John 1:30

1:30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, ¹  because he existed before me.’

John 1:50

1:50 Jesus said to him, ²  “Because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” ³ 

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.

John 7:31

7:31 Yet many of the crowd ⁴  believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ ⁵  comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” ⁶ 

John 8:53

8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? ⁷  And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”

John 10:29

10:29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, ⁸  and no one can snatch ⁹  them from my Father’s hand.

John 11:50

11:50 You do not realize ¹⁰  that it is more to your advantage to have one man ¹¹  die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” ¹² 

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¹ tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”

² tn Grk “answered and said to him.” This has been simplified in the translation to “said to him.”

³ sn What are the greater things Jesus had in mind? In the narrative this forms an excellent foreshadowing of the miraculous signs which began at Cana of Galilee.

⁴ tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).

⁵ tn Or “the Messiah” (Both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”).

sn See the note on Christ in 1:20.

⁶ 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?”).

⁷ 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 the tag is “are you?”).

⁸ tn Or “is superior to all.”

⁹ tn Or “no one can seize.”

¹⁰ tn Or “you are not considering.”

¹¹ tn Although it is possible to argue that ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") should be translated “person” here since it is not necessarily masculinity that is in view in Caiaphas’ statement, “man” was retained in the translation because in 11:47 “this man” (οὗτος ὁ ἄνθρωπος, outo" Jo anqrwpo") has as its referent a specific individual, Jesus, and it was felt this connection should be maintained.

¹² sn In his own mind Caiaphas was no doubt giving voice to a common-sense statement of political expediency. Yet he was unconsciously echoing a saying of Jesus himself (cf. Mark 10:45). Caiaphas was right; the death of Jesus would save the nation from destruction. Yet Caiaphas could not suspect that Jesus would die, not in place of the political nation Israel, but on behalf of the true people of God; and he would save them, not from physical destruction, but from eternal destruction (cf. 3:16-17). The understanding of Caiaphas’ words in a sense that Caiaphas could not possibly have imagined at the time he uttered them serves as a clear example of the way in which the author understood that words and actions could be invested retrospectively with a meaning not consciously intended or understood by those present at the time.