Why do the Pharisees address the servants not with anger, but with meekness and speak so gently: "Have you also been led astray?" Because they were afraid that they would completely separate from them and attach themselves to Christ. Therefore they speak to them very meekly and kindly: "Have even you, who are wiser than the rest and are always with us who are experienced in the law, been led astray?"
Jn. 7:48. Have any of the rulers believed in Him, or any of the Pharisees?
Then they try to convince them by example, but very foolishly. "Have any of the rulers believed in Him?" they say. But who is at fault? Christ, or those who did not believe? Without doubt, those who did not believe are subject to condemnation.
Jn. 7:49. But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.
The people they call accursed for having believed, while they themselves, both for their unbelief and for hindering others from believing, are worthy of countless curses.
Jn. 7:50. Nicodemus, who had come to Him by night, being one of them, says to them:
Why does the evangelist note about Nicodemus that he came to Jesus by night and that he was one of them? In order to expose their lie. They said that none of the rulers believed in Him, but he shows that they lie in this case as well. For behold, Nicodemus is both a ruler and one of them, yet he believed in Christ.
Jn. 7:51. Does our law judge a man unless it first hears him and knows what he does?
What does Nicodemus point out to them? He says: "Does our Law condemn a man without first hearing him?" By this he shows that they neither read the Law nor fulfilled its requirements, although they boasted much about lawfulness. For if the Law commands not to kill anyone without a prior trial, yet they were eager to do so without first hearing Him, then obviously they are transgressors of the Law.
He also said: "And if they do not find out what he is doing." By this he showed that one must listen not merely, but very attentively, in order to find out how one ought to act, and not condemn in this way without having investigated the matter.
Jn. 7:52. To this they said to him: Are you not from Galilee too?
When Nicodemus quite reasonably rebuked the Pharisees for their unlawful directive, they, vexed, spoke to him with rudeness and even savagery: "Are you also from Galilee?" But how is this a response to Nicodemus's remark? He said that one should not condemn a person without trial and investigation. Undoubtedly, in response to this they needed to prove that they were not accusing Jesus without trial, but lawfully—that they had even sent officers to seize Him, and were doing everything as they should. But what do they say? "Are you also from Galilee?" Do you see how unreasonable this is? Do you see the inconsistency in their words?
Jn. 7:52. Consider and you will see that no prophet comes from Galilee.
Then, presenting him as ignorant, they say: "Search and see that no prophet has arisen out of Galilee," that is, go and learn, since you have not learned until now that no prophet has come from Galilee. They say this mocking him as uninformed. But, O Pharisees! What did Nicodemus say? He did not say that Jesus is a prophet, but said that one must not kill Him without a trial. So then, he said one thing, and you answer with something else?
Jn. 7:53. And they all went to their own homes.