John 5:37

5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people ¹  have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, ² 

John 6:37

6:37 Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away. ³ 

John 7:15

7:15 Then the Jewish leaders ⁴  were astonished ⁵  and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” ⁶ 

John 8:33

8:33 “We are descendants ⁷  of Abraham,” they replied, ⁸  “and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ⁹  ‘You will become free’?”

John 10:5

10:5 They will never follow a stranger, ¹⁰  but will run away from him, because they do not recognize ¹¹  the stranger’s voice.” ¹² 

John 13:8

13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ¹³  Jesus replied, ¹⁴  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ¹⁵ 

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¹ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to clarify that the following verbs (“heard,” “seen,” “have residing,” “do not believe”) are second person plural.

² sn You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time. Compare Deut 4:12. Also see Deut 5:24 ff., where the Israelites begged to hear the voice no longer – their request (ironically) has by this time been granted. How ironic this would be if the feast is Pentecost, where by the 1st century a.d. the giving of the law at Sinai was being celebrated.

³ tn Or “drive away”; Grk “cast out.”

⁴ tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders who were Jesus’ primary opponents. See the note on the phrase “the Jewish leaders” in v. 1.

⁵ tn Or “began to be astonished.” This imperfect verb could also be translated ingressively (“began to be astonished”), but for English stylistic reasons it is rendered as a simple past.

⁶ tn Grk “How does this man know learning since he has not been taught?” The implication here is not that Jesus never went to school (in all probability he did attend a local synagogue school while a youth), but that he was not the disciple of a particular rabbi and had not had formal or advanced instruction under a recognized rabbi (compare Acts 4:13 where a similar charge is made against Peter and John; see also Paul’s comment in Acts 22:3).

sn He has never had formal instruction. Ironically when the Jewish leaders came face to face with the Word become flesh – the preexistent Logos, creator of the universe and divine Wisdom personified – they treated him as an untaught, unlearned person, without the formal qualifications to be a teacher.

⁷ tn Grk “We are the seed” (an idiom).

⁸ tn Grk “They answered to him.”

⁹ tn Or “How is it that you say.”

¹⁰ tn Or “someone whom they do not know.”

¹¹ tn Grk “know.”

¹² tn Or “the voice of someone they do not know.”

¹³ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

¹⁴ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

¹⁵ tn Or “you have no part in me.”