Yohanes 10:32-38

10:32 Jesus said to them, ¹  “I have shown you many good deeds ²  from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” 10:33 The Jewish leaders ³  replied, ⁴  “We are not going to stone you for a good deed ⁵  but for blasphemy, ⁶  because ⁷  you, a man, are claiming to be God.” ⁸ 

10:34 Jesus answered, ⁹  “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ¹⁰  10:35 If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), ¹¹  10:36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart ¹²  and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 10:37 If I do not perform ¹³  the deeds ¹⁴  of my Father, do not believe me. 10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, ¹⁵  so that you may come to know ¹⁶  and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

Yohanes 18:19-21

Jesus Questioned by Annas

18:19 While this was happening, ¹⁷  the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and about his teaching. ¹⁸  18:20 Jesus replied, ¹⁹  “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues ²⁰  and in the temple courts, ²¹  where all the Jewish people ²²  assemble together. I ²³  have said nothing in secret. 18:21 Why do you ask me? Ask those who heard what I said. ²⁴  They ²⁵  know what I said.”

[10:32]  ¹ tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”

[10:32]  ² tn Or “good works.”

[10:33]  ³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here again the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See the notes on the phrase “Jewish people” in v. 19 and “Jewish leaders” in vv. 24, 31.

[10:33]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered him.”

[10:33]  ⁵ tn Or “good work.”

[10:33]  ⁶ sn This is the first time the official charge of blasphemy is voiced openly in the Fourth Gospel (although it was implicit in John 8:59).

[10:33]  ⁷ tn Grk “and because.”

[10:33]  ⁸ tn Grk “you, a man, make yourself to be God.”

[10:34]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered them.”

[10:34]  ¹⁰ sn A quotation from Ps 82:6. Technically the Psalms are not part of the OT “law” (which usually referred to the five books of Moses), but occasionally the term “law” was applied to the entire OT, as here. The problem in this verse concerns the meaning of Jesus’ quotation from Ps 82:6. It is important to look at the OT context: The whole line reads “I say, you are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.” Jesus will pick up on the term “sons of the Most High” in 10:36, where he refers to himself as the Son of God. The psalm was understood in rabbinic circles as an attack on unjust judges who, though they have been given the title “gods” because of their quasi-divine function of exercising judgment, are just as mortal as other men. What is the argument here? It is often thought to be as follows: If it was an OT practice to refer to men like the judges as gods, and not blasphemy, why did the Jewish authorities object when this term was applied to Jesus? This really doesn’t seem to fit the context, however, since if that were the case Jesus would not be making any claim for “divinity” for himself over and above any other human being – and therefore he would not be subject to the charge of blasphemy. Rather, this is evidently a case of arguing from the lesser to the greater, a common form of rabbinic argument. The reason the OT judges could be called gods is because they were vehicles of the word of God (cf. 10:35). But granting that premise, Jesus deserves much more than they to be called God. He is the Word incarnate, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world to save the world (10:36). In light of the prologue to the Gospel of John, it seems this interpretation would have been most natural for the author. If it is permissible to call men “gods” because they were the vehicles of the word of God, how much more permissible is it to use the word “God” of him who is the Word of God?

[10:35]  ¹¹ sn The parenthetical note And the scripture cannot be broken belongs to Jesus’ words rather than the author’s. Not only does Jesus appeal to the OT to defend himself against the charge of blasphemy, but he also adds that the scripture cannot be “broken.” In this context he does not explain precisely what is meant by “broken,” but it is not too hard to determine. Jesus’ argument depended on the exact word used in the context of Ps 82:6. If any other word for “judge” had been used in the psalm, his argument would have been meaningless. Since the scriptures do use this word in Ps 82:6, the argument is binding, because they cannot be “broken” in the sense of being shown to be in error.

[10:36]  ¹² tn Or “dedicated.”

[10:37]  ¹³ tn Or “do.”

[10:37]  ¹⁴ tn Or “works.”

[10:38]  ¹⁵ tn Or “works.”

[10:38]  sn Jesus says that in the final analysis, the deeds he did should indicate whether he was truly from the Father. If the authorities could not believe in him, it would be better to believe in the deeds he did than not to believe at all.

[10:38]  ¹⁶ tn Or “so that you may learn.”

[18:19]  ¹⁷ tn The introductory phrase “While this was happening” is not in the Greek text. It has been supplied in the translation to clarify the alternation of scenes in the narrative for the modern reader.

[18:19]  ¹⁸ sn The nature of this hearing seems to be more that of a preliminary investigation; certainly normal legal procedure was not followed, for no indication is given that any witnesses were brought forth at this point to testify against Jesus. True to what is known of Annas’ character, he was more interested in Jesus’ disciples than in the precise nature of Jesus’ teaching, since he inquired about the followers first. He really wanted to know just how influential Jesus had become and how large a following he had gathered. This was of more concern to Annas that the truth or falsity of Jesus’ teaching.

[18:20]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[18:20]  ²⁰ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[18:20]  ²¹ tn Grk “in the temple.”

[18:20]  ²² tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people generally, for whom the synagogues and the temple courts in Jerusalem were important public gathering places. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish religious leaders” in v. 12.

[18:20]  ²³ tn Grk “And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:21]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Ask those who heard what I said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated since they are redundant in English.

[18:21]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Look, these know what I said.”