55:8 “Indeed, 8 my plans 9 are not like 10 your plans,
and my deeds 11 are not like 12 your deeds,
55:9 for just as the sky 13 is higher than the earth,
so my deeds 14 are superior to 15 your deeds
and my plans 16 superior to your plans.
3:16 For this is the way 17 God loved the world: He gave his one and only 18 Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish 19 but have eternal life. 20
4:10 Jesus answered 21 her, “If you had known 22 the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water 23 to drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 24
1 tn Grk “and not as through the one who sinned [is] the gift.”
2 tn The word “transgression” is not in the Greek text at this point, but has been supplied for clarity.
3 tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.
4 tn Or “falls, trespasses,” the same word used in vv. 15, 17, 18, 20.
5 sn Here the one man refers to Adam (cf. 5:14).
6 tn Grk “slipped in.”
7 tn Or “trespass.”
8 tn Or “For” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV).
9 tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).
10 tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.
11 tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).
12 tn Heb “are not.” “Like” is interpretive, but v. 9 indicates that a comparison is in view.
13 tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
14 tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).
15 tn Heb “are higher than.”
16 tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).
17 tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.
18 tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).
19 tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.
20 sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.
21 tn Grk “answered and said to her.”
22 tn Or “if you knew.”
23 tn The phrase “some water” is supplied as the understood direct object of the infinitive πεῖν (pein).
24 tn This is a second class conditional sentence in Greek.