John 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ¹  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ²  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ³ 

John 9:18

9:18 Now the Jewish religious leaders ⁴  refused to believe ⁵  that he had really been blind and had gained his sight until at last they summoned ⁶  the parents of the man who had become able to see. ⁷ 

John 11:45

The Response of the Jewish Leaders

11:45 Then many of the people, ⁸  who had come with Mary and had seen the things Jesus ⁹  did, believed in him.

John 12:42

12:42 Nevertheless, even among the rulers ¹⁰  many believed in him, but because of the Pharisees ¹¹  they would not confess Jesus to be the Christ, ¹²  so that they would not be put out of ¹³  the synagogue. ¹⁴ 

[7:31]  ¹ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

[7:31]  ² tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

[7:31]  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 “will he?”).

[9:18]  ⁴ tn Or “the Jewish religious 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 refers mainly to the Pharisees, mentioned by name in John 9:13, 15, 16. References in this context to Pharisees and to the synagogue (v. 22) suggest an emphasis on the religious nature of the debate which is brought out by the translation “the Jewish religious leaders.”

[9:18]  ⁵ tn The Greek text contains the words “about him” at this point: “the Jewish authorities did not believe about him…”

[9:18]  ⁶ tn Grk “they called.”

[9:18]  ⁷ tn Or “the man who had gained his sight.”

[11:45]  ⁷ tn Or “the Judeans”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the friends, acquaintances, and relatives of Lazarus or his sisters who had come to mourn, since the Jewish religious authorities are specifically mentioned as a separate group in John 11:46-47. See also the notes on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 8 and “the Jewish people of the region” in v. 19, as well as the notes on the word “people” in vv. 31, 33 and the phrase “people who had come to mourn” in v. 36.

[11:45]  ⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[12:42]  ¹⁰ sn The term rulers here denotes members of the Sanhedrin, the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews. Note the same word (“ruler”) is used to describe Nicodemus in 3:1.

[12:42]  ¹¹ sn See the note on Pharisees in 1:24.

[12:42]  ¹² tn The words “Jesus to be the Christ” are not in the Greek text, but are implied (see 9:22). As is often the case in Greek, the direct object is omitted for the verb ὡμολόγουν (Jwmologoun). Some translators supply an ambiguous “it,” or derive the implied direct object from the previous clause “believed in him” so that the rulers would not confess “their faith” or “their belief.” However, when one compares John 9:22, which has many verbal parallels to this verse, it seems clear that the content of the confession would have been “Jesus is the Christ (i.e., Messiah).”

[12:42]  ¹³ tn Or “be expelled from.”

[12:42]  ¹⁴ sn Compare John 9:22. See the note on synagogue in 6:59.