Discovery BoxJohn 5:36 
Context5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds 1 that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds 2 I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me.
John 14:12
Context14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, 3 the person who believes in me will perform 4 the miraculous deeds 5 that I am doing, 6 and will perform 7 greater deeds 8 than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 15:24
Context15:24 If I had not performed 9 among them the miraculous deeds 10 that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. 11 But now they have seen the deeds 12 and have hated both me and my Father. 13
1 tn Or “works.”
2 tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.
3 tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”
4 tn Or “will do.”
5 tn Grk “the works.”
6 tn Or “that I do.”
sn See the note on miraculous deeds in v. 11.
7 tn Or “will do.”
8 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.
9 tn Or “If I had not done.”
10 tn Grk “the works.”
11 tn Grk “they would not have sin” (an idiom).
12 tn The words “the deeds” are supplied to clarify from context what was seen. Direct objects in Greek were often omitted when clear from the context.
13 tn Or “But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.” It is possible to understand both the “seeing” and the “hating” to refer to both Jesus and the Father, but this has the world “seeing” the Father, which seems alien to the Johannine Jesus. (Some point out John 14:9 as an example, but this is addressed to the disciples, not to the world.) It is more likely that the “seeing” refers to the miraculous deeds mentioned in the first half of the verse. Such an understanding of the first “both – and” construction is apparently supported by BDF §444.3.
