Discovery BoxJohn 5:19 
Context5:19 So Jesus answered them, 1 “I tell you the solemn truth, 2 the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, 3 but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father 4 does, the Son does likewise. 5
John 5:24-25
Context5:24 “I tell you the solemn truth, 6 the one who hears 7 my message 8 and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, 9 but has crossed over from death to life. 5:25 I tell you the solemn truth, 10 a time 11 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, 12 “I tell you the solemn truth, 13 you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs, but because you ate all the loaves of bread you wanted. 14
John 6:32
Context6:32 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the solemn truth, 15 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, 16 unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, 17 you have no life 18 in yourselves.
John 10:1
Context10:1 “I tell you the solemn truth, 19 the one who does not enter the sheepfold 20 by the door, 21 but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.
John 12:24
Context12:24 I tell you the solemn truth, 22 unless a kernel of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself alone. 23 But if it dies, it produces 24 much grain. 25
John 13:16
Context13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, 26 the slave 27 is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger 28 greater than the one who sent him.
John 14:12
Context14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, 29 the person who believes in me will perform 30 the miraculous deeds 31 that I am doing, 32 and will perform 33 greater deeds 34 than these, because I am going to the Father.
1 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
2 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
3 tn Grk “nothing from himself.”
4 tn Grk “that one”; the referent (the Father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 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.
6 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
7 tn Or “obeys.”
8 tn Or “word.”
9 tn Grk “and does not come into judgment.”
10 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
11 tn Grk “an hour.”
12 tn Grk “answered and said to them.”
13 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
14 tn Grk “because you ate of the loaves of bread and were filled.”
15 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
16 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
17 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.
18 tn That is, “no eternal life” (as opposed to physical life).
19 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
20 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).
21 tn Or “entrance.”
22 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
23 tn Or “it remains only a single kernel.”
24 tn Or “bears.”
25 tn Grk “much fruit.”
26 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
27 tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.
28 tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).
29 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
30 tn Or “will do.”
31 tn Grk “the works.”
32 tn Or “that I do.”
sn See the note on miraculous deeds in v. 11.
33 tn Or “will do.”
34 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.
