John 2:10

2:10 and said to him, “Everyone ¹  serves the good wine first, and then the cheaper ²  wine when the guests ³  are drunk. You have kept the good wine until now!”

John 3:27

3:27 John replied, ⁴  “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

John 5:9

5:9 Immediately the man was healed, ⁵  and he picked up his mat ⁶  and started walking. (Now that day was a Sabbath.) ⁷ 

John 7:23

7:23 But if a male child ⁸  is circumcised ⁹  on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, ¹⁰  why are you angry with me because I made a man completely well ¹¹  on the Sabbath?

John 10:33

10:33 The Jewish leaders ¹²  replied, ¹³  “We are not going to stone you for a good deed ¹⁴  but for blasphemy, ¹⁵  because ¹⁶  you, a man, are claiming to be God.” ¹⁷ 

John 11:47

11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees ¹⁸  called the council ¹⁹  together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs.

John 11:50

11:50 You do not realize ²⁰  that it is more to your advantage to have one man ²¹  die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” ²² 

John 19:5

19:5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. ²³  Pilate ²⁴  said to them, “Look, here is the man!” ²⁵ 

[2:10]  ¹ tn Grk “every man” (in a generic sense).

[2:10]  ² tn Or “poorer.”

[2:10]  ³ tn Grk “when they”; the referent (the guests) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:27]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered and said.”

[5:9]  ⁷ tn Grk “became well.”

[5:9]  ⁸ tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in the previous verse.

[5:9]  ⁹ tn Grk “Now it was Sabbath on that day.”

[7:23]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “a man.” See the note on “male child” in the previous verse.

[7:23]  ¹¹ tn Grk “receives circumcision.”

[7:23]  ¹² sn If a male child is circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken. The Rabbis counted 248 parts to a man’s body. In the Talmud (b. Yoma 85b) R. Eleazar ben Azariah (ca. a.d. 100) states: “If circumcision, which attaches to one only of the 248 members of the human body, suspends the Sabbath, how much more shall the saving of the whole body suspend the Sabbath?” So absolutely binding did rabbinic Judaism regard the command of Lev 12:3 to circumcise on the eighth day, that in the Mishnah m. Shabbat 18.3; 19.1, 2; and m. Nedarim 3.11 all hold that the command to circumcise overrides the command to observe the Sabbath.

[7:23]  ¹³ tn Or “made an entire man well.”

[10:33]  ¹³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here again the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See the notes on the phrase “Jewish people” in v. 19 and “Jewish leaders” in vv. 24, 31.

[10:33]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “answered him.”

[10:33]  ¹⁵ tn Or “good work.”

[10:33]  ¹⁶ sn This is the first time the official charge of blasphemy is voiced openly in the Fourth Gospel (although it was implicit in John 8:59).

[10:33]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and because.”

[10:33]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “you, a man, make yourself to be God.”

[11:47]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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.

[11:50]  ¹⁹ tn Or “you are not considering.”

[11:50]  ²⁰ tn Although it is possible to argue that ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") should be translated “person” here since it is not necessarily masculinity that is in view in Caiaphas’ statement, “man” was retained in the translation because in 11:47 “this man” (οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, outo" Jo anqrwpo") has as its referent a specific individual, Jesus, and it was felt this connection should be maintained.

[11:50]  ²¹ sn In his own mind Caiaphas was no doubt giving voice to a common-sense statement of political expediency. Yet he was unconsciously echoing a saying of Jesus himself (cf. Mark 10:45). Caiaphas was right; the death of Jesus would save the nation from destruction. Yet Caiaphas could not suspect that Jesus would die, not in place of the political nation Israel, but on behalf of the true people of God; and he would save them, not from physical destruction, but from eternal destruction (cf. 3:16-17). The understanding of Caiaphas’ words in a sense that Caiaphas could not possibly have imagined at the time he uttered them serves as a clear example of the way in which the author understood that words and actions could be invested retrospectively with a meaning not consciously intended or understood by those present at the time.

[19:5]  ²² sn See the note on the purple robe in 19:2.

[19:5]  ²³ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[19:5]  ²⁴ sn Look, here is the man! Pilate may have meant no more than something like “Here is the accused!” or in a contemptuous way, “Here is your king!” Others have taken Pilate’s statement as intended to evoke pity from Jesus’ accusers: “Look at this poor fellow!” (Jesus would certainly not have looked very impressive after the scourging). For the author, however, Pilate’s words constituted an unconscious allusion to Zech 6:12, “Look, here is the man whose name is the Branch.” In this case Pilate (unknowingly and ironically) presented Jesus to the nation under a messianic title.