John 5:30

5:30 I can do nothing on my own initiative. ¹  Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, ²  because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me. ³ 

John 8:28

8:28 Then Jesus said, ⁴  “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, ⁵  and I do nothing on my own initiative, ⁶  but I speak just what the Father taught me. ⁷ 

John 8:42

8:42 Jesus replied, ⁸  “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. ⁹  I ¹⁰  have not come on my own initiative, ¹¹  but he ¹²  sent me.

John 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ¹³  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ¹⁴  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ¹⁵ 

John 15:20

15:20 Remember what ¹⁶  I told you, ‘A slave ¹⁷  is not greater than his master.’ ¹⁸  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ¹⁹  my word, they will obey ²⁰  yours too.

John 16:13

16:13 But when he, ²¹  the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide ²²  you into all truth. ²³  For he will not speak on his own authority, ²⁴  but will speak whatever he hears, and will tell you ²⁵  what is to come. ²⁶ 

John 16:22

16:22 So also you have sorrow ²⁷  now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ²⁸ 

[5:30]  ¹ tn Grk “nothing from myself.”

[5:30]  ² tn Or “righteous,” or “proper.”

[5:30]  ³ tn That is, “the will of the Father who sent me.”

[8:28]  ⁴ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them” (the words “to them” are not found in all mss).

[8:28]  ⁵ tn Grk “that I am.” See the note on this phrase in v. 24.

[8:28]  ⁶ tn Grk “I do nothing from myself.”

[8:28]  ⁷ tn Grk “but just as the Father taught me, these things I speak.”

[8:42]  ⁷ tn Grk “Jesus said to them.”

[8:42]  ⁸ tn Or “I came from God and have arrived.”

[8:42]  ⁹ tn Grk “For I.” Here γάρ (gar) has not been translated.

[8:42]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “from myself.”

[8:42]  ¹¹ tn Grk “that one” (referring to God).

[14:28]  ¹⁰ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ¹¹ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ¹² sn Jesus’ statement the Father is greater than I am has caused much christological and trinitarian debate. Although the Arians appealed to this text to justify their subordinationist Christology, it seems evident that by the fact Jesus compares himself to the Father, his divine nature is taken for granted. There have been two orthodox interpretations: (1) The Son is eternally generated while the Father is not: Origen, Tertullian, Athanasius, Hilary, etc. (2) As man the incarnate Son was less than the Father: Cyril of Alexandria, Ambrose, Augustine. In the context of the Fourth Gospel the second explanation seems more plausible. But why should the disciples have rejoiced? Because Jesus was on the way to the Father who would glorify him (cf. 17:4-5); his departure now signifies that the work the Father has given him is completed (cf. 19:30). Now Jesus will be glorified with that glory that he had with the Father before the world was (cf. 17:5). This should be a cause of rejoicing to the disciples because when Jesus is glorified he will glorify his disciples as well (17:22).

[15:20]  ¹³ tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”

[15:20]  ¹⁴ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:20]  ¹⁵ sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.

[15:20]  ¹⁶ tn Or “if they kept.”

[15:20]  ¹⁷ tn Or “they will keep.”

[16:13]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “that one.”

[16:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “will lead.”

[16:13]  ¹⁸ sn Three important points must be noted here. (1) When the Holy Spirit comes, he will guide the disciples into all truth. What Jesus had said in 8:31-32, “If you continue to follow my teaching you are really my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free,” will ultimately be realized in the ongoing ministry of the Holy Spirit to the disciples after Jesus’ departure. (2) The things the Holy Spirit speaks to them will not be things which originate from himself (he will not speak on his own authority), but things he has heard. This could be taken to mean that no new revelation is involved, as R. E. Brown does (John [AB], 2:714-15). This is a possible but not a necessary inference. The point here concerns the source of the things the Spirit will say to the disciples and does not specifically exclude originality of content. (3) Part at least of what the Holy Spirit will reveal to the disciples will concern what is to come, not just fuller implications of previous sayings of Jesus and the like. This does seem to indicate that at least some new revelation is involved. But the Spirit is not the source or originator of these things – Jesus is the source, and he will continue to speak to his disciples through the Spirit who has come to indwell them. This does not answer the question, however, whether these words are addressed to all followers of Jesus, or only to his apostles. Different modern commentators will answer this question differently. Since in the context of the Farewell Discourse Jesus is preparing the twelve to carry on his ministry after his departure, it is probably best to take these statements as specifically related only to the twelve. Some of this the Holy Spirit does directly for all believers today; other parts of this statement are fulfilled through the apostles (e.g., in giving the Book of Revelation the Spirit speaks through the apostles to the church today of things to come). One of the implications of this is that a doctrine does not have to be traced back to an explicit teaching of Jesus to be authentic; all that is required is apostolic authority.

[16:13]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “speak from himself.”

[16:13]  ²⁰ tn Or will announce to you.”

[16:13]  ²¹ tn Grk “will tell you the things to come.”

[16:22]  ¹⁹ tn Or “distress.”

[16:22]  ²⁰ sn An allusion to Isa 66:14 LXX, which reads: “Then you will see, and your heart will be glad, and your bones will flourish like the new grass; and the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but he will be indignant toward his enemies.” The change from “you will see [me]” to I will see you places more emphasis on Jesus as the one who reinitiates the relationship with the disciples after his resurrection, but v. 16 (you will see me) is more like Isa 66:14. Further support for seeing this allusion as intentional is found in Isa 66:7, which uses the same imagery of the woman giving birth found in John 16:21. In the context of Isa 66 the passages refer to the institution of the messianic kingdom, and in fact the last clause of 66:14 along with the following verses (15-17) have yet to be fulfilled. This is part of the tension of present and future eschatological fulfillment that runs throughout the NT, by virtue of the fact that there are two advents. Some prophecies are fulfilled or partially fulfilled at the first advent, while other prophecies or parts of prophecies await fulfillment at the second.