Yohanes 5:19

5:19 So Jesus answered them, ¹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²  the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, ³  but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ⁴  does, the Son does likewise. ⁵ 

Yohanes 7:35

7:35 Then the Jewish leaders ⁶  said to one another, “Where is he ⁷  going to go that we cannot find him? ⁸  He is not going to go to the Jewish people dispersed ⁹  among the Greeks and teach the Greeks, is he? ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 8:28

8:28 Then Jesus said, ¹¹  “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, ¹²  and I do nothing on my own initiative, ¹³  but I speak just what the Father taught me. ¹⁴ 

Yohanes 16:7

16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate ¹⁵  will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

Yohanes 16:17

16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is the meaning of what he is saying, ¹⁶  ‘In a little while you ¹⁷  will not see me; again after a little while, you ¹⁸  will see me,’ and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” ¹⁹ 

[5:19]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[5:19]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:19]  ³ tn Grk “nothing from himself.”

[5:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ⁵ 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.

[7:35]  ⁶ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; 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 is understood to refer to the Jewish authorities or leaders, since the Jewish leaders are mentioned in this context both before and after the present verse (7:32, 45).

[7:35]  ⁷ tn Grk “this one.”

[7:35]  ⁸ tn Grk “will not find him.”

[7:35]  ⁹ sn The Jewish people dispersed (Grk “He is not going to the Diaspora”). The Greek term diaspora (“dispersion”) originally meant those Jews not living in Palestine, but dispersed or scattered among the Gentiles.

[7:35]  ¹⁰ 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 “is he?”).

[7:35]  sn Note the Jewish opponents’ misunderstanding of Jesus’ words, as made clear in vv. 35-36. They didn’t realize he spoke of his departure out of the world. This is another example of the author’s use of misunderstanding as a literary device to emphasize a point.

[8:28]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all mss).

[8:28]  ¹² tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.

[8:28]  ¹³ tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”

[8:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”

[16:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[16:17]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “What is this that he is saying to us.”

[16:17]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “A little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “and again a little while, and you.”

[16:17]  ¹⁹ sn These fragmentary quotations of Jesus’ statements are from 16:16 and 16:10, and indicate that the disciples heard only part of what Jesus had to say to them on this occasion.