Our understanding of the Greek New Testament is based almost entirely on English translations, but how would our understanding of the Greek text change if we read it for what it is: as Greek? With The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament, we can now get behind the words of the New Testament writers and discover the particular linguistic tasks that inform translation and interpretation.
| 31 |
| Today | John 10:31–35 |
| Ἐβάστασαν | πάλιν | λίθους | Whom or What | Spoken or Written About | οἱ | Ἰουδαῖοι | ||||||||||
| picked up | again | stones | the | Jews |
| ἵνα | λιθάσωσιν | Whom or What Spoken | or Written About | αὐτόν | ||||||
| so that | they could stone | him |
| 32 | ἀπεκρίθη | Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | αὐτοῖς | ||||||||
| answered | them |
| Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | ὁ | Ἰησοῦς | |||
| [-] | Jesus |
| Πολλὰ | ἔργα | καλὰ | ἔδειξα | Receptor, | Receptors | ὑμῖν | ἐκ | ||||||||||||
| many | deeds | good | I have shown | you | from |
| Whom or What Spoken or | Written About | τοῦ | πατρός | |||
| the | Father |
| διὰ | Demonstrative or Deictic Reference | ποῖον | Whom or What Spoken or | Written About | ||||
| for | which |
| αὐτῶν | ἔργον | Speaker | ἐμὲ | λιθάζετε | |||||||
| of them | one | me | are you going to stone |
| 33 | ἀπεκρίθησαν | Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | αὐτῷ | ||||||||
| answered | him |
| Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | οἱ | Ἰουδαῖοι | |||
| the | Jews |
| Περὶ | καλοῦ | ἔργου | οὐ | λιθάζομέν | Receptor, | Receptors | σε | |||||||||||||||||
| concerning | a good | deed | [we are] not | going to stone | you |
| ἀλλὰ | περὶ | βλασφημίας | ||||||||||
| but | concerning | blasphemy |
| καὶ | ὅτι | Receptor, | Receptors | σὺ | ἄνθρωπος | ὢν | ποιεῖς | ||||||||||||||
| and | because | you | a man | [although you] are | make |
| Receptor, | Receptors | σεαυτὸν | θεόν | |||||||
| yourself [to be] | God |
| 34 | ἀπεκρίθη | Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | αὐτοῖς | ||||||||
| answered | them |
| Whom or What Spoken or Written | About | ὁ | Ἰησοῦς | |||
| [-] | Jesus |
| Οὐκ | ἔστιν | γεγραμμένον | ἐν | Whom or What | Spoken or Written About | τῷ | νόμῳ | ||||||||||||
| not | is it | written | in | [-] | law |
| Receptor, | Receptors | ὑμῶν | ||
| your |
| ὅτι | Speaker | Ἐγὼ | εἶπα | ||||||||||||
| [-] | I | said |
| Θεοί | ἐστε | |||||||
| gods | you are |
| 35 | εἰ | Demonstrative or Deictic | Reference | ἐκείνους | εἶπεν | θεοὺς | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| if | them | he called | gods |
| πρὸς | Relative Reference | οὓς | Whom | or What Spoken or | Written About | ὁ | λόγος | ||||||
| to | whom | the | word |
| Whom or | What Spoken or | Written About | τοῦ | θεοῦ | ἐγένετο | ||||||
| of | God | came |
| καὶ | οὐ | δύναται | λυθῆναι | Whom or | What Spoken or | Written About | ἡ | γραφή | ||||||||
| and | [-] | cannot | be broken | the | scripture |
Runge, S. E. (2008–2014). The Lexham Discourse Greek New Testament (Jn 10:31–35). Lexham Press.
Commentary
This set of detailed commentaries provides valuable exegetical, historical, cultural, and linguistic information on the original text. Over the years this series has been instrumental in shedding light on the Scriptures so that translators all over the world could complete the important task of putting God’s Word into the many languages spoken in the world today.
John 10:31 This verse may be understood either as the conclusion of the preceding section or as an introduction to the following section. It is really both, serving a transitional role. The claim that Jesus and the Father are one led the Jews to pick up stones to throw at him, and that in turn led Jesus into a new dialogue with them. The people translates “the Jews.” see Appendix I.
John 10:32 I have done … in your presence is literally “I have shown you” (RSV). NEB translates “I have set before you”; and JB “I have done … for you to see.” Certain problems may be involved in a more or less literal translation of I have done … in your presence. The rendering of JB “I have done … for you to see” might suggest that Jesus had performed miracles only in order to show off his power. This was evidently not Jesus’ intent, for he was not concerned with performing spectacles. It is possible to translate “I have done many good works which you have seen” or “you have seen many good works which I have done.”
Which the Father gave me to do is literally “from the Father” (RSV, NAB, “from my Father” JB). Most translations render this clause literally, though NEB has “done by my Father’s power” and GeCL “at the command of my Father.”
The clause is meant to emphasize that what Jesus has done he has done either at the Father’s command or through the Father’s power. This clause may be rendered “which my Father told me to perform.” Depending, however, upon the construction of the first part of this verse, one may employ a complete sentence, for example, “my Father told me to do these works” or “it was my Father’s power which made me able to do these works.”
Do you want to stone me? is literally “do you stone me?” (RSV). In the present context the verb “to stone” denotes intention, and so NEB translates “for which of these would you stone me?” The RSV rendering (so also JB “for which of these are you stoning me?”) could imply that the persons are actually in the process of stoning Jesus while he is speaking to them. The causal relation between the good works and the stoning may be expressed in some languages as “because of which of these works do you want to stone me to death?” or “which one of these good works has caused you to want to stone me to death?”
John 10:33 They answered is literally “the Jews answered him.” In Greek the first part of the Jews’ answer to Jesus is literally “concerning a good work we are not stoning you but concerning blasphemy.” TEV takes the verb “we are … stoning” to mean we … want to stone, and places it at the beginning of the sentence. “Good work” of the Greek text is rendered in the plural by TEV good deeds, making the phrase more generic. In most languages there is no technical term for blasphemy in the sense of a person insulting God by means of preempting some of the qualities or attributes of God. However, blasphemy may be rendered in some languages “the way in which one insults God.” Accordingly, one may translate the statement of the Jews “We do not want to stone you because of any of the good works which you have done, but because of the way in which you insult God.”
In Jewish thought blasphemy consisted primarily of speaking evil against God, though the word could also be used of abusive speech against people or sacred objects. In the present context Jesus is accused of insulting God because, although merely a man, he is trying to make himself God. In Greek the pronoun you in the statement you are only a man is emphatic. Are only a man is literally “being a man” (RSV), but the adverb only brings out the impact of the Greek. NEB translates “You, a mere man.…” JB and GeCL translate exactly as TEV does. You are trying to make expresses accurately the force of the Greek, literally “you are making.” JB and NEB translate “you claim to be.”
It is important to avoid a translation of you are trying to make yourself God which would suggest that Jesus was “making himself into God,” that is, “changing himself into God.” In most instances it seems better to translate “because you claim to be God” or “because you say that you are God.” In the clause but you are trying to make yourself God the Greek does not have the definite article “the” before the noun God. Normally in the New Testament when God the Father is referred to, the definite article “the” is used before the noun God.
Purely on the basis of the Greek text, therefore, it is possible to translate “a god,” as NEB does, rather than to translate God, as TEV and several other translations do. One might argue, on the basis of both the Greek and the context, that the Jews were accusing Jesus of claiming to be “a god” rather than “God.”
But to do so is certainly not in keeping with the theology of John’s Gospel, nor with the accusation of blasphemy brought against Jesus. Jesus does quote from Psalm 82:6, which says “you are gods,” (see verse 34) but to assume that Jesus is doing no more than claiming an equal status with the people addressed in that Psalm is to miss the entire point of the passage. Jesus’ argument is, in fact, a typically rabbinical one by which the speaker argues from the lesser to the greater.
According to the rabbis, Psalm 82 was addressed to Israel when they received the Law at Mount Sinai. Jesus’ argument proceeds in this way. If those persons who received God’s Law on Mount Sinai could be spoken of as “gods,” how much more can the one whom the Father has chosen and sent into the world claim to be “the Son of God.”
In verse 36 the Greek does not have the article “the” before “Son,” and so it is possible to translate as NEB does “I am God’s son” (“son” with lower case “s”). However, once again this interpretation is not in keeping with the theology of the Gospel of John. Moreover, it does not fit well with the context. Jesus is not claiming to be a divine being among many others; he is claiming a unique prerogative, and the Jews recognize this. Accordingly, it is best to follow TEV and most other translations.
John 10:34 Jesus answered is literally “Jesus answered them.” In Greek this verse is in the form of a rhetorical question which expects the answer “yes” (RSV “Is it not written in your law …?”). A capital “L” is used by TEV in its spelling of the word Law, for the reference is to the Jewish Scriptures. As mentioned in the preceding verse, the quotation is from Psalm 82:6, and John follows the Septuagint exactly (literally “I said, “You are gods” “). TEV makes the pronoun “I” explicit as a reference to God (God said), since in the Psalm it is God who is speaking.
This enables the person who reads this passage to himself, or who hears the passage read aloud, to know immediately that God is the one who said this in the Scripture. That is, since in this context Jesus is the one speaking, it may sound as if Jesus himself said this in their Law unless one introduces God in place of the pronoun “I” in the statement “I said.” As noted elsewhere, the expression It is written in your own Law may be difficult to express in some languages. One may sometimes say “The following words are in your laws” or “These are the words written in your Law.”
You are gods: see comments at verse 33.
John 10:35 This verse has undergone a good deal of restructuring in TEV. The form is, in fact, very much different from that of the Greek, which reads: “If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken.” The order of the two major clauses in Greek (“if he called them gods” and “the scripture cannot be broken”) has been reversed, and the initial clause of TEV introduced with the words we know that, since the clause represents a well attested Jewish conviction. In this same first clause of TEV the Greek negative expression “cannot be broken” is stated positively: is true forever (GeCL “remains valid”).
In the Jewish setting the verb “to be broken,” when applied to Scripture, would indicate that the meaning could not be changed, nor could the words be declared invalid. In Greek the “if” clause actually introduces a statement of fact, not of doubt, as would normally be implied by a literal rendering into English; this is why TEV transforms “if” into “and” at the beginning of the clause. Within this same clause TEV makes explicit the meaning of the pronouns “he” (= God) and “them” (= those people), and at the same time introduces the people in a position after those people and before to whom in order to make immediately evident the connection between people and whom.
Behind the structure “to whom the word of God came” lies the meaning “to whom God gave his word,” which TEV has transformed into a passive structure: to whom his message was given. Him represents “of God,” and has been chosen by TEV for stylistic reasons. “Word” carries a broader meaning in the context of Scripture than the English equivalent, and so TEV uses message, which also has the extra advantage of avoiding the construction “his word was given,” in which “word” would suggest the meaning of “promise.”
It may not be sufficient to translate the scripture merely as “the writings.” In some languages it is essential to translate “the holy writings” or “the writings relating to God.” An expression which would mean “God’s writings,” in the sense that God himself did the writing, should be avoided.
God called those people gods may be rendered “God applied the name of gods to those people” or “God spoke of those people as gods.”
To whom his message was given is literally “to whom the word of God came.” JB translated “to whom the word of God was addressed,” while NEB has “to whom the word of God was delivered.” In the Old Testament the expression “the word of God came to …,” used by some of the prophetic books (note Jer 1:2 and Hos 1:1), was simply a Jewish way of saying “God spoke his message to.…”
The people to whom his message was given may be treated as a completely separate sentence, for example, “These are the people to whom his message was given” or “… to whom God spoke his message.”
Newman, B. M., & Nida, E. A. (1993). A handbook on the Gospel of John (pp. 342–346). United Bible Societies.
Faithlife Study Bible (FSB) is your guide to the ancient world of the Old and New Testaments, with study notes and articles that draw from a wide range of academic research. FSB helps you learn how to think about interpretation methods and issues so that you can gain a deeper understanding of the text.
A quotation of Psa 82:6, which refers either to the divine council or to human judges as God’s representatives administering justice on earth.
Divine Council
An assembly of gods or heavenly beings. In ancient Near Eastern mythology, the divine council met to determine the fate of the universe. In the ot, a similar concept is used to describe Yahweh’s sovereignty, depicting Him as a ruler surrounded by His heavenly court of supernatural beings, who carried out His decrees.
Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., Whitehead, M. M., Grigoni, M. R., & Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Jn 10:34). Lexham Press.
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