John 3:7

3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all ¹  be born from above.’ ² 

John 7:15

7:15 Then the Jewish leaders ³  were astonished ⁴  and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” ⁵ 

John 7:21

7:21 Jesus replied, ⁶  “I performed one miracle ⁷  and you are all amazed. ⁸ 

[3:7]  ¹ tn “All” has been supplied to indicate the plural pronoun in the Greek text.

[3:7]  ² tn Or “born again.” The same Greek word with the same double meaning occurs in v. 3.

[7:15]  ³ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

[7:15]  ⁴ tn Or “began to be astonished.” This imperfect verb could also be translated ingressively (“began to be astonished”), but for English stylistic reasons it is rendered as a simple past.

[7:15]  ⁵ tn Grk “How does this man know learning since he has not been taught?” The implication here is not that Jesus never went to school (in all probability he did attend a local synagogue school while a youth), but that he was not the disciple of a particular rabbi and had not had formal or advanced instruction under a recognized rabbi (compare Acts 4:13 where a similar charge is made against Peter and John; see also Paul’s comment in Acts 22:3).

[7:21]  ⁵ tn Grk “Jesus answered and said to them.”

[7:21]  ⁶ tn Grk “I did one deed.”

[7:21]  ⁷ sn The “one miracle” that caused them all to be amazed was the last previous public miracle in Jerusalem recorded by the author, the healing of the paralyzed man in John 5:1-9 on the Sabbath. (The synoptic gospels record other Sabbath healings, but John does not mention them.)