John 7:27

“Howbeit, we know this man whence he is, etc.] They signify, that if the rulers had altered their minds, and had gone into the belief of Jesus of Nazareth being the Messiah, they should not follow them in it, for this reason; because they knew from whence he came; meaning not so much the place of his birth, which they supposed was Galilee, and Nazareth in Galilee, in which they were mistaken, as the manner of his birth, which they could account for: they pretended to know his extract, that he was the son of Joseph and Mary, that he was begotten in wedlock, and was born as other persons are; there was no difficulty with them in accounting for his coming into the world, no more than any other…”

“Howbeit we know this man, &c.--This seems to refer to some current opinion that Messiah's origin would be mysterious (not altogether wrong), from which they concluded that Jesus could not be He, since they knew all about His family at Nazareth.”

“Howbeit - But. They proceeded to state a reason why they supposed that he could not be the Messiah, whatever the rulers might think. We know this man whence he is - We know the place of his birth and residence. No man knoweth whence he is - From Matthew 2:5, it appears that the common expectation of the Jews was that the Messiah would be born at Bethlehem; but they had also feigned that after his birth he would be hidden or taken away in some mysterious manner, and appear again from some unexpected quarter. We find allusions to this expectation in the New Testament, where our Saviour corrects their common notions, Matthew 24:23; “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or…”

“When Christ cometh, none knoweth whence he is - This Jewish tradition was true, with regard to his Divine nature: in that respect none could declare his generation. But it was not true with regard to his human nature, for both his family and the place of his birth were plainly foretold. John 7:28”

“7:27 Some of the crowd thought that since they could trace Jesus’ earthly origins, he could not be the Messiah. They believed that the Messiah would simply appear.”

“we know: Joh 7:15, Joh 6:42; Mat 13:54-57; Mar 6:3; Luk 4:22 no man: Joh 7:41, Joh 7:42; Isa 11:1, Isa 53:8; Jer 23:5, Jer 30:21; Mic 5:2; Mat 2:5, Mat 2:6; Act 8:33 John 7:28”