Yohanes 1:50

1:50 Jesus said to him, ¹  “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ² 

Yohanes 3:16

3:16 For this is the way ³  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ⁴  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ⁵  but have eternal life. ⁶ 

Yohanes 6:35

6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. The one who comes to me will never go hungry, and the one who believes in me will never be thirsty. ⁷ 

Yohanes 6:40

6:40 For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up ⁸  at the last day.” ⁹ 

Yohanes 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ¹⁰  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ¹¹  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ¹² 

Yohanes 7:39

7:39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, ¹³  because Jesus was not yet glorified.) ¹⁴ 

Yohanes 8:24

8:24 Thus I told you ¹⁵  that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, ¹⁶  you will die in your sins.”

Yohanes 11:42

11:42 I knew that you always listen to me, ¹⁷  but I said this ¹⁸  for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

Yohanes 12:42

12:42 Nevertheless, even among the rulers ¹⁹  many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees ²⁰  they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, ²¹  so that they would not be put out of ²²  the synagogue. ²³ 

[1:50]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”

[1:50]  ² sn What are the greater things Jesus had in mind? In the narrative this forms an excellent foreshadowing of the miraculous signs which began at Cana of Galilee.

[3:16]  ³ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ⁵ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ⁶ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

[6:35]  ⁷ tn Grk “the one who believes in me will not possibly thirst, ever.”

[6:35]  sn The one who believes in me will never be thirsty. Note the parallelism between “coming to Jesus” in the first part of v. 35 and “believing in Jesus” in the second part of v. 35. For the author of the Gospel of John these terms are virtually equivalent, both referring to a positive response to Jesus (see John 3:17-21).

[6:40]  ⁸ tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”

[6:40]  ⁹ sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).

[7:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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?”).

[7:39]  ¹³ tn Grk “for the Spirit was not yet.” Although only B and a handful of other NT mss supply the participle δεδομένον (dedomenon), this is followed in the translation to avoid misunderstanding by the modern English reader that prior to this time the Spirit did not exist. John’s phrase is expressed from a human standpoint and has nothing to do with the preexistence of the third Person of the Godhead. The meaning is that the era of the Holy Spirit had not yet arrived; the Spirit was not as yet at work in a way he later would be because Jesus had not yet returned to his Father. Cf. also Acts 19:2.

[7:39]  ¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[8:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “thus I said to you.”

[8:24]  ¹⁶ 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.

[11:42]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “that you always hear me.”

[11:42]  ¹⁸ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[12:42]  ¹⁹ sn The term rulers here denotes members of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in 3:1.

[12:42]  ²⁰ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[12:42]  ²¹ tn The words “Jesus to be the Christ” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (see 9:22). As is often the case in Greek, the direct object is omitted for the verb ὡμολόγουν (Jwmologoun). Some translators supply an ambiguous “it,” or derive the implied direct object from the previous clause “believed in him” so that the rulers would not confess “their faith” or “their belief.” However, when one compares John 9:22, which has many verbal parallels to this verse, it seems clear that the content of the confession would have been “Jesus is the Christ (i.e., Messiah).”

[12:42]  sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

[12:42]  ²² tn Or “be expelled from.”

[12:42]  ²³ sn Compare John 9:22. See the note on synagogue in 6:59.