John 1:50

1:50 Jesus said to him, ¹  “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ² 

John 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ³  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁴  unless a person is born from above, ⁵  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁶ 

John 3:11

3:11 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁷  we speak about what we know and testify about what we have seen, but ⁸  you people ⁹  do not accept our testimony. ¹⁰ 

John 11:41

11:41 So they took away ¹¹  the stone. Jesus looked upward ¹²  and said, “Father, I thank you that you have listened to me. ¹³ 

John 13:37-38

13:37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” ¹⁴  13:38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? ¹⁵  I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁶  the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times!

John 17:5

17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side ¹⁷  with the glory I had with you before the world was created. ¹⁸ 

John 17:9

17:9 I am praying ¹⁹  on behalf of them. I am not praying ²⁰  on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those you have given me, because they belong to you. ²¹ 

[1:50]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”

[1:50]  ² sn What are the greater things Jesus had in mind? In the narrative this forms an excellent foreshadowing of the miraculous signs which began at Cana of Galilee.

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

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[3:11]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to show the contrast present in the context.

[3:11]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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).

[11:41]  ⁷ tn Or “they removed.”

[11:41]  ⁸ tn Grk “lifted up his eyes above.”

[11:41]  ⁹ tn Or “that you have heard me.”

[13:37]  ⁹ tn Or “I will die willingly for you.”

[13:38]  ¹¹ tn Or “Will you die willingly for me?”

[13:38]  ¹² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[17:5]  ¹³ tn Or “in your presence”; Grk “with yourself.” The use of παρά (para) twice in this verse looks back to the assertion in John 1:1 that the Word (the Λόγος [Logos], who became Jesus of Nazareth in 1:14) was with God (πρὸς τὸν θεόν, pro" ton qeon). Whatever else may be said, the statement in 17:5 strongly asserts the preexistence of Jesus Christ.

[17:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “before the world was.” The word “created” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[17:9]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “I am asking.”

[17:9]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “I am not asking.”

[17:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “because they are yours.”