John 1:15

1:15 John ¹  testified ²  about him and shouted out, ³  “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, ⁴  because he existed before me.’”

John 1:29

1:29 On the next day John ⁵  saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God ⁶  who takes away the sin of the world!

John 1:34

1:34 I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.” ⁷ 

John 3:29-36

3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly ⁸  when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. ⁹  3:30 He must become more important while I become less important.” ¹⁰ 

3:31 The one who comes from above is superior to all. ¹¹  The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. ¹²  The one who comes from heaven ¹³  is superior to all. ¹⁴  3:32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ¹⁵  3:34 For the one whom God has sent ¹⁶  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ¹⁷  3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ¹⁸  3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ¹⁹  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ²⁰  remains ²¹  on him.

Acts 2:40

2:40 With many other words he testified ²²  and exhorted them saying, “Save yourselves from this perverse ²³  generation!”

¹ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

² tn Or “bore witness.”

³ tn Grk “and shouted out saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant is English and has not been translated.

⁴ tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”

⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (John) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ sn Gen 22:8 is an important passage in the background of the title Lamb of God as applied to Jesus. In Jewish thought this was held to be a supremely important sacrifice. G. Vermès stated: “For the Palestinian Jew, all lamb sacrifice, and especially the Passover lamb and the Tamid offering, was a memorial of the Akedah with its effects of deliverance, forgiveness of sin and messianic salvation” (Scripture and Tradition in Judaism [StPB], 225).

⁷ tc ‡ What did John the Baptist declare about Jesus on this occasion? Did he say, “This is the Son of God” (οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, |outo" estin Jo Juio" tou qeou), or “This is the Chosen One of God” (οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐκλεκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, outo" estin Jo eklekto" tou qeou)? The majority of the witnesses, impressive because of their diversity in age and locales, read “This is the Son of God” (so {Ì^66,75 A B C L Θ Ψ 0233^vid Ë^1,13 33 1241 aur c f l g bo as well as the majority of Byzantine minuscules and many others}). Most scholars take this to be sufficient evidence to regard the issue as settled without much of a need to reflect on internal evidence. On the other hand, one of the earliest mss for this verse, {Ì⁵} (3rd century), evidently read οὗτός ἐστιν ὁ ἐκλεκτὸς τοῦ θεοῦ. (There is a gap in the ms at the point of the disputed words; it is too large for υἱός especially if written, as it surely would have been, as a nomen sacrum [uMs]. The term ἐκλεκτός was not a nomen sacrum and would have therefore taken up much more space [eklektos]. Given these two variants, there is hardly any question as to what Ì⁵ read.) This papyrus has many affinities with א*, which here also has ὁ ἐκλεκτός. In addition to their combined testimony Ì^106vid b e ff^2* sy^s,c also support this reading. ̹⁰⁶ is particularly impressive, for it is a second third-century papyrus in support of ὁ ἐκλεκτός. A third reading combines these two: “the elect Son” (electus filius in ff^2c sa and a [with slight variation]). Although the evidence for ἐκλεκτός is not as impressive as that for υἱός, the reading is found in early Alexandrian and Western witnesses. Turning to the internal evidence, “the Chosen One” clearly comes out ahead. “Son of God” is a favorite expression of the author (cf. 1:49; 3:18; 5:25; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; 20:31); further, there are several other references to “his Son,” “the Son,” etc. Scribes would be naturally motivated to change ἐκλεκτός to υἱός since the latter is both a Johannine expression and is, on the surface, richer theologically in 1:34. On the other hand, there is not a sufficient reason for scribes to change υἱός to ἐκλεκτός. The term never occurs in John; even its verbal cognate (ἐκλέγω, eklegw) is never affirmed of Jesus in this Gospel. ἐκλεκτός clearly best explains the rise of υἱός. Further, the third reading (“Chosen Son of God”) is patently a conflation of the other two. It has all the earmarks of adding υἱός to ἐκλεκτός. Thus, ὁ υἱός τοῦ θεοῦ is almost certainly a motivated reading. As R. E. Brown notes (John [AB], 1:57), “On the basis of theological tendency…it is difficult to imagine that Christian scribes would change ‘the Son of God’ to ‘God’s chosen one,’ while a change in the opposite direction would be quite plausible. Harmonization with the Synoptic accounts of the baptism (‘You are [This is] my beloved Son’) would also explain the introduction of ‘the Son of God’ into John; the same phenomenon occurs in vi 69. Despite the weaker textual evidence, therefore, it seems best – with Lagrange, Barrett, Boismard, and others – to accept ‘God’s chosen one’ as original.”

⁸ tn Grk “rejoices with joy” (an idiom).

⁹ tn Grk “Therefore this my joy is fulfilled.”

¹⁰ sn Some interpreters extend the quotation of John the Baptist’s words through v. 36.

¹¹ tn Or “is above all.”

¹² tn Grk “speaks from the earth.”

¹³ sn The one who comes from heaven refers to Christ. As in John 1:1, the Word’s preexistence is indicated here.

¹⁴ tc Ì⁷⁵ א* D ˹ 565 as well as several versions and fathers lack the phrase “is superior to all” (ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν, epanw pantwn estin). This effectively joins the last sentence of v. 31 with v. 32: “The one who comes from heaven testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.” On the other side, the phrase may have been deleted because of perceived redundancy, since it duplicates what is said earlier in the verse. The witnesses that include ἐπάνω πάντων ἐστίν in both places are weighty and widespread (Ì^36vid,66 א² A B L W^s Θ Ψ 083 086 ˹³ 33 Ï lat sy^s,p,h bo). On balance, the longer reading should probably be considered authentic.

¹⁵ tn Or “is true.”

¹⁶ tn That is, Christ.

¹⁷ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

¹⁸ tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

¹⁹ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

²⁰ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

²¹ tn Or “resides.”

²² tn Or “warned.”

²³ tn Or “crooked” (in a moral or ethical sense). See Luke 3:5.