What does "Jesus did not commit himself unto them" (John 2:24) mean? I have trouble understanding what John 2:24 and John 2:25 mean. Does anyone know what it means for Jesus to not "commit himself unto them"?


  John 2:22-25 (KJV)
   22 When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. 23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. 24 But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, 25 And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
There is some fun linguistic gymnastics going on there and two things are being played off of each other.

First, remember that Jesus was fully God and he was omniscient* and knew the hearts of men. He knew what people were thinking even when they didn't say it.

Now note that while your question is in 24, the play here starts in verse 23. Let's look at these two verses again:


  John 2:24-25 (ESV)
  Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.


When we believe in Christ and choose to follow Him, we entrust ourselves to him.

Even though our English translations usually use different wording for thse two verses, in the Greek original both "believed" in verse 23 and "commit" (KVJ) or "entrust" (ESV) in verse 24 are the same root word πιστεύω (pisteuō) that is widely translated as 'believe'.

In other words, Jesus knew that something was wrong in their hearts in spite of their profession of faith.

* Actually in his role as the Son there were things he chose not to know because there were rights that he voluntarily surrendered in order to fulfill his calling, but that doesn't take away from the fact that he knew mens hearts.