Luke 17:5

17:5 The ¹  apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” ² 

John 1:12-13

1:12 But to all who have received him – those who believe in his name ³  – he has given the right to become God’s children 1:13 – children not born ⁴  by human parents ⁵  or by human desire ⁶  or a husband’s ⁷  decision, ⁸  but by God.

John 3:3-7

3:3 Jesus replied, ⁹  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁰  unless a person is born from above, ¹¹  he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ¹²  3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?” ¹³ 

3:5 Jesus answered, “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁴  unless a person is born of water and spirit, ¹⁵  he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, ¹⁶  and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. 3:7 Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all ¹⁷  be born from above.’ ¹⁸ 

Acts 14:27

14:27 When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported ¹⁹  all the things God ²⁰  had done with them, and that he had opened a door ²¹  of faith for the Gentiles.

Ephesians 1:19

1:19 and what is the incomparable ²²  greatness of his power toward ²³  us who believe, as displayed in ²⁴  the exercise of his immense strength. ²⁵ 

Ephesians 2:8

2:8 For by grace you are saved ²⁶  through faith, ²⁷  and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God;

Ephesians 3:7

3:7 I became a servant of this gospel ²⁸  according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by ²⁹  the exercise of his power. ³⁰ 

Ephesians 3:17

3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love,

Philippians 1:29

1:29 For it has been granted to you ³¹  not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him,

Hebrews 12:2

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ³² 

James 1:16-17

1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters. ³³  1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift ³⁴  is from above, coming down ³⁵  from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change. ³⁶ 

[17:5]  ¹ tn Grk “And the.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[17:5]  ² sn The request of the apostles, “Increase our faith,” is not a request for a gift of faith, but a request to increase the depth of their faith.

[1:12]  ³ tn On the use of the πιστεύω + εἰς (pisteuw + ei") construction in John: The verb πιστεύω occurs 98 times in John (compared to 11 times in Matthew, 14 times in Mark [including the longer ending], and 9 times in Luke). One of the unsolved mysteries is why the corresponding noun form πίστις (pistis) is never used at all. Many have held the noun was in use in some pre-Gnostic sects and this rendered it suspect for John. It might also be that for John, faith was an activity, something that men do (cf. W. Turner, “Believing and Everlasting Life – A Johannine Inquiry,” ExpTim 64 [1952/53]: 50-52). John uses πιστεύω in 4 major ways: (1) of believing facts, reports, etc., 12 times; (2) of believing people (or the scriptures), 19 times; (3) of believing “in” Christ” (πιστεύω + εἰς + acc.), 36 times; (4) used absolutely without any person or object specified, 30 times (the one remaining passage is 2:24, where Jesus refused to “trust” himself to certain individuals). Of these, the most significant is the use of πιστεύω with εἰς + accusative. It is not unlike the Pauline ἐν Χριστῷ (en Cristw) formula. Some have argued that this points to a Hebrew (more likely Aramaic) original behind the Fourth Gospel. But it probably indicates something else, as C. H. Dodd observed: “πιστεύειν with the dative so inevitably connoted simple credence, in the sense of an intellectual judgment, that the moral element of personal trust or reliance inherent in the Hebrew or Aramaic phrase – an element integral to the primitive Christian conception of faith in Christ – needed to be otherwise expressed” (The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel, 183).

[1:13]  ⁴ tn The Greek term translated “born” here also involves conception.

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Grk “of blood(s).” The plural αἱμάτων (Jaimatwn) has seemed a problem to many interpreters. At least some sources in antiquity imply that blood was thought of as being important in the development of the fetus during its time in the womb: thus Wis 7:1: “in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh, within the period of 10 months, compacted with blood, from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.” In John 1:13, the plural αἱμάτων may imply the action of both parents. It may also refer to the “genetic” contribution of both parents, and so be equivalent to “human descent” (see BDAG 26 s.v. αἷμα 1.a). E. C. Hoskyns thinks John could not have used the singular here because Christians are in fact ‘begotten’ by the blood of Christ (The Fourth Gospel, 143), although the context would seem to make it clear that the blood in question is something other than the blood of Christ.

[1:13]  ⁶ tn Or “of the will of the flesh.” The phrase οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος σαρκός (oude ek qelhmato" sarko") is more clearly a reference to sexual desire, but it should be noted that σάρξ (sarx) in John does not convey the evil sense common in Pauline usage. For John it refers to the physical nature in its weakness rather than in its sinfulness. There is no clearer confirmation of this than the immediately following verse, where the λόγος (logos) became σάρξ.

[1:13]  ⁷ tn Or “man’s.”

[1:13]  ⁸ tn The third phrase, οὐδὲ ἐκ θελήματος ἀνδρός (oude ek qelhmato" andros), means much the same as the second one. The word here (ἀνηρ, anhr) is often used for a husband, resulting in the translation “or a husband’s decision,” or more generally, “or of any human volition whatsoever.” L. Morris may be right when he sees here an emphasis directed at the Jewish pride in race and patriarchal ancestry, although such a specific reference is difficult to prove (John [NICNT], 101).

[3:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn The word ἄνωθεν (anwqen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

[3:3]  ¹² sn What does Jesus’ statement about not being able to see the kingdom of God mean within the framework of John’s Gospel? John uses the word kingdom (βασιλεία, basileia) only 5 times (3:3, 5; 18:36 [3x]). Only here is it qualified with the phrase of God. The fact that John does not stress the concept of the kingdom of God does not mean it is absent from his theology, however. Remember the messianic implications found in John 2, both the wedding and miracle at Cana and the cleansing of the temple. For Nicodemus, the term must surely have brought to mind the messianic kingdom which Messiah was supposed to bring. But Nicodemus had missed precisely this point about who Jesus was. It was the Messiah himself with whom Nicodemus was speaking. Whatever Nicodemus understood, it is clear that the point is this: He misunderstood Jesus’ words. He over-literalized them, and thought Jesus was talking about repeated physical birth, when he was in fact referring to new spiritual birth.

[3:4]  ¹³ tn The grammatical structure of the question in Greek presupposes a negative reply.

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[3:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “born of water and wind” (the same Greek word, πνεύματος [pneumatos], may be translated either “spirit/Spirit” or “wind”).

[3:6]  ¹⁶ sn What is born of the flesh is flesh, i.e., what is born of physical heritage is physical. (It is interesting to compare this terminology with that of the dialogue in John 4, especially 4:23, 24.) For John the “flesh” (σάρξ, sarx) emphasizes merely the weakness and mortality of the creature – a neutral term, not necessarily sinful as in Paul. This is confirmed by the reference in John 1:14 to the Logos becoming “flesh.” The author avoids associating sinfulness with the incarnate Christ.

[3:7]  ¹⁷ tn “All” has been supplied to indicate the plural pronoun in the Greek text.

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “born again.” The same Greek word with the same double meaning occurs in v. 3.

[14:27]  ¹⁹ tn Or “announced.”

[14:27]  ²⁰ sn Note that God is the subject of the activity. The outcome of this mission is seen as a confirmation of the mission to the Gentiles.

[14:27]  ²¹ sn On the image of opening, or of the door, see 1 Cor 16:9; 2 Cor 2:12; Col 4:3.

[1:19]  ²² tn Or “immeasurable, surpassing”

[1:19]  ²³ tn Or “for, to”

[1:19]  ²⁴ tn Grk “according to.”

[1:19]  ²⁵ tn Grk “according to the exercise of the might of his strength.”

[2:8]  ²⁶ tn See note on the same expression in v. 5.

[2:8]  ²⁷ tc The feminine article is found before πίστεως (pistews, “faith”) in the Byzantine text as well as in A Ψ 1881 pc. Perhaps for some scribes the article was intended to imply creedal fidelity as a necessary condition of salvation (“you are saved through the faith”), although elsewhere in the corpus Paulinum the phrase διὰ τῆς πίστεως (dia th" pistew") is used for the act of believing rather than the content of faith (cf. Rom 3:30, 31; Gal 3:14; Eph 3:17; Col 2:12). On the other side, strong representatives of the Alexandrian and Western texts (א B D* F G P 0278 6 33 1739 al bo) lack the article. Hence, both text-critically and exegetically, the meaning of the text here is most likely “saved through faith” as opposed to “saved through the faith.” Regarding the textual problem, the lack of the article is the preferred reading.

[3:7]  ²⁸ tn Grk “of which I was made a minister,” “of which I became a servant.”

[3:7]  ²⁹ tn Grk “according to.”

[3:7]  ³⁰ sn On the exercise of his power see 1:19-20.

[1:29]  ³¹ tn Grk “For that which is on behalf of Christ has been granted to you – namely, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.” The infinitive phrases are epexegetical to the subject, τὸ ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ (to Juper Cristou), which has the force of “the on-behalf-of-Christ thing,” or “the thing on behalf of Christ.” To translate this in English requires a different idiom.

[12:2]  ³² sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.

[1:16]  ³³ tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:2.

[1:17]  ³⁴ tn The first phrase refers to the action of giving and the second to what is given.

[1:17]  ³⁵ tn Or “All generous giving and every perfect gift from above is coming down.”

[1:17]  ³⁶ tn Grk “variation or shadow of turning” (referring to the motions of heavenly bodies causing variations of light and darkness).