John 1:14

1:14 Now ¹  the Word became flesh ²  and took up residence ³  among us. We ⁴  saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, ⁵  full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

John 3:13

3:13 No one ⁶  has ascended ⁷  into heaven except the one who descended from heaven – the Son of Man. ⁸ 

John 8:42

8:42 Jesus replied, ⁹  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. ¹⁰  I ¹¹  have not come on my own initiative, ¹²  but he ¹³  sent me.

John 13:3

13:3 Because Jesus ¹⁴  knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, ¹⁵  and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

John 16:28

16:28 I came from the Father and entered into the world, but in turn, ¹⁶  I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” ¹⁷ 

Hebrews 2:9-14

2:9 but we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, ¹⁸  now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, ¹⁹  so that by God’s grace he would experience ²⁰  death on behalf of everyone. 2:10 For it was fitting for him, for whom and through whom all things exist, ²¹  in bringing many sons to glory, to make the pioneer ²²  of their salvation perfect through sufferings. 2:11 For indeed he who makes holy and those being made holy all have the same origin, ²³  and so ²⁴  he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, ²⁵  2:12 saying, “I will proclaim your name to my brothers; ²⁶  in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.” ²⁷  2:13 Again he says, ²⁸  “I will be confident in him,” and again, “Here I am, ²⁹  with ³⁰  the children God has given me.” ³¹  2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he likewise shared in ³²  their humanity, ³³  so that through death he could destroy ³⁴  the one who holds the power of death (that is, the devil),

Hebrews 9:26-28

9:26 for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. 9:27 And just as people ³⁵  are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, ³⁶  9:28 so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, ³⁷  to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin ³⁸  but to bring salvation. ³⁹ 

[1:14]  ¹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.

[1:14]  ² tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.

[1:14]  ³ tn Grk “and tabernacled.”

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “and we saw.”

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Or “of the unique one.” 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 Clem. 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, 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).

[3:13]  ⁶ tn Grk “And no one.”

[3:13]  ⁷ sn The verb ascended is a perfect tense in Greek (ἀναβέβηκεν, anabebhken) which seems to look at a past, completed event. (This is not as much of a problem for those who take Jesus’ words to end at v. 12, and these words to be a comment by the author, looking back on Jesus’ ascension.) As a saying of Jesus, these words are a bit harder to explain. Note, however, the lexical similarities with 1:51: “ascending,” “descending,” and “son of man.” Here, though, the ascent and descent is accomplished by the Son himself, not the angels as in 1:51. There is no need to limit this saying to Jesus’ ascent following the resurrection, however; the point of the Jacob story (Gen 28), which seems to be the background for 1:51, is the freedom of communication and relationship between God and men (a major theme of John’s Gospel). This communication comes through the angels in Gen 28 (and John 1:51); but here (most appropriately) it comes directly through the Son of Man. Although Jesus could be referring to a prior ascent, after an appearance as the preincarnate Son of Man, more likely he is simply pointing out that no one from earth has ever gone up to heaven and come down again. The Son, who has come down from heaven, is the only one who has been ‘up’ there. In both Jewish intertestamental literature and later rabbinic accounts, Moses is portrayed as ascending to heaven to receive the Torah and descending to distribute it to men (e.g., Targum Ps 68:19.) In contrast to these Jewish legends, the Son is the only one who has ever made the ascent and descent.

[3:13]  ⁸ tc Most witnesses, including a few important ones (A^[*^] Θ Ψ 050 Ë^1,13 Ï latt sy^c,p,h), have at the end of this verse “the one who is in heaven” (ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, Jo wn en tw ouranw). A few others have variations on this phrase, such as “who was in heaven” (e sy^c), or “the one who is from heaven” (0141 pc sy^s). The witnesses normally considered the best, along with several others, lack the phrase in its entirety (Ì^66,75 א B L T W^s 083 086 33 1241 pc co). On the one hand, if the reading ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ is authentic it may suggest that while Jesus was speaking to Nicodemus he spoke of himself as in heaven even while he was on earth. If that is the case, one could see why variations from this hard saying arose: “who was in heaven,” “the one who is from heaven,” and omission of the clause. At the same time, such a saying could be interpreted (though with difficulty) as part of the narrator’s comments rather than Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus, alleviating the problem. And if v. 13 was viewed in early times as the evangelist’s statement, “the one who is in heaven” could have crept into the text through a marginal note. Other internal evidence suggests that this saying may be authentic. The adjectival participle, ὁ ὤν, is used in the Fourth Gospel more than any other NT book (though the Apocalypse comes in a close second), and frequently with reference to Jesus (1:18; 6:46; 8:47). It may be looking back to the LXX of Exod 3:14 (ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ ὤν). Especially since this exact construction is not necessary to communicate the location of the Son of Man, its presence in many witnesses here may suggest authenticity. Further, John uses the singular of οὐρανός (ourano", “heaven”) in all 18 instances of the word in this Gospel, and all but twice with the article (only 1:32 and 6:58 are anarthrous, and even in the latter there is significant testimony to the article). At the same time, the witnesses that lack this clause are very weighty and must not be discounted. Generally speaking, if other factors are equal, the reading of such mss should be preferred. And internally, it could be argued that ὁ ὤν is the most concise way to speak of the Son of Man in heaven at that time (without the participle the point would be more ambiguous). Further, the articular singular οὐρανός is already used twice in this verse, thus sufficiently prompting scribes to add the same in the longer reading. This combination of factors suggests that ὁ ὢν ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ is not a genuine Johannism. Further intrinsic evidence against the longer reading relates to the evangelist’s purposes: If he intended v. 13 to be his own comments rather than Jesus’ statement, his switch back to Jesus’ words in v. 14 (for the lifting up of the Son of Man is still seen as in the future) seems inexplicable. The reading “who is in heaven” thus seems to be too hard. All things considered, as intriguing as the longer reading is, it seems almost surely to have been a marginal gloss added inadvertently to the text in the process of transmission. For an argument in favor of the longer reading, see David Alan Black, “The Text of John 3:13,” GTJ 6 (1985): 49-66.

[8:42]  ⁹ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:42]  ¹⁰ tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”

[8:42]  ¹¹ tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[8:42]  ¹² tn Grk “from myself.”

[8:42]  ¹³ tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).

[13:3]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Because he knew”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “had given all things into his hands.”

[16:28]  ¹⁶ tn Or “into the world; again.” Here πάλιν (palin) functions as a marker of contrast, with the implication of a sequence.

[16:28]  ¹⁷ sn The statement I am leaving the world and going to the Father is a summary of the entire Gospel of John. It summarizes the earthly career of the Word made flesh, Jesus of Nazareth, on his mission from the Father to be the Savior of the world, beginning with his entry into the world as he came forth from God and concluding with his departure from the world as he returned to the Father.

[2:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “who was made a little lower than the angels.”

[2:9]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “because of the suffering of death.”

[2:9]  ²⁰ tn Grk “would taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[2:10]  ²¹ tn Grk “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.”

[2:10]  ²² sn The Greek word translated pioneer is used of a “prince” or leader, the representative head of a family. It also carries nuances of “trailblazer,” one who breaks through to new ground for those who follow him. It is used some thirty-five times in the Greek OT and four times in the NT, always of Christ (Acts 3:15; 5:31; Heb 2:10; 12:2).

[2:11]  ²³ tn Grk “are all from one.”

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn Grk “for which reason.”

[2:11]  ²⁵ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited). The context here also indicates both men and women are in view; note especially the collective τὰ παιδία (ta paidia) in v. 14.

[2:12]  ²⁶ tn Here, because of its occurrence in an OT quotation, τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς (tois adelfois) has been translated simply as “brothers” rather than “brothers and sisters” (see the note on the latter phrase in the previous verse).

[2:12]  ²⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 22:22.

[2:13]  ²⁸ tn Grk “and again,” as a continuation of the preceding.

[2:13]  ²⁹ tn Grk “behold, I,” but this construction often means “here is/there is” (cf. BDAG 468 s.v. ἰδού 2).

[2:13]  ³⁰ tn Grk “and.”

[2:13]  ³¹ sn A quotation from Isa 8:17-18.

[2:14]  ³² tn Or “partook of” (this is a different word than the one in v. 14a).

[2:14]  ³³ tn Grk “the same.”

[2:14]  ³⁴ tn Or “break the power of,” “reduce to nothing.”

[9:27]  ³⁵ tn Here ἀνθρώποις (anqrwpoi") has been translated as a generic noun (“people”).

[9:27]  ³⁶ tn Grk “and after this – judgment.”

[9:28]  ³⁷ sn An allusion to Isa 53:12.

[9:28]  ³⁸ tn Grk “without sin,” but in context this does not refer to Christ’s sinlessness (as in Heb 4:15) but to the fact that sin is already dealt with by his first coming.

[9:28]  ³⁹ tn Grk “for salvation.” This may be construed with the verb “await” (those who wait for him to bring them salvation), but the connection with “appear” (as in the translation) is more likely.