John 1:25

1:25 So they asked John, ¹  “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, ²  nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

John 1:41

1:41 He first ³  found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” ⁴  (which is translated Christ). ⁵ 

John 3:28

3:28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ ⁶  but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’

John 4:25

4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ); ⁷  “whenever he ⁸  comes, he will tell ⁹  us everything.” ¹⁰ 

John 4:29

4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, ¹¹  can he?” ¹² 

John 7:26

7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, ¹³  and they are saying nothing to him. ¹⁴  Do the rulers really know that this man ¹⁵  is the Christ? ¹⁶ 

John 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ¹⁷  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ¹⁸  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ¹⁹ 

John 7:42

7:42 Don’t the scriptures say that the Christ is a descendant ²⁰  of David ²¹  and comes from Bethlehem, ²²  the village where David lived?” ²³ 

John 11:27

11:27 She replied, ²⁴  “Yes, Lord, I believe ²⁵  that you are the Christ, ²⁶  the Son of God who comes into the world.” ²⁷ 

John 17:3

17:3 Now this ²⁸  is eternal life ²⁹  – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, ³⁰  whom you sent.

[1:25]  ¹ tn Grk “And they asked him, and said to him”; the referent (John) has been specified in the translation for clarity, and the phrase has been simplified in the translation to “So they asked John.”

[1:25]  ² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[1:41]  ³ tc Most witnesses (א* L W^s Ï) read πρῶτος (prwtos) here instead of πρῶτον (prwton). The former reading would be a predicate adjective and suggest that Andrew “was the first” person to proselytize another regarding Jesus. The reading preferred, however, is the neuter πρῶτον, used as an adverb (BDAG 893 s.v. πρῶτος 1.a.β.), and it suggests that the first thing that Andrew did was to proselytize Peter. The evidence for this reading is early and weighty: Ì^66,75 א² A B Θ Ψ 083 Ë^1,13 892 al lat.

[1:41]  ⁴ sn Naturally part of Andrew’s concept of the Messiah would have been learned from John the Baptist (v. 40). However, there were a number of different messianic expectations in 1st century Palestine (see the note on “Who are you?” in v. 19), and it would be wrong to assume that what Andrew meant here is the same thing the author means in the purpose statement at the end of the Fourth Gospel, 20:31. The issue here is not whether the disciples’ initial faith in Jesus as Messiah was genuine or not, but whether their concept of who Jesus was grew and developed progressively as they spent time following him, until finally after his resurrection it is affirmed in the climactic statement of John’s Gospel, the affirmation of Thomas in 20:28.

[1:41]  ⁵ tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”

[3:28]  ⁵ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[4:25]  ⁷ tn Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “the one who has been anointed.”

[4:25]  ⁸ tn Grk “that one.”

[4:25]  ⁹ tn Or “he will announce to us.”

[4:25]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “all things.”

[4:29]  ⁹ tn Grk “the Christ” (both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). Although the Greek text reads χριστός (cristos) here, it is more consistent based on 4:25 (where Μεσσίας [Messias] is the lead term and is qualified by χριστός) to translate χριστός as “Messiah” here.

[4:29]  ¹⁰ tn The use of μήτι (mhti) normally presupposes a negative answer. This should not be taken as an indication that the woman did not believe, however. It may well be an example of “reverse psychology,” designed to gain a hearing for her testimony among those whose doubts about her background would obviate her claims.

[7:26]  ¹¹ tn Or “speaking openly.”

[7:26]  ¹² sn They are saying nothing to him. Some people who had heard Jesus were so impressed with his teaching that they began to infer from the inactivity of the opposing Jewish leaders a tacit acknowledgment of Jesus’ claims.

[7:26]  ¹³ tn Grk “this one.”

[7:26]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  ¹³ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  ¹⁴ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  ¹⁵ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “will he?”).

[7:42]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “is from the seed” (an idiom for human descent).

[7:42]  ¹⁶ sn An allusion to Ps 89:4.

[7:42]  ¹⁷ sn An allusion to Mic 5:2.

[7:42]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the village where David was.”

[11:27]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “She said to him.”

[11:27]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect tense in Greek is often used to emphasize the results or present state of a past action. Such is the case here. To emphasize this nuance the perfect tense verb πεπίστευκα (pepisteuka) has been translated as a present tense. This is in keeping with the present context, where Jesus asks of her present state of belief in v. 26, and the theology of the Gospel as a whole, which emphasizes the continuing effects and present reality of faith. For discussion on this use of the perfect tense, see ExSyn 574-76 and B. M. Fanning, Verbal Aspect, 291-97.

[11:27]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[11:27]  ²⁰ tn Or “the Son of God, the one who comes into the world.”

[17:3]  ¹⁹ tn Using αὕτη δέ (Jauth de) to introduce an explanation is typical Johannine style; it was used before in John 1:19, 3:19, and 15:12.

[17:3]  ²⁰ sn This is eternal life. The author here defines eternal life for the readers, although it is worked into the prayer in such a way that many interpreters do not regard it as another of the author’s parenthetical comments. It is not just unending life in the sense of prolonged duration. Rather it is a quality of life, with its quality derived from a relationship with God. Having eternal life is here defined as being in relationship with the Father, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom the Father sent. Christ (Χριστός, Cristos) is not characteristically attached to Jesus’ name in John’s Gospel; it occurs elsewhere primarily as a title and is used with Jesus’ name only in 1:17. But that is connected to its use here: The statement here in 17:3 enables us to correlate the statement made in 1:18 of the prologue, that Jesus has fully revealed what God is like, with Jesus’ statement in 10:10 that he has come that people might have life, and have it abundantly. These two purposes are really one, according to 17:3, because (abundant) eternal life is defined as knowing (being in relationship with) the Father and the Son. The only way to gain this eternal life, that is, to obtain this knowledge of the Father, is through the Son (cf. 14:6). Although some have pointed to the use of know (γινώσκω, ginwskw) here as evidence of Gnostic influence in the Fourth Gospel, there is a crucial difference: For John this knowledge is not intellectual, but relational. It involves being in relationship.

[17:3]  ²¹ tn Or “and Jesus the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).