Yohanes 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²  But if it dies, it produces ³  much grain. ⁴ 

Yohanes 11:1

The Death of Lazarus

11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. ⁵ 

Yohanes 11:3

11:3 So the sisters sent a message ⁶  to Jesus, ⁷  “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.”

Yohanes 3:18

3:18 The one who believes in him is not condemned. ⁸  The one who does not believe has been condemned ⁹  already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only ¹⁰  Son of God.

Yohanes 18:6

18:6 So when Jesus ¹¹  said to them, “I am he,” they retreated ¹²  and fell to the ground. ¹³ 

Yohanes 12:31

12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world ¹⁴  will be driven out. ¹⁵ 

Yohanes 18:31

18:31 Pilate told them, ¹⁶  “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him ¹⁷  according to your own law!” ¹⁸  The Jewish leaders ¹⁹  replied, ²⁰  “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” ²¹ 

Yohanes 12:23

12:23 Jesus replied, ²²  “The time ²³  has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. ²⁴ 

Yohanes 7:24

7:24 Do not judge according to external appearance, ²⁵  but judge with proper ²⁶  judgment.”

Yohanes 7:21

7:21 Jesus replied, ²⁷  “I performed one miracle ²⁸  and you are all amazed. ²⁹ 

Yohanes 7:51

7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn ³⁰  a man unless it first hears from him and learns ³¹  what he is doing, does it?” ³² 

Yohanes 11:2

11:2 (Now it was Mary who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil ³³  and wiped his feet dry with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) ³⁴ 

Yohanes 3:20

3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed.

Yohanes 19:17

19:17 and carrying his own cross ³⁵  he went out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” ³⁶  (called in Aramaic ³⁷  Golgotha). ³⁸ 

Yohanes 18:36

18:36 Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my servants would be fighting to keep me from being ³⁹  handed over ⁴⁰  to the Jewish authorities. ⁴¹  But as it is, ⁴²  my kingdom is not from here.”

Yohanes 19:31

19:31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath ⁴³  (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), ⁴⁴  the Jewish leaders ⁴⁵  asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs ⁴⁶  broken ⁴⁷  and the bodies taken down. ⁴⁸ 

[12:24]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ² tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ³ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ⁴ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[11:1]  ⁵ tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”

[11:3]  ⁶ tn The phrase “a message” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from context.

[11:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “to him, saying”; the referent (Jesus) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:18]  ⁸ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “judged.”

[3:18]  ¹⁰ tn See the note on the term “one and only” in 3:16.

[18:6]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[18:6]  ¹² tn Grk “moved back” (but here a fairly rapid movement is implied).

[18:6]  ¹³ sn When Jesus said to those who came to arrest him “I am,” they retreated and fell to the ground. L. Morris says that “it is possible that those in front recoiled from Jesus’ unexpected advance, so that they bumped those behind them, causing them to stumble and fall” (John [NICNT], 743-44). Perhaps this is what in fact happened on the scene; but the theological significance given to this event by the author implies that more is involved. The reaction on the part of those who came to arrest Jesus comes in response to his affirmation that he is indeed the one they are seeking, Jesus the Nazarene. But Jesus makes this affirmation of his identity using a formula which the reader has encountered before in the Fourth Gospel, e.g., 8:24, 28, 58. Jesus has applied to himself the divine Name of Exod 3:14, “I AM.” Therefore this amounts to something of a theophany which causes even his enemies to recoil and prostrate themselves, so that Jesus has to ask a second time, “Who are you looking for?” This is a vivid reminder to the reader of the Gospel that even in this dark hour, Jesus holds ultimate power over his enemies and the powers of darkness, because he is the one who bears the divine Name.

[12:31]  ¹⁴ sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[12:31]  ¹⁵ tn Or “will be thrown out.” This translation regards the future passive ἐκβληθήσεται (ekblhqhsetai) as referring to an event future to the time of speaking.

[12:31]  sn The phrase driven out must refer to Satan’s loss of authority over this world. This must be in principle rather than in immediate fact, since 1 John 5:19 states that the whole world (still) lies in the power of the evil one (a reference to Satan). In an absolute sense the reference is proleptic. The coming of Jesus’ hour (his crucifixion, death, resurrection, and exaltation to the Father) marks the end of Satan’s domain and brings about his defeat, even though that defeat has not been ultimately worked out in history yet and awaits the consummation of the age.

[18:31]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Then Pilate said to them.”

[18:31]  ¹⁷ tn Or “judge him.” For the translation “pass judgment on him” see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:848).

[18:31]  ¹⁸ sn Pilate, as the sole representative of Rome in a troubled area, was probably in Jerusalem for the Passover because of the danger of an uprising (the normal residence for the Roman governor was in Caesarea as mentioned in Acts 23:35). At this time on the eve of the feast he would have been a busy and perhaps even a worried man. It is not surprising that he offered to hand Jesus back over to the Jewish authorities to pass judgment on him. It may well be that Pilate realized when no specific charge was mentioned that he was dealing with an internal dispute over some religious matter. Pilate wanted nothing to do with such matters, as the statement “Pass judgment on him according to your own law!” indicates. As far as the author is concerned, this points out who was really responsible for Jesus’ death: The Roman governor Pilate would have had nothing to do with it if he had not been pressured by the Jewish religious authorities, upon whom the real responsibility rested.

[18:31]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12.

[18:31]  ²⁰ tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “It is not permitted to us to kill anyone.”

[18:31]  sn The historical background behind the statement We cannot legally put anyone to death is difficult to reconstruct. Scholars are divided over whether this statement in the Fourth Gospel accurately reflects the judicial situation between the Jewish authorities and the Romans in 1st century Palestine. It appears that the Roman governor may have given the Jews the power of capital punishment for specific offenses, some of them religious (the death penalty for Gentiles caught trespassing in the inner courts of the temple, for example). It is also pointed out that the Jewish authorities did carry out a number of executions, some of them specifically pertaining to Christians (Stephen, according to Acts 7:58-60; and James the Just, who was stoned in the 60s according to Josephus, Ant. 20.9.1 [20.200]). But Stephen’s death may be explained as a result of “mob violence” rather than a formal execution, and as Josephus in the above account goes on to point out, James was executed in the period between two Roman governors, and the high priest at the time was subsequently punished for the action. Two studies by A. N. Sherwin-White (Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 1-47; and “The Trial of Christ,” Historicity and Chronology in the New Testament [SPCKTC], 97-116) have tended to support the accuracy of John’s account. He concluded that the Romans kept very close control of the death penalty for fear that in the hands of rebellious locals such power could be used to eliminate factions favorable or useful to Rome. A province as troublesome as Judea would not have been likely to be made an exception to this.

[12:23]  ²² tn Grk “Jesus answered them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:23]  ²³ tn Grk “the hour.”

[12:23]  ²⁴ sn Jesus’ reply, the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, is a bit puzzling. As far as the author’s account is concerned, Jesus totally ignores these Greeks and makes no further reference to them whatsoever. It appears that his words are addressed to Andrew and Philip, but in fact they must have had a wider audience, including possibly the Greeks who had wished to see him in the first place. The words the time has come recall all the previous references to “the hour” throughout the Fourth Gospel (see the note on time in 2:4). There is no doubt, in light of the following verse, that Jesus refers to his death here. On his pathway to glorification lies the cross, and it is just ahead.

[7:24]  ²⁵ tn Or “based on sight.”

[7:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “honest”; Grk “righteous.”

[7:21]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:21]  ²⁸ tn Grk “I did one deed.”

[7:21]  ²⁹ sn The “one miracle” that caused them all to be amazed was the last previous public miracle in Jerusalem recorded by the author, the healing of the paralyzed man in John 5:1-9 on the Sabbath. (The synoptic gospels record other Sabbath healings, but John does not mention them.)

[7:51]  ³⁰ tn Grk “judge.”

[7:51]  ³¹ tn Grk “knows.”

[7:51]  ³² tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does it?”).

[11:2]  ³³ tn Or “perfume,” “ointment.”

[11:2]  ³⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. It is a bit surprising that the author here identifies Mary as the one who anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and wiped his feet dry with her hair, since this event is not mentioned until later, in 12:3. Many see this “proleptic” reference as an indication that the author expected his readers to be familiar with the story already, and go on to assume that in general the author in writing the Fourth Gospel assumed his readers were familiar with the other three gospels. Whether the author assumed actual familiarity with the synoptic gospels or not, it is probable that he did assume some familiarity with Mary’s anointing activity.

[19:17]  ³⁵ tn Or “carrying the cross by himself.”

[19:17]  sn As was customary practice in a Roman crucifixion, the prisoner was made to carry his own cross. In all probability this was only the crossbeam, called in Latin the patibulum, since the upright beam usually remained in the ground at the place of execution. According to Matt 27:32 and Mark 15:21, the soldiers forced Simon to take the cross; Luke 23:26 states that the cross was placed on Simon so that it might be carried behind Jesus. A reasonable explanation of all this is that Jesus started out carrying the cross until he was no longer able to do so, at which point Simon was forced to take over.

[19:17]  ³⁶ sn Jesus was led out to the place called “The Place of the Skull” where he was to be crucified. It is clear from v. 20 that this was outside the city. The Latin word for the Greek κρανίον (kranion) is calvaria. Thus the English word “Calvary” is a transliteration of the Latin rather than a NT place name (cf. Luke 23:33 in the KJV).

[19:17]  ³⁷ tn Grk “in Hebrew.”

[19:17]  ³⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[18:36]  ³⁹ tn Grk “so that I may not be.”

[18:36]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “delivered over.”

[18:36]  ⁴¹ tn Or “the Jewish leaders”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12. In the translation “authorities” was preferred over “leaders” for stylistic reasons.

[18:36]  ⁴² tn Grk “now.”

[19:31]  ⁴³ sn The Jewish authorities, because this was the day of preparation for the Sabbath and the Passover (cf. 19:14), requested Pilate to order the legs of the three who had been crucified to be broken. This would hasten their deaths, so that the bodies could be removed before the beginning of the Sabbath at 6 p.m. This was based on the law of Deut 21:22-23 and Josh 8:29 that specified the bodies of executed criminals who had been hanged on a tree should not remain there overnight. According to Josephus this law was interpreted in the 1st century to cover the bodies of those who had been crucified (J. W. 4.5.2 [4.317]). Philo of Alexandria also mentions that on occasion, especially at festivals, the bodies were taken down and given to relatives to bury (Flaccus 10 [83]). The normal Roman practice would have been to leave the bodies on the crosses, to serve as a warning to other would-be offenders.

[19:31]  ⁴⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:31]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “asked Pilate that the legs of them might be broken.” The referent of “them” (the three individuals who were crucified, collectively referred to as “the victims”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[19:31]  ⁴⁷ sn To have the legs…broken. Breaking the legs of a crucified person was a way of speeding up his death, since the victim could no longer use his legs to push upward in order to be able to draw a breath. This breaking of the legs was called in Latin crurifragium, and was done with a heavy mallet.

[19:31]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken down.” Here because of the numerous ambiguous third person references it is necessary to clarify that it was the crucified men whose legs were to be broken and whose corpses were to be removed from the crosses.