Supernatural knowledge of Jesus (2:23–25)
Jesus was participating in the Passover feast (2:23a). John does not describe how the Passover was celebrated in the temple; his focus is always on Jesus and his deeds and on people’s response to him. Many believed in Jesus’ name by looking at the signs he performed (2:23b). The plural “signs” informs us that Jesus could have done other signs besides what is narrated in John 2. These could include his healing of many blind and lame people who came to him when he was in the temple (cf. Matt 21:14). Though many believed in Jesus, they did so because they saw signs. This kind of superficial faith springs up from common human nature. Those who saw Jesus’ signs were amazed and appreciated him probably as a wonder-worker without making a faith commitment to him.
In John faith based on “seeing” rather than on “hearing” the testimony about Jesus or his words is not genuine faith (cf. 1:50). Since Jesus himself knew all human beings and their secret thoughts (cf. 1:42, 47–48; 5:42; 6:15, 26, 61, 64; 16:19, 30), no human needs to bear witness about anyone to Jesus (2:25). The supernatural knowledge of God is portrayed in the OT: it is God alone who observes the deeds of all human beings and their secret thoughts, because he has fashioned their hearts and observes their deeds (Ps 7:9; 33:15; 139:1–24; Jer 17:10; cf. Wis 1:6). What is true with the God of the OT is true with the Jesus that John portrays! Since Jesus is the Son of God who is in oneness with the Father, no wonder he exhibits the same omniscience as God. Therefore Jesus did not entrust himself to those who seemed to believe in him by seeing his signs (2:24). This shows that Jesus expected the members of his society to believe in him with a commitment not just by seeing the miracles he performed but by hearing his words.
Excursus: “Sign” in John
The word “sign” (se¯meion in Greek) occurs seventeen times in John’s Gospel, out of which thirteen times it occurs in plural. “Signs” denotes the miracles of Jesus. In the Synoptic Gospels, the word “sign” bears mostly a negative connotation, as Jesus refuses his opponents’ demand to perform a sign (Matt 12:38–39; 16:1, 4; Mark 8:11–12; Luke 11:16, 29; 23:8; cf. John 2:18). Even false prophets and false Christs perform signs (Matt 24:24; Mark 13:22). Nevertheless, signs foreshadow the coming of Christ in glory (Matt 24:3, 30; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7, 11, 25). The Greek version of Isa 8:18 has the word se¯meion with a non-miraculous connotation and in Ezek 4:3 the word indicates the prophetic activity that anticipates a greater reality of which the sign itself is a part. In Isa 66:18–19, se¯meion is used to denote the eschatological gathering of all nations to see his glory and the declaration of his glory among the Gentiles by the survivors of the Jewish nation.18
In the same line, in all his signs in John, Jesus reveals God’s glory in terms of his love and concern for humanity to fulfill their physical and spiritual needs (e.g., 2:1–11; 6:26–27; 11:4, 40). Jesus’ signs (works) in John reveal his oneness with the Father (5:18; 10:38) and his own identity as the Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Man (9:38; 11:25–27; 20:30–31). Through a sign Jesus strengthened the faith of his disciples in him (2:11) and others could come to believe in him (4:53; 6:69; 9:35–38; 11:45; 12:42). Hence most of the signs are followed by a discourse. However, in some cases the signs cause enmity, which culminates in Jesus’ death on the cross (5:16, 18; 11:46–57; 12:9–11, 37). His exaltation on the cross is presented in John as the greatest sign in which the symbol and reality meet each other (2:18–22; 3:14–15).
1. See Brown 1978: 1.95–96; Ridderbos 1997: 97–99.
2. Brown 1978: 1.105–6.
3. Brown 1978: 1.107–9; cf. Schneiders 1993: 128.
4. Keener 2005: 1.501.
5. Carson 1991: 169.
6. Cf. Brown 1978: 1.517.
7. John gives the capacity of each jar as “two or three measures,” one “measure” being equivalent to almost forty liters, and thus six jars will hold 480–720 liters; Schnackenburg 1980–84: 1.332; Ridderbos 1997: 107.
8. The Greek word architriklinos means “head waiter, butler” or, more aptly to the context, “master of the feast”; BDAG, 139.
9. See Kruse 2008: 95–96.
10. Kruse 2008: 96–97.
11. Kruse 2008: 100.
12. Keener 2005: 1.524.
13. The Greek word naos, used here and in 2:20, represents the whole temple and not the sanctuary alone.
14. Keener 2005: 1.527–31.
15. Hoskyns 1961: 194.
16. Neither the temple repaired by Herod the Great nor the second temple, built under the leadership of Zerubbabel, took forty-six years to construct. It is probable that the specification of forty-six years includes the whole period of Persian kings, Cyrus and Darius (559–513 BCE), in whose time the second temple was built; see Kanagaraj 2005: 110, 113 n. 34.
17. Carson 1982: 59–91; Kanagaraj 1998a: 305–7.
18. Barrett 1978: 75–78.
John 3
Testimonies of Jesus and the Baptist
John next narrates Jesus’ ministry to three individuals: Nicodemus, a Samaritan woman, and a royal official, who belong to Judea, Samaria, and Galilee respectively (John 3–4). This shows that Jesus is interested in each individual and his purpose is to bring people of all cultures, regions, and languages into his community.
Jesus’ Testimony before Nicodemus (3:1–21)
Jesus’ dialogue with Nicodemus (3:1–12)
Nicodemus was a Jew, “a man of the Pharisees” and “a ruler of the Jews” (3:1). The designation “ruler” shows his position in the Jewish council (7:50–51). He was “the teacher of Israel” (3:10) who was searching for heavenly truth. So Nicodemus met Jesus, obviously in Jerusalem. By knowing Nicodemus’s inner thirst, Jesus initiates his teaching on the necessity of new birth in order to experience life in the kingdom of God (3:3, 5).
Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. It could have been for secrecy, because many Pharisees were opposing Jesus; or night-time could have been simply a convenient time for him and Jesus; or it could be in line with the custom of the rabbis to study the Law and converse about divine things at night.1