John 6:60--7:9

6:60 Then many of his disciples, when they heard these things, ¹  said, “This is a difficult ²  saying! ³  Who can understand it?” ⁴  6:61 When Jesus was aware ⁵  that his disciples were complaining ⁶  about this, he said to them, “Does this cause you to be offended? ⁷  6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending where he was before? ⁸  6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help! ⁹  The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life. ¹⁰  6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ¹¹  6:65 So Jesus added, ¹²  “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come.” ¹³ 

Peter’s Confession

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him ¹⁴  and did not accompany him ¹⁵  any longer. 6:67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” ¹⁶  6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We ¹⁷  have come to believe and to know ¹⁸  that you are the Holy One of God!” ¹⁹  6:70 Jesus replied, ²⁰  “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” ²¹  6:71 (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, ²²  for Judas, ²³  one of the twelve, was going to betray him.) ²⁴ 

The Feast of Tabernacles

7:1 After this ²⁵  Jesus traveled throughout Galilee. ²⁶  He ²⁷  stayed out of Judea ²⁸  because the Jewish leaders ²⁹  wanted ³⁰  to kill him. 7:2 Now the Jewish feast of Tabernacles ³¹  was near. ³²  7:3 So Jesus’ brothers ³³  advised him, “Leave here and go to Judea so your disciples may see your miracles that you are performing. ³⁴  7:4 For no one who seeks to make a reputation for himself ³⁵  does anything in secret. ³⁶  If you are doing these things, show yourself to the world.” 7:5 (For not even his own brothers believed in him.) ³⁷ 

7:6 So Jesus replied, ³⁸  “My time ³⁹  has not yet arrived, ⁴⁰  but you are ready at any opportunity! ⁴¹  7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me, because I am testifying about it that its deeds are evil. 7:8 You go up ⁴²  to the feast yourselves. I am not going up to this feast ⁴³  because my time ⁴⁴  has not yet fully arrived.” ⁴⁵  7:9 When he had said this, he remained in Galilee.

[6:60]  ¹ tn The words “these things” are not present in the Greek text but are implied. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context, and must be supplied for the English reader.

[6:60]  ² tn Or “hard,” “demanding.”

[6:60]  ³ tn Or “teaching”; Grk “word.”

[6:60]  ⁴ tn Or “obey it”; Grk “hear it.” The Greek word ἀκούω (akouw) could imply hearing with obedience here, in the sense of “obey.” It could also point to the acceptance of what Jesus had just said, (i.e., “who can accept what he said?” However, since the context contains several replies by those in the crowd of hearers that suggest uncertainty or confusion over the meaning of what Jesus had said (6:42; 6:52), the meaning “understand” is preferred here.

[6:61]  ⁵ tn Grk “When Jesus knew within himself.”

[6:61]  ⁶ tn Or “were grumbling.”

[6:61]  ⁷ tn Or “Does this cause you to no longer believe?” (Grk “cause you to stumble?”)

[6:62]  ⁸ tn Or “he was formerly?”

[6:63]  ⁹ tn Grk “the flesh counts for nothing.”

[6:63]  ¹⁰ tn Or “are spirit-giving and life-producing.”

[6:64]  ¹¹ sn This is a parenthetical comment by the author.

[6:65]  ¹² tn Grk “And he said”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:65]  ¹³ tn Grk “unless it has been permitted to him by the Father.”

[6:66]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “many of his disciples went back to what lay behind.”

[6:66]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “were not walking with him.”

[6:67]  ¹⁶ tn Questions prefaced with μή (mh) in Greek anticipate a negative answer. This can sometimes be indicated by using a “tag” at the end in English (here it is “do you?”).

[6:69]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “And we.”

[6:69]  ¹⁸ sn See 1 John 4:16.

[6:69]  ¹⁹ tc The witnesses display a bewildering array of variants here. Instead of “the Holy One of God” (ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ, Jo {agio" tou qeou), Tertullian has ὁ Χριστός (Jo Cristo", “the Christ”); C³ Θ* ˹ 33 565 lat read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou, “the Christ, the Son of God”); two versional witnesses (b sy^c) have ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Son of God”); the Byzantine text as well as many others (Ψ 0250 ˹³ 33 Ï) read ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ζῶντος (Jo Cristo" Jo Juio" tou qeou tou zwnto", “the Christ, the Son of the living God”); and Ì⁶⁶ as well as a few versions have ὁ Χριστὸς ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ (“the Christ, the Holy One of God”). The reading ὁ ἅγιος τοῦ θεοῦ is, however, well supported by Ì⁷⁵ א B C* D L W as well as versional witnesses. It appears that Peter’s confession in the Synoptic Gospels (especially Matt 16:16) supplied the motivation for the variations. Although the witnesses in Matt 16:16; Mark 8:29; and Luke 9:20 vary considerably, the readings are all intra-synoptic, that is, they do not pull in “the Holy One of God” but reflect various permutations of “Christ”/“Christ of God”/“Christ, the Son of God”/“Christ, the Son of the living God.” The wording “the Holy One of God” (without “Christ”) in important witnesses here is thus unique among Peter’s confessions, and best explains the rise of the other readings.

[6:70]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Jesus answered them.”

[6:70]  ²¹ tn Although most translations render this last phrase as “one of you is a devil,” such a translation presupposes that there is more than one devil. This finds roots in the KJV in which the Greek word for demon was often translated “devil.” In fact, the KJV never uses the word “demon.” (Sixty-two of the 63 NT instances of δαιμόνιον [daimonion] are translated “devil” [in Acts 17:18 the plural has been translated “gods”]. This can get confusing in places where the singular “devil” is used: Is Satan or one of the demons in view [cf. Matt 9:33 (demon); 13:39 (devil); 17:18 (demon); Mark 7:26 (demon); Luke 4:2 (devil); etc.]?) Now regarding John 6:70, both the construction in Greek and the technical use of διάβολος (diabolos) indicate that the one devil is in view. To object to the translation “the devil” because it thus equates Judas with Satan does not take into consideration that Jesus often spoke figuratively (e.g., “destroy this temple” [John 2:19]; “he [John the Baptist] is Elijah” [Matt 11:14]), even equating Peter with the devil on one occasion (Mark 8:33). According to ExSyn 249, “A curious phenomenon has occurred in the English Bible with reference to one particular monadic noun, διάβολος. The KJV translates both διάβολος and δαιμόνιον as ‘devil.’ Thus in the AV translators’ minds, ‘devil’ was not a monadic noun. Modern translations have correctly rendered δαιμόνιον as ‘demon’ and have, for the most part, recognized that διάβολος is monadic (cf., e.g., 1 Pet 5:8; Rev 20:2). But in John 6:70 modern translations have fallen into the error of the King James translators. The KJV has ‘one of you is a devil.’ So does the RSV, NRSV, ASV, NIV, NKJV, and the JB [Jerusalem Bible]. Yet there is only one devil…The legacy of the KJV still lives on, then, even in places where it ought not.”

[6:71]  ²² sn At least six explanations for the name Iscariot have been proposed, but it is probably transliterated Hebrew with the meaning “man of Kerioth” (there are at least two villages that had that name). See D. A. Carson, John, 304.

[6:71]  ²³ tn Grk “this one”; the referent (Judas) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:71]  ²⁴ sn This parenthetical statement by the author helps the reader understand Jesus’ statement one of you is the devil in the previous verse. This is the first mention of Judas in the Fourth Gospel, and he is immediately identified (as he is in the synoptic gospels, Matt 10:4, Mark 3:19, Luke 6:16) as the one who would betray Jesus.

[7:1]  ²⁵ sn Again, the transition is indicated by the imprecise temporal indicator After this. Clearly, though, the author has left out much of the events of Jesus’ ministry, because chap. 6 took place near the Passover (6:4). This would have been the Passover between winter/spring of a.d. 32, just one year before Jesus’ crucifixion (assuming a date of a.d. 33 for the crucifixion), or the Passover of winter/spring a.d. 29, assuming a date of a.d. 30 for the crucifixion.

[7:1]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Jesus was traveling around in Galilee.”

[7:1]  ²⁷ tn Grk “For he.” Here γάρ (gar, “for”) has not been translated.

[7:1]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he did not want to travel around in Judea.”

[7:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory, the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9.) Here the phrase should be restricted to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents.

[7:1]  ³⁰ tn Grk “were seeking.”

[7:2]  ³¹ tn Or “feast of the Tents” (the feast where people lived in tents or shelters, which was celebrated in the autumn after harvest). John’s use of σκηνοπηγία (skhnophgia) for the feast of Tabernacles constitutes the only use of this term in the New Testament.

[7:2]  ³² sn Since the present verse places these incidents at the feast of Tabernacles (a.d. 29 or 32, depending on whether one dates the crucifixion in a.d. 30 or 33) there would have been a 6-month interval during which no events are recorded. The author is obviously selective in his approach; he is not recording an exhaustive history (as he will later tell the reader in John 21:25). After healing the paralytic on the Sabbath in Jerusalem (John 5:1-47), Jesus withdrew again to Galilee because of mounting opposition. In Galilee the feeding of the 5,000 took place, which marked the end of the Galilean ministry for all practical purposes. John 7:1-9 thus marks Jesus’ final departure from Galilee.

[7:3]  ³³ tn Grk “his brothers.”

[7:3]  ³⁴ tn Grk “your deeds that you are doing.”

[7:4]  ³⁵ tn Or “seeks to be well known.”

[7:4]  ³⁶ sn No one who seeks to make a reputation for himself does anything in secret means, in effect: “if you’re going to perform signs to authenticate yourself as Messiah, you should do them at Jerusalem.” (Jerusalem is where mainstream Jewish apocalyptic tradition held that Messiah would appear.)

[7:5]  ³⁷ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[7:6]  ³⁸ tn Grk “Then Jesus said to them.”

[7:6]  ³⁹ tn Or “my opportunity.”

[7:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “is not yet here.”

[7:6]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “your time is always ready.”

[7:8]  ⁴² sn One always speaks of “going up” to Jerusalem in Jewish idiom, even though in western thought it is more common to speak of south as “down” (Jerusalem lies south of Galilee). The reason for the idiom is that Jerusalem was identified with Mount Zion in the OT, so that altitude was the issue.

[7:8]  ⁴³ tc Most mss (Ì^66,75 B L T W Θ Ψ 070 0105 0250 Ë^1,13 Ï sa), including most of the better witnesses, have “not yet” (οὔπω, oupw) here. Those with the reading οὐκ are not as impressive (א D K 1241 al lat), but οὐκ is the more difficult reading here, especially because it stands in tension with v. 10. On the one hand, it is possible that οὐκ arose because of homoioarcton: A copyist who saw oupw wrote ouk. However, it is more likely that οὔπω was introduced early on to harmonize with what is said two verses later. As for Jesus’ refusal to go up to the feast in v. 8, the statement does not preclude action of a different kind at a later point. Jesus may simply have been refusing to accompany his brothers with the rest of the group of pilgrims, preferring to travel separately and “in secret” (v. 10) with his disciples.

[7:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Although the word is καιρός (kairos) here, it parallels John’s use of ὥρα (Jwra) elsewhere as a reference to the time appointed for Jesus by the Father – the time of his return to the Father, characterized by his death, resurrection, and ascension (glorification). In the Johannine literature, synonyms are often interchanged for no apparent reason other than stylistic variation.

[7:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “my time has not yet come to an end” (a possible hint of Jesus’ death at Jerusalem); Grk “my time is not yet fulfilled.”