Wahyu 1:19

1:19 Therefore write what you saw, what is, and what will be after these things. ¹ 

Yohanes 3:11

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth, ²  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ³  you people ⁴  do not accept our testimony. ⁵ 

Kisah Para Rasul 4:20

4:20 for it is impossible ⁶  for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.”

Kisah Para Rasul 22:15

22:15 because you will be his witness ⁷  to all people ⁸  of what you have seen and heard.

Kisah Para Rasul 26:16

26:16 But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this reason, to designate you in advance ⁹  as a servant and witness ¹⁰  to the things ¹¹  you have seen ¹²  and to the things in which I will appear to you.

Kisah Para Rasul 26:1

Paul Offers His Defense

26:1 So Agrippa ¹³  said to Paul, “You have permission ¹⁴  to speak for yourself.” Then Paul held out his hand ¹⁵  and began his defense: ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 1:1

The Prologue to the Gospel

1:1 In the beginning ¹⁷  was the Word, and the Word was with God, ¹⁸  and the Word was fully God. ¹⁹ 

Yohanes 4:14

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, ²⁰  but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain ²¹  of water springing up ²²  to eternal life.”

[1:19]  ¹ tn Grk “Therefore write the things that you saw, and the things that are, and the things that will take place after these things.” Verse 19 could also be translated (taking καί…καί [kai…kai] as “both…and”): “Therefore write what you have seen, both what things currently are and what is going to happen after these things.” The structure of this verse is debated.

[3:11]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:11]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.

[3:11]  ⁴ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than Nicodemus alone).

[3:11]  ⁵ sn Note the remarkable similarity of Jesus’ testimony to the later testimony of the Apostle John himself in 1 John 1:2: “And we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us.” This is only one example of how thoroughly the author’s own thoughts were saturated with the words of Jesus (and also how difficult it is to distinguish the words of Jesus from the words of the author in the Fourth Gospel).

[4:20]  ⁶ tn Grk “for we are not able not to speak about what we have seen and heard,” but the double negative, which cancels out in English, is emphatic in Greek. The force is captured somewhat by the English translation “it is impossible for us not to speak…” although this is slightly awkward.

[22:15]  ⁷ tn Or “a witness to him.”

[22:15]  sn You will be his witness. See Acts 1:8; 13:31. The following reference to all people stresses all nationalities (Eph 3:7-9; Acts 9:15). Note also v. 21.

[22:15]  ⁸ tn Grk “all men,” but this is a generic use of ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo").

[26:16]  ⁹ tn L&N 30.89 has “‘to choose in advance, to select beforehand, to designate in advance.’”

[26:16]  ¹⁰ sn As a servant and witness. The commission is similar to Acts 1:8 and Luke 1:2. Paul was now an “eyewitness” of the Lord.

[26:16]  ¹¹ tn BDAG 719 s.v. ὁράω A.1.b states, “W. attraction of the relative ὧν = τούτων ἅ Lk 9:36; Ac 22:15. The attraction may be due to colloq. breviloquence in μάρτυρα ὧν τε εἶδες με ὧν τε ὀφθήσομαί σοι a witness to the things in which you saw me and to those in which I shall appear to you Ac 26:16b.”

[26:16]  ¹² tc ‡ Some mss read “of the things in which you have seen me.” The accusative object με (me, “me”) is found after εἶδές (eide") in B C*^vid 614 945 1175 1505 1739 1891 2464 pc sy sa; it is lacking in Ì⁷⁴ א A C² E Ψ 096 Ï latt bo. The external evidence is relatively evenly divided, though there is a slight preference for the omission. NA²⁷ includes the word in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[26:1]  ¹³ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[26:1]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “It is permitted for you.”

[26:1]  ¹⁵ tn Or “extended his hand” (a speaker’s gesture).

[26:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “and began to speak in his own defense.”

[1:1]  ¹⁷ sn In the beginning. The search for the basic “stuff” out of which things are made was the earliest one in Greek philosophy. It was attended by the related question of “What is the process by which the secondary things came out of the primary one (or ones)?,” or in Aristotelian terminology, “What is the ‘beginning’ (same Greek word as beginning, John 1:1) and what is the origin of the things that are made?” In the New Testament the word usually has a temporal sense, but even BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 3 lists a major category of meaning as “the first cause.” For John, the words “In the beginning” are most likely a conscious allusion to the opening words of Genesis – “In the beginning.” Other concepts which occur prominently in Gen 1 are also found in John’s prologue: “life” (1:4) “light” (1:4) and “darkness” (1:5). Gen 1 describes the first (physical) creation; John 1 describes the new (spiritual) creation. But this is not to play off a false dichotomy between “physical” and “spiritual”; the first creation was both physical and spiritual. The new creation is really a re-creation, of the spiritual (first) but also the physical. (In spite of the common understanding of John’s “spiritual” emphasis, the “physical” re-creation should not be overlooked; this occurs in John 2 with the changing of water into wine, in John 11 with the resurrection of Lazarus, and the emphasis of John 20-21 on the aftermath of Jesus’ own resurrection.)

[1:1]  ¹⁸ tn The preposition πρός (pros) implies not just proximity, but intimate personal relationship. M. Dods stated, “Πρός …means more than μετά or παρά, and is regularly employed in expressing the presence of one person with another” (“The Gospel of St. John,” The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1:684). See also Mark 6:3, Matt 13:56, Mark 9:19, Gal 1:18, 2 John 12.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “and what God was the Word was.” Colwell’s Rule is often invoked to support the translation of θεός (qeos) as definite (“God”) rather than indefinite (“a god”) here. However, Colwell’s Rule merely permits, but does not demand, that a predicate nominative ahead of an equative verb be translated as definite rather than indefinite. Furthermore, Colwell’s Rule did not deal with a third possibility, that the anarthrous predicate noun may have more of a qualitative nuance when placed ahead of the verb. A definite meaning for the term is reflected in the traditional rendering “the word was God.” From a technical standpoint, though, it is preferable to see a qualitative aspect to anarthrous θεός in John 1:1c (ExSyn 266-69). Translations like the NEB, REB, and Moffatt are helpful in capturing the sense in John 1:1c, that the Word was fully deity in essence (just as much God as God the Father). However, in contemporary English “the Word was divine” (Moffatt) does not quite catch the meaning since “divine” as a descriptive term is not used in contemporary English exclusively of God. The translation “what God was the Word was” is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too. This points to unity of essence between the Father and the Son without equating the persons. However, in surveying a number of native speakers of English, some of whom had formal theological training and some of whom did not, the editors concluded that the fine distinctions indicated by “what God was the Word was” would not be understood by many contemporary readers. Thus the translation “the Word was fully God” was chosen because it is more likely to convey the meaning to the average English reader that the Logos (which “became flesh and took up residence among us” in John 1:14 and is thereafter identified in the Fourth Gospel as Jesus) is one in essence with God the Father. The previous phrase, “the Word was with God,” shows that the Logos is distinct in person from God the Father.

[1:1]  sn And the Word was fully God. John’s theology consistently drives toward the conclusion that Jesus, the incarnate Word, is just as much God as God the Father. This can be seen, for example, in texts like John 10:30 (“The Father and I are one”), 17:11 (“so that they may be one just as we are one”), and 8:58 (“before Abraham came into existence, I am”). The construction in John 1:1c does not equate the Word with the person of God (this is ruled out by 1:1b, “the Word was with God”); rather it affirms that the Word and God are one in essence.

[4:14]  ²⁰ tn Grk “will never be thirsty forever.” The possibility of a later thirst is emphatically denied.

[4:14]  ²¹ tn Or “well.” “Fountain” is used as the translation for πηγή (phgh) here since the idea is that of an artesian well that flows freely, but the term “artesian well” is not common in contemporary English.

[4:14]  ²² tn The verb ἁλλομένου (Jallomenou) is used of quick movement (like jumping) on the part of living beings. This is the only instance of its being applied to the action of water. However, in the LXX it is used to describe the “Spirit of God” as it falls on Samson and Saul. See Judg 14:6, 19; 15:14; 1 Kgdms 10:2, 10 LXX (= 1 Sam 10:6, 10 ET); and Isa 35:6 (note context).