12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Christ’s 7 glory, and spoke about him.
12:1 Then, six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom he 8 had raised from the dead.
1 sn Now with the recounting of what had happened on the road two sets of witnesses corroborate the women’s report.
2 tn Grk “how he was made known to them”; or “how he was recognized by them.” Here the passive construction has been converted to an active one in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.
3 tn Or “Study the scriptures thoroughly” (an imperative). For the meaning of the verb see G. Delling, TDNT 2:655-57.
4 sn In them you possess eternal life. Note the following examples from the rabbinic tractate Pirqe Avot (“The Sayings of the Fathers”): Pirqe Avot 2:8, “He who has acquired the words of the law has acquired for himself the life of the world to come”; Pirqe Avot 6:7, “Great is the law for it gives to those who practice it life in this world and in the world to come.”
5 tn The words “same scriptures” are not in the Greek text, but are supplied to clarify the referent (“these”).
6 tn Grk “For if.”
7 tn Grk “his”; the referent (Christ) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent supplied here is “Christ” rather than “Jesus” because it involves what Isaiah saw. It is clear that the author presents Isaiah as having seen the preincarnate glory of Christ, which was the very revelation of the Father (see John 1:18; John 14:9).
8 tn Grk “whom Jesus,” but a repetition of the proper name (Jesus) here would be redundant in the English clause structure, so the pronoun (“he”) is substituted in the translation.
9 tn Or “was made”; Grk “came into existence.”
10 tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”
11 tn Or “know.”
12 tn Grk “to his own things.”
13 tn Grk “and,” but in context this is an adversative use of καί (kai) and is thus translated “but.”
14 tn “People” is not in the Greek text but is implied.
15 sn His own people did not receive him. There is a subtle irony here: When the λόγος (logos) came into the world, he came to his own (τὰ ἴδια, ta idia, literally “his own things”) and his own people (οἱ ἴδιοι, Joi idioi), who should have known and received him, but they did not. This time John does not say that “his own” did not know him, but that they did not receive him (παρέλαβον, parelabon). The idea is one not of mere recognition, but of acceptance and welcome.
16 tn On the use of the πιστεύω + εἰς (pisteuw + ei") construction in John: The verb πιστεύω occurs 98 times in John (compared to 11 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark [including the longer ending], and 9 times in Luke). One of the unsolved mysteries is why the corresponding noun form πίστις (pistis) is never used at all. Many have held the noun was in use in some pre-Gnostic sects and this rendered it suspect for John. It might also be that for John, faith was an activity, something that men do (cf. W. Turner, “Believing and Everlasting Life – A Johannine Inquiry,” ExpTim 64 [1952/53]: 50-52). John uses πιστεύω in 4 major ways: (1) of believing facts, reports, etc., 12 times; (2) of believing people (or the scriptures), 19 times; (3) of believing “in” Christ” (πιστεύω + εἰς + acc.), 36 times; (4) used absolutely without any person or object specified, 30 times (the one remaining passage is 2:24, where Jesus refused to “trust” himself to certain individuals). Of these, the most significant is the use of πιστεύω with εἰς + accusative. It is not unlike the Pauline ἐν Χριστῷ (en Cristw) formula. Some have argued that this points to a Hebrew (more likely Aramaic) original behind the Fourth Gospel. But it probably indicates something else, as C. H. Dodd observed: “πιστεύειν with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase – an element integral to the primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ – needed to be otherwise expressed” (The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 183).
17 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s announcement.
18 tn Grk “I fell down at his feet.” BDAG 815 s.v. πίπτω 1.b.α.ב. has “fall down, throw oneself to the ground as a sign of devotion or humility, before high-ranking persons or divine beings.”
19 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.
20 tn On the elliptical expression ὅρα μή (Jora mh) BDAG 720 s.v. ὁράω B.2 states: “Elliptically…ὅρα μή (sc. ποιήσῃς) watch out! don’t do that! Rv 19:10; 22:9.”
21 tn The lowliness of a slave is emphasized in the Greek text with the emphatic position of σύνδουλος (sundoulo"). The use of “only” helps to bring this nuance out in English.
22 tn Grk “fellow slave.” See the note on the word “servants” in v. 2.
23 tn The Greek term “brother” literally refers to family relationships, but here it is used in a broader sense to connote familial relationships within the family of God (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 2.a).
24 tn The genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) has been translated as an objective genitive here. A subjective genitive, also possible, would produce the meaning “who hold to what Jesus testifies.”