8:28 Then Jesus said, 12 “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, 13 and I do nothing on my own initiative, 14 but I speak just what the Father taught me. 15
18:28 Then they brought Jesus from Caiaphas to the Roman governor’s residence. 35 (Now it was very early morning.) 36 They 37 did not go into the governor’s residence 38 so they would not be ceremonially defiled, but could eat the Passover meal.
1 sn Nathanael is traditionally identified with Bartholomew (although John never describes him as such). He appears here after Philip, while in all lists of the twelve except in Acts 1:13, Bartholomew follows Philip. Also, the Aramaic Bar-tolmai means “son of Tolmai,” the surname; the man almost certainly had another name.
2 tn “Also” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
3 tn Grk “nothing from myself.”
4 tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”
5 tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”
5 tn Grk “who speaks from himself.”
6 tn Or “seeks.”
7 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
8 tn Or “seeks.”
9 tn Or “praise”; Grk “glory.”
10 tn Or “is truthful”; Grk “is true.”
7 tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all
8 tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.
9 tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”
10 tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”
9 tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”
10 tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”
11 tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.
12 tn Grk “from myself.”
13 tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).
11 tn Or “Reside.”
12 tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.
13 sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.
14 tn Or “resides.”
15 tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).
16 tn Or “you reside.”
13 tn Grk “that one.”
14 tn Or “will lead.”
15 sn Three important points must be noted here. (1) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide the disciples into all truth. What Jesus had said in 8:31-32, “If you continue to follow my teaching you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” will ultimately be realized in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ departure. (2) The things the Holy Spirit speaks to them will not be things which originate from himself (he will not speak on his own authority), but things he has heard. This could be taken to mean that no new revelation is involved, as R. E. Brown does (John [AB], 2:714-15). This is a possible but not a necessary inference. The point here concerns the source of the things the Spirit will say to the disciples and does not specifically exclude originality of content. (3) Part at least of what the Holy Spirit will reveal to the disciples will concern what is to come, not just fuller implications of previous sayings of Jesus and the like. This does seem to indicate that at least some new revelation is involved. But the Spirit is not the source or originator of these things – Jesus is the source, and he will continue to speak to his disciples through the Spirit who has come to indwell them. This does not answer the question, however, whether these words are addressed to all followers of Jesus, or only to his apostles. Different modern commentators will answer this question differently. Since in the context of the Farewell Discourse Jesus is preparing the twelve to carry on his ministry after his departure, it is probably best to take these statements as specifically related only to the twelve. Some of this the Holy Spirit does directly for all believers today; other parts of this statement are fulfilled through the apostles (e.g., in giving the Book of Revelation the Spirit speaks through the apostles to the church today of things to come). One of the implications of this is that a doctrine does not have to be traced back to an explicit teaching of Jesus to be authentic; all that is required is apostolic authority.
16 tn Grk “speak from himself.”
17 tn Or will announce to you.”
18 tn Grk “will tell you the things to come.”
15 tn Or “distress.”
16 sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the
17 tn Grk “to the praetorium.”
18 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
19 tn Grk “And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
20 tn Grk “into the praetorium.”
19 tn Grk “and Thomas.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
20 sn Didymus means “the twin” in Greek.
21 tn Grk “and Nathanael.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
22 map For location see Map1-C3; Map2-D2; Map3-C5.
23 tn Grk “and the sons.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements of a series.
24 sn The sons of Zebedee were James and John.
25 sn The two other disciples who are not named may have been Andrew and Philip, who are mentioned together in John 6:7-8 and 12:22.
21 tn The word “some” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
22 tn The words “the net” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.