Yohanes 8:34

8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  everyone who practices ²  sin is a slave ³  of sin.

Yohanes 10:7

10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴  I am the door for the sheep. ⁵ 

Yohanes 13:21

13:21 When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed ⁶  in spirit, and testified, ⁷  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁸  one of you will betray me.” ⁹ 

Yohanes 1:51

1:51 He continued, ¹⁰  “I tell all of you the solemn truth ¹¹  – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” ¹² 

Yohanes 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ¹³  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁴  unless a person is born from above, ¹⁵  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ¹⁶ 

Yohanes 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁷  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ¹⁸  by the door, ¹⁹  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

Yohanes 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁰  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ²¹  But if it dies, it produces ²²  much grain. ²³ 

Yohanes 13:16

13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁴  the slave ²⁵  is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger ²⁶  greater than the one who sent him.

Yohanes 13:20

13:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁷  whoever accepts ²⁸  the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” ²⁹ 

Yohanes 13:38

13:38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? ³⁰  I tell you the solemn truth, ³¹  the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times!

Yohanes 16:20

16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ³²  you will weep ³³  and wail, ³⁴  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ³⁵  but your sadness will turn into ³⁶  joy.

[8:34]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:34]  ² tn Or “who commits.” This could simply be translated, “everyone who sins,” but the Greek is more emphatic, using the participle ποιῶν (poiwn) in a construction with πᾶς (pas), a typical Johannine construction. Here repeated, continuous action is in view. The one whose lifestyle is characterized by repeated, continuous sin is a slave to sin. That one is not free; sin has enslaved him. To break free from this bondage requires outside (divine) intervention. Although the statement is true at the general level (the person who continually practices a lifestyle of sin is enslaved to sin) the particular sin of the Jewish authorities, repeatedly emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, is the sin of unbelief. The present tense in this instance looks at the continuing refusal on the part of the Jewish leaders to acknowledge who Jesus is, in spite of mounting evidence.

[8:34]  ³ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[10:7]  ⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:7]  ⁵ tn Or “I am the sheep’s door.”

[13:21]  ⁶ tn Or “greatly troubled.”

[13:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “and testified and said.”

[13:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:21]  ⁹ tn Or “will hand me over.”

[1:51]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and he said to him.”

[1:51]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[1:51]  ¹² sn The title Son of Man appears 13 times in John’s Gospel. It is associated especially with the themes of crucifixion (3:14; 8:28), revelation (6:27; 6:53), and eschatological authority (5:27; 9:35). The title as used in John’s Gospel has for its background the son of man figure who appears in Dan 7:13-14 and is granted universal regal authority. Thus for the author, the emphasis in this title is not on Jesus’ humanity, but on his heavenly origin and divine authority.

[3:3]  ¹³ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

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

[3:3]  ¹⁵ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  sn Or born again. The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving rise to Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second physical birth (v. 4).

[3:3]  ¹⁶ sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ¹⁸ sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “entrance.”

[12:24]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ²¹ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ²² tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ²³ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[13:16]  ²⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:16]  ²⁵ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[13:16]  ²⁶ tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).

[13:20]  ²⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:20]  ²⁸ tn Or “receives,” and so throughout this verse.

[13:20]  ²⁹ sn The one who sent me refers to God.

[13:38]  ³⁰ tn Or “Will you die willingly for me?”

[13:38]  ³¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ³² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ³³ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ³⁴ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ³⁵ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ³⁶ tn Grk “will become.”