John 12:37

The Outcome of Jesus’ Public Ministry Foretold

12:37 Although Jesus ¹  had performed ²  so many miraculous signs before them, they still refused to believe in him,

John 2:18

2:18 So then the Jewish leaders ³  responded, ⁴  “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” ⁵ 

John 4:48

4:48 So Jesus said to him, “Unless you people ⁶  see signs and wonders you will never believe!” ⁷ 

John 4:54

4:54 Jesus did this as his second miraculous sign ⁸  when he returned from Judea to Galilee.

John 6:2

6:2 A large crowd was following him because they were observing the miraculous signs he was performing on the sick.

John 6:30

6:30 So they said to him, “Then what miraculous sign will you perform, so that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?

John 12:18

12:18 Because they had heard that Jesus ⁹  had performed this miraculous sign, the crowd went out to meet him.

John 6:14

6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus ¹⁰  performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet ¹¹  who is to come into the world.” ¹² 

John 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ¹³  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ¹⁴  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ¹⁵ 

John 10:41

10:41 Many ¹⁶  came to him and began to say, “John ¹⁷  performed ¹⁸  no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man ¹⁹  was true!”

John 11:47

11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees ²⁰  called the council ²¹  together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs.

John 20:30

20:30 Now Jesus performed ²²  many other miraculous signs in the presence of the ²³  disciples, which are not recorded ²⁴  in this book. ²⁵ 

John 2:11

2:11 Jesus did this as the first of his miraculous signs, ²⁶  in Cana ²⁷  of Galilee. In this way he revealed ²⁸  his glory, and his disciples believed in him. ²⁹ 

John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ³⁰  was in Jerusalem ³¹  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ³² 

John 6:26

6:26 Jesus replied, ³³  “I tell you the solemn truth, ³⁴  you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. ³⁵ 

John 3:2

3:2 came to Jesus ³⁶  at night ³⁷  and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs ³⁸  that you do unless God is with him.”

John 9:16

9:16 Then some of the Pharisees began to say, ³⁹  “This man is not from God, because he does not observe ⁴⁰  the Sabbath.” ⁴¹  But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform ⁴²  such miraculous signs?” Thus there was a division ⁴³  among them.

[12:37]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:37]  ² tn Or “done.”

[2:18]  ³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. Here the author refers to the authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.)

[2:18]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[2:18]  ⁵ sn The request “What sign can you show us” by Jesus’ adversaries was a request for a defense of his actions – a mark of divine authentication. Whether this was a request for a miracle is not entirely clear. Jesus never obliged such a request. Yet, ironically, the only sign the Jewish leadership will get is that predicted by Jesus in 2:19 – his crucifixion and resurrection. Cf. the “sign of Jonah” in the synoptics (Matt 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29-32).

[4:48]  ⁵ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than the royal official alone).

[4:48]  ⁶ tn Or “you never believe.” The verb πιστεύσητε (pisteushte) is aorist subjunctive and may have either nuance.

[4:54]  ⁷ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. 2:11 where the same construction occurs.

[12:18]  ⁹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ¹¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ¹² sn The Prophet is a reference to the “prophet like Moses” of Deut 18:15, by this time an eschatological figure in popular belief.

[6:14]  ¹³ sn An allusion to Deut 18:15.

[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?”).

[10:41]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And many.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.

[10:41]  ¹⁶ sn John refers to John the Baptist.

[10:41]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “did.”

[10:41]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “this one.”

[11:47]  ¹⁷ tn The phrase “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive name for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26.

[11:47]  ¹⁸ tn Or “Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews). The συνέδριον (sunedrion) which they gathered was probably an informal meeting rather than the official Sanhedrin. This is the only occurrence of the word συνέδριον in the Gospel of John, and the only anarthrous singular use in the NT. There are other plural anarthrous uses which have the general meaning “councils.” The fact that Caiaphas in 11:49 is referred to as “one of them” supports the unofficial nature of the meeting; in the official Sanhedrin he, being high priest that year, would have presided over the assembly. Thus it appears that an informal council was called to discuss what to do about Jesus and his activities.

[20:30]  ¹⁹ tn Or “did.”

[20:30]  ²⁰ tc ‡ Although most mss, including several important ones (Ì⁶⁶ א C D L W Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat), read αὐτοῦ (autou, “his”) after τῶν μαθητῶν (twn maqhtwn, “the disciples”), the pronoun is lacking in A B K Δ 0250 al. The weight of the witnesses for the inclusion is somewhat stronger than that for the exclusion. However, the addition of “his” to “disciples” is a frequent scribal emendation and as such is a predictable variant. It is thus most likely that the shorter reading is authentic. NA²⁷ puts the pronoun in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[20:30]  ²¹ tn Grk “are not written.”

[20:30]  ²² sn The author mentions many other miraculous signs performed by Jesus in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in the Gospel. What are these signs the author of the Gospel has in mind? One can only speculate. The author says they were performed in the presence of the disciples, which emphasizes again their role as witnesses (cf. 15:27). The point here is that the author has been selective in his use of material. He has chosen to record those incidents from the life and ministry of Jesus which supported his purpose in writing the Gospel. Much which might be of tremendous interest, but does not directly contribute to that purpose in writing, he has omitted. The author explains his purpose in writing in the following verse.

[2:11]  ²¹ tn This sentence in Greek involves an object-complement construction. The force can be either “Jesus did this as,” or possibly “Jesus made this to be.” The latter translation accents not only Jesus’ power but his sovereignty too. Cf. also 4:54 where the same construction occurs.

[2:11]  ²² map For location see Map1 C3; Map2 D2; Map3 C5.

[2:11]  ²³ tn Grk “in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed.”

[2:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “his disciples trusted in him,” or “his disciples put their faith in him.”

[2:23]  ²³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:23]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:23]  ²⁵ sn Because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. The issue here is not whether their faith was genuine or not, but what its object was. These individuals, after seeing the miracles, believed Jesus to be the Messiah. They most likely saw in him a political-eschatological figure of some sort. That does not, however, mean that their concept of “Messiah” was the same as Jesus’ own, or the author’s.

[6:26]  ²⁵ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[6:26]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[6:26]  ²⁷ tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”

[3:2]  ²⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “during the night.”

[3:2]  ²⁹ sn The reference to signs (σημεῖα, shmeia) forms a link with John 2:23-25. Those people in Jerusalem believed in Jesus because of the signs he had performed. Nicodemus had apparently seen them too. But for Nicodemus all the signs meant is that Jesus was a great teacher sent from God. His approach to Jesus was well-intentioned but theologically inadequate; he had failed to grasp the messianic implications of the miraculous signs.

[9:16]  ²⁹ tn As a response to the answers of the man who used to be blind, the use of the imperfect tense in the reply of the Pharisees is best translated as an ingressive imperfect (“began to say” or “started saying”).

[9:16]  ³⁰ tn Grk “he does not keep.”

[9:16]  ³¹ sn The Jewish religious leaders considered the work involved in making the mud to be a violation of the Sabbath.

[9:16]  ³² tn Grk “do.”

[9:16]  ³³ tn Or “So there was discord.”