5:19 So Jesus answered them, 6 “I tell you the solemn truth, 7 the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, 8 but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father 9 does, the Son does likewise. 10
8:28 Then Jesus said, 11 “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, 12 and I do nothing on my own initiative, 13 but I speak just what the Father taught me. 14
19:15 Then they 21 shouted out, “Away with him! Away with him! 22 Crucify 23 him!” Pilate asked, 24 “Shall I crucify your king?” The high priests replied, “We have no king except Caesar!”
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 “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
9 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
10 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
11 tn Grk “nothing from himself.”
12 tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 sn What works does the Son do likewise? The same that the Father does – and the same that the rabbis recognized as legitimate works of God on the Sabbath (see note on working in v. 17). (1) Jesus grants life (just as the Father grants life) on the Sabbath. But as the Father gives physical life on the Sabbath, so the Son grants spiritual life (John 5:21; note the “greater things” mentioned in v. 20). (2) Jesus judges (determines the destiny of people) on the Sabbath, just as the Father judges those who die on the Sabbath, because the Father has granted authority to the Son to judge (John 5:22-23). But this is not all. Not only has this power been granted to Jesus in the present; it will be his in the future as well. In v. 28 there is a reference not to spiritually dead (only) but also physically dead. At their resurrection they respond to the Son as well.
13 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all
14 tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.
15 tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”
16 tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”
17 sn Crucifixion was the cruelest form of punishment practiced by the Romans. Roman citizens could not normally undergo it. It was reserved for the worst crimes, like treason and evasion of due process in a capital case. The Roman statesman and orator Cicero (106-43
18 tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from context.
19 tn Grk “said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because they are unnecessary in contemporary English style.
20 sn How are Pilate’s words “You take him and crucify him” to be understood? Was he offering a serious alternative to the priests who wanted Jesus crucified? Was he offering them an exception to the statement in 18:31 that the Jewish authorities did not have the power to carry out a death penalty? Although a few scholars have suggested that the situation was at this point so far out of Pilate’s control that he really was telling the high priests they could go ahead and crucify a man he had found to be innocent, this seems unlikely. It is far more likely that Pilate’s statement should be understood as one of frustration and perhaps sarcasm. This seems to be supported by the context, for the Jewish authorities make no attempt at this point to seize Jesus and crucify him. Rather they continue to pester Pilate to order the crucifixion.
21 tn On this use of γάρ (gar) used in exclamations and strong affirmations, see BDAG 190 s.v. γάρ 3.
22 tn Or “find no basis for an accusation”; Grk “find no cause.”
21 tn Grk “Then these.”
22 tn The words “with him” (twice) are not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
23 sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.
24 tn Grk “Pilate said to them.” The words “to them” are not translated because it is clear in English who Pilate is addressing.