John 4:29

4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, ¹  can he?” ² 

John 7:22-23

7:22 However, because Moses gave you the practice of circumcision ³  (not that it came from Moses, but from the forefathers), you circumcise a male child ⁴  on the Sabbath. 7:23 But if a male child ⁵  is circumcised ⁶  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ⁷  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ⁸  on the Sabbath?

John 7:51

7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn ⁹  a man unless it first hears from him and learns ¹⁰  what he is doing, does it?” ¹¹ 

John 8:40

8:40 But now you are trying ¹²  to kill me, a man who has told you ¹³  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ¹⁴ 

¹ tn Grk “the Christ” (both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). Although the Greek text reads χριστός (cristos) here, it is more consistent based on 4:25 (where Μεσσίας [Messias] is the lead term and is qualified by χριστός) to translate χριστός as “Messiah” here.

² tn The use of μήτι (mhti) normally presupposes a negative answer. This should not be taken as an indication that the woman did not believe, however. It may well be an example of “reverse psychology,” designed to gain a hearing for her testimony among those whose doubts about her background would obviate her claims.

³ tn Grk “gave you circumcision.”

⁴ tn Grk “a man.” While the text literally reads “circumcise a man” in actual fact the practice of circumcising male infants on the eighth day after birth (see Phil 3:5) is primarily what is in view here.

⁵ tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

⁶ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

⁷ 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.

⁸ tn Or “made an entire man well.”

⁷ tn Grk “judge.”

⁸ tn Grk “knows.”

⁹ 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?”).

⁹ tn Grk “seeking.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

¹¹ tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.