Charles Ellicott Commentary John 7:46

"The officers answered, Never man so spake." — John 7:46 (ASV)

Never man spake like this man.—Some of the oldest manuscripts, including the Vatican, have a shorter text, “Never man spake thus”; but the longer reading is to be preferred. The very officers acknowledged His power and tell the professed teachers, whose opinions and words were the rule of all Jewish life, that never man spoke as He whom they sought to arrest! It is probable that in the section immediately preceding (John 7:32–34), Saint John gives us only a résumé of what Jesus had said, and that words which have not come down to us were among those which produced so profound an impression on the officers.