Teks -- John 11:15 (NET)

11:15 and I am glad for your sake that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Joh 11:15 - For your sakes

For your sakes ( di' humas ).

That they may witness his raising from the grave.

Robertson: Joh 11:15 - That I was not there

That I was not there ( hoti ouk ēmēn ekei ).

Imperfect middle ēmēn of the later Greek instead of the common active ēn in indirect discourse in place of the usual present retained as in Joh 11:13.

Robertson: Joh 11:15 - To the intent ye may believe

To the intent ye may believe ( hina pisteusēte ).

Purpose clause with hina and the ingressive aorist active subjunctive, "that ye may come to believe"(more than you do). See the same use of the ingressive aorist in episteusan (Joh 2:11) where the disciples gained in belief.

Robertson: Joh 11:15 - Nevertheless let us go to him

Nevertheless let us go to him ( alla agōmen pros auton ).

Volitive subjunctive, repeating the proposal of Joh 11:7. He is dead, but no matter, yea all the more let us go on to him.

Vincent: Joh 11:15 - For your sakes - to the intent ye may believe

For your sakes - to the intent ye may believe

These two clauses, which are separated in the A.V. and Rev., are, in the Greek order, placed together: for your sakes , to the intent ye may believe; the latter clause being explanatory of the former.

Vincent: Joh 11:15 - That I was not there

That I was not there

Bengel's comment is beautiful and characteristic. " It accords beautifully with divine propriety that we read of no one having died while the Prince of life was present. If you suppose that death could not, in the presence of Jesus, have assailed Lazarus, the language of the two sisters, Joh 11:21, Joh 11:32, attains loftier meaning; and the Lord's joy at His own absence is explained."

Vincent: Joh 11:15 - Unto him

Unto him ( πρὸς αὐτόν )

Most touching. To him , as though he were yet living. Death has not broken the personal relation of the Lord with His friend.

JFB: Joh 11:11-16 - Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may wake him out of sleep

Illustrious title! "Our friend Lazarus." To Abraham only is it accorded in the Old Testament, and not till after his death, (2Ch 20:7; Isa 41:8), to which our attention is called in the New Testament (Jam 2:23). When Jesus came in the flesh, His forerunner applied this name, in a certain sense, to himself (Joh 3:29); and into the same fellowship the Lord's chosen disciples are declared to have come (Joh 15:13-15). "The phrase here employed, "our friend Lazarus," means more than "he whom Thou lovest" in Joh 11:3, for it implies that Christ's affection was reciprocated by Lazarus" [LAMPE]. Our Lord had been told only that Lazarus was "sick." But the change which his two days' delay had produced is here tenderly alluded to. Doubtless, His spirit was all the while with His dying, and now dead "friend." The symbol of "sleep" for death is common to all languages, and familiar to us in the Old Testament. In the New Testament, however, a higher meaning is put into it, in relation to believers in Jesus (see on 1Th 4:14), a sense hinted at, and clearly, in Psa 17:15 [LUTHARDT]; and the "awaking out of sleep" acquires a corresponding sense far transcending bare resuscitation.

JFB: Joh 11:15 - I am glad for your sakes I was not there

This certainly implies that if He had been present, Lazarus would not have died; not because He could not have resisted the importunities of the sisters, but because, in presence of the personal Life, death could not have reached His friend [LUTHARDT]. "It is beautifully congruous to the divine decorum that in presence of the Prince of Life no one is ever said to have died" [BENGEL].

JFB: Joh 11:15 - that ye may believe

This is added to explain His "gladness" at not having been present. His friend's death, as such, could not have been to Him "joyous"; the sequel shows it was "grievous"; but for them it was safe (Phi 3:1).

Clarke: Joh 11:15 - I am glad for your sakes that I was not there

I am glad for your sakes that I was not there - " I tell you plainly, Lazarus is dead: and I am glad I was not there - if I had been, I should have been prevailed on to have healed him almost as soon as he fell sick, and I should not have had so striking an occasion to manifest the glory of God to you, and to establish you in the faith."It was a miracle to discover that Lazarus was dead, as no person had come to announce it. It was a greater miracle to raise a dead man than to cure a sick man. And it was a still greater miracle, to raise one that was three or four days buried, and in whose body putrefaction might have begun to take place, than to raise one that was but newly dead. See Joh 11:39.

Calvin: Joh 11:15 - And I rejoice, on your account, that I was not there // That you may believe

15.And I rejoice, on your account, that I was not there He means that his absence was profitable to them, because his power would have been less illustriously displayed, if he had instantly given assistance to Lazarus. For the more nearly the works of God approach to the ordinary course of nature, the less highly are they valued, and the less illustriously is their glory displayed. This is what we experience daily; for if God immediately stretches out his hand, we do not perceive his assistance. That the resurrection of Lazarus, therefore, might be acknowledged by the disciples to be truly a Divine work, it must be delayed, that it might be very widely removed from a human remedy.

We ought to remember, however, what I formerly observed, that the fatherly kindness of God towards us is here represented in the person of Christ. When God permits us to be overwhelmed with distresses, and to languish long under them, let us know that, in this manner, he promotes our salvation. At such a time, no doubt, we groan and are perplexed and sorrowful, but the Lord rejoices on account of our benefit, and gives a twofold display of his kindness to us in this respect, that he not only pardons our sins, but gladly finds means of correcting them.

That you may believe He does not mean that this was the first feeble commencement of faith in them, but that it was a confirmation of faith already begun, though it was still exceedingly small and weak. Yet he indirectly suggests that, if the hand of God had not been openly displayed, they would not have believed.

TSK: Joh 11:15 - I am glad // for // to

I am glad : Joh 11:35, Joh 11:36

for : Joh 12:30, Joh 17:19; Gen 26:24, Gen 39:5; Psa 105:14; Isa 54:15, Isa 65:8; 2Co 4:15; 2Ti 2:10

to : Joh 11:4, Joh 2:11, Joh 14:10,Joh 14:11; 1Jo 5:13

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Joh 11:15 - let us go unto him

Had I been upon the place, my kindness to his sisters, and pity, would have prevailed far with me to have prevented his death; but it is better, for your sakes at least, and I am glad. I was not there. For by this means I shalt have an advantage, by putting forth my Divine power in raising him from the dead, to confirm your faith in me as the Son of God, and the true Messias; therefore, though he be dead,

let us go unto him

Haydock: Joh 11:15

When Christ says, that you may believe, we must not suppose he means, that they might begin than for the first time to believe, but that their faith, already begun, might be increased; for the faith of the disciples still stood in need of miracles, to make it grow more strong and rooted. (St. Augustine, as above.)

Gill: Joh 11:15 - And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there // to the intent ye may believe // nevertheless, let us go unto him

And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there,.... At Bethany, before he died, or when he died; because he might have been prevailed upon through the solicitations of his dear friends, Mary and Martha, and through tender affection to Lazarus, to have prevented his death, by rebuking the distemper, and restoring him to health, or to have raised him immediately as soon as he was dead; and in either case the miracle would not have been so illustrious, nor have been such a means of confirming the faith of his disciples, as now it would be:

to the intent ye may believe; more strongly, that he was the Son of God, and true Messiah:

nevertheless, let us go unto him; to Lazarus, to the grave where he lies: the Syriac version reads, "let us go there"; to Bethany, where he lived, and died, and now lay interred.