Discovery BoxJohn 7:17 
Context7:17 If anyone wants to do God’s will, 1 he will know about my teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak from my own authority. 2
John 8:20
Context8:20 (Jesus 3 spoke these words near the offering box 4 while he was teaching in the temple courts. 5 No one seized him because his time 6 had not yet come.) 7
John 8:31
Context8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans 8 who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, 9 you are really 10 my disciples
John 8:37
Context8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. 11 But you want 12 to kill me, because my teaching 13 makes no progress among you. 14
1 tn Grk “his will.”
2 tn Grk “or whether I speak from myself.”
3 tn Grk “He”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn The term γαζοφυλάκιον (gazofulakion) can be translated “treasury” or “treasure room” in this context. BDAG 186 s.v. 1 notes, “It can be taken in this sense J 8:20 (sing.) in (or at) the treasury.” BDAG 186 s.v. 2 argues that the occurrences of this word in the synoptic gospels also refer to the treasury: “For Mk 12:41, 43; Lk 21:1 the mng. contribution box or receptacle is attractive. Acc. to Mishnah, Shekalim 6, 5 there were in the temple 13 such receptacles in the form of trumpets. But even in these passages the general sense of ‘treasury’ is prob., for the contributions would go [into] the treasury via the receptacles.” Based upon the extra-biblical evidence (see sn following), however, the translation opts to refer to the actual receptacles and not the treasury itself.
sn The offering box probably refers to the receptacles in the temple forecourt by the Court of Women used to collect freewill offerings. These are mentioned by Josephus, J. W. 5.5.2 (5.200), 6.5.2 (6.282); Ant. 19.6.1 (19.294); and in 1 Macc 14:49 and 2 Macc 3:6, 24, 28, 40 (see also Mark 12:41; Luke 21:1).
5 tn Grk “the temple.”
6 tn Grk “his hour.”
7 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
8 tn Grk “to the Jews.” In NT usage the term ᾿Ιουδαῖοι (Ioudaioi) may refer to the entire Jewish people, the residents of Jerusalem and surrounding territory (i.e., “Judeans”), the authorities in Jerusalem, or merely those who were hostile to Jesus. (For further information see R. G. Bratcher, “‘The Jews’ in the Gospel of John,” BT 26 [1975]: 401-9; also BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e.) Here the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple and had believed his claim to be the Messiah, hence, “those Judeans who had believed him.” The term “Judeans” is preferred here to the more general “people” because the debate concerns descent from Abraham (v. 33).
9 tn Grk “If you continue in my word.”
10 tn Or “truly.”
11 tn Grk “seed” (an idiom).
12 tn Grk “you are seeking.”
13 tn Grk “my word.”
14 tn Or “finds no place in you.” The basic idea seems to be something (in this case Jesus’ teaching) making headway or progress where resistance is involved. See BDAG 1094 s.v. χωρέω 2.
