Yohanes 3:33

3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ¹ 

Yohanes 7:28

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ²  cried out, ³  “You both know me and know where I come from! ⁴  And I have not come on my own initiative, ⁵  but the one who sent me ⁶  is true. You do not know him, ⁷ 

Yohanes 8:26

8:26 I have many things to say and to judge ⁸  about you, but the Father ⁹  who sent me is truthful, ¹⁰  and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.” ¹¹ 

Yohanes 17:3

17:3 Now this ¹²  is eternal life ¹³  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ¹⁴  whom you sent.

[3:33]  ¹ tn Or “is true.”

[7:28]  ² tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  ³ tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  ⁴ sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.

[7:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  ⁶ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ⁷ tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”

[8:26]  ⁸ tn Or “I have many things to pronounce in judgment about you.” The two Greek infinitives could be understood as a hendiadys, resulting in one phrase.

[8:26]  ⁹ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “true” (in the sense of one who always tells the truth).

[8:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “and what things I have heard from him, these things I speak to the world.”

[17:3]  ¹² tn Using αὕτη δέ (Jauth de) to introduce an explanation is typical Johannine style; it was used before in John 1:19, 3:19, and 15:12.

[17:3]  ¹³ sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (Χριστός, Cristos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginwskw) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

[17:3]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).