Yohanes 10:10

10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill ¹  and destroy; I have come so that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. ² 

Yohanes 14:12

14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ³  the person who believes in me will perform ⁴  the miraculous deeds ⁵  that I am doing, ⁶  and will perform ⁷  greater deeds ⁸  than these, because I am going to the Father.

Yohanes 15:5

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ⁹  in me – and I in him – bears ¹⁰  much fruit, ¹¹  because apart from me you can accomplish ¹²  nothing.

[10:10]  ¹ tn That is, “to slaughter” (in reference to animals).

[10:10]  ² tn That is, more than one would normally expect or anticipate.

[14:12]  ³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ⁴ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ⁶ tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  sn See the note on miraculous deeds in v. 11.

[14:12]  ⁷ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁸ tn Grk “greater works.”

[14:12]  sn What are the greater deeds that Jesus speaks of, and how is this related to his going to the Father? It is clear from both John 7:39 and 16:7 that the Holy Spirit will not come until Jesus has departed. After Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit to indwell believers in a permanent relationship, believers would be empowered to perform even greater deeds than those Jesus did during his earthly ministry. When the early chapters of Acts are examined, it is clear that, from a numerical standpoint, the deeds of Peter and the other Apostles surpassed those of Jesus in a single day (the day of Pentecost). On that day more were added to the church than had become followers of Jesus during the entire three years of his earthly ministry. And the message went forth not just in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, but to the farthest parts of the known world. This understanding of what Jesus meant by “greater deeds” is more probable than a reference to “more spectacular miracles.” Certainly miraculous deeds were performed by the apostles as recounted in Acts, but these do not appear to have surpassed the works of Jesus himself in either degree or number.

[15:5]  ⁹ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ¹¹ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  sn Many interpret the imagery of fruit here and in 15:2, 4 in terms of good deeds or character qualities, relating it to passages elsewhere in the NT like Matt 3:8 and 7:20, Rom 6:22, Gal 5:22, etc. This is not necessarily inaccurate, but one must remember that for John, to have life at all is to bear fruit, while one who does not bear fruit shows that he does not have the life (once again, conduct is the clue to paternity, as in John 8:41; compare also 1 John 4:20).

[15:5]  ¹² tn Or “do.”