Yohanes 3:19-21

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹  that the light has come into the world and people ²  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil. 3:20 For everyone who does evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light, so that their deeds will not be exposed. 3:21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the light, so that it may be plainly evident that his deeds have been done in God. ³ 

Yohanes 7:12-13

7:12 There was ⁴  a lot of grumbling ⁵  about him among the crowds. ⁶  Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” ⁷  7:13 However, no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jewish leaders. ⁸ 

Yohanes 7:30-31

7:30 So then they tried to seize Jesus, ⁹  but no one laid a hand on him, because his time ¹⁰  had not yet come. 7:31 Yet many of the crowd ¹¹  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ¹²  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ¹³ 

Yohanes 7:42-44

7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ¹⁴  of David ¹⁵  and comes from Bethlehem, ¹⁶  the village where David lived?” ¹⁷  7:43 So there was a division in the crowd ¹⁸  because of Jesus. ¹⁹  7:44 Some of them were wanting to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him. ²⁰ 

Yohanes 9:39-41

9:39 Jesus ²¹  said,] ²²  “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, ²³  and the ones who see may become blind.”

9:40 Some of the Pharisees ²⁴  who were with him heard this ²⁵  and asked him, ²⁶  “We are not blind too, are we?” ²⁷  9:41 Jesus replied, ²⁸  “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin, ²⁹  but now because you claim that you can see, ³⁰  your guilt ³¹  remains.” ³² 

[3:19]  ¹ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ² tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[3:21]  ³ sn John 3:16-21 provides an introduction to the (so-called) “realized” eschatology of the Fourth Gospel: Judgment has come; eternal life may be possessed now, in the present life, as well as in the future. The terminology “realized eschatology” was originally coined by E. Haenchen and used by J. Jeremias in discussion with C. H. Dodd, but is now characteristically used to describe Dodd’s own formulation. See L. Goppelt, Theology of the New Testament, 1:54, note 10, and R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:cxvii-cxviii) for further discussion. Especially important to note is the element of choice portrayed in John’s Gospel. If there is a twofold reaction to Jesus in John’s Gospel, it should be emphasized that that reaction is very much dependent on a person’s choice, a choice that is influenced by his way of life, whether his deeds are wicked or are done in God (John 3:20-21). For John there is virtually no trace of determinism at the surface. Only when one looks beneath the surface does one find statements like “no one can come to me, unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

[7:12]  ⁴ tn Grk “And there was.”

[7:12]  ⁵ tn Or “complaining.”

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in the previous verse).

[7:12]  ⁷ tn Or “the crowd.”

[7:13]  ⁸ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See also the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:30]  ⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:30]  sn Here the response is on the part of the crowd, who tried to seize Jesus. This is apparently distinct from the attempted arrest by the authorities mentioned in 7:32.

[7:30]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “his hour.”

[7:31]  ¹¹ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  ¹² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[7:31]  ¹³ 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 it is “will he?”).

[7:42]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42]  ¹⁵ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42]  ¹⁶ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[7:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[7:43]  ¹⁸ tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities like the chief priests and Pharisees).

[7:43]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44]  ²⁰ sn Compare John 7:30 regarding the attempt to seize Jesus.

[9:39]  ²¹ tn Grk “And Jesus.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[9:39]  ²² tc ‡ Some early and important witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* W b sa^ms ac² mf) lack the words, “He said, ‘Lord, I believe,’ and he worshiped him. Jesus said,” (vv. 38-39a). This is weighty evidence for the omission of these words. It is difficult to overstate the value of Ì⁷⁵ here, since it is the only currently available papyrus ms extant for the text of John 9:38-39. Further, א is an important and early Alexandrian witness for the omission. The versional testimony and codex W also give strong support to the omission. Nearly all other mss, however, include these words. The omission may have been occasioned by parablepsis (both vv. 37 and 39 begin with “Jesus said to him”), though it is difficult to account for such an error across such a wide variety of witnesses. On the other hand, the longer reading appears to be motivated by liturgical concerns (so R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:375), since the verb προσκυνέω (proskunew, “I worship”) is used in John 4:20-25 of worshiping God, and again with the same sense in 12:20. If these words were authentic here, this would be the only place in John’s Gospel where Jesus is the explicit object of προσκυνέω. Even if these words are not authentic, such an omission would nevertheless hardly diminish John’s high Christology (cf. 1:1; 5:18-23; 14:6-10; 20:28), nor the implicit worship of him by Thomas (20:28). Nevertheless, a decision is difficult, and the included words may reflect a very early tradition about the blind man’s response to Jesus.

[9:39]  ²³ tn Or “that those who do not see may see.”

[9:40]  ²⁴ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[9:40]  ²⁵ tn Grk “heard these things.”

[9:40]  ²⁶ tn Grk “and said to him.”

[9:40]  ²⁷ 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 we?”).

[9:41]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[9:41]  ²⁹ tn Grk “you would not have sin.”

[9:41]  ³⁰ tn Grk “now because you say, ‘We see…’”

[9:41]  ³¹ tn Or “your sin.”

[9:41]  ³² sn Because you claim that you can see, your guilt remains. The blind man received sight physically, and this led him to see spiritually as well. But the Pharisees, who claimed to possess spiritual sight, were spiritually blinded. The reader might recall Jesus’ words to Nicodemus in 3:10, “Are you the teacher of Israel and don’t understand these things?” In other words, to receive Jesus was to receive the light of the world, to reject him was to reject the light, close one’s eyes, and become blind. This is the serious sin of which Jesus had warned before (8:21-24). The blindness of such people was incurable since they had rejected the only cure that exists (cf. 12:39-41).