John 12:20-36

Context

Seekers

12:20 Now some Greeks¹ were among those who had gone up to worship at the feast. 12:21 So these approached Philip,² who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested,³ “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” 12:22 Philip went and told Andrew, and they both⁴ went and told Jesus. 12:23 Jesus replied,⁵ “The time⁶ has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.⁷ 12:24 I tell you the solemn truth,⁸ unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone.⁹ But if it dies, it produces¹⁰ much grain.¹¹ 12:25 The one who loves his life¹² destroys¹³ it, and the one who hates his life in this world guards¹⁴ it for eternal life. 12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow¹⁵ me, and where I am, my servant will be too.¹⁶ If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

12:27 “Now my soul is greatly distressed. And what should I say? ‘Father, deliver me¹⁷ from this hour’?¹⁸ No, but for this very reason I have come to this hour.¹⁹ 12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven,²⁰ “I have glorified it,²¹ and I will glorify it²² again.” 12:29 The crowd that stood there and heard the voice²³ said that it had thundered. Others said that an angel had spoken to him.²⁴ 12:30 Jesus said,²⁵ “This voice has not come for my benefit²⁶ but for yours. 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world²⁷ will be driven out.²⁸ 12:32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people²⁹ to myself.” 12:33 (Now he said this to indicate clearly what kind of death he was going to die.)³⁰

12:34 Then the crowd responded,³¹ “We have heard from the law that the Christ³² will remain forever.³³ How³⁴ can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 12:35 Jesus replied,³⁵ “The light is with you for a little while longer.³⁶ Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.³⁷ The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.”³⁸ When Jesus had said these things, he went away and hid himself from them.

[12:20] ¹sn These Greeks (῞Ελληνές τινες, {ellhne" tine") who had come up to worship at the feast were probably “God-fearers” rather than proselytes in the strict sense. Had they been true proselytes, they would probably not have been referred to as Greeks any longer. Many came to worship at the major Jewish festivals without being proselytes to Judaism, for example, the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8:27, who could not have been a proselyte if he were physically a eunuch.

[12:21] ²sn These Greeks approached Philip, although it is not clear why they did so. Perhaps they identified with his Greek name (although a number of Jews from border areas had Hellenistic names at this period). By see it is clear they meant “speak with,” since anyone could “see” Jesus moving through the crowd. The author does not mention what they wanted to speak with Jesus about.

[12:21] ³tn Grk “and were asking him, saying.” The participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:22] ⁴tn Grk “Andrew and Philip”; because a repetition of the proper names would be redundant in contemporary English style, the phrase “they both” has been substituted in the translation.

[12:23] ⁵tn Grk “Jesus answered them, saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[12:23] ⁶tn Grk “the hour.”

[12:23] ⁷sn Jesus’ reply, the time has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, is a bit puzzling. As far as the author’s account is concerned, Jesus totally ignores these Greeks and makes no further reference to them whatsoever. It appears that his words are addressed to Andrew and Philip, but in fact they must have had a wider audience, including possibly the Greeks who had wished to see him in the first place. The words the time has come recall all the previous references to “the hour” throughout the Fourth Gospel (see the note on time in 2:4). There is no doubt, in light of the following verse, that Jesus refers to his death here. On his pathway to glorification lies the cross, and it is just ahead.

[12:24] ⁸tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24] ⁹tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24] ¹⁰tn Or “bears.”

[12:24] ¹¹tn Grk “much fruit.”

[12:25] ¹²tn Or “soul.”

[12:25] ¹³tn Or “loses.” Although the traditional English translation of ἀπολλύει (apolluei) in John 12:25 is “loses,” the contrast with φυλάξει (fulaxei, “keeps” or “guards”) in the second half of the verse favors the meaning “destroy” here.

[12:25] ¹⁴tn Or “keeps.”

[12:26] ¹⁵tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

[12:26] ¹⁶tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

[12:27] ¹⁷tn Or “save me.”

[12:27] ¹⁸tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:27] ¹⁹tn Or “this occasion.”

[12:28] ²⁰tn Or “from the sky” (see note on 1:32).

[12:28] ²¹tn “It” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:28] ²²tn “It” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:29] ²³tn “The voice” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[12:29] ²⁴tn Grk “Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” The direct discourse in the second half of v. 29 was converted to indirect discourse in the translation to maintain the parallelism with the first half of the verse, which is better in keeping with English style.

[12:30] ²⁵tn Grk “Jesus answered and said.”

[12:30] ²⁶tn Or “for my sake.”

[12:31] ²⁷sn The ruler of this world is a reference to Satan.

[12:31] ²⁸tn Or “will be thrown out.” This translation regards the future passive ἐκβληθήσεται (ekblhqhsetai) as referring to an event future to the time of speaking.

[12:32] ²⁹tn Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).

[12:33] ³⁰sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:34] ³¹tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”

[12:34] ³²tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[12:34] ³³tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).

[12:34] ³⁴tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[12:35] ³⁵tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[12:35] ³⁶tn Grk “Yet a little while the light is with you.”

[12:35] ³⁷sn The warning Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you operates on at least two different levels: (1) To the Jewish people in Jerusalem to whom Jesus spoke, the warning was a reminder that there was only a little time left for them to accept him as their Messiah. (2) To those later individuals to whom the Fourth Gospel was written, and to every person since, the words of Jesus are also a warning: There is a finite, limited time in which each individual has opportunity to respond to the Light of the world (i.e., Jesus); after that comes darkness. One’s response to the Light decisively determines one’s judgment for eternity.

[12:36] ³⁸tn The idiom “sons of light” means essentially “people characterized by light,” that is, “people of God.”