Dr. A. Chadwick Thornhill

There is much dense theology packed into the 15th chapter of the Gospel of John. The implicit comparison of Jesus as the true Israel ("true vine"), John's conception of "union with Christ,"  a metaphor for the spiritual productivity of believers, obedience as the sign of "loving" God, the command of love for fellow believers, the relationships of Jesus' followers to the world, and on and on. One statement that has created much exegetical discussion is John 15:2, where Jesus says that God (the farmer) "takes away" unproductive branches. Within the imagery of the

In the fourteenth chapter of John's Gospel, following the Passover meal and Judas' departure to betray Jesus, Jesus states to the disciples: "πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν θεὸν καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε." The challenge in translating and interpreting this verse is that it creates at least four possible combinations of meaning based on whether each πιστεύετε is viewed as an indicative or an imperative. These combinations are as follows:

In chapter 11 of John's Gospel, Jesus and his disciples get word that Lazarus has fallen ill. On the way to Bethany, Jesus breaks the news to the disciples that Lazarus has "fallen asleep" (i.e., died). The disciples respond to Jesus that "If he has fallen asleep, he will be delivered (σωθήσεται)." Most translations render σωθήσεται as "he will recover," but two things in the context suggest that the author may have been alluding to

In John 10:24, Jesus returns to Jerusalem for the feast of Dedication (yes, Jesus celebrated Hanukkah) when he is surrounded by the Jews (or "the Judeans" or perhaps "the Jewish leaders", John frequently does not specify) who ask him to tell them plainly if he is the Messiah (Χριστος, "the Anointed One"). The irony of the setting and the potential for a politically charged and volatile response becomes clear to the reader who understands that part of the heritage of the Maccabees was revolt against foreign oppressors, a part currently being played 

Most translations render John 8:59 as "Jesus hid himself" after the Jews took up stones to kill him for his apparent blasphemy. The verbal form which lies behind the translations here is ε'κρύβη, which appears to morphologically be an aorist passive verbal form. If in the passive, the better translation would seem to be that Jesus "was hidden," assumedly by God for the purpose of preserving his life until the time of his Messianic mission was ready to be fulfilled. Most commentators

Here's more from PFG, here on the Jewish background of Paul's "justification" doctrine:

"He began, as a Pharisee, in the line of zealous Jews indicated in passages such as 1 Maccabees 2. He believed that those who were zealous for Torah would , like Phinehas, have 'righteousness reckoned to them', that is, that they would be