Yohanes 3:11

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ²  you people ³  do not accept our testimony. ⁴ 

Yohanes 3:32

3:32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.

Yohanes 8:13-14

8:13 So the Pharisees ⁵  objected, ⁶  “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!” ⁷  8:14 Jesus answered, ⁸  “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people ⁹  do not know where I came from or where I am going. ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 8:38

8:38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the ¹¹  Father; ¹²  as for you, ¹³  practice the things you have heard from the ¹⁴  Father!”

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. ¹⁵ 

Yohanes 6:48

6:48 I am the bread of life. ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 6:51

6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread ¹⁷  that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Yohanes 8:12

Jesus as the Light of the World

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, ¹⁸  “I am the light of the world. ¹⁹  The one who follows me will never ²⁰  walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Yohanes 9:5

9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ²¹ 

Yohanes 10:7

10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  I am the door for the sheep. ²³ 

Yohanes 10:10

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill ²⁴  and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ²⁵ 

Yohanes 10:14

10:14 “I am the good shepherd. I ²⁶  know my own ²⁷  and my own know me –

Yohanes 11:25

11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live ²⁸  even if he dies,

Yohanes 14:6

14:6 Jesus replied, ²⁹  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. ³⁰  No one comes to the Father except through me.

Yohanes 15:1

The Vine and the Branches

15:1 “I am the true vine ³¹  and my Father is the gardener. ³² 

[3:11]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:11]  ² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.

[3:11]  ³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than Nicodemus alone).

[3:11]  ⁴ sn Note the remarkable similarity of Jesus’ testimony to the later testimony of the Apostle John himself in 1 John 1:2: “And we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us.” This is only one example of how thoroughly the author’s own thoughts were saturated with the words of Jesus (and also how difficult it is to distinguish the words of Jesus from the words of the author in the Fourth Gospel).

[8:13]  ⁵ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[8:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “Then the Pharisees said to him.”

[8:13]  ⁷ sn Compare the charge You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true! to Jesus’ own statement about his testimony in 5:31.

[8:14]  ⁸ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[8:14]  ⁹ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to indicate that the pronoun (“you”) and verb (“do not know”) in Greek are plural.

[8:14]  ¹⁰ sn You people do not know where I came from or where I am going. The ignorance of the religious authorities regarding Jesus’ origin works on two levels at once: First, they thought Jesus came from Galilee (although he really came from Bethlehem in Judea) and second, they did not know that he came from heaven (from the Father), and this is where he would return. See further John 7:52.

[8:38]  ¹¹ tc The first person pronoun μου (mou, “my”) may be implied, especially if ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) follows the second mention of “father” in this verse (as it does in the majority of mss); no doubt this implication gave rise to the reading μου found in most witnesses (א D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy). No pronoun here is read by Ì^66,75 B C L 070 pc. This problem cannot be isolated from the second in the verse, however. See that discussion below.

[8:38]  ¹² tn Grk “The things which I have seen with the Father I speak about.”

[8:38]  ¹³ tn Grk “and you.”

[8:38]  ¹⁴ tc A few significant witnesses lack ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here (Ì^66,75 B L W 070 pc), while the majority have the pronoun (א C D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 565 892 Ï al lat sy). However, these mss do not agree on the placement of the pronoun: τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ποιεῖτε (tou patro" Jumwn poieite), τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (tw patri Jumwn), and τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν ταῦτα (tw patri Jumwn tauta) all occur. If the pronoun is read, then the devil is in view and the text should be translated as “you are practicing the things you have heard from your father.” If it is not read, then the same Father mentioned in the first part of the verse is in view. In this case, ποιεῖτε should be taken as an imperative: “you [must] practice the things you have heard from the Father.” The omission is decidedly the harder reading, both because the contrast between God and the devil is now delayed until v. 41, and because ποιεῖτε could be read as an indicative, especially since the two clauses are joined by καί (kai, “and”). Thus, the pronoun looks to be a motivated reading. In light of the better external and internal evidence the omission is preferred.

[6:35]  ¹⁵ 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).

[6:48]  ¹⁶ tn That is, “the bread that produces (eternal) life.”

[6:51]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And the bread.”

[8:12]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “Then again Jesus spoke to them saying.”

[8:12]  ¹⁹ sn The theory proposed by F. J. A. Hort (The New Testament in the Original Greek, vol. 2, Introduction; Appendix, 87-88), that the backdrop of 8:12 is the lighting of the candelabra in the court of women, may offer a plausible setting to the proclamation by Jesus that he is the light of the world. The last time that Jesus spoke in the narrative (assuming 7:53-8:11 is not part of the original text, as the textual evidence suggests) is in 7:38, where he was speaking to a crowd of pilgrims in the temple area. This is where he is found in the present verse, and he may be addressing the crowd again. Jesus’ remark has to be seen in view of both the prologue (John 1:4, 5) and the end of the discourse with Nicodemus (John 3:19-21). The coming of Jesus into the world provokes judgment: A choosing up of sides becomes necessary. The one who comes to the light, that is, who follows Jesus, will not walk in the darkness. The one who refuses to come, will walk in the darkness. In this contrast, there are only two alternatives. So it is with a person’s decision about Jesus. Furthermore, this serves as in implicit indictment of Jesus’ opponents, who still walk in the darkness, because they refuse to come to him. This sets up the contrast in chap. 9 between the man born blind, who receives both physical and spiritual sight, and the Pharisees (John 9:13, 15, 16) who have physical sight but remain in spiritual darkness.

[8:12]  ²⁰ tn The double negative οὐ μή (ou mh) is emphatic in 1st century Hellenistic Greek.

[9:5]  ²¹ sn Jesus’ statement I am the light of the world connects the present account with 8:12. Here (seen more clearly than at 8:12) it is obvious what the author sees as the significance of Jesus’ statement. “Light” is not a metaphysical definition of the person of Jesus but a description of his effect on the world, forcing everyone in the world to ‘choose up sides’ for or against him (cf. 3:19-21).

[10:7]  ²² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:7]  ²³ tn Or “I am the sheep’s door.”

[10:10]  ²⁴ tn That is, “to slaughter” (in reference to animals).

[10:10]  ²⁵ tn That is, more than one would normally expect or anticipate.

[10:14]  ²⁶ tn Grk “And I.” 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.

[10:14]  ²⁷ tn The direct object is frequently omitted in Greek and must be supplied from the context. Here it could be “sheep,” but Jesus was ultimately talking about “people.”

[11:25]  ²⁸ tn That is, will come to life.

[14:6]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[14:6]  ³⁰ tn Or “I am the way, even the truth and the life.”

[15:1]  ³¹ sn I am the true vine. There are numerous OT passages which refer to Israel as a vine: Ps 80:8-16, Isa 5:1-7, Jer 2:21, Ezek 15:1-8, 17:5-10, 19:10-14, and Hos 10:1. The vine became symbolic of Israel, and even appeared on some coins issued by the Maccabees. The OT passages which use this symbol appear to regard Israel as faithless to Yahweh (typically rendered as “Lord” in the OT) and/or the object of severe punishment. Ezek 15:1-8 in particular talks about the worthlessness of wood from a vine (in relation to disobedient Judah). A branch cut from a vine is worthless except to be burned as fuel. This fits more with the statements about the disciples (John 15:6) than with Jesus’ description of himself as the vine. Ezek 17:5-10 contains vine imagery which refers to a king of the house of David, Zedekiah, who was set up as king in Judah by Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah allied himself to Egypt and broke his covenant with Nebuchadnezzar (and therefore also with God), which would ultimately result in his downfall (17:20-21). Ezek 17:22-24 then describes the planting of a cedar sprig which grows into a lofty tree, a figurative description of Messiah. But it is significant that Messiah himself is not described in Ezek 17 as a vine, but as a cedar tree. The vine imagery here applies to Zedekiah’s disobedience. Jesus’ description of himself as the true vine in John 15:1 ff. is to be seen against this background, but it differs significantly from the imagery surveyed above. It represents new imagery which differs significantly from OT concepts; it appears to be original with Jesus. The imagery of the vine underscores the importance of fruitfulness in the Christian life and the truth that this results not from human achievement, but from one’s position in Christ. Jesus is not just giving some comforting advice, but portraying to the disciples the difficult path of faithful service. To some degree the figure is similar to the head-body metaphor used by Paul, with Christ as head and believers as members of the body. Both metaphors bring out the vital and necessary connection which exists between Christ and believers.

[15:1]  ³² tn Or “the farmer.”