Yohanes 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ¹  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ²  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ³ 

Yohanes 10:18

10:18 No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down ⁴  of my own free will. ⁵  I have the authority ⁶  to lay it down, and I have the authority ⁷  to take it back again. This commandment ⁸  I received from my Father.”

Yohanes 14:26

14:26 But the Advocate, ⁹  the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you ¹⁰  everything, ¹¹  and will cause you to remember everything ¹²  I said to you.

Yohanes 15:16

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ¹³  and appointed you to go and bear ¹⁴  fruit, fruit that remains, ¹⁵  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

[5:30]  ¹ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ² tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ³ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[10:18]  ⁴ tn Or “give it up.”

[10:18]  ⁵ tn Or “of my own accord.” “Of my own free will” is given by BDAG 321 s.v. ἐμαυτοῦ c.

[10:18]  ⁶ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ⁷ tn Or “I have the right.”

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Or “order.”

[14:26]  ⁹ tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in v. 16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.

[14:26]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “that one will teach you.” The words “that one” have been omitted from the translation since they are redundant in English.

[14:26]  ¹¹ tn Grk “all things.”

[14:26]  ¹² tn Grk “all things.”

[15:16]  ¹³ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ¹⁵ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.