John 1:17

1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but ¹  grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

John 7:23

7:23 But if a male child ²  is circumcised ³  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ⁴  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ⁵  on the Sabbath?

John 7:51

7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn ⁶  a man unless it first hears from him and learns ⁷  what he is doing, does it?” ⁸ 

¹ tn “But” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the implied contrast between the Mosaic law and grace through Jesus Christ. John 1:17 seems to indicate clearly that the Old Covenant (Sinai) was being contrasted with the New. In Jewish sources the Law was regarded as a gift from God (Josephus, Ant. 3.8.10 [3.223]; Pirqe Avot 1.1; Sifre Deut 31:4 §305). Further information can be found in T. F. Glasson, Moses in the Fourth Gospel (SBT).

² tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

³ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

⁴ sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

⁵ tn Or “made an entire man well.”

³ tn Grk “judge.”

⁴ tn Grk “knows.”

⁵ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here the tag is “does it?”).