Yohanes 7:3-4

7:3 So Jesus’ brothers ¹  advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing. ²  7:4 For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself ³  does anything in secret. ⁴  If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.”

Yohanes 7:52

7:52 They replied, ⁵  “You aren’t from Galilee too, are you? ⁶  Investigate carefully and you will see that no prophet ⁷  comes from Galilee!”

Yohanes 9:21-22

9:21 But we do not know how he is now able to see, nor do we know who caused him to see. ⁸  Ask him, he is a mature adult. ⁹  He will speak for himself.” 9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ¹⁰  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ¹¹  to be the Christ ¹²  would be put out ¹³  of the synagogue. ¹⁴ 

Yohanes 9:24

9:24 Then they summoned ¹⁵  the man who used to be blind ¹⁶  a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. ¹⁷  We know that this man ¹⁸  is a sinner.”

[7:3]  ¹ tn Grk “his brothers.”

[7:3]  sn Jesus’ brothers. Jesus’ brothers (really his half-brothers) were mentioned previously by John in 2:12 (see the note on brothers there). They are also mentioned elsewhere in Matt 13:55 and Mark 6:3.

[7:3]  ² tn Grk “your deeds that you are doing.”

[7:3]  sn Should the advice by Jesus’ brothers, Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing, be understood as a suggestion that he should attempt to win back the disciples who had deserted him earlier (6:66)? Perhaps. But it is also possible to take the words as indicating that if Jesus is going to put forward messianic claims (i.e., through miraculous signs) then he should do so in Jerusalem, not in the remote parts of Galilee. Such an understanding seems to fit better with the following verse. It would also indicate misunderstanding on the part of Jesus’ brothers of the true nature of his mission – he did not come as the royal Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation, to be enthroned as king at this time.

[7:4]  ³ tn Or “seeks to be well known.”

[7:4]  ⁴ sn No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)

[7:52]  ⁵ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[7:52]  ⁶ 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 “are you?”).

[7:52]  ⁷ tc At least one early and important ms (Ì^66*) places the article before “prophet” (ὁ προφήτης, Jo profhths), making this a reference to the “prophet like Moses” mentioned in Deut 18:15.

[7:52]  tn This claim by the leaders presents some difficulty, because Jonah had been from Gath Hepher, in Galilee (2 Kgs 14:25). Also the Babylonian Talmud later stated, “There was not a tribe in Israel from which there did not come prophets” (b. Sukkah 27b). Two explanations are possible: (1) In the heat of anger the members of the Sanhedrin overlooked the facts (this is perhaps the easiest explanation). (2) This anarthrous noun is to be understood as a reference to the prophet of Deut 18:15 (note the reading of Ì⁶⁶ which is articular), by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief. This would produce in the text of John’s Gospel a high sense of irony indeed, since the religious authorities by their insistence that “the Prophet” could not come from Galilee displayed their true ignorance of where Jesus came from on two levels at once (Bethlehem, his birthplace, the fulfillment of Mic 5:2, but also heaven, from which he was sent by the Father). The author does not even bother to refute the false attestation of Jesus’ place of birth as Galilee (presumably Christians knew all too well where Jesus came from).

[9:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “who opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:21]  ⁹ tn Or “he is of age.”

[9:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ¹² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[9:22]  ¹³ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ¹⁴ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[9:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “they called.”

[9:24]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “who was blind.”

[9:24]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Give glory to God” (an idiomatic formula used in placing someone under oath to tell the truth).

[9:24]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “this man” is a reference to Jesus.