John 4:19

4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see ¹  that you are a prophet.

John 4:49

4:49 “Sir,” the official said to him, “come down before my child dies.”

John 6:34

6:34 So they said to him, “Sir, ²  give us this bread all the time!”

John 9:36

9:36 The man ³  replied, ⁴  “And who is he, sir, that ⁵  I may believe in him?”

John 9:38

9:38 [He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. ⁶ 

John 11:12

11:12 Then the disciples replied, ⁷  “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”

John 14:8

14:8 Philip said, ⁸  “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.” ⁹ 

John 20:28

20:28 Thomas replied to him, ¹⁰  “My Lord and my God!” ¹¹ 

John 21:21

21:21 So when Peter saw him, ¹²  he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”

[4:19]  ¹ tn Grk “behold” or “perceive,” but these are not as common in contemporary English usage.

[6:34]  ² tn Or “Lord.” The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage it is not at all clear at this point that the crowd is acknowledging Jesus as Lord. More likely this is simply a form of polite address (“sir”).

[9:36]  ³ tn Grk “That one.”

[9:36]  ⁴ tn Grk answered and said.” This has been simplified in the translation to “replied.”

[9:36]  ⁵ tn Or “And who is he, sir? Tell me so that…” Some translations supply elliptical words like “Tell me” (NIV, NRSV) following the man’s initial question, but the shorter form given in the translation is clear enough.

[9:38]  ⁴ sn Assuming the authenticity of John 9:38-39a (see the tc note following the bracket in v. 39), the man’s response after Jesus’ statement of v. 37 is extremely significant: He worshiped Jesus. In the Johannine context the word would connote its full sense: This was something due God alone. Note also that Jesus did not prevent the man from doing this. The verb προσκυνέω (proskunew) is used in John 4:20-25 of worshiping God, and again with the same sense in 12:20. This would be the only place in John’s Gospel where anyone is said to have worshiped Jesus using this term. As such, it forms the climax of the story of the man born blind, but the uniqueness of the concept of worshiping Jesus at this point in John's narrative (which reaches its ultimate climax in the confession of Thomas in John 20:28) may suggest it is too early for such a response and it represents a later scribal addition.

[11:12]  ⁵ tn Grk “Then the disciples said to him.”

[14:8]  ⁶ tn Grk “said to him.”

[14:8]  ⁷ tn Or “and that is enough for us.”

[20:28]  ⁷ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[20:28]  ⁸ sn Should Thomas’ exclamation be understood as two subjects with the rest of the sentence omitted (“My Lord and my God has truly risen from the dead”), as predicate nominatives (“You are my Lord and my God”), or as vocatives (“My Lord and my God!”)? Probably the most likely is something between the second and third alternatives. It seems that the second is slightly more likely here, because the context appears confessional. Thomas’ statement, while it may have been an exclamation, does in fact confess the faith which he had previously lacked, and Jesus responds to Thomas’ statement in the following verse as if it were a confession. With the proclamation by Thomas here, it is difficult to see how any more profound analysis of Jesus’ person could be given. It echoes 1:1 and 1:14 together: The Word was God, and the Word became flesh (Jesus of Nazareth). The Fourth Gospel opened with many other titles for Jesus: the Lamb of God (1:29, 36); the Son of God (1:34, 49); Rabbi (1:38); Messiah (1:41); the King of Israel (1:49); the Son of Man (1:51). Now the climax is reached with the proclamation by Thomas, “My Lord and my God,” and the reader has come full circle from 1:1, where the author had introduced him to who Jesus was, to 20:28, where the last of the disciples has come to the full realization of who Jesus was. What Jesus had predicted in John 8:28 had come to pass: “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he” (Grk “I am”). By being lifted up in crucifixion (which led in turn to his death, resurrection, and exaltation with the Father) Jesus has revealed his true identity as both Lord (κύριος [kurios], used by the LXX to translate Yahweh) and God (θεός [qeos], used by the LXX to translate Elohim).

[21:21]  ⁸ tn Grk “saw this one.”