Isaiah 57:12

57:12 I will denounce your so-called righteousness and your deeds, ¹ 

but they will not help you.

Jeremiah 7:8

7:8 “‘But just look at you! ²  You are putting your confidence in a false belief ³  that will not deliver you. ⁴ 

John 6:63

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ⁵  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ⁶ 

John 6:1

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

6:1 After this ⁷  Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (also called the Sea of Tiberias). ⁸ 

John 4:8

4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies. ⁹ ) ¹⁰ 

Hebrews 13:9

13:9 Do not be carried away by all sorts of strange teachings. ¹¹  For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not ritual meals, ¹²  which have never benefited those who participated in them.

James 2:14-17

Faith and Works Together

2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, ¹³  if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith ¹⁴  save him? ¹⁵  2:15 If a brother or sister ¹⁶  is poorly clothed and lacks daily food, 2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm and eat well,” but you do not give them what the body needs, ¹⁷  what good is it? 2:17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead being by itself.

[57:12]  ¹ tn Heb “I, I will declare your righteousness and your deeds.”

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “Behold!”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “You are trusting in lying words.” See the similar phrase in v. 4 and the note there.

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “not profit [you].”

[6:63]  ⁵ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ⁶ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”

[6:1]  ⁷ tn Again, μετὰ ταῦτα (meta tauta) is a vague temporal reference. How Jesus got from Jerusalem to Galilee is not explained, which has led many scholars (e.g., Bernard, Bultmann, and Schnackenburg) to posit either editorial redaction or some sort of rearrangement or dislocation of material (such as reversing the order of chaps. 5 and 6, for example). Such a rearrangement of the material would give a simple and consistent connection of events, but in the absence of all external evidence it does not seem to be supportable. R. E. Brown (John [AB], 1:236) says that such an arrangement is attractive in some ways but not compelling, and that no rearrangement can solve all the geographical and chronological problems in John.

[6:1]  ⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Only John in the New Testament refers to the Sea of Galilee by the name Sea of Tiberias (see also John 21:1), but this is correct local usage. In the mid-20’s Herod completed the building of the town of Tiberias on the southwestern shore of the lake; after this time the name came into use for the lake itself.

[4:8]  ⁹ tn Grk “buy food.”

[4:8]  ¹⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author, indicating why Jesus asked the woman for a drink (for presumably his disciples also took the water bucket with them).

[13:9]  ¹¹ tn Grk “by diverse and strange teachings.”

[13:9]  ¹² tn Grk “foods,” referring to the meals associated with the OT sacrifices (see the contrast with the next verse; also 9:9-10; 10:1, 4, 11).

[2:14]  ¹³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[2:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the faith,” referring to the kind of faith just described: faith without works. The article here is anaphoric, referring to the previous mention of the noun πίστις (pisti") in the verse. See ExSyn 219.

[2:14]  ¹⁵ sn The form of the question in Greek expects a negative answer.

[2:15]  ¹⁶ tn It is important to note that the words ἀδελφός (adelfos) and ἀδελφή (adelfh) both occur in the Greek text at this point, confirming that the author intended to refer to both men and women. See the note on “someone” in 2:2.

[2:16]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “what is necessary for the body.”