John 6:66-69

Peter’s Confession

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him ¹  and did not accompany him ²  any longer. 6:67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” ³  6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 6:69 We ⁴  have come to believe and to know ⁵  that you are the Holy One of God!” ⁶ 

John 8:31

Abraham’s Children and the Devil’s Children

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans ⁷  who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, ⁸  you are really ⁹  my disciples

Acts 14:22

14:22 They strengthened ¹⁰  the souls of the disciples and encouraged them to continue ¹¹  in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom ¹²  of God through many persecutions.” ¹³ 

Hebrews 10:38-39

10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he shrinks back, I ¹⁴  take no pleasure in him. ¹⁵  10:39 But we are not among those who shrink back and thus perish, but are among those who have faith and preserve their souls. ¹⁶ 

Hebrews 10:1

Concluding Exposition: Old and New Sacrifices Contrasted

10:1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship. ¹⁷ 

Hebrews 2:1

Warning Against Drifting Away

2:1 Therefore we must pay closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

[6:66]  ¹ tn Grk “many of his disciples went back to what lay behind.”

[6:66]  ² tn Grk “were not walking with him.”

[6:67]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Grk “And we.”

[6:69]  ⁵ sn See 1 John 4:16.

[6:69]  ⁶ 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.

[8:31]  ⁷ tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), 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; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).

[8:31]  ⁸ tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”

[8:31]  ⁹ tn Or “truly.”

[14:22]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “to Antioch, strengthening.” Due to the length of the Greek sentence and the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences, a new sentence was started here. This participle (ἐπιστηρίζοντες, episthrizonte") and the following one (παρακαλοῦντες, parakalounte") have been translated as finite verbs connected by the coordinating conjunction “and.”

[14:22]  ¹¹ sn And encouraged them to continue. The exhortations are like those noted in Acts 11:23; 13:43. An example of such a speech is found in Acts 20:18-35. Christianity is now characterized as “the faith.”

[14:22]  ¹² sn This reference to the kingdom of God clearly refers to its future arrival.

[14:22]  ¹³ tn Or “sufferings.”

[10:38]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “my soul.”

[10:38]  ¹⁵ sn A quotation from Hab 2:4.

[10:39]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “not…of shrinking back to perdition but of faith to the preservation of the soul.”

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “those who approach.”