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Lesson 29

John 7:21-24

Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel.

Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the Sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the Sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Background Information

Old Testament Law required all males to be circumcised when they were eight days old. The Law also forbid people to work on the Sabbath Day. Yet, when they needed to circumcise a baby on the Sabbath, they did so, breaking one law to keep another. Jesus pointed out that He also was doing God’s will on the Sabbath Day, even if on the surface He seemed to be breaking the Law.

Related Scriptures

Genesis 17:10-13 (Moses’ first writing on circumcision, here given in his account of 

                               Abraham, one of “the fathers”)

Exodus 20:8-11 (Moses’ Law about the Sabbath, which is part of the Ten

                            Commandments)

Luke 13:10-17

John 5:7-18 (The incident in which Jesus made a man whole on the Sabbath, angering

                    some people)

Questions

1. Not considering ulterior motives, why were the Jews angry with Jesus?
2. Did they break the Law when obedience to God required it?
3. Which of the related Scriptures in this lesson would suggest that the Sabbath law wasn’t intended to be as rigid as the people of Jesus’ day thought?
4. What law was Jesus keeping when he seemed to break the Sabbath law?
5. Could Jesus have done this miracle without the power of God?
6. Could He have kept the power of God if He had used it to sin with?
7. What do Jesus’ words and actions say about the attitude that would refuse to help a sick person because of a religious technicality?

This study is in the public domain and may be copied and distributed freely.

  Contents                                                                                                                              Lesson                                                                                                                                 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 (Projected: 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 and more to come later)