John 2:11

2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ¹  in Cana ²  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ³  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ⁴ 

John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ⁵  was in Jerusalem ⁶  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ⁷ 

John 5:36

5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds ⁸  that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds ⁹  I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.

John 9:3

9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man ¹⁰  nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that ¹¹  the acts ¹²  of God may be revealed ¹³  through what happens to him. ¹⁴ 

John 9:31-33

9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ¹⁵  sinners, but if anyone is devout ¹⁶  and does his will, God ¹⁷  listens to ¹⁸  him. ¹⁹  9:32 Never before ²⁰  has anyone heard of someone causing a man born blind to see. ²¹  9:33 If this man ²²  were not from God, he could do nothing.”

John 10:25

10:25 Jesus replied, ²³  “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds ²⁴  I do in my Father’s name testify about me.

John 10:37-38

10:37 If I do not perform ²⁵  the deeds ²⁶  of my Father, do not believe me. 10:38 But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, ²⁷  so that you may come to know ²⁸  and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”

John 11:4

11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, ²⁹  but to God’s glory, ³⁰  so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ³¹ 

John 11:42

11:42 I knew that you always listen to me, ³²  but I said this ³³  for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

John 11:45

The Response of the Jewish Leaders

11:45 Then many of the people, ³⁴  who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus ³⁵  did, believed in him.

John 14:11

14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, ³⁶  believe because of the miraculous deeds ³⁷  themselves.

John 20:30-31

20:30 Now Jesus performed ³⁸  many other miraculous signs in the presence of the ³⁹  disciples, which are not recorded ⁴⁰  in this book. ⁴¹  20:31 But these ⁴²  are recorded ⁴³  so that you may believe ⁴⁴  that Jesus is the Christ, ⁴⁵  the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. ⁴⁶ 

[2:11]  ¹ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

[2:11]  ² map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:11]  ³ tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

[2:11]  ⁴ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”

[2:23]  ⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ⁷ sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.

[5:36]  ⁹ tn Or “works.”

[5:36]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.

[9:3]  ¹³ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “but so that.” There is an ellipsis that must be supplied: “but [he was born blind] so that” or “but [it happened to him] so that.”

[9:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “deeds”; Grk “works.”

[9:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “manifested,” “brought to light.”

[9:3]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in him.”

[9:31]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ¹⁸ tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ²⁰ tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “this one.”

[9:32]  ²¹ tn Or “Never from the beginning of time,” Grk “From eternity.”

[9:32]  ²² tn Grk “someone opening the eyes of a man born blind” (“opening the eyes” is an idiom referring to restoration of sight).

[9:33]  ²⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[10:25]  ²⁹ tn Grk “answered them.”

[10:25]  ³⁰ tn Or “the works.”

[10:37]  ³³ tn Or “do.”

[10:37]  ³⁴ tn Or “works.”

[10:38]  ³⁷ tn Or “works.”

[10:38]  ³⁸ tn Or “so that you may learn.”

[11:4]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”

[11:4]  ⁴² tn Or “to God’s praise.”

[11:4]  ⁴³ sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.

[11:42]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “that you always hear me.”

[11:42]  ⁴⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[11:45]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8 and “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, as well as the notes on the word “people” in vv. 31, 33 and the phrase “people who had come to mourn” in v. 36.

[11:45]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:11]  ⁵³ tn The phrase “but if you do not believe me” contains an ellipsis; the Greek text reads Grk “but if not.” The ellipsis has been filled out (“but if [you do] not [believe me]…”) for the benefit of the modern English reader.

[14:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “because of the works.”

[20:30]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “did.”

[20:30]  ⁵⁸ tc ‡ Although most mss, including several important ones (Ì⁶⁶ א C D L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after τῶν μαθητῶν (twn maqhtwn, “the disciples”), the pronoun is lacking in A B K Δ 0250 al. The weight of the witnesses for the inclusion is somewhat stronger than that for the exclusion. However, the addition of “his” to “disciples” is a frequent scribal emendation and as such is a predictable variant. It is thus most likely that the shorter reading is authentic. NA²⁷ puts the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[20:30]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “are not written.”

[20:30]  ⁶⁰ sn The author mentions many other miraculous signs performed by Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in the Gospel. What are these signs the author of the Gospel has in mind? One can only speculate. The author says they were performed in the presence of the disciples, which emphasizes again their role as witnesses (cf. 15:27). The point here is that the author has been selective in his use of material. He has chosen to record those incidents from the life and ministry of Jesus which supported his purpose in writing the Gospel. Much which might be of tremendous interest, but does not directly contribute to that purpose in writing, he has omitted. The author explains his purpose in writing in the following verse.

[20:31]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “these things.”

[20:31]  ⁶² tn Grk “are written.”

[20:31]  ⁶³ tc ‡ A difficult textual variant is present at this point in the Greek text. Some mss (Ì^66vid א* B Θ 0250 pc) read the present subjunctive πιστεύητε (pisteuhte) after ἵνα (Jina; thus NEB text, “that you may hold the faith”) while others (א² A C D L W Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï) read the aorist subjunctive πιστεύσητε (pisteushte) after ἵνα (cf. NEB margin, “that you may come to believe”). As reflected by the renderings of the NEB text and margin, it is often assumed that the present tense would suggest ongoing belief (i.e., the Fourth Gospel primarily addressed those who already believed, and was intended to strengthen their faith), while the aorist tense would speak of coming to faith (i.e., John’s Gospel was primarily evangelistic in nature). Both textual variants enjoy significant ms support, although the present subjunctive has somewhat superior witnesses on its behalf. On internal grounds it is hard to decide which is more likely the original. Many resolve this issue on the basis of a reconstruction of the overall purpose of the Gospel, viz., whether it is addressed to unbelievers or believers. However, since elsewhere in the Gospel of John (1) the present tense can refer to both initial faith and continuation in the faith and (2) the aorist tense simply refrains from commenting on the issue, it is highly unlikely that the distinction here would be determinative for the purpose of the Fourth Gospel. The question of purpose cannot be resolved by choosing one textual variant over the other in 20:31, but must be decided on other factors. Nevertheless, if a choice has to be made, the present subjunctive is the preferred reading. NA²⁷ puts the aorist’s sigma in brackets, thus representing both readings virtually equally (so TCGNT 220).

[20:31]  ⁶⁴ tn Or “Jesus is the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[20:31]  ⁶⁵ sn John 20:31. A major question concerning this verse, the purpose statement of the Gospel of John, is whether the author is writing primarily for an audience of unbelievers, with purely evangelistic emphasis, or whether he envisions an audience of believers, whom he wants to strengthen in their faith. Several points are important in this discussion: (1) in the immediate context (20:30), the other signs spoken of by the author were performed in the presence of disciples; (2) in the case of the first of the signs, at Cana, the author makes a point of the effect the miracle had on the disciples (2:11); (3) if the primary thrust of the Gospel is toward unbelievers, it is difficult to see why so much material in chaps. 13-17 (the last meal and Farewell Discourse, concluding with Jesus’ prayer for the disciples), which deals almost exclusively with the disciples, is included; (4) the disciples themselves were repeatedly said to have believed in Jesus throughout the Gospel, beginning with 2:11, yet they still needed to believe after the resurrection (if Thomas’ experience in 20:27-28 is any indication); and (5) the Gospel appears to be written with the assumption that the readers are familiar with the basic story (or perhaps with one or more of the synoptic gospel accounts, although this is less clear). Thus no account of the birth of Jesus is given at all, and although he is identified as being from Nazareth, the words of the Pharisees and chief priests to Nicodemus (7:52) are almost certainly to be taken as ironic, assuming the reader knows where Jesus was really from. Likewise, when Mary is identified in 11:2 as the one who anointed Jesus’ feet with oil, it is apparently assumed that the readers are familiar with the story, since the incident involved is not mentioned in the Fourth Gospel until 12:3. These observations must be set over against the clear statement of purpose in the present verse, 20:31, which seems to have significant evangelistic emphasis. In addition to this there is the repeated emphasis on witness throughout the Fourth Gospel (cf. the witness of John the Baptist in 1:7, 8, 15, 32, and 34, along with 5:33; the Samaritan woman in 4:39; Jesus’ own witness, along with that of the Father who sent him, in 8:14, 18, and 18:37; the disciples themselves in 15:27; and finally the testimony of the author himself in 19:35 and 21:24). In light of all this evidence it seems best to say that the author wrote with a dual purpose: (1) to witness to unbelievers concerning Jesus, in order that they come to believe in him and have eternal life; and (2) to strengthen the faith of believers, by deepening and expanding their understanding of who Jesus is.