Take Courage!
Jesus compels the disciples to take courage and be strong in Him. He is the victor, and they are to share in His authority.
Introduction
Precisely for love of genuine παρρησία Isoc. can say bitterly in Or., 8, 14 “that in spite of the rule of the people there is no full freedom of speech (ὅτι δημοκρατίας οὔσης οὐκ ἔστι παρρησία) except for the most rash and foolish and for dramatists in the theatre.”
(iv) Interrogative Pronouns. The most common in the N. T. is τίς (cf. Mt. 3:7). Other words are frequently added, as ἄρα (24:45); γάρ (9:5); οὖν (Lu. 3:10). The various uses of τί as adverb (Mk. 10:18, Lu. 16:2); with prepositions, as διὰ τί (Mt. 9:11) and εἰς τί (Mk. 14:4) or χάριν τίνος (1 Jo. 3:12); or elliptically, as τί ὅτι (Lu. 2:49) and ἵνα τί (Mt. 9:4), need not detain us. The double interrogative τίς τί appears in Mk. 15:24. Both τίς and ποῖος occur in 1 Pet. 1:11. For ποταπός see Mt. 8:27, and πόσος see 15:34. We need not tarry longer on these elementary details.
30. νῦν οἴδαμεν κτλ. They were so surprised that He had discerned their thoughts, and so bewildered at His words (see v. 19), that they assure Him of their absolute confidence in Him as all-knowing. With οἶδας πάντα cf. 21:17. Jn. comes back again and again to the penetrating insight of Jesus into men’s thoughts; see on 2:25.
ἵνα τίς σε ἐρωτᾷ, “that any one shall question thee,” ἐρωτᾶν being here used in its most frequent sense of asking questions; see on v. 23 above.
ἐν τούτῳ, “by this,” ἐν being used in a quasi-causal sense, as at 13:35, where see note.
πιστεύομεν ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθες. Nicodemus had confessed as much (3:2); what Jesus had said of their faith was that they had come to believe ὅτι ἐγὼ παρὰ τοῦ πατρὸς ἐξῆλθον. But they were not yet strong in this faith, as He reminds them in His reply. See note on 13:3 and also on v. 28 above. Strictly, ἀπό ought to signify mission, while παρά or (especially) ἐκ ought to signify origin; but these prepositions are not sharply distinguished in Jn.
Their next statement that they did not need to probe his mind (erōta) to gain further information or confirmation that he “came from God” is likewise a theologically correct assumption. Yet practically or existentially at this time it was for them an unfulfilled claim. Their statement at that point went far beyond their personal understanding and commitments. Theologically they were correct: Jesus did come from God.311 Yet what did that statement actually mean for them?
Their understanding of reality was sadly skewed so badly that their words were almost meaningless. Accordingly, they could make theologically significant statements such as Martha made (cf. 11:22, 24, 27). But like Martha, whose life responses were not actually coordinated with her words (11:39), the disciples’ actions would later prove the clear disconnection between their words and their lives (John 16:32; cf. Peter’s role at 18:10, 17, 25–27; 21:15–21).
16:29–30 Obviously Jesus had earlier told them that the time would come when he would no longer have to speak to them figuratively but would then be speaking plainly or clearly to them (parre sia, 16:25). John, however, details here the irony of the disciples’ statements in that they thought they knew the meaning of what Jesus was saying. Unfortunately, they misunderstood both in terms of their time (“now”) and their “clarity” (parre sia) of perception. Their theological statements were quite good, if they had understood what they were saying.
They were partly correct in their assumption that Jesus had great knowledge (“we know,” oidamen, “that you know,” oidas; the NIV has “we can see that you know”). Their generalization of how much knowledge Jesus had (“all things,” panta) was, however, a typical human overstatement that was far beyond their actual capacity to comprehend. It was merely one of their assumptions. Such an assumption has often become part of our theological assumptions about the incarnate Jesus’ knowledge, even though elsewhere, for example, he states that he did not know the time of the end (cf. Mark 13:32). Moreover, Paul states that he “emptied himself” (“made himself nothing,” NIV; eauton ekenosen, Phil 2:7), although we are not quite sure of the full implications of that statement.
31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
