John 12:34

12:34 Then the crowd responded, ¹  “We have heard from the law that the Christ ²  will remain forever. ³  How ⁴  can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?”

John 21:23

21:23 So the saying circulated ⁵  among the brothers and sisters ⁶  that this disciple was not going to die. But Jesus did not say to him that he was not going to die, but rather, “If I want him to live ⁷  until I come back, ⁸  what concern is that of yours?”

¹ tn Grk “Then the crowd answered him.”

² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

³ tn Probably an allusion to Ps 89:35-37. It is difficult to pinpoint the passage in the Mosaic law to which the crowd refers. The ones most often suggested are Ps 89:36-37, Ps 110:4, Isa 9:7, Ezek 37:25, and Dan 7:14. None of these passages are in the Pentateuch per se, but “law” could in common usage refer to the entire OT (compare Jesus’ use in John 10:34). Of the passages mentioned, Ps 89:36-37 is the most likely candidate. This verse speaks of David’s “seed” remaining forever. Later in the same psalm, v. 51 speaks of the “anointed” (Messiah), and the psalm was interpreted messianically in both the NT (Acts 13:22, Rev 1:5, 3:14) and in the rabbinic literature (Genesis Rabbah 97).

⁴ tn Grk “And how”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

⁵ tn Grk “went out.”

⁶ tn Grk “the brothers,” but here the term refers to more than just the immediate disciples of Jesus (as it does in 20:17). Here, as R. E. Brown notes (John [AB], 2:1110), it refers to Christians of the Johannine community (which would include both men and women).

⁷ tn Grk “to stay” or “to remain”; but since longevity is the issue in the context, “to live” conveys the idea more clearly.

⁸ tn The word “back” is supplied to clarify the meaning.