Chapter 12 – One God Translation

John

   12 Six days before the Passover season[642] began, Jesus came to Bethany where Lazarus was, the one he had resurrected from death. 2 So they gave a dinner party for him there, and Martha was serving them. Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took a pound of costly perfumed oil and she anointed Jesus’ feet and wiped them with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. 4 Then one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot (who was about to betray Jesus) said, 5 “This fragrant oil should have been sold for 300 denarii and given to the poor.” 6 He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money bag and used to steal part of what was put in it. 7 Jesus answered, “Leave her alone. She has kept this for my burial day. 8 You will always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me with you.”
    9 Then a large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there. They came not only to see Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, the one he had resurrected from death. 10 Therefore the chief priests decided also to kill Lazarus, 11 because he was the main reason many of the Jews were deserting them in order to give their loyalty to Jesus.
    12 The next day a large crowd which had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, 13 and gathered some palm branches and went out to meet him. They kept shouting: “Hosanna![643] Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord God — the King of Israel.” 14 Jesus found a young donkey and mounted it, just as it is written, 15 “Do not be afraid any more, daughter Zion. Look, your King is coming mounted on the donkey’s colt.” 16 The disciples did not at first understand these things. However when Jesus was later glorified, then they remembered that these words had been written about him, and that they had done these things to him. 17 Meanwhile the crowd, who had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and resurrected him from death, continued to give their testimony. 18 This is also why the crowd came to meet him, because they had heard that he had performed this miraculous sign. 19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see? You have achieved nothing. The whole world is following him!”
    20 Now there were some Greeks among the people who went up to worship at the festival. 21 So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and they requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew. Then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus replied to them, “The time has come now for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you on the highest authority: Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies it produces a large crop. 25 The person who loves his own life will lose it, and the person who hates his life in this evil world-system will keep it for the Life of the Age to Come. 26 If anyone serves me he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
    27 “Now I am experiencing deep distress. What should I say: 28 Father, rescue me from this hour of crisis? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name.”[644] Then a voice was heard from heaven: “I have glorified it and I am going to glorify it again!” 29 The crowd standing there heard the voice and said it sounded like thunder. Others said, “An angel must have spoken to him.” 30 Jesus replied, “This voice did not come for my benefit but for you. Now the judgment of this evil world-system has come. 31 Now the ruler of this world-system is going to be thrown out. 32 As for me, when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people[645] to myself.” 33 He said this in order to signify what kind of death he was about to die. 34 So then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the Law that the Messiah is going to remain forever. So what do you mean when you say, ‘The Son of Man has to be lifted up’? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 Jesus replied, “The Light will be with you only a little longer. Walk while you still have the Light, so that darkness does not overcome you. The person who walks in darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you still have the Light, believe in the Light so that you may become children of light.”[646] When he had said this, Jesus went away and hid himself from them.
    37 Even though Jesus had performed so many symbolic miracles in their presence, they still refused to believe in him. 38 And this was a fulfillment of the word of Isaiah the prophet who said: “Lord, who has believed our Gospel message? And who has the arm of the Lord been revealed to?” [647] 39 And this is why they were unable to believe, because Isaiah also said, 40 “God has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they would not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts, and be converted, and I would heal them.” [648] 41 Isaiah said these things because he saw Messiah’s glory[649] and spoke about him. 42 Nevertheless many of them did believe in him even among the rulers in the Sanhedrin, but because of the Pharisees they were afraid to confess him openly, so that they would not be banned from the synagogue. 43 They loved praise from people more than praise from God.
    44 Then Jesus called out,[650] “The person who believes in me does not believe in me,[651] but in the One who commissioned me. 45 And the one who sees and understands me sees and understands Him who commissioned me. 46 I was born into the world[652] as a light, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness. 47 If someone hears my words and does not obey[653] them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. [654] 48 The person who rejects me and refuses to accept my teachings has this as his judge: the Gospel-word[655] I have spoken will judge him on the last day of this age. [656] 49 For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who commissioned me has given me a command as to what I should say and what I should speak. 50 And I know that His command means Life in the Coming Age.[657] So the things I speak I speak just as the Father instructed me.”

John

[642]

When John says “Passover” he refers to the entire festival lasting a week.

[643]

“Save us, now!”

[644]

Your whole plan and agenda, the great salvation drama worked out through Jesus.

[645]

This would imply those myriads of human beings who had never heard of him. He died for the whole world and this implies a wider hope for some in the second resurrection (Rev. 20:5: Rom 2:14- 16). Zech. 7:12 gives us the same truth. David is the model of good spirituality (2 Sam. 23:1-2).

[646]

That is, enlightened people, people whose minds grasp truth.

[647]

The sense of this fascinating text from Isa. 6:9-10 (cp. Isa. 53:1) is quoted 5 times in the NT and is a standing protest against the way human beings set their hearts “like flint” against believing the words of Scripture.

[648]

This in no way diminishes human responsibility for failure to believe and obey. Isaiah said, “They have closed their eyes” (Isa. 6:10, LXX; Mt. 13:15; Acts 28:27). If we refuse truth we are liable to a greater judgment, that of becoming more and more blinded and hardened (2 Thess. 2:10ff).

[649]

The vision of the glory of his Kingdom which Isaiah spoke of often, especially in Isa. 4:5; 24:16, 23; 40:5; 44:23; 62:2; 66:18-19. This is not a reference to Isaiah seeing the Lord God (Adonai) in ch. 6. Jesus is never called the Lord of Hosts. This is a title used only of the Father, the one God. John cites two references to Isaiah. Jesus nowhere claimed to be the Lord God and is never called “the Lord God,” nor the Almighty. Rev. 1:8 is no exception (though some red-letter Bibles wrongly lead readers to think that Jesus is called the Almighty there), since the Almighty is the Father there as distinct from the Messiah.

[650]

Jesus raised his voice for special emphasis. It is of the highest significance that he repeats the basis of the Christian faith as obedience to his words/Gospel/teaching. Cp. Luke 8:8 where again he raises his voice to impress on the audience the supreme importance of his words. Immortality was at stake, success or failure in the Christian endeavor.

[651]

That is, “does not believe ultimately in me, but in the Father who commissioned me as the final word to the world” (Heb. 1:1-2).

[652]

“I have come as a light into the world.” “To come into the world” is to be born. Nicodemus knew that Jesus was a man come from God (3:2), i.e. born to be God’s servant and messenger.

[653]

The phrase “obedience of faith” beautifully combines belief and obedience. Paul uses this phrase to frame his whole treatise in Romans (1:5; 16:26). Salvation is “given to those who obey Jesus” (Heb. 5:9). Failure to believe and obey the words of Jesus is the fatal trap to be avoided at all costs (2 John 7-9; 1 Tim. 6:3). Jesus expressed the concept of obedience and faith beautifully and succinctly in John 3:36. Refusal to obey is unbelief.

[654]

This does not exclude the fact that in the future Jesus has been appointed judge of all men (Acts 17:30-31). Obedience to Jesus and his Gospel teaching, all his words, is the basis of salvation.

[655]

The basis of Christianity as Jesus defined it in Mark 1:14-15, making intelligent belief in the Kingdom of God the basis of true faith. In Luke 4:43 Jesus defined his whole mission as the preaching of the Gospel about the Kingdom (cp. Acts 1:3, 6; 8:12; 19:8; 20:24-25; 28:23, 30, 31). The Gospel of the Kingdom is the scaffolding upon which the whole NT is built. It is strikingly absent from contemporary presentations of what is popularly but misleadingly called “the gospel.” Tracts offering salvation invariably do not mention the Kingdom of God at all. Jesus made belief in God as “the one who alone is true God” (Jn. 17:3) the standard for a successful entrance into salvation and immortality: “This is the Life of the Age come: that they believe in You, Father, the only one who is true God, andin Jesus Messiah whom you commissioned.”

[656]

Acts 17:30-31 is a definitive statement about God’s appointment of the man Messiah as judge of the whole of humanity. The resurrection of Jesus is the guarantee that this is going to happen.

[657]

“Life in the Coming Age” is synonymous with the Kingdom of God. John’s account of Jesus is not less emphatic about the Kingdom of God than Matthew, Mark and Luke. He uses different vocabulary to express the same truth about the Gospel. Jesus’ statement that God’s commandment is the Life of the Age to Come is parallel in its supreme significance to his statement that “This is the Life of the Age to Come: to come to know that the Father is the only one who is true God [unitary monotheism], and Jesus Christ whom [God] sent” (Jn. 17:3; cp. Mk. 12:29).