John 12:42

12:42 Nevertheless, even among the rulers ¹  many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees ²  they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, ³  so that they would not be put out of ⁴  the synagogue. ⁵ 

John 16:2

16:2 They will put you out of ⁶  the synagogue, ⁷  yet a time ⁸  is coming when the one who kills you will think he is offering service to God. ⁹ 

John 9:22

9:22 (His parents said these things because they were afraid of the Jewish religious leaders. ¹⁰  For the Jewish leaders had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus ¹¹  to be the Christ ¹²  would be put out ¹³  of the synagogue. ¹⁴ 

[12:42]  ¹ sn The term rulers here denotes members of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in 3:1.

[12:42]  ² sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[12:42]  ³ tn The words “Jesus to be the Christ” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (see 9:22). As is often the case in Greek, the direct object is omitted for the verb ὡμολόγουν (Jwmologoun). Some translators supply an ambiguous “it,” or derive the implied direct object from the previous clause “believed in him” so that the rulers would not confess “their faith” or “their belief.” However, when one compares John 9:22, which has many verbal parallels to this verse, it seems clear that the content of the confession would have been “Jesus is the Christ (i.e., Messiah).”

[12:42]  ⁴ tn Or “be expelled from.”

[12:42]  ⁵ sn Compare John 9:22. See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ⁶ tn Or “expel you from.”

[16:2]  ⁷ sn See the note on synagogue in 6:59.

[16:2]  ⁸ tn Grk “an hour.”

[16:2]  ⁹ sn Jesus now refers not to the time of his return to the Father, as he has frequently done up to this point, but to the disciples’ time of persecution. They will be excommunicated from Jewish synagogues. There will even be a time when those who kill Jesus’ disciples will think that they are offering service to God by putting the disciples to death. Because of the reference to service offered to God, it is almost certain that Jewish opposition is intended here in both cases rather than Jewish opposition in the first instance (putting the disciples out of synagogues) and Roman opposition in the second (putting the disciples to death). Such opposition materializes later and is recorded in Acts: The stoning of Stephen in 7:58-60 and the slaying of James the brother of John by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12:2-3 are notable examples.

[9:22]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Jewish religious authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Twice in this verse the phrase refers to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. The second occurrence is shortened to “the Jewish leaders” for stylistic reasons. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish religious leaders” in v. 18.

[9:22]  ¹² tn Grk “confessed him.”

[9:22]  ¹³ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[9:22]  ¹⁴ tn Or “would be expelled from.”

[9:22]  ¹⁵ sn This reference to excommunication from the Jewish synagogue for those who had made some sort of confession about Jesus being the Messiah is dismissed as anachronistic by some (e.g., Barrett) and nonhistorical by others. In later Jewish practice there were at least two forms of excommunication: a temporary ban for thirty days, and a permanent ban. But whether these applied in NT times is far from certain. There is no substantial evidence for a formal ban on Christians until later than this Gospel could possibly have been written. This may be a reference to some form of excommunication adopted as a contingency to deal with those who were proclaiming Jesus to be the Messiah. If so, there is no other record of the procedure than here. It was probably local, limited to the area around Jerusalem. See also the note on synagogue in 6:59.