John 3:5

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ²  he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

John 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ³  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ⁴  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ⁵ 

John 7:36

7:36 What did he mean by saying, ⁶  ‘You will look for me ⁷  but will not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”

John 8:21

Where Jesus Came From and Where He is Going

8:21 Then Jesus ⁸  said to them again, ⁹  “I am going away, and you will look for me ¹⁰  but will die in your sin. ¹¹  Where I am going you cannot come.”

John 13:33

13:33 Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, ¹²  and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ¹³  ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ ¹⁴  now I tell you the same. ¹⁵ 

John 14:17

14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, ¹⁶  because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides ¹⁷  with you and will be ¹⁸  in you.

John 15:4-5

15:4 Remain ¹⁹  in me, and I will remain in you. ²⁰  Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, ²¹  unless it remains ²²  in ²³  the vine, so neither can you unless you remain ²⁴  in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains ²⁵  in me – and I in him – bears ²⁶  much fruit, ²⁷  because apart from me you can accomplish ²⁸  nothing.

[3:5]  ¹ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:5]  ² tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

[5:30]  ³ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ⁴ tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ⁵ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[7:36]  ⁵ tn Grk “What is this word that he said.”

[7:36]  ⁶ tn Grk “seek me.”

[8:21]  ⁷ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[8:21]  ⁸ tn The expression οὖν πάλιν (oun palin) indicates some sort of break in the sequence of events, but it is not clear how long. The author does not mention the interval between 8:12-20 and this next recorded dialogue. The feast of Tabernacles is past, and the next reference to time is 10:22, where the feast of the Dedication is mentioned. The interval is two months, and these discussions could have taken place at any time within that interval, as long as one assumes something of a loose chronological framework. However, if the material in the Fourth Gospel is arranged theologically or thematically, such an assumption would not apply.

[8:21]  ⁹ tn Grk “you will seek me.”

[8:21]  ¹⁰ tn The expression ἐν τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ὑμῶν ἀποθανεῖσθε (en th Jamartia Jumwn apoqaneisqe) is similar to an expression found in the LXX at Ezek 3:18, 20 and Prov 24:9. Note the singular of ἁμαρτία (the plural occurs later in v. 24). To die with one’s sin unrepented and unatoned would be the ultimate disaster to befall a person. Jesus’ warning is stern but to the point.

[13:33]  ⁹ tn Or “You will seek me.”

[13:33]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, 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.) Here the phrase refers to the residents of Jerusalem in general, or to the Jewish religious leaders in particular, who had sent servants to attempt to arrest Jesus on that occasion (John 7:33-35). The last option is the one adopted in the translation above.

[13:33]  ¹¹ sn See John 7:33-34.

[13:33]  ¹² tn The words “the same” are not in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.

[14:17]  ¹¹ tn Or “cannot receive.”

[14:17]  ¹² tn Or “he remains.”

[14:17]  ¹³ tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì^66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì^66c,75vid א A D¹ L Θ Ψ Ë¹³ 33^vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì⁶⁶ and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.

[15:4]  ¹³ tn Or “Reside.”

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and I in you.” The verb has been repeated for clarity and to conform to contemporary English style, which typically allows fewer ellipses (omitted or understood words) than Greek.

[15:4]  ¹⁵ sn The branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains connected to the vine, from which its life and sustenance flows. As far as the disciples were concerned, they would produce no fruit from themselves if they did not remain in their relationship to Jesus, because the eternal life which a disciple must possess in order to bear fruit originates with Jesus; he is the source of all life and productivity for the disciple.

[15:4]  ¹⁶ tn Or “resides.”

[15:4]  ¹⁷ tn While it would be more natural to say “on the vine” (so NAB), the English preposition “in” has been retained here to emphasize the parallelism with the following clause “unless you remain in me.” To speak of remaining “in” a person is not natural English either, but is nevertheless a biblical concept (cf. “in Christ” in Eph 1:3, 4, 6, 7, 11).

[15:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “you reside.”

[15:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “resides.”

[15:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “yields.”

[15:5]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in him, this one bears much fruit.” The pronoun “this one” has been omitted from the translation because it is redundant according to contemporary English style.

[15:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “do.”