John 10:26

10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep.

John 13:17

13:17 If you understand ¹  these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

John 15:3

15:3 You are clean already ²  because of the word that I have spoken to you.

John 15:14

15:14 You are my friends ³  if you do what I command you.

John 15:27

15:27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 8:23

8:23 Jesus replied, ⁴  “You people ⁵  are from below; I am from above. You people are from this world; I am not from this world.

John 13:11

13:11 (For Jesus ⁶  knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is ⁷  clean.”) ⁸ 

John 13:35

13:35 Everyone ⁹  will know by this that you are my disciples – if you have love for one another.”

John 8:31

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ¹⁰  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ¹¹  you are really ¹²  my disciples

John 8:37

8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. ¹³  But you want ¹⁴  to kill me, because my teaching ¹⁵  makes no progress among you. ¹⁶ 

John 8:47

8:47 The one who belongs to ¹⁷  God listens and responds ¹⁸  to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, ¹⁹  because you don’t belong to God.” ²⁰ 

John 10:34

10:34 Jesus answered, ²¹  “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? ²² 

John 8:39

8:39 They answered him, ²³  “Abraham is our father!” ²⁴  Jesus replied, ²⁵  “If you are ²⁶  Abraham’s children, you would be doing ²⁷  the deeds of Abraham.

John 13:10

13:10 Jesus replied, ²⁸  “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, ²⁹  but is completely ³⁰  clean. ³¹  And you disciples ³²  are clean, but not every one of you.”

John 15:19

15:19 If you belonged to the world, ³³  the world would love you as its own. ³⁴  However, because you do not belong to the world, ³⁵  but I chose you out of the world, for this reason ³⁶  the world hates you. ³⁷ 

John 8:44

8:44 You people ³⁸  are from ³⁹  your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. ⁴⁰  He ⁴¹  was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, ⁴²  because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, ⁴³  he speaks according to his own nature, ⁴⁴  because he is a liar and the father of lies. ⁴⁵ 

[13:17]  ¹ tn Grk “If you know.”

[15:3]  ¹ sn The phrase you are clean already occurs elsewhere in the Gospel of John only at the washing of the disciples’ feet in 13:10, where Jesus had used it of the disciples being cleansed from sin. This further confirms the proposed understanding of John 15:2 and 15:6 since Judas was specifically excluded from this statement (but not all of you).

[15:14]  ¹ sn This verse really explains John 15:10 in another way. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments are called his friends, those friends for whom he lays down his life (v. 13). It is possible to understand this verse as referring to a smaller group within Christianity as a whole, perhaps only the apostles who were present when Jesus spoke these words. Some have supported this by comparing it to the small group of associates and advisers to the Roman Emperor who were called “Friends of the Emperor.” Others would see these words as addressed only to those Christians who as disciples were obedient to Jesus. In either case the result would be to create a sort of “inner circle” of Christians who are more privileged than mere “believers” or average Christians. In context, it seems clear that Jesus’ words must be addressed to all true Christians, not just some narrower category of believers, because Jesus’ sacrificial death, which is his act of love toward his friends (v. 13) applies to all Christians equally (cf. John 13:1).

[8:23]  ¹ tn Grk “And he said to them.”

[8:23]  ² tn The word “people” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb.

[13:11]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:11]  ² tn Grk “Not all of you are.”

[13:11]  ³ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:35]  ¹ tn Grk “All people,” although many modern translations have rendered πάντες (pantes) as “all men” (ASV, RSV, NASB, NIV). While the gender of the pronoun is masculine, it is collective and includes people of both genders.

[8:31]  ¹ tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ² tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ³ tn Or “truly.”

[8:37]  ¹ tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).

[8:37]  ² tn Grk “you are seeking.”

[8:37]  ³ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:37]  ⁴ tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.

[8:47]  ¹ tn Grk “who is of.”

[8:47]  ² tn Grk “to God hears” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ³ tn Grk “you do not hear” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ⁴ tn Grk “you are not of God.”

[10:34]  ¹ tn Grk “answered them.”

[10:34]  ² sn A quotation from Ps 82:6. Technically the Psalms are not part of the OT “law” (which usually referred to the five books of Moses), but occasionally the term “law” was applied to the entire OT, as here. The problem in this verse concerns the meaning of Jesus’ quotation from Ps 82:6. It is important to look at the OT context: The whole line reads “I say, you are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.” Jesus will pick up on the term “sons of the Most High” in 10:36, where he refers to himself as the Son of God. The psalm was understood in rabbinic circles as an attack on unjust judges who, though they have been given the title “gods” because of their quasi-divine function of exercising judgment, are just as mortal as other men. What is the argument here? It is often thought to be as follows: If it was an OT practice to refer to men like the judges as gods, and not blasphemy, why did the Jewish authorities object when this term was applied to Jesus? This really doesn’t seem to fit the context, however, since if that were the case Jesus would not be making any claim for “divinity” for himself over and above any other human being – and therefore he would not be subject to the charge of blasphemy. Rather, this is evidently a case of arguing from the lesser to the greater, a common form of rabbinic argument. The reason the OT judges could be called gods is because they were vehicles of the word of God (cf. 10:35). But granting that premise, Jesus deserves much more than they to be called God. He is the Word incarnate, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world to save the world (10:36). In light of the prologue to the Gospel of John, it seems this interpretation would have been most natural for the author. If it is permissible to call men “gods” because they were the vehicles of the word of God, how much more permissible is it to use the word “God” of him who is the Word of God?

[8:39]  ¹ tn Grk “They answered and said to him.”

[8:39]  ² tn Or “Our father is Abraham.”

[8:39]  ³ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:39]  ⁴ tc Although most mss (C W Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï) have the imperfect ἦτε (hte, “you were”) here, making this sentence a proper second class condition, the harder reading, ἐστε (este, “you are”), is found in the better witnesses (Ì^66,75 א B D L 070 pc lat).

[8:39]  ⁵ tc Some important mss (Ì⁶⁶ B* [700]) have the present imperative ποιεῖτε (poieite) here: “If you are Abraham’s children, then do,” while many others (א² C K L N Δ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 565 579 892 pm) add the contingent particle ἄν (an) to ἐποιεῖτε (epoieite) making it a more proper second class condition by Attic standards. The simple ἐποιεῖτε without the ἄν is the hardest reading, and is found in some excellent witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א* B² D W Γ Θ 070 0250 1424 pm).

[13:10]  ¹ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[13:10]  ² tn Grk “has no need except to wash his feet.”

[13:10]  ³ tn Or “entirely.”

[13:10]  ⁴ sn The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. A common understanding is that the “bath” Jesus referred to is the initial cleansing from sin, which necessitates only “lesser, partial” cleansings from sins after conversion. This makes a fine illustration from a homiletic standpoint, but is it the meaning of the passage? This seems highly doubtful. Jesus stated that the disciples were completely clean except for Judas (vv. 10b, 11). What they needed was to have their feet washed by Jesus. In the broader context of the Fourth Gospel, the significance of the foot-washing seems to point not just to an example of humble service (as most understand it), but something more – Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross. If this is correct, then the foot-washing which they needed to undergo represented their acceptance of this act of self-sacrifice on the part of their master. This makes Peter’s initial abhorrence of the act of humiliation by his master all the more significant in context; it also explains Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply to Peter (above, v. 8; compare Matt 16:21-23 where Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”).

[13:10]  ⁵ tn The word “disciples” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb. Peter is not the only one Jesus is addressing here.

[15:19]  ¹ tn Grk “if you were of the world.”

[15:19]  ² tn The words “you as” are not in the original but are supplied for clarity.

[15:19]  ³ tn Grk “because you are not of the world.”

[15:19]  ⁴ tn Or “world, therefore.”

[15:19]  ⁵ sn I chose you out of the world…the world hates you. Two themes are brought together here. In 8:23 Jesus had distinguished himself from the world in addressing his Jewish opponents: “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world.” In 15:16 Jesus told the disciples “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you.” Now Jesus has united these two ideas as he informs the disciples that he has chosen them out of the world. While the disciples will still be “in” the world after Jesus has departed, they will not belong to it, and Jesus prays later in John 17:15-16 to the Father, “I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” The same theme also occurs in 1 John 4:5-6: “They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us.” Thus the basic reason why the world hates the disciples (as it hated Jesus before them) is because they are not of the world. They are born from above, and are not of the world. For this reason the world hates them.

[8:44]  ¹ tn The word “people” is supplied in the translation to clarify that the Greek pronoun and verb are plural.

[8:44]  ² tn Many translations read “You are of your father the devil” (KJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “You belong to your father, the devil” (NIV), but the Greek preposition ἐκ (ek) emphasizes the idea of source or origin. Jesus said his opponents were the devil’s very offspring (a statement which would certainly infuriate them).

[8:44]  ³ tn Grk “the desires of your father you want to do.”

[8:44]  ⁴ tn Grk “That one” (referring to the devil).

[8:44]  ⁵ tn Grk “he does not stand in the truth” (in the sense of maintaining, upholding, or accepting the validity of it).

[8:44]  ⁶ tn Grk “Whenever he speaks the lie.”

[8:44]  ⁷ tn Grk “he speaks from his own.”

[8:44]  ⁸ tn Grk “because he is a liar and the father of it.”