John 2:23

Jesus at the Passover Feast

2:23 Now while Jesus ¹  was in Jerusalem ²  at the feast of the Passover, many people believed in his name because they saw the miraculous signs he was doing. ³ 

John 6:14

6:14 Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus ⁴  performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet ⁵  who is to come into the world.” ⁶ 

John 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ⁷  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ⁸  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ⁹ 

John 10:42

10:42 And many believed in Jesus ¹⁰  there.

John 11:45

The Response of the Jewish Leaders

11:45 Then many of the people, ¹¹  who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus ¹²  did, believed in him.

[2:23]  ¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

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

[2:23]  ³ 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.

[6:14]  ⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:14]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ sn An allusion to Deut 18:15.

[7:31]  ⁷ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  ⁸ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  ⁹ 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?”).

[10:42]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “in him.”

[11:45]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8 and “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, as well as the notes on the word “people” in vv. 31, 33 and the phrase “people who had come to mourn” in v. 36.

[11:45]  ¹² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.