Matthew 27:40

27:40 and saying, “You who can destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ¹  If you are God’s Son, come down ²  from the cross!”

John 3:16-17

3:16 For this is the way ³  God loved the world: He gave his one and only ⁴  Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish ⁵  but have eternal life. ⁶  3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, ⁷  but that the world should be saved through him.

John 5:17-25

5:17 So he ⁸  told ⁹  them, “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” ¹⁰  5:18 For this reason the Jewish leaders ¹¹  were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God.

5:19 So Jesus answered them, ¹²  “I tell you the solemn truth, ¹³  the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, ¹⁴  but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father ¹⁵  does, the Son does likewise. ¹⁶  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. 5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, ¹⁷  so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. ¹⁸  5:22 Furthermore, the Father does not judge ¹⁹  anyone, but has assigned ²⁰  all judgment to the Son, 5:23 so that all people ²¹  will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, ²²  the one who hears ²³  my message ²⁴  and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, ²⁵  but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, ²⁶  a time ²⁷  is coming – and is now here – when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

John 10:30

10:30 The Father and I ²⁸  are one.” ²⁹ 

John 10:36

10:36 do you say about the one whom the Father set apart ³⁰  and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

John 19:7

19:7 The Jewish leaders ³¹  replied, ³²  “We have a law, ³³  and according to our law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God!” ³⁴ 

[27:40]  ¹ sn There is rich irony in the statements of those who were passing by, “save yourself!” and “come down from the cross!” In summary, they wanted Jesus to come down from the cross and save his physical life, but it was indeed his staying on the cross and giving his physical life that led to the fact that they could experience a resurrection from death to life.

[27:40]  ² tc ‡ Many important witnesses (א* A D pc it sy^[s],p) read καί (kai, here with the force of “then”) before κατάβηθι (katabhqi, “come down”). The shorter reading may well be due to homoioarcton, but judging by the diverse external evidence (א² B L W Θ 0250 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat) it is equally possible that the shorter reading is original (and is so considered for this translation). NA²⁷ puts the καί in brackets, indicating doubts as to its authenticity.

[3:16]  ³ tn Or “this is how much”; or “in this way.” The Greek adverb οὕτως (Joutws) can refer (1) to the degree to which God loved the world, that is, to such an extent or so much that he gave his own Son (see R. E. Brown, John [AB], 1:133-34; D. A. Carson, John, 204) or (2) simply to the manner in which God loved the world, i.e., by sending his own son (see R. H. Gundry and R. W. Howell, “The Sense and Syntax of John 3:14-17 with Special Reference to the Use of Οὕτως…ὥστε in John 3:16,” NovT 41 [1999]: 24-39). Though the term more frequently refers to the manner in which something is done (see BDAG 741-42 s.v. οὕτω/οὕτως), the following clause involving ὥστε (Jwste) plus the indicative (which stresses actual, but [usually] unexpected result) emphasizes the greatness of the gift God has given. With this in mind, then, it is likely (3) that John is emphasizing both the degree to which God loved the world as well as the manner in which He chose to express that love. This is in keeping with John’s style of using double entendre or double meaning. Thus, the focus of the Greek construction here is on the nature of God's love, addressing its mode, intensity, and extent.

[3:16]  ⁴ tn Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12, 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna qeou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 1:18, 3:16, and 3:18).

[3:16]  ⁵ tn In John the word ἀπόλλυμι (apollumi) can mean either (1) to be lost (2) to perish or be destroyed, depending on the context.

[3:16]  ⁶ sn The alternatives presented are only two (again, it is typical of Johannine thought for this to be presented in terms of polar opposites): perish or have eternal life.

[3:17]  ⁷ sn That is, “to judge the world to be guilty and liable to punishment.”

[5:17]  ⁸ tc ‡ Most witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ A D L Θ Ψ Ë^1,13 33 Ï latt co) have ᾿Ιησοῦς (Ihsou", “Jesus”) here, while generally better witnesses (Ì⁷⁵ א B W {0141} 892 1241 pbo) lack the name. Although it is possible that Alexandrian scribes deleted the name due to proclivities to prune, this is not as likely as other witnesses adding it for clarification, especially since multiple strands of the Alexandrian text are represented in the shorter reading. NA²⁷ places the word in brackets, indicating some doubts as to authenticity.

[5:17]  ⁹ tn Grk “answered.”

[5:17]  ¹⁰ sn “My Father is working until now, and I too am working.” What is the significance of Jesus’ claim? A preliminary understanding can be obtained from John 5:18, noting the Jewish authorities’ response and the author’s comment. They sought to kill Jesus, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God. This must be seen in the context of the relation of God to the Sabbath rest. In the commandment (Exod 20:11) it is explained that “In six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth…and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Philo, based on the LXX translation of Exod 20:11, denied outright that God had ever ceased his creative activity. And when Rabban Gamaliel II, R. Joshua, R. Eleazar ben Azariah, and R. Akiba were in Rome, ca. a.d. 95, they gave as a rebuttal to sectarian arguments evidence that God might do as he willed in the world without breaking the Sabbath because the entire world was his private residence. So even the rabbis realized that God did not really cease to work on the Sabbath: Divine providence remained active on the Sabbath, otherwise, all nature and life would cease to exist. As regards men, divine activity was visible in two ways: Men were born and men died on the Sabbath. Since only God could give life and only God could deal with the fate of the dead in judgment, this meant God was active on the Sabbath. This seems to be the background for Jesus’ words in 5:17. He justified his work of healing on the Sabbath by reminding the Jewish authorities that they admitted God worked on the Sabbath. This explains the violence of the reaction. The Sabbath privilege was peculiar to God, and no one was equal to God. In claiming the right to work even as his Father worked, Jesus was claiming a divine prerogative. He was literally making himself equal to God, as 5:18 goes on to state explicitly for the benefit of the reader who might not have made the connection.

[5:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.

[5:19]  ¹² tn Grk “answered and said to them.”

[5:19]  ¹³ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:19]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “nothing from himself.”

[5:19]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:19]  ¹⁶ sn What works does the Son do likewise? The same that the Father does – and the same that the rabbis recognized as legitimate works of God on the Sabbath (see note on working in v. 17). (1) Jesus grants life (just as the Father grants life) on the Sabbath. But as the Father gives physical life on the Sabbath, so the Son grants spiritual life (John 5:21; note the “greater things” mentioned in v. 20). (2) Jesus judges (determines the destiny of people) on the Sabbath, just as the Father judges those who die on the Sabbath, because the Father has granted authority to the Son to judge (John 5:22-23). But this is not all. Not only has this power been granted to Jesus in the present; it will be his in the future as well. In v. 28 there is a reference not to spiritually dead (only) but also physically dead. At their resurrection they respond to the Son as well.

[5:21]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “and makes them live.”

[5:21]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “the Son makes whomever he wants to live.”

[5:22]  ¹⁹ tn Or “condemn.”

[5:22]  ²⁰ tn Or “given,” or “handed over.”

[5:23]  ²¹ tn Grk “all.” The word “people” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for stylistic reasons and for clarity (cf. KJV “all men”).

[5:24]  ²² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:24]  ²³ tn Or “obeys.”

[5:24]  ²⁴ tn Or “word.”

[5:24]  ²⁵ tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”

[5:25]  ²⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[5:25]  ²⁷ tn Grk “an hour.”

[10:30]  ²⁸ tn Grk “I and the Father.” The order has been reversed to reflect English style.

[10:30]  ²⁹ tn The phrase ἕν ἐσμεν ({en esmen) is a significant assertion with trinitarian implications. ἕν is neuter, not masculine, so the assertion is not that Jesus and the Father are one person, but one “thing.” Identity of the two persons is not what is asserted, but essential unity (unity of essence).

[10:36]  ³⁰ tn Or “dedicated.”

[19:7]  ³¹ 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 refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin, and their servants (mentioned specifically as “the chief priests and their servants” in John 19:6).

[19:7]  ³² tn Grk “answered him.”

[19:7]  ³³ sn This law is not the entire Pentateuch, but Lev 24:16.

[19:7]  ³⁴ tn Grk “because he made himself out to be the Son of God.”