John 1:3

1:3 All things were created ¹  by him, and apart from him not one thing was created ²  that has been created. ³ 

John 12:30

12:30 Jesus said, ⁴  “This voice has not come for my benefit ⁵  but for yours.

John 1:30

1:30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, ⁶  because he existed before me.’

John 14:22

14:22 “Lord,” Judas (not Judas Iscariot) ⁷  said, ⁸  “what has happened that you are going to reveal ⁹  yourself to us and not to the world?”

John 1:15

1:15 John ¹⁰  testified ¹¹  about him and shouted out, ¹²  “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, ¹³  because he existed before me.’”

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “made”; Grk “came into existence.”

[1:3]  ² tn Or “made”; Grk “nothing came into existence.”

[1:3]  ³ tc There is a major punctuation problem here: Should this relative clause go with v. 3 or v. 4? The earliest mss have no punctuation (Ì^66,75* א* A B Δ al). Many of the later mss which do have punctuation place it before the phrase, thus putting it with v. 4 (Ì^75c C D L W^s 050* pc). NA²⁵ placed the phrase in v. 3; NA²⁶ moved the words to the beginning of v. 4. In a detailed article K. Aland defended the change (“Eine Untersuchung zu Johannes 1, 3-4. Über die Bedeutung eines Punktes,” ZNW 59 [1968]: 174-209). He sought to prove that the attribution of ὃ γέγονεν (}o gegonen) to v. 3 began to be carried out in the 4th century in the Greek church. This came out of the Arian controversy, and was intended as a safeguard for doctrine. The change was unknown in the West. Aland is probably correct in affirming that the phrase was attached to v. 4 by the Gnostics and the Eastern Church; only when the Arians began to use the phrase was it attached to v. 3. But this does not rule out the possibility that, by moving the words from v. 4 to v. 3, one is restoring the original reading. Understanding the words as part of v. 3 is natural and adds to the emphasis which is built up there, while it also gives a terse, forceful statement in v. 4. On the other hand, taking the phrase ὃ γέγονεν with v. 4 gives a complicated expression: C. K. Barrett says that both ways of understanding v. 4 with ὃ γέγονεν included “are almost impossibly clumsy” (St. John, 157): “That which came into being – in it the Word was life”; “That which came into being – in the Word was its life.” The following stylistic points should be noted in the solution of this problem: (1) John frequently starts sentences with ἐν (en); (2) he repeats frequently (“nothing was created that has been created”); (3) 5:26 and 6:53 both give a sense similar to v. 4 if it is understood without the phrase; (4) it makes far better Johannine sense to say that in the Word was life than to say that the created universe (what was made, ὃ γέγονεν) was life in him. In conclusion, the phrase is best taken with v. 3. Schnackenburg, Barrett, Carson, Haenchen, Morris, KJV, and NIV concur (against Brown, Beasley-Murray, and NEB). The arguments of R. Schnackenburg, St. John, 1:239-40, are particularly persuasive.

[12:30]  ⁴ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said.”

[12:30]  ⁵ tn Or “for my sake.”

[1:30]  ⁷ tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”

[14:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “(not Iscariot).” The proper noun (Judas) has been repeated for clarity and smoothness in English style.

[14:22]  ¹¹ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:22]  ¹² tn Or “disclose.”

[1:15]  ¹³ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[1:15]  ¹⁴ tn Or “bore witness.”

[1:15]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “and shouted out saying.” The participle λέγων (legwn) is redundant is English and has not been translated.

[1:15]  ¹⁶ tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”