Discovery BoxJohn 13:24-25 
Context13:24 So Simon Peter 1 gestured to this disciple 2 to ask Jesus 3 who it was he was referring to. 4 13:25 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved 5 leaned back against Jesus’ chest and asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
John 20:4
Context20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter 6 and reached the tomb first. 7
John 20:8
Context20:8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, came in, and he saw and believed. 8
1 sn It is not clear where Simon Peter was seated. If he were on Jesus’ other side, it is difficult to see why he would not have asked the question himself. It would also have been difficult to beckon to the beloved disciple, on Jesus’ right, from such a position. So apparently Peter was seated somewhere else. It is entirely possible that Judas was seated to Jesus’ left. Matt 26:25 seems to indicate that Jesus could speak to him without being overheard by the rest of the group. Judas is evidently in a position where Jesus can hand him the morsel of food (13:26).
2 tn Grk “to this one”; the referent (the beloved disciple) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Grk “him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 sn That is, who would betray him (v. 21).
5 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the disciple Jesus loved) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 sn The other disciple (the ‘beloved disciple’) ran on ahead more quickly than Peter, so he arrived at the tomb first. This verse has been a chief factor in depictions of John as a young man (especially combined with traditions that he wrote last of all the gospel authors and lived into the reign of Domitian). But the verse does not actually say anything about John’s age, nor is age always directly correlated with running speed.
7 tn Grk “and came first to the tomb.”
8 sn What was it that the beloved disciple believed (since v. 7 describes what he saw)? Sometimes it is suggested that what he believed was Mary Magdalene’s report that the body had been stolen. But this could hardly be the case; the way the entire scene is narrated such a trivial conclusion would amount to an anticlimax. It is true that the use of the plural “they” in the following verse applied to both Peter and the beloved disciple, and this appears to be a difficulty if one understands that the beloved disciple believed at this point in Jesus’ resurrection. But it is not an insuperable difficulty, since all it affirms is that at this time neither Peter nor the beloved disciple had understood the scripture concerning the resurrection. Thus it appears the author intends his reader to understand that when the beloved disciple entered the tomb after Peter and saw the state of the graveclothes, he believed in the resurrection, i.e., that Jesus had risen from the dead.
