1 Korintus 3:23

3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

1 Korintus 15:27-28

15:27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. ¹  But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. 15:28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Yesaya 49:3-6

49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant,

Israel, through whom I will reveal my splendor.” ² 

49:4 But I thought, ³  “I have worked in vain;

I have expended my energy for absolutely nothing.” ⁴ 

But the Lord will vindicate me;

my God will reward me. ⁵ 

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth ⁶  to be his servant –

he did this ⁷  to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored ⁸  in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength ⁹  –

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹⁰  of Israel? ¹¹ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹² 

so you can bring ¹³  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Yesaya 52:13

The Lord Will Vindicate His Servant

52:13 “Look, my servant will succeed! ¹⁴ 

He will be elevated, lifted high, and greatly exalted ¹⁵  –

Yesaya 55:4

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations, ¹⁶ 

a ruler and commander of nations.”

Yesaya 61:1-4

The Lord Will Rejuvenate His People

61:1 The spirit of the sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen ¹⁷  me. ¹⁸ 

He has commissioned ¹⁹  me to encourage ²⁰  the poor,

to help ²¹  the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives,

and the freeing of prisoners,

61:2 to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance, ²² 

to console all who mourn,

61:3 to strengthen those who mourn in Zion,

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, ²³  instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, ²⁴  instead of discouragement. ²⁵ 

They will be called oaks of righteousness, ²⁶ 

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor. ²⁷ 

61:4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins

and restore the places that were desolate; ²⁸ 

they will reestablish the ruined cities,

the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

Matius 28:18

28:18 Then Jesus came up and said to them, ²⁹  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Yohanes 3:34-36

3:34 For the one whom God has sent ³⁰  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ³¹  3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ³²  3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ³³  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ³⁴  remains ³⁵  on him.

Yohanes 5:20-30

5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed. 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, ³⁶  so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. ³⁷  5:22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge ³⁸  anyone, but has assigned ³⁹  all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all people ⁴⁰  will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴¹  the one who hears ⁴²  my message ⁴³  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ⁴⁴  but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴⁵  a time ⁴⁶  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, 5:27 and he has granted the Son ⁴⁷  authority to execute judgment, ⁴⁸  because he is the Son of Man.

5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time ⁴⁹  is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 5:29 and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation. ⁵⁰  5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ⁵¹  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ⁵²  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ⁵³ 

Yohanes 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ⁵⁴  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ⁵⁵  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ⁵⁶ 

Yohanes 17:2-5

17:2 just as you have given him authority over all humanity, ⁵⁷  so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. ⁵⁸  17:3 Now this ⁵⁹  is eternal life ⁶⁰  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ⁶¹  whom you sent. 17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing ⁶²  the work you gave me to do. ⁶³  17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side ⁶⁴  with the glory I had with you before the world was created. ⁶⁵ 

Efesus 1:20-22

1:20 This power ⁶⁶  he exercised ⁶⁷  in Christ when he raised him ⁶⁸  from the dead and seated him ⁶⁹  at his right hand in the heavenly realms ⁷⁰  1:21 far above every rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 1:22 And God ⁷¹  put ⁷²  all things under Christ’s ⁷³  feet, ⁷⁴  and he gave him to the church as head over all things. ⁷⁵ 

Filipi 2:7-11

2:7 but emptied himself

by taking on the form of a slave, ⁷⁶ 

by looking like other men, ⁷⁷ 

and by sharing in human nature. ⁷⁸ 

2:8 He humbled himself,

by becoming obedient to the point of death

– even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord

to the glory of God the Father.

[15:27]  ¹ sn A quotation from Ps 8:6.

[49:3]  ² sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.

[49:4]  ³ tn Or “said” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “I replied.”

[49:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “for nothing and emptiness.” Synonyms are combined to emphasize the common idea.

[49:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “But my justice is with the Lord, and my reward [or “wage”] with my God.”

[49:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:5]  ⁷ tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

[49:5]  ⁸ tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

[49:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

[49:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹¹ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ¹² tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[52:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “act wisely,” which by metonymy means “succeed.”

[52:13]  ¹⁵ tn This piling up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of the servant’s coming exaltation.

[55:4]  ¹⁶ sn Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness (cf. Pss 18:50 HT [18:49 ET]; 22:28 HT [22:27 ET]). See J. H. Eaton, Kingship in the Psalms (SBT), 182-84.

[61:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “anointed,” i.e., designated to carry out an assigned task.

[61:1]  ¹⁸ sn The speaker is not identified, but he is distinct from the Lord and from Zion’s suffering people. He possesses the divine spirit, is God’s spokesman, and is sent to release prisoners from bondage. The evidence suggests he is the Lord’s special servant, described earlier in the servant songs (see 42:1-4, 7; 49:2, 9; 50:4; see also 51:16).

[61:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sent” (NAB); NCV “has appointed me.”

[61:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “proclaim good news to.”

[61:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “to bind up [the wounds of].”

[61:2]  ²² tn Heb “to announce the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of our God’s vengeance.

[61:3]  ²³ tn Heb “oil of joy” (KJV, ASV); NASB, NIV, NRSV “the oil of gladness.”

[61:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “garment of praise.”

[61:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a faint spirit” (so NRSV); KJV, ASV “the spirit of heaviness”; NASB “a spirit of fainting.”

[61:3]  ²⁶ tn Rather than referring to the character of the people, צֶדֶק (tsedeq) may carry the nuance “vindication” here, suggesting that God’s restored people are a testimony to his justice. See v. 2, which alludes to the fact that God will take vengeance against the enemies of his people. Cf. NAB “oaks of justice.”

[61:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a planting of the Lord to reveal splendor.”

[61:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and the formerly desolate places they will raise up.”

[28:18]  ²⁹ tn Grk “coming, Jesus spoke to them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn, “saying”) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated. Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[3:34]  ³⁰ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ³¹ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[3:35]  ³² tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

[3:36]  ³³ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

[3:36]  ³⁴ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

[3:36]  ³⁵ tn Or “resides.”

[5:21]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and makes them live.”

[5:21]  ³⁷ tn Grk “the Son makes whomever he wants to live.”

[5:22]  ³⁸ tn Or “condemn.”

[5:22]  ³⁹ tn Or “given,” or “handed over.”

[5:23]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).

[5:24]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:24]  ⁴² tn Or “obeys.”

[5:24]  ⁴³ tn Or “word.”

[5:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”

[5:25]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:25]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “an hour.”

[5:27]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “him.”

[5:27]  ⁴⁸ tn Grk “authority to judge.”

[5:28]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “an hour.”

[5:29]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “a resurrection resulting in judgment.”

[5:30]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ⁵² tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ⁵³ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[14:28]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ⁵⁶ sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[17:2]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “all people”; Grk “all flesh.”

[17:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “so that to everyone whom you have given to him, he may give to them eternal life.”

[17:3]  ⁵⁹ tn Using αὕτη δέ (Jauth de) to introduce an explanation is typical Johannine style; it was used before in John 1:19, 3:19, and 15:12.

[17:3]  ⁶⁰ sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (Χριστός, Cristos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginwskw) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

[17:3]  ⁶¹ tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[17:4]  ⁶² tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.

[17:4]  sn By completing the work. The idea of Jesus being sent into the world on a mission has been mentioned before, significantly in 3:17. It was even alluded to in the immediately preceding verse here (17:3). The completion of the “work” the Father had sent him to accomplish was mentioned by Jesus in 4:34 and 5:36. What is the nature of the “work” the Father has given the Son to accomplish? It involves the Son’s mission to be the Savior of the world, as 3:17 indicates. But this is accomplished specifically through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross (a thought implied by the reference to the Father “giving” the Son in 3:16). It is not without significance that Jesus’ last word from the cross is “It is completed” (19:30).

[17:4]  ⁶³ tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”

[17:5]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pro" ton qeon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ.

[17:5]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “before the world was.” The word “created” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[17:5]  sn It is important to note that although Jesus prayed for a return to the glory he had at the Father’s side before the world was created, he was not praying for a “de-incarnation.” His humanity which he took on at the incarnation (John 1:14) remains, though now glorified.

[1:20]  ⁶⁶ tn Grk “which” (v. 20 is a subordinate clause to v. 19).

[1:20]  ⁶⁷ tn The verb “exercised” (the aorist of ἐνεργέω, energew) has its nominal cognate in “exercise” in v. 19 (ἐνέργεια, energeia).

[1:20]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “This power he exercised in Christ by raising him”; Grk “raising him.” The adverbial participle ἐγείρας (egeiras) could be understood as temporal (“when he raised [him]”), which would be contemporaneous to the action of the finite verb “he exercised” earlier in the verse, or as means (“by raising [him]”). The participle has been translated here with the temporal nuance to allow for means to also be a possible interpretation. If the translation focused instead upon means, the temporal nuance would be lost as the time frame for the action of the participle would become indistinct.

[1:20]  ⁶⁹ tc The majority of mss, especially the Western and Byzantine mss (D F G Ψ Ï b r Ambst), have the indicative ἐκάθισεν (ekaqisen, “he seated”) for καθίσας (kaqisa", “when he seated, by seating”). The indicative is thus coordinate with ἐνήργησεν (enhrghsen, “he exercised”) and provides an additional statement to “he exercised his power.” The participle (found in Ì^92vid א A B 0278 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 2464 al), on the other hand, is coordinate with ἐγείρας (egeiras) and as such provides evidence of God’s power: He exercised his power by raising Christ from the dead and by seating him at his right hand. As intriguing as the indicative reading is, it is most likely an intentional alteration of the original wording, accomplished by an early “Western” scribe, which made its way in the Byzantine text.

[1:20]  ⁷⁰ sn Eph 1:19-20. The point made in these verses is that the power required to live a life pleasing to God is the same power that raised Christ from the dead. For a similar thought, cf. John 15:1-11.

[1:22]  ⁷¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁷² tn Grk “subjected.”

[1:22]  ⁷³ tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:22]  ⁷⁴ sn An allusion to Ps 8:6.

[1:22]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “and he gave him as head over all things to the church.”

[2:7]  ⁷⁶ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 1:1.

[2:7]  ⁷⁷ tn Grk “by coming in the likeness of people.”

[2:7]  sn The expression the likeness of men is similar to Paul’s wording in Rom 8:3 (“in the likeness of sinful flesh”). The same word “likeness” is used in both passages. It implies that there is a form that does not necessarily correspond to reality. In Rom 8:3, the meaning is that Christ looked like sinful humanity. Here the meaning is similar: Jesus looked like other men (note anqrwpoi), but was in fact different from them in that he did not have a sin nature.

[2:7]  ⁷⁸ tn Grk “and by being found in form as a man.” The versification of vv. 7 and 8 (so also NRSV) is according to the versification in the NA²⁷ and UBS⁴ editions of the Greek text. Some translations, however, break the verses in front of this phrase (NKJV, NASB, NIV, NLT). The same material has been translated in each case; the only difference is the versification of that material.

[2:7]  sn By sharing in human nature. This last line of v. 7 (line d) stands in tension with the previous line, line c (“by looking like other men”). Both lines have a word indicating form or likeness. Line c, as noted above, implies that Christ only appeared to be like other people. Line d, however, uses a different term that implies a correspondence between form and reality. Further, line c uses the plural “men” while line d uses the singular “man.” The theological point being made is that Christ looked just like other men, but he was not like other men (in that he was not sinful), though he was fully human.