Yohanes 3:34-36

3:34 For the one whom God has sent ¹  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ²  3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ³  3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ⁴  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ⁵  remains ⁶  on him.

Yohanes 5:20-30

5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed. 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, ⁷  so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. ⁸  5:22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge ⁹  anyone, but has assigned ¹⁰  all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all people ¹¹  will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹²  the one who hears ¹³  my message ¹⁴  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ¹⁵  but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁶  a time ¹⁷  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, 5:27 and he has granted the Son ¹⁸  authority to execute judgment, ¹⁹  because he is the Son of Man.

5:28 “Do not be amazed at this, because a time ²⁰  is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 5:29 and will come out – the ones who have done what is good to the resurrection resulting in life, and the ones who have done what is evil to the resurrection resulting in condemnation. ²¹  5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ²²  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ²³  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ²⁴ 

Yohanes 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ²⁵  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ²⁶  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ²⁷ 

Yohanes 17:2-5

17:2 just as you have given him authority over all humanity, ²⁸  so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him. ²⁹  17:3 Now this ³⁰  is eternal life ³¹  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ³²  whom you sent. 17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing ³³  the work you gave me to do. ³⁴  17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side ³⁵  with the glory I had with you before the world was created. ³⁶ 

[3:34]  ¹ tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ² tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[3:35]  ³ tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

[3:36]  ⁴ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

[3:36]  ⁵ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

[3:36]  ⁶ tn Or “resides.”

[5:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “and makes them live.”

[5:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “the Son makes whomever he wants to live.”

[5:22]  ⁹ tn Or “condemn.”

[5:22]  ¹⁰ tn Or “given,” or “handed over.”

[5:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).

[5:24]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:24]  ¹³ tn Or “obeys.”

[5:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “word.”

[5:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”

[5:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “an hour.”

[5:27]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “him.”

[5:27]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “authority to judge.”

[5:28]  ²⁰ tn Grk “an hour.”

[5:29]  ²¹ tn Or “a resurrection resulting in judgment.”

[5:30]  ²² tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ²³ tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ²⁴ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[14:28]  ²⁵ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ²⁶ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ²⁷ sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[17:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “all people”; Grk “all flesh.”

[17:2]  ²⁹ tn Grk “so that to everyone whom you have given to him, he may give to them eternal life.”

[17:3]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[17:4]  ³³ tn Or “by finishing” or “by accomplishing.” Jesus now states that he has glorified the Father on earth by finishing (τελειώσας [teleiwsas] is best understood as an adverbial participle of means) the work which the Father had given him to do.

[17:4]  sn By completing the work. The idea of Jesus being sent into the world on a mission has been mentioned before, significantly in 3:17. It was even alluded to in the immediately preceding verse here (17:3). The completion of the “work” the Father had sent him to accomplish was mentioned by Jesus in 4:34 and 5:36. What is the nature of the “work” the Father has given the Son to accomplish? It involves the Son’s mission to be the Savior of the world, as 3:17 indicates. But this is accomplished specifically through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross (a thought implied by the reference to the Father “giving” the Son in 3:16). It is not without significance that Jesus’ last word from the cross is “It is completed” (19:30).

[17:4]  ³⁴ tn Grk “the work that you gave to me so that I may do it.”

[17:5]  ³⁵ tn Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pro" ton qeon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ.

[17:5]  ³⁶ tn Grk “before the world was.” The word “created” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[17:5]  sn It is important to note that although Jesus prayed for a return to the glory he had at the Father’s side before the world was created, he was not praying for a “de-incarnation.” His humanity which he took on at the incarnation (John 1:14) remains, though now glorified.