Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?
Parallel translations
- WEB Have any of the rulers believed in him, or of the Pharisees?
- BSB “Have any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in Him?
- NKJV Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him?
- NASB Not one of the rulers or Pharisees has believed in Him, has he?
- NLT “Is there a single one of us rulers or Pharisees who believes in him?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Pharisees ask whether any of the rulers or Pharisees have believed in Jesus. They appeal to their own group's unbelief as proof against Him.
Overview
The leaders use their own collective rejection of Jesus as evidence that He cannot be the Christ, assuming the educated elite must be right. Yet John shows that some rulers did secretly believe (12:42), and the very next verses introduce Nicodemus. Their argument exposes the danger of measuring truth by the consensus of the proud rather than by God's revelation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- John 12:42Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue:
- 1 Cor 1:20Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
- 1 Cor 2:8Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
- John 7:26But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
- Matt 11:25At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
- Acts 6:7And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
- 1 Cor 1:22–28For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
- Jer 5:4–5Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
- John 7:50Nicodemus saith unto them, (he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them,)
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Christ at the center
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 7:48 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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