The “From Above” theme in the Gospel of John

(taken from a number of translations including the NET Bible)

Chapter 1

  1. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
  2. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him.
  3. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him
  4. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
  5. who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
  6. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
  1. And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
  2. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
  1. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
  1. Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on him.
  1. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
  1. and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
  1. Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
  1. And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Chapter 3

  1. Now there was man, a Pharisee named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.
  2. This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
  3. Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
  4. Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
  5. Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
  6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
  7. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’
  1. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
  2. No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
  3. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
  4. that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
  5. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
  6. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
  7. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
  8. Now this is the basis for judging: that the light has come into the world and people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil.
  1. John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.
  1. He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.
  2. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one receives his testimony.
  3. Whoever receives his testimony certifies to this, that God is true
  4. For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.

Chapter 4

  1. Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
  1. Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work.
  1. I sent you to reap what you did not work for; others have laboured and you have entered into their labour.”

Chapter 5

  1. But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”
  2. This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
  3. So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.
  4. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.
  5. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
  6. Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son,
  7. so that all people will honour the Son just as they honour the Father. The one who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent him.
  8. I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life.
  9. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
  1. can do nothing on my own initiative. Just as I hear, I judge, and my judgement is just, because I do not seek my own will, but the will of the one who sent me.
  1. “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the works that the Father has assigned me to complete—the works I am now doing—testify about me that the Father has sent me.
  2. And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time,
  3. nor do you have his word residing in you, because you do not believe the one whom he sent.
  4. You study the scriptures thoroughly because you think in them you possess eternal life, and it is these same scriptures that testify about me,
  5. but you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.
  6. “I do not accept praise from people,
  7. but I know you, that you do not have the love of God within you.

Chapter 6

  1. Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
  1. Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?”
  2. Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
  3. So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform?
  4. Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
  5. Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
  6. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
  1. For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will but the will of the one who sent me.
  2. Now this is the will of the one who sent me—that I should not lose one person of every one he has given me, but raise them all up at the last day.
  3. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
  4. So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
  5. They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
  6. Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
  7. No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.
  8. It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me—
  9. not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father.
  10. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
  11. I am the bread of life.
  12. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.
  13. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die.
  14. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
  1. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.
  2. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”
  3. Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.
  4. When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?”
  5. But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Do you take offense at this?
  6. Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
  7. It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no avail. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
  8. But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)
  9. And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
  10. After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
  11. So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?”
  12. Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
  13. and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

Chapter 7

  1. So Jesus replied, “My teaching is not from me, but from the one who sent me.
  2. If anyone’s will is to do God’s will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority.
  3. The person who speaks on his own authority desires to receive honour for himself; the one who desires the honour of the one who sent him is a man of integrity, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
  1. Then Jesus, while teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You both know me and know where I come from! And I have not come on my own initiative, but the one who sent me is true. You do not know him,
  2. but I know him, because I have come from him and he sent me.”
  1. Then Jesus said, “I will be with you for only a little while longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me.

Chapter 8

  1. But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, because I am not alone when I judge, but I and the Father who sent me do so together.
  2. In your Law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.
  3. I testify about myself and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”
  1. I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the Father who sent me is truthful, and the things I have heard from him I speak to the world.”
  2. They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.
  3. So Jesus said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.
  4. And the one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do those things that please him.”
  1. but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did.
  2. You are doing what your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.”
  3. Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me.
  4. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word.
  5. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
  6. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
  7. Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me?
  8. Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”

Chapter 9

  1. Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.
  2. We must perform the works of the one who sent me as long as it is daytime. Night is coming when no one can work.
  1. Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them.
  1. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
  1. Jesus said, “For judgement I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.”

Chapter 10

  1. “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
  2. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
  3. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
  4. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
  5. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
  6. This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
  7. So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
  8. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
  9. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
  10. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
  11. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
  12. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
  13. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
  14. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
  15. just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
  1. Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
  2. but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.
  3. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
  4. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
  5. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
  6. I and the Father are one.”
  7. The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
  8. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
  9. The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
  10. Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
  11. If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
  12. do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
  13. If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;

Chapter 11

  1. She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
  1. I knew that you always listen to me, but I said this for the sake of the crowd standing around here, that they may believe that you sent me.”
  1. and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Chapter 12

  1. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
  1. for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
  2. But Jesus shouted out, “The one who believes in me does not believe in me, but in the one who sent me,
  3. and the one who sees me sees the one who sent me.
  4. I have come as a light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me should not remain in darkness.
  5. If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
  6. The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
  7. For I have not spoken from my own authority, but the Father himself who sent me has commanded me what I should say and what I should speak.

Chapter 13

  1. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
  1. I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
  1. I tell you the solemn truth, whoever accepts the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”

Chapter 14

  1. Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
  2. The person who does not love me does not obey my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
  3. “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you.
  4. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Chapter 15

  1. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
  1. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.
  1. “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.

Chapter 16

  1. But now I am going to the one who sent me, and not one of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’
  1. for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
  2. I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
  3. His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech!
  4. Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.”

Chapter 17

  1. Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
  1. because I have given them the words you have given me. They accepted them and really understand that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
  1. Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world.
  2. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
  3. I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
  4. that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.
  5. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one,
  6. I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me.
  7. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
  8. Righteous Father, even if the world does not know you, I know you, and these men know that you sent me.

Chapter 18

  1. Then Pilate said, “So you are a king!” Jesus replied, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world—to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Chapter 19

  1. The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God.”

Chapter 20

  1. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
  1. but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Updated on 2009-12-20 (r.106) by Andrew Fountain