Yohanes 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ¹  at night ²  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ³  that you do unless God is with him.”

Yohanes 5:19

5:19 So Jesus answered them, ⁴  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵  the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, ⁶  but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ⁷  does, the Son does likewise. ⁸ 

Yohanes 8:44

8:44 You people ⁹  are from ¹⁰  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ¹¹  He ¹²  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ¹³  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ¹⁴  he speaks according to his own nature, ¹⁵  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 14:10

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? ¹⁷  The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, ¹⁸  but the Father residing in me performs ¹⁹  his miraculous deeds. ²⁰ 

Yohanes 19:38

Jesus’ Burial

19:38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, a disciple of Jesus (but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders ²¹ ), ²²  asked Pilate if he could remove the body of Jesus. Pilate ²³  gave him permission, so he went and took the body away. ²⁴ 

[3:2]  ¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ² tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  sn Possibly Nicodemus came…at night because he was afraid of public association with Jesus, or he wanted a lengthy discussion without interruptions; no explanation for the timing of the interview is given by the author. But the timing is significant for John in terms of the light-darkness motif – compare John 9:4, 11:10, 13:30 (especially), 19:39, and 21:3. Out of the darkness of his life and religiosity Nicodemus came to the Light of the world. The author probably had multiple meanings or associations in mind here, as is often the case.

[3:2]  ³ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[5:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “nothing from himself.”

[5:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ⁸ sn What works does the Son do likewise? The same that the Father does – and the same that the rabbis recognized as legitimate works of God on the Sabbath (see note on working in v. 17). (1) Jesus grants life (just as the Father grants life) on the Sabbath. But as the Father gives physical life on the Sabbath, so the Son grants spiritual life (John 5:21; note the “greater things” mentioned in v. 20). (2) Jesus judges (determines the destiny of people) on the Sabbath, just as the Father judges those who die on the Sabbath, because the Father has granted authority to the Son to judge (John 5:22-23). But this is not all. Not only has this power been granted to Jesus in the present; it will be his in the future as well. In v. 28 there is a reference not to spiritually dead (only) but also physically dead. At their resurrection they respond to the Son as well.

[8:44]  ⁹ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ¹⁰ tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ¹² tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ¹³ tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”

[14:10]  ¹⁷ tn The mutual interrelationship of the Father and the Son (ἐγὼ ἐν τῷ πατρὶ καὶ ὁ πατὴρ ἐν ἐμοί ἐστιν, egw en tw patri kai Jo pathr en emoi estin) is something that Jesus expected even his opponents to recognize (cf. John 10:38). The question Jesus asks of Philip (οὐ πιστεύεις, ou pisteuei") expects the answer “yes.” Note that the following statement is addressed to all the disciples, however, because the plural pronoun (ὑμῖν, Jumin) is used. Jesus says that his teaching (the words he spoke to them all) did not originate from himself, but the Father, who permanently remains (μένων, menwn) in relationship with Jesus, performs his works. One would have expected “speaks his words” here rather than “performs his works”; many of the church fathers (e.g., Augustine and Chrysostom) identified the two by saying that Jesus’ words were works. But there is an implicit contrast in the next verse between words and works, and v. 12 seems to demand that the works are real works, not just words. It is probably best to see the two terms as related but not identical; there is a progression in the idea here. Both Jesus’ words (recall the Samaritans’ response in John 4:42) and Jesus’ works are revelatory of who he is, but as the next verse indicates, works have greater confirmatory power than words.

[14:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I do not speak from myself.”

[14:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “does.”

[14:10]  ²⁰ tn Or “his mighty acts”; Grk “his works.”

[14:10]  sn Miraculous deeds is most likely a reference to the miraculous signs Jesus had performed, which he viewed as a manifestation of the mighty acts of God. Those he performed in the presence of the disciples served as a basis for faith (although a secondary basis to their personal relationship to him; see the following verse).

[19:38]  ²¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially the Pharisees (see John 12:42). See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.

[19:38]  ²² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[19:38]  ²³ tn Grk “And Pilate.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[19:38]  ²⁴ tn Grk “took away his body.”