There was a division … for these sayings.
--Here was
I. A BAD SPIRIT.
1. Schismatic. “There was a division.” Sad that Christ and His doctrines should divide men into sects. One might have thought that as His life was so pure, loving, morally commanding, and His doctrine so congruous with reason and spiritual wants, that all men would have centred in Him. Schism in relation to Christ is bad--a calumny on the gospel and a curse to the race.
2. Blasphemous (John 10:20). There are two evils men commit on the question of moral causation.
(1) Some ascribe bad deeds to God. The warrior after his bloody achievements returns thanks to God who commanded us not to kill, and declared that woes arise from the lusts of the wicked heart. The priest who presumes to stand between God and the people ascribes his crafty deeds to God. Islam and Mormon leaders impose on credulity a pretended heavenly authority. How much despotism, plunder, and oppression are enacted in God’s name!
(2) Some ascribe good deeds to Satan, as these jealous, cavilling, and malicious Jews. To trace this Divine act to God’s arch foe was heinous sin; yet the principle of this is too common in every age. What is the conduct of those who assign the effects of Christianity to the ingenuity of imposters who designate the Bible a “cunningly-devised fable,” and brand as hypocrites the most holy and useful men?
3. Intolerant. “Why hear ye Him?” This is the spirit of all bigots and persecutors. The same language is often used by one sect about a preacher of another sect.
II. A SOUND ARGUMENT (John 10:21). A devil could not, and would not if he could, give eyes to the blind. This is the same principle as Christ’s--“By their fruits ye shall know them.” This is an infallible test. Judge, then, Christianity by its works. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
Christ’s words and deeds
“There arose a division again among the Jews” because of the words which Jesus had uttered. It is the old story. Jesus Christ has always divided human communities. He cannot be ignored. How can He be accounted for? He is the great enigma which calls forth many answers. In the preceding verses we have one of those hurried estimates of Christ given in the white heat of anger--“He hath a devil and is mad.” There are a class of men who never fail to come to very speedy and decided conclusions. They arrive at them by a short cut, and very often by astounding leaps. They have a keen sensitiveness to the presence of a devil a long time before he appears, and as a rule point in the direction from which he is least likely to come. The explanation that Jesus had a devil had became a commonplace, but had carried with it no conviction in being frequently repeated. There were keen-sighted men in the crowd who saw through it all--“Others said, These are not the words of Him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” There is true philosophy in these words uttered hurriedly by unknown speakers in that surging throng. Some of the world’s best utterances are anonymously recorded. The truth suggested by our text is--That words and deeds are tests of character which men should not ignore.
I. Our Lord’s SPEECH as a test of His character--“These are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil.” Some one possibly smiles incredulously and asks--“Who can judge a man by his speech?” Napoleon the Great held that speech was made to conceal thoughts and purposes. But did he succeed in confining speech within these ignoble limits? For a time and in certain cases he doubtless did. But what of those peevish and angry utterances of his at St. Helena? As we read the story we are forced to exclaim, “Oh, man, thy speech bewrayeth thee!” That great actor was no longer able to conceal himself, when he fretted and fumed and swore in helpless pevishness. Watch a man’s utterances through and through, and he cannot hide himself from you. He may at times flatter himself that he has succeeded in the attempt, but his speech so wronged and misused at length plays traitor with him in return, and reveals what manner of man he is. Speech, graciously given by God to man alone on earth, as a means by which he shall be able to express truth, will not suffer itself evermore to be made the degraded instrument of diplomacy and deceit. It will at times involuntarily start and assert itself. In the records of the best lives we find words uttered in haste, unpremeditated, or under great provocation, which needed an apology, since they revealed the weaker and less noble side of character. When did Christ utter such words? In speech He was never overtaken in a fault. His disciples often were, but He never. Again, see if there were immature words uttered at the outset of His ministry, which revealed the crudities of youth, or an imperfect estimate of that ministry to which He had committed His life. Was there ever anything said by Him which betrayed a wrong motive, or defective moral teaching? Have succeeding ages been able to find a flaw in His doctrine, or have they been able to add a single virtue to those which He taught men? Have any words lived like His, or living, exerted such a sanctifying, healing and ennobling influence over human lives? Let us refer to one or two features of His incomparable utterances. What does he say about God? No teacher of men can be silent on this great theme. He tells men many tender, loving things concerning God--that He clothes the lily, feeds the sparrow, numbers the hairs of our head, and, finally, “that He so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” Has any teaching concerning God given such light and joy to human heart as this? Verily, “These are not the sayings of one possessed with a devil!” Again, what has He to say about man? By the graveside of our dearest and best ones can any assurance compare with His--“I am the Resurrection and the Life, he that believeth in Me shall never die”? “Because I live ye shall live also”? “Whence hath this man these things?” “These are not the words of one possessed with a devil.” We consider
II. Our Lord’s DEEDS as tests of His character. “Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?” It is the prerogative of the devil to close men’s eyes, not to open them. It is not so much the miracle of giving sight as the beneficent nature of it that stamps it as undiabolic. What was the tendency of our Lord’s deeds? Precisely the same as His teaching. Did He not always go about doing good? There is a harmony of goodness and of benevolence in His works from the beginning to the close. Above all, is there anything for power and tenderness to compare with His Cross? And here we come to the root of the whole matter. Theology, history, and moral philosophy can all apply their tests; but no test can compare with Chat of our own experience. Our experience may fail to appeal powerfully to others, but nothing is so convincing to ourselves. Among our Lord’s disciples are the noblest men and women whom the world has ever known, and they attribute all their blessings to Him. (David Davies.)