Discovery BoxJohn 7:28 
Context7:28 Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, 1 cried out, 2 “You both know me and know where I come from! 3 And I have not come on my own initiative, 4 but the one who sent me 5 is true. You do not know him, 6
John 13:26
Context13:26 Jesus replied, 7 “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread 8 after I have dipped it in the dish.” 9 Then he dipped the piece of bread in the dish 10 and gave it to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son.
John 17:11
Context17:11 I 11 am no longer in the world, but 12 they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them safe 13 in your name 14 that you have given me, so that they may be one just as we are one. 15
John 19:31
Context19:31 Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath 16 (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), 17 the Jewish leaders 18 asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs 19 broken 20 and the bodies taken down. 21
John 20:25
Context20:25 The other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, 22 “Unless I see the wounds 23 from the nails in his hands, and put my finger into the wounds from the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it!” 24
1 tn Grk “the temple.”
2 tn Grk “Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying.”
3 sn You both know me and know where I come from! Jesus’ response while teaching in the temple is difficult – it appears to concede too much understanding to his opponents. It is best to take the words as irony: “So you know me and know where I am from, do you?” On the physical, literal level, they did know where he was from: Nazareth of Galilee (at least they thought they knew). But on another deeper (spiritual) level, they did not: He came from heaven, from the Father. Jesus insisted that he has not come on his own initiative (cf. 5:37), but at the bidding of the Father who sent him.
4 tn Grk “And I have not come from myself.”
5 tn The phrase “the one who sent me” refers to God.
6 tn Grk “the one who sent me is true, whom you do not know.”
7 tn Grk “Jesus answered.”
8 sn The piece of bread was a broken-off piece of bread (not merely a crumb).
9 tn Grk “after I have dipped it.” The words “in the dish” are not in the Greek text, but the presence of a bowl or dish is implied.
10 tn The words “in the dish” are not in the Greek text, but the presence of a bowl or dish is implied.
11 tn Grk And I.” The conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has not been translated here in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English style to use shorter sentences.
12 tn The context indicates that this should be translated as an adversative or contrastive conjunction.
13 tn Or “protect them”; Grk “keep them.”
14 tn Or “by your name.”
15 tn The second repetition of “one” is implied, and is supplied here for clarity.
16 sn The Jewish authorities, because this was the day of preparation for the Sabbath and the Passover (cf. 19:14), requested Pilate to order the legs of the three who had been crucified to be broken. This would hasten their deaths, so that the bodies could be removed before the beginning of the Sabbath at 6 p.m. This was based on the law of Deut 21:22-23 and Josh 8:29 that specified the bodies of executed criminals who had been hanged on a tree should not remain there overnight. According to Josephus this law was interpreted in the 1st century to cover the bodies of those who had been crucified (J. W. 4.5.2 [4.317]). Philo of Alexandria also mentions that on occasion, especially at festivals, the bodies were taken down and given to relatives to bury (Flaccus 10 [83]). The normal Roman practice would have been to leave the bodies on the crosses, to serve as a warning to other would-be offenders.
17 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
18 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” Here the phrase refers to the Jewish leaders. See also the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 7.
19 tn Grk “asked Pilate that the legs of them might be broken.” The referent of “them” (the three individuals who were crucified, collectively referred to as “the victims”) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
20 sn To have the legs…broken. Breaking the legs of a crucified person was a way of speeding up his death, since the victim could no longer use his legs to push upward in order to be able to draw a breath. This breaking of the legs was called in Latin crurifragium, and was done with a heavy mallet.
21 tn Grk “asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and they might be taken down.” Here because of the numerous ambiguous third person references it is necessary to clarify that it was the crucified men whose legs were to be broken and whose corpses were to be removed from the crosses.
22 tn Grk “but he said to them.”
23 tn Or “marks.”
24 tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context. The use of “it” here as direct object of the verb πιστεύσω (pisteusw) specifies exactly what Thomas was refusing to believe: that Jesus had risen from the dead, as reported by his fellow disciples. Otherwise the English reader may be left with the impression Thomas was refusing to “believe in” Jesus, or “believe Jesus to be the Christ.” The dramatic tension in this narrative is heightened when Thomas, on seeing for himself the risen Christ, believes more than just the resurrection (see John 20:28).
