John 5:7

5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, ¹  I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. While I am trying to get into the water, ²  someone else ³  goes down there ⁴  before me.”

John 14:28

14:28 You heard me say to you, ⁵  ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad ⁶  that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. ⁷ 

John 17:11

17:11 I ⁸  am no longer in the world, but ⁹  they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe ¹⁰  in your name ¹¹  that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. ¹² 

[5:7]  ¹ tn Or “Lord.” The Greek κύριος (kurios) means both “Sir” and “Lord.” In this passage the paralytic who was healed by Jesus never acknowledges Jesus as Lord – he rather reports Jesus to the authorities.

[5:7]  ² tn Grk “while I am going.”

[5:7]  ³ tn Grk “another.”

[5:7]  ⁴ tn The word “there” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[14:28]  ⁵ tn Or “You have heard that I said to you.”

[14:28]  ⁶ tn Or “you would rejoice.”

[14:28]  ⁷ 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).

[17:11]  ⁹ tn Grk And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.

[17:11]  ¹⁰ tn The context indicates that this should be translated as an adversative or contrastive conjunction.

[17:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “protect them”; Grk “keep them.”

[17:11]  ¹² tn Or “by your name.”

[17:11]  ¹³ tn The second repetition of “one” is implied, and is supplied here for clarity.