John 3:32-34

3:32 He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 3:33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. ¹  3:34 For the one whom God has sent ²  speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. ³ 

John 5:19

5:19 So Jesus answered them, ⁴  “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁵  the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, ⁶  but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ⁷  does, the Son does likewise. ⁸ 

John 6:38-40

6:38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me. 6:39 Now this is the will of the one who sent me – that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up ⁹  at the last day. 6:40 For this is the will of my Father – for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up ¹⁰  at the last day.” ¹¹ 

John 7:16

7:16 So Jesus replied, ¹²  “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me. ¹³ 

John 7:28-29

7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, ¹⁴  cried out, ¹⁵  “You both know me and know where I come from! ¹⁶  And I have not come on my own initiative, ¹⁷  but the one who sent me ¹⁸  is true. You do not know him, ¹⁹  7:29 but ²⁰  I know him, because I have come from him ²¹  and he ²²  sent me.”

John 8:28

8:28 Then Jesus said, ²³  “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, ²⁴  and I do nothing on my own initiative, ²⁵  but I speak just what the Father taught me. ²⁶ 

John 8:38

8:38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the ²⁷  Father; ²⁸  as for you, ²⁹  practice the things you have heard from the ³⁰  Father!”

John 8:40

8:40 But now you are trying ³¹  to kill me, a man who has told you ³²  the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! ³³ 

John 12:49

12:49 For I have not spoken from my own authority, ³⁴  but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me ³⁵  what I should say and what I should speak.

John 17:8

17:8 because I have given them the words you have given me. They ³⁶  accepted ³⁷  them ³⁸  and really ³⁹  understand ⁴⁰  that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

[3:33]  ¹ tn Or “is true.”

[3:34]  ² tn That is, Christ.

[3:34]  ³ tn Grk “for not by measure does he give the Spirit” (an idiom). Leviticus Rabbah 15:2 states: “The Holy Spirit rested on the prophets by measure.” Jesus is contrasted to this. The Spirit rests upon him without measure.

[5:19]  ⁴ tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[5:19]  ⁵ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:19]  ⁶ tn Grk “nothing from himself.”

[5:19]  ⁷ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ⁸ sn What works does the Son do likewise? The same that the Father does – and the same that the rabbis recognized as legitimate works of God on the Sabbath (see note on working in v. 17). (1) Jesus grants life (just as the Father grants life) on the Sabbath. But as the Father gives physical life on the Sabbath, so the Son grants spiritual life (John 5:21; note the “greater things” mentioned in v. 20). (2) Jesus judges (determines the destiny of people) on the Sabbath, just as the Father judges those who die on the Sabbath, because the Father has granted authority to the Son to judge (John 5:22-23). But this is not all. Not only has this power been granted to Jesus in the present; it will be his in the future as well. In v. 28 there is a reference not to spiritually dead (only) but also physically dead. At their resurrection they respond to the Son as well.

[6:39]  ⁹ tn Or “resurrect them all,” or “make them all live again”; Grk “raise it up.” The word “all” is supplied to bring out the collective nature of the neuter singular pronoun αὐτό (auto) in Greek. The plural pronoun “them” is used rather than neuter singular “it” because this is clearer in English, which does not use neuter collective singulars in the same way Greek does.

[6:40]  ¹⁰ tn Or “resurrect him,” or “make him live again.”

[6:40]  ¹¹ sn Notice that here the result (having eternal life and being raised up at the last day) is produced by looking on the Son and believing in him. Compare John 6:54 where the same result is produced by eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking his blood. This suggests that the phrase in 6:54 (eats my flesh and drinks my blood) is to be understood in terms of the phrase here (looks on the Son and believes in him).

[7:16]  ¹² tn Grk “So Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:16]  ¹³ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “the temple.”

[7:28]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”

[7:28]  ¹⁶ sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.

[7:28]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”

[7:28]  ¹⁸ tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.

[7:28]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”

[7:29]  ²⁰ tn Although the conjunction “but” is not in the Greek text, the contrast is implied (an omitted conjunction is called asyndeton).

[7:29]  ²¹ tn The preposition παρά (para) followed by the genitive has the local sense preserved and can be used of one person sending another. This does not necessarily imply origin in essence or eternal generation.

[7:29]  ²² tn Grk “and that one.”

[8:28]  ²³ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all mss).

[8:28]  ²⁴ tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.

[8:28]  ²⁵ tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”

[8:28]  ²⁶ tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”

[8:38]  ²⁷ tc The first person pronoun μου (mou, “my”) may be implied, especially if ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) follows the second mention of “father” in this verse (as it does in the majority of mss); no doubt this implication gave rise to the reading μου found in most witnesses (א D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï it sy). No pronoun here is read by Ì^66,75 B C L 070 pc. This problem cannot be isolated from the second in the verse, however. See that discussion below.

[8:38]  ²⁸ tn Grk “The things which I have seen with the Father I speak about.”

[8:38]  ²⁹ tn Grk “and you.”

[8:38]  ³⁰ tc A few significant witnesses lack ὑμῶν (Jumwn, “your”) here (Ì^66,75 B L W 070 pc), while the majority have the pronoun (א C D Θ Ψ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 565 892 Ï al lat sy). However, these mss do not agree on the placement of the pronoun: τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν ποιεῖτε (tou patro" Jumwn poieite), τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν (tw patri Jumwn), and τῷ πατρὶ ὑμῶν ταῦτα (tw patri Jumwn tauta) all occur. If the pronoun is read, then the devil is in view and the text should be translated as “you are practicing the things you have heard from your father.” If it is not read, then the same Father mentioned in the first part of the verse is in view. In this case, ποιεῖτε should be taken as an imperative: “you [must] practice the things you have heard from the Father.” The omission is decidedly the harder reading, both because the contrast between God and the devil is now delayed until v. 41, and because ποιεῖτε could be read as an indicative, especially since the two clauses are joined by καί (kai, “and”). Thus, the pronoun looks to be a motivated reading. In light of the better external and internal evidence the omission is preferred.

[8:40]  ³¹ tn Grk “seeking.”

[8:40]  ³² tn Grk “has spoken to you.”

[8:40]  ³³ tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.

[12:49]  ³⁴ tn Grk “I have not spoken from myself.”

[12:49]  ³⁵ tn Grk “has given me commandment.”

[17:8]  ³⁶ tn Grk And they.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:8]  ³⁷ tn Or “received.”

[17:8]  ³⁸ tn The word “them” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

[17:8]  ³⁹ tn Or “truly.”

[17:8]  ⁴⁰ tn Or have come to know.”