Discovery BoxJohn 1:14 
Context1:14 Now 1 the Word became flesh 2 and took up residence 3 among us. We 4 saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, 5 full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
John 4:23
Context4:23 But a time 6 is coming – and now is here 7 – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks 8 such people to be 9 his worshipers. 10
John 5:19
Context5:19 So Jesus answered them, 11 “I tell you the solemn truth, 12 the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, 13 but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father 14 does, the Son does likewise. 15
John 5:24-25
Context5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, 16 the one who hears 17 my message 18 and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, 19 but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, 20 a time 21 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 6:26
Context6:26 Jesus replied, 22 “I tell you the solemn truth, 23 you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 24
John 6:32
Context6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, 25 it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but my Father is giving you the true bread from heaven.
John 6:53
Context6:53 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, 26 unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 27 you have no life 28 in yourselves.
John 9:24
Context9:24 Then they summoned 29 the man who used to be blind 30 a second time and said to him, “Promise before God to tell the truth. 31 We know that this man 32 is a sinner.”
John 10:1
Context10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, 33 the one who does not enter the sheepfold 34 by the door, 35 but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
John 12:24
Context12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, 36 unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. 37 But if it dies, it produces 38 much grain. 39
John 13:16
Context13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, 40 the slave 41 is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger 42 greater than the one who sent him.
John 14:12
Context14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, 43 the person who believes in me will perform 44 the miraculous deeds 45 that I am doing, 46 and will perform 47 greater deeds 48 than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:17
Context14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, 49 because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides 50 with you and will be 51 in you.
John 16:7
Context16:7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I am going away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate 52 will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.
John 18:38
Context18:38 Pilate asked, 53 “What is truth?” 54
When he had said this he went back outside to the Jewish leaders 55 and announced, 56 “I find no basis for an accusation 57 against him.
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “now” to indicate the transition to a new topic, the incarnation of the Word. Greek style often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” but English style generally does not.
2 tn This looks at the Word incarnate in humility and weakness; the word σάρξ (sarx) does not carry overtones of sinfulness here as it frequently does in Pauline usage. See also John 3:6.
3 tn Grk “and tabernacled.”
sn The Greek word translated took up residence (σκηνόω, skhnow) alludes to the OT tabernacle, where the Shekinah, the visible glory of God’s presence, resided. The author is suggesting that this glory can now be seen in Jesus (note the following verse). The verb used here may imply that the Shekinah glory that once was found in the tabernacle has taken up residence in the person of Jesus. Cf. also John 2:19-21. The Word became flesh. This verse constitutes the most concise statement of the incarnation in the New Testament. John 1:1 makes it clear that the Logos was fully God, but 1:14 makes it clear that he was also fully human. A Docetic interpretation is completely ruled out. Here for the first time the Logos of 1:1 is identified as Jesus of Nazareth – the two are one and the same. Thus this is the last time the word logos is used in the Fourth Gospel to refer to the second person of the Trinity. From here on it is Jesus of Nazareth who is the focus of John’s Gospel.
4 tn Grk “and we saw.”
5 tn Or “of the unique one.” 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 Clem. 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, 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).
6 tn Grk “an hour.”
7 tn “Here” is not in the Greek text but is supplied to conform to contemporary English idiom.
9 tn Or “as.” The object-complement construction implies either “as” or “to be.”
10 tn This is a double accusative construction of object and complement with τοιούτους (toioutous) as the object and the participle προσκυνοῦντας (proskunounta") as the complement.
sn The Father wants such people as his worshipers. Note how the woman has been concerned about where people ought to worship, while Jesus is concerned about who people ought to worship.
11 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
12 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
13 tn Grk “nothing from himself.”
14 tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
15 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.
16 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
17 tn Or “obeys.”
18 tn Or “word.”
19 tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”
20 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
21 tn Grk “an hour.”
22 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
23 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
24 tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”
25 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
26 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
27 sn Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood. These words are at the heart of the discourse on the Bread of Life, and have created great misunderstanding among interpreters. Anyone who is inclined toward a sacramental viewpoint will almost certainly want to take these words as a reference to the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, or the Eucharist, because of the reference to eating and drinking. But this does not automatically follow: By anyone’s definition there must be a symbolic element to the eating which Jesus speaks of in the discourse, and once this is admitted, it is better to understand it here, as in the previous references in the passage, to a personal receiving of (or appropriation of) Christ and his work.
28 tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).
29 tn Grk “they called.”
30 tn Grk “who was blind.”
31 tn Grk “Give glory to God” (an idiomatic formula used in placing someone under oath to tell the truth).
32 tn The phrase “this man” is a reference to Jesus.
33 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
34 sn There was more than one type of sheepfold in use in Palestine in Jesus’ day. The one here seems to be a courtyard in front of a house (the Greek word used for the sheepfold here, αὐλή [aulh] frequently refers to a courtyard), surrounded by a stone wall (often topped with briars for protection).
35 tn Or “entrance.”
36 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
37 tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”
38 tn Or “bears.”
39 tn Grk “much fruit.”
40 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
41 tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.
42 tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).
43 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
44 tn Or “will do.”
45 tn Grk “the works.”
46 tn Or “that I do.”
sn See the note on miraculous deeds in v. 11.
47 tn Or “will do.”
48 tn Grk “greater works.”
sn What are the greater deeds that Jesus speaks of, and how is this related to his going to the Father? It is clear from both John 7:39 and 16:7 that the Holy Spirit will not come until Jesus has departed. After Pentecost and the coming of the Spirit to indwell believers in a permanent relationship, believers would be empowered to perform even greater deeds than those Jesus did during his earthly ministry. When the early chapters of Acts are examined, it is clear that, from a numerical standpoint, the deeds of Peter and the other Apostles surpassed those of Jesus in a single day (the day of Pentecost). On that day more were added to the church than had become followers of Jesus during the entire three years of his earthly ministry. And the message went forth not just in Judea, Samaria, and Galilee, but to the farthest parts of the known world. This understanding of what Jesus meant by “greater deeds” is more probable than a reference to “more spectacular miracles.” Certainly miraculous deeds were performed by the apostles as recounted in Acts, but these do not appear to have surpassed the works of Jesus himself in either degree or number.
49 tn Or “cannot receive.”
50 tn Or “he remains.”
51 tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ἐστιν (estin, “he is”) instead of ἔσται (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì66c,75vid א A D1 L Θ Ψ Ë13 33vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ἐστιν is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì66 and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ἐστιν were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.
52 tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word παράκλητος (paraklhto"). See the note on the word “Advocate” in John 14:16 for a discussion of how this word is translated.
53 tn Grk “Pilate said.”
54 sn With his reply “What is truth?” Pilate dismissed the matter. It is not clear what Pilate’s attitude was at this point, as in 18:33. He may have been sarcastic, or perhaps somewhat reflective. The author has not given enough information in the narrative to be sure. Within the narrative, Pilate’s question serves to make the reader reflect on what truth is, and that answer (in the narrative) has already been given (14:6).
55 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, especially members of the Sanhedrin. See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12. The term also occurs in v. 31, where it is clear the Jewish leaders are in view, because they state that they cannot legally carry out an execution. Although it is likely (in view of the synoptic parallels) that the crowd here in 18:38 was made up not just of the Jewish leaders, but of ordinary residents of Jerusalem and pilgrims who were in Jerusalem for the Passover, nevertheless in John’s Gospel Pilate is primarily in dialogue with the leadership of the nation, who are expressly mentioned in 18:35 and 19:6.
56 tn Grk “said to them.”
57 tn Grk “find no cause.”
