John 11:4

11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This sickness will not lead to death, ¹  but to God’s glory, ²  so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ³ 

John 19:23

19:23 Now when the soldiers crucified ⁴  Jesus, they took his clothes and made four shares, one for each soldier, ⁵  and the tunic ⁶  remained. (Now the tunic ⁷  was seamless, woven from top to bottom as a single piece.) ⁸ 

[11:4]  ¹ tn Grk “This sickness is not to death.”

[11:4]  ² tn Or “to God’s praise.”

[11:4]  ³ sn So that the Son of God may be glorified through it. These statements are highly ironic: For Lazarus, the sickness did not end in his death, because he was restored to life. But for Jesus himself, the miraculous sign he performed led to his own death, because it confirmed the authorities in their plan to kill Jesus (11:47-53). In the Gospel of John, Jesus’ death is consistently portrayed as his ‘glorification’ through which he accomplishes his return to the Father.

[19:23]  ⁴ sn See the note on Crucify in 19:6.

[19:23]  ⁵ sn Four shares, one for each soldier. The Gospel of John is the only one to specify the number of soldiers involved in the crucifixion. This was a quaternion, a squad of four soldiers. It was accepted Roman practice for the soldiers who performed a crucifixion to divide the possessions of the person executed among themselves.

[19:23]  ⁶ tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). The name for this garment (χιτών, citwn) presents some difficulty in translation. Most modern readers would not understand what a ‘tunic’ was any more than they would be familiar with a ‘chiton.’ On the other hand, attempts to find a modern equivalent are also a problem: “Shirt” conveys the idea of a much shorter garment that covers only the upper body, and “undergarment” (given the styles of modern underwear) is more misleading still. “Tunic” was therefore employed, but with a note to explain its nature.

[19:23]  ⁷ tn Or “shirt” (a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin). See the note on the same word earlier in this verse.

[19:23]  ⁸ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.