John 7:17

7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, ¹  he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. ² 

John 8:47

8:47 The one who belongs to ³  God listens and responds ⁴  to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, ⁵  because you don’t belong to God.” ⁶ 

John 10:26-27

10:26 But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. 10:27 My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

John 10:1

Jesus as the Good Shepherd

10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, ⁷  the one who does not enter the sheepfold ⁸  by the door, ⁹  but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

John 1:22

1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us ¹⁰  so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:1

The Prologue to the Gospel

1:1 In the beginning ¹¹  was the Word, and the Word was with God, ¹²  and the Word was fully God. ¹³ 

John 3:14

3:14 Just as ¹⁴  Moses lifted up the serpent ¹⁵  in the wilderness, ¹⁶  so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁷ 

John 3:19

3:19 Now this is the basis for judging: ¹⁸  that the light has come into the world and people ¹⁹  loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.

John 4:6

4:6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside ²⁰  the well. It was about noon. ²¹ 

John 5:20

5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed.

[7:17]  ¹ tn Grk “his will.”

[7:17]  ² tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”

[8:47]  ³ tn Grk “who is of.”

[8:47]  ⁴ tn Grk “to God hears” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ⁵ tn Grk “you do not hear” (in the sense of listening to something and responding to it).

[8:47]  ⁶ tn Grk “you are not of God.”

[10:1]  ⁷ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[10:1]  ⁸ sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).

[10:1]  ⁹ tn Or “entrance.”

[1:22]  ¹⁰ tn The words “Tell us” are not in the Greek but are implied.

[1:1]  ¹¹ sn In the beginning. The search for the basic “stuff” out of which things are made was the earliest one in Greek philosophy. It was attended by the related question of “What is the process by which the secondary things came out of the primary one (or ones)?,” or in Aristotelian terminology, “What is the ‘beginning’ (same Greek word as beginning, John 1:1) and what is the origin of the things that are made?” In the New Testament the word usually has a temporal sense, but even BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 3 lists a major category of meaning as “the first cause.” For John, the words “In the beginning” are most likely a conscious allusion to the opening words of Genesis – “In the beginning.” Other concepts which occur prominently in Gen 1 are also found in John’s prologue: “life” (1:4) “light” (1:4) and “darkness” (1:5). Gen 1 describes the first (physical) creation; John 1 describes the new (spiritual) creation. But this is not to play off a false dichotomy between “physical” and “spiritual”; the first creation was both physical and spiritual. The new creation is really a re-creation, of the spiritual (first) but also the physical. (In spite of the common understanding of John’s “spiritual” emphasis, the “physical” re-creation should not be overlooked; this occurs in John 2 with the changing of water into wine, in John 11 with the resurrection of Lazarus, and the emphasis of John 20-21 on the aftermath of Jesus’ own resurrection.)

[1:1]  ¹² tn The preposition πρός (pros) implies not just proximity, but intimate personal relationship. M. Dods stated, “Πρός …means more than μετά or παρά, and is regularly employed in expressing the presence of one person with another” (“The Gospel of St. John,” The Expositor’s Greek Testament, 1:684). See also Mark 6:3, Matt 13:56, Mark 9:19, Gal 1:18, 2 John 12.

[1:1]  ¹³ tn Or “and what God was the Word was.” Colwell’s Rule is often invoked to support the translation of θεός (qeos) as definite (“God”) rather than indefinite (“a god”) here. However, Colwell’s Rule merely permits, but does not demand, that a predicate nominative ahead of an equative verb be translated as definite rather than indefinite. Furthermore, Colwell’s Rule did not deal with a third possibility, that the anarthrous predicate noun may have more of a qualitative nuance when placed ahead of the verb. A definite meaning for the term is reflected in the traditional rendering “the word was God.” From a technical standpoint, though, it is preferable to see a qualitative aspect to anarthrous θεός in John 1:1c (ExSyn 266-69). Translations like the NEB, REB, and Moffatt are helpful in capturing the sense in John 1:1c, that the Word was fully deity in essence (just as much God as God the Father). However, in contemporary English “the Word was divine” (Moffatt) does not quite catch the meaning since “divine” as a descriptive term is not used in contemporary English exclusively of God. The translation “what God was the Word was” is perhaps the most nuanced rendering, conveying that everything God was in essence, the Word was too. This points to unity of essence between the Father and the Son without equating the persons. However, in surveying a number of native speakers of English, some of whom had formal theological training and some of whom did not, the editors concluded that the fine distinctions indicated by “what God was the Word was” would not be understood by many contemporary readers. Thus the translation “the Word was fully God” was chosen because it is more likely to convey the meaning to the average English reader that the Logos (which “became flesh and took up residence among us” in John 1:14 and is thereafter identified in the Fourth Gospel as Jesus) is one in essence with God the Father. The previous phrase, “the Word was with God,” shows that the Logos is distinct in person from God the Father.

[3:14]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “And just as.”

[3:14]  ¹⁵ sn Or the snake, referring to the bronze serpent mentioned in Num 21:9.

[3:14]  ¹⁶ sn An allusion to Num 21:5-9.

[3:14]  ¹⁷ sn So must the Son of Man be lifted up. This is ultimately a prediction of Jesus’ crucifixion. Nicodemus could not have understood this, but John’s readers, the audience to whom the Gospel is addressed, certainly could have (compare the wording of John 12:32). In John, being lifted up refers to one continuous action of ascent, beginning with the cross but ending at the right hand of the Father. Step 1 is Jesus’ death; step 2 is his resurrection; and step 3 is the ascension back to heaven. It is the upward swing of the “pendulum” which began with the incarnation, the descent of the Word become flesh from heaven to earth (cf. Paul in Phil 2:5-11). See also the note on the title Son of Man in 1:51.

[3:19]  ¹⁸ tn Or “this is the reason for God judging,” or “this is how judgment works.”

[3:19]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “and men,” but in a generic sense, referring to people of both genders (as “everyone” in v. 20 makes clear).

[4:6]  ²⁰ tn Grk “on (ἐπί, epi) the well.” There may have been a low stone rim encircling the well, or the reading of Ì⁶⁶ (“on the ground”) may be correct.

[4:6]  ²¹ tn Grk “the sixth hour.”