Yohanes 8:24

8:24 Thus I told you ¹  that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, ²  you will die in your sins.”

Yohanes 12:48

12:48 The one who rejects me and does not accept ³  my words has a judge; ⁴  the word ⁵  I have spoken will judge him at the last day.

Yohanes 15:5-6

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ⁶  in me – and I in him – bears ⁷  much fruit, ⁸  because apart from me you can accomplish ⁹  nothing. 15:6 If anyone does not remain ¹⁰  in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, ¹¹  and are burned up. ¹² 

Yohanes 16:25

16:25 “I have told you these things in obscure figures of speech; ¹³  a time ¹⁴  is coming when I will no longer speak to you in obscure figures, but will tell you ¹⁵  plainly ¹⁶  about the Father.

[8:24]  ¹ tn Grk “thus I said to you.”

[8:24]  ² tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).

[8:24]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[12:48]  ³ tn Or “does not receive.”

[12:48]  ⁴ tn Grk “has one who judges him.”

[12:48]  ⁵ tn Or “message.”

[15:5]  ⁶ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ⁷ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ⁸ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  sn Many interpret the imagery of fruit here and in 15:2, 4 in terms of good deeds or character qualities, relating it to passages elsewhere in the NT like Matt 3:8 and 7:20, Rom 6:22, Gal 5:22, etc. This is not necessarily inaccurate, but one must remember that for John, to have life at all is to bear fruit, while one who does not bear fruit shows that he does not have the life (once again, conduct is the clue to paternity, as in John 8:41; compare also 1 John 4:20).

[15:5]  ⁹ tn Or “do.”

[15:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “reside.”

[15:6]  ¹¹ sn Such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire. The author does not tell who it is who does the gathering and throwing into the fire. Although some claim that realized eschatology is so prevalent in the Fourth Gospel that no references to final eschatology appear at all, the fate of these branches seems to point to the opposite. The imagery is almost certainly that of eschatological judgment, and recalls some of the OT vine imagery which involves divine rejection and judgment of disobedient Israel (Ezek 15:4-6, 19:12).

[15:6]  ¹² tn Grk “they gather them up and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.”

[16:25]  ¹³ tn Or “in parables”; or “in metaphors.” There is some difficulty in defining παροιμίαις (paroimiai") precisely: A translation like “parables” does not convey accurately the meaning. BDAG 779-80 s.v. παροιμία suggests in general “proverb, saw, maxim,” but for Johannine usage “veiled saying, figure of speech, in which esp. lofty ideas are concealed.” In the preceding context of the Farewell Discourse, Jesus has certainly used obscure language and imagery at times: John 13:8-11; 13:16; 15:1-17; and 16:21 could all be given as examples. In the LXX this word is used to translate the Hebrew mashal which covers a wide range of figurative speech, often containing obscure or enigmatic elements.

[16:25]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “inform you.”

[16:25]  ¹⁶ tn Or “openly.”