Yohanes 3:11

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ²  you people ³  do not accept our testimony. ⁴ 

Yohanes 8:12

Jesus as the Light of the World

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, ⁵  “I am the light of the world. ⁶  The one who follows me will never ⁷  walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Yohanes 8:26

8:26 I have many things to say and to judge ⁸  about you, but the Father ⁹  who sent me is truthful, ¹⁰  and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” ¹¹ 

[3:11]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:11]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.

[3:11]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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).

[8:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “Then again Jesus spoke to them saying.”

[8:12]  ⁶ sn The theory proposed by F. J. A. Hort (The New Testament in the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction; Appendix, 87-88), that the backdrop of 8:12 is the lighting of the candelabra in the court of women, may offer a plausible setting to the proclamation by Jesus that he is the light of the world. The last time that Jesus spoke in the narrative (assuming 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text, as the textual evidence suggests) is in 7:38, where he was speaking to a crowd of pilgrims in the temple area. This is where he is found in the present verse, and he may be addressing the crowd again. Jesus’ remark has to be seen in view of both the prologue (John 1:4, 5) and the end of the discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:19-21). The coming of Jesus into the world provokes judgment: A choosing up of sides becomes necessary. The one who comes to the light, that is, who follows Jesus, will not walk in the darkness. The one who refuses to come, will walk in the darkness. In this contrast, there are only two alternatives. So it is with a person’s decision about Jesus. Furthermore, this serves as in implicit indictment of Jesus’ opponents, who still walk in the darkness, because they refuse to come to him. This sets up the contrast in chap. 9 between the man born blind, who receives both physical and spiritual sight, and the Pharisees (John 9:13, 15, 16) who have physical sight but remain in spiritual darkness.

[8:12]  ⁷ tn The double negative οὐ μή (ou mh) is emphatic in 1st century Hellenistic Greek.

[8:26]  ⁸ tn Or “I have many things to pronounce in judgment about you.” The two Greek infinitives could be understood as a hendiadys, resulting in one phrase.

[8:26]  ⁹ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “true” (in the sense of one who always tells the truth).

[8:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and what things I have heard from him, these things I speak to the world.”