<ēper>} the {τὴν<ho>} glory {δόξαν<doxa>} that • comes • from → God. {τοῦ θεοῦ.<ho theos>}
Isaiah Saw His Glory. Given all that Jesus did—feed the hungry, heal the sick, walk on water, raise the dead—how could he be rejected? John explains in 12:37–43 that Jesus was rejected in fulfillment of Scripture.
In spite of all that Jesus did, the crowd did not believe in him (v. 37), in fulfillment of Isaiah 53:1. In the quotation from Isaiah, the first question reflects the way the prophet was rejected in his day. The people did not embrace his message or obey his call to repent and believe. The second question references the way that the Lord brought Israel from Egypt “with a strong hand and an outstretched arm” (Ps. 136:12; cf. Ex. 6:6). The mention of the revelation of the Lord’s arm in Isaiah 53:1 ties the suffering servant discussed in the rest of Isaiah 53 to the new exodus that Isaiah heralded to his contemporaries. The suffering servant did indeed bring about the new exodus, as the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world.
Having referenced Isaiah 53:1, John says of the crowd, “Therefore they could not believe” (John 12:39). Adding support to this conclusion, John prefaces a quotation of Isaiah 6:10 with the words, “For again Isaiah said” (John 12:39). In Isaiah 6 the prophet relates his vision of the enthroned King of Israel, the Lord himself, with his robe filling the temple, surrounded by seraphim proclaiming him to be thrice holy (Isa. 6:1–8). The Lord then commissioned Isaiah to perform the tasks that John quotes in John 12:40 (Isa. 6:9–10), and when Isaiah asked how long such tasks were to continue, he was told they would continue until the exile, after which there would be a seed that would sprout from the chopped-down trunk of the tree of Israel (Isa. 6:11–13; cf. 11:1; 53:2).
Having quoted these two passages—Isaiah 53:1 and 6:10—John makes a stunning assertion: “Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him” (John 12:41). John says that Isaiah saw Jesus when he saw both the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 and the enthroned and exalted king of Isaiah 6, and John says that Isaiah wrote of Jesus in these two chapters.1 For John, the OT is about Jesus (cf. John 12:16).
It is not difficult to establish that Isaiah did indeed envision a king from David’s line who would be closely identified with Yahweh, and through whom Yahweh would accomplish the hoped-for new exodus that would bring about the return from exile (cf. Isa. 9:6; 11:1–16). Nor is it difficult to establish that Isaiah conceived of that Davidic future king’s bringing about the new exodus through his own personal suffering, according to the pattern of the suffering of Joseph, Moses, and David, after which he would be exalted and would bring deliverance.
John’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 and Isaiah 6, therefore, and his application of these passages to the rejection of Jesus, is perfectly in keeping with Isaiah’s intention. Jesus is the king from David’s line through whose suffering and exaltation God has accomplished the new exodus and initiated the return from exile, and thereby the arm of the Lord has been revealed in Jesus (Isa. 53:1), who has set in motion the redemption that will culminate in the removal of the hardening described in Isaiah 6 (cf. Rom. 11:25–32). Yet in spite of all he did, the people did not believe in Jesus. Remarkably, even their unbelief was a part of OT fulfillment.
John narrates a further tragic reality in 12:42–43. Jesus convinced many, even from the authorities, with the result that they believed in him, but they were unwilling to confess because they feared the Pharisees. Confession in this context must refer to a public indication that one believes Jesus to be the Christ and a willingness to be persecuted along with him. We see that persecution in the statement in verse 42 of what those who did not confess avoided—they avoided expulsion from the synagogue (cf. 9:22).
Those who refused to confess were confronted with a choice: confess Jesus or be accepted in the synagogue, and they chose to be accepted in the synagogue. They were false to themselves, false to Jesus, false to those in the synagogue whose favor they kept, and false to the truth.
John explains the wretched motivation for their choice in 12:43: they loved the glory they received from human beings more than the glory of God. They preferred their reputation among people to being right with God and enjoying his munificence. They chose the temporary rather than the eternal, the paltry instead of the substantial, the unworthy instead of the worthy, folly instead of wisdom, sickness rather than health, failures instead of the Almighty, sinners instead of the holy, the fickle instead of the faithful, the squalid in favor of the splendid, and death rather than life.
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