Did Jesus lie when he said he would not go to the Feast and then later he went? No, he did not lie. Let’s take a look at the verses and then examined their contexts.
- No, Jesus did not go to the feast
- John 7:8, “Go up to the feast yourselves; I do not go up to this feast because My time has not yet fully come.”
- Yes, Jesus did go to the feast.
- John 7:10, “But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as it were, in secret.”
As with many alleged Bible contradictions, when the context is examined the answer becomes clear. John 7 starts off with Jesus walking in Galilee. His brothers said in verses 3-4, “Depart from here, and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may behold Your works which You are doing. 4 For no one does anything in secret when he himself seeks to be known publicly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.” We see that Jesus’ brothers wanted Him to go into Judea publicly, but they did not believe who He was, “For not even His brothers were believing in Him,” (v. 5). In verse 8, Jesus responded by telling them, “I do not go up,” is in the present tense. So, He was saying that he would not go to the feast, right there and then. Why, “…because My time had not yet come.” The statement “My time had not yet come” refers to both Jesus revealing Himself to the world as well as the time of his death which the Pharisees would later arrange. He sent His brothers on their way. Then in verse 9, it says that Jesus stayed in Galilee. We do not know how long He stayed there, but it is evident that Jesus did so for a while and then decided to go up to Judea in secret. “But when His brothers had gone up to the feast, then He Himself also went up, not publicly, but as it were, in secret,” (John 7:10).
So we see in verse 8 that Jesus meant he was not going up to the feast “right then and there” since it is in the present tense. But, Jesus went and stayed for a time in Galilee and later went up to Judea. There is no contradiction and no lie.
Furthermore, it is not a lie when a person decides to do one thing and then later changes his mind to do another. A lie would mean that Jesus knew He was going to do one thing but deliberately said he would not with the intention of deceiving people. This is not the case, and the text doesn’t support it.
