The Jewish Annotated New Testament (228 page)

25
:
Needed no one to testify
, forensic (courtroom) language evokes the theme of God as judge.
He himself knew
, Jesus’ foreknowledge appears first with Nathanael (1.48; cf. 4.17–18; 6.70).

3.1
–21: Nicodemus.

1
:
Nicodemus’s
leadership role is not specified. The Pharisees are normally counted among Jesus’ opponents (but see also 12.42). “Nicodemus” is a Greek name that was apparently used among Jews as “Naqdimon” (
b. Ta’an
. 20a). The Sanhedrin, the governing body, was responsible primarily for the internal and autonomous affairs of the Jewish people. Membership included Sadducees and Pharisees.

2
:
By night
, secretly. Night and darkness are associated with those—such as the Jewish authorities—who are spiritually blind (cf. 9.39–41).

3
:
Very truly
, see 1.51n.
Kingdom of God
, used by John only in 3.3,5, but prominent in the other Gospels, referring to the divine domain that will arise at some future point in this world (Mk 9.1) or in some other place in which the righteous will dwell (Lk 13.29), or an altered state of existence in the here and now (Lk 17.21). The Hebrew term, “malkut shamayim” (Dan 4.3; 1 Chr 29.10–12) implies the divine reign in this world.
Born from above
, “born anew”; the origin of the term “born-again Christian.”

4
: Puns and double entendres are a frequent literary device in John, as they are also in the Hebrew Bible (e.g., Dan 5.25–28), classical Greek literature (e.g., Ovid,
Metam
.); and rabbinic literature (e.g.,
Lam. Rab
. 1.1)

5
:
Water and spirit
, suggesting that baptism is the act of rebirth that allows one to enter or see (v. 3) the kingdom. The combination may suggest both the baptismal act and the gift of the Spirit (Acts 1.5).

6
: Spiritual birth contrasted with biological birth; cf. 8.12–59 that dismisses genealogy as the basis for being a child of God.

8
:
Wind
, Gk “pneuma,” like Heb “ruah,” can mean wind, breath, or spirit. Each is unpredictable and cannot be seen or grasped but is essential for life and can express great power.

11
: Jesus views Nicodemus as a representative of his opponents.

13
: Allusions to 1.51 and Gen 28 (Jacob’s ladder). The statement seems to ignore Enoch (Gen 5.22,24) and Elijah (2 Kings 2.11), both of whom were taken up to heaven instead of undergoing death;
ascended
may imply some agency on the part of the
Son of Man
.

14
: Jesus is here described as superior to Moses, who held up the bronze serpent to save Israel from a plague of snakes (Num 21.4–9; cf. 2 Kings 18.4, in which King Hezekiah demolishes the bronze serpent).

16
–21
: Because the Greek manuscripts do not include punctuation, it is not always easy to identify the speaker in these long discourses. These verses are often attributed to the narrator rather than Jesus.

16
: Jesus is God’s son; Jesus’ death testifies to God’s love for the world, and is necessary for salvation.
Perish … eternal life
, the contrast implies that eternal life is not intrinsic to persons but is given to them, or withheld from them, according to their relationship to the Son or to God.

19
–20
: Here
evil
is not a moral category but a theological one, referring to the failure to believe.

3.22
–36: Baptizing. 22–23
:
Aenon
comes from the Aramaic plural of “spring”;
Salim
comes from the Semitic root for “peace.” The exact sites are uncertain, as tradition has located this event in Transjordan, in the northern Jordan Valley, and in Samaria. In contrast to the Synoptic Gospels, in which Jesus’ main ministry takes place after John’s imprisonment, this passage suggests that the missions of John and Jesus overlapped in time. The Synoptics do not mention that Jesus baptized.

24
: An allusion to John’s imprisonment, which the Gospel does not recount (cf. Mk 6.14–29).

25
:
Purification
, implying that baptism is related to Jewish practices of dealing with ritual purity (see e.g., Lev 14.8), rather than the “Christian” baptism as such.

27
–30
:
Receive … except what has been given
, a statement about authority, not a predetermination. John is the
friend
to the
bridegroom
Jesus.
Bridegroom
is a prophetic image of one who rejoices (Isa 62.5; Jer 16.9); in the other Gospels the bridegroom is the symbol of one who is to arrive, after which festivities can begin (Mt 25.1ff.) or the one in whose presence rejoicing takes place (Mt 9.15; Mk 2.9; Lk 5.34). It also (Rev 18.23) became the symbol of the messiah united with God’s people at the wedding banquet celebrating the new age. This symbol, like the wedding at Cana, may be an allusion to the Jewish idea of the eschatological banquet, as a metaphor for the joy and abundance that will be experienced in the messianic age (Isa 25.6–8; Exek 34.17–30; see also 4Q521 2, ii 5–13). The notion of a messianic banquet also occurs later, in rabbinic literature, e.g.,
b. Sanh
. 96–99. John’s acknowledgement that Jesus’ movement must expand and his (John’s) decrease may be a historical reminiscence of the development of these two groups and/or an element in the Gospel’s polemic against the baptising group.

32
–33
:
No one accepts … whoever has accepted
, a contradictory formulation, but intended presumably to convey that those who do not accept the testimony are doubting not just the one who testifies but also that God is
true
(trustworthy or faithful).

34
–35
:
Spirit … all things in his hands
, the Son’s authority from God includes the granting of God’s spirit (see 3.5ff.).

36
: See 3.16n.

4.1
–42: The Samaritan woman. 4
:
Samaria
, between Judea and Galilee. Samaritans are descendants of two distinct groups: the remnant of the ten tribes associated with the Northern Kingdom of Israel who were not deported when the Northern Kingdom fell in 722 BCE, and foreign colonists from Babylonia and Media brought by the Assyrian conquerors of Samaria (cf. 2 Kings 17.24–41). Tension between the Samaritans and the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile was created in part by the Samaritans’ opposition to the rebuilding of the Temple (Ezra 4.6–24). Avoiding Samaria would have required going through the non-Jewish territory east of the Jordan River.

5
:
Sychar
, near Shechem; see Gen 33.19; 48.22; Josh 23.32.

6
–8
:
Well
, a place where women gathered (see e.g., Gen 24, where Abraham’s servant meets Rebekah at the spring of water); the overtones of an encounter between a man and a woman at a well are those of courtship. The fact that the woman is there at
noon
serves to contrast the woman favorably with Nicodemus, who first met Jesus at night (3.2). Jesus’ thirst is mentioned again only in 19.28, at the crucifixion, also at noon.

9
: This passage suggests that in the view of the Gospel writer, Jews and Samaritans would not eat together. Whether this is due to the issue of purity or to other matters is not possible to determine.

10
:
Living water
, flowing water, as in a spring or river (Num 19.17) and refreshing (Jer 2.14; 17.13).

11
: Perhaps in a parallel with Nicodemus (3.4), the woman takes Jesus literally and therefore misunderstands him.

13
:
Everyone who drinks …
, see Sir 24.21, in which Wisdom personified promises that those who taste wisdom will thirst for more. Continuous thirst is contrasted with the fulfillment Jesus claims to provide.

19
–20
:
Prophet
, not one who predicts the future but one who has God-given insight into a current situation.

21
: Jesus looks toward a time when worship will not be localized in either Jerusalem or Mount Gerizim, the Samaritans’ holy place (see 2 Macc 6.2).

22
: The Gospel’s only unequivocally positive statement about Jews. It may refer to the view that the people of Israel were God’s special people with a special mission (see Deut 4.37; 7.6–7; 10.15; 1 Kings 3.8; Isa 44.1–2; 45.4; 65.9,15,22; Am 3.2).
From
may imply “arising among” or “originating in.”

27
: The disciples’ comment implies that they were not accustomed to seeing Jesus speak with a woman, even though Jesus does so in their presence on other occasions (e.g., ch 11). One might have expected them to be surprised that he is speaking with a Samaritan woman specifically (cf. 4.9), but this does not seem to be a particular concern. Some Second Temple and rabbinic texts warn against speaking with a woman (Sir 9.1–9;
m. Avot
1.5), but it is obvious that men, including teachers, did so (for rabbinic texts, see, e.g.,
b. Kelim
1.8,9 and the Beruriah traditions).

29
: Here the Samaritan woman is depicted as a preacher, one who brings others to meet Jesus, just as Andrew and Philip do in 1.41,45.

35
: Apparently a proverbial saying; see v. 37. Harvest imagery is associated with the eschatological era in numerous biblical texts such as Gen 24.12; Ps 144.13.

36
:
Wages
, the harvest of believers; cf. Mt 9.37–38.

37
–38
:
Sows … reaps
, ordinarily those who sow and those who reap are the same, but here the reapers (perhaps those who are spreading the gospel) are, like the Israelites in Deut 6.10–11, benefiting from the labors of those who have gone before, or whom they have displaced.

39
–42
: Like Andrew and Philip in 1.41–45, the woman now acts as an apostle to her townspeople.

42
:
Savior
(Gk “soter,” in LXX for Heb “yesha,” basis for Yehoshua [Jesus]; see Mt 1.21), the word could mean “deliverer” (from enemies) and was a common title for rulers. The Samaritan term is “Taheb.”

4.43
–54
: