John Calvin Commentary John 10:41

"And many came unto him; and they said, John indeed did no sign: but all things whatsoever John spake of this man were true." — John 10:41 (ASV)

And many came to Him. This large assembly shows that Christ did not seek solitude in order to cease from fulfilling His duty, but to establish a sanctuary of God in the wilderness, when Jerusalem, which was His own home and dwelling-place, had obstinately driven Him out. And indeed, this was a dreadful vengeance of God, that while the temple chosen by God was a den of robbers (Jeremiah 7:11; Matthew 21:13), the Church of God was gathered in a despised place.

John indeed did no miracle. They infer that Christ is more excellent than John, because He has distinguished Himself by so many miracles, while John did not perform a single miracle. This is not to say that we should always judge from miracles, but that miracles, when united with doctrine, have no small weight, as has already been repeatedly mentioned. Their argument is defective, for they compare Christ with John, but they express only one part of the comparison. Besides, they take for granted that John was an eminent prophet of God and that he was endowed with extraordinary grace of the Holy Spirit.

They justly argue, therefore, that Christ should be preferred to John, because it was only by the fixed Providence of God that it was brought about that John, though in other respects a very great prophet, yet was not honored by performing any miracle. Hence they conclude that this was done on Christ’s account, so that He might be more highly esteemed.

But all that John said. It appears that this was not spoken by the people themselves, but was added by the Evangelist to show that there were two reasons which led them to believe in Christ. On the one hand, they saw that the testimony John had given concerning Him was true; and, on the other hand, the miracles of Christ secured for Him greater authority.