John 7:6

7:6 So Jesus replied, ¹  “My time ²  has not yet arrived, ³  but you are ready at any opportunity! ⁴ 

John 7:8

7:8 You go up ⁵  to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast ⁶  because my time ⁷  has not yet fully arrived.” ⁸ 

John 8:37

8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. ⁹  But you want ¹⁰  to kill me, because my teaching ¹¹  makes no progress among you. ¹² 

John 12:26

12:26 If anyone wants to serve me, he must follow ¹³  me, and where I am, my servant will be too. ¹⁴  If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

John 14:24

14:24 The person who does not love me does not obey ¹⁵  my words. And the word ¹⁶  you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.

¹ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

² tn Or “my opportunity.”

³ tn Or “is not yet here.”

⁴ tn Grk “your time is always ready.”

⁵ sn One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.

⁶ tc Most mss (Ì^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupw) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.

⁷ tn Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (Jwra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father – the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.

⁸ tn Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”

⁹ tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

¹⁰ tn Grk “you are seeking.”

¹¹ tn Grk “my word.”

¹² tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

¹³ tn As a third person imperative in Greek, ἀκολουθείτω (akolouqeitw) is usually translated “let him follow me.” This could be understood by the modern English reader as merely permissive, however (“he may follow me if he wishes”). In this context there is no permissive sense, but rather a command, so the translation “he must follow me” is preferred.

¹⁴ tn Grk “where I am, there my servant will be too.”

¹⁷ tn Or “does not keep.”

¹⁸ tn Or “the message.”