Yohanes 1:9

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, ¹  was coming into the world. ² 

Yohanes 1:37

1:37 When John’s ³  two disciples heard him say this, ⁴  they followed Jesus. ⁵ 

Yohanes 2:5

2:5 His mother told the servants, “Whatever he tells you, do it.” ⁶ 

Yohanes 3:1

Conversation with Nicodemus

3:1 Now a certain man, a Pharisee ⁷  named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council, ⁸ 

Yohanes 3:35

3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ⁹ 

Yohanes 4:2

4:2 (although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were), ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 4:8

4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. ¹¹ ) ¹² 

Yohanes 4:37

4:37 For in this instance the saying is true, ¹³  ‘One sows and another reaps.’

Yohanes 5:15

5:15 The man went away and informed the Jewish leaders ¹⁴  that Jesus was the one who had made him well.

Yohanes 5:42

5:42 but I know you, that you do not have the love of God ¹⁵  within you.

Yohanes 6:1

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

6:1 After this ¹⁶  Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). ¹⁷ 

Yohanes 6:3

6:3 So Jesus went on up the mountainside ¹⁸  and sat down there with his disciples.

Yohanes 6:36

6:36 But I told you ¹⁹  that you have seen me ²⁰  and still do not believe.

Yohanes 6:49

6:49 Your ancestors ²¹  ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

Yohanes 6:62

6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? ²² 

Yohanes 7:2

7:2 Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles ²³  was near. ²⁴ 

Yohanes 7:11

7:11 So the Jewish leaders ²⁵  were looking for him at the feast, asking, “Where is he?” ²⁶ 

Yohanes 7:49

7:49 But this rabble ²⁷  who do not know the law are accursed!”

Yohanes 8:58

8:58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁸  before Abraham came into existence, ²⁹  I am!” ³⁰ 

Yohanes 9:10

9:10 So they asked him, ³¹  “How then were you made to see?” ³² 

Yohanes 10:19

10:19 Another sharp division took place among the Jewish people ³³  because of these words.

Yohanes 12:11

12:11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem ³⁴  were going away and believing in Jesus.

Yohanes 12:43

12:43 For they loved praise ³⁵  from men more than praise ³⁶  from God.

Yohanes 14:15

Teaching on the Holy Spirit

14:15 “If you love me, you will obey ³⁷  my commandments. ³⁸ 

Yohanes 15:1

The Vine and the Branches

15:1 “I am the true vine ³⁹  and my Father is the gardener. ⁴⁰ 

Yohanes 15:3

15:3 You are clean already ⁴¹  because of the word that I have spoken to you.

Yohanes 17:16

17:16 They do not belong to the world ⁴²  just as I do not belong to the world. ⁴³ 

Yohanes 18:37

18:37 Then Pilate said, ⁴⁴  “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world – to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to ⁴⁵  my voice.”

Yohanes 19:16

19:16 Then Pilate ⁴⁶  handed him over ⁴⁷  to them to be crucified.

The Crucifixion

So they took Jesus,

[1:9]  ¹ tn Grk “every man” (but in a generic sense, “every person,” or “every human being”).

[1:9]  ² tn Or “He was the true light, who gives light to everyone who comes into the world.” The participle ἐρχόμενον (ercomenon) may be either (1) neuter nominative, agreeing with τὸ φῶς (to fw"), or (2) masculine accusative, agreeing with ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon). Option (1) results in a periphrastic imperfect with ἦν (hn), ἦν τὸ φῶς… ἐρχόμενον, referring to the incarnation. Option (2) would have the participle modifying ἄνθρωπον and referring to the true light as enlightening “every man who comes into the world.” Option (2) has some rabbinic parallels: The phrase “all who come into the world” is a fairly common expression for “every man” (cf. Leviticus Rabbah 31.6). But (1) must be preferred here, because: (a) In the next verse the light is in the world; it is logical for v. 9 to speak of its entering the world; (b) in other passages Jesus is described as “coming into the world” (6:14, 9:39, 11:27, 16:28) and in 12:46 Jesus says: ἐγὼ φῶς εἰς τὸν κόσμον ἐλήλυθα (egw fw" ei" ton kosmon elhluqa); (c) use of a periphrastic participle with the imperfect tense is typical Johannine style: 1:28, 2:6, 3:23, 10:40, 11:1, 13:23, 18:18 and 25. In every one of these except 13:23 the finite verb is first and separated by one or more intervening words from the participle.

[1:9]  sn In v. 9 the world (κόσμος, kosmos) is mentioned for the first time. This is another important theme word for John. Generally, the world as a Johannine concept does not refer to the totality of creation (the universe), although there are exceptions at 11:9. 17:5, 24, 21:25, but to the world of human beings and human affairs. Even in 1:10 the world created through the Logos is a world capable of knowing (or reprehensibly not knowing) its Creator. Sometimes the world is further qualified as this world (ὁ κόσμος οὗτος, Jo kosmos Joutos) as in 8:23, 9:39, 11:9, 12:25, 31; 13:1, 16:11, 18:36. This is not merely equivalent to the rabbinic phrase “this present age” (ὁ αἰών οὗτος, Jo aiwn Joutos) and contrasted with “the world to come.” For John it is also contrasted to a world other than this one, already existing; this is the lower world, corresponding to which there is a world above (see especially 8:23, 18:36). Jesus appears not only as the Messiah by means of whom an eschatological future is anticipated (as in the synoptic gospels) but also as an envoy from the heavenly world to this world.

[1:37]  ³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:37]  ⁴ tn Grk “And the two disciples heard him speaking.”

[1:37]  ⁵ sn The expression followed Jesus pictures discipleship, which means that to learn from Jesus is to follow him as the guiding priority of one’s life.

[2:5]  ⁶ tn The pronoun “it” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[3:1]  ⁷ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[3:1]  ⁸ tn Grk “a ruler of the Jews” (denoting a member of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[3:35]  ⁹ tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

[4:2]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[4:8]  ¹¹ tn Grk “buy food.”

[4:8]  ¹² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).

[4:37]  ¹³ tn The recitative ὅτι (Joti) after ἀληθινός (alhqino") has not been translated.

[5:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.

[5:42]  ¹⁵ tn The genitive in the phrase τὴν ἀγάπην τοῦ θεοῦ (thn agaphn tou qeou, “the love of God”) could be translated as either a subjective genitive (“God’s love”) or an objective genitive (“love for God”). Either is grammatically possible. This is possibly an instance of a plenary genitive (see ExSyn 119-21; M. Zerwick, Biblical Greek, §§36-39). If so, the emphasis would be on the love God gives which in turn produces love for him, but Jesus’ opponents are lacking any such love inside them.

[6:1]  ¹⁶ tn Again, μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is a vague temporal reference. How Jesus got from Jerusalem to Galilee is not explained, which has led many scholars (e.g., Bernard, Bultmann, and Schnackenburg) to posit either editorial redaction or some sort of rearrangement or dislocation of material (such as reversing the order of chaps. 5 and 6, for example). Such a rearrangement of the material would give a simple and consistent connection of events, but in the absence of all external evidence it does not seem to be supportable. R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:236) says that such an arrangement is attractive in some ways but not compelling, and that no rearrangement can solve all the geographical and chronological problems in John.

[6:1]  ¹⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Only John in the New Testament refers to the Sea of Galilee by the name Sea of Tiberias (see also John 21:1), but this is correct local usage. In the mid-20’s Herod completed the building of the town of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the lake; after this time the name came into use for the lake itself.

[6:3]  ¹⁸ sn Up on the mountainside does not necessarily refer to a particular mountain or hillside, but may simply mean “the hill country” or “the high ground,” referring to the high country east of the Sea of Galilee (known today as the Golan Heights).

[6:36]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “But I said to you.”

[6:36]  ²⁰ tc A few witnesses lack με (me, “me”; א A a b e q sy^s,c), while the rest of the tradition has the word (Ì^66,75vid rell). It is possible that the mss that lack the pronoun preserve the original wording here, with the rest of the witnesses adding the pronoun for clarity’s sake. This likelihood increases since the object is not required in Greek. Without it, however, ambiguity increases: The referent could be “me” or it could be “signs,” reaching back to vv. 26 and 30. However, the oblique form of ἐγώ (egw, the first person personal pronoun) occurs some two dozen times in this chapter alone, yet it vacillates between the emphatic form and the unemphatic form. Although generally the unemphatic form is used with verbs, there are several exceptions to this in John (cf. 8:12; 12:26, 45, 48; 13:20; 14:9). If the pronoun is a later addition here, one wonders why it is so consistently the unemphatic form in the mss. Further, that two unrelated Greek witnesses lack this small word could easily be due to accidental deletion. Finally, the date and diversity of the witnesses for the pronoun are so weighty that it is likely to be authentic and should thus be retained in the text.

[6:49]  ²¹ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[6:62]  ²² tn Or “he was formerly?”

[7:2]  ²³ tn Or “feast of the Tents” (the feast where people lived in tents or shelters, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skhnophgia) for the feast of Tabernacles constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.

[7:2]  ²⁴ sn Since the present verse places these incidents at the feast of Tabernacles (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1-47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1-9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.

[7:11]  ²⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:11]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Where is that one?”

[7:49]  ²⁷ tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

[8:58]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:58]  ²⁹ tn Grk “before Abraham was.”

[8:58]  ³⁰ sn I am! is an explicit claim to deity. Although each occurrence of the phrase “I am” in the Fourth Gospel needs to be examined individually in context to see if an association with Exod 3:14 is present, it seems clear that this is the case here (as the response of the Jewish authorities in the following verse shows).

[9:10]  ³¹ tn Grk “So they were saying to him.”

[9:10]  ³² tn Grk “How then were your eyes opened” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[10:19]  ³³ tn Or perhaps “the Jewish religious leaders”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase could be taken to refer to the Jewish religious leaders, since the Pharisees were the last to be mentioned specifically by name, in John 9:40. However, in light of the charge about demon possession, which echoes 8:48, it is more likely that Jewish people in general (perhaps in Jerusalem, if that is understood to be the setting of the incident) are in view here.

[12:11]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem who had heard about the resurrection of Lazarus and as a result were embracing Jesus as Messiah. See also the note on the phrase “Judeans” in v. 9.

[12:11]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[12:43]  ³⁵ tn Grk “the glory.”

[12:43]  ³⁶ tn Grk “the glory.”

[14:15]  ³⁷ tn Or “will keep.”

[14:15]  ³⁸ sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love.

[15:1]  ³⁹ sn I am the true vine. There are numerous OT passages which refer to Israel as a vine: Ps 80:8-16, Isa 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Ezek 15:1-8, 17:5-10, 19:10-14, and Hos 10:1. The vine became symbolic of Israel, and even appeared on some coins issued by the Maccabees. The OT passages which use this symbol appear to regard Israel as faithless to Yahweh (typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT) and/or the object of severe punishment. Ezek 15:1-8 in particular talks about the worthlessness of wood from a vine (in relation to disobedient Judah). A branch cut from a vine is worthless except to be burned as fuel. This fits more with the statements about the disciples (John 15:6) than with Jesus’ description of himself as the vine. Ezek 17:5-10 contains vine imagery which refers to a king of the house of David, Zedekiah, who was set up as king in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah allied himself to Egypt and broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar (and therefore also with God), which would ultimately result in his downfall (17:20-21). Ezek 17:22-24 then describes the planting of a cedar sprig which grows into a lofty tree, a figurative description of Messiah. But it is significant that Messiah himself is not described in Ezek 17 as a vine, but as a cedar tree. The vine imagery here applies to Zedekiah’s disobedience. Jesus’ description of himself as the true vine in John 15:1 ff. is to be seen against this background, but it differs significantly from the imagery surveyed above. It represents new imagery which differs significantly from OT concepts; it appears to be original with Jesus. The imagery of the vine underscores the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life and the truth that this results not from human achievement, but from one’s position in Christ. Jesus is not just giving some comforting advice, but portraying to the disciples the difficult path of faithful service. To some degree the figure is similar to the head-body metaphor used by Paul, with Christ as head and believers as members of the body. Both metaphors bring out the vital and necessary connection which exists between Christ and believers.

[15:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the farmer.”

[15:3]  ⁴¹ sn The phrase you are clean already occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John only at the washing of the disciples’ feet in 13:10, where Jesus had used it of the disciples being cleansed from sin. This further confirms the proposed understanding of John 15:2 and 15:6 since Judas was specifically excluded from this statement (but not all of you).

[17:16]  ⁴² tn Grk “they are not of the world.” This is a repetition of the second half of v. 14. The only difference is in word order: Verse 14 has οὐκ εἰσὶν ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου (ouk eisin ek tou kosmou), while here the prepositional phrase is stated first: ἐκ τοῦ κόσμου οὐκ εἰσίν (ek tou kosmou ouk eisin). This gives additional emphasis to the idea of the prepositional phrase, i.e., origin, source, or affiliation.

[17:16]  ⁴³ tn Grk “just as I am not of the world.”

[18:37]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:37]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “obeys”; Grk “hears.”

[19:16]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “Then he”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “delivered him over.”