John 1:4

1:4 In him was life, ¹  and the life was the light of mankind. ² 

John 1:36

1:36 Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” ³ 

John 2:2

2:2 and Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. ⁴ 

John 2:13

2:13 Now the Jewish feast of Passover ⁵  was near, so Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ⁶ 

John 3:33

3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ⁷ 

John 3:35

3:35 The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. ⁸ 

John 6:4

6:4 (Now the Jewish feast of the Passover ⁹  was near.) ¹⁰ 

John 6:49

6:49 Your ancestors ¹¹  ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

John 6:62

6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? ¹² 

John 7:2

7:2 Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles ¹³  was near. ¹⁴ 

John 7:49

7:49 But this rabble ¹⁵  who do not know the law are accursed!”

John 10:2

10:2 The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

John 17:17

17:17 Set them apart ¹⁶  in the truth; your word is truth.

John 20:3

20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple set out to go to the tomb. ¹⁷ 

¹ tn John uses ζωή (zwh) 37 times: 17 times it occurs with αἰώνιος (aiwnios), and in the remaining occurrences outside the prologue it is clear from context that “eternal” life is meant. The two uses in 1:4, if they do not refer to “eternal” life, would be the only exceptions. (Also 1 John uses ζωή 13 times, always of “eternal” life.)

² tn Or “humanity”; Grk “of men” (but ἄνθρωπος [anqrwpo"] is used in a generic sense here, not restricted to males only, thus “mankind,” “humanity”).

³ sn This section (1:35-51) is joined to the preceding by the literary expedient of repeating the Baptist’s testimony about Jesus being the Lamb of God (1:36, cf. 1:29). This repeated testimony (1:36) no longer has revelatory value in itself, since it has been given before; its purpose, instead, is to institute a chain reaction which will bring John the Baptist’s disciples to Jesus and make them Jesus’ own disciples.

⁵ sn There is no clue to the identity of the bride and groom, but in all probability either relatives or friends of Jesus’ family were involved, since Jesus’ mother and both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the celebration. The attitude of Mary in approaching Jesus and asking him to do something when the wine ran out also suggests that familial obligations were involved.

⁷ tn Grk “the Passover of the Jews.” This is first of at least three (and possibly four) Passovers mentioned in John’s Gospel. If it is assumed that the Passovers appear in the Gospel in their chronological order (and following a date of a.d. 33 for the crucifixion), this would be the Passover of the spring of a.d. 30, the first of Jesus’ public ministry. There is a clear reference to another Passover in 6:4, and another still in 11:55, 12:1, 13:1, 18:28, 39, and 19:14. The latter would be the Passover of a.d. 33. There is a possibility that 5:1 also refers to a Passover, in which case it would be the second of Jesus’ public ministry (a.d. 31), while 6:4 would refer to the third (a.d. 32) and the remaining references would refer to the final Passover at the time of the crucifixion. It is entirely possible, however, that the Passovers occurring in the Fourth Gospel are not intended to be understood as listed in chronological sequence. If the material of the Fourth Gospel originally existed in the form of homilies or sermons by the Apostle John on the life and ministry of Jesus, the present arrangement would not have to be in strict chronological order (it does not explicitly claim to be). In this case the Passover mentioned in 2:13, for example, might actually be later in Jesus’ public ministry than it might at first glance appear. This leads, however, to a discussion of an even greater problem in the passage, the relationship of the temple cleansing in John’s Gospel to the similar account in the synoptic gospels.

⁸ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁹ tn Or “is true.”

¹¹ tn Grk “has given all things into his hand” (an idiom).

¹³ sn Passover. According to John’s sequence of material, considerable time has elapsed since the feast of 5:1. If the feast in 5:1 was Pentecost of a.d. 31, then this feast would be the Passover of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion.

¹⁴ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

¹⁵ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

¹⁷ tn Or “he was formerly?”

¹⁹ tn Or “feast of the Tents” (the feast where people lived in tents or shelters, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skhnophgia) for the feast of Tabernacles constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.

²⁰ sn Since the present verse places these incidents at the feast of Tabernacles (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1-47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1-9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.

²¹ tn Grk “crowd.” “Rabble” is a good translation here because the remark by the Pharisees is so derogatory.

²³ tn Or “Consecrate them” or “Sanctify them.”

²⁵ tn Grk “went out and were coming to the tomb.”