John 4:41

4:41 and because of his word many more ¹  believed.

John 7:5

7:5 (For not even his own brothers believed in him.) ² 

John 8:30

8:30 While he was saying these things, many people ³  believed in him.

John 16:9

16:9 concerning sin, because ⁴  they do not believe in me; ⁵ 

John 16:31

16:31 Jesus replied, ⁶  “Do you now believe?

John 3:12

3:12 If I have told you people ⁷  about earthly things and you don’t believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ⁸ 

John 11:26

11:26 and the one who lives and believes in me will never die. ⁹  Do you believe this?”

John 20:29

20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people ¹⁰  who have not seen and yet have believed.” ¹¹ 

[4:41]  ¹ tn Or “and they believed much more.”

[7:5]  ² sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[8:30]  ³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied for clarity and smoothness in the translation.

[16:9]  ⁴ tn Or “that.” It is very difficult to determine whether ὅτι (Joti; 3 times in 16:9, 10, 11) should be understood as causal or appositional/explanatory: Brown and Bultmann favor appositional or explanatory, while Barrett and Morris prefer a causal sense. A causal idea is preferable here, since it also fits the parallel statements in vv. 10-11 better than an appositional or explanatory use would. In this case Jesus is stating in each instance the reason why the world is proven guilty or wrong by the Spirit-Paraclete.

[16:9]  ⁵ sn Here (v. 9) the world is proven guilty concerning sin, and the reason given is their refusal to believe in Jesus. In 3:19 the effect of Jesus coming into the world as the Light of the world was to provoke judgment, by forcing people to choose up sides for or against him, and they chose darkness rather than light. In 12:37, at the very end of Jesus’ public ministry in John’s Gospel, people were still refusing to believe in him.

[16:31]  ⁵ tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”

[3:12]  ⁶ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to indicate that the verb is second person plural (referring to more than Nicodemus alone).

[3:12]  ⁷ sn Obviously earthly things and heavenly things are in contrast, but what is the contrast? What are earthly things which Jesus has just spoken to Nicodemus? And through him to others – this is not the first instance of the plural pronoun, see v. 7, you must all. Since Nicodemus began with a plural (we know, v. 2) Jesus continues it, and through Nicodemus addresses a broader audience. It makes most sense to take this as a reference to the things Jesus has just said (and the things he is about to say, vv. 13-15). If this is the case (and it seems the most natural explanation) then earthly things are not necessarily strictly physical things, but are so called because they take place on earth, in contrast to things like v. 16, which take place in heaven. Some have added the suggestion that the things are called earthly because physical analogies (birth, wind, water) are used to describe them. This is possible, but it seems more probable that Jesus calls these things earthly because they happen on earth (even though they are spiritual things). In the context, taking earthly things as referring to the words Jesus has just spoken fits with the fact that Nicodemus did not believe. And he would not after hearing heavenly things either, unless he first believed in the earthly things – which included the necessity of a regenerating work from above, by the Holy Spirit.

[11:26]  ⁷ tn Grk “will never die forever.”

[20:29]  ⁸ tn Grk “are those.”

[20:29]  ⁹ tn Some translations treat πιστεύσαντες (pisteusante") as a gnomic aorist (timeless statement) and thus equivalent to an English present tense: “and yet believe” (RSV). This may create an effective application of the passage to the modern reader, but the author is probably thinking of those people who had already believed without the benefit of seeing the risen Jesus, on the basis of reports by others or because of circumstantial evidence (see John 20:8).