Discovery BoxJohn 1:30 
Context1:30 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 1:51
Context1:51 He continued, 2 “I tell all of you the solemn truth 3 – you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” 4
John 4:18
Context4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with 5 now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”
John 4:29
Context4:29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Surely he can’t be the Messiah, 6 can he?” 7
John 4:50
Context4:50 Jesus told him, “Go home; 8 your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and set off for home. 9
John 5:10
Context5:10 So the Jewish leaders 10 said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.” 11
John 5:13
Context5:13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped out, since there was a crowd in that place.
John 6:52
Context6:52 Then the Jews who were hostile to Jesus 12 began to argue with one another, 13 “How can this man 14 give us his flesh to eat?”
John 7:12
Context7:12 There was 15 a lot of grumbling 16 about him among the crowds. 17 Some were saying, “He is a good man,” but others, “He deceives the common people.” 18
John 7:15
Context7:15 Then the Jewish leaders 19 were astonished 20 and said, “How does this man know so much when he has never had formal instruction?” 21
John 7:25-26
Context7:25 Then some of the residents of Jerusalem 22 began to say, “Isn’t this the man 23 they are trying 24 to kill? 7:26 Yet here he is, speaking publicly, 25 and they are saying nothing to him. 26 Do the rulers really know that this man 27 is the Christ? 28
John 7:31
Context7:31 Yet many of the crowd 29 believed in him and said, “Whenever the Christ 30 comes, he won’t perform more miraculous signs than this man did, will he?” 31
John 7:51
Context7:51 “Our law doesn’t condemn 32 a man unless it first hears from him and learns 33 what he is doing, does it?” 34
John 8:40
Context8:40 But now you are trying 35 to kill me, a man who has told you 36 the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! 37
John 9:2-3
Context9:2 His disciples asked him, 38 “Rabbi, who committed the sin that caused him to be born blind, this man 39 or his parents?” 40 9:3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man 41 nor his parents sinned, but he was born blind so that 42 the acts 43 of God may be revealed 44 through what happens to him. 45
John 9:6-8
Context9:6 Having said this, 46 he spat on the ground and made some mud 47 with the saliva. He 48 smeared the mud on the blind man’s 49 eyes 9:7 and said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” 50 (which is translated “sent”). 51 So the blind man 52 went away and washed, and came back seeing.
9:8 Then the neighbors and the people who had seen him previously 53 as a beggar began saying, 54 “Is this not the man 55 who used to sit and beg?”
John 9:30
Context9:30 The man replied, 56 “This is a remarkable thing, 57 that you don’t know where he comes from, and yet he caused me to see! 58
John 10:33
Context10:33 The Jewish leaders 59 replied, 60 “We are not going to stone you for a good deed 61 but for blasphemy, 62 because 63 you, a man, are claiming to be God.” 64
John 10:41
Context10:41 Many 65 came to him and began to say, “John 66 performed 67 no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man 68 was true!”
John 11:1
Context11:1 Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village where Mary and her sister Martha lived. 69
John 11:47
Context11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees 70 called the council 71 together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs.
John 11:50
Context11:50 You do not realize 72 that it is more to your advantage to have one man 73 die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” 74
John 18:14
Context18:14 (Now it was Caiaphas who had advised 75 the Jewish leaders 76 that it was to their advantage that one man die for the people.) 77
John 18:17
Context18:17 The girl 78 who was the doorkeeper said to Peter, “You’re not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” 79 He replied, 80 “I am not.”
John 19:5
Context19:5 So Jesus came outside, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. 81 Pilate 82 said to them, “Look, here is the man!” 83
John 19:39
Context19:39 Nicodemus, the man who had previously come to Jesus 84 at night, 85 accompanied Joseph, 86 carrying a mixture of myrrh and aloes 87 weighing about seventy-five pounds. 88
1 tn Or “has a higher rank than I.”
2 tn Grk “and he said to him.”
3 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
4 sn The title Son of Man appears 13 times in John’s Gospel. It is associated especially with the themes of crucifixion (3:14; 8:28), revelation (6:27; 6:53), and eschatological authority (5:27; 9:35). The title as used in John’s Gospel has for its background the son of man figure who appears in Dan 7:13-14 and is granted universal regal authority. Thus for the author, the emphasis in this title is not on Jesus’ humanity, but on his heavenly origin and divine authority.
5 tn Grk “the one you have.”
6 tn Grk “the Christ” (both Greek “Christ” and Hebrew and Aramaic “Messiah” mean “one who has been anointed”). Although the Greek text reads χριστός (cristos) here, it is more consistent based on 4:25 (where Μεσσίας [Messias] is the lead term and is qualified by χριστός) to translate χριστός as “Messiah” here.
7 tn The use of μήτι (mhti) normally presupposes a negative answer. This should not be taken as an indication that the woman did not believe, however. It may well be an example of “reverse psychology,” designed to gain a hearing for her testimony among those whose doubts about her background would obviate her claims.
8 tn Grk “Go”; the word “home” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.
9 tn Grk “and left.” The words “for home” are implied by the following verse.
10 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. Here the author refers to the Jewish authorities or leaders in Jerusalem. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9).
11 tn Or “pallet,” “mattress,” “cot,” or “stretcher.” See the note on “mat” in v. 8.
12 tn Grk “Then the Jews began to argue.” Here the translation restricts the phrase to those Jews who were hostile to Jesus (cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.β), since the “crowd” mentioned in 6:22-24 was almost all Jewish (as suggested by their addressing Jesus as “Rabbi” (6:25). See also the note on the phrase “the Jews who were hostile to Jesus” in v. 41.
13 tn Grk “with one another, saying.”
14 tn Grk “this one,” “this person.”
15 tn Grk “And there was.”
16 tn Or “complaining.”
17 tn Or “among the common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities mentioned in the previous verse).
18 tn Or “the crowd.”
19 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.
20 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.
21 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.
22 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
23 tn Grk “Is it not this one.”
24 tn Grk “seeking.”
25 tn Or “speaking openly.”
26 sn They are saying nothing to him. Some people who had heard Jesus were so impressed with his teaching that they began to infer from the inactivity of the opposing Jewish leaders a tacit acknowledgment of Jesus’ claims.
27 tn Grk “this one.”
28 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.
29 tn Or “The common people” (as opposed to the religious authorities).
30 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.
31 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?”).
32 tn Grk “judge.”
33 tn Grk “knows.”
34 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 “does it?”).
35 tn Grk “seeking.”
36 tn Grk “has spoken to you.”
37 tn The Greek word order is emphatic: “This Abraham did not do.” The emphasis is indicated in the translation by an exclamation point.
38 tn Grk “asked him, saying.”
39 tn Grk “this one.”
40 tn Grk “in order that he should be born blind.”
sn The disciples assumed that sin (regardless of who committed it) was the cause of the man’s blindness. This was a common belief in Judaism; the rabbis used Ezek 18:20 to prove there was no death without sin, and Ps 89:33 to prove there was no punishment without guilt (the Babylonian Talmud, b. Shabbat 55a, although later than the NT, illustrates this). Thus in this case the sin must have been on the part of the man’s parents, or during his own prenatal existence. Song Rabbah 1:41 (another later rabbinic work) stated that when a pregnant woman worshiped in a heathen temple the unborn child also committed idolatry. This is only one example of how, in rabbinic Jewish thought, an unborn child was capable of sinning.
41 tn Grk “this one.”
42 tn Grk “but so that.” There is an ellipsis that must be supplied: “but [he was born blind] so that” or “but [it happened to him] so that.”
43 tn Or “deeds”; Grk “works.”
44 tn Or “manifested,” “brought to light.”
45 tn Grk “in him.”
46 tn Grk “said these things.”
47 tn Or “clay” (moistened earth of a clay-like consistency). The textual variant preserved in the Syriac text of Ephraem’s commentary on the Diatessaron (“he made eyes from his clay”) probably arose from the interpretation given by Irenaeus in Against Heresies: “that which the Artificer, the Word, had omitted to form in the womb, he then supplied in public.” This involves taking the clay as an allusion to Gen 2:7, which is very unlikely.
48 tn Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) was replaced by a third person pronoun and a new sentence started here in the translation.
49 tn Grk “on his.”
50 tn The pool’s name in Hebrew is shiloah from the Hebrew verb “to send.” In Gen 49:10 the somewhat obscure shiloh was interpreted messianically by later Jewish tradition, and some have seen a lexical connection between the two names (although this is somewhat dubious). It is known, however, that it was from the pool of Siloam that the water which was poured out at the altar during the feast of Tabernacles was drawn.
51 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author. Why does he comment on the meaning of the name of the pool? Here, the significance is that the Father sent the Son, and the Son sent the man born blind. The name of the pool is applicable to the man, but also to Jesus himself, who was sent from heaven.
52 tn Grk “So he”; the referent (the blind man) is specified in the translation for clarity.
53 tn Or “formerly.”
54 tn An ingressive force (“began saying”) is present here because the change in status of the blind person provokes this new response from those who knew him.
55 tn Grk “the one.”
56 tn Grk “The man answered and said to them.” This has been simplified in the translation to “The man replied.”
57 tn Grk “For in this is a remarkable thing.”
58 tn Grk “and he opened my eyes” (an idiom referring to restoration of sight).
59 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here again the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See the notes on the phrase “Jewish people” in v. 19 and “Jewish leaders” in vv. 24, 31.
60 tn Grk “answered him.”
61 tn Or “good work.”
62 sn This is the first time the official charge of blasphemy is voiced openly in the Fourth Gospel (although it was implicit in John 8:59).
63 tn Grk “and because.”
64 tn Grk “you, a man, make yourself to be God.”
65 tn Grk “And many.” Because of the difference between Greek style, which often begins sentences or clauses with “and,” and English style, which generally does not, καί (kai) has not been translated here.
66 sn John refers to John the Baptist.
67 tn Grk “did.”
68 tn Grk “this one.”
69 tn Grk “from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.”
70 tn The phrase “chief priests and Pharisees” is a comprehensive name for the groups represented in the ruling council (the Sanhedrin) as in John 7:45; 18:3; Acts 5:22, 26.
71 tn Or “Sanhedrin” (the Sanhedrin was the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews). The συνέδριον (sunedrion) which they gathered was probably an informal meeting rather than the official Sanhedrin. This is the only occurrence of the word συνέδριον in the Gospel of John, and the only anarthrous singular use in the NT. There are other plural anarthrous uses which have the general meaning “councils.” The fact that Caiaphas in 11:49 is referred to as “one of them” supports the unofficial nature of the meeting; in the official Sanhedrin he, being high priest that year, would have presided over the assembly. Thus it appears that an informal council was called to discuss what to do about Jesus and his activities.
72 tn Or “you are not considering.”
73 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.
74 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.
75 tn Or “counseled.”
76 tn Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders, specifically members of the Sanhedrin (see John 11:49-50). See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 12.
77 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
78 tn Grk “slave girl.” Since the descriptive term “slave girl” was introduced in the translation in the previous verse, it would be redundant to repeat the full expression here.
79 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?”).
80 tn Grk “He said.”
81 sn See the note on the purple robe in 19:2.
82 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Pilate) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
83 sn Look, here is the man! Pilate may have meant no more than something like “Here is the accused!” or in a contemptuous way, “Here is your king!” Others have taken Pilate’s statement as intended to evoke pity from Jesus’ accusers: “Look at this poor fellow!” (Jesus would certainly not have looked very impressive after the scourging). For the author, however, Pilate’s words constituted an unconscious allusion to Zech 6:12, “Look, here is the man whose name is the Branch.” In this case Pilate (unknowingly and ironically) presented Jesus to the nation under a messianic title.
84 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
85 sn See John 3:1-21.
86 tn Grk “came”; the words “accompanied Joseph” are not in the Greek text but are supplied for clarity.
87 sn Aloes refers to an aromatic resin from a plant similar to a lily, used for embalming a corpse.
88 sn The Roman pound (λίτρα, litra) weighed twelve ounces or 325 grams. Thus 100 Roman pounds would be about 32.5 kilograms or 75 pounds.
