What does John 7:47 mean?

In their conflicts with Jesus, the Pharisees fell into three primary errors. Two were a reliance on tradition and a belief that knowledge automatically leads to greater spiritual awareness. The third error is on full display in this part of the gospel of John: the error of arrogance. Those listening to Jesus (John 7:40–43) are divided over how to respond to His claims. But most of the crowd's disagreements involve how to interpret evidence. For example, what to make of Jesus' miracles (John 7:31), or how the Scriptures do or don't fit His life (John 7:40–42). The Pharisees react to a failed arrest attempt (John 7:45–46) with flagrant conceit. They angrily reject anyone who disagrees with them. In fact, they are so confident that anyone who disagrees must be ignorant, deceived, or backwards by definition.

The men sent to arrest Jesus (John 7:32) returned without Him. Their reasoning was Jesus' own words, which were so uniquely compelling that even those who did not believe in Him were impressed (John 7:46). The immediate assumption of the haughty authorities is that the arresting officials have been fooled. Why else would they—would anyone—take a view contrary to that of the highly-educated and prestigious Pharisees?

The essence of their rejection is self-importance: "if we don't believe that, why would anyone believe it?" We might shake our heads to read this account, but the same mistake is possible for each of us. It's there whenever we reject some criticism, suggestion, or argument since it comes from the "wrong" people. When we dismiss something by saying, "that comes from that denomination / culture / party, and what do they know?" we're not being discerning; we're being arrogant.