John 3:3

3:3 Jesus replied, ¹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ²  unless a person is born from above, ³  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ 

John 3:27

3:27 John replied, ⁵  “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.

John 6:44

6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, ⁶  and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:65

6:65 So Jesus added, ⁷  “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.” ⁸ 

John 7:17

7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ⁹  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ¹⁰ 

John 7:51

7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn ¹¹  a man unless it first hears from him and learns ¹²  what he is doing, does it?” ¹³ 

John 8:16

8:16 But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, ¹⁴  because I am not alone when I judge, ¹⁵  but I and the Father who sent me do so together. ¹⁶ 

John 8:24

8:24 Thus I told you ¹⁷  that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am he, ¹⁸  you will die in your sins.”

John 8:31

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ¹⁹  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ²⁰  you are really ²¹  my disciples

John 8:51

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  if anyone obeys ²³  my teaching, ²⁴  he will never see death.” ²⁵ 

John 9:31

9:31 We know that God doesn’t listen to ²⁶  sinners, but if anyone is devout ²⁷  and does his will, God ²⁸  listens to ²⁹  him. ³⁰ 

John 10:9

10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will come in and go out, ³¹  and find pasture. ³² 

John 11:48

11:48 If we allow him to go on in this way, ³³  everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary ³⁴  and our nation.”

John 11:57

11:57 (Now the chief priests and the Pharisees ³⁵  had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus ³⁶  was should report it, so that they could arrest ³⁷  him.) ³⁸ 

John 14:3

14:3 And if I go and make ready ³⁹  a place for you, I will come again and take you ⁴⁰  to be with me, ⁴¹  so that where I am you may be too.

John 21:22

21:22 Jesus replied, ⁴²  “If I want him to live ⁴³  until I come back, ⁴⁴  what concern is that of yours? You follow me!”

[3:3]  ¹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ³ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ⁴ sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[3:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “answered and said.”

[6:44]  ⁹ tn Or “attracts him,” or “pulls him.” The word is used of pulling or dragging, often by force. It is even used once of magnetic attraction (A. Oepke, TDNT 2:503).

[6:65]  ¹³ tn Grk “And he said”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:65]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “unless it has been permitted to him by the Father.”

[7:17]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[7:51]  ²¹ tn Grk “judge.”

[7:51]  ²² tn Grk “knows.”

[7:51]  ²³ 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 the tag is “does it?”).

[8:16]  ²⁵ tn Grk “my judgment is true.”

[8:16]  ²⁶ tn The phrase “when I judge” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the context.

[8:16]  ²⁷ tn The phrase “do so together” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the context.

[8:24]  ²⁹ tn Grk “thus I said to you.”

[8:24]  ³⁰ tn Grk “unless you believe that I am.” In this context there is an implied predicate nominative (“he”) following the “I am” phrase. What Jesus’ hearers had to acknowledge is that he was who he claimed to be, i.e., the Messiah (cf. 20:31). This view is also reflected in English translations like NIV (“if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be”), NLT (“unless you believe that I am who I say I am”), and CEV (“if you don’t have faith in me for who I am”). For a different view that takes this “I am” and the one in 8:28 as nonpredicated (i.e., absolute), see R. E. Brown, John (AB), 1:533-38. Such a view refers sees the nonpredicated “I am” as a reference to the divine Name revealed in Exod 3:14, and is reflected in English translations like NAB (“if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins”) and TEV (“you will die in your sins if you do not believe that ‘I Am Who I Am’”).

[8:31]  ³³ tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ³⁴ tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ³⁵ tn Or “truly.”

[8:51]  ³⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:51]  ³⁸ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:51]  ³⁹ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:51]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[9:31]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “God does not hear.”

[9:31]  ⁴² tn Or “godly.”

[9:31]  ⁴³ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:31]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “hears.”

[9:31]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “this one.”

[10:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Since the Greek phrase εἰσέρχομαι καὶ ἐξέρχομαι (eisercomai kai exercomai, “come in and go out”) is in some places an idiom for living or conducting oneself in relationship to some community (“to live with, to live among” [cf. Acts 1:21; see also Num 27:17; 2 Chr 1:10]), it may well be that Jesus’ words here look forward to the new covenant community of believers. Another significant NT text is Luke 9:4, where both these verbs occur in the context of the safety and security provided by a given household for the disciples. See also BDAG 294 s.v. εἰσέρχομαι 1.b.β.

[10:9]  ⁴⁶ sn That is, pasture land in contrast to cultivated land.

[11:48]  ⁴⁹ tn Grk “If we let him do thus.”

[11:48]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “holy place”; Grk “our place” (a reference to the temple in Jerusalem).

[11:57]  ⁵³ 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.

[11:57]  ⁵⁴ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:57]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “could seize.”

[11:57]  ⁵⁶ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[14:3]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “prepare.”

[14:3]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “bring you.”

[14:3]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “to myself.”

[21:22]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[21:22]  ⁶² tn Grk “to stay” or “to remain”; but since longevity is the issue in the context, “to live” conveys the idea more clearly.

[21:22]  ⁶³ tn The word “back” is supplied to clarify the meaning.