14:5 Thomas said, 2 “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
21:24 This is the disciple who testifies about these things and has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
9:24 Then they summoned 32 the man who used to be blind 33 a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. 34 We know that this man 35 is a sinner.”
1 tn Grk “where this one.”
2 tn Grk “said to him.”
3 tn Grk “who opened his eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
4 tn Or “he is of age.”
4 tn Grk “this one.”
5 sn We know where this man comes from. The author apparently did not consider this objection worth answering. The true facts about Jesus’ origins were readily available for any reader who didn’t know already. Here is an instance where the author assumes knowledge about Jesus that is independent from the material he records.
6 tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).
7 sn The view of these people regarding the Messiah that no one will know where he comes from reflects the idea that the origin of the Messiah is a mystery. In the Talmud (b. Sanhedrin 97a) Rabbi Zera taught: “Three come unawares: Messiah, a found article, and a scorpion.” Apparently OT prophetic passages like Mal 3:1 and Dan 9:25 were interpreted by some as indicating a sudden appearance of Messiah. It appears that this was not a universal view: The scribes summoned by Herod at the coming of the Magi in Matt 2 knew that the Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. It is important to remember that Jewish messianic expectations in the early 1st century were not monolithic.
5 tn Grk “they kept on saying.”
6 tn Grk “What is this that he says.”
7 tn Grk “A little while.” Although the phrase τὸ μικρόν (to mikron) in John 16:18 could be translated simply “a little while,” it was translated “in a little while” to maintain the connection to John 16:16, where it has the latter meaning in context.
8 tn Or “we do not know.”
9 tn Grk “what he is speaking.”
6 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
7 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.
8 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied in the translation to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than Nicodemus alone).
9 sn Note the remarkable similarity of Jesus’ testimony to the later testimony of the Apostle John himself in 1 John 1:2: “And we have seen and testify and report to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was revealed to us.” This is only one example of how thoroughly the author’s own thoughts were saturated with the words of Jesus (and also how difficult it is to distinguish the words of Jesus from the words of the author in the Fourth Gospel).
7 tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the Greek verb translated “worship” is second person plural and thus refers to more than the woman alone.
8 tn Or “from the Judeans.” See the note on “Jew” in v. 9.
8 tn Grk “So his parents answered and said.”
9 tn Grk “God does not hear.”
10 tn Or “godly.”
11 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn Or “hears.”
13 tn Grk “this one.”
10 tn Grk “all things.”
11 tn Grk “and have no need of anyone.”
12 tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
13 tn Or “By this.”
11 tn Or “this.” The Greek pronoun can mean either “this one” or “this” (BDAG 740 s.v. οὗτος 1).
12 sn There is irony in the Samaritans’ declaration that Jesus was really the Savior of the world, an irony foreshadowed in the prologue to the Fourth Gospel (1:11): “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Yet the Samaritans welcomed Jesus and proclaimed him to be not the Jewish Messiah only, but the Savior of the world.
12 tn Grk “they called.”
13 tn Grk “who was blind.”
14 tn Grk “Give glory to God” (an idiomatic formula used in placing someone under oath to tell the truth).
15 tn The phrase “this man” is a reference to Jesus.
13 tn Grk “So she ran and came.”
14 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 tn Or “during the night.”
16 sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.