Yohanes 4:27

The Disciples Return

4:27 Now at that very moment his disciples came back. ¹  They were shocked ²  because he was speaking ³  with a woman. However, no one said, “What do you want?” ⁴  or “Why are you speaking with her?”

Yohanes 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ⁵  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ⁶  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ⁷ 

Yohanes 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ⁸  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁹ 

Yohanes 8:28

8:28 Then Jesus said, ¹⁰  “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, ¹¹  and I do nothing on my own initiative, ¹²  but I speak just what the Father taught me. ¹³ 

Yohanes 8:54

8:54 Jesus replied, ¹⁴  “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. ¹⁵  The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people ¹⁶  say, ‘He is our God.’

Yohanes 10:18

10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down ¹⁷  of my own free will. ¹⁸  I have the authority ¹⁹  to lay it down, and I have the authority ²⁰  to take it back again. This commandment ²¹  I received from my Father.”

Yohanes 15:5

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ²²  in me – and I in him – bears ²³  much fruit, ²⁴  because apart from me you can accomplish ²⁵  nothing.

Yohanes 15:24

15:24 If I had not performed ²⁶  among them the miraculous deeds ²⁷  that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. ²⁸  But now they have seen the deeds ²⁹  and have hated both me and my Father. ³⁰ 

Yohanes 16:22-23

16:22 So also you have sorrow ³¹  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ³²  16:23 At that time ³³  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ³⁴  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ³⁵ 

Yohanes 17:12

17:12 When I was with them I kept them safe ³⁶  and watched over them ³⁷  in your name ³⁸  that you have given me. Not one ³⁹  of them was lost except the one destined for destruction, ⁴⁰  so that the scripture could be fulfilled. ⁴¹ 

Yohanes 18:20

18:20 Jesus replied, ⁴²  “I have spoken publicly to the world. I always taught in the synagogues ⁴³  and in the temple courts, ⁴⁴  where all the Jewish people ⁴⁵  assemble together. I ⁴⁶  have said nothing in secret.

Yohanes 18:31

18:31 Pilate told them, ⁴⁷  “Take him yourselves and pass judgment on him ⁴⁸  according to your own law!” ⁴⁹  The Jewish leaders ⁵⁰  replied, ⁵¹  “We cannot legally put anyone to death.” ⁵² 

Yohanes 18:38

18:38 Pilate asked, ⁵³  “What is truth?” ⁵⁴ 

When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders ⁵⁵  and announced, ⁵⁶  “I find no basis for an accusation ⁵⁷  against him.

Yohanes 19:11

19:11 Jesus replied, “You would have no authority ⁵⁸  over me at all, unless it was given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you ⁵⁹  is guilty of greater sin.” ⁶⁰ 

Yohanes 21:3

21:3 Simon Peter told them, “I am going fishing.” “We will go with you,” they replied. ⁶¹  They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Yohanes 21:12

21:12 “Come, have breakfast,” Jesus said. ⁶²  But none of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” because they knew it was the Lord.

[4:27]  ¹ tn Or “his disciples returned”; Grk “came” (“back” is supplied in keeping with English usage). Because of the length of the Greek sentence it is better to divide here and begin a new English sentence, leaving the καί (kai) before ἐθαύμαζον (eqaumazon) untranslated.

[4:27]  ² tn BDAG 444 s.v. θαυμάζω 1.a.γ has “be surprised that” followed by indirect discourse. The context calls for a slightly stronger wording.

[4:27]  ³ tn The ὅτι (Joti) could also be translated as declarative (“that he had been speaking with a woman”) but since this would probably require translating the imperfect verb as a past perfect (which is normal after a declarative ὅτι), it is preferable to take this ὅτι as causal.

[4:27]  ⁴ tn Grk “seek.” See John 4:23.

[4:27]  sn The question “What do you want?” is John’s editorial comment (for no one in the text was asking it). The author is making a literary link with Jesus’ statement in v. 23: It is evident that, in spite of what the disciples may have been thinking, what Jesus was seeking is what the Father was seeking, that is to say, someone to worship him.

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

[5:30]  ⁶ tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ⁷ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[6:63]  ⁸ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ⁹ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”

[8:28]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all mss).

[8:28]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.

[8:28]  ¹² tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”

[8:28]  ¹³ tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”

[8:54]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Jesus answered.”

[8:54]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “is nothing.”

[8:54]  ¹⁶ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[10:18]  ¹⁷ tn Or “give it up.”

[10:18]  ¹⁸ tn Or “of my own accord.” “Of my own free will” is given by BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμαυτοῦ c.

[10:18]  ¹⁹ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ²⁰ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ²¹ tn Or “order.”

[15:5]  ²² tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ²³ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ tn Or “do.”

[15:24]  ²⁶ tn Or “If I had not done.”

[15:24]  ²⁷ tn Grk “the works.”

[15:24]  ²⁸ tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).

[15:24]  ²⁹ tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[15:24]  ³⁰ tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.

[16:22]  ³¹ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ³² sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.

[16:23]  ³³ tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ³⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ³⁵ sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[17:12]  ³⁶ tn Or “I protected them”; Grk “I kept them.”

[17:12]  ³⁷ tn Grk “and guarded them.”

[17:12]  ³⁸ tn Or “by your name.”

[17:12]  ³⁹ tn Grk And not one.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “the son of destruction” (a Semitic idiom for one appointed for destruction; here it is a reference to Judas).

[17:12]  sn The one destined to destruction refers to Judas. Clearly in John’s Gospel Judas is portrayed as a tool of Satan. He is described as “the devil” in 6:70. In 13:2 Satan put into Judas’ heart the idea of betraying Jesus, and 13:27 Satan himself entered Judas. Immediately after this Judas left the company of Jesus and the other disciples and went out into the realm of darkness (13:30). Cf. 2 Thess 2:3, where this same Greek phrase (“the son of destruction”; see tn above) is used to describe the man through whom Satan acts to rebel against God in the last days.

[17:12]  ⁴¹ sn A possible allusion to Ps 41:9 or Prov 24:22 LXX. The exact passage is not specified here, but in John 13:18, Ps 41:9 is explicitly quoted by Jesus with reference to the traitor, suggesting that this is the passage to which Jesus refers here. The previous mention of Ps 41:9 in John 13:18 probably explains why the author felt no need for an explanatory parenthetical note here. It is also possible that the passage referred to here is Prov 24:22 LXX, where in the Greek text the phrase “son of destruction” appears.

[18:20]  ⁴² tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[18:20]  ⁴³ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[18:20]  ⁴⁴ tn Grk “in the temple.”

[18:20]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people generally, for whom the synagogues and the temple courts in Jerusalem were important public gathering places. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish religious leaders” in v. 12.

[18:20]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[18:31]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “Then Pilate said to them.”

[18:31]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “judge him.” For the translation “pass judgment on him” see R. E. Brown (John [AB], 2:848).

[18:31]  ⁴⁹ sn Pilate, as the sole representative of Rome in a troubled area, was probably in Jerusalem for the Passover because of the danger of an uprising (the normal residence for the Roman governor was in Caesarea as mentioned in Acts 23:35). At this time on the eve of the feast he would have been a busy and perhaps even a worried man. It is not surprising that he offered to hand Jesus back over to the Jewish authorities to pass judgment on him. It may well be that Pilate realized when no specific charge was mentioned that he was dealing with an internal dispute over some religious matter. Pilate wanted nothing to do with such matters, as the statement “Pass judgment on him according to your own law!” indicates. As far as the author is concerned, this points out who was really responsible for Jesus’ death: The Roman governor Pilate would have had nothing to do with it if he had not been pressured by the Jewish religious authorities, upon whom the real responsibility rested.

[18:31]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12.

[18:31]  ⁵¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

[18:31]  ⁵² tn Grk “It is not permitted to us to kill anyone.”

[18:31]  sn The historical background behind the statement We cannot legally put anyone to death is difficult to reconstruct. Scholars are divided over whether this statement in the Fourth Gospel accurately reflects the judicial situation between the Jewish authorities and the Romans in 1st century Palestine. It appears that the Roman governor may have given the Jews the power of capital punishment for specific offenses, some of them religious (the death penalty for Gentiles caught trespassing in the inner courts of the temple, for example). It is also pointed out that the Jewish authorities did carry out a number of executions, some of them specifically pertaining to Christians (Stephen, according to Acts 7:58-60; and James the Just, who was stoned in the 60s according to Josephus, Ant. 20.9.1 [20.200]). But Stephen’s death may be explained as a result of “mob violence” rather than a formal execution, and as Josephus in the above account goes on to point out, James was executed in the period between two Roman governors, and the high priest at the time was subsequently punished for the action. Two studies by A. N. Sherwin-White (Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, 1-47; and “The Trial of Christ,” Historicity and Chronology in the New Testament [SPCKTC], 97-116) have tended to support the accuracy of John’s account. He concluded that the Romans kept very close control of the death penalty for fear that in the hands of rebellious locals such power could be used to eliminate factions favorable or useful to Rome. A province as troublesome as Judea would not have been likely to be made an exception to this.

[18:38]  ⁵³ tn Grk “Pilate said.”

[18:38]  ⁵⁴ sn With his reply “What is truth?” Pilate dismissed the matter. It is not clear what Pilate’s attitude was at this point, as in 18:33. He may have been sarcastic, or perhaps somewhat reflective. The author has not given enough information in the narrative to be sure. Within the narrative, Pilate’s question serves to make the reader reflect on what truth is, and that answer (in the narrative) has already been given (14:6).

[18:38]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12. The term also occurs in v. 31, where it is clear the Jewish leaders are in view, because they state that they cannot legally carry out an execution. Although it is likely (in view of the synoptic parallels) that the crowd here in 18:38 was made up not just of the Jewish leaders, but of ordinary residents of Jerusalem and pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for the Passover, nevertheless in John’s Gospel Pilate is primarily in dialogue with the leadership of the nation, who are expressly mentioned in 18:35 and 19:6.

[18:38]  ⁵⁶ tn Grk “said to them.”

[18:38]  ⁵⁷ tn Grk “find no cause.”

[19:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “power.”

[19:11]  ⁵⁹ tn Or “who delivered me over to you.”

[19:11]  sn The one who handed me over to you appears to be a reference to Judas at first; yet Judas did not deliver Jesus up to Pilate, but to the Jewish authorities. The singular may be a reference to Caiaphas, who as high priest was representative of all the Jewish authorities, or it may be a generic singular referring to all the Jewish authorities directly. In either case the end result is more or less the same.

[19:11]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “has the greater sin” (an idiom).

[19:11]  sn Because Pilate had no authority over Jesus except what had been given to him from God, the one who handed Jesus over to Pilate was guilty of greater sin. This does not absolve Pilate of guilt; it simply means his guilt was less than those who handed Jesus over to him, because he was not acting against Jesus out of deliberate hatred or calculated malice, like the Jewish religious authorities. These were thereby guilty of greater sin.

[21:3]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “they said to him.”

[21:12]  ⁶² tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are omitted because it is clear in context to whom Jesus was speaking, and the words are slightly redundant in English.