Yohanes 1:18

1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, ¹  himself God, who is in closest fellowship with ²  the Father, has made God ³  known. ⁴ 

Yohanes 4:12

4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor ⁵  Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.” ⁶ 

Yohanes 7:3

7:3 So Jesus’ brothers ⁷  advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing. ⁸ 

Yohanes 7:18

7:18 The person who speaks on his own authority ⁹  desires ¹⁰  to receive honor ¹¹  for himself; the one who desires ¹²  the honor ¹³  of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, ¹⁴  and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Yohanes 7:23

7:23 But if a male child ¹⁵  is circumcised ¹⁶  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ¹⁷  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ¹⁸  on the Sabbath?

Yohanes 8:7

8:7 When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight ¹⁹  and replied, ²⁰  “Whoever among you is guiltless ²¹  may be the first to throw a stone at her.”

Yohanes 8:11

8:11 She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”]] ²² 

Yohanes 8:39

8:39 They answered him, ²³  “Abraham is our father!” ²⁴  Jesus replied, ²⁵  “If you are ²⁶  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ²⁷  the deeds of Abraham.

Yohanes 9:25

9:25 He replied, ²⁸  “I do not know whether he is a sinner. I do know one thing – that although I was blind, now I can see.”

Yohanes 10:10

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill ²⁹  and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ³⁰ 

Yohanes 14:24

14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey ³¹  my words. And the word ³²  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

Yohanes 14:31

14:31 but I am doing just what the Father commanded me, so that the world may know ³³  that I love the Father. ³⁴  Get up, let us go from here.” ³⁵ 

Yohanes 18:23

18:23 Jesus replied, ³⁶  “If I have said something wrong, ³⁷  confirm ³⁸  what is wrong. ³⁹  But if I spoke correctly, why strike me?”

[1:18]  ¹ tc The textual problem μονογενὴς θεός (monogenh" qeo", “the only God”) versus ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός (Jo monogenh" Juio", “the only son”) is a notoriously difficult one. Only one letter would have differentiated the readings in the mss, since both words would have been contracted as nomina sacra: thus qMs or uMs. Externally, there are several variants, but they can be grouped essentially by whether they read θεός or υἱός. The majority of mss, especially the later ones (A C³ Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 Ï lat), read ὁ μονογενὴς υἱός. Ì⁷⁵ א¹ 33 pc have ὁ μονογενὴς θεός, while the anarthrous μονογενὴς θεός is found in Ì⁶⁶ א* B C* L pc. The articular θεός is almost certainly a scribal emendation to the anarthrous θεός, for θεός without the article is a much harder reading. The external evidence thus strongly supports μονογενὴς θεός. Internally, although υἱός fits the immediate context more readily, θεός is much more difficult. As well, θεός also explains the origin of the other reading (υἱός), because it is difficult to see why a scribe who found υἱός in the text he was copying would alter it to θεός. Scribes would naturally change the wording to υἱός however, since μονογενὴς υἱός is a uniquely Johannine christological title (cf. John 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). But θεός as the older and more difficult reading is preferred. As for translation, it makes the most sense to see the word θεός as in apposition to μονογενής, and the participle ὁ ὤν (Jo wn) as in apposition to θεός, giving in effect three descriptions of Jesus rather than only two. (B. D. Ehrman, The Orthodox Corruption of Scripture, 81, suggests that it is nearly impossible and completely unattested in the NT for an adjective followed immediately by a noun that agrees in gender, number, and case, to be a substantival adjective: “when is an adjective ever used substantivally when it immediately precedes a noun of the same inflection?” This, however, is an overstatement. First, as Ehrman admits, μονογενής in John 1:14 is substantival. And since it is an established usage for the adjective in this context, one might well expect that the author would continue to use the adjective substantivally four verses later. Indeed, μονογενής is already moving toward a crystallized substantival adjective in the NT [cf. Luke 9:38; Heb 11:17]; in patristic Greek, the process continued [cf. PGL 881 s.v. 7]. Second, there are several instances in the NT in which a substantival adjective is followed by a noun with which it has complete concord: cf., e.g., Rom 1:30; Gal 3:9; 1 Tim 1:9; 2 Pet 2:5.) The modern translations which best express this are the NEB (margin) and TEV. Several things should be noted: μονογενής alone, without υἱός, can mean “only son,” “unique son,” “unique one,” etc. (see 1:14). Furthermore, θεός is anarthrous. As such it carries qualitative force much like it does in 1:1c, where θεὸς ἦν ὁ λόγος (qeo" hn Jo logo") means “the Word was fully God” or “the Word was fully of the essence of deity.” Finally, ὁ ὤν occurs in Rev 1:4, 8; 4:8, 11:17; and 16:5, but even more significantly in the LXX of Exod 3:14. Putting all of this together leads to the translation given in the text.

[1:18]  tn Or “The unique one.” For the meaning of μονογενής (monogenh") see the note on “one and only” in 1:14.

[1:18]  ² tn Grk “in the bosom of” (an idiom for closeness or nearness; cf. L&N 34.18; BDAG 556 s.v. κόλπος 1).

[1:18]  ³ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:18]  ⁴ sn Has made God known. In this final verse of the prologue, the climactic and ultimate statement of the earthly career of the Logos, Jesus of Nazareth, is reached. The unique One (John 1:14), the One who has taken on human form and nature by becoming incarnate (became flesh, 1:14), who is himself fully God (the Word was God, 1:1c) and is to be identified with the ever-living One of the Old Testament revelation (Exod 3:14), who is in intimate relationship with the Father, this One and no other has fully revealed what God is like. As Jesus said to Philip in John 14:9, “The one who has seen me has seen the Father.”

[4:12]  ⁵ tn Or “our forefather”; Grk “our father.”

[4:12]  ⁶ 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 this instance all of v. 12 is one question. It has been broken into two sentences for the sake of English style (instead of “for he” the Greek reads “who”).

[7:3]  ⁷ tn Grk “his brothers.”

[7:3]  sn Jesus’ brothers. Jesus’ brothers (really his half-brothers) were mentioned previously by John in 2:12 (see the note on brothers there). They are also mentioned elsewhere in Matt 13:55 and Mark 6:3.

[7:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “your deeds that you are doing.”

[7:3]  sn Should the advice by Jesus’ brothers, Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing, be understood as a suggestion that he should attempt to win back the disciples who had deserted him earlier (6:66)? Perhaps. But it is also possible to take the words as indicating that if Jesus is going to put forward messianic claims (i.e., through miraculous signs) then he should do so in Jerusalem, not in the remote parts of Galilee. Such an understanding seems to fit better with the following verse. It would also indicate misunderstanding on the part of Jesus’ brothers of the true nature of his mission – he did not come as the royal Messiah of Jewish apocalyptic expectation, to be enthroned as king at this time.

[7:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “seeks.”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”

[7:18]  ¹² tn Or “seeks.”

[7:18]  ¹³ tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”

[7:18]  ¹⁴ tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”

[7:23]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

[7:23]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

[7:23]  ¹⁷ sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

[7:23]  ¹⁸ tn Or “made an entire man well.”

[8:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “he straightened up.”

[8:7]  ²⁰ tn Grk “and said to them.”

[8:7]  ²¹ tn Or “sinless.”

[8:11]  ²² tc The earliest and best mss do not contain 7:53–8:11 (see note on 7:53).

[8:39]  ²³ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ²⁴ tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ²⁶ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ²⁷ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[8:39]  tn Or “you would do.”

[9:25]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Then that one answered.”

[10:10]  ²⁹ tn That is, “to slaughter” (in reference to animals).

[10:10]  ³⁰ tn That is, more than one would normally expect or anticipate.

[14:24]  ³¹ tn Or “does not keep.”

[14:24]  ³² tn Or “the message.”

[14:31]  ³³ tn Or “may learn.”

[14:31]  ³⁴ tn Grk “But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father commanded me, thus I do.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation to conform to contemporary English style.

[14:31]  ³⁵ sn Some have understood Jesus’ statement Get up, let us go from here to mean that at this point Jesus and the disciples got up and left the room where the meal was served and began the journey to the garden of Gethsemane. If so, the rest of the Farewell Discourse took place en route. Others have pointed to this statement as one of the “seams” in the discourse, indicating that the author used preexisting sources. Both explanations are possible, but not really necessary. Jesus could simply have stood up at this point (the disciples may or may not have stood with him) to finish the discourse before finally departing (in 18:1). In any case it may be argued that Jesus refers not to a literal departure at this point, but to preparing to meet the enemy who is on the way already in the person of Judas and the soldiers with him.

[18:23]  ³⁶ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[18:23]  ³⁷ tn Or “something incorrect.”

[18:23]  ³⁸ tn Grk “testify.”

[18:23]  ³⁹ tn Or “incorrect.”