John 1:12

1:12 But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name ¹  – he has given the right to become God’s children

John 3:11

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth, ²  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ³  you people ⁴  do not accept our testimony. ⁵ 

John 3:27

3:27 John replied, ⁶  “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

John 4:36

4:36 The one who reaps receives pay ⁷  and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the one who sows and the one who reaps can rejoice together.

John 5:44

5:44 How can you believe, if you accept praise ⁸  from one another and don’t seek the praise ⁹  that comes from the only God? ¹⁰ 

John 6:11

6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed the bread to those who were seated. He then did the same with the fish, ¹¹  as much as they wanted.

John 6:21

6:21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat came to the land where they had been heading.

John 7:23

7:23 But if a male child ¹²  is circumcised ¹³  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ¹⁴  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ¹⁵  on the Sabbath?

John 7:39

7:39 (Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, ¹⁶  because Jesus was not yet glorified.) ¹⁷ 

John 16:15

16:15 Everything that the Father has is mine; that is why I said the Spirit ¹⁸  will receive from me what is mine ¹⁹  and will tell it to you. ²⁰ 

John 16:24

16:24 Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive it, ²¹  so that your joy may be complete.

John 18:3

18:3 So Judas obtained a squad of soldiers ²²  and some officers of the chief priests and Pharisees. ²³  They came to the orchard ²⁴  with lanterns ²⁵  and torches and weapons.

John 19:27

19:27 He then said to his disciple, “Look, here is your mother!” From that very time ²⁶  the disciple took her into his own home.

John 19:30

19:30 When ²⁷  he had received the sour wine, Jesus said, “It is completed!” ²⁸  Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. ²⁹ 

John 19:40

19:40 Then they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with the aromatic spices, ³⁰  in strips of linen cloth ³¹  according to Jewish burial customs. ³² 

[1:12]  ¹ 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).

[3:11]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:11]  ³ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.

[3:11]  ⁴ 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).

[3:11]  ⁵ 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).

[3:27]  ³ tn Grk “answered and said.”

[4:36]  ⁴ tn Or “a reward”; see L&N 38.14 and 57.173. This is something of a wordplay.

[5:44]  ⁵ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

[5:44]  ⁶ tn Or “honor” (Grk “glory,” in the sense of respect or honor accorded to a person because of their status).

[5:44]  ⁷ tc Several early and important witnesses (Ì^66,75 B W a b sa) lack θεοῦ (qeou, “God”) here, thus reading “the only one,” while most of the rest of the tradition, including some important mss, has the name ({א A D L Θ Ψ 33 Ï}). Internally, it could be argued that the name of God was not used here, in keeping with the NT practice of suppressing the name of God at times for rhetorical effect, drawing the reader inexorably to the conclusion that the one being spoken of is God himself. On the other hand, never is ὁ μόνος (Jo mono") used absolutely in the NT (i.e., without a noun or substantive with it), and always the subject of the adjunct is God (cf. Matt 24:36; John 17:3; 1 Tim 6:16). What then is to explain the shorter reading? In uncial script, with θεοῦ written as a nomen sacrum, envisioning accidental omission of the name by way of homoioteleuton requires little imagination, largely because of the succession of words ending in -ου: toumonouqMuou. It is thus preferable to retain the word in the text.

[6:11]  ⁶ tn Grk “likewise also (he distributed) from the fish.”

[7:23]  ⁷ tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

[7:23]  ⁸ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

[7:23]  ⁹ sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

[7:23]  ¹⁰ tn Or “made an entire man well.”

[7:39]  ⁸ tn Grk “for the Spirit was not yet.” Although only B and a handful of other NT mss supply the participle δεδομένον (dedomenon), this is followed in the translation to avoid misunderstanding by the modern English reader that prior to this time the Spirit did not exist. John’s phrase is expressed from a human standpoint and has nothing to do with the preexistence of the third Person of the Godhead. The meaning is that the era of the Holy Spirit had not yet arrived; the Spirit was not as yet at work in a way he later would be because Jesus had not yet returned to his Father. Cf. also Acts 19:2.

[7:39]  ⁹ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[16:15]  ⁹ tn Grk “I said he”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:15]  ¹⁰ tn The words “what is mine” are not in the Greek text, but are implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[16:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “will announce it to you.”

[16:24]  ¹⁰ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[18:3]  ¹¹ tn Grk “a cohort.” The word σπεῖραν (speiran) is a technical term for a Roman cohort, normally a force of 600 men (one tenth of a legion). It was under the command of a χιλίαρχος (ciliarco", v. 12). Because of the improbability of an entire cohort being sent to arrest a single man, some have suggested that σπεῖραν here refers only to a maniple, a force of 200. But the use of the word here does not necessarily mean the entire cohort was present on this mission, but only that it was the cohort which performed the task (for example, saying the fire department put out the fire does not mean that every fireman belonging to the department was on the scene at the time). These Roman soldiers must have been ordered to accompany the servants of the chief priests and Pharisees by Pilate, since they would have been under the direct command of the Roman prefect or procurator. It is not difficult to understand why Pilate would have been willing to assist the Jewish authorities in such a way. With a huge crowd of pilgrims in Jerusalem for the Passover, the Romans would have been especially nervous about an uprising of some sort. No doubt the chief priests and Pharisees had informed Pilate that this man Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, or in the terms Pilate would understand, king of Israel.

[18:3]  ¹² tn The phrase “officers of the chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive name for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:32, 45; 18:3, 12, 18, 22; 19:6. They are different from the Levites who served as “temple police” according to K. H. Rengstorf (TDNT 8:540). In John 7:32ff. these officers had made an unsuccessful attempt to arrest Jesus, and perhaps this is part of the reason why their leaders had made sure they were accompanied by Roman soldiers this time. No more mistakes were to be tolerated.

[18:3]  ¹³ tn The words “to the orchard” are not in the Greek text but are repeated from v. 1 for clarity.

[18:3]  ¹⁴ tn These were lamps that had some sort of covering to protect them from wind and rain. In earlier usage the word meant “torch” but by NT times it apparently meant a lamp designed to be used outdoors, so “lantern” is a good contemporary English equivalent.

[19:27]  ¹² tn Grk “from that very hour.”

[19:30]  ¹³ tn Grk “Then when.” Here οὖν (oun) has not been translated for stylistic reasons.

[19:30]  ¹⁴ tn Or “It is accomplished,” “It is finished,” or “It is ended.” See tn on John 13:1.

[19:30]  ¹⁵ tn Or “he bowed his head and died”; Grk “he bowed his head and gave over the spirit.”

[19:40]  ¹⁴ tn On this term see BDAG 140-41 s.v. ἄρωμα. The Jews did not practice embalming, so these materials were used to cover the stench of decay and slow decomposition.

[19:40]  ¹⁵ tn The Fourth Gospel uses ὀθονίοις (oqonioi") to describe the wrappings, and this has caused a good deal of debate, since it appears to contradict the synoptic accounts which mention a σινδών (sindwn), a large single piece of linen cloth. If one understands ὀθονίοις to refer to smaller strips of cloth, like bandages, there would be a difference, but diminutive forms have often lost their diminutive force in Koine Greek (BDF §111.3), so there may not be any difference.

[19:40]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “cloth as is the custom of the Jews to prepare for burial.”