John 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ¹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²  unless a person is born from above, ³  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ 

John 3:5

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ⁶  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 5:19

5:19 So Jesus answered them, ⁷  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁸  the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, ⁹  but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ¹⁰  does, the Son does likewise. ¹¹ 

John 5:24-25

5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹²  the one who hears ¹³  my message ¹⁴  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ¹⁵  but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁶  a time ¹⁷  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 6:26

6:26 Jesus replied, ¹⁸  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁹  you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. ²⁰ 

John 6:32

6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²¹  it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.

John 6:47

6:47 I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  the one who believes ²³  has eternal life. ²⁴ 

John 6:53

6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁵  unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ²⁶  you have no life ²⁷  in yourselves.

John 8:34

8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁸  everyone who practices ²⁹  sin is a slave ³⁰  of sin.

John 8:51

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, ³¹  if anyone obeys ³²  my teaching, ³³  he will never see death.” ³⁴ 

John 8:58

8:58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, ³⁵  before Abraham came into existence, ³⁶  I am!” ³⁷ 

John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ³⁸  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ³⁹  by the door, ⁴⁰  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 10:7

10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴¹  I am the door for the sheep. ⁴² 

John 12:24

12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴³  unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. ⁴⁴  But if it dies, it produces ⁴⁵  much grain. ⁴⁶ 

John 13:16

13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴⁷  the slave ⁴⁸  is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger ⁴⁹  greater than the one who sent him.

John 13:20-21

13:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵⁰  whoever accepts ⁵¹  the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” ⁵² 

13:21 When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed ⁵³  in spirit, and testified, ⁵⁴  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵⁵  one of you will betray me.” ⁵⁶ 

John 13:38

13:38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? ⁵⁷  I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵⁸  the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times!

John 14:12

14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵⁹  the person who believes in me will perform ⁶⁰  the miraculous deeds ⁶¹  that I am doing, ⁶²  and will perform ⁶³  greater deeds ⁶⁴  than these, because I am going to the Father.

John 16:20

16:20 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁶⁵  you will weep ⁶⁶  and wail, ⁶⁷  but the world will rejoice; you will be sad, ⁶⁸  but your sadness will turn into ⁶⁹  joy.

John 16:23

16:23 At that time ⁷⁰  you will ask me nothing. I tell you the solemn truth, ⁷¹  whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. ⁷² 

John 21:18

21:18 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁷³  when you were young, you tied your clothes around you ⁷⁴  and went wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will tie you up ⁷⁵  and bring you where you do not want to go.”

[3:3]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ³ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ⁴ sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

[5:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[5:19]  ⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:19]  ⁹ tn Grk “nothing from himself.”

[5:19]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ¹¹ sn What works does the Son do likewise? The same that the Father does – and the same that the rabbis recognized as legitimate works of God on the Sabbath (see note on working in v. 17). (1) Jesus grants life (just as the Father grants life) on the Sabbath. But as the Father gives physical life on the Sabbath, so the Son grants spiritual life (John 5:21; note the “greater things” mentioned in v. 20). (2) Jesus judges (determines the destiny of people) on the Sabbath, just as the Father judges those who die on the Sabbath, because the Father has granted authority to the Son to judge (John 5:22-23). But this is not all. Not only has this power been granted to Jesus in the present; it will be his in the future as well. In v. 28 there is a reference not to spiritually dead (only) but also physically dead. At their resurrection they respond to the Son as well.

[5:24]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:24]  ¹³ tn Or “obeys.”

[5:24]  ¹⁴ tn Or “word.”

[5:24]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”

[5:25]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:25]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “an hour.”

[6:26]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[6:26]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:26]  ²⁰ tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”

[6:32]  ²¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:47]  ²² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:47]  ²³ tc Most witnesses (A C² D Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat and other versions) have “in me” (εἰς ἐμέ, eis eme) here, while the Sinaitic and Curetonian Syriac versions read “in God.” These clarifying readings are predictable variants, being motivated by the scribal tendency toward greater explicitness. That the earliest and best witnesses (Ì^66,75vid א B C* L T W Θ 892 pc) lack any object is solid testimony to the shorter text’s authenticity.

[6:47]  ²⁴ tn Compare John 6:40.

[6:53]  ²⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:53]  ²⁶ sn Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.

[6:53]  ²⁷ tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).

[8:34]  ²⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:34]  ²⁹ tn Or “who commits.” This could simply be translated, “everyone who sins,” but the Greek is more emphatic, using the participle ποιῶν (poiwn) in a construction with πᾶς (pas), a typical Johannine construction. Here repeated, continuous action is in view. The one whose lifestyle is characterized by repeated, continuous sin is a slave to sin. That one is not free; sin has enslaved him. To break free from this bondage requires outside (divine) intervention. Although the statement is true at the general level (the person who continually practices a lifestyle of sin is enslaved to sin) the particular sin of the Jewish authorities, repeatedly emphasized in the Fourth Gospel, is the sin of unbelief. The present tense in this instance looks at the continuing refusal on the part of the Jewish leaders to acknowledge who Jesus is, in spite of mounting evidence.

[8:34]  ³⁰ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[8:51]  ³¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:51]  ³² tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:51]  ³³ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:51]  ³⁴ tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[8:58]  ³⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:58]  ³⁶ tn Grk “before Abraham was.”

[8:58]  ³⁷ sn I am! is an explicit claim to deity. Although each occurrence of the phrase “I am” in the Fourth Gospel needs to be examined individually in context to see if an association with Exod 3:14 is present, it seems clear that this is the case here (as the response of the Jewish authorities in the following verse shows).

[10:1]  ³⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ³⁹ sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “entrance.”

[10:7]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:7]  ⁴² tn Or “I am the sheep’s door.”

[12:24]  ⁴³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[12:24]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”

[12:24]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “bears.”

[12:24]  ⁴⁶ tn Grk “much fruit.”

[13:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:16]  ⁴⁸ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[13:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).

[13:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:20]  ⁵¹ tn Or “receives,” and so throughout this verse.

[13:20]  ⁵² sn The one who sent me refers to God.

[13:21]  ⁵³ tn Or “greatly troubled.”

[13:21]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “and testified and said.”

[13:21]  ⁵⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:21]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “will hand me over.”

[13:38]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “Will you die willingly for me?”

[13:38]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[14:12]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “the works.”

[14:12]  ⁶² tn Or “that I do.”

[14:12]  ⁶³ tn Or “will do.”

[14:12]  ⁶⁴ tn Grk “greater works.”

[16:20]  ⁶⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:20]  ⁶⁶ tn Or “wail,” “cry.”

[16:20]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “lament.”

[16:20]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “sorrowful.”

[16:20]  ⁶⁹ tn Grk “will become.”

[16:23]  ⁷⁰ tn Grk “And in that day.”

[16:23]  ⁷¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[16:23]  ⁷² sn This statement is also found in John 15:16.

[21:18]  ⁷³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[21:18]  ⁷⁴ tn Or “you girded yourself.”

[21:18]  ⁷⁵ tn Grk “others will gird you.”